Welcome Welsummers!

My Welsummers are hatching!!!
And my youngest son had a birthday-but I'll write about that in another post when I have time to actually do some reflecting.
Right now I am giddy about this hatch. I started out with 14 eggs shipped from a backyard breeder on BYC (www.backyardchickens.com). C. dropped an egg immediately, so we put 13 into the incubator. After 8 days I candled the eggs and found that 6 of them were not viable. We were left with just 7 eggs.

On Day 21 we had our first Welsummer chick. It took him over 12 hours to hatch. Today is Day 22 and we have 3 more chicks, and one egg that is pipping. The remaining 3 eggs don't show signs of life yet.

This has been a very slow hatch. Last year when I hatched my own eggs they pipped and hatched so quickly, in under 12 hours. They also were all hatched out by Day 22. I believe the shipped eggs may take a little longer just becuase they have suffered some stress from the shipping, plus my room temperature is a little lower than it really should be. I think it is recommended that room temp be at least 65, and we are closer to 62-63 on most days. If I only get 4 chicks out of these eggs I will be disappointed. I was hoping to have at least 3 pullets and 1 rooster for myself and share some of the extra birds with friends of mine. That may not be happening this time though-with my luck they will all turn out to be roosters!





In order to deal with the staggered hatch, I decided to leave the egg turner with the Buckeye eggs in the incubator during the Welsummer hatch. I removed 3 of the turner flats and bulit cardboard walls around this gap. I put the Welsummer eggs inside of this wall with the hope that it would keep the hatching chicks out of the turner. It worked well on Day 21 when I just had one chick, but now that chick managed to hop over the wall and is sitting on the turner! Luckily he is not on the side that has the Buckeye eggs, so those cannot be harmed, but I am worried about the chick getting stuck in the turner. I may have to open the bator and push him back over the wall, though I will have to be careful as opening the bator could potentially kill any chicks that are pipping or zipping at the time.

More hatching eggs....

I put 14 Buckeye eggs in the incubator today. Last week I candled the Welsummer eggs, and 6 of them were not viable, so I have 7 of them left due to hatch late next week. When they hatch the Buckeye eggs will still have about 10 days left or so, so I am going to have to figure out a way to have a very "non-messy" Welsummer hatch so the Buckeyes won't be hatching into an old mess. It's tricky, I am going to have to do a little research and try to figure out the best way to go about this. I originally meant to have them hatch at the same time, but since I did not receive the eggs at the same time I really couldn't work it out.

Both of these eggs are from backyard breeders, reputable folks from www.backyardchickens.com Buckeye Dave's eggs came packed in a box with the best care labels EVER! Take a look:

Oh my poor little neglected blog. I'm sorry I haven't written for so long! My friends introduced me to Facebook and I just haven't seen the need to take the time to write a few paragraphs here when I can write a sentence on FB and feel complete. Plus, poeple actually respond and write comments on FB, and nobody reads you. But since I'm here anyway....

I put 13 Welsummer eggs in the incubator Wednesday. The Buckeye eggs didn't make it here in time to hatch the two breeds together, so I'll have to do two seperate hatches. That's okay with me I guess, it means I'll just have a dozen chicks in my kitchen at one time, instead of twice that. I can't believe that I considered not hatching chicks this year. It would be a lonely spring without any little fluffy butts to play with, I think I would actually cry over that.

Running is going well. The longer days mean that I can get my runs in AFTER I get home from the kids evening activities, so I'm slowly upping my mileage. I'm getting 15-16 miles a week now up from a pathetic 6-10 in January and 8-11 in February. I have had some really nice, warm runs in shorts and T-shirts this week, and I'm loving spring. I have a 10k race on April 19th.

Things are good at home. I am no longer stressed about B's job situation, just content to let the chips fall where they may. We'll know the outcome mid-May.

Time to find something to make for dinner, and get on my running clothes~

Well, I sure feel like a big idiot. I was mistaken about daylight savings. In spring we "spring ahead", so getting up at 5:30 am would be like getting up at 4:40am. Total darkness. How depressing. I guess evening running in the forecast for me, at least until May or so. Crap.

Goodbye sunset, hello sunrise

I received the best news this week. This Sunday is daylight savings, which means that it will be light at 6am and I can go running in the morning!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I should have had this date circled in red on my calender! It is the end of the mandatory evening running, which I struggle with all winter long. I absolutely love getting up at 5:30am, heading out the door and drinking in the dawn. I love going to bed at 9:30pm, even in the summer when it is still light out. I have always been an early to bed, early to rise type, and my life is best when I live that way. I have been catching up on my sleep all winter, sleeping in until 7am or *gasp* sometimes even 7:30. So I'm refresed and ready to go~

Since the job lay-off announcement I have been trying really hard to focus on the positive parts of my life, and now I have taken this one step further. I have decided that focusing on the postive is not enough. I am still allowing negative feelings and stressors to bother me and affect my overall well-being. I have truely decided that I need to focus really hard not just on the positive things in my life, but I need to act on them and purposefully bring joy into my life through my actions. I really need some extra joy-medicine right now!

Here are some of the positive things I have been grateful for this past week:
-a break in the bone chilling cold and some very nice runs
-longer days leading to many eggs in the nest boxes
-a good book
-my orthotics (always grateful for those)
-chicken soup
-a gift from a friend
-my warm bed filled with cuddly children
-finding my lost slipper
-sushi with friends
-flowers from B.

And in my desire to actively bring joy into my life:
-ordering hatching eggs. I'll have 24 eggs in the incubator this spring! And some gorgeous Welsummer and Buckeye chicks in my kitchen
-taking the time to really listen to B. I don't do that often enough and I miss a lot.
-rubbing C's back and getting a neck rub in return
-giving to others and getting a little bit of their joy back for myself.

Nothing new, no news...

So, we are still waiting over here for news on B's job situation. This week was supposed to be the week when we finally got some news, but no, the state of Ohio seems intent to prolong our suffering. Basically we are waiting to see if B has more seniority than the social studies teacher at another juvenile correctional facility. If he does than he can "bump" this teacher out of the position, and B will become the new teacher there. If he doesn't than he is out of luck and needs to find another job, fast!
B is maddeningly cool as a cucumber, saying things like, "everything will turn out the way it is supposed to", and "life is full of change and that is a good thing". Meanwhile I am biting my fingernails and pulling my hair out in worry. B is one of those people who seems to rise above normal human worries. Nothing ever bothers him, you can't say or do anything that will stress him out or upset him. Sometimes I wonder if he is really present in this world at all, as he seems to float right through things and events that cause me severe distress.
I am really, really trying to relax and think positively, and not get bogged down with worry or negative feelings. I think I am doing a pretty good job, but every few days it seems to creep up on me, and I am finding myself going to bed earlier and earlier just to avoid worrying in the evening when it is quiet. Also, I have had some lingering headaches that I really can't attribute to illness or anything else.
I am so anxious to just find out one way or the other whether or not he has a job! I need to be able to plan our future and just get moving. I do not like this uncertainty.