Weird...

I was sitting in the yard with baby Saganaki (see sleepy time chick), feeding him. I was sitting with my legs tucked under me and my left arm supporting my weight behind me.

I felt a brief touch on my left hand, but I didn't worry about it, it could be a grasshopper landing on me or something like. Maybe I just imagined it...

I was offering a pellet to Saganaki when I DEFINITELY felt a nudge. It was kind of like I was being nosed/investigated, because it was kind of like a double nudge and a little nibble. I started, scaring Saga a little. I looked around, and this is what I saw:

He didn't run away from me! He just stood there as though trying to figure out what I was. I'm sure if I wasn't in the crane costume, this would never have happened.

Or maybe he saw that I was handing out free food to the little chick, so maybe he'd get in on the action.

I don't know. Either way, it kind of made my day.

MMMM raspberries....

The road to ISO just got a little sweeter. :D

sleepy time chick

Our youngest chick (4 days) was so sleepy this morning when I tried to feed him in the yard. I HAD to take some pictures.
















He took about 6 bites of crumbled food, and just sank slowly to the ground, his eyes lowering, his beak dropping into the grass.
















He kept trying to stay awake, but he couldn't, so his head would fall left, then he'd pick it up so the beak would point down, then it would fall right, and he'd pick it up again. So cute. Even cuter was the little sleepy peeping.

Crane-baby update

Nacho is getting HUGE!!! He looks like a little turkey. Taffy, an aviculturist here, thinks they look like dinosaurs. I guess I can see that. Anyway, he is definitely as tall as my mid-thigh.

You can see here, he LOVES spider-wort. Once you introduce them to the fence-line of spiderwort flowers, they don't stop until they have decimated the entire population (it comes back daily because there are so many buds on one stalk). We are also doing a good job ridding the plains of what looks like Japanese beetles (no natural predators, my butt).

Nacho is 4 weeks old, but he seems so huge! We still have chicks hatching and they are so tiny by comparison.

Enough talk, here are the pictures! All the pictures are shot from behind so the chicks don't see the camera.

Nacho and Spiderwort!




















Pepper Jack taking a 5 minute break in the field.


















Here's a video of Nacho taking a bath, it's SO cute. The black stuff is my sleeve blowing in the wind.

directions from the management

We have been told to step-up our responsibility. While I had been working on that since the beginning, now I will be an unstoppable responsibility machine. Each chick is MY ward and I will personally ensure their safety every day that I work. This is my promise.

Tadpoles

Why is it that I believe tadpoles have the texture of tapioca beads?

It's gettting busy!

We've got 10 crane-babies right now and one on the way.

Nacho, Pepper Jack, Gouda, Roquefort, Brie, Havarti, Ricotta, and Fontina. The last two will be named today or tomorrow... I'm voting for maybe bleu or goat.

It's crazy to see the size difference between the oldest (3 weeks old) and the youngest (2 days old). Nacho is the height of my hand and forearm and little bleu is only as tall as my fingers! So itty bitty.

We spend time with each of the chicks walking around the yard so they get exercise 2x daily. Usually the chicks are out there separately so there won't be any altercations (they fight for dominance as the dominant chick usually gets more food from the mother). Nacho gets 2 hours 2x daily, PJ gets 1.5 hours 2x, and so on. This means a LOT of time out in the yards with each bird. We usually only have 4 people available to work, so that keeps everyone constantly busy. I'm glad I found a good costume (lightweight, good visibility, short so the bottom doesn't get too wet), because I've been spending a lot of time in it.

Unfortunately, I submerged my boots yesterday, so they are still wet. My feet are starting to smell from being in the boots so often. I wash them when I can, but it's unavoidable. I'm thinking about getting some dr. scholls for them.

This morning, I fed bleu, walked outside with fontina for 20 minutes, recorded my notes, cleaned runs, walked outside with Gouda for an hour and a half (he's bigger, so I kept him walking the whole time), recorded notes, then fed goat.

Blessed lunch, gives time for my feet to breath.

I'm going back right now, probably to spend 2 hours out there with Nacho and a few smaller intervals with the littler guys. Wish me luck! Hope it doesn't rain.