Spring is springing!

Today I brought my styrofoam "Little Giant" incubator into the house and plugged it in. According to all the instructions I've read, you're supposed to have it going for a day or so in order to fine-tune the temperature before putting eggs in.

I've collected 14 eggs from the Chanticler hens over the last couple of days. I may wait and collect a few more tomorrow afternoon before setting them in the incubator. Not all will be fertile; some will have gotten too cold in our current cold snap, for instance. Actually, temperatures are now "seasonable" - more normal for this time of year - but boy, did I enjoy the 50s and 60s we had last week!

I've recently "met" someone online who lives nearby and also has Partridge Chanticlers! I emailed asking about buying some hatching eggs, and she has instead offered to sell me a rooster! I am delighted and can't wait to go pick him up! Right now I have 7 Chanticler hens, 1 rooster, 2 bantam hens, and 8 or 9 Ameraucana hens. Looking forward to finding out how my hatching eggs do. I'd love to increase the Chanticler flock, even if I have to thin out the number of Ameraucanas to do it.

We are currently down to three alpacas - two girls (Milk, the bay-black one and Angel, the white one) and Tesla, Castanet's surprise baby from last July. Those three are for sale. I think I'd be happy to be down to just goats and chickens right now, and the angora bunnies, of course.

The goats are supposed to be due around April 5. If they're pregnant, they're likely only carrying singles. They're not very big. One of them looks more likely to be pregnant than the other. Their mother didn't carry very big, either, though, so I'm still hopeful that we'll have baby goats, and goat milk, soon.

I planted some herbs in the house a few weeks ago - basil, oregano, and rosemary. The basil is growing like a weed, and needs to be repotted and probably split. The oregano could follow likewise. The rosemary is off to a slow start, but growing. Someone told me that rosemary likes heat, so it will likely do better as things warm up around here.

I actually tapped the two maple trees out front this spring, and managed to gather enough sap to end up with five pints of syrup! I'm still astonished at the process. I'll be tagging more trees this spring (they're much easier to identify once they have leaves on them!) to tap next winter. I managed to score ten buckets/covers/spiles at a farmer's market for $7 a set! Between that (if I even use all of those) and milk jugs, I should be all set next year!!