Because I was unable to finish incubating eggs for next years’ layer birds and there weren’t enough to start another full batch when I got home, I ordered 25 Dominique layer chicks from Cackle Hatchery. On Wednesday morning, I got the call from the post office to come pick them up. Twenty-eight very cute little birds peeked back at me when I opened the shipping box. Nothing like baby chicks on the homestead to put a smile on your face.
After getting them home and safely in the brooder, I headed back to town for an appointment with the orthopedic doctor for a lingering Achilles tendon issue that was now greatly affecting my knee. I came away from that appointment feeling much better about my situation. Then, I got a notice that I had low tire pressure. I took the car to the local tire shop and had to wait nearly three hours before I could get my tire repaired. It was a long wait, but they had warned me in advance. It gave me time to catch up on my emails. My tire was repaired at no charge and I was on the road again. I did manage to finish editing the video “A Huge Rain Event” and get it posted. It can be seen here.
The next day, I combined my ducklings that are adult sized with my adult ducks. I videoed the project but lost the main part of the project, so I am now trying to repair the damage on that video. That evening, five deer wandered across our driveway before running across the road onto the neighbors’ property. Of the five, at least three were bucks. I’m already looking forward to deer season.
On Friday, I posted the podcast “I Crashed but Think I’m Back at It” talking about how difficult it has been for me to get back into the groove since returning from Florida. It can be seen here.
The truth is, I really haven’t gotten back in gear. The anti inflammatory the doctor prescribed has worked very well with the intense swelling in my knee and heels, but has made me drowsy, and even grumpy. I ended up spending much of the weekend watching the Little League World Series instead of getting some work done.
It might have been just as well. The temperatures soared about 100 degrees with heat index of 120 degrees. It was too hot to get any work done. That probably added to my grumpiness.
What broke my heart though was discovering that all of my Dominique chicks had succumbed to the heat yesterday evening. They had plenty of water and I certainly did not have them under a heat lamp, but not one survived. My heart hurt for the way they died and for the damage it did to my layer flock for the next season. I cried, then decided to incubate a small batch of chicks on my own… after this heat breaks next week.