Good Wednesday morning from Outback Farm!

 Sun rise and

moon set?

First egg!!!!!

NOW I am excited! And I almost smooshed it. It was on the ground so I thought it was an egg shell I had given them in the scraps. I always try to smoosh them all. It was hard. So I picked it up and it was a cute little tiny egg! The first one!!!!!

No eggs yet

No eggs today. I know that moving animals from one home to a new home messes with them. Like goats in milk will really slow down in production. Cows will too. But then they pick back up when they get back into a routine. And hens do the same thing.

These hens (or pullets, since some are not laying yet and some have just started laying, and they are less than 5 months old?) are still young. And just starting out their laying careers. And the guy I got them from had fed them a 16% layer pellet. I don't feed mine layer feed. They will be getting the fermented grains with expeller pressed sunflower pellets and kelp. Plus clabbered raw milk and scraps. So it might take them a few weeks to get into a routine here. Plus they can go outside in their yard for sun and grass and bugs and stuff.

I cleaned out the nest boxes and put fresh older hay in them. And put an egg in one nest. I hope that will get them going soon. I'll look for a few wooden eggs.

I was so excited to come home and go check for eggs and find a few. Then nothing there. Oh well. It will happen. I have to just hang in there.

The new girls at Outback Farm

 My new chickens! I went tonight to Sand Mt. to get them. 8 Red Star and 6 White Leghorns. They are just starting to lay! Am I crazy for paying $15 each for the RS and $12 each for the Leghorns??? I hope they are worth it. But I had to have my own fresh eggs. I have missed them SO much.

I had to keep them in the cage til I got the run up for them. I had bought a 100" roll of 6" welded wire fence a few weeks ago to make a yard for the Barred Rock pullets I got last month. So I thought I better go ahead and get it up before I let the bigger new hens in with the little ones. That way, the littles can get away if they need to. And they did! Their first time out since I've had them here.

They did ok at first, but then the bigger hens started bullying the littles. Poor girls. But I'm sure they'll all be getting along fine in a few days. There's always that "getting to know each other" stage. I clipped the new girl
s wings before I let them all out.

This is their new yard. There is a little space between the boards on the side of the coop for them to jump in and out into the yard. It's pretty big. But will be all brown in about a month. I hope to be able to let them out some in the evenings soon.

And I butchered 21 more CC meat birds this morning. 12 left to do. I'll get them in the next few days. I am so tired of chickens right now! I just got done putting them all in the freezer.

Also made 14 half pint jars of peppermint jelly for market. So have had another busy productive Monday.

At market

Yesterday at the farmer's market, these wonderful kids played for us! It was so nice to hear. The weather was nice. The people were out shopping and buying all the goodies at the market. And we had music! The guy in the green shirt is the leader. He has a few kids. Then some neighborhood kids were there too. They just live up the road from the market. Bill, in the blue jeans, is a fellow farmer, joining in with his guitar. It was fun. Music and good food. What could be better than that?

Flowers and cats

 This is Cosmo on the left with her son Alex, on the chair with the pot of bee balm. I love this picture. I had to run back in the house for my camera, thinking they'd not be there when I came back out. But they were. I got several shots of them before they got tired of all the flashes, I guess.

Then Sybil had to come see what was going on. And eat some grass. Silly cats!

Clouds today

 I went to the Main St. farmer's market this afternoon. It was really hot today. I started seeing these awesome clouds rolling in from the North heading South. They were so beautiful.

                     I have never seen a cloud like this before. Look at the top. It's smooth. So cool.

   

                                                  I had to get a closer view if this cloud.

And this one. They were changing so fast. I just love clouds. Then as I was leaving, I could see lightening in some of them. On the way home, there were a few sprinkles. But that was all. So amazing, these big huge clouds.