Category: agrarianism (Page 9 of 19)

We are very thankful for the continued perpetuation of the chickens God has graciously granted us, with 3 more hatchings this 2018!

This is group 2 — 11 of them she hatched out! I thought it was 10 originally, but when I moved them into the summer kitchen later, to give them more room, there was a bonus one! 😀

And here they are at night all tucked in with their mommy (I have this in the video as well below):

And here is group 3 — 6 for this hen!

Two sad notes though…

These groups are about the same age, and now about 1/3 the size of the normal chickens. I had somewhat recently moved both groups out into our pen area under some oak trees, and one morning as I lifted the lid on the coup, there were 2 dead ones, 1 with its head and neck slicked down. Arg…that usually means a snake tried to swallow it but couldn’t get it down so quit. I figure the other one just got trampled in the the commotion. So, we’re down 2 from these 2 groups.

And then just last night, I found what I’m pretty sure is one of the blonde mommies from one of these groups basically dead (body completely limp but just hadn’t finished dying, which it did not long after) in the main chicken tractor. Sigh. But, we are thankful to the Lord for any eggs and the hatched chicks He granted from her.

Finally, this is group 4. This one has a sad story too. She originally hatched out 9, but one died within 24 hours. Then one morning I walked in, and one was laying there dead, and one was missing. Arg…snake! Sure enough, I found it in the corner of the room with a lump in its midsection. So, I dispatched it to the compost pile. But the next morning, I walked in, and now 2 were dead, with one having its head and neck slicked down…sigh. I think they were getting in from the corner of the room as the outside siding of the summer kitchen is not complete. So, I put a cinder block inside against the corner, and that has seemed to stop the “bleeding”.

Still, we are thankful for the little 4-pack of chicks God has graciously allowed us to continue to have!

And here is a video of all 3 groups:

Again, we are grateful to the Lord for the provisions of these new chicks! We always pray for the right attitude toward them, that they are not ours but His, to dispense with as He pleases, just as I believe we ourselves are. May we trust His perfect will and give thanks in all things!

— David

We are very grateful to the Lord for Him granting our first set of chicks for 2018!

One chick didn’t make it out of the shell completely, and it appeared one egg wasn’t fertilized, but the mama hatched out the other 10, and all are still doing great, thanks to God!

Here they are:

And here is their video:

We are always very thankful to Providence for granting these new chickens. We pray they are productive for His glory and the benefit of His Church!

— David

The Lord graciously granted another three chicken hatchings of 2017, the 6th, 7th and 8th!

Here’s group 6. I believe the hen hatched out 8:

In this group, there was one that had trouble with one of its legs, and would stick it out straight back — you can get a good look at it how it was in the video below. Well, in our experience, a good way to try to help with that is to put binders on its legs, where you use a thin piece of duct tape and wrap each end around each leg, which helps keep the legs together, with the idea that the good leg will help guide the bad one into what it’s supposed to do correctly (like us being yoked to Christ! Matt. 11:29 – “Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls.“).

At first, it was too small for the good leg to overpower the bad one, but as the good leg strengthened, I was able to attach the binder, and it did seem to help. You can see the binders on it in the video as well.

Today, she (which is what it appears it turned out to be) is still going, and able to get around fairly well, which we also show in the video.

And then, here is group 7. The mama was a hatchling from I believe a couple of years ago, and she originally hatched out 11. But…

I can’t remember exactly how this went, one day I did a count, and only saw 10, but thought perhaps I had just miscounted originally. Some time later, I walked in, and there was one dead, and only 7 alive, which means another 2 were missing. What was going on? I looked around in the summer kitchen pantry there, and sure enough, I found a snake in the corner, picked it up, and there was a chick-sized lump in its belly. Arg! And bummer. I don’t know how it got in there, as I had been purposefully keeping the main doors of the summer kitchen closed just because of this snake issue (we’ve had trouble like that before) — maybe it got in through a small hole in external OSB, but it seems it would have had to do that when it was smaller.

Anyway, after getting the snake out of there, the other 7 are still going strong!

And this is group 8. 6 or 7 hatched out, 1 or 2 died, but the other 5 are still also doing well!

And here is a video of all 3 groups:

Once again, we are very grateful to the Lord for granting these provisions, and for His mercy on the ones He allowed us to keep. They are all His chickens to do with as He pleases, and we are just thankful He has allowed us any. May they be used for His glory!

— David