Sorry I have not been posting much lately, but I have been so busy! First of all we had to get our brooder set up in the basement for our new chicks. Ordering these huge totes, making secure tops to keep out certain feline elements and setting up the heat lamps. Baby chicks need it their environment to be about 90 degrees! My husband and I were joking that they also needed lawn chairs and sunglasses!
Then when we got the chicks, I was pretty enchanted. I spent a lot of time playing with the little fluffies. They are pretty darn cute and fun to watch.
 | We got a dozen meat chickens and two laying hen chicks. The meat chicks are Cornish Crosses and once they get all their feathers they will be snowy white. Our laying hen chicks are a breed called Opington. The hens that we already have are Opingtons and they are excellent layers, so we decided not to mess with success! <----------------------Our hens |
| These chicks are growing like weeds. In only ten days the Cornish Crosses have easily doubled in size. They are looking more like young chickens that the baby chicks they were. They have lost a lot of their chick fuzz and their feather are slowly growing in, leaving them with bald patches. They look pretty comical, especially when they do what my husband and I call "chicken yoga." I have no idea what they are really doing, but they sit on their little butts and stretch out one of their legs while leaning over. They hold it for several seconds and then stand back up. It is hilarious! It looks just like yoga! I tried very hard to get a picture of it, but they just would not cooperate, every time I got close with my phone, they jumped up. Bad chicks! |  |
The cold weather is refusing to give up, here in Michigan. Some days I wonder if these chicks are going to reach maturity in my basement. The temperature at night is way too low to even think of putting the babies outside. We have moved the small coop into one of our barns and covered the doorway that is used for the chickens to go out into the yard. They will still have lots of room to run around in the coop itself and in the screened portion underneath, but it will keep them in a small area where we can put the heat lamps. I don't want to put them outside till it is at least 65 degrees.
Another thing that has been occupying my time is readying our house for our new kitten! We have decided to adopt a little orange kitten we found at the Blue Water Humane Society. He got neutered yesterday and we will be picking him up tomorrow to bring him home. I am so excited! It has been over 8 years since we have had a kitten. Preparing the house and making it safe has been a job, not to mention reading up on how to introduce the little one to the two cats we already have.
Our 8 year old cat is so fiesty, I will be happy she will be getting someone to play with. She constantly pounces on me during the day when I am trying to work. Being a Siamese, she is very vocal about her displeasure than I will not play with her all day. Our other cat is 15 years old and well beyond the tussling stage, so she is no help keeping the Siamese entertained. I can hardly wait to loose the little lion on her....hehehe.
My Cats
| Bitty  | Chee  |
New Kitty
Nameless so far!
Nameless so far!
We haven't decided on a name yet, though I am leaning towards Anduin (An-do-when) or Andy for short. Basically, we never call our Cats by their names, anyway. We come up with a nick name in the first week or two and that is what they are called. Bitty's real name is Benna, and Chee's is Trinity. They would not recognize either! So I guess we will just wait and see what name presents itself once we get him.
I'll take some pictures and post in a couple days so you can see him in action!
Jade :)
| I recently bought this cat tree for the new kitten. I was surprised at how good the quality was for only costing $35. I figured that the hubby would have to reinforce it, but it was not necessary. I can recommend this cat tree for quality and a good price. |  |
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