Sunny

New Life

We've been watching a nest of eggs for about 2 weeks now.  It's been so exciting and such a learning experience.   There are a lot of things we will do differently next time, but, we will definitely do this again!   Letting a broody hen hatch and care for chicks is so much easier than buying the chicks and then having to keep them in a brooder.  We've always had to deal with sickness and death in our other chicks.   This has been very easy and I think it's so much healthier for the chicks.   

Today we actually got to watch the whole hatching process for the first time.   This poor chick pipped yesterday morning but didn't hatch until about 11am today.  It's hard to watch the chick struggle to get out and it's so tempting to help it.  But, we knew we couldn't.  It's kind of like a butterfly.   They need to do it themselves or they can die.   

We had another egg start to hatch this morning but another hen actually cracked the egg and the chick could not get out.  The membranes were dried out and it couldn't budge.  I tried to moisten them but after several hours it still couldn't get it so I had to help it out a little.  It's not looking good at this point but I'm leaving it with the momma hen in hopes she'll be able to help it get better.  

Creation is beautiful and really does declare the glory of God!

Bird Banding

We went to Tremont for a bird banding again this week.  It was just as much fun as the first time.   The kids are counting the days until next time.   This time there was a very talented photographer, Tyson Davis, and he captured some great photos of the kids!

Our first chick has hatched!

So we had a couple of hens get broody so we thought it would be fun to let them hatch some eggs.    21 days would have been June 9th, but, today when I was out at the hen house I was so surprised to see a little chick!  It's so adorable and the hen is such a good momma! 

Chickadees, Osprey, and Ice Cream

We have watched these chickadees from the time they started building their nest.   We got to see the eggs and the day they hatched.    They have been so fun to watch.  Yesterday we watched as they got one last meal from momma and then they started to fly away one by one.   They would first stick their head out and look all around.   Then, they would perch in the opening and teeter back and forth and then finally fly.   IT was so cute!   One of them let Luke stand and pet it on the head.   We've held them a lot so they are pretty used to us, I guess.    

Today we harvested some lavender blooms and some mint leaves from the garden.   We made some mint tea and honey-lavender ice cream.   It was all delicious!

The other day we saw some osprey by the Ft. Loudon Dam.   We pulled over to watch.  We spotted a nest and watched as the adult brought fish to the babies.  We also lots of Heron.