Baby Chicks and Sorting Cows

BTAP ZZ Tom and Zeke the cat. Tom chased Zeke around the woods for a bit. He's very curious about cats and wants to play. Zeke on the other hand sees no point in engaging Tom in anyway.

It's been a busy week with work and work and farm life.  Sunday we spent six hours sorting cows, vaccinating, worming, installing ear tags and tattoos.  All this activity is in preparation for AIing (artificial insemination)  nine of the cows and heifers.  The rest of the herd, much to BTAP Thor's delight, has been turned out with him for natural breeding. He's only 17 months old and not as tall as most of the cows, but he's game.  It will take him a month or so to get the hang of the process, but I have no doubt he'll do just fine.

Bobby, the yearling Black Angus bull has not been left out of the game.  He remains in the bull pen but BTAP Bramble and Burn's Misty have joined him for the summer.  Bramble is Thor's half sister and so she goes to Bobby.  Misty is a big, leggy, Limousin Shorthorn cross heifer.  Her calves will benefit from Bobby's shorter, stockier genes. Both are yearling heifers born last March, same as Bobby.  Bobby also insures that their calves will be black and polled, which makes them more valuable - though not necessarily better. 

Broody hen on her stinking nest.

The chickens roost on top of the interior chicken cage. They have to fly up to the top of this wire enclosed six foot cage, but they do it every night. It gets very hot up in the rafters of the chicken house in the summer, but they feel safe up there and so brave the heat.  Even though the sun has been up and hour, they stay in bed until I bring them feed and water each morning  The brown hen on the right is a Speckled Sussex.

The broody white hen has hatched one tiny little brown and gold chick. It is obviously not a chick from any egg she laid but it is very cute.  It hatched Tuesday night and was still a little wet ball of peeping baby Wednesday morning, but when I checked on them yesterday evening it was all dry and fluffy and peeking out from under the hen's wing.  The hen had gone to sitting on a nest of eggs that had been deposited by a variety of chickens in just one day.  I think she may have added one or two of her own, but somewhere over the last three weeks she broke an egg and the nest stinks. She doesn't seem to mind. Anyway, we hope a couple more eggs hatch soon and that the new little one survives. It's very, very cute.

Left to right, Big Chicky head rooster and Booster Rooster who was hatched last August, Chloe the Aracana hen that lays green eggs and one of the Buff Orpington hens.  I suspect Booster is the father of the new baby chick.