Friday Photos from the Farm #8

Welcome back from Fall Break! I hope you had a wonderful vacation.

We used our time to start getting ready for winter on the farm. We cleaned out the garden, raked leaves, and put up some shelter for the chickens.

Here is what we do with leaves after we rake them in a pile!

Guess what? I found the picture of me holding a chick!

The chicks look like little chickens now that they have all their feathers. They still 'peep' instead of clucking like an adult hen.

Can you hear them peeping? You can hear the turkeys gobbling because they are loud!

This is Stew, our lamb. His fleece is too long and needs to be clipped off. We call that 'shearing.' It might seem funny to be shearing a sheep in the fall. This breed is called "Navajo Churro" and they get sheared twice a year.

The stomach is always sheared first. Stew might look a little uncomfortable, but he's really taking a nap. When you put a sheep or a lamb on its tail like that he almost falls asleep!

Those shears look like giant scissors!
Dallan is very careful when he shears the sheep for us.

Doesn't Stew look nice!

He's happier, too. He doesn't have a heavy coat to carry around.

He's telling me to put down the camera and give his nose a pet!

I hope you got to see and feel some of Stew's wool. I sent some to your teacher so you could see what it looks like right after it's been sheared. I haven't washed it so it might have bits of leaves and grass in it. It will smell just like Stew. If you don't like the smell of sheep, don't open the bag!

Do you remember what I said a few weeks ago about the new hen sitting on eggs?

Did you remember that I said they might hatch while you were having your Fall Break?

Guess what!!!

Look very closely!

Now you can see them! I moved the mother hen out of the way. The chicks were born on Thursday. So far three chicks have hatched out. I'll let you know next week if there are any more.

The mother hen is so sweet that she doesn't mind me holding her chicks.

Can you hear the chicks peeping? Can you hear the mother hen clucking? These chicks are only a few hours old. Watch the mother hen closely. She is rolling one of the eggs underneath her to keep it warm.

Get excited for next weeks photos! We have another new animal to show you! I think you will be so happy to see our new addition to the farm!

Have a great week!