How Many Chickens?

Welcome back!

We had a bad thing happen this week.

Miles, our wonderful dog escaped from the barnyard and got hit by a car.
He is at the vet today and will have surgery on his leg.

One reason that we have fences is to keep animals in the yard so they will be safe.

One reason that parents and teachers have rules is to keep children safe. Fences and rules are sometimes hard to obey. I hope you think about the rules you have and even if you don't understand them, you will obey them and stay safe.

I'll have more photos of Miles and his leg tomorrow. I didn't take pictures of the accident because they were too yucky, and because we were in a hurry to get him to the veterinarian clinic.

Now for some fun!

How many chickens?

I have two videos for you to watch. You'll have to count really fast!

How many chickens did you count in both videos?

Now for some math!

There were 3 chickens that slept in the rafters in the barn that night, and there were 2 chickens that slept in the garden. How many chickens in all?

Last week we had a friend that was looking for chickens. Since we have so many we asked if she wanted some of ours. We gave her 4 black chickens.

How many chickens do we have left?

The egg on the left is a regular egg from our chickens.
The one in the middle is a little egg.
The one on the right is a tiny egg called a pullet egg.
A pullet egg is the first egg that a chicken lays and it is tiny!

I'll send the pullet egg to school after spring break so your teacher can show it to you.

Guess what is in the dog cage?

Our turkey hen is sitting on eggs again!
She started sitting on Monday, 28 March.
Turkey eggs hatch out in 25-28 days.
What day will that be on a calendar?

Quin got chicks this week.
He and his family are raising 7 chicks.
Quin loves this chick, it's his favorite.
He loves to bring it in the house and hold it.
I think the little chick likes it, too!

Here are the egg counts for the week:

On Friday I found 6 brown eggs, 5 green eggs, 2 duck eggs, and 2 little eggs.

On Saturday I found 10 brown eggs, 5 green eggs, 0 duck eggs, and 1 little egg.

On Sunday I found 7 brown eggs, 4 green eggs, 1 duck egg and 2 little eggs.

On Monday I found 15 brown eggs, 5 green eggs, 0 duck eggs, and 1 little egg

On Tuesday I found8 brown eggs, 4 green eggs, 2 duck eggs, and 2 little eggs. I also gave away 4 black hens.

On Wednesday I found 8 brown eggs, 5 green eggs, 1 duck egg, 1 little egg, and 1 pullet egg (you probably don't need to count that one!)

On Thursday I found 6 brown eggs, 6 green eggs, 1 duck egg, and 2 little eggs.

I'll post during spring break for everyone who wants and update on Miles.

I hope you have a wonderful week!

Post Holes for the Greenhouse

Welcome back!

One of the things we're building is a greenhouse. A greenhouse is a house where green things grow. We want to grow plants in our greenhouse. A greenhouse will let plants grow earlier in the spring before the snow melts, and later into the fall and winter after the leaves have fallen off the trees.

Someone in your class noticed there was a corkscrew on the back of the tractor. The real name for that piece of equipment is a post hole digger. It's very heavy! We need it on the back of the tractor when we are moving hay to balance the tractor.

We also use it to dig holes in the ground.

Do you see how much it bounces around?
That's because there are so many rocks in the ground!

Someone has to dig the rest of the rocks out of the hole before we put the mold in.
Matt is strong, so he helps.

The hole has to be deep enough for the mold.

Next we need to fill the mold with cement.

The post goes in next.
There is a hole in the top of the post because the hoop for the greenhouse will fit inside it.
The hoop will help hold up the greenhouse roof.

It's very important that the post is straight, and in the right place.
We use different tools to measure. We used a tape measure to measure where to put the hole, the mold, and the post.

We use this tool, called a level, to make sure that the post is straight.
Do you see the bubbles in the top two tubes on the level?
The bubbles inside the tubes need to be between the two black lines.
It's a little tricky to get the post straight up and down.

It's exciting to see the greenhouse get started!

*     *     *     *     *

Yes, we have a cat.
This is the barn cat, Midnight.

This morning she decided to climb on my back while I was hooking up the hose to the faucet.
She works hard keeping the mice out of the barn.

We also have two indoor cats.
This is Stinky.
She's lazy.
She likes to take naps.

