Photographic studies. There is a panel in the East side of the barn that has dropped creating a perfect cat door. When the big doors are closed this is where all the cats enter and exit the barn. I once knew a guy whose thesis was the entrances and exits of Shakespeare. Now THAT was a long time ago.
Impossibly sweet. (Now remember miss c’s rule, if you like a photograph just steal it, with the appropriate references of course) And if you want a file in higher res, let me know asap. 
This is Lick. The chick who landed on the floor and was licked by Boo until I found him. He looks like a He but I rather hope he is a hen. Such pretty black and white markings already. All six are happy as larks in their brooder. Their heating table is so good. Without the bright heating lamps they have a normal day and night so there is very little of that hysterical chirping you hear when chicks are under bright lights. Everything is calm. I like everyone to be calm. if they get a fright they just run straight back under the heater and feel safe. The tote is covered with a glass window so they have normal light but it is kept very warm. We have to look after our premmies. They are eating and drinking and doing all the normal things. The last egg is sitting in the incubator still. I will give it a couple more days but I think it is dead. 
John made boiled eggs for the salad last night (all the greens picked from his glass-room) and I had to point out that after all the precision surgery we went through to extricate these poor wee fellas out of their wrecked shells I felt a little odd shelling boiled eggs for dinner. But I got over it!
As soon as it warms up enough for the delivery. I hope to incubate Narragansett turkeys. Another old American heritage breed. Naturally John and Jake want some for Thanksgiving. If you want one for your Thanksgiving let me know! Also I am now taking the orders for pasture raised chickens. You buy the chicks – I raise them.
But I will hide a few to keep over the winter – and hopefully they will breed too. They can just wander about with the guineas and the peacocks and those ratbag barn chickens. See what happens next.
I love this farm life.
I cleared enough of the deep bedding in the North pen so I could close the gate and keep everyone out of it while I clean it out and prepare it for any surprise calves. The cows were very interested – in a lazy kind of way. This (below) is my favourite shot from yesterday. The icicles on her ears and the swell of her belly. Lovely Elsie. 
I wonder if the Breeder can guess how long she has to go. Hard to tell being an older cow. She is so small I think her calf will be about the size of a big cat.
As you can see it was snowing yesterday. All up we only got about three inches of lovely fluffy snow.
The angel. Godot.
These have become some of my favourite shots.
The movement of him through the air. The lack of focus is its essence really. 
Timatanga Moana. Such a nice little pig.
I hope you have a lovely day! I do!
Your friend on the farmy
celi
The Kitchen's Garden 
71 responses to “Studies”
years ago i got the bright idea to hatch, raise, and sell turkeys.
hatching and raiseing went pretty good. but the selling was another story.
so going into winter, with a lack of cash, the only thing i could do was butcher the unsellables.
my aunt helped pluck , for a large share of the meat. unfortunately not a large enough share. 35 large turkeys is a lot of meat.
i shared with rest of family, too.free range turkeys were not popular then.
i cooked, ground, and froze my share. for over 2 years i carryed turkey salad sandwiches in my lunch to work.
even the dog got tired of turkey too
that was over 30 years ago. i can barely stand to eat turkey at thanksgiving to this day
hope you have better luck with the selling part than i did
What an awful story.. though kind of funny too, I won’t be selling them thank goodness, only growing a few for whoever wants them.. John is the one, he wants his own turkey for thanksgiving.. him and his mates! great story Ron.. and the chicks you saved are fluffy and full.. eating and running about.. very very alive!
glad i could help
the experts all say to not help them out of shell.
survival of the fittest.
but i am a sucker for the underdog, and help them out.
i had better luck with turkeys if i had a few chicks the same age in with them.
usually would add a few chicken eggs in incubater to hatch same day. or day ahead of turkeys.
baby turkeys are not too brite,chicks would teach them how to eat/drink.
once again it is against the experts rules to mix them.
Well we HAD to help them out, their shells were destroyed. Hmm Chicks in with turkeys – now that is a good idea, thank you again ron.
Coming in at the ‘tail end’ as usual Miss C – all I can ask is ‘what next’ 😀 ? We have had the belted cows hopefully to give healthy births, we have had most of the first lot of gorgeous chickies hatching, we know the goats are almost on your doorstep – and now you mention turkeys!!! Surely the farmy will be the most exciting part of the Prairies come warm weather . . . nay, Illinois, let’s make it the whole of the US of A!!! Actually the ‘entrances and exits’ from Shakespeare . . . . seems to be an interesting topic as know I have read a book on that . . .yes, a long time ago . . .
Yes John has wanted a few turkeys for ages, i just like to do things slowly.. not that slowly apparently!
Huh!! What did you just say? !!!!! What the bf[etc] hell have you ever done slowly Missy? Sleep soundly and perchance that last chicky will be around when you wake!! [The rest of the world will keep their fingers crossed whilst you are in slumber 🙂 ] Boo & Ton – stay!!
ha ha ha ha .. laugh .. you are right!
I hope you had a lovely day too Celi. Love that pic of Elsie .. divine.
Even more lovely pics than usual, Miss C.! You always brighten my day!
Thanks for adding a little more sunshine to the internet, C. XO
I would LOVE one of your turkeys for Thanksgiving! I order organic ones online and they are over $100, so I can’t imagine it would be much more than that to have you raise one and ship it to me. Just let me know. 🙂 The chicks are beautiful and Lick with that black fuzz is just gorgeous. And Godot…goodness…always a sight to behold.
$100 – merciful heaven -that is a lot – I will put you on the list and we can work out the details later.. of course no counting our turkey chicks before they hatch!!