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”
The boiled eggs and chicks made me laugh – if you look up balut (a Philippine delicacy) it might put you off eggs for life! Turkeys sound like a great idea and very American 😉
yes I have heard of it.. sounds a little unsettling.. Morning Mad!
Indeed – I thought it best not to add a link! Of course, I’d like to try it 😉
hole for cats but what about Minks….Ha! ha…another animal to add to Noah’s Ark….some Turkeys….at the moment ‘under consideration’ but we all know what that means…. a week or two before you get them.
Love the pics of all the animals
There is no way I could ever Mink proof the big barn, it old and full of holes, but I seem to have kept them out of the chook house – so far anyway.. it must have about this time last year that they started to hunt here.. i must look back and see what month that was.. can you remember? c
Oh, your chicks are lovely! I was away with family during your traumatic hatching time – what a kerfuffle! It will be lovely to see how their plumage develops. I enjoy when we have a hotch-potch of chicks as the final plumage is always a surprise!
Christine
What a lovely post. Lick – or should we say Chicken Licken? – is very handsome indeed.
Miss C I don’t want to second guess you but …. 2nd last paragraph last line – do you mean you are now taking orders for pasture fed chickens? Typo not/now. I am scared of turkeys having been chased a whole gaggle of them when I was much shorter 🙂 Laura
OOPS thank you so much Laura.. I have zoomed back and fixed that. Thank you so much for catching that.. c
The heating table is a brilliant idea! I always wondered about the lamp thing and lack of night for chicks. If we do that to plants they won’t grow very well, and it’s supposed to be ok for baby animals? Nice call on the heating table for calm. Another thing to jot down in the next life organic farm note book. 😀
That Tima gets cuter every day!!! xo
and fatter.. watch your letter box,if all goes well – one day i am just going to pop a Tima piglet in there.. c
I would sing and dance if that happened!!! 🙂 And it would also be wonderful if you and Our John could ‘swing down’ for a visit sometime! xo
maybe next winter? it would have to be winter which is not quite as fun for out- door birds like us but you have wine? yes? c
Yes! We do! And Jack will have his own homemade beer as well! It would be wonderful! And it would be good for both you and Our John to get off the farmy during the winter and kick up your heels and have some fun! And fabulous for us too! We love visitors!!!
Timatanga Moana looks huge! ( ” hooooj, ” says Zelie ). It’s that the final size or will there be more growth?
She is a year old, but should get taller.. she is a bit fat though, they have discovered that they can climb into the hay stacks and help themselves, too much alfalfa for this fattie, wish the snow would go away so i can lock them out in the paddock again. c
Ooh! I did enjoy that. Lovely, lovely animals and birds.
Love,
ViV
I loved the cow eye shot, that has always been a favourite shot for me! Morning Viv. i liked your poem this morning!.. c
Icicles on cows ears…this inspires me to say that I am anxious to see green in the farm pictures, are you as anxious as well? So many changes, so many plans…all call for renewal and ‘greener pastures’ as they say. We have had no winter in my corner of the USA, but I am tired for all of you who must wake each day to more white, and cold. It is time for growth, as the new chicks will attest to I’m sure.
I think the chicks have injected a small jolt of spring.. thank goodness for Johns glass house.. it has been such a bonus this winter..
http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=CxFKGm2UujI
This is a link to a video showing an easy way to determine the gender of the chicks, if you really want to know if Lick is a he or a she. 🙂
thank you! this is great!. I will have a look straight away. c
Monday has arrived!!! This girl has some wicked CABIN FEVER!!! Our snow turned to SNICE on Saturday. We had a nice 6 inches in our yard and the beagles had a very hard time of it. Was happy for the melt yesterday, but more rain on top of it means we have a nice bog. Yes, I am whining. Yes, I’m a wimp with winter. God bless you all who live with this white stuff. I’m thinking about moving even further south, except I don’t like the heat either.
FYI: My Bug did a great job on Friday with the frozen roadways. It is a diesel and she pulled herself with a steady calm up every ice riddled incline with no problem. High torque is a wonderful thing. Unlike the rear wheeled drive pickups and Cadillac’s I passed on the side of the road. But, all that said, it took 3 hours to drive my 30 mile commute home. I was so exhausted.
Lovely photos today. Any signs of the owl again? I’m in search of that first herald of spring – a ROBIN!!!!
Frozen in Texas…..
Good afternoon, c. Will Lick always keep those colours or does that change with age? xx >
He will be black and white (I think) but the markings will change as he grows for sure.. c
I love Tima’s face… The kind aspect barely hides the mischief filled eyes…. Kind of reminds me of my almost two years old great granddaughter !!
Your pictures are so wonderful! And yes I so love farm live too!