*     *     *     *     *

We've had some problems with the chickens and turkeys roosting in the barn.

The problem is they don't know how to use a bathroom. They leave their droppings all over the food barrels, and the hay in the stalls! Ewwww, YUCK!

Bryon and Matt installed bird spikes so the chickens and turkeys
will find someplace else to sleep at night!

I hope you have a wonderful week!

Animals Grow, Too!

Welcome back!

Your teacher told me that you learned about bullies last Friday. I'm so glad!

People can learn to be kind to each other, but there are times when animals can't. When that happens at our farm we have to send the animal away to another farm.

We had a rooster named Charlie who got very mean. We had to send him away so he wouldn't hurt anyone any more.

Charlie was a beautiful rooster, but when he got mean we had to send him away.

I hope you all learn how to be kind to one another, and to talk to each other if you are having problems.

*     *     *     *     *     *

Here are some photos of Remi and Echo that I took last year, and some photos of them from this year.

Here is Matt with Remi on the right side of the photo,
and Echo on the left side of the photo.
This was taken last year.

Echo wasn't supposed to grow any bigger, but she did! She is 2 years old.
If you look very closely at Echo's head you will see a white horn.
That's the spot where her horn fell off!
You got to see and hold her horn a few weeks ago.

Remi was supposed to grow, and he did! Remi is 1 1/2 years old.

This is Shorty. She isn't staying with us very long. She is a very nice cow.
She will have a calf (baby cow) near 18 October 2016.
That's when you will be in 2nd Grade.

Echo is going to have a calf, too! Her baby will be born near 25 March 2016.

Whose calf will be born first?

Shorty isn't staying with us very long because she is for sale. We hope someone will buy her and take her to a new farm, soon. We hope the new family will be kind to her!

*     *     *     *     *     *

I took some photos of the turkeys. The baby turkeys are almost the same size as their mother!

The turkey on the left is the mother, the two on the right are her babies.
They were born 1 September 2015, right after you started First Grade.

This is Chuck, the baby turkey's father.

Look at the turkey babies and their parents.
What parts of the baby turkeys look like their mother?
What looks different from their mother?
Both turkeys had the same mother and father. Do the baby turkeys look like their father?
Do the turkey babies look like each other?
What is the same, and what is different?

*     *     *     *     *     *

Here are two of the chicks that have grown up.
This is their favorite place to sleep at night.
They don't like to sleep with the other chickens.
We have some silly chickens on our farm!

*     *     *     *     *     *

I thought you would like to see a picture of the cuddliest dog in the world.
We love him!

One thing I don't like about having dogs is all the hair in the house!

Do you have a pet? Does it live in the house, or in the backyard, or in the barnyard?

What do you like best about having a pet? What is your least favorite thing about having a pet?

If you could choose a pet, what pet would you choose to have?

*     *     *     *     *     *

Next week I'll show you how we trim goat hooves. Do you trim your fingernails? We have to trim goat hooves and cat claws. Trimming fingernails is a much easier job.

Farm Friday * 13 November 2015

Welcome Back!

I hope you had fun on your field trip! The people who visited our farm while you were at the zoo had a great time, too!

I see Chuck all puffed up every morning!

This is what he looks like when he walks around.

What does he sound like?

What other sounds do you hear?

*     *     *     *     *     *

Thank you for your questions!

No, we don't have donkeys.
I think donkeys are adorable!
But they are also very, very loud.
Loud donkeys would be fine if we lived in the country,
but our farm is in town so we don't want loud animals.

Yes, we have cats. No, we don't have kittens.

This is Midnight, the barn cat.
She lives in the barn and has a job to do!
She loves having a treat of goat milk each time I milk the goats.

This is Cookie, she lives in the house.
She is very old! She is 17!
She also loves a treat of goat's milk every day.
Cookie won't drink milk right from the cow, or milk from the store.

No, we don't have rats.
We have cats and they take care of the rats and the mice.

*     *     *     *     *     *

How many birds do you count in the photo?

*     *     *     *     *     *

Look how the baby turkeys are growing!

Look how the chicks are growing!

