My latest Huffington Post blog post is up and it’s about a subject near and dear to my heart- Chicken World! You can read it here. If you like it, please re-tweet and share on facebook using the tools provided on the post.

Thanks!

This is Aberdeen.

Isn’t she beautiful?

Leo is the smaller in the back.

And guess what?

Leo isn’t gelded.

Last time Aberdeen was bred, it was by a mini horse.

So at some point in the future we will have a foal of our own!

My friend Amy came over today and took this pics and the two that follow.

Isn’t Leo lovely? His 2nd birthday is Wednesday, BTW.

In all the excitement I forgot to tell you I bought three new chickens at Chicken World yesterday. Names to come.

It is stupidly, insanely, brutally hot in Central Virginia. Yesterday the high was 102. Today is expected to get up to 103 and tomorrow will also top 100.

The sheep are suffering mightily.

The goats on marginally less so.

The flock spends most of the day seeking shade and drinking water. We’re going through 150 gallons or so a day and we have to top off the tanks every hour or so with fresh, cool water to keep them drinking it. We’re adding electrolytes and apple cider vinegar as well.

Everyone has a very spot that they return to each day. Colorado and Buster share one of the run-in sheds.

Cosmo takes up a whole shed by himself.

Miss Linda and the rest of the goats stay in the back pasture where the shade of the trees and the slight breeze keep them cool.

Hannah

Jasmine

Waldorf and Statler

Ernie is the one I’m most concerned about. He’s just so big. He’s panting like crazy, but he’s hanging in there.

Even the chickens are suffering. They spend their afternoons in the landscaping, only coming out when I call them to come over for cool treats like watermelon and peaches.

The forecast is calling for cooler temps (92!) starting Monday. Till then we’ll just keep encouraging everyone to hydrate and keep the barn fans running.

hot day + watermelon = happy yard birds

Chickens Love Watermelon from Susan Gibbs on Vimeo.

The heat index at Juniper Moon Farm was 110 degrees today.

Lots of this going on today.

The sheep are so miserable. You’d think they’d spread out to stay cool but they don’t overmuch.

It’s sweet how the mamas still let their babies snuggle right up to them even though it must be like being plastered against a radiator.

Linda, on the other hand, loves this heat. Her arthritis doesn’t seem to effect her as much and she’s getting around much better.

All the goats are happy enough. Dimples has grown like a weed since the Spring Shearing.

The chickens spend most of the day trying to stay cool under the landscaping.

Ethel and her chicks, scratching for food. I have to say, having a mama hen to raise the new chicks is so much easier than ordering day-olds and doing it ourselves. Natural clearly knows what she’s doing.

We had a brief but lovely thunderstorm this afternoon that cooled things down a lot. Cini was thrilled.

I’m sure the gardens were happy too. It has been so dry out there! But still, we have at least a dozen varieties of lilies in bloom and my Magnolia tree has one great big beautiful bud. Can’t wait to watch it open.

Ethel spends most of the day sitting around looking all casual like this.

Then a little head will pop out from underneath her.

And then another little head.

Sometimes a little fluff ball will run around the back of mama,

and sneak back underneath her tail feathers.

Then Ethel goes back to looking all nonchalant.

“What are you looking at? I don’t know anything about any baby chickens.”

So it shouldn’t come as a huge surprise that we’ve had a difficult time getting a decent head count.

Turns out we have 9 baby chicks, not 8.

[Can't wait to see how much extra traffic that headline will bring to my site.]

All of eggs have hatched, and with a couple of losses, we ended up with 8 healthy new chicks. Three of the little fluff balls are brownish-red and I have high hopes that they are Araucanas, also known as Easter Egg chickens.

Today, Ethel taught her babies how to eat, which was stupidly adorable. Also, when Ethel sits, all the chicks snuggle underneath her and you wouldn’t even know they were there if you didn’t know they were there.

PHOTO CREDIT: Maggie

My friend Amy came over today to take so pics of the freshly hatched chicks.

We’ve hatched 9 so far, and lost one, leaving on 4 eggs to go.Since we’ve no idea if they are males or females, we’ll leaving off naming them for a bit.

We can only see two chicks so far but there were 13 eggs total, so we’re hoping for more chicks by the end of the day. I am so anxious to hold them but Ethel is fierce and I’m afraid of her. More pics this afternoon.

XO/S