I have to talk about the most exciting thing first. After incubating chicken eggs for 21 days the babies have arrived! They are the cutest little things at this age. I could just watch them all day long.
We started with 9 eggs, but we had a mishap when my daughter was trying to put the lid back on the incubator and dropped it. She cracked open an egg beyond repair. This was about 18 or 19 days in.
I’m happy to report that all the other eggs successfully hatched. I actually have no idea what kind they are since our friends gave us the eggs and the incubator to borrow. I will have to figure out what breeds of chickens they have.
One little chick was born unable to walk. I googled and couldn’t for the life of me figure out what was wrong with her. She just scooted around on her wings. I checked several times for curled toes and each time when I lifted her up she would show me how her feet and legs looked perfect.
My kids prayed that she would recover. The next day, thanks to some Divine help, I had a thought come to me. I realized that the chicks feet might be curling as she put weight on them. Sure enough that was the problem! I spread out her toes and stuck them to bandaid as some YouTube videos instructed and she is walking a bit more now!
She can at least reach food and water, which I was having to do for her before. We are so grateful! Hopefully, after a few days the stretching with the bandaids will do the trick and she’ll be able to walk normally.
Seed Starting Indoors:
I’m still waiting on my newly planted pepper seeds to pop up. My soil blocks feel cool at the top even with the heat mat under them and it must be slowing the germination process.
Some of my others that I planted 4 weeks ago and thought weren’t going to sprout at all, decided to pop up which is great news. I’m only low on my Jalapeños now. My seeds are a few years old, I’ll definitely have to restock next year since they are having trouble germinating.
In the Garden:
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We had a good hard frost this week, so I covered everything with row covers and plastic. It worked great! All plants made it through no problem.
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Onions went in the ground this week. I’m a week late. I had so many this year it took me 3 days to get them all in. Of course it was only a few hours each day that I squeezed in. I’m going to have to go count how many. I planted Candy, Expression, Valencia, Rossa Di Milano, NY Early, Cabernet, and Bulgarian Giant Leeks.
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Potatoes went in the ground too. Well, most of them. I’m trying to figure out where I can squeeze a few more in because I still have some left. My garden is definitely being used to the max. Potato varieties are Molly Magic, White Kennebec, Yukon Gold, and Amarosa Red. I’m also a bit late on the potatoes.
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My kids started their early season garden crops in the little bed I gave them. I always tell them they can have more space if they tend to their garden throughout the season but it hasn’t happened yet 🙂
In case you’re wondering what the powder is… it’s greensand. It adds a tiny bit of potassium and some minerals. I used it in my sweet potatoes last year and they were my biggest yet! I’m hoping to have similar results with my potatoes. We’ll See!
