Chicks!

{UPDATE: Turns out at least one of the other hens figured out a way to get into the brooder pen - up there between the winter heat lamp and the brooder fence was an opening!!! As of last night there were 12 eggs in the nest. Now there are none, YF had finished setting and abandoned the nest. And I fixed the area - we'll see if the mystery  hen figures it out. On a plus side - we did get 6 eggs today for the fridge!}

We have chicks!!! Our old banty hen who doesn't lay eggs anymore, Yellow Feather, went broody and surrogate hatched 9 eggs! The amazing thing was finding 11 more eggs still in the nest! The other hens were busy helping YF hatch the eggs when she would take a break! :) She is such a good mama. Enough words - here's some pictures. :)

Safe and sound in their brooder house inside the big chicken condo. The older chicks love to jump up on "Mama" and ride around. :) The first time we've had chicks hatch. There's a mix of Americauna/New Hampshire Red crosses and Welsummer/New Hampshire Red crosses. Here's some pics of the Papa, "George", that Mr. S caught during the wild chicken chase at last year's County Fair, and the Hens.

Precious (Welsummer) and George (New Hampshire Red)

George with the Americaunas and a black sex-link.

*Please do not republish pictures without our permission. Thanks!

Way To Go Boys!!

It's "Let's Hear It For The Boys!" day over at the MOB Society. Today, I have two things about my boys that I want to share.

First, we take them down to Utah every summer to spend 2-3 weeks at their grandparents. We always take our little female Dachshund/Chihuahua, Trixie, with us. This year we have a second little dog, Kona, that went along. Kona will help us drive the car if we let him, so he rode in a travel crate. About 30-45 minutes before our destination, we pulled into a rest area for a pit stop. Got the dogs out of the car, ran around to stretch our legs, got the dogs back in the car and hit the road. Mr. Gehrke asked, do we have Trixie? (She rides on the floor in the back.) "Yes!" That was June 14. We arrived at Grammy and Grampy's. Everyone was excited to be there. Trixie hopped out of the car while Mr. Gehrke and Mr. M (7) went to the house. I was helping Mr. S (10) get Kona out of his crate. "Where's Trixie?" "Trixie! TRIXIE!!" Trixie had vanished. She was nowhere to be found!

The next morning, still no Trixie. I made some Missing flyers and hung them at the two bulletin boards in town. No one had seen her. I posted her missing on the local county Facebook page. Saturday, still no sign of Trixie! Sunday, again no sign. I made a call to a local woman who does the Pet Patrol. She had possibly seen Trixie Friday morning. Mr. S and I hopped in the car and followed the trail. Don't remember how many stops we made, but it was hot out and we talked to a LOT of people! Still no Trixie.

Monday morning, Mr. Gehrke and I had to leave. I had a business meeting that night and it was going to take 9 hours to drive there. We stopped at the rest stop so Kona could have a pit stop. Mr. Gehrke spotted bowls of water and dog food at the back of the bathrooms. We called out, "TRIXIE!!!" No Trixie and we had to get on the road. We began second-guessing ourselves. Did we leave Trixie at the rest stop? She was in the car! Was she?

We enjoyed our time in Utah. At one point, Mr. S asked me, "What if Trixie shows up after you leave?" "She will stay here with you." {Smile} from Mr. S.

When we got home I posted Trixie's picture on every Utah Lost Pet Facebook page I could find! I sent emails, called a radio station, posted her on the KSL classifieds page. Nothing! But there are amazing people in FBLand who shared and reshared Trixie's picture and info.

Yesterday, I got a voicemail from my MIL asking if I'd received a call about Trixie. I called MIL, and told her I hadn't. A woman spotted a dog looking like Trixie on Monday (6.18) at the rest stop. We got off the phone, I called Mr. Gehrke, and a call from Utah came in on my phone. I answered, and the man who owns the Chuck Wagon General Store in my in-laws town had seen Trixie on Tuesday at the rest stop! He tried to get her to come, but she was too scared. He shared how when he got back to his store, he ate lunch out front, looked up at the bulletin board and saw our MISSING flyer, and knew that was the dog he saw the day before! My eyes were full of tears! Trixie was still alive!

I relayed the information to MIL and she took Mr. S and Mr. M up to the rest stop. Mr. S told me the story last night over the phone:

"So, Mom, you called when we were in the store. Then Grammy drove us to the rest stop. When we got there, I got out and went to the picnic tables because that's where we were the first time. I called Trixie and she came running down the mountain." She jumped right in the truck when the door was open.

I knew that the boys could call her in! And that day their faith was built even stronger. The Lord answered their prayers. Trixie is safe and sound, with her boys, and will come when they do.

Second - the 21 Days of Prayer For Our Sons from May was appreciated so much by my boys. A couple days after it ended, Mr. S asked me why I stopped. I told him the 21 Days were over. He was missing it! So we started over! Praying the Word of God with their names inserted has become an integral part of their bedtime routine. So much so, that Mr. S asked me to print out the pages with the Word to pray for each day so their Grammy could pray it over them while staying there. :)

Mr. Gehrke and I are very blessed by our two boys! We are grateful for them. And yes, proud of them in the way that parents ought to be proud of their children.