Cute chick and new additions...

Little chick is still alive out there...boy there are some serious hazards to your life when you're only 3-4 inches tall! It has managed to thrive and momma hen is awesome. She has an amazing set of different noises for each little thing she is trying to teach it. It's so neat to watch. I need to get a more recent pic. You can really see it feathering out good now. I do not want to raise chicks again. Broody hens are great!

This gal below is SweetPea. She is a nanny goat given to us. Her hair is so soft and full. I've never pet a goat like her. She is a mix of some sort...not sure what, but it looks as if she's letting me know exactly what she thinks of her new pasture mates..look closely for that pink tongue. She also figured out how to jump onto the roof of the chicken shed! It about scared the mess out of me. She hasn't done it again though.

These two banties are Australorpes...I'm sure I spelled that wrong...but oh, well. I laughed when I saw that pic. He was quietly clucking to her when I took it...must have been whispering sweet nothings in her ear. LOL. We have four of these.

We also have another barred rock roo and some hens. I plan to take one hen to a friend of mine. She gets picked on by my hens and hides all day in the coop from fear it seems. She is blind in one eye and it's affecting her response time when hens come at her for whatever reason that they may...moody little things. My friend only has a hen and a roo and would love to take her I'm sure.

Awwww chicks!

We have 3 hatched chicks and one really trying to get out! Never mind...we have 4 chicks now! 3 are black and 1 golden. We shall see how they turn out.

And I just wanted to share this site. I laughed when I read the read this post. All you parents will totally understand! I have a 10 and an 8 yr old and I still don't get any peace! Since I'm homeschooling mine, you'd think they'd be sick of looking or being around me all day, but nope! They still have to follow me around to see or ask what I'm doing! LOL...

New Chickens and Eggs are peeping!

The kids and I went last night and picked up 3 hens and a roo from a friend of ours. It's always easiest to catch them once they are roosting for the night. We got them home, clipped their wings, set them on another roost outside the main hen house, and left them for the night. We've had a few scuffles already, but nothing like the last rooster that was here. The new roo is quite large, but young still, so he's trying to keep his distance for the most part from Mr. Roo. I think he may end up in the stew pot though. His legs seem a little weak for his frame being that he's so heavy. The new hens also are a bit fiesty as well, but they'll settle down. I feel horrible for one of the hens though. She has had the crud beat out of her and is missing most of the feathers on her back. She also has large scabs covering a number of areas along her back. The sad part is that the scabs are thick and her skin is trying to heal and it looks painful. I put some corona on it today and I'm contacting a lady to get the little hen a covering for her back to protect it until she heals.

On other news, the 5 little eggs that we have been incubating are starting to peep! They should be hatching out in a couple of days. The kids are very excited.

J also had his interview for his baptism and is ready! He is very excited to be 'bathtized' as he calls it...no matter how many times we say baptize! I guess it's fitting though since the font looks like a giant bath tub! LOL.

And I've had to call the vet today on Pedro again...the front of his head above his eye is swollen and hard to the touch...like it's something under the bone that's swelling...it very much worries me. I took pictures and we'll see what they say about it after looking at them. I'm online trying to research it this morning; goodness only knows what I'll find...

Well...let's try this again...

You'd think at this stage we'd be done with chicks...but I just can't help myself! It's a sickness I think...I need chicks...the kids need chicks...the dog thinks he needs chicks! LOL! I decided to use my horse trailer this time and that's worked out well so far, except it got pretty cold the second night and my poor little shop light just wasn't up to the heating job. I've since moved them into a box in the shed for now until I get a proper hanging brooder bulb this week; then I'll move them back to the trailer. It was almost too hot in there though and I actually had to turn the bulb off. They are comfy now since it's getting cold again out there. We got 16 this time; 8 each of Rhode Islands and Barred Rocks.


---We also ordered a portable run-in shed for the horses. As much as I want to build a larger shelter for my horses, it was going to cost more than we could shell out at this time and we really needed something before it started getting too wet out there. It's hard to keep the hay fresh when it's out on the wet ground. It should be here next week. I can't wait!

---I've also been looking at getting a new saddle. I don't have one right now and have been borrowing my neighbors though it doesn't fit Pedro very well. I went ahead and took back tracings from him, took pictures and sent them to the Australian Saddle company. They come highly recommended. I can't wait to see what they come up with for my horse and I. It'll be nice to have a saddle of my own again that actually fits!

---This week we will be heading to the Corn Maze near us and also to the Ocean Commotion event down at LSU. We'll also head over to the pumpkin patch to pick out some pumpkins to carve and to decorate with. I want to use some for the harvest party I'm trying to plan for next month. The kids are so excited about all the things coming up!

