Billy

Just after he arrived home!
He went the whole 20 minute trip in my lap, next time we'll
leave a dog-crate in the car, just in case... 

My husband has always wanted some goats, so when we saw this cute little ball of wool hiding in the back of his dog crate at the auction we had to bring him home. Yes, I say wool because apparently he missed sheep vs. goats 101 (I can't blame him, Billy has tricked a couple people, he really looks like a goat!).

Our you my Mommy?
Poor Madison!

Billy is our first official four-legged farm animal since the horses & cows don't arrive until next week. We brought him home as a pet so hopefully he'll have a very long and happy life with us. He's already a total sweet-heart, just loves to cuddle right into your lap.

Lunch Time!

We're not sure what breed he is (and he is probably a mix) but I definitely think he's a smaller breed, like a Shetland, because of his size. The auctioneer said he was 2 weeks old, way too young to be off his mom. He also can't eat as much milk replacer at a time as a lamb his age is supposed to, but he eats enough to fill his little tummy and seems to be thriving!

The little guy is sleeping in the garage until we get the rest of the animals home (a lone little lamb is a dinner bell for the coyotes), although it occurred to me later he probably could have stayed in the chicken coop... at least this is more convenient for feedings!

Exhausted from all this activity! 

He's taking a bottle about once every two hours except at night, and drinks between 100-150ml each time. He's also grazing away on our lawn, and especially my miniature rose bush which apparently was a lovely snack... Oh Billy! :)

Turkies Have Arrived!

These little guys are about 3 to 4 weeks old, so they aren't going to be ready for Thanksgiving, but for Christmas they definitely will. I don't really have any intentions of keeping a breeding pair of turkeys, but I may consider it as these guys get older.

They are Narragansett which are a heritage breed. They aren't going to be huge but they should be really tasty!

(photo & information: http://www.albc-usa.org/cpl/narragansett.html)

Of course turkeys need different feed from the chickens/ducks (which I didn't initially realize, BYC rocks!). So I created a temporary pen for them. This was SUPER quick and just used stuff from around the barns. I stapled ("steepled" around here!) one side directly onto a supporting beam, then used two screw in hooks to hold the other side. That way I can really easily get in there to clean/feed/water. The chickens could probably get in there if they really wanted, but so far only one of my little Cochins has been adventurous enough!

I have to say the turkeys are quite beautiful and very interesting birds. I'm really looking forward to watching them grow up! And Christmas dinner! yum, yum!

Auctions 101

We've only been to a few, but they aren't overly complicated affairs so I think I can share my experience.

Set your price
You hear this over & over again, but it's true. Pick your top price and do not go over it, there is always next time.

Do your research
My husband is a tool-nut and at the last auction we went to, I can't tell you how many times we had lots go by that he would comment that they were going over purchase price brand new at Canadian Tire. That is definitely not something you want to do. If possible get a list or even a general idea of what is going to be at the auction first, then do some research trips if you're not sure about what things should cost.

For the chicken auction, I had a list of what I knew I was going to be interested in. The good things about birds is you can always buy chicks, raise them up, and re-sell (hopefully at profit, depending on your management skills) if you decide later they aren't right for you.

$5 for Choice
This was a little confusing at first, but when large lots come up the auctioneer with auction of the chance to choose something out of the lot first, and you end up paying that price for every item you take. The first bidder usually pays the most, but not always.

For example: we bought at painting at $9 and choice and got to pick from about 20, the first bidder paid $20 to buy from 25 paintings.

For our ducks we paid $3, but I'm pretty sure everyone else who bought from that lot did as well.

Go for the big lots
For the birds, for whatever reason, individual birds out of the larger lots when for a lot less then the pairs or trios. I don't really know why this is, but I think it may have something to do with the number of people there obviously looking for pets.

Go Early, Bid Late
Do yourself a HUGE favour and show up before the auction starts. Give yourself some time to look around at what is available, and note the lot number and when it will probably come up. The first few lots to go through always go for the most money. People get impatient or just see the one or two things they came for, grab them and leave. It definitely pays to hang around until the end, the last few lots usually go for VERY cheaply when everyone already has what they want.

Yes, that can mean you're spending almost all day there, but you can save yourself some big $$ if you do.

Bring a Flashlight
I saw someone else with one and wish I'd brought one too! Smart! You need to check any animal over to make sure it's healthy and what you want. There isn't always the right/enough light in the hall.

