An Ordinary Day

"Horses are a lot of work." Everyone said it to me.

Yeah, okay. But it can't be that hard. You feed them, water them, and put them out to pasture. And then you muck their stalls. Doesn't sound very hard, right?

And the truth is, it's not hard.
What it is is time consuming.

I start my barn work at about 7:15, I blink my eyes, and it's almost 10. I have no idea how the time flies that fast. Here's a peek into my day. 

There are thirteen creatures under my watch. (Furry/feathered/human creatures included.)

Up at 6:00 a.m. (No snooze button allowed.) Feed the dogs and the kids breakfast.
General morning craziness and then I get my kids on the bus at 7:00. 

Two kids and two dogs happy: check.

Heading to the bus stop

Grab a quick granola bar and tea and head out to the barn. Check in on the ponies and give them breakfast, love and carrots/apples. While they are eating in their stalls, I head out to dump/scrub/refill water buckets in the paddock. Jessie and Cooper "help" me out. 

Click on the "WaterFun" video link to see just how helpful they are: WaterFun Video Link

Then I brush the horses down in their stalls checking for any problems, spray them with fly spray, put on their fly masks, and their halter/muzzle. And out go the horses for the day.

Two horses happy: check.

Again, Cooper and Jessie "help" me walk the horses out. ("Help" this time means the dogs pretty much block the horses from leaving the barn while I yell at the dogs to get out of the way, and thank the horses for their patience with the dogs, simultaneously.)

Next up, mucking the stalls. This takes the most time. Because I'm kind of obsessed about trying to get every single piece of poop and pee out of there, while leaving as much clean shavings behind as possible. I won't bore you with all the details, but instead post some before and after pictures.

Aisling's Stall Before

Aisling's Stall
After

Meghan's Stall Before

Meghan's Stall After

Okay, just a comment on their stalls. Isn't it hilarious how DIFFERENTLY they mess up their stalls? Aisling's pee and poop is all in the same place, making it super easy to muck. And my sweet Meghan, who has no other faults at all, likes to mix up her poop and pee all around the stall as if she's stirring up a secret family casserole or something. It's everywhere. Aisling's stall takes about 10 minutes. Meghan's stall takes about 12 hours. But she is the sweetest mare ever to walk the earth, so I'll take a messy stall no problem.

And now you think I'm done, right? I usually do, too. And then I remember all the rest of the tiny details left to do. This is how the last hour goes for me.... In my head I'm thinking "Almost done!" And then the "Oh wait, not yet." Dump/scrub/refill water buckets in stall. Put the hay for dinnertime in the stalls now. Sweep the barn. (Another part of the job that I'm a little crazy about. Yes it's a barn, but I like my barn aisles to be spotless. So sweeping takes some time.) Dump the wheelbarrow.

Oh wait, I can't dump the wheelbarrow yet, because I haven't mucked the chicken coop yet! With the horses all done, I move on to my chicken chores. A much easier undertaking. I clean the "Poop Hammock" in their coop. (It is a tarp that hangs under the roosts that they sleep on. It catches all the poop that happens overnight. In the morning, I scrape it clean into a bucket, and voila! The coop is poop-free!) Then I muck (pick up all the poop) the chicken run. I refill their food if needed. And then I dump/scrub/refill their waterers. And during all this, I collect eggs. I also get happily distracted by these silly hens. They are so sweet and friendly and always follow me around the run and coop looking for my attention. How can I not stop and pet them? Okay. Now I'm done.

Seven chickens happy: check.

Oh, wait, but I haven't dumped the wheelbarrow yet. (See, I keep thinking I'm done, but I'm not.) Okay, I leave my hen friends behind, to go dump the wheelbarrow in the manure area. The dogs and the horses follow me there, trying to see if I'll forget to close the gate behind me so they can get into mischief. I dump the wheelbarrow and come back out to visit with the ponies and dogs.

And realize, I'm not quite done. I forgot to pick up the dog poop. I pick up any dog poop I can find.

I look at my watch and it's 10:30. And I'm DONE, finally done all my barn chores. All the animals are clean-fed-watered-happy. And I am dirty-hungry-thirsty...and happy.

Seven Hens-A-Laying

It's official! We have all seven of our hens laying eggs! Woohoo!
This morning, Buttercup, our chicken on probation, who we threatened to re-name "Soup" (see Crime and Punishment posting) laid her first verified egg. AND she did NOT eat it. Phew! I think I was even happier than she was! Buttercup is a Buff Orpington so her eggs are brown.