---I was asked to report that both of the kids' soccer teams won their games. (they didn't want me to forget! They only reminded me 4 times! LOL). They were pumped! J's won 6-0! We actually swapped our younger kids in towards the end so we wouldn't make anymore goals so easily on the other team. I don't like coaches who 'slaughter' other teams just for the heck of it. J's first season in soccer found them beat at each and every game. Many times the opposing coaches let their kids score ridiculously high on them. Just a note to those coach's that feel it's ok that do that: It doesn't make most young kids play better. It makes them get really down on themselves and when we aren't fostering a love for the game, then they aren't going to want to play. What does it accomplish then? The coach thanked us for trying to keep the score down. Poor team though were all young and they only had 2 kids extra to swap out with. We had 4.

---B's team won 5-4! She made the 'winning' goal that put them over. She was also excited to have more playing time. While I realize that coaches do want their teams to win, in our league I was told we are to attempt to play the kids 50/50. If the less experienced kids aren't playing then how are they going to learn? When one child gets 45 min or so of play time and other children get 8 min (literally that is what B got in one game!) or a bit more, then how is that fair and how are they learning from the game as we are asked to let them do? She has cried at the end of the game and on the way home because she felt jilted out of decent play time. Once she did get injured, but she'd only been in briefly before it happened and by the time she was okay and begging to go back in (about 5 min), the game was over. I don't blame her for being upset. Steve did talk with her coach and I hope he understands that we just want fair playing time for our daughter. She needs it too since next year she'll be moving up to U-12! She'll be lost if she doesn't get some good play and practice time in. I know she practices more than her team since she has to attend twice a week with my team and sometimes hers doesn't meet. She wants to do well most of the time (she's still a kid too though). Heck the girl has made two great goals so far and for a child who has only been played a total of about 1 hour so far this fall season (that's out of the 5 games they've played) I think that's a pretty good average-just think what she could do if she was played more. She does try hard to understand what to do and put it into play. I think she's doing great for her very first year!

---Oh and a note to coaches of any sport. Please be mindful of what you say to other children about other players...that seriously affects their attitude towards their teammates! Telling children that another player "isn't smart enough to understand" a play that your teaching to a 'select few' is not appropriate. When I heard that I cringed...I also feel bad when I hear kids say that the coach is working with the 'special players' and not them...they all have something to contribute, they're all special and they all have strengths and weaknesses. We are supposed to build on that and teach them to work together to become stronger together. That's what team work is all about.

***For some reason I can't get the darn paragraphs to separate...that's why I added the dashes! Sorry! Well never mind...they separated after all! Good Grief! LOL!

UHG......

I am still upset about the chicks and hens being killed. This morning I had two calls from people I know, wanting eggs...eggs I don't have, eggs I won't have come this fall as I had planned-thanks to some dogs, money I won't make off the eggs I won't have....that's now a waiting list of over 20 people....I really wish I had eggs to sell to them...heck I even wish I had enough eggs to eat myself! LOL!

I think I'll be taking some of the eggs and incubating them. What a fun winter project for the kids and come this spring we'll have eggs if all goes well. A few things have to be taken care of first before that can happen, but hopefully we can do it.

I hope the goats are all bred and that we'll have milk and kids in the spring. I was reading an article about milk today that a friend sent me. Do you know what's in your milk, where it comes from, how it's processed and shipped? Cheaper milk does not mean better. I never buy Wally World milk or other off brands...haven't for a few years now because I think it tastes funny, it goes bad too fast, and it comes from way too many sources that use questionable practices. My family and I don't want or need anything synthetic added to it. I buy Organic whenever possible, which is getting easier to find in my local stores (buy local whenever possible, support your local farmers!). Mostly I'm able to get Horizon Organic in half gallons; I really like their milk. It's only 30-40 cents more per gallon when not on sale than some other brands. I like the cardboard cartons, easier to recycle and the milk does not take on funny odors. I'm also trying to stay away from liquids in plastics...plastics have their own set of issues.

I guess I'm kind of funny about a lot of food. If I can't make it, raise it or grow it for our own use, then I'm a bit leary of it. I even have a hard time eating out. That's one reason I got the goats for milking and meat, plus B is lactose intolerant and will be helping me to milk the girls. I'm funny about eggs (and Chicken meat, although we haven't started raising them for that yet, contrary to what my dang dog thinks), so I got chickens. Plus chickens are just fun to watch and who needs a manure spreader when you have chickens. I have very little problems with manure control near the barn which means less flies! Can't beat that. They make short work of keeping all spilt grains cleaned up too.

