Headway

We have progressed towards our goals more in the last three or four months than we have in the entire previous year. It feels great to finally be taking steps in the right direction.

Goats: Our two girls are doing great. Our older doe, Daisy, is showing her pregnancy now in both size and attitude. She's going to be a challenge to milk, I'm afraid. We've been working on touching her belly and udder while she's eating her grain at night and she gets quite acrobatic. I hope to have a milking stand built soon so we can start practicing on it. We have less than two months to go before her scheduled kidding time.

Little Sierra is growing like a weed and has become something of a pest. It can be difficult to do chores when she's nibbling (or biting!) your pants leg or using your back as a spring board. She's lucky she's cute :)

We have another doe to pick up in June after she's weaned her kids. It's going to be quite the drive to pick her up but she's worth it - her dam is an 8th generation star milker (8*D) which is quite a feat for Nigerian Dwarves. I am ecstatic to have her.

As soon as the weather breaks, I'll be fixing up our larger red barn in order to move them out there - as it is now, we have the goats in our backyard - not the best set up. My hubby has been very understanding but I can see that he doesn't appreciate their mischievous ways (when it comes to the various things they have access to in the backyard). The goal is to have them moved before Daisy kids.

Chickens: The girls we have left are doing very well. I hate to brag but our girls are obviously well-fed and healthy-looking, with bright eyes and silky feathers. Our neighbors were so enamoured with our girls that they bought a little laying flock of their own - with two roosters. The roosters have 'access' to our hens when they free-range so here's hoping we'll have some chicks later this year. As for plans - I am planning out a nesting box to attach to the outside of the coop. The girls don't like the current set-up, and they show it by not laying in the nestboxes. That will be another project for when the rains (finally!) go away.

Garden/Produce: I have gone slightly crazy with the seed and plant ordering lately. I also have tons (and tons) of plans and projects for this year's growing season. I hope to be semi-successful but I'm afraid this year is mostly going to be the beginning of a very large learning curve. It's taken me quite a while to get to this point - I generally procrastinate until there's no more time to do anything due to a huge fear of failure. This year, I just keep repeating - You can't succeed if you never try.

Other: I ordered some large, air-tight containers for food storage and ordered organic red wheat berries to fill them. I also bit the bullet and purchased a manual grain mill. I see a lot of baking and sore shoulders in my future.

And, finally, I'm planning a grey-water system, at least for the washing machine. It is such a waste to pump all of that water to the septic when we don't get rain all summer long. I haven't divulged this last plan to the hubby yet. He's not going to like it, but I'm sure he'll see the benefits after a while.

Until next time!

Happenings

A week ago Saturday, I picked up our new Nigerian doeling. She is so precious! And so tiny! I got her from a nice farm in Vacaville that tests their goats for CAE and CL. Sierra (doeling) has the potential to get a 5th generation milking star. Here's hoping! She's given me a bad case of kid-fever. My will-power is being severely tested right now. I just have to hold out until Daisy kids in May. We'll see if I make it that long.

After my last post, I got a small garden area set up. We still haven't bought bricks, so the raised bed consists of the few bricks I had lying around and some old fence posts. I'm using a modified sheet-mulching technique to make it garden-worthy. Still not sure at this point if it'll be ready for planting time, which should begin next month. I'll have to re-evaluate when the time comes. We're still looking for a great deal on bricks. When/if we find one, I'll replace the fence posts with bricks and raise the bed quite a bit too.

The neighbor's dog attacked two more of my hens, both Black Australorps. Neighbor caught the dog in the act, thank goodness. I was very worried about Betty (yes, my hens have names) for a day but then she perked back up. They have built a much sturdier and larger pen for their dogs, and so far there haven't been any more break-outs. I don't blame them for the attacks, after all I choose to free-range my hens. I cannot explain the gratitude I have towards them for taking it as seriously as they do and trying to ensure it doesn't happen again. They've even offered to replace the hens that we've lost. Great neighbors.

Soon, I will be changing the name of my blog. I'm waiting until I have my 'farm name' registered with AGS and ADGA. More changes to come.

Empty Nest Syndrome

The girls got moved into their new chicken coop two weeks ago, now. The kids think it is great that the hens have their own little house and yard. Here soon I need to decide which ones to keep and which ones will be going to new homes. It is tempting to keep them all - they are so interesting to watch! In a few more months, they'll be allowed to roam the entire backyard.

First afternoon in the newly-finished coop.



I have been watching craigslist for weeks now and came across a breed I thought I'd have to order from a breeder across the country - Wheaten Marans!! Hubby agreed that I could get two - so it was time to get the brooder back out! I've read that you should be able to sex them at this age by looking at their wings: definite black = boy; fawn/tan = girl. For now, it looks like I have one of each. I'm so excited to have them - the hens are such beautiful birds.

Not so cute anymore...

This is not a great picture but it's the best I was able to get (I don't have the patience to take 10's of pictures). All the chicks are starting to look really raggedy as they lose their baby down. In just a few more weeks they aren't going to be recognizable from their baby pictures.



My favorite so far. She's a bit of a spaz but also very curious. She's an EE and looks like she'll develop the ear muffs. For now, she is called 'Fuzzy Face' - I'm sure this will change but the right name just hasn't struck me yet.

So, after a little research

It appears that my little mystery chick may be a Dominique. The chicks at that address look nearly identical to the one in question, with white spots on the back of the head, white belly, wings beginning to bar, and a comb that is not the single that most breeds have. He/she even had a little black running down the front of the legs when they first arrived. As for the size, there are bantam Dominiques, but none listed at McMurray - the place that I bought them from. The Dominique seems like a very interesting breed - one of the first (if not the first) developed in America. They are also said to be very personable and calm. Here's hoping that it's a pullet so she can stick around.