*     *     *     *     *     *

This is Clover. She gets sick in the winter if she doesn't have a coat on.
Lots of animals grow thick winter coats, but Clover doesn't.
People don't grow winter coats, either!
Clover loves her winter coat because it keeps her nice and warm.
Are you as smart as Clover?
Do you wear your coat in the winter?

This is Misty, she grows a thick winter coat so she doesn't need to wear one like Clover does,
or like you and I do!

*     *     *     *     *     *

We planted a tree this week, but that night there was a big wind storm and it blew down.

I had to plant it again the next day, and tie it to the fence so it won't fall down again.
Do you see someone nibbling on the tree?

*     *     *     *     *     *

Thank you again for your questions, I hope you have a wonderful week!

Next week I'll tell you what kinds of food the animals eat.

Photos from the Farm * 22 October 2015

Welcome back from Fall Break!

I hope you had a nice vacation. I was out of town for Fall Break.

When we go out of town we have someone come take care of all the animals. It's a lot of work for one person to do by themselves. This time I was gone, but Matt was home to take care of the farm. He is used to the work so he did a great job and all the animals were well taken care of.

These bucks (daddy goats) are healthy and strong!
It's fall and they love to get dirty and smelly.
We don't give them a bath because it's not warm enough for them to dry off quickly.

Look how big the baby turkeys have gotten! 
Their wings have gotten so strong that they can fly over the stall door,
even though I cut their wing feathers.

They are big enough to be outside with all the other animals,
and they are smart enough to stay out of the big water barrels.
These turkeys have the same mother and the same father.
Do they look the same or different from each other?
Do they look like their parents?

*     *     *     *     *     *

Thank you for sending me questions. I like to answer questions about our farm and many of you had good questions.

We have one sheep, his name is Stew.

Sometimes Stew sneaks into the barn and hides.
He isn't very good at hiding, is he?
He isn't like most sheep, he's very friendly and loves to get attention.

No, our cows don't give milk.
Remi will never give milk because he is a boy cow, that's called a steer.
Echo will give milk when she has a calf (a baby cow) in March.

Remi is the dark cow, Echo is the light colored cow.

No, we don't have a horse. Our neighbor has a horse.
Horses are very expensive and they eat a lot of food.
I will take a picture of the neighbor's horse the next time I see her out grazing.

*     *     *     *     *     *

Do you remember Apple Day? I do!

One of your teachers took great photos! I don't have room to post all of them, but I have room to post four of them.

I hope you can find yourself in one of the pictures.

I had a wonderful time visiting you, and bringing a little bit of the farm to your school.

Remember to send my your ideas to name the turkey. I'll pick my 5 favorites and let the First Grade vote!

Have a great week and enjoy the beautiful fall weather. This is my favorite time of the year!

Photos from the Farm – Maps * 11 September 2015

Welcome back!

I hope you had a wonderful week and that you are still enjoying school.

Your teacher said that you are learning about maps in school. Maps are wonderful! They help us know where to go whether we are driving or walking. I love having a map to follow when I'm at the zoo so I can go right to the animals I want to see.

Here is what our farm looks like if you were flying over it in a helicopter.
We have fences in a few different places now that when the photo was taken.

This is what it looks like if I draw a map of the farm!

What looks the same between the two pictures? What looks different? Did I draw trees in the map? Did I draw the driveways? Can you find the house and the barn?

*     *     *     *     *     *

Do you remember the chicks that were born the first day of school?

These are the two chicks that were born on the first day of school, 19 August 2015. How many days old are they now?

They are starting to get their feathers. This one is still in the coop.

This chick is wondering what I'm doing.
He isn't used to having his picture taken every day.

Here are the turkey chicks that were born on 1 September 2015.
They are starting to get their feathers, too.

This is a picture on their birthday, the day they were born.
Do they look different now that they are older?

This is a video of the turkey chicks the day they were born.

This video was taken on Thursday, 10 September 2015 when they were 10 days old.

The mother hen is helping this chick find food.
Chickens eat grains, seeds, plants, and bugs. At the very end of the video you can see the mother hen catching a black bug and eating it!

*     *     *     *     *     *

That's all for this week!

Next week I'll show you what the barn looks like on the inside, and I'll show you a map of the barn. 

If you have any questions, please write them on a piece of paper and give them to your teacher. If you have good hand writing I'll post your question and answer it for everyone to see.