I got sheep for meat. Store bought lamb doesn't come close to what we've been eating. Ours is so much more mild in taste and tender. Plus it really costs nothing to feed them...they stay fat on grass in the summer and hay in the winter with a little cracked corn for a couple of months.

We hope to try raising out a calf next spring. I'm researching it now and we'll see.

The pigs are almost ready. They are getting big. I need to go take measurements and see what they weigh now.

Steve remarked yesterday and said that he thinks I was born into the wrong time period! That I should have probably been born around the 1700's. LOL! I need to look the 1700's up and see what was going on then and what life was like. I think that may be a bit too early for me though...we'll see!

Well, I'm pretty sure I know what happened...

I had to chase down my beagle this morning as she ran to the neighbors...they aren't known for their listening skills!

I haven't really had a chance to go over there and really look around for chick feathers. But imagine what I found this morning...parts of dead chicks, a body and feathers...

Plus I had to run off the black one this morning three times after she was caught trying to dig under my fence. Nice

I called the neighbors and left a message to talk with them about it. Why can't people just contain their stinking dogs in their own yard especially after being asked repeatedly to keep them penned up since they were caught trying to get at animals before....

Just an UPDATE on the chick situation:

The neighbors have informed me that the dogs know how to get out of the fence by lifting the latch...so they are taking measures to ensure that doesn't happen again. Also they have paid for the chicks since they are pretty sure it was their dogs that ate them. Also the dogs are looking for new homes...I do like my neighbors...it's just that I don't like their dogs. They were very sorry that this happened and apologized many times. It was even said that "they were sorry that I couldn't live the life I wanted because of their dogs". I agree.

A crummy start to a Monday...

I slept on the couch last night since Steve is sick with some head cold or something. I prefer to stay well away from any sickness so I don't get it!

So I didn't sleep well last night and stayed up way too late reading my newest book 'Eclipse' . I haven't finished it yet, about 1/4 left to read, but it's good so far.

Anyways...I got up, let Duke out, sat back down and continued reading till the kids got up. J got up and headed outside like he normally does to check on the chicks...comes back in all upset saying the chicks were dead and ants were covering them. I'm thinking, I know it didn't get that cold last night! I go out there and see that some good sized animal has dug under the fence and eaten or taken off 18 of them! The others weren't even bloodied...just laying there and had been dead for a while. One side of the fence was smashed in like a dogs head pushed against it and another side had a good sized hole dug. There were no feathers anywhere and a few others had a bite wound like a dog, but nothing on the rest. Like they just keeled over from fright....I'm pretty ticked off.....

They were all accounted for last night around midnight. I had to take Maggie out and saw them all in the corner...

Pretty frustrating way to start the day....

The kids are very upset about all this....I don't have the time to raise another batch before it gets cold....I'm pretty P.O.'d.

The Chicks new digs....

This weekend I built a new little pen for the chicks as a transition before being released into the big chicken pen. It's mainly a temporary pen and we'll house them there for a couple more months. Yesterday the kids and a couple of my friends kids helped me release the chicks into it and played with them for a little while. I like the kids handling the chicks as they grow up. They are gentle with them and we have found that our grown chickens seem to be friendlier because of it.

Biddies!

Who can resist a fluffy little chirping biddie? Definitely not I or my kids! I had decided to purchase 25 more biddies for our farm. I have had many people ask for eggs and I don't have nearly enough to sell or even to eat for ourselves!

I got the call from the post office early Friday morning that I had 'a package' that needed to be picked up. The guy sounded like he wasn't all that thrilled with the peeping I could hear echoing in the backround! LOL. I told him I'd be on my way shortly and he replied, "We open in 15 minutes". I took that as a little hint to get there soon.

We did have one loss out of the batch of 26 and was refunded for that loss (thank you Murray McMurray hatchery). They so far are a nice company to do business with. The lady I spoke with on the phone was very helpful.

I do believe we have Australorps (Yay!), Barred Rocks, either Buff Orpington's or Buff Rocks, we think we have one White Rock and maybe some Red Stars or Wyanndottes. It's hard to tell some of the chicks because they look similar to other chicks of different breeds. So we shall see in a month or so once they start really feathering out.

The poor dears are so hot though. We don't even put their heat light on until it starts getting dark and we have a fan running for them during the daylight hours. It's not directly on them, but the air hits the sides of the pen and circulates around. I find them frequently laying around where the wind is blowing.

Speaking of chickens, the fighting rooster has found a new home with my little crippled chicken the kids affectionately called 'Limpy'. She really couldn't be with my big rooster anymore. I was afraid he would injure her. The other rooster is much smaller and lighter. They can hang out now at my friends house.

I'm now down to 7 laying hens as of now...soon enough though I'll have over 30 providing no others die. Fingers crossed!