Yesterday was a very busy but fun day. I got up knowing that our baby chicks should be arriving anytime. I found a little after 9 AM that our baby chicks were sitting on someone's desk in the post office. I got in the car right away to go get them. I did not have enough time to get them to my friend's garage, where we are keeping them until they are fully feathered and ready to be outside full time, so I brought them home. Mary and I immediately took them out of their small box and put them in a larger box we had laying around here. We mixed up the mineral/electrolyte/water mixture for them and dipped each of their little beaks in it to teach them how to drink.
Next, we ran out to get our heat lamp out of the coop because they were obviously too cold. Chuck had done a great job of installing it though and we could not get it out fast enough. Hmm, plan B on keeping them warm. We cranked up the heat in the house, put them in the big bathroom with both space heaters running on high directed right at them. Finally, they warmed up after Mary sat and blew the space heater over their temporary cage. In the meantime, Makenzie's speech therapist came.
After Makenzie's speech therapist left, we quickly put the chicks back in the truck and made the short trek to our friend's garage. They had everything ready for us. We took them out, hooked up the heat lamp and watched how they adjusted to their new home. It shortly became obvious that they were still too cold. I ran Mary and Makenzie home as Mary had a Spanish quiz that afternoon to study for and grabbed our heat lamp.
When I got home, I opened up our chicken coop and with scissors in hand began to disassemble Chuck's installation of our heat lamp in it. He had zip tied the chord tightly to the top brace with at least 10 zip ties. You can never be too careful you know when you are an engineer:) Several of them took quite a while to wiggle my scissors underneath the tie to snip it. It took me over 10 minutes to finally free the heat lamp. The next dilemma was how to get the rope across the board overhanging the coop in my friends garage. It was too high to reach. I also was not quite sure how I was going to secure and plug in the lamp once I got it over the beam. I looked at the tools I had quickly grabbed from our house, took the heavy duty bungee chord, threw it over the board (made it over the first try), tied rope to it and then tied the lamp onto it using a beautiful slip knot, if I don't say so myself. After I turned the lamp on the chicks looked like they were finally warming up.
I came home just in time to grab Mary and Makenzie and get Mary to class on time. Makenzie and I then headed to my friends farm in Richmond for the rest of the afternoon for our adventures there. More on that later. Whew, I am tired today and we also have a busy day today. Maybe, a little rest for the weary will come tomorrow. My doctor wanders why I can't rest enough after my sinus surgery:) I am loving every minute of this though. We took one more step to my dreams of food self-sufficiency today.
Next, we ran out to get our heat lamp out of the coop because they were obviously too cold. Chuck had done a great job of installing it though and we could not get it out fast enough. Hmm, plan B on keeping them warm. We cranked up the heat in the house, put them in the big bathroom with both space heaters running on high directed right at them. Finally, they warmed up after Mary sat and blew the space heater over their temporary cage. In the meantime, Makenzie's speech therapist came.
After Makenzie's speech therapist left, we quickly put the chicks back in the truck and made the short trek to our friend's garage. They had everything ready for us. We took them out, hooked up the heat lamp and watched how they adjusted to their new home. It shortly became obvious that they were still too cold. I ran Mary and Makenzie home as Mary had a Spanish quiz that afternoon to study for and grabbed our heat lamp.
When I got home, I opened up our chicken coop and with scissors in hand began to disassemble Chuck's installation of our heat lamp in it. He had zip tied the chord tightly to the top brace with at least 10 zip ties. You can never be too careful you know when you are an engineer:) Several of them took quite a while to wiggle my scissors underneath the tie to snip it. It took me over 10 minutes to finally free the heat lamp. The next dilemma was how to get the rope across the board overhanging the coop in my friends garage. It was too high to reach. I also was not quite sure how I was going to secure and plug in the lamp once I got it over the beam. I looked at the tools I had quickly grabbed from our house, took the heavy duty bungee chord, threw it over the board (made it over the first try), tied rope to it and then tied the lamp onto it using a beautiful slip knot, if I don't say so myself. After I turned the lamp on the chicks looked like they were finally warming up.
I came home just in time to grab Mary and Makenzie and get Mary to class on time. Makenzie and I then headed to my friends farm in Richmond for the rest of the afternoon for our adventures there. More on that later. Whew, I am tired today and we also have a busy day today. Maybe, a little rest for the weary will come tomorrow. My doctor wanders why I can't rest enough after my sinus surgery:) I am loving every minute of this though. We took one more step to my dreams of food self-sufficiency today.
.bmp)
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