Hot Chicks in Snow

No, this isn’t a girls gone wild video, but these are some pretty tough chicks. I’ve been raising chicken’s most all my life but I don’t ever remember seeing day old or a couple day old chicks out in the snow. But this hen sat and hatched these chicks with weather that had temperatures that hit zero and below. See nested in a protected area that had a heat lamp for the wallaby to get in out of the cold. Even so, she couldn’t have been off the nest very long for the full 21 days or the eggs would have gotten chilled and not hatched. She was off in a corner and not directly under the heat lamp. Now that they are hatched she takes them out for only a few minutes at a time and once they start peeping, she ushers them back to the comfort of the wallaby box. So far only one chick out of ten wasn’t faster than the wallaby. These chicks tough but still can’t support the weight of a wallaby.

Fuzzy Gives Up on Winter

Fuzzy the black bear gave up on winter early this year. He has been out of the den every day sense the middle of February. Even when the morning temperatures were 10 to 15 degrees below zero he would come over to see me. I started feeding him a little every morning about the first of March which is a bit earlier than most years. He doesn’t stay out long but as some of the days are now hitting 40 degrees he is spending more and more time out. He really just doesn’t like to walk in snow.

A Break in the Weather

Well, finally a break in the weather. It’s time to get more hay before subzero temps hit again this weekend. Here is a picture of the truck all loaded up and ready to head home 40 miles away. We get 56 bales on the truck a cruise comfortably at 45 mph. We only have to do this about 12 times a year.

Michigan Weather … gota love it!

Well we’ve gone from 10 degrees below zero and 8 inches of blowing snow to 45 degrees above and one and 1/2 inches of rain back to the 20 degree mark. All in the coarse of week. Christmas is over and a new year awaits. Christmas at the zoo was quiet. I was here alone as all family was down state visiting the rest of the family members. Someone has to stay and care for the animals 365 days a year no matter what the weather or holiday. This year was my turn. Critters are all doing fine. It’s amazing how resilient they are as far as withstanding weather changes. Got to go feed again. Until next time.

Welcome to my first attempt at bloging

This blog will be updated as I have time or see fit. It is meant to give you a look at the daily life of a zookeeper from a small privately owned GarLyn Zoo in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula . Today is December 14th 2008, it’s raining with about 2 feet of snow on the ground and I just came in from feeding the animals. All is good and with the mild tempuratures even Fuzzy the bear came out to see what was going on. Winter in the U.P. (upper peninsula) can be a long one. The zoo here is run on a seasonal basis but the animals are here and taken care of all year round. With the economy the way it is I was looking at ways to get a little income in our off season and thought I would start an Ebay store to try and sell some of the items in our gift shop. Check it out if you have time The Toy Safari