Vacations are strange now

We went on vacation for Spring Break.  Just five days at a condo in Massanutten, Va.  It snowed.  Since when does it snow 6 inches on Spring Break?

The entire trip was strange.

I was eating a salad for dinner and I wanted to take the scraps out to the chickens.  But there are no chickens on vacation.  So I wanted to put it in a compost container.  But there was no compost container.

So I finally decided to just put it in a grocery bag and we will bring it home for the compost bin.  Who does that?!?!

I went to throw away some paper, but there was no recycle bin.

I went to throw away the box from a toy for the kids.  There was no recycle bin.

I seriously wanted to bring everything back with us so I could sort it properly.  I hate to think of everything just going to the dump.

Apparently all of my conservation habits are so embedded in my routine that I have a hard time just being "normal" for a few days on vacation.

The update on the property

I just received a phone call from the appraiser.  She wanted to make an appointment to come appraise the property and to show me what the changes are.  After we made the appointment I asked her if I could find out about the changes now, instead of waiting a week.

She said they aren't going to have an access road anymore.  WIN!

And then she tells me that she's still waiting on final confirmation that they will be doing an easement and not a right of way.

WAIT.

They are going to be TAKING my land.

They are going to be building a ROAD ON MY LAND.

But now they are going to call it an easement instead of a right of way.

WAIT.

Let me explain this.

Right of way = they take it, it is their land, it is no longer my land, and they pay me for the land they take.

Easement = they take the land, they build on the land, but they say it is "my" land so they don't pay me for it.

So they are putting the road on my land.  Cars will be driving down this road on MY land.  And I won't receive any financial compensation.

I told her that if it is MY land then "I'm going to put up No Trespassing signs and I will stand out there with a shot gun."  (Okay so I don't own a shotgun, but she doesn't know that.)

It makes no sense that I would be okay with them taking my land, putting a road on it (so I can't use it/enjoy it), and yet not compensating me for taking my land.

This makes sense to them though.

I'm waiting for the plans to be emailed to me and for the meeting on Monday.  I will not allow them to take my land without compensating me.  It is that simple.

Stinky Chickie

Mama hen was going after the little chick that had been soaked in the rotten egg after it hatched.  I didn't know why so I snatched the poor thing up and brought it up stairs with me.

And we took a nap together

The widdle itty bitty chickie fell asleep

I was surprised that I was able to sleep for two hours with the chick on me.  I was so worried about the dog jumping up to lick it or about me rolling over and smoothing it.  I did have to adjust my arms and legs a few times and she'd wake up chirping, but I kept her warm and she'd fall back asleep with me.

I realized that she still smelled like rotten egg and I wondered if this was why the hen was attacking her.  The only solution was to give her another bath to try to get the smell off.

I really don't think Faith likes more "babies" in the house

So after a few minutes of eating.  It was bath time.

I don't think she was very happy

Under the heat lamp, the hen pecked once but it wasn't hard.

I moved a stuffed animal in with her since the hen wasn't interested in keeping her company

See her to the left next to the stuffed animal

She did fluff back up after a few minutes.

She smells better but still faintly like the rotten egg when she's up close to your nose

The hen seemed to be fine but an hour later when I went back down to get something, I saw her chasing the poor chick and pecking it.  I snatched her up to safety, grabbed one of those little fuzz balls that you can see sleeping next to the stuffed animal, and brought the two of them upstairs into a box of their own.

Chirp Chirp Chirp

I could only find eight chicks, until I looked under her wing...

Someone is trying to escape

Shh!  They're sleeping!

Who knew a Bandaid box would be so comfortable

I think it is official....

Perhaps I shouldn't correct people when they say I live on a farm anymore...

farm  

/färm/

Noun An area of land and its buildings used for growing crops and rearing animals, typically under the control of one owner or manager. crop   /kräp/ Noun A cultivated plant that is grown as food: "the main crops were oats and barley".

Wrestling kids

The brooder

Real chicken farmers have real brooders.

I just throw something together in the basement.

I haven't heard anyone complaining.

The Headcount

The first chickie

The second chickie

I really can't tell the 2nd and the 3rd one apart, and it's getting harder to tell the first one apart from them too.

The third chickie

Fluffy White Bottom - The renter's favorite

The Rotten Egg Chickie

Friday night's Chickie

Saturday morning's Chickie

Freaking Adorable or Chickin' Adorable

There's a chick sleeping in the toilet paper roll

And several go inside the box to get some rest

Add caption

And sometimes they just fall asleep in the food dish

They don't seem to like posing for the camera

And they don't understand why I'm always looking at them

Rotten Eggs and a Chick

Wednesday afternoon I came home to a nasty smell in the house.  I thought maybe the hen had pooped again, but this was much much worse.

Be thankful that smells can't be shared over the internet.

I picked up the hen to see if she'd pooped and found a new chick and a rotten egg that had exploded.

All. Over. Everything.

The chick, all of the eggs, the bottom of the hen, everything was coated in rotten egg nastiness. 

I put the chick under warm water from the faucet, twice, in an attempt to clean her off and then put her back with the hen (who has stopped pecking everyone) to keep her warm.  She wasn't able to stand up and seemed dizzy every time I saw her.

She's obviously the one with matted feathers on the left

I cleaned out the box and that evening I used warm water to clean off all of the eggs.  I've read that bad bacteria can go through the porous shells and infect the chicks inside.  This was the nastiest smell I've ever dealt with and I was feeling nauseous the entire time.

Even once I got all of the eggs and box cleaned and new bedding, it still smelled like rotten egg, just more faintly.

The good news is that the rotten egg chick is doing better.  She no longer seems dizzy, and although I think she needs another washing because her feathers are still slightly matted down, she's acting just like the other chicks now.