Pigs are Naughty

Goats are trouble,
But pigs are naughty!

Was cleaning out the piggies stall (giving it back to Maddie) and moving them over to the next stall, so they were out & about snuffling around from treats. Left them in there with the half-gates up to go to the house for a moment, then run some water out to the chicken coop. By the time I go to the chicken coop, who should burst forth but one of the pigglets!!

So either we grew an extra pig overnight, or one of those little squealers managed to run under the gate, through the cow section, outside, around the sacrifice paddock, over the chicken run fence (!), up the chick ramp into the chicken coop; Just so he could be in there to pop out when I opened the door!

Scared the crap out of me as the little black sausage came flying out towards me as I opened the door to let the ducks in... Just another day on the farm.

Coops getting Full!

Our Jr. Rooster

This is the one cuckoo marran boy we kept, and he's turned into quite a fine specimen! Kept well in line by big-bully-Roo, he's been known to hide in the bushes until his rival isn't looking then sneak out and grab a hen. It's quite amusing to watch

My favourite Marran lady, I just think
she's a lovely bird, even if her colouring isn't
'right'

The marrans have been laying quite well, we get about a dozen eggs a week from them. 

Enjoying the run

We added another flock of around 20 birds right into the coop. Again, we really wanted to quarantine, but they came from a friend's backyard flock and we didn't have a proper place to keep them (especially because they are laying).

Red Stars

Hub's friend had too many eggs to eat or giveaway and we're very happy to have them. 

There are 2 new EE as well, but they are too shy for pictures. If they go broody as well, we're going to have quite a lot of chickens in the spring! 

The turkeys are happy, they aren't the
ugliest in the coop any more!

 The brown chickens are "red stars" or commercial layer chickens. They all look absolutely terrible because they are molting. Hopefully they'll be done soon & back into lovely feathering.

Black Star

Going to need to add another water bucket

 We have 3 of these really lovely black stars, which are also a commercial layer chicken. Two of them are really fine birds, lovely deep bodies, nice big chickens. While the red stars are probably going to be seeing the inside of the soup pot in a few months, I'm going to keep a couple of the blacks to breed.

Eggs!

 Sometimes chickens go off laying after a big move or change, we've already had 9 eggs since the new gals moved in! All xl & jumbos.

Chickens only lay such large eggs when they are older and about to stop laying eggs regularly.

These new eggs have very pale yolks, probably from eating lots of commercial feeds. Our chickens have deep yellow/orange yolks because of all the free-range feed. It won't take too long for the new girls eggs to become dark yellow too.

Big Buddy Roo is pretty happy about the changes! Although still chasing his rival everywhere, we've now tipped the ratio and should get another roo so we have good fertility.

Chicks are getting their feathers

 Big mama EE is a tough lady! She's been beating all the other hens for dominance.

 This poor gal lost her whole tail in the moult.The skin is bright red where her feathers have started re-growing.

Marran girls aren't overly impressed with the new arrivals, but overall the coop already feels a whole lot warmer. Glad that there we have tons of space for everyone to roost, and while they're scrapping a little over dominance, they're getting along well so far.

Cook: Quiche

 This is the first time I've tried to make pie-crust with the mixer, worked okay but I have found the food processor is better (too bad mine is KOed!)

I just used the directions on the shortening package because I wanted to make some extra pie shells for the freezer, recipe was just fine.

Folding the pie-crust makes it easy to move
with out ripping/tearing it

Pre-Baking with Beans!
I've re-used these ones many times now

All ready for the freezer for a quick
dinner/desert!

Ready for the oven

I filled the crust with cheese, spinach, leeks, and about 18 eggs! I realized much later I forgot to add the cream, so it was really just an omelet in a crust.

Even for a glorified omelet, it was YUMMY!

Goats are Trouble, But Adorable!

Jail break!

We've got such a nice little herd running around here now. Before it was more Harry & Diego then Billy following them mournfully along (after all Hare & D are half-brothers and grew up together). Now Hare has really bonded with Yankee and she follows him all over the farm. He has already  shown her where the feed room is, where the holes in the fence are, how to get into the chicken coop... And other important goatly things!

Uh guys, that's not how you do it...

Billy still trails mournfully along, but at least he has D to 'hang out' with a bit now. D is doing amazingly in on his leg, still won't put weight on it when running/jumping but if he's just walking along grazing he's got all four on the ground!

