Update on to do list!

Okay world, here it is, my tasks for the holiday weekend....drum roll please .... what i got done:

-got hay from Beth's house (got two truck loads to fill the shed and put a hole in the tire, so Chris showed me how to change one, at least i learned something new!)

-I removed the fencing around IB and HP so the lovely ladies and their babies can roam free!

-I closed up the shack for the girls with chris' help

-I moved the hay feeder down to the garden, it really confused all the goats, but they have figured it out!

I was not able to insulate the water dishes or attach an overhang to the coops.

I was not able to complete my list, but I am very pleased that I got most of it completed. We also spent time working inside and are going to be laying slate tile for the fire place this week.

I will make sure to take advantage of the upcoming three day weekend as well!

I was disappointed to find out this weekend that two more of my Silkies have matured to be roosters, so they will get listed for sale this week and should be easy to rehome.

Hope everyone had a merry christmas! I sure did, I am currently baking a loaf of banana bred in my brand new bread maker (so cool)!

Never Enough Time!

Well it seems to have been awhile since my last post....yet again! Between work and the farm my free time seems to be spent sleeping! I am pleased to announce that I have off from work until Monday, so that will not only give me a rest, but it will also give me a chance to catch up on work around the farm and keeping you updated (as well as work on my new year's resolution list)

Lets see, what has happened around the farm, the chicks are growing up and doing well, still have all 10. The rest of the chickens are all doing well and we are still heavy on the roosters. We are working slowly to lower their numbers, but there are only so many roosters that people will buy. We lost 1 chicken to internal egg laying a few weeks ago, and the same day we lost her sister to a predator, we are thinking that it was a weasel. We have not had any other problems, but have heard reports from the hunters of coyotes and foxes, so we need to keep our guard up for all the animals.

The goats are doing well, we are looking to start doing planning for breeding for the spring and fall. I am looking to sell or trade either Buster or Dexter in order to get some new blood into our heard so we will be able to sell breeding pairs this year.

I look forward to revealing our plans for 2010 but not quite yet, we need to finish our list!

As for my 5 day weekend I need to:

-remove the fence around the chicks so they can explore and mingle with the others

-close up the goats rain/snow hut, make it more like a building

-move the hay feeder to the garden so the grass can try and grow back!

-attach an overhand to the coops so the chickens have someplace to go in bad weather

-insulate the water bins to try and avoid freezing solid

-get hay from Beth's house!

I am hoping that if i post this list for the world to see it will help keep me motivated to get it done!

Another New Beginning!

We got to say goodbye to moonpie and milkyway today :( They will be living with the Sykes family. We wish them all the luck with those two little babies, they will be missed!

Here they are as young ladies!

That is the one thing that we hate about baby animals, we know we have to say goodbye!

I went to the craft fair in Mt. Airy today, it was very nice! I got to meet a bunch of really nice people and see some amazing craft work. I even bought a gorgeous dragonfly necklace! Yeah, like i need another one of those (what can i say, i'm a sucked for them!)

And more babies

Gosh, you would think it was spring around here! We have concluded the chicken hatch with 10 chicks! 5 for each mommy. They are all very cute, they were a mixture of eggs so i am not 100% sure yet what breeds we have. But they are possibly, frizzle cochins, silkies or bantam cochins. We have two naked neck silkies for sure (hard to miss them!)

we were also blessed with our Deva having babies! There were not due until next friday, but they arrived Sat morning. She blessed us with a beautiful solid black doeling, we have named Lela, which means Black Beauty. Deva also had a little boy, but sadly he did not make it.

Deva is working on adjust to mother life, she has not quite embraced it 100% so we are doing what we can to help her. She has stopped head butting the baby and is getting more and more comfortable with letting her nurse. We are keeping our fingers crossed that in the next few days she will take over the responsibilities completely.

As soon as I can i will get pictures of all the new babies!

Babies!

Been a busy week for little ones! We have had a total of 9 eggs hatch, 1 pip and 3 more to go! They are all doing great cant wait for them to run around outside!

We also had a set of twins a week early! Sadie decided enough was enough and blessed up with a little boy and a little girl. Both are black with white markings. Still working on names for them, as well as names for our new girls!

Starting Fresh!

Okay, lots of new things going on around the farm, all very exciting!

First, I would like to say goodbye to Florence and wish her all of the best with her new family!

I would like to welcome two new girls to our farm! Still working on the names, but they are very sweet and VERY shy! Here the two little ones are!

We are expecting chicks to hatch on Wednesday, we have Henny Penny and Itty Bitty sitting on a clutch of eggs each, hopefully we will have a great hatch!

We are also expecting Deva to kid on Oct 31 and Sadie to kid on Oct 30! Busy with babies around here! These kids will all be ready in time for Christmas. Our next babies will be bred for delivery in the Spring, we will be breeding all of our females that are of age, so we will have TONS of little ones running around (hopefully the new barn will be ready by then!)

Early Start!

Well it has been an exciting morning! All started with a wake up call from the barn, not for babies, but for breeding! We have sold Florence to a wonderful family, and they requested that she be bred, so we are working on getting her and the boys to play nice, not going to well! Boys will be boys!

We have almost finished the fire pit, the only things left to do are fill the hole around it and get tread stones for the top. I looks great, i cant wait to use it!

We also have two hens in the basement sitting on 17 eggs (good thing they are mostly small ones) We started with 25, but cracked 3 and 5 never developed. They are a good mix of bantam chickens, it will be exciting to meet them all when they hatch!

The count down is on for Deva and Sadie, yeah babies! We have Deva due Oct 30 and Sadie Oct 31. We will be busy in a few weeks with little ones! I love goatie babies so much!

Well i guess that is all to say for now before going to work!