Miracle Max - a turkey story

Thursday at around midnight our first turkey chick hatched. Friday morning we had a 2nd - we're calling him or her Miracle Max. See, Friday evening we went out to eat, celebrating accomplishments of our kids. When we got home, we plugged in the heat lamp in the chicken coop. The box we're using is a plastic bin with a hand-made wire top. We put the two chicks in the box and went to watch a movie. We checked on the chicks when the movie was over and Miracle Max was all flopped over, laying on its side. Its eyes were closed and it was barely breathing - and when I say barely breathing, I mean taking a gasping breath every couple of minutes. We brought the box into the house and cleared off the dryer in our mudroom. Water spilled over and puddled near the head of Miracle Max, making its situation look even more hopeless. I took hold of the first chick that hatched - Number 1 or Riker if you will (named after William Riker from Star Trek, the Next Generation) - and started taking out the paper towel from the bottom of the box. I started to mop up Miracle Max with the wet paper towel, but Chris asked for the limp chick. I was snapping at Chris as this was going on because I was so upset that I had single-handedly killed one of our first chicks. I had been so excited that we were at 100% for hatching so far. I also hate when one of our animals, no matter how small and seemingly insignificant the creature is on our farm (except pests), is ill, injured or dying. This chick looked like life was something that it would never experience. Anyway, Chris took the chick and placed it in the incubator. There was a 3rd chick in the incubator as well, and I hated that Chris was putting this dying chick in the incubator sucking all the hope of a good life out of the 3rd chick hatched. I ended up putting Riker in there as well because it was too hard to try to clean the box and hold a shivering chick at the same time. I got the box all dry and clean and went to get Riker. I noticed that Miracle Max was alternating between taking a gasping breath and a real chest-rising-and-falling breath and that the breaths were coming more frequently. I put Riker in the box and went to get a thermometer so I could better regulate the temperature. Once that was settled, I checked on Miracle Max. I couldn't believe my eyes. This chick was taking regular breaths, its chest rising and falling pretty regular. I told Chris that this chick was breathing better. I also said that I'd still be surprised if it made it through the night. About five to ten minutes later Chris told me that the chick was opening its eyes and moving around. Soon it was standing. By the next morning it joined the warm and toasty brooder box with Riker where it took its first drink and at a bit of food. It was truly a miracle - Miracle Max's miracle. See, while I was snapping at Chris, he was praying for the chick to live. I'm an idiot. God is not to be underestimated. He even cares for the smallest, insignificant little creature. Imagine how much he cares for me.

First turkey hatchling

This is the first bird that was laid at the farm that we hatched!

Little Henri

I thought I'd post a picture of my little peahen. We're pretty sure she's a she ... Henrietta Matisse. She practices laying on a nest and all. Her brother (died) used to fan his tail all the time. She only very rarely will stretch her tail feathers.

This week ...

This week should be the week we hatch our first turkey poults. I'll have to stop turning two of them after tomorrow. We've been candling them about once a week. In fact we candled several yesterday because Alex was over. It was quite funny with Chris, Alex and I squeezed into the closet looking at the chicks in the eggs. We were hoping they'd be moving like they were the other day, but no luck. It was disappointing. Kellie got to see the chicks moving in their yolks, but not Alex. We have his mom's incubator right now, and I'll be putting the eggs that aren't ready to hatch in that incubator while I put the hatching ones in our incubator. That way I'm not making a mess of Alex's mom's incubator.

turkey chicks

We candled all of the 14 turkey eggs we've been collecting and putting in the incubator tonight. Well, we didn't candle the egg we picked up tonight. Chris and I looked at eggs that had been in the incubator for about 10 days and watched a rounded figure inside the shell dance around. We called Kellie out to us to see the dancing chick inside the eggshell. What a sight! When we hatched chicken eggs, I recall seeing something moving inside the egg, but it wasn't near as obvious as the turkey chicks. Even one of the eggs that hadn't been in the incubator for very long and was just a red blob with veins was moving around. Only one of the eggs that you could still see a figure inside seemed to be sleeping. Apparently we woke the rest of them up. The earliest eggs from Jan. 6 (two of them) and the egg from Jan. 8 were nearly impossible to see anything other than a little room at the very tip of the egg and the air pocket.

