Spring on a ranch means babies! Baby everything from ducks on the lake to calves and chicks. Even the garden is in baby mode--seedlings and baby greens everywhere!
This is Olivia and the first calf of the season! He is not even a day old in the photo.
Most babies have mothers to care for them; we didn't even know Olivia the cow had given birth for a couple of days because cows are so self-sufficient. But when you order 30 chicks to eventually build up the numbers of laying hens, they don't come with built-in-mommies. And so, the wranglers here at the ranch stepped in to fill the role. First, I should clarify for you non-country folk, that when I say 'order 30 chicks', I actually mean order 30 chicks! They arrive in the mail, in a box, all pilled on top of one another, and as long as they arrive at their destination and get under a heat lamp within 24 hours of hatching they should be fine. Talk about hearty animals!
When these chicks arrived at the ranch they were tiny little fluff balls, barely opening their eyes and completely useless. We built them a brooder out of an unused water trough, towels and a heat lamp, got them water and 'chick starter' feed and then began acting as chicken mommies. Being a chicken mommy means keeping the chicks really warm, making sure they have a clean home, lots of water and food and picking the crusty poo from their anuses to make sure they don't get clogged up and die. Yes, you read that right. We had to pick the crusty poo from their little chicky bums with our finger nails and wet paper towel. Don't ask me how the real chicken moms do this but as human chicken moms it is an imperative part of raising chicks. It is also, really gross. But, we had a pretty good first few days and most of the mail-order chicks survived past the highest risk time. Now they are happily learning to scratch and flutter around with less human chicken mommy help. YAY!
Hopefully none of the other ranch babies need quite so much help!
The piggies!
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