And an update for those of you have inquired about the egg-eating situation in our coop (and thanks so much for actually being interested instead of thinking I'm a crazy person)...
I am thrilled to report, that all our hens have been on their best behavior. There has been no more broken/eaten eggs at all. Thank goodness! (I also swoop in to collect the eggs pretty much as soon as they pop out of the chicken which helps, too.)

Another happy update: After my Cowboys In Training post, I have to say that all my boys have stepped it up a bit, and have each helped a little more over the past few days. (And I should set the record straight, that even though Jonathan doesn't muck stalls, he does do many, many other farm-related jobs! As well as his real job. Certainly, couldn't do this without him! Thanks, sweetie!)

Today, I'll quickly go over a few chicken-related questions that lots of kids (and grown-ups) have asked us:

#1. Do we need a rooster for our hens to lay eggs?
#2. Will our eggs ever hatch into chicks?

Answer to question #1:  No, we don't need a rooster for our hens to start laying eggs. Actually, in our town, we're not allowed to have roosters. (So, that's another reason that I am so happy that all our chickens are laying eggs. That means they are all hens. Roosters don't lay eggs.) Chickens will lay eggs regardless if there are roosters around. The act of hens laying eggs is more comparable to women getting their periods, as opposed to having a baby. Women are going to get their periods no matter if there are men around. (Sorry guys, didn't mean to upset you with all this period talk.) And the hens have to have reached a certain age (around 5 months) before they start laying eggs.
Update: Thank you to Easy Keeper Farm who pointed out that hens laying eggs is actually more like women ovulating than women getting their periods. Of course it is! I just lumped that whole egg adventure into one thing, focusing on the exiting part, I guess! LOL!

On a similar, yet random note...Did you know that cows can't give milk unless they've had a baby? True fact. Makes sense now that you think about it, right?

Answer to question #2: No, our eggs will never hatch into baby chicks. Since we don't have a rooster, our hens' eggs will never be fertilized, and so they will never grow chicks inside. If you don't know what fertilized means or how that happens, just ask your mom or dad. They will be thrilled that I brought this subject up for you guys to start an open and honest conversation. :)  (I'm cracking myself up over here. Sorry about that.)

But actually, now that this blog has gone public (thanks a lot, Jonathan, not sure I was quite ready for that), but if you do have any questions, or if you want to learn more about a particular animal on our farm, please let me know in the comments or send me an email. I'm feeling some writer's block now that it's more than just Jonathan and my kids reading this! Pressure's on! Yikes.

Good morning, Jessie girl.

Good morning, Meghan & Aisling.

Cooper pretending to be a horse. 

 Jessie explaining to Cooper that he is still a dog.

Cooper trying his best to neigh.

Can you tell which egg had a double yolk?

The green one or the white one?

Chickens love pumpkins! 

And it helps make their yolks even darker.

Peek-a-boo!                  

 A man and his mower. 

Thanks for all your help, Jonathan!

Cowboys In Training, sort of

I was texting my friend, Jen, the other day, and she asked me how it was going with the horses. I said that they were awesome, even though I've been finding it really hard to find a time to actually ride them. But that I loved having them here regardless. And I added that since they've been here, I've been pretty useless as a wife/mother. My barn is spotless, horses, chickens and dogs are happy, but my house is a mess and I can't get laundry done or feed my family. No big whoop, right? :)

Her reply was "Feed the family eggs and hay. They will be fiiiine. Enjoy it, you are in your element! Remember, the kids will not remember what you fed them or what they wore when they were little....But they WILL remember growing up on an awesome farm!"

Thanks Jen! That was just what I needed to hear. And I hope she's right. Since, I have nothing ready for dinner tonight. Again.

Watch the video below to see how helpful my boys are on the farm. Not to imply they are helpful. This. is. all. they. help. with: Bringing in the horses. Nothing more. Not even sure they know where the mucking forks are kept. Not even sure they know what the word 'mucking' means. Right boys? Boys? (and I'm talking about my big boy, too, not just the kiddos.) I'm hoping they will start pitching in a bit more, just for the life experience.

