3rd Annual New Year's Day Hatch!!

[AK Michelle]

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Awww, so sorry for you

This has been a rough hatch. Here's hoping the rest of the hatches go much better.

 

[superchemicalgirl]

I have got to find a new place for the ducks. They can now poop out of their window and splash onto my wood floors. I'm HOPING Ms Bumblefoot can go back out into general population in the next few days and then I can use the basement brooder for the ducks. I've got beach towels on the floor right now in front of the duck brooder.



It's so nice to be on vacation. At least work didn't start calling/texting/emailing me until 7:21 AM. The issue is now resolved, lets hope that's the last of it for this week.

 

[LarryPQ]

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Peoples: this is why I smile with my mouth closed when Mahonri comes over. He can't help it. If he saw my chompers, he'd sit on me to hold me down and try to fix them.

juuuuust kidding. Mostly.

 

[LarryPQ]

OK- I am all caught up. It sounds like even though we had tragedy, there was some triumph too. Congratulations, everyone!

 

[superchemicalgirl]

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Peoples: this is why I smile with my mouth closed when Mahonri comes over. He can't help it. If he saw my chompers, he'd sit on me to hold me down and try to fix them.

You should let him fix them! I'd be embarrassed if Mahonri was my dentist though... I threaten the staff. I had to have my first ever cavity filled last June and I had to go to a second dentist because the first refused to give me anti-anxiety medications. The second dentist prescribed me 10 mg of Valium (diazepam) which still wasn't enough and HE had to threaten to throw ME out if I didn't let him inject me with the Novocaine. I cried throughout the entire procedure.

I'm also embarrassed to say my last tetanus vaccination was through my pediatrician.

Irony: Needles freak me out, so I'm in charge of an IV room.

 

[LarryPQ]

KATHY- I still owe you calendar pictures. I will try to get them tonight, before the cut-off. Do we have any specific holidays/months that are lacking in submissions?

 

[AK Michelle]

Today is take a chickie to work day, or rather, take ALL the chickies to work day. I have just about everything worked out except how to get the chickies from the barn to the garage. See, it's below zero outside. And it's kinda a long way from the barn to the garage. And I don't have any beans to put in my socks. So, I think I will get a hot water bottle, a priority air box and a uhaul shipping blanket. Put the water bottle in the box with some shavings, add the chicks, gift wrap the whole thing in a u-haul shipping blanket and book-it for the house. Once inside I can open up their blanket, it's 74* in here so they will be fine, and the car is in the heated garage so it'll be warm and toasty in there too. At work it's only about 30 feet from the car to the door, a quick trip up the stairs and viola, their light can be turned back on and they can bask in the glow of their 100 watt bulb

Now to run through the shower and wake DD who gets to help me with all of this.

My work peeps are going to be sooo happy they get to enjoy fuzzy cuteness too!

 

[superchemicalgirl]

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Awwwww! I wish I worked in a non-sterile environment. I was thinking of getting my favorite hen, Hoppy the speckled sussex, licensed as a therapy chicken. I could drop her off every day at the nursing home and then pick her up after work.

 

[EagleTheHenpecked]

i have officially hatched 10 chicks. one has a dislocated hip and hops on one leg but he is still alive. out of 21, i hatched 10. thats not too bad for me. i'll be setting more for the valentines day hatch anyways.

 

[AK Michelle]

Houston we had a problem!

Brooder temp was 41* according to my reader in the kitchen

which means the barn, and the water pipes, are colder than that

Luckily I had already been thinking about how I was going to do this so I modified the plan a little. I grabbed the water bottle an turned the tap on HOT, while the hot water was coming I grabbed an insulated grocery bag (like for traveling with frozen food, works great to keep the cold out too) I filled the water bottle with hot water, grabbed a sweater from the laundry, laid the sweater in the bottom of the bag, nestled the water bottle on top of that using the sleeves to fit around the perimeter so no chicks could slide under the bottle and get munched. Laid a bar towel over the whole thing which then got wrapped in a huge beach towel (thank goodness we have a hot tub so lots of huge towels) I wrapped the whole mess up and slide it into an un-insulated grocery bag. The more layers of airspace you create the more insulation against the cold. Now, I had just hopped out of the shower when I noticed the temperature, so I grabbed sweats and pulled on my boots and coat and ran, wet hair and all, out into the sub-zero darkness to get my chickies!

Puppy usually likes to be pet and played with on the way to the barn, fortunately, he is very intuitive and this morning he did nothing but run ahead of me to the barn and wait nicely at the door.

The barn was cold, the thermostat seems to be failing. Grrr. As quick as I could I put all the chicks in the bag with the hot water bottle. Most of them seemed fine, all were huddled under the warming light, but noiseypants had expired. Was she destined to not make it or did she get too cold? We'll never really know. Quickly I bagged up the stuff I would need for their field trip, food, dishes, a heat lamp, and shavings. Then the heater kicked on

But now I don't trust it so I plugged in the electric radiator type heater too and turned it on and placed it up against the sink to keep the water lines from freezing.

Now the chicks are in my bathroom, in front of a small heater, in a shoebox, being a bunch of fuzzy cuteness and I"m going to jump into some work clothes and go on about my day.

Cheers to you all, may your Tuesday be fun and happy