Tater Tots and dead animals

Well, winter is officially here with a vengeance.

We are now dealing with frozen water for the animals and a lot of slogging through snow to feed them.

And there is another side to winter. An unexpected side. A deadly side.

I have had to deal with 4 dead field mice so far this winter.

Yes I said 4 dead mice.

I didn't know this before, but have now been educated that where there are chicken houses, there are usually mice.

I thought this couldn't be the case because so many people over on www.backyardchickens.com talk about how their chickens will kill all sorts of small snakes and mice if they get into the coop.

Well, I didn't account for the fact that once a chicken is asleep, you could basically do anything you want with it. They can be moved from coop to coop and hung upside down if you want.

So this must be when the mice come in to play.

In our small coop where all the baby chicks hang out, I've been using a small bucket of water to supply them with water. Last year I fought against a freezing outside waterer all winter. This year I've resorted to a small bucket. It seem to do well. Most of the time it has less ice than an outside waterer and I can refill it everyday with hot water so that it stays liquid longer. also, the chicks keep a hole open on their own if ice forms. Then they can stand on the ice and drink.

Hey at least they have water.

Anyway I've found a total of 3 dead mice in the water this year already. The first time it was 2 and it grossed me out. But yesterday it wasn't so bad when I found 1 hanging out alone.

Can I just comment about how strange it seems to see them in there? They look so natural. Like they are going to hop up and go on their merry way.

their ears are perky and their paws are usually out like normal.

Its just wierd that they look so alive but are so dead.

UGH.

The 4th mouse I found in our alfalfa. I was getting some for the sheep and I noticed that between 2 bales of alfalfa it looked like something had tunneled through. So I went to move the bale.

That's when I saw it. A dead mostly unrecognizable, mostly decomposed mouse on top of the very bale I was moving.

YUCK!

No I didn't touch it. Yes, I moved it with a strand of alfalfa. I just realized that I'm going to have to see it again today... What the heck am I going to do with it? I guess I'll throw it in the bushes or something like that.

So on to the other dead animals around here.

Back around Halloween we hatched chicks. We incubated 44 or so eggs and 22 hatched. I then bought 9 more chicks to bring new blood to the flock.

We lost the first chick to unknown causes. I think he may have been dropped by someone and it was just to much. If you've ever handled a new chick, you will know that they can be hard to hold on to because they want out of your hands!!!

The second got trampled in the brooder (basically a warm protected home for baby chicks, usually a cardboard box with pine shavings). Probably happened during feeding time.

The 3rd chick was rather a sad loss. We had gotten a new rooster for fresh blood for the flock. He was a few days younger than the rest of the crowd and seemed peppier. He was easy to spot and fun to hold.

Well, one day I was out feeding the chicks (by this time they were outside) and I noticed that somewhere his toe had gotten opened up, and the tip of it was gone. I don't know how or why, but I couldn't do much. I just made sure he got a good meal and that the toe got a quick cleaning off.

The next morning I found him wedged between a nesting box and a wall. Stiff as a board. Frozen solid. Don't know what exactly happened.

Monday, I found the 4th chick. Somewhere during the day the chicks managed to break the 250w 120v (I think?) light bulb that was in their coop. This is a huge bulb and provided a lot of heat.

The light was on in the morning, but when I was out there with the scouts (8yr olds) I found the broken light bulb and noticed a dead chick outside in the run.

It had snowed that day and the poor chick was mostly covered. I don't know what happened. Probably died from exposure.

Luckily, most of the chicks were fine because at this age they have most of their feathers.

I've since replaced the light with a 60watt bulb. It's not as hot, but it's sort of a relief.

The 250 watt bulb almost caused a fire (I found it as it started to give off a lot of smoke) and it always worried me after that.

Its been 2 nights since the light bulb change out and the chicks are doing fine.

So now that I've told you about the dead animals, its time for the tater tots.

Cecilee came home from school one day talking about tater tots. It took me a while to figure it out, but turns out what she was talking about was tank tops.

She had worn a cute sun shirt type outfit that we had put a pretty white shirt under. She was trying to tell me that her friends had liked her tater tot.

It was pretty cute.

Now she keeps trying to layer her clothing for unknown reasons. Yesterday she wore the 'tater tot' under her normal shirt. She said it was to keep her warm.

Yes she has a warm coat, goes to school on the bus and they make the kids play inside on cold days. So its not that she needed more warmth.

Its just kind of funny to see these new ideas that she brings home from her friends.

Anyway she tried to do it again this morning. But no 'tater tot' in sight. She had 2 different shirts, both of them the flowing dress type shirts. There was no way one was going to fit well under the other. It was pretty funny.

No, I didn't let her wear them both.