Mountain Sunday * 3 April 2016

South of the barn.
3 April 2016

East over the barn.
3 April 2016

North of the barn.
3 April 2016

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!

Mountain Sunday * 27 March 2016

South of the barn.
27 March 2016

East over the barn.
27 March 2016

North of the barn.
27 March 2016

A New Calf!

Welcome back!

We are so excited to show you our new calf!

This is Stumpy!

He was born Friday, March 22 2016

How old is he today?
Did he come sooner than we expected?
How many days early did he come?

This is how a calf drinks milk from his mother.
Echo is a wonderful mother!

Quin came to see Stumpy on the day he was born.
Quin is 3 years old.

My friend's cow had a calf the next day.
She watched it be born.
This is what a calf looks like right after she's born.

When they are born their hooves are covered with a soft covering called eponychium.

It covers with the hoofs to protect the mother while the calf is being born.
It dries quickly so their hooves get hard and they can stand on them.

This is what the calf looks like all dried off, but only a few hours old.

One of the first things we do after a calf is dried off is to measure them and weigh them. Nurses do the measured you when you were born, too!

We measure a calf's cannon bone.
That's the bone that goes from their ankle to their knee.
When Stumpy was born his was 6.5" long.
On Thursday (in the picture) his cannon bone was 7.5" long.
He grew 1" in a week!

We also weighed him the day he was born. He was 60.3 pounds. Most first graders weighs about 50 pounds. Stumpy weighed more than most of you the day he was born!

We also measure the height of his pin bone. He was 27.5" tall at his pin bone. Most 6 year olds are 42" tall, so you are taller than Stumpy.

A cow's pin bone is the top part of the hip on her back leg.

Echo measures 48" at her pin bone.
Would your head be taller than Echo's pin bone measurement?

I'll have more measurements and counting for you next week!

*     *     *     *     *     *

Here are the egg counts for this week:

• On Friday I collected 5 brown eggs, 2 green eggs, and 1 duck egg.
• On Saturday I collected 6 brown eggs, 2 green eggs, and 0 duck eggs.
• On Sunday I collected 14 brown eggs, 8 green eggs, and 1 duck egg.
• On Monday I collected 7 brown eggs, 7 green eggs, and 1 duck egg.
• On Tuesday I collected 17 brown eggs, 11 green eggs, 0 duck eggs, and 1 little egg.
• On Wednesday I collected 8 brown eggs, 3 green eggs, 0 duck eggs, and 1 little egg.
• On Thursday I collected 10 brown eggs, 5 green eggs, 0 duck eggs, and 2 little eggs.

We have two small, gray chickens. They lay small eggs. They started laying this week! 

Do you remember this friendly chicken who comes to say hi to me each morning?
She lays little eggs!

Next week I'll post more pictures about how we measure cows and goats. I'll also post more pictures of Stumpy and Echo. We're getting milk from Echo so in the next few weeks I'll show you how we milk her.

I hope you have a wonderful week!

Mountain Sunday * 20 March 2016

Yesterday was the first day of spring!

South of the barn.
20 March 2016

East over the barn.
20 March 2016

North of the barn.
20 March 2016

How Many Eggs?

Welcome back!

Last year the first graders enjoyed making a graph of how many eggs I collected. I thought you might like to do that, too.

Every week I'll let you know how many eggs I've collected. After 6 weeks we'll both make graphs to see which color eggs I collected the most of.

Here's a video of what happened on Sunday.

That is a lot of eggs! Silly chickens!

We find eggs in lots of different places.
We found these eggs under the wagon!

We find eggs in the feeders in the stalls, too!

• Sunday I collected 14 brown eggs, 4 green eggs, and 14 duck eggs
• Monday I collected 3 brown eggs, 1 green egg, and 0 duck eggs
• Tuesday I collected 5 brown eggs, 3 green eggs, and 0 duck eggs
  (I think the duck is hiding her eggs again!
• Wednesday I collected 7 brown eggs, 3 green eggs, and 1 duck egg
• Thursday I collected 11 brown eggs, 2 green eggs, and 0 duck eggs

That's a lot of eggs!

*     *     *    *    *    *

Yes, we have a chicken coop.
It's not a fancy coop, but it keeps the chickens safe from raccoons and mink.
Some animals like to attack chickens while they are sleeping so
we have a coop that is strong enough to keep predators out.

Our chicken coop is a big wire cage with a locking door.
It's covered with two tarps to keep the wind out.
There are wood boards along the bottom to keep the
cold wind from sweeping underneath in the winter.

I don't know!
We try to make sure all our chickens are in the coop at night
but some of them are sneaky and sleep in the rafters of the barn.
I'll take a video of the chickens coming out of their coop and you
can count the ones that sleep inside.

Our chickens eat something called, "lay mash."
Lay mash is a specially prepared food for chickens that has
the right amount of protein for the chickens to be able to stay healthy
and lay eggs.
It looks like corn meal.

*     *     *    *    *    *

This is a funny video because Scout likes to herd.
That's his job!

What is herding? Herding is what a dog or pair of dogs do with livestock. They can gather up a bunch of sheep or cows and move them where the shepherd wants them.

Scout thinks I want Xander to follow me into the barn. He guides Xander carefully from the gate to the barn. Did you notice that Scout made sure that Xander didn't trip on the wood on the right side of the video? That's a good dog!

*     *     *    *    *    *

Look! All the hoops are up for the greenhouse!
There is still a lot of work to do, but this is a great start!

Mountain Sunday * 13 March 2016

South of the barn.
13 March 2016

East over the barn.
13 March 2016

North of the barn.
13 March 2016