Make Friends
Auctions are fun and usually full of people who share a similar hobby/interest! It's a great chance to network, as questions and meet new people.

Lost Our First Hen

When I went in to feed the chickies this morning Jenny was looking pretty pale and not well, after a trip to the feed store & back she was gone. Sometimes it's hard with chickens, like lots of animals they hide that they aren't feeling well.

It's quite possible she was sick before we got her. Oh well, I think I will get some BSL in the future though, she was quite pretty!

Report from the Chicken Auction

After checking around the local online classifieds, I couldn't find any of the chicks I wanted for a price I was willing to pay. However, I did see an ad for someone who was going to the auction, and we decided it would be a great family activity for Saturday. It was a TON of fun!

I was finding chicks for about $8 per online and we were able to get a 1/2 dozen barred rock chicks (about 2 weeks we think) for $4 a piece at the auction! 

We also picked up the two little fuzz balls in this picture at $2 a piece, that was about the cheapest any of the chicks went for (and we're not sure what these guys are but we do know they are chickens!).

We picked up the lovely "Jenny" who has settled in so quickly she's already gone broody and is sitting at least 1 egg. I have to wait a little longer to check if it's fertile, but we believe she was in with a Roo at the auction, so we're hopeful! Not sure if I'm going to run out and get some more fertile eggs yet or not, we weren't really planning on having one of our hens raise  chicks so quickly!


We got a "Roo" of our own so here is "Lenny!". No one is 100% sure he IS a rooster yet, but he's got a hen look with a rooster attitude & we should find out for sure very soon.


These 3 little cutie-pies are Muskovy ducks. We went hoping to get some Pekins but these seemed much more interesting! After we came home and did a little more research I'm really glad we chose to get them, females are supposed to be very friendly and that is what we wanted.

Henny is not too please about the new occupants

You should always quarantine new chickens for at least 30 days before integrating them with your existing chickens. However, we aren't sure we're going to keep Henny & Penny once we have new chickens to replace them (they just aren't very friendly and they are past their laying prime so producing less eggs), so for us it was worth the risk of introducing a disease into our chicken population. From now on, when we add new chickens we'll have them in quarantine on the other side of the farm.

Billy

We also came home with someone we really weren't planning on... but he's a whole other story!

Happy Animals, Healthy Animals

The Chicken coop as it was.

This was the very first project I tackled on our little hobby farm.

Since the house came with 2 living animals (the chickens)

their needs came right after the people and animals in the house.

Our barn is about 110 years old (possibly older) and I think the coop is about the same. It is an amazing coop, and we're so lucky! It was properly constructed with a lot of knowledge of animal husbandry and making work easy. I'll do another post about the coop itself in the future, but this one is about what happens when people maybe don't know too much about what they are doing take over...

These photos are from March when we went to look at the house. If you look at the ground you can see it is gray, not just because of the concrete but that was the colour of the old shavings and bird-poo. If you look at the walls and ceilings those are not bits of fabric hanging down, but cobwebs. There was also a huge load of rat-poo in around the chicken feed (which was thankfully stored in a good plastic container so it's not spoiled).

Keeping animals can be a lot of work but the basic principal comes down to: no animal should have to live in their own poo (even if sometimes they want to).

Poo happens, and on a farm it happens a lot; but keeping their poo away from the animals is the easiest thing you can do to keep everyone healthy. Sometimes that means removing pieces of equipment in order to clean things up. I had to take the 2x6s off the back roost in order to remove the caked in bird poo that was on each one.

Cob-webs are a fire hazard, and there is no excuse for webs like these, they were thick as fabric in some spots! Go in with your broom every day and keep an eye out of cob webs as you move around your barn. Once a week go around and make sure you've removed all of them. Making it part of your daily routine will make this into a non-job instead of a huge one a few times a year.

I don't know what happened to chicken #3.

When it comes to chickens, nest boxes need to be kept clean. You don't want bird poo in your breakfast, clean out your nest boxes as they are soiled. Since we only have 2 chickens and 10 nest boxes I'm going to cover a few so the girls don't poop in them (they have their two favourites already picked out anyway).


There is a place for garbage, and sprinkled around your buildings like a treasure hunt is not it. I'm sure it is easier just to stuff feed bags into the rafters instead of hauling them out to the curb (and in some older barns they were used as insulation) but they keep & hold and incredible amount of dust and dirt in those little nooks and crannies. You're much better off hauling garbage back with you every time you go to the barn, and putting it away wherever you're keeping your garbage, and getting real insulation.

