Jan 22 2006
Rainy Days
The last week or so has been pretty rainy down here. Some days we just get rain in the morning, but today (Sunday) it’s been going pretty much all day. It’s not too bad, since it’s still warm (70 degrees up here in the elevations), but it does make everything really muddy, so we can’t ride bikes / hike / swim / etc. So, just like Chicago in the winter, we’re having some lazy days reading and watching movies.
Today we found that one of the hens gave birth to 11 chicks! For a while we were in a panic, since the mother had been chased off…but fortunately, we found the hen and reunited her with her chicks. Baby chicks are pretty hardy (they even get shipped USPS!), but they get cold really easily (even in this climate).
Tomorrow I’ll probably build a brooder, in case we get some orphan chicks in the future. (A brooder is basically a box to put the chicks in, along with a heat lamp to keep them warm). At last count, I think we’re up to about 40 chickens on the farm! Since we’re been here, we’ve had two broods: One had 5 and this new one had 11.
3 Responses to “Rainy Days”
Lucky for us, it never gets too cold here. However, the I Love Lucy episode was correct! You need to keep the chicks at 95 degrees for the first week or so. After that, you can bring down the temp 5 degrees every week.
Now this is if they are all alone (no mother hen around). If the mother hen is around, she keeps them warm, feeds them, etc.
Dear Ron, how I’ve missed you so. I was thinking about buying up some property in Puerto Rico, so that I can visit when I’m not staying at my properties in Haiti and Cayman Islands. Were you able to get a good bargain on it? The only problem is, I don’t know where I will be able to get my Lexus serviced! Any tips?
Love, Frances.
No mention of Puerto Rican subsidies, though… Hmmm.