The geese are coming and going at a fevered rate. The rush must be on! Many fly into the lake only to find a pair of geese caring for young that were already born. The parents were obviously smart enough to brave all of April’s chill to establish themselves as early settlers this year. (It takes 28 days...nearly a month to hatch a clutch of geese eggs)
Here are the contenders for the spots available |
These are the Victors of the original Spot....Un-yielding to the others... |
I never release the farm animals before eleven o’clock, in hopes that all the local hawks have been satisfied on mice and moles in the fields, making it safer for our birds to be out feeding, without confrontation. The fox will come at any hour of the day, but since fencing the entire perimeter of the pastures....fox attacks and loss have been almost non-existant. If it has happened, we haven’t noticed.
Today I will work a little in the brooding house, filling the two incubators with duck eggs, guinea fowl eggs, turkey eggs and possibly a few chicken eggs. Spring is here and soon everyone will be looking for little peeps to raise for themselves. Once the incubators are filled, hydrated and ready to go, I will catalog the date, identify and number the eggs and we will begin the twenty-one or twenty-eight day regime of waiting and re-hydrating. If all goes right, they will begin to emerge.
We have one friend that wants several ducks for her son and another friend on the farm down the road that wants Pekin ducks for himself. There are always folks hunting for guinea fowl keets or chicken peeps each spring and the turkey are for us to raise and sell. We will raise them for the holiday seasons and sell some of their eggs. They are Royal Palm turkeys. You know, the ones that are beautifully white, with black markings and their eggs are delicious!
The beautiful Royal Palm Turkeys. Great Tasting bird and eggs! |
Stay tuned for more farm adventures.....things are finally starting to heat up here and start moving.
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Sounds like things are really moving around on the farm.
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