If you have ever had the opportunity to watch a baby bird hatching from its egg,
you will agree with me that it is rather miraculous that we have any birds on this earth
at all!
Peck, peck, peck...
they work so very hard with their little beaks...
which are equipped, by the way, with a little "egg tooth".
This sharp projection on the top of the beak helps to break through the tough egg shell,
and eventually wears away.
The hatching process takes several hours and is exhausting for the tiny bird.
For the past 28 days we have had 7 of Edith's eggs in our incubator.
Edith is our female bourbon red turkey.
Sadly, we had no luck hatching baby turkeys....
in fact, it was a rather tragic weekend.
Three babies broke through their eggs and all three died in the process.
We had read all we could find about hatching turkeys.
Some sources claimed that you must help the chick to break out of the shell.
Other sources claimed you did not need to help them.
We tried both methods...
both failed.
If anyone has any ideas for us....please share!
Sad!
On a happier note, however,
I added 12 chicks to my new flock of guinea keets....
4 Barred Rocks, 4 black sex links, and 4 Rhode Island Reds.
All are doing quite well.
The weekend's weather prediction included a bit of rain...
of which we received none!
Instead, it was fabulously beautiful....
With no rain, though, we were forced to hand-water our 100 blueberries and
20+ young orchard trees.
Hopefully we will get some rain this week!
Saturday, our gator (which was parked at the top of our driveway by the garage)...
decided to let loose of its parking break, make its way backwards down the driveway,
and wrap itself around a tree.
It could have been worse....
if the tree had not stopped it, it might have gone over the edge of a rather steep hill and
ended up in the "holler"!
On this week's To Do List:
1. fix gator
2. order turkey babies
3. do a rain dance... continue watering!
Comments
so sorry about your baby turkeys and your gator. Such is life in the country, right?
I'm new to turkey poults; got 4 last week and tried sexing them by their wings. I think they're all toms. Can you sex them by their wings. I can see it clearly with chickens but not these.
So sad to loose such sweet babies, I now know how hard it can be. Glad you have replacements coming. A friend said she would give me two of her adult chickens to replace Rosa.
We can share some of our rain...if you like.
Sorry about the turkey chicks..That's why I was always so amazed when the ducklings went from just hatching to my pond to the long walk to the wetlands..That's a lot to do in ones first hours of life..Have a wonderful week..I'll join you in those rain dances..
Bummer about the gator! Hope it is an easy fix!!!
Hoping for rain for you!
Kris