Arrivals and departures.

The Chicken Palace welcomed it's first residents today. In the morning, Aaron fired up the heat lamps in the brooder and then went to pick up the box of new chicks. After he released them, they took to the place pretty well, peeping and running around and generally behaving like the little chickens they are.

They're Ameraucanas, a breed with an interesting history. These layers of beautiful blue-green eggs are related to an old South American breed, called Araucanas, which was discovered in the early twentieth century. Since the colored eggs were so popular, Araucanas were crossed with a number of other breeds, which resulted in a whole host of different chickens, generally called Easter Eggers. A few North American breeders, though, were dedicated to creating a "standard Araucana," eventually establishing breed standards through the American Poultry Association in 1984.

In addition to the chicks, Michael also ordered a few guineafowl keets. Ground birds similar to partidges, guineas help control insects and, when kept with a flock of chickens, act as a sort of natural alarm for birds of prey.

What's more, lambing has begun. The first lambs were born Thursday afternoon. We were working at some spring cleaning, when we noticed the sheep in the pen standing and staring at the barn. Then, we heard one of the ewes inside the barn bleating. When we went to check on her, there was a little black lamb laying in the hay and the mother licking it clean. Later that day, she gave birth to its twin. Over the weekend, another ewe gave birth to triplets. One didn't survive, which might be just as well. Sheep don't seem to be able to care for more than two lambs at a time, so it would have struggled anyway. 

And the farm's goat died today. Strangely enough, we had just been talking about her over lunch. Before we left for the day, we went to check on the lambs and found her laying on her side in the pen. She must have died sometime this afternoon.