Sweet Local Farm

How cute were our little chickens!

So fluffy!

I keep going out to check on the chickens. The temperature outside is 16 degrees, but the coop is much warmer. The little thermometer I put by the window reads 29 degrees, but their water, which is directly under the light, doesn’t appear to be frozen.

This is how they were a few minutes ago:

I took the photo from outside so I didn’t disturb them or let in the cold air by opening the door.

While I was outside I captured a few shots of the barn and house in the snow and lit by the still pretty full blue moon:

It is really cold. This morning it was 10 degrees. We thought the chickens were coping well, but today I noticed some serious frostbite on our rooster.

Parts of his comb and wattle turned grayish black. The other rooster, the less dominant one didn’t have any symptoms. He seems to stay in the coop more which could be why. The hens have some mild symptoms. To remedy the situation we closed up the coop. They will have to stay inside for the next week or so as we experience very harsh weather and low temperatures. We also rigged a 60 watt light bulb on a timer to run from dusk until dawn. We own a heat lamp from when the chickens were chicks, but the thought of that running all night in the barn made me nervous.

We are still not sure how to treat the frostbite. The internet is filled with conflicting advice. Some say use petroleum jelly or neosporin on the comb and wattle, but some say that it doesn’t work. Some say the frosted area needs to be docked, but that sounds extreme. Others say leave it alone and it will eventually scab and fall off. We are hoping their improved, warmer coop keeps them from any more damage. We also gave them some antibiotic to ward off infection.

Does anyone have any advice?

Living on the farm isn’t all fun and games. We do more than play in the garden and decorate for holidays. We spent the last few days cleaning up the barnyard.

We cleaned and swept out the chicken coop and filled the nesting boxes with clean dry hay. We spread all the manure on the garden. We also mucked out the goat pen and cleaned out the old hay. We threw that on the garden too.

Have you ever given a goat a pedicure? I never had either until two days ago. But, the goats need their hooves trimmed before winter or they could experience uncomfortable health problems like hoof rot.

I ordered the best hoof sheers I could find and Luke and I went on a mission to catch the goats and hold them steady for a few moments. It wasn’t easy, but we got the job done!

After reading about it in a few goat books, I watched a couple videos online to get the technique down.

Hoof Trimming Goats — powered by eHow.com

Our kids, Birch and Rosemary, are so playful. They love to run, jump, and kick. We have been taking them for walks around the yard for exercise. They easily jump on and off boulders and sprint across the lawn with Luke and me tagging along.

Luke playing papa goat:

Sharing a dance:

They are so sweet:

Here is one of our little hens:

This post is a Four-fer…aka, 4 posts condensed into the pleasure of one reading.

When we first moved into the house, the Raymond’s had given us a bottle of Champagne to celebrate. Since we hadn’t officially closed on the property at the time, we didn’t quite feel compelled to celebrate yet. But we’re happy to announce that as of 4pm yesterday, it became official. The ‘For Sale’ sign even came down…so hopefully people stop pulling into our driveway and peeking into our windows.

We also finally set up our rehearsal space in the basement. I’ve been waiting 15+ years to have my drums set up in the same place I live. Sweet Local Farm officially rocks! (In addition to the overwhelming amount of field stones we dig up everyday).

The Sidehatch/Bampf! tour bus pulled into the Sweet Local Workshop yesterday to get some work done. We’ll be renting it out to our friends in the Void Union for June, so we want to make sure it’s in tip top shape for them.

The Chicks have graduated from their infancy stage and have now been relocated to their own cozy apartment in the lower level of the barn. Check out Chick Cam to see what they are currently up to.

And on a final note…

Is this not the cutest thing you’ve ever seen?

Since our Live Stream is down for the moment, I figured I’d share these short clips of the chicks under direct supervision of Tofu the cat. She really does make a great baby-sitter, as long as she herself is being watched. These were shot on my phone, so please disregard the quality.

Watch the chickies strut their stuff live HERE

They are cute. They are little. They are here to stay! We welcomed eight baby chicks into our home on Wednesday. Sarah Claire was there to help set up the brooder. Its a toasty 92 degrees in there. The chicks don’t have names yet, so if you have any ideas, let us know.

We are in the process of setting up a live chick cam so you can hang out with the babies and listen to some real “tweets”.