While you may think that this farmer gets up at 5 a.m., I am here to tell you that is not the case. Not until those goats that have been pregnant since September drop their kids in my lap. Then I will need to get up at the crack of dawn. Actually, I have been “nesting” since September in anticipation of the delivery. Trying to get rest before the sleepless nights. Wait….I already don’t sleep at night. I have noticed the goats seem to have been ordered bed rest. They aren’t movin’ much this last week. Maybe soon!
As I was contemplating getting out of bed at 6:38 the phone rang and the caller id read: US GOVT. (Isn’t funny how that is always in caps? ) So my first thought, of course, being the mommy that I am, was that they were calling to tell me that my son, who is in the ARMY, had done something wrong or something had happened to him. That is just where your mind goes when an office of authority calls you. No…..It was the US POST OFFICE in my little itty bitty town telling me that my chicks were in and come get them. Thank goodness that my boy is safe! He is. He is on a pass this weekend having a ball not too far away from here.
When you order chicks on-line they come in the mail when the chicks are 1 day old. They have enough nutrition stored up in their little bodies (One of God’s miracles among millions of others) to keep them flyin’ for a couple of days. 
They are alive and WELL! And yes, they were hungry and were able to distinguish between the water, food and bedding. Quickly, I might add.
We have somehow ended up with 64 birds here. “How did this happen?”, the rooster said to the hen. We don’t know. But this gaggle of 26 that showed up here this morning are meat chickens. Did you know that the chicken you buy at the store might be as young as 9 weeks? They very well could be younger than that. I never would’ve thought… We will keep ours for 12 weeks and that is o.l.d. We are going to provide them a feed that is lower in protein to slow the growing rate down. What happens to these poor chickens when they are allowed to grow too fast, which is the case in ALL commercial outfits, is their legs break under the weight of their bodies and they cannot walk. ugh. Dont want that to happen. We are just venturing into meat territory and I don’t want anything scary to happen. It is scary enough just raising the stuff!
Speaking of meat chickens, ever get tired of the same ol’ same ol’ barbecue chicken? This is a wonderful change that DOESN’T INCLUDE SUGAR OR CORN SYRUP which is in almost every bottle of BBQ sauce:
This sauce is probably enough for 1 whole chicken.
1 stick Melted butter
a couple of T. Worcestershire sauce
lemon juice of 1 lemon
2 or 3 garlic cloves minced
melt and mix all together on stove top and baste chicken on the grill. YUMMY.
Have a SUPER holiday weekend!
God bless,
Karen
The Shieling 