GOPRO Thursday #5

Well folks, it's been cold here. Real cold.

For us anyway.

It's been getting down to 30 degrees here at night and I don't much care for it. It has been down to 17 a few times and it's been no bueno. It will get to about 60 during the day...I wish it would either be cold or warm, all this up and down business is gettin' me confused. Do I wear long sleeves or short? Pants or Capri's? Shoes or flip flops? Flip flops definitely.

All this to say, we've been trying to keep the chicks warm on these cold nights. It was pretty easy when they were still in the tank, but my Father-in-law made them a new space in our green house turned coup. Yes, we have chicks in our green house right now and not seedlings. I know...slackers. We are working on the coup however (next post) and it will be fantastic.  Back to what I was saying, since the chicks are in a bigger area it's harder to keep a really warm spot for them. I think we figured it out. We put the tank on it's side and then put a board on top and fixed the light to the board. The idea is that the warmth will get trapped in the tank and be held down by the board. It seems to be working for my gangly little chicks. They are so weird looking right now, it's almost pitiful. I still love them though, even though they're rather odd to the eye. If you know what I mean.

I did the GOPRO video last night cause I thought it would be cool to see them huddled under the light. I am really enjoying having chicks. Honest and true.



***Sorry for how dark it was, it wasn't THAT dark when I was videoing. Oops!

And since you are dying to know how are little Welsummer chicks are doing, I decided to get a video of those too. They are still in the tiny, cute, and fuzzy stage. These little things are FAST. Like lightning fast...kachow! Ok, sorry. I have a five year old boy who loves Cars. I couldn't help myself.

It is kind of tricky to catch the little speed balls, but I do cause I don't want crazy chickens. I have no use for crazy animals...I have my hands full with the sheep as it is. Ahem.



I hope you enjoyed this GOPRO Thursday. I'd love to hear about what you'd like to see. Give me some suggestions and I'll see what I can do!

GOPRO Thursday #4

Well, what do ya know? I'm actually getting my GOPRO Thursday video up on the correct day.

Yay for me! Ok, sorry, that was juvenile.

Today's video is all about the chicks...again. We got 5 new ones today and they are sooo cute. You'll see.

The chicks arrived at the feed store from the hatchery today and I got to go get'em. And I'm in love with their cuteness. These are Welsummers and they lay a dark truffle brown egg. I can't wait until they do.



Aren't they beautiful? If you didn't know better you'd think they were chocolate eggs. I'm sure you'd figure it out real fast when you got yolk on your face instead of chocolate after your first bite...

Anyhoo, moving on.

If your wondering, here is a hen and a rooster. Pretty aren't they?

                

We're not gonna have a rooster though. I don't want to deal with one. Yet.

Enough pictures here's the video of the new chicks and you'll also see our other ones. They're growing so fast!



***And I apologize for my voice. It irritates me to no end that I sound like I'm 5. Maybe I'll just not talk on the next one. Ugh!

GOPRO Thursday #3

Yesterday morning started like any other. Wake up, nurse baby, make breakfast, and so on. It all was pretty routine until my Father-in-law came in to say, "Arlo's sheep had a lamb."

And that is when the excitement started.

Lambs! We've been waiting so long for this, even though these sheep aren't ours (thankfully). Up until a few weeks ago we didn't even think Arlo's sheep were bred. And last year they weren't bred because the ram got sick, so this day was a long time coming.

Anyhoo, farm-kid Noël was resurrected. How you say? Well, growing up I was known for absolutely not caring what I looked like. To a fault I'm afraid. You could always find me during Winter time dressed in an over-sized flannel, jeans, and irrigation boots. Yesterday was no exception. Except I was in my husband's Carhart jacket (which is huge on me), yoga pants (green to be exact), old tennis shoes, and to top it all off, I had the GOPRO attached to my head. Oh yes, I was a sight alright and probably not in a good way.

Thankfully, there's no photographic proof of my wardrobe. I'm afraid you'd stop reading my blog out of shock and that would make me so sad. So, let's just say, I'll keep my 'farm fashion' behind the camera.







 

Aren't they just precious? (The lambs I mean, the mama's not so much, you learn why later) The whole ordeal was rather frustrating and so I decided it best not to take a bunch of pictures right away. Mama's and babies needed some alone time. The lambs were cold from being born outside (it was pretty chilly plus we had a cold breeze) and the mama's were a little stressed from the process due to their lack of brains.

I am SO glad these sheep aren't mine. I know everyone thinks all sheep are stupid, these take the cake. All of it.

I grew up raising sheep and never encountered the likes of these. Normally, you'd pick up the lamb and the mama would follow you just about anywhere just to stay with her baby. Not these sheep, oh NO! One ran to the other sheep to eat and the other decided it best to run into the fence. Let's just say when all this was happening I had not so nice thoughts running through my mind. Mind you, I was covered in afterbirth the whole time.  The sheep I raise now (scottish blackface) are actually very clever, so in dealing with these to num-nuts, I got slightly irritated.

The first mama and baby I got into the barn were the easiest set. We had a slightly difficult time initially getting Cry Baby (what I call her because she baa's incessantly) to follow her lamb, but eventually she bought a clue and I got her in the barn. The other mama was not so easy. I had to cut the video off before we were through, and you should be glad I did. She never followed her baby, continued to repeatedly run into the fence to get with the other sheep, and I had to chase/herd her for a while before we could get her back with her baby. Now, I'm sure things could have been done better, but there's one thing I know about mama's and their babies, they should be together. So, that is what we did.

Enough with all this talking here's the surprise video I was talking about. Wahoo!



It is slightly on the long side. Sorry, I was busy.

I hope you enjoy this and Lord willing, there will be more exciting video's to come! We still have 6 sheep to lamb in March. I'm hoping they do anyway, we have a young ram in with them, so it will be a waiting game to see if he was man enough for the job. Let's just say if the ewe's aren't bred I'll be surprised, he was a busy boy in November. Just sayin'.

And don't forget about the chicks! They are already a week old and growin' like weeds. Can I just say that I'm loving them? I never knew chicks would be so much fun.

I hope you enjoy this video and I'd love to hear from you. What would you like to see a video on?

***Well, I may have to make it GOPRO Friday since this week as last week I was unable to get this darn post up till Friday morning.

Sorry, my computer has a tough time uploading these videos to You Tube.  Ugh!

GOPRO Thursday #2

Before you watch the video I NEED to say something. No wait, I need to show you something.

You see this?

This is my beloved GOPRO. As you can see the camera is wrapped in a plastic cover. This enables the camera to be fixed on my head. All that to say, it does make the sound a little off.

When I say off I mean, my voice on the video is rather odd and it sounds like I have a lisp. Not cool.

Now that we have the weirdness accounted for, lets proceed.



This video is called: Barn Tour and Feeding Time.

We are in the process (as you'll learn) of cleaning up our farm. The people who had it before us used a lot of the property as a junk yard. Seriously, it was soooo bad when we moved here and it's slowly getting better.

Enjoy this farm/barn tour and you'll also get to see our farm bums.

***I thought I was looking down far enough when I was opening the bale of hay. If I get a chance today, I will re-film me opening a bale so you can see how it's done.