But truthfully, this is MY dream come true, not necessarily THEIRS. (Although they do love having the animals around, they just don't feel compelled to help with the work that it takes to have them.) So, I'll try not force my "fun" on them. And honestly, most of the work happens while they are at school/work during the week, or still in bed on the weekends. But maybe someday soon, they'll realize that the horses are going back home to Vermont very shortly. Only one month left! And just maybe that will inspire them to jump out of bed early this weekend and discover what mucking forks are used for. I'm happy to share the "fun"! :)
Click here for a video link: Cowboys in Training Video

How much do I love my tractor?
.........A sh*tload!

Sweet Meghan with Ben.
Isn't her coloring so pretty?

Beautiful Aisling with Ben.
I love her dark brown coat with her grey mane.

Fall is here!
Cool nights mean it's blanket time so the ponies don't get too fuzzy.

Jonathan planted these sunflowers by seed!
Now they are as tall as our roof!

Tomato harvest time!

 This beautiful plant was given to us by a previous Glen Hill Farm owner. 

So nice to have met her and to learn more of the history of our farm.

Crime and Punishment

We have a mystery to solve.
A crime has been committed.
*Someone* has eaten an egg.
A chicken, that is, has eaten an egg, which is a very serious crime in the chicken-keeping world.

There was a lot of commotion in the coop this morning, the girls were very noisy, but I had stalls to clean and I thought "Hey, I do enough policing with my own kids, I don't need to police every single scuffle in the coop, too, right?" So I did not go check on the girls right away. But the noise continued, so I sighed, put down my mucking fork, and went to investigate.

Suspect #1:

BUTTERCUP

When I walked into the coop, I was horrified to see Buttercup with an eggshell in her mouth. Literally, caught red-handed (red-beaked?). 

Strange thing was, she was on the steps in the coop, and I could tell that the egg white and yolk from the broken egg was also on the stairs. 

Hmmm, how on earth would a chicken carry an egg up 3 stairs? 

Pretty impressive, or more likely, pretty impossible.

So there's a chance that although Buttercup was the one holding the broken eggshell, *maybe* she didn't actually break the egg first. Maybe she joined in the feast after someone else committed the egg-breaking crime? Very possible. 

I also think it's possible that the egg actually belonged to Buttercup. She's the only chicken that hasn't laid an egg yet. So it's possible that while she was hanging out on the stairs, she didn't realize that she was about to lay an egg, and oops, laid her first egg right there on the steps. And maybe *someone else* may have seen the egg on the stairs, pecked at it, and broke it. And then, as chickens do, if they see someone else pecking at something food-like, they all join in. 

Buttercup, I'm just not sure about you. Very suspicious, but not necessarily guilty beyond a doubt. 

Not laying any eggs. And possibly breaking other hen's eggs. 

You are on thin ice, chicken. Thin ice. 

Suspect #2:

DAFFODIL

So, *IF* Buttercup didn't actually break the egg, then who else could have done it?

For a good hour, I had Buttercup pinned as the guilty one, no doubt in my mind. 

Until I saw Daffodil. 

Hmmm, Daffodil, your face was just a little bit dirtier today than usual. 

Not necessarily yellow (not obviously yolk-y), but definitely a little wetter and dirtier than usual. 

Could we literally have an "egg on the face" situation here? 

I didn't notice Daffodil at the crime scene, because I really was only focused on Buttercup with the eggshell in her mouth. I didn't think to look around because I thought I had caught the Buttercup in the act of the crime. 

But now, I'm not so sure. 

Did Ms. Daffodil commit the crime with her beak in the coop? (Clue gamers, anyone?) And then frame Buttercup, who was only trying to defend her very first egg?

Or best case scenario.... Maybe Buttercup laid the egg on the steps by accident, it fell down the stairs on its own, and it broke on impact. And then the chickens found it broken and, unfortunately, ate it. But at least this way, the chickens didn't peck open the egg.

We shall see. Time will tell.

I will be keeping a VERY close eye on my coop in the next few days.

And it goes without saying... Suspect #3: All the other chickens at Glen Hill Farm.

Everyone better be on their best behavior, ladies.

Because guess what happens to chickens who eat eggs.

SOUP.

Yup, it is very hard to rehabilitate an egg-eater.

And to make it worse, if one chicken is an egg-eater, the other chickens learn to eat eggs, too.

So, that is why egg-eaters turn into chicken soup.

(Don't I sound so tough? I'm really not!)

I'm not so sure I can actually follow through with that kind of corporal punishment!

