Monday, June 20, 2011

Rainy weekend, critter updates, babydoll sheep

What a crummy weekend, weather-wise! We made the most of it, but what I would give for some flippin sunshine!

Saturday morning we went shopping. Work clothes, critter food, and other supplies. We even managed a quick stop at the gun shop where I drooled over various shotguns and a s&w 642 airweight. Drooooool... I did my best to not actually drool ON them, but it was a close thing. :)

We got a shelter up for the goats, and they're actually using it. (just a tarp suspended between trees with straw underneath, but it works for summer).

The pigs think that they are goats. We've been chopping down branches and saplings for the goats, and we threw one in the pig pen just for the heck of it. Holy cow. The pigs went nuts. Spinning, squealing, headbutting, piggle antics. They stripped the branch of leaves, and enjoyed every last moment of it. I even saw Spot gingerly pulling leaves off of a blackberry vine and eating them. WTH? Yeah, they eat new shoots and root up the root balls, but tree and blackberry leaves? I could swear the pigs learned this behavior from the goats, with whom they share a fence. Especially since they just started this within a week of getting their new neighbors. Weird...

The turkeys are finally outside, since it is supposed to get pretty warm this week, and they would have overheated in the shop. We clipped their wings, and put them out in their new pen yesterday before going to a Father's Day BBQ. When we got home after dark, we checked on them and found that they had eaten quite a bit from their new feeder (a PVC feeder like we made for the chickens), and they had drank quite a bit of water from their nipple waterer. Score! We did have to go out and move the sleepy little birds under their shelter, but they seem to be doing just fine otherwise. Sure are funny birds, and they have so many different calls. It is fun getting them to talk back to you. :)

For Father's Day, we went to LJ's step-sister's place for a BBQ. We had a great time, good food, and lots of play time with their three dogs. And then we got to go see their 3 babydoll sheep... OhmygodIwantalittlebrownewokbabydollsheep! Her little black sheep, sun faded to orangy brown was the cutest thing I've ever seen. I, no joke, had a 5 minute giggle fit over his little chunky monkey ewok-like face. If only we had pasture, I would get a whole mess of them. Holy cow, they were CUTE!

Anyhoo, LJ is on a short time schedule change, and we'll probably be too busy for me to get on much over the next few days. I'll try to get some more pics up soon (turkeys maybe?) but no promises. Hope everyone has a great week!

5 comments:

Paula said...

Did you get pics of the sheep? I was so thinking you guys had already added them to the menagerie!

Would love to see pics of the PVC feeders, as that's what I have in mind.

Do your chickens have nipple waterers too, and where did you get them? Have you figured out what you're going to do to deice them this winter?

I'm currently trying to figure this all out.

Lana from Farm Life Lessons said...

Sounds like the sheep are unique and entertaining to watch! And, I've heard that pigs eat everything, but this is hysterical! I can't wait to get goats!

Rae said...

Nah. No sheep... yet. Lol.

I'll see what I can do about posting on the feeders. We're still working out a couple kinks, but they work pretty well for the most part.

As for the nipple waterers, I don't know if LJ has thought that far ahead. Chickens really shouldn't be a problem, as we could put the nipples over a catch tray inside the coop during the winter. Turkeys should be gone before it gets too cold. LJ couldn't get the nipples locally, and ordered them instead. I'll see if I can find out where.

Chai Chai said...

I'm adding turkeys this fall as well, I will be watching to see how yours do.

Paula said...

thanks!