Everyone needs fresh air. I appreciate that an Ottawa winters night can get very very cold, but you're not doing your animals any favours by blocking out all the cold air so they are re-breathing all the ammonia and bacteria in their home. Instead, choose animal breeds that are best suited to your climate, feed extra and learn more about what equipment you can use to help keep everyone toasty (safely!).

Chickens especially need fresh clean air, the coop had feed bags stuffed in it's ventilation shafts, and the entire roof of the coop is covered with plywood (and MORE feed bags) which is just trapping more dust in the coop. Every single window was also caked closed with dirt, rotting wood & poop. The girls are SO much happier to have their windows open. There is a reason all this great ventilation was put into the coop in the first place, I'm glad it was easy to bring back.

We'll be removing the ply-wood ceiling and putting up more chicken wire instead (to keep the ladies from roosting in the rafters & making a mess); but that's not a priority so we're leaving it for later in the summer while we get more of the main barn ready for animals.

It's not just about keeping the animals area clean, but my works-space as well. Now everything is tidy and well-laid out so I can find what I need right away, plus it's off the floor away from the rats. 

The run has been trimmed down, we left a small patch in the middle for
sun and predator protection, not really necessary with the coop door
open all the time, but the chickens seem to enjoy it.

A million times better! Clean, airy & and it doesn't smell.

I added two bags of shavings over the ground, then some really old hay 

(so they aren't going to eat it) around the back of the pen.

We've replaced the 2x6s I removed from them roost on the back wall 

and replaced 2 dowels so far, this way it will be easier to clean in the future.

The ladies were so pleased with their newly cleaned coop they spent almost and entire warm and beautiful Sunday afternoon inside the coop, sitting in their nest boxes talking to each other. I had been getting 1 egg a day from Henny only, but Penny was been so pleased with the box she's been laying too.

And maybe I'm more picky then the average person, I don't know. But I do know that this coop is now a place I want to be, and a place I can bring the kids with me to feed the chickens or collect eggs.

Also if you're ever selling a small/hobby farm. Clean up the barn before visitors come.

Prepping the Barn for it's new occupants

Finally arrived on the Farm!

The gardens were such a nice surprise. Since we bought in the winter I had no idea what was hiding under the snow, but I've got lovely perennial gardens!

The former bull-pen.

This stall is right beside the dairy portion.

Silly me, diving in with out getting pictures again, and I missed photographing the huge manger we got out of the back (really it was hubby that knocked it out, that thing was built to last!) . Mangers aren't bad but they are un-necessary for horses. You can use a hay-net if you've got a messy eater, but my girl isn't and removing it added 2' to the back of the stall. Now it's a great size of a horse!

The concrete floor underneath makes it very easy to clean but I will need to purchase some rubber mats ($$!), or because I was already planning on using straw instead of shavings, I may just try bedding deeply and see how that goes. I have a very tidy horse, but if you're got one who likes to churn up their stall, mats are a very good idea.

There were tons of nails we had to send back into the wood, you don't want anything in a stall horse can scratch themselves on. Leave one little nail & they will find it!

There was also a whole lot of very old cow manure in there, gross! I don't know how long it was sitting around but there was really no reason for it not to have already been removed when the animals where. At least it's all well rotten down & perfect for the garden compost.

We are going to re-place a few more boards before the pony goes in, and cover up the hinges, but she could go in today and there wouldn't be any problems.

Mountain Fair
FIRST PRIZE
1900 

Right on the wall beside the stall, I'm going to put something over it to protect it from any more damage. 

Far left end of the barn
(Yes apparently Madison does need to get her bum in all the photos!)

This is the far left end of the barn, where we've got two large stalls. I don't know, but since this used to be a dairy barn I believe this was where they kept the calves. There were 5 mangers still in here, again not something horses need so we're not sure what we're doing with them yet. They are all very strong & well built with minimal damage so for now they'll go in the keep pile.

before

Half-way done

Again, full of old poop, shavings & hay over here. The walls are amazingly sturdy, not just the rock-wall but the wood as well. They don't build them like this any more!

The next stall towards the middle of the barn.
Before

The Pig styes? Really I'm not sure what was supposed to be in
here but the door-gates life up & out, so I'm assuming pigs or
sheep maybe. Right now they are holding all the extra wood
out of the way of the aisle while we clean up.

Next... the dairy side!