The Chirp Chronicles - Round Two - 4/23/2015

I decided to update you all on our round two of chirps! They are changing pretty quickly! I expect by next week we will remove the little pen we have them in inside the coop.

This photo was taken around April 6th.

This one was taken April 22nd.

PV is enjoying checking them and picking them up. They are pretty quick little birds, so she has to be fast! :)  

She insists on wearing her leather farm kid gloves! Not sure why but she always grabs them on our way to the coop! :) Love having a farm kid at home!

Thanks for stopping by!
Julie

Giving Moisture to our Wheat - Flood Irrigation

East of the farm there are acres that have been farmed by our family for many years.  The fields  have been flood irrigated for sometime. 

This entails pipe manually being laid out on the edge of each field at the correct time to begin irrigating the crop.  

 

This year there is wheat planted in the field where we were going to lay the pipes.  

There is an irrigation engine that pumps the water through the pipes.  There is a gas meter attached as we must pay for the gas that is used to run the engine.

This year I helped Milton lay out the pipe, his father drove the mule forward for us.   I got my workout with this farm task! :) I must say I  enjoyed it though!

This is where the water is coming out of the pipe to irrigate the wheat.  My husband puts on his rubber boots at least twice a day to go check the field.  Back in 2012 we spent time together as family checking irrigation.  It's still one of my fondest memories for us on the farm, you can read about it at Irrigation & Hello Kitty. That post also explains how we can regulate how much water comes out of the pipe.
 

This year might just be the last year to have flood irrigation on this field.  Things are in the works to set up a center pivot irrigation system.  Drilling for the well is to begin this week, depending on weather.  There is more on that to come!

Did you know that there are irrigated and non-irrigated crops before reading this post?  Would you like to learn more about irrigation and non-irrigation practices?

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Thanks for stopping by!
Julie

Chirp Chronicles - Round 2

We have started round two with new baby chicks in the coop! To read about our first batch you can start by checking out PV The Chicken Farmer! (It was only a 2 years ago and PV looks SO YOUNG! Yikes!)

The Chirp Chronicles are back and hopefully we can keep all 15 safe and well!  We bought Rhode Island Red and Buff Orpingtons this go around.  Only two breeds verses three.

When I went to check on them this morning they were running about in our their little stall.  They were chirping away and hanging out like good buddies do.  












I did notice one particular chick that I think is either going to be the "mother hen" or the "naughty chick".  Still out for debate - too soon to tell.  She was pecking at the others way more than she should have been!

Ok honesty she's took cute right now to be mad at!

They all found the gold shiny items in the corner of the cardboard very interesting.  They would take turns pecking at it, I guess it was entertainment for them.  Either way the chirping of these little chicks made my morning better and brought a smile to my face.  

They probably won't lay any eggs until fall but until then we will watch them grow, keep the dog at bay (and other critters) and care for them!  We hope you will join us for this second round of chicken raising!

On a side note, corn planting has began. 

We have been able to sell our old combine and some other farm equipment. Spring cleaning is happening on the farm! I should probably get started on the house in the near future, huh?


Thanks for stopping by!
Julie