So here I am, making another entry in my farm blog, when I should be doing ‘other’ things. No, I’m not neglecting the poultry, just the laundry and maybe a few dishes for the moment. But there are things to tell, and so I must write!
We are NOW members of the NPIP
#63-301
(National Poultry Improvement Plan)
All fowl on the property were tested today for Pullorum and Typhoid and so now we know for CERTAIN that we can safely ship fertile & hatching eggs as well as live poultry (delivery too) anywhere we want, pretty much. There are some states that have laws against this… I will have to research this in depth as I am ready to start shipping eggs. Our first 4 dozen will go out over the first 2 weeks of March. Generous ‘testers’ have volunteered to receive a dozen eggs each and incubate them, keeping the offspring is the bonus here. What this will tell me is 1) How well am I packaging the eggs? 2) How responsive and perhaps careful are my own post offices 3) How fertile are my eggs. Everyone is well aware that these are all Mystery Chicks and it matters not what their genetic makeup really is. Scroll down a couple of posts to see our very own first hatch of Mystery Chicks. Plus its fun to share your bounty and these little guys and gals are adorable!!!
My little hatch is doing well… I put the pine shavings in today under their feet and added a thin towel ontop of that to keep them from eating all the shavings! This way.. they see a few pieces here and there around the edges and before long they’ve messed with a few pieces and quickly learn that it’s not food.
It’s almost sunset here in the Smokies, I wouldn’t know it if it weren’t for the sun peeking out behind the clouds now at the end of the day. We got quite a bit of rain here early in the day and it’s drying up fairly quickly. They are forecasting a quick cold spell for over the weekend, I guess this is to be expected during Pre-Spring… but nothing too major I don’t think; no frozen waterers anyway. Well.. I’m off now to collect my last round of eggs from the hen house & to check on my light, it didn’t come on today.. perhaps the bulb has burned out.