Thursday, December 18, 2014

Photos from the Farm #15

Welcome Back!

Your teacher gave me some of your questions. I hope that one day you will start writing the questions for me instead of your teacher. If you do, I'll take a photo of the best questions with the best handwriting and post them here for everyone to see!

Question 1: How big of a bite do goats take?

Answer: Not very big!


Question 2: Can the light you use to keep the chicks warm get hot enough to start a fire?

Answer: Yes, but there is a metal shade around the hot light that keeps the light from touching things around it. We also make sure that the light doesn't hang down and touch something below it that could catch fire. 

See the shade around the light? See how we hang the light so it doesn't touch anything that might catch fire?
Question 3 and 4: How big can cows get? How much do cows weigh?

Answer: It depends on the type of cow. Our new steer, Remi, will probably weigh about 900 pounds when he is full grown. Our old steer dinner weighed 798 pounds. Our new cow, Echo, will probably weigh about 450 pounds. We don't usually talk about the weight of a cow (female cow) we explain 'how big' they are by measuring how tall they are. Echo will probably not be any taller than 40" tall. We don't measure them from the ground to their head, we measure them from the ground to the top of their shoulder.



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Did you notice how big the chick got in the photo? They are getting their feathers and are beginning to look like chickens instead of chicks.

This chick has pretty feathers. I hope she is a hen, but I can't tell yet.

Here are the two that look very much alike. They are hard to tell apart, aren't they?
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I sent your teacher some eggs. Can you guess which eggs belong to chickens? Can you guess which eggs belong to ducks? Can you guess which eggs belong to turkeys?

Here is another look at the eggs side by side. 
Did you make a good guess?
When you get to touch the eggs notice how they feel. The duck eggs are very smooth. The shell is thicker and a little harder than the chicken eggs. The turkey egg has bumps all over it. The Silkie chicken egg is smaller than the other eggs. 

We are so excited that our ducks are laying again! We love to use duck eggs in bread, pancakes, cookies, and all sorts of baked goods. They make baked goods taste delicious!

We don't have a turkey that lays eggs. Our friend raised a turkey hen for Thanksgiving. She layed eggs and our friend gave some to me because she likes to read this blog, too. She thought you would like to see and feel a turkey egg.

Next time you visit I'll show you a little more about chickens. 

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I have a little bit of fun for you before you leave.

Our barn cat, Midnight, likes to find warm places in the barn. I thought you might like to see some of the places we find her when we go out to feed the animals.


Sometimes I find her in the nesting boxes where the chickens lay their eggs.

Sometimes I find her in one of the feeders in a stall. She likes the middle stall the best.

Sometimes we see her in her cat house. She likes to watch what is going on in the barn. In the winter she likes to be in the bottom. In the summer she likes to sit on top and act like she is the queen of the barn!

I may post a few times while you are on Christmas break. I will post Mountain Monday so you can see what the mountains look like every week even when you aren't in school.

Keep asking good questions!

I hope you have a Wonderful Christmas!




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