Because I guess I'm a "farmer" not a real-life farmer!!!

Please say some prayers that it was a one time incident.

I have ponies in my yard

Probably one of the most amazing things to ever happen to me. Seriously. Life-long dream to have horses. At my house. And I never thought it would actually happen. But here we are. With ponies in my yard. I just said to Jonathan that I'm getting a little worried because living on a farm and having horses and chickens and dogs was pretty much the biggest item on my bucket-list. So, now that I can check it off the list, I am driving very carefully. I'm looking both ways before I cross the street. Eating healthy, knocking on wood, etc. :) Actually, being a grandmother is on that bucket-list, too, so hopefully that will buy me at least a good 20 more years.

And even though Meghan and Aisling are just visiting for 2 months, it has been a dream come true and I am so grateful. Long story short, Meghan and Aisling, 2 Connemara Ponies, belong to a wonderful family who have a horse farm in Vermont, but their daughter works in Boston and was hoping to bring Aisling, the 3 year old, closer so she could ride her more often. And because horses can't live alone (herd animals need other animals with them to feel safe) they also sent along another pony, Meghan, who is Aisling's 12 year old mother. So for 2 months (while the weather is still nice) we get the pleasure of boarding them on our farm. Kind of a win/win for all of us right now. It was a way for us to see what it's like to have the responsibility of keeping horses before actually purchasing any of our own. (It's awesome, and it's SO time consuming!) I love having them so much.... and... I also think it's pretty cool that they will be back in Vermont before the snow comes, which makes having horses just that much more work. (Freezing water, frigid temperatures, blankets, etc.) So for now, this arrangement is perrr-fect.

Oh, and a side note: Ponies are not baby horses. Some people are confused about that. Ponies are actually horses who are smaller at their withers (their withers is where their neck and back meet) than about 14 hands (that is how horses are measured, in hands.) 14 hands equals about 58 inches. With that being said, Meghan and Aisling are taller than 14 hands! So I guess they are large ponies. Or small horses. But I guess my point is that 'pony' is a size thing, not an age thing.

Well, let's start with Meghan because she's the mom. Meghan just might be the perfect pony. She's got a beautiful grey dappled coloring (the pictures don't do her justice) with a sweet, calm soul. I trust her. She's laid back on the ground and willing in the saddle. Meghan is a confidence booster. Can't say enough great things about her. She wears a muzzle when she's out in the pasture to keep her from eating too much grass. Luckily, she can get the grass through the muzzle, it just slows her down some.

Next up is Aisling. Aisling is adorable and hilarious. She is 3 years old, which is a very young horse. She's basically a kindergartner if comparing them to human development. She just got back from training under saddle. She is a sweet girl who keeps us on our toes because she thinks that's fun. "Well, I wonder what Maureen will do if I decide I'm not going to leave my stall this morning. Let's find out." Or "I know my blankets are supposed to hang in front of my stall, but I really enjoy tossing them on the floor." I also gave her the nickname "the beaver" because when she first arrived, she pretty much tried to chew up her stall, the fences, and the trees in the pasture. She also may have tried to take a tiny taste of my hand and my butt. Luckily, it was more of an investigation, and I still have both intact. Happy to say that 98% of the nibbling has stopped. I think it was just her being anxious about her new surroundings when she first arrived.

Here's a video of silly Aisling who was rolling around in the dirt and then decided to snack on the grass while she was down there.

Click on the link here:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uTkBXtBhtMk&feature=youtu.be

Both of the horses are so good to my kids and so patient with my dogs, and that's all I could hope for. 

So Egg-citing!

Okay, I will try to make that the last time I use that corny "egg-citing" term, but this really was pretty special. I went into the coop because Reese was making a bunch of noise, and as usual, it was because someone was in the nesting box that she wanted (yes, 5 other boxes were available). So I popped Reese into a free box and closed the curtains for her which solved her problem and made the farm a tiny bit less noisy for the moment. It was Minerva Louise, our white leghorn hen, in the other nesting box and I watched her for a second (the curtains were open enough to see in) and realized that she was about to lay her egg. So I grabbed my phone and caught it all on camera. Pretty neat if you've never seen a hen actually lay an egg. Or maybe it falls into the  "gross" or '"weird" or "I didn't need to see that" category for some of you. If that's you, you might be visiting the wrong blog! :) But *this* is exactly why I started this blog... because I wish my my kids and husband were here to see these things with me! But, sadly, school and work are non-negotiable things in life. Sigh. The video link is below, so enjoy!
By the way, the cute, little, soft chicken noises you hear in the background are not Minerva Louise. She was totally silent while she laid her egg. It was our Mayzie cooing to me. She came in the coop just to see what I was up to in there.