Yanky Banky

Eventually we'd like to get Billy a buddy of his own species, but lamb prices for meat are high so we'll have to be patient and wait for a good deal. We also really want another fibre wether if we can find it. Billy's coat is so soft and plush!! That boy is going to be sweating in February while everyone else is shivering. I do think he's getting a little tired of me rubbing his back while I drift off imagining all the wonderful things I can make...

The last thing you ever see...

 Found that ****** goose a home, with someone who keeps lots of waterfowl. They're going to trade us for a few banty chickens or something, so I'm happy!

Farming is SO easy

Someone posted this on twitter again yesterday, and it's so funny I was laughing all over again.

Warning: NFSW - fowl language.

Re-cap on Megs

If you've been reading my twitter feed, or my facebook page... we've had some concerns Megs might be preggo. She was leased out last year so she wasn't under my supervision during the time she could have been exposed. I don't think there were any stallions around (in fact I left explicit instructions she never be brought within 50' of anything with balls...) but there was a gelding mounting mares in the field (which I didn't find out about until months after the lease ended). 

Meg do you have something to tell us?

Long story short, she's put on so much weight since she's been here it's hard to tell what's going on now. Meg always been an easy keeper, but after being under-condition she really ballooned up on all the hay & grass once she got home. So either way we're really hoping it's just fat, but she's on a diet. Steak went back in with his momma and the horses have moved to the back sacrifice paddock for the winter (where I can control their hay intake). Little earlier for steak to go back in then I wanted, but we have to do something about Meg's weight, it's not healthy.

It may also say something that the first horse the vet saw out in the paddock was Maddie (he was a ways away) and was sort of himing-and-hawing like Mads could be pregs (Maddie would be the gelding... uh, he's a boy.) So apparently we should just start a fat camp for skinny horses! (I owe all that to my first horse management teacher Joanna McDonald from Spiritwood Farm, she knows everything there is to know about nice fat healthy horses!)

Vet says the lump is just a fat deposit.
Yep, that's embarrassing!

The vet came out this morning but wasn't able to check because after 2 doses of tranq (she's not a cheap date!!) she was still trying to pop up and double-barrel him. Checking for pregnancy in a horse involves inserting your arm up their back-sides, you don't want the animal jumping around or you'll end up with a broken vet & horse. So he drew blood to run a test that way, hopefully it will prove conclusive & negative. We should know early next week.

Which means more waiting, and nerves for me, but the vet seems to think she's more fat then anything else. Unfortunately horses don't show a lot of outward signs that they are pregnant. Although Megs had some heat cycles, like all mammals, there are always exceptions to the rules and that doesn't exclusively rule out pregnancy. Big signs like udder-development don't always happen in maiden mares. Horses that are really fat (like Megs) can hide that they are pregnant so you won't even see foal movement.

Fat rippling or foal movement?
(The reason the blankets are on the ground
is I took Meg's off & dropped it in surprise.)

The vet & I also came to the conclusion that when we do want to breed Meg, live cover then just a wait-and-see approach may be best. (lol)

All I can say is the net is really closing in on Meg's former leaser... man, there are a lot of people in this area that are pissed off at that woman. She was given every opportunity in this business, SO many people (including myself) giving time, energy, money to help her succeed. I don't have an explanation for any of it. At this time I don't even feel the need to publicly rant on about the whole thing because everyone of consequence in our area knows (If you live in the area and don't know, and think you should, you can get a hold of me privately).

I guess that also really shows the benefits of speaking to people like farriers, vets, feed store owners, etc. when looking for a new trainer or instructor.

A friend of mine gave me a good chuckle with this comment:

"Yeah, my first horse got (fat) like that. Someone asked my if she was in foal and I said; 'No, but any day now we expert her to deliver a small green paddock.'" - Judy

Playin' in the snow

Goats we're too sure at first, this is
D & Harry's first snow!

Once they realized there was food
they were out the door like a shot!

Ducks were first out of the coop, but a
little wary of the snow

Yes those are the DUCKS!!
Including one of our large males!!
I couldn't believe it!!

Horses were pretty excited to see the snow

Well, you're not really
suppose to eat it Mads!

Happy to be out of their blankies
so they could play in the snow.

We had ice/rain forcasted for overnight but doesn't look like we got a drop of it! Instead we got about 6" of snow, which I'd much rather have then sleet any day.

Too bad it's all gonna melt!