In other turkey news, Georgie started working on building a nest on the old drain field right next to our house. Yesterday Chris said she was digging in the dirt, but was having a hard time doing it because the ground is nearly frozen. I remarked to Chris today that I was surprised at how big the hole was that Georgie had dug, and he said it wasn't that big yesterday so perhaps she made it bigger today? We walked over, and he said it was bigger. He said we should keep our eye on the hole because she probably will try to lay eggs in it. So far she has not been broody at all, wanting to lay on them. I find that odd behavior. You'd think she'd want to lay on them and keep them warm. After all, we have to keep the incubator temperature at a stead 100 degrees to hatch these chicks. I don't think a frozen egg would hatch. I don't know why her instincts have taken over. Hatching fowl has been interesting. Right from birth chickens start scratching and pecking for food. It really is amazing how this all works. I mean, without a mother to teach them how do they just know how to behave? It really is quite something. It amazes me.

Alienation - A CHAOS Novel by Jon S. Lewis

Well, I just finished reading Alienation, a CHAOS Novel by Jon S. Lewis, sent to me by BookSneeze. It wasn't the easiest book for me to get into, but I had just finished reading two other books that were very big on the action and adventure, and I was really in the mood for something else. This was a page-turner, no matter how much trouble I had getting into it. There was action nearly every other page. If I had been a kid that was into reading a little bit, I would have thoroughly enjoyed the book from cover to cover. As it is, I didn't think it was bad. The story line was great, and not having read the first book, I wasn't lost, yet this book didn't rehash much from the previous book. It was nice to be able to step into the story even though I hadn't read the first third of the series. I also liked the comics and drawings both in the beginning of the book and at the end, although it's also nice to make up in your mind what you think a character looks like. I think this would be an easy enough read for any kid around the age of twelve. Big kids, if you like to read what your kids are reading, you will also enjoy the book, provided you like action and adventure and stories of what may seem impossible. I do recommend this book for other readers.

The Farm in Winter

I haven't been on the blog in quite some time ... In fact, we've had a Christmas and now it's next year! Finally, the weather has turned to January. We're struggling with keeping the buckets of water from being frozen over, but other than that, Decker's Acres is going pretty well. We are concerned for our turkeys, however. Sometimes they just seem so stupid! Georgie is laying eggs now, and we have about a dozen going in the incubator. Of course, when they hatch, we'll have one a day hatch, as that is how we are getting the eggs. Georgie is a Blue Slate, the daddy, as far as we can tell, is Quagmire, a Narrangansett. Either way, they'll be pretty birds. We do have a Blue Slate tom, Donatello, but he's not dominate. He's the self-blue color and is just lovely! Anyway, the other day, when the weather turned, Georgie thought it would be great fun to stay out in the rain. She got herself all wet, and then the temperatures dropped down into the teens. She's fine, now. Then Foreman, our Red Bourbon tom, thought staying outside, perched high up on a beam would be a great way to spend the night as the snow blew around him. Duh! Lucy, our Red Bourbon hen, also likes to get out and roam the farm, but she hasn't acted dumb yet.

The goats are doing well. Betsy kidded today, but had problems and the little buck died. He was a cutie. I couldn't tell you if Lillie or Ginger were preggers, however. They should be. I witnessed the act, and later that week, Freddie showed no interest in them. Jade is going to have to get out of the bachelor pen. She's had multiple opportunities, but putting her back in with the girls isn't a good idea either because she keeps the other girls from eating. She's a bit crazy. She's always bleating. You'd think there was something wrong with her because generally a goat that loud and obnoxious has some sort of health issue. Not Jade. She's just loud. We've had her for almost a year now, and she's always made her voice heard.

The chickens are laying pretty good. We have about 25 pullets, and they are really stepping it up! The barred rocks lay well, and one or two of the ISA Browns do as well, but it's the young Americaunas that are really bringing it on! So with the 35 or so hens we have, we're getting about ten eggs a day, at least half of them are green or blue. The Marans and the Wellsummers are starting to lay as well, and usually once a day there's a dark brown one in the mix.

Well, enjoy the pictures! It's back to work I go!