Chicks Hatched!!

Here they are!

 Chicks Hatched! So what is it about Sundays around the Silver Spur Ranch? Even though it’s supposed to be a day of rest, seems that is when our livestock goes into labor! Hee hee! The calf was born in the wee hours of a Sunday morn. We hadn’t fed the livestock this morning as we left early for church. When we got home and I was feeding the chickens and turkeys, I looked in to our Buff Orpington hen who has been nesting.

 She was in a different spot (not on her eggs), then I noticed egg shells and looked further…sure enough, there were 8 little perfect chicks!!

Kelly had to fight me to give her a nest as I had been short on eggs the day he separated her from the flock and I didn’t have an extra nesting box. I’m thankful that he went ahead and did it anyway. Isn’t that always the way? Well, it often is with me! (wink) Today is also my birthday and he reminded me of the fact that she hatched them on my birthday! I made a joke and said, “Men…they’ll do anything to get out of shopping!” Ha ha! Well…actually he didn’t plan it that way but it was pretty funny!

Since they are newbies we are not going to fuss with sexing them just yet. I was going to re order this year, but now I am rethinking that idea. We might just hatch our own this year as I’ve not been selling many chickens or eggs since we moved to Texas, like I used to in Colorado. In Colorado, I was selling hens and eggs to other Ranchers who had orders to fill for restaurants and such but their production was down due to the cold weather. Kelly was raised in the mountains of Colorado and really has a keen sense when it comes to cold weather and getting livestock to produce in 20 below conditions! In Colorado, I would order 100 chicks or more a year. Every 2 yrs. I would rotate and butcher the older hens unless they were good broody hens. We had one, Short Stuff (a little bitty Banty hen) who would get very upset with me if I got eggs out from under her. She would let me, but she was NOT a happy camper. The funniest thing was a rooster she hatched who was from another hen’s egg. He was huge but whenever another chicken would go after him, he’d run and hide behind his little banty hen mama!

 Stay tuned for more updates around the ranch! Give us a call and head on out to the ranch when y’all get a chance.

From up at the Main Bunkhouse,

Happy Trails!

Elvira