The Storm Blew in some FLUFF!

Surprise, surprise!!  There is never a dull moment on the farm!  Excitement is always just around the corner...always!  First, I'll tell you about our little chick you see here in the picture below.  Little chickie is a Wyandotte...either a boy or girl, as we ordered some of each...who was feeling a little under the weather.  So we set up a little Chickie Hospital in an ice cream pail and placed this little bird under a separate heat lamp from the others in hopes that, with extra care, it would recover.

 Little Chick doesn't want to stand up.

(By the way...check out our Dandelion Games Video...it's not a game!, on the bottom of the Farm Gallery page on our NEW website!  Click on the link to the right here on the blog to get to our website, then click on the chickens on the gallery page, all the way at the bottom.)

This little chick won't stand up.  It eats, has no other symptoms, drinks nicely, peeps happily, and all.  It just won't stand up.  That started a few days ago.  So every little while, I take it some water in it's doll tea set creamer.  You can't leave the water as the chick is too weak to drink on it's own from it.  See the little tea creamer in the picture below?  Cute.

 Well, then a big storm blew in.  After our flowering trees were dressed in all their finery in the warm, summer-like breezes of the last several days, the temperature dove down, the wind began to howl, and today, we had pelting rain.  The wind lashed at the windows and howled in the cracks!  Things thumped and banged.  No one wanted to go outside...not even the cats!!  So in came all the flowers...and yes, my peach tree!  I've dragged this peach tree in and out for nearly a month now!  On nice days, it's out.  On set-back days, it's in!  Today, it's in!

So everyone was content.  The cats were sleeping on the hay, the lambs were leaping, then napping in their pen.  The horses were dozing in their stalls. The peaches were growing unhindered on the tree.  The shepherds were hoping to be dozing, too!  But then, we realized that the mamma goose who had a gosling yesterday, now had 5!  She's a very good mother and hisses intensely at you if you get within 50 feet of her.  But we have a racoon lurking about lately, and the goslings were not safe, even with her!  So we made the hard decision to take the goslings up to the house to a brooder.  She let me take them because she likes me.  Afterall, I raised her from a baby gosling, too.  I took the little fluff balls, and I mean, they are FLUFFY up to the house in a huge pail with it's lid on.  I had some nice hay in the bottom that was familiar to them, then I put the lid on loosely so air could get in, but no rain, and quickly pressed thru the rain and wind up to the farmhouse.  Into the makeshift brooder they went!  The heat lamp was already warm for the chick, and the chick was elated to have new buddies voices nearby!

So here are the just dry, brand new, super cute and outstandingly fluffy little balls we brought in on the wind!  First, they had to learn how to drink.  :)  Then, they had to find the food.  :)  Then, they had to figure out how those awkwardly huge feet work!  Oh, they are so cute!  They make cute little happy noises, and they love their warm brooder.  They will be safe here for a day or so, until they are eating good and the bad weather passes.  Then, they can go into a larger brooder with a feeder all their own.

Meanwhile, I ran out to check on Momma Goose.  She's grateful!  She was standing at the feeder, stuffing herself.  Hatching out all those goslings is hard work and stressful.  She was glad to do it, and did a great job!  Now, some Mom time.  Later still, she was sound asleep with her head under her wing.  Just what she needed!  I don't think she minded I took the goslings at all.

So with that, another exciting day on the farm is winding down, and the back porch of the farmhouse is stuffed to the gills with spring...flowers on the freezer, flowers all across the window sill, flower pots on the floor, geraniums on the freezers, and a beauty of a pepper on a tool box, plus, one happily peeping yellow chick, and five REALLY FLUFFY balls!  Oh, and one peach tree!