Happy Family

Here are more pictures. Maybe the girl's name will be Tipsy because Stef says she looks drunk when she walks. Don't know about the boy yet.


See how big one of Frosty's teats are. Not sure whats wrong yet. We will test her for mastitis in 2 days when her milk comes in. For now I am milking that side out to her dismay.


The yellow on her side is from the iodine I spilled on her while dipping her umbilical cord.

KIDS!!!

Around 1pm this afternoon, Frosty had twins. One buckling and one doeling. The white one is the doeling the black one is the buckling. Everyone is doing fantastic. The buckling is very healthy walking around and trying to eat. The doeling is a bit more timid and isn't up looking for food yet, so we are trying to help her out. Frosty has a very swollen teat that may or may not be mastitis. We are still investigating.

Chicken Coop

Finished the chicken coop today. The first picture is of the inside before it was finished. You can see the nest boxes.
We will have access to the nest boxes from the outside of the coop. Sheet metal on hinges lines the back of the boxes.


Here it is finished. You can also see the almost finished barn behind it.


So with the big chickens and ducks in their new home, the little chicks got moved into their new home today.



On a side note, I am in the middle of moving the fence for a different pasture for the goats, so everyone has to stay inside the pen until I finish. It's pretty pitiful huh?

Newspaper for Chicks

I have had a few people question my choice of using newspaper for chick bedding. The newspaper can be too slick for very young birds. I have found that if the chicks are over a few days old though, I don't have a problem with splayed legs. I try not to get true day old chicks anyway. Most of these guys are already feathering out quite a bit. However, I do not recommend newspaper for guinea fowl until much older, I have learned the hard way on that one.

I like the newspaper. It's free and easy!

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Goodbye Evil

We had our first casualty on the ranch today. Evil died. I believe she had an infection from a cut on her teat and I didn't catch it in time. We butchered her and I was relieved to see she was not pregnant. That would have been awful to lose any babies too.

We weren't sure if it would be safe to feed her to the dogs or not, because of the infection. We decided to put her over a spit to cook then feed the dogs.

As sad as this was for us, Evil has been a great practice goat. Stef could practice his butchering skills and since it was going to the dogs not have to be too paranoid about cleanliness and we got to try out spitting a goat. I think it has gone very well.

I have a picture of the spit but can't post it now for some reason. I will try again later.

Chick Update

Here's a pic of the first set of chickens and ducks. The ducks are ginormous!

I let them free range during the day and put them in their tractor at night. The tractor is getting a little cramped so a new coop is in the works.
Don't worry about Ama eating them. She is on restricted access. Her free roaming privileges have been revoked. She can only be outside with me by my side at all times. She is actually really good around the chickens. Most of the time she just lays there and they peck around her. Hasn't full out tried to get them at all, just stalked them once. Still wouldn't trust her around them by herself.

Chicks and Tin

Craigslist rocks! We finally found some tin for the barn!

Stef starts work on it today if it doesn't rain. I can't wait for a barn!

Also got 20 more chicks at a great price from Craigslist. They are Black Australorps and Buff Orpingtons. They are good for egg production as well as meat. They will lay brown eggs.

Top 5 things to do when....

you are waiting for your friggin goats to have babies-

1. Work on a puzzle...


2. Put together a yard swing...


3. Wash your dog... (Ama is scared of the camera)


4. Put a fence around your garden...

And finally...

Cut your sons hair!!!

Not yet

Okay it is 8:44 on Sunday morning and there are no babies yet. I got up once last night to check on them at 3am. Nothing new.

This morning there isn't any goo coming out and they just look normal. I haven't seen Holly poop yet to see if it is still loose. I let them out with the rest of the herd and will keep an eye on them today.

Almost time!

Oh boy, here we go. Holly and Frosty had more goo coming from their vulvas this morning. Then, after 8 hours on the soccer field, I came home to check on them. Holly's udder is filling up and she has loose stools. Both signs of soon to come babies. I put her and Frosty up in the kidding pen tonight and will check on them a few times tonight. Stef recommended I get a sleeping bag and sleep in the shed with them. Don't know about that, we'll see. BTW, it is supposed to be in the 40's tonight. WAH!!!

For Real Now

Well it is really for real now. We got a truckload of hay today. Somehow it just made this whole operation legitimate.

Goat Attack

Woke up to a screaming baby this morning. Our baby girl goat, that is. Somehow, still haven't figured out how, she got out of the fence. Of course Ama was patrolling the outer fence and got to her. I ran out of the house yelling my head off but Ama wouldn't let go. She had Little Bit by the scruff of the neck and was shaking her. As soon as I got to her she let go and walked shame faced to the house.

Little Bit had a big knot on her shoulder, wouldn't put any weight on her leg, couldn't put her neck down or lay down. Thankfully Ama is so old she doesn't have any sharp teeth left and there were no open wounds. I didn't know what to do with Little Bit. I put her in the kidding pen/sick bay; she was going into shock. While Deklan and I finished chores and made breakfast Niko sat with her. Stef got off work early to check her out. We debated on whether to take her to the vet or wait for tomorrow and see how she was. The boys wanted to take her today, they even chipped in for half of the vet costs.

Little Bit Has torn cartilage in her shoulder and was given penicillin and a cd/t shot. We will continue the penicillin for the next 10 days. By this evening she was walking and eating and was able to lay down.

I told her tonight she better hurry up and get better because Holly has gooey stuff coming out of her vulva. Maybe she is pregnant after all! We need that kidding stall.

In a side note: Ama was sentenced to the house after the attack. About 3 hours later the boys yell out to me,"Ama is hurt mom, Hurry!" I go inside and Ama is limping around, not able to put any weight on her leg. WHAT IS GOING ON?? She finally lays down so I tell the boys just to leave her alone and go back out to Little Bit. When Stef comes home I go back inside and Ama is limping a bit, but able to walk. Okay, good. Then she walks into the kitchen, starts slipping on the linoleum and her back legs are all splayed out. OMG! I get her on the carpet and she lays down again.

She is fine now. I don't know what was going on with her. She has hip problems and limps once in a while but nothing like that. Guess all that thrashing about with Little Bit was too much for her to handle.

We started talking a bit to the boys about maybe having to put Ama down someday. Poor Niko went from worrying about Little Bit to worrying about Ama.

It was a rough morning.


Little Bit thinks she is a lap goat. She wanted to lay in Deklan's lap the whole trip.