Click Link here to see So Egg-citing video!: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vr6S7joxtCQ

Love my colorful eggs. 

Almost too pretty to eat. Almost.

Thank you to Minerva Louise (white), Reese (green), 

Gertrude (light brown), and Penelope (dark brown)

Uh, no, Meghan, that was not cotton candy we were hiding in the walls. 

Glad you didn't actually eat any of it. 

The "cotton candy dispenser" has been boarded up. (Thanks, Jonathan)

I have the best co-workers. Love these mangy mutts.

Rubber Eggs

Unless you've owned chickens, you've probably never heard of "Rubber Eggs" before. I hadn't!

Rubber Eggs are eggs that have been laid without a shell! (also known as "shell-less eggs"). When I first heard of shell-less eggs, I thought that the chicken just sort of squirted out the white & yolk, much like their poops. But nope. Actually, the egg is totally intact with a membrane around it. It is just missing the hard outer shell. Kind of amazing, really. It feels a little like a water balloon.

Well, this morning we had one of these rubber eggs. Click on the link below to my video to learn more about them.

Click this Link to watch video: Rubber Egg Video Link https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8faw_8iyeIo&feature=youtu.be

Yay Penny!

Yay Penny!

Congratulations to Penelope, our Black Australorp hen! Today she joined the "Layers Club"! 

And there is a club. I swear, the hens that have started laying (Penny makes #4 out of 7) have formed this cool kids clique. They hang out together and chat about their new status as layers. 

"I just laid my egg for the day!!!" This is often a very loud announcement for the whole farm, and neighbors (sorry neighbors), to hear.

"That's so great, BFF! Can you believe that those other hens haven't started laying yet? They are, like, so immature compared to us!"

"I know, right?"

"Ugh, don't you hate it when someone's in your favorite nesting box?" 

"Oh yeah, that's the worst." 

"Totally!"

I'm curious to see how this big achievement changes Penelope's status in the coop since right now she's definitely one of the lowest in the pecking order. Not that anyone is mean to each other. Luckily, they are a pretty nice group, but Penelope is very shy and quiet and a bit of a loner. Her closest friend is our other quiet, shy girl, Buttercup (who is not laying yet). So, I'll be curious to see if Penelope laying eggs bumps her up a notch or two. We have one other hen laying brown eggs (Gertrude), but Penny's egg is a shade darker, so hopefully, I'll still be able to tell them apart. For some reason, I love knowing whose egg I am eating. :)

I could tell something was up with Penelope because when i was in the coop changing the water she was in there with me, searching around, sort of frantically, in all the corners. Scratching the shavings on the ground, and then going to another corner, up the stairs, searching behind the feed bin. It's kind of like watching someone who needs to pee really bad trying to find a restroom. Is it over here? No, that's not right, maybe it's over here? Let me look back there. So finally, I just picked her up and placed her into a nesting box and closed the curtains for her so it was nice and dark. You could almost hear her immediate relief. It was like "Oh, yes. Yes, this is what I was looking for!" Mayzie was acting the same way, so I placed her in the box next to Penelope. However, Mayzie jumped out a few minutes later with no egg left behind. Penelope, however, stayed in the nesting box for a bit, and after she came out of the coop, announced to everyone that there was something very special that she left behind in the box. And there was. What a good chicken. And can I say, it is one of my favorite things in the world to  go collect an egg that was *just* laid. To reach in and grab an egg that is still warm from the hen. So cool. (Well, actually: So warm.) You get my point.

Here's our girl, Penelope, with her first egg. Penelope is a Black Australorp so she'll be giving us brown eggs. She is really beautiful with her all black feathers which have a green sheen to them, especially in the sun. So pretty.

Here is a picture of our Penelope as a baby, when she was just losing her chick fuzziness. Look at those tiny tail feathers emerging....

And here she is in her toddler age, on the doorstep. Penny had an adorable habit of standing up as TALL as she possibly could! Making her look like she was trying to be an ostrich. Such a tiny scraggly little adorable thing!

And now she's all grown up! Big girl! Thanks for breakfast, Penny! :)