Chick Update...

Welcome to the funny farm! We are currently in the chick raising business! Two weeks ago, we got our first 27 chicks from a hatchery out in Iowa...this is what they looked like that day:


Here they are today, at 17 days old. They are WILD little critters!!


We also took some of Russell and Bernice's eggs (pure Dominique) and Pete's Mom has been hatching them for us in her incubator! We had 7 hatch last week. Today, Pete brought home 5 more! There are 13 more eggs incubating, due in a couple weeks..I can honestly say it has been fun, but we are not setting ANY MORE eggs! LOL...We are gonna have TOO MANY chickens!! We will probably have some extra Dominique roosters to get rid of in a couple months! Here are the Dominique babies:



They will be black and white checked like Russell and Bernice when they get big!

Happy Memorial Day!
**Keri**

NACS FFA Fair 2010

Good Monday Morning! Thought I would share a few pics from last Friday, from the FFA fair. It was a gorgeous day, and very busy. They had a great turnout of visitors, and a huge number of animals..Pigs, goats, rabbits, fowl, cattle, even a miniature horse!
Cody brough Humphrey and Hawkeye for exhibition purposes, and he also brought Buttercup and Skittles, two of my chickens. He got a blue ribbon for his oxen, and the chickens! He was pretty excited. Here is Cody and his friend Dylan with their ribbons.


Humphrey and Hawkeye did not disappoint-they followed every command and did very well showing off at the fair!

They even pulled their tire with a little added weight behind it! LOL

Cody got interviewed for HomeTown Cable-should be on TV shortly..

It was a great day! Thanks to all those special people in our life that made a point to come up to the 'burg and support Cody...it really meant a lot!
Have a great day!
**Keri**

The newest innovation in oxen headgear...

You are not gonna *believe* your eyes, this is such an awesome idea! LOL...it all started a few weeks ago, after one of the big boys scraped up the other one with his horn one night. He had huge scratches all over his side, some of them even bloody. It happens from time to time, along with other horn related mishaps..Several people have been on the receiving end of a nasty blow to the melon while trying to get these big guys their fresh water. I have not, thank goodness, but I hear it will knock you to your knees. They don't do it on purpose, mind you, they are just SO BIG and there isn't a huge amount of room to maneuver inside the barn. Brock said something one day about putting metal tips on their horns, I am sure there is a name for them, that I don't know, but I said, well, in the meantime, just stick some rubber bouncy balls on the tips of their horns...then that turned into tennis balls...and we said--man, wouldn't it be funny if Pete came home from work some night, and went into the barn, only to find Jacob and Red with tennis balls on their horns?? We could act like we thought it was *THE* coolest idea, and were serious, and see if we could get him going. So being just before April 1st, we decided that would be a good day to try it. WELL, those darned buzzards looked SO FUNNY with those flippin' tennis balls on their heads, that we could hardly stop laughing long enough for Peter to notice them...well, once he did, he actually LAUGHED!! Most people who know Pete, know that it has to be REALLY FUNNY for him to laugh...so although our trick didn't go off like we hoped, it was funny, and I got a couple cute photos!!

3 Generations of Farmers

So, I had this *GREAT* idea about a month back...of course, I thought it was great, but try getting 4 human beings of the MALE persuasion to pose for a photograph..HA!! Well, I thought, they can't get away at Easter...and Peter and Cody have to do what I say...Daddy? Mom can handle him...he has to do what she says...Kent? I just bugged him to death til he did what I wanted just to shut me up! Since Cody started taking Ag in school and joined FFA, he has had some very pleased relatives in his father, uncle, and pa. Daddy was in FFA back when NACS was Ellenburg Central School, so his coat is 50+ years old. Peter and Kent were in FFA back in the 80's. And of course, your FFA coat is something you NEVER part with...right up there with a wedding gown, prom dress, and scout uniforms! I thought it would be such a great idea to get a pic of the 4 of them together, all with their jackets! Of course, 3 of them had to hold their jackets as they are a bit bigger now than they were in the past, but they all cooperated very nicely and look at the cute photo I got! Daddy had bragging rights cause he had so many medals on his coat, then Kent pointed out the fact that you are only supposed to have a small amount of them displayed on the outside of your jacket-the rest have to be hidden on the inside...They were like 4 kids! I have some FFA scrapbooking goodies on the way to me from Ebay, so look for a scrapbook page soon!

9 Hazels and Buttercup...

Say hello to our newest additions: 10 Red Star laying hens. They are all pretty much identical, so instead of giving them all names, I named them all Hazel. BUT one of them stands out (at least to Cody) and he can tell her apart from the rest, so she is Buttercup.

I get an egg a day from each of them, most days. Started painting up a sign for selling eggs...already have quite a few customers interested!

They are really gentle birds, you can pet them pick them up, and they are VERY curious. Just one problem. they are bullying Bernice...so we are working on that problem now...Rusty protects her, but he is rough with her too..if you get my drift....um. hummm....

Have a great day!
**Keri**

Our latest oxen excursion...

Happy Friday and a TGIF to everyone! Boy, will this week ever end? Thought I would share a few photos from our latest outing with the oxen. Humphrey and Hawkeye have been suffering from cabin fever, and boy, were they wild when they got outside last weekend! Running, jumping, kicking and romping-it was quite a sight! They have grown so much over the winter, we were unsure if their yoke would even fit. It ended up still fitting, but with no extra room to spare. It is gonna be time to upgrade very soon!

Considering they have been in the barn all winter, they did calm down pretty fast, and they did pretty good with their commands and just walking along together in their yoke. They took a walk up the road, and came back to the house. They were exhausted by the time they made it back to the yard. They immediately started eating the snowbank!

Have a great day!

**Keri**

Winter has arrived!!

Yup! We finally got some snow! It was so perfectly quiet outside this morning, that I had to go out and take a few photos of the trees. It was gorgeous, even though I LOATHE the snow! You can see the chicken coop on the front end of the barn in this first shot...

Up the road...

Down the road...

Won't be doing any plowing anytime soon...

Spring can come *anytime*!!
Have a great day!
**Keri**

A look into Rusty's Place...

Okay, here is the evidence!! I was so excited yesterday when the boys came in and said Bernice had laid 2 eggs!! I finished up what I was doing in the house, headed out with my egg carton, and by the time I got out there, there was a THIRD egg!! SO--here is the deal..if you want a dozen fresh eggs from Rusty's place, give me two weeks notice, and keep in mind that some of the eggs will be fresher than others!!!

So, we spent a lot of time in the barn yesterday, I cleaned the coop and the boys cleaned the barn. I decided I would take a few pics of what the barn looks like "fully loaded" so to speak. With Jacob and Red inside, it sure is fully loaded!! We have Jacob and Red, the oxen, along with 3 heifers, and the three calves. Humphrey and Hawkeye are the little oxen, and Hamburg is, well, Hamburg...you can only see Hamburg's butt by Pete's legs!!




The barn is nice and cozy warm. They have classic rock from Montreal playing in the background, and we are almost set for winter!

Here is a photo from last weekend, of Cody with both sets of oxen. I posted this one of Facebook last week. Quite a size difference, huh?
On a side note, I have been *SUPER* busy getting orders made, and shipped out, for my shop. I have been making about 4 dozen German stars a day!! I am sure things will slow down once people get their Christmas trees up and decorated!
I got all my Thanksgiving and fall decorations down yesterday, so I can begin getting my trees up and decorated. All in all, things are very busy here!!
Have a good Sunday!
**Keri**