Curiouser and curiouser

When our chicks arrived last week, one of the first things I did was check the packing list included. According to this list, they'd sent 5 Buffs, 6 Australorps, 5 Speckled Sussex, and 5 Easter Eggers - 21 chicks. Within a few days, I lost 2 SS, which should put me down to 19...however, when counting the chicks (while they're running around trying not to be counted), I always came up with 20. Today while cleaning their brooder, I decided to do a real count...20 birds. It would appear that they either gave me an extra EE, or they did in fact include the rare chick. In fact, there is one baby who doesn't really resemble any of the others. I wrote about this chick last weekend - she/he's so much smaller but still lively. I'm wondering now if it's some kind of bantam chick. I looked through the hatchery's catalog and couldn't find a banty chick that looked similiar. Guess we'll just have to wait and see how it develops. Here is the chicky in question.

Chicks!

Chicks arrived one week ago today! I've gotten completely addicted to the show Lost (watching via Netflix) and have been really slacking in a lot of areas recently. The picture above was taken at three days of age. When the chicks arrived it was apparent from the packing list that we didn't get any of the Cuckoo Marans I wanted so badly. We also didn't get the 'free rare chick' but they did include an extra Australorps chick which took the sting away a bit. The Speckled Sussex chicks were much smaller than the others - I don't know if they are a smaller breed or if they aren't as hardy a breed. I ended up losing two of them. All but one of the other chicks are doing great. The chick in question is one of the Easter Eggers. She is still really small though she is eating great and acting normal. We'll see if she ends up being strong enough to make it. The Buffs, Australorps, and most of the EEs have been active and voracious from the start. Next weekend we should be getting the hen house ready for occupancy and the following weekend building the run. I will post more pics later.

All moved in with chicks on the way!!

We got the keys to our new house shortly after my last post and immediately started moving in. Chris had to do nearly everything himself because I was still on crutches at the time - it was pretty tough on him. Luckily we have some really great friends. We're mostly settled in now, I'm off the crutches, and when it stops raining we'll be starting on outside projects. First thing, hen house and chicken run - our chicks will be arriving the second week of February. Most hatcheries have a minimum order of 25 - we ordered 5 each of Buff Orpington, Black Australorp, Cuckoo Maran, Speckled Sussex, and Easter Eggers, all pullets. We'll keep all the chicks for a month or so then start selling them to friends. I plan to keep 2 of each breed until they start laying in case one decides he'd rather crow than lay eggs. I will post pictures when they arrive!

Edited to add a photo of the soon-to-be hen house!!

Still waiting...

On the house, that is. We supposedly only need one more signature and should be signing ourselves this week. I surely hope so. We were supposed to be in the new house before Christmas but honestly, we needed the extra time. We are getting quite antsy though!

Speaking of Christmas, I received some great gifts from the DH. A breadmaker and a KitchenAide mixer. The breadmaker will really help out - I hate feeding my family bread loaded with preservatives and other chemicals. I've also never really gotten kneading down right so I'm really happy with it. The mixer will help me to make so many more things from scratch as well. I'm looking forward to really breaking them in.

I contacted someone on Craigslist about some chicks they have for sale. They are asking more than hatcheries do, so I'm hopeful that they have truly purebred birds. I would prefer to buy local due to the small number of hens we need. I have planned for 4, one Easter Egger, one Buff Orpington, one Black Australorps, and one Cuckoo Marans. Starting with a variety will give us more of an idea about what we need - it'll also make things a little more interesting. There is a nice little place in the back yard where the coop and chicken yard will go - this will be one of Chris' first projects.

I have been re-thinking our rabbits and for now have nearly decided to go with a breed of Angora for meat as well as fiber. We will be building pens for the does and youngsters in our little red barn. There is someone locally that sells a few breeds - I plan to check him/her out sometime in the next week. Rabbits are a ways out yet, I'm afraid.

I don't think we'll be ready for bees this year but we'll have to see. Chris is going to build me two of those top bar hives. We aren't too worried about production, more about pollination and bee health so top bar hives seem to be the way to go. I haven't yet figured out where we're going to put them - more pondering to do.

Trees - we'll be looking at fruit trees this week. I want apples and peaches at the least. We have pomegranate and walnut trees already on the property - both need pruning badly. I wonder if the walnut trees have a disease as many of the branches are dead. Guess we'll be finding out.

Chris has met our soon-to-be neighbors and said they seem like nice folks. I hope to meet them myself very soon.

Well, it's about time to get this house ready for my amazing husband's return from work. Fried pork chops for dinner tonight :)

New books and random other things

I had to run some errands today and while I was out I picked up three new books! Storey's Guide to Raising Dairy Goats and Chickens and Basic Butchering of Livestock and Game by Mettler. I won't have time to read them anytime soon but I have something to look forward to when I get some free time.

I got my herbs planted this evening. Lavender, Thyme, Basil, and Parsley. I can't find my packet of chives seeds. Chamomile is next on the list if I can it. Also planted some California Poppies. They grow wild around here and are just amazingly beautiful. I didn't want to mess with the wild ones so blew 99 cents on a package of seeds. I can't wait to have some blooming outside my door.

The cauliflower seedlings are already growing like gangbusters. They just peeked above soil this morning and they're suddenly over an inch tall! The top is off the little greenhouse right now as it was pretty steamy in there. Every seed I've started inside has died due to damping-off disease so I'm trying to prevent that. I also read somewhere that watering with chamomile tea will prevent this problem. When they need watering, I'll give it a shot. The corn is already coming up too - planted two days ago. This why I love gardening - the promise of things to come!