Candeling week 1 or 2

We tried candeling again yesterday.  Yesterday would have made the eggs 7-14 days old.  I don't know when they were laid, only that I brought Silkie Sue into the house on the 23rd, so none of the eggs can be more recent than 7 days, and she wasn't broody before 14 days ago.

It would have made sense to take pictures yesterday when I had another pair of adult hands that could have helped.  It really makes it easier to see inside the egg when TWO hands are around the flashlight and egg, but that wouldn't leave any hands for holding the camera, so this is the best I could do.

That dark black spot on the right side is something - I think it's the heart, and I know it's part of a baby chick

That area on the left is an air sack inside the egg

That dark mass is something growing and you can see an air sack on the right side of the egg

This is the same egg, but the mass moved

I can't see anything in this egg except for the air sac.  That could mean it's completely full of a baby chick

Next time I have an adult in the house when it's dark enough to candle eggs, I'll try to get better pictures.

Progress

I forced myself to get up and go finish at least one project.

So the youngest son helped me put the dots on the strawberry rocks after I painted the green stems and I finished painting the vegetable rocks.  I set them outside to spray the clear coat on top and got a picture.

Then I decided to try to brush the goats when I fed them.  I did manage to get a bit of extra fluff off them.  Trust me, you don't want to see it.  I did a quick clean of the chicken coops and then measured the garden so I could make my official planting layout.

Unfortunately either my measurements are off, my brain isn't working, or my garden hates me because I just can't seem to get an accurate diagram going...

Just a little goat play

We got this playset two weeks ago and finally got it put together (with the help of a much stronger male friend) last night.  

The goats can't climb rungs, so this morning I nailed a piece of plywood to the rungs and nailed a couple pieces of wood across it to help the goats get up.  

We tried to lure them up with treats

Kelly has always been more agile and athletic than Carrie, so it was no surprise that Carrie quickly gave up.

I realized that the plywood was just too steep for them, so I moved a crate over hoping it might help a little.

Kelly was the only one that was willing to try.

Checking the gap

Look at the back foot dangling

She got down and came back two minutes later to try again

And she made the jump

After she finished eating she discovered this handy head scratcher.

 And she seemed to enjoy tasting all of the pieces of the structure.

Carrie on the other hand didn't get very far.

She spent the first 15 minutes just pressing her face against my leg.

She managed to take one step off the ground.

And then I tried to lure her up with more treats.

But the jump was just too much for her and she quickly got off the crate.

I'll build something to make their climb up a bit easier for them.

During all of this, Jenny was perfectly happy laying her fat belly down in the old dog house.

Only about 7 more days until she gives birth

Clyde is wooing the girls

I finally got a video of Clyde going after one of the girls.  Unfortunately you can't see the initial dance he does, but this is once he catches a girl.

She finally ate!

Silkie Sue has not gotten off of her eggs in a week.

Since she has been brought into the house she hasn't had any of the water or the food that has been put out and she hasn't gone to the bathroom.  So I did what I thought needed to be done.

I picked her up and set her on the ground, in front of the food.

This is what she did the first two times that I picked her up.  You would have thought I would have just left her alone.

I didn't.

Finally, the third time that I picked her up she drank.  And she drank.  And she drank.

For ten minutes, I'm not exaggerating, she drank water.

Then she got back on the eggs.

A couple hours later I heard a noise in her pen and I went to check on her, she was leaning out of the nest and eating some food.

It's never enough

Definitely didn't get enough done today.  In fact, there isn't much to show for it.

I got the rocks painted since it was sunny today.  Of course I still have to paint the labels and strawberry designs on them tonight.

I cut down stumps and broken tree branches with the chainsaw for about an hour.  My pants looked much dirtier in person.

I did buy the corner posts for my garden and I got them in the ground and marked off the area and the path with bright pink ribbon.

The wind is blowing, but even if the lines were straight, my path is WAY off.

 And I spray painted our rooster for spring.  I had no plan for this other than to make it look like an Easter egg.  Half way through I knew it wasn't working and I decided to just have fun with the paint.  It looks horrible.

I should be embarrassed, but it's a metal rooster, it's suppose to look horrible, right?

That's it.  I didn't get anything else accomplished and since the youngest son needs to be picked up in about 30 minutes, nothing else will get done today.

Not a healthy breakfast

Preface:  Normally I have 2-3 eggs for breakfast in the morning, sometimes with a glass of milk.  Breakfast is usually a healthy meal and we don't normally even have things like this in our house.

Now on with the story.

This morning I was not healthy.  This morning, I made this for breakfast.

I'm not going to lie, they were pretty good.

And then I sent a message to the renter saying "This is what you missed out on this morning" and included the picture below, because she slept at her friends house last night but she had wanted to try these.  

**** Next time, I want to make the cinnamon rolls from scratch and try this again.  ****

Calling it a day

I spent about an hour making newspaper planting containers.  I don't want to say pots since they were small. The biggest issue was that I didn't want big ones since only one seed will go in each little cup.  I also didn't want them deep since they're just for the pre-planting time in the house.

Cut up the newspaper - actually cut it to half this size

Then cut that in half, and folded the top edge over

A Maglight flashlight was the best size I could find to wrap around

For the first 20ish, I folded the ends together.  After 20ish, I started using tape.

Folded the bottom up and twisted my hand around it to try to tighten it.

I couldn't set them down or they would start to come apart

 I made four at a time and then could hold them in each section of this tray and fill them with dirt.  Once the dirt was in, they stood up on their own and didn't fall apart.

40 cups here for the next wave of indoor planting in a couple weeks

I planted the cauliflower, scallions, and calendula (a flower the chickens will eat)

Here is a picture of the lettuce

And the broccoli finally started popping up

I moved a few huge boulders that took me awhile to maneuver  but I'm nearly done with the final bed and with raising the middle bed.  I still have to raise the largest flower bed that's at the front of the house.  I realized that it needs to be higher if I really expect it to hide the foundation of the house.  I had used much larger boulders, but it looks like I need a second layer.

I also brought in the rocks I collected this morning to paint as garden labels and strawberries when they dry.

I have to get the raised beds done tomorrow because I go back to work on Thursday and Friday and I'm renting a trailer to get soil on Saturday.

I wish I'd gotten more done today, but I also have to admit that I got 6 out of 9 things done on my list for today.  My back is starting to ache.