Updates/changes on the farm! New birds, fluffy goat and sheep...

A few changes over the last 6 months or so.

We have increased our muscovy flock.  Merle now has two more girls in addition to Maggie and Frieda.  They're young, and I expect they'll hit 1 year in late summer.  Man, can these ducks fly.  We had to clip wings, as they enjoyed flying all around the backyard and over in the chicken yard.

New girl

Of the scovys hatched last year, we butchered all but one drake.  We also butchered our goose Broccoli, Beefy's girl/boy friend.  Pretty sure Broccoli was a boy, and low boy on the totem pole to Beefy.  Beefy was entirely uninterested in Broccoli, and would mount the ducks instead.  We never saw Broccoli mount the ducks, but I'm guessing because Beefy was so dominant.  Anyhow, the crazy thing was that the two <1yr old scovy drakes that we butchered dressed out at nearly the exact same weight as that goose!  Nuts!

We ended up getting a pilgrim female for Beefy, and named her Abigail. Great thing about a pilgrim is that we KNOW it's a girl, due to the sex-linked color.  Yay!  Crusty is in LUUUURVE with Abigail (Crusty has a goose fetish, having grown up with geese) and likes to follow Abigail around while doing her sexy duck dance.  It's highly amusing, but Abby doesn't care much for it.  Added plus, the gal I got Abby from has pied guineas.  She's supposed to give me a call this summer when she has keets, and we'll be able to get Deputy Guinea some friends.  Ah, I can already hear the guinea chorus.  Sigh.

Abigail

We kept one chocolate drake from last year's hatches, Choco Taco, and got him two girls as well.  Only one of the 4 total new girls has a name.  Chad named her Hennifer Grey.  :)  She's a pretty gray/brown, and a really calm and petite little girl.

 Hennifer Grey

Choco, the muscovy drake we kept, is a big beautiful boy.  He was attacked by our trio of turkey toms a few months ago and they just about scalped and blinded him.  Time in a crate and treatment with bluekote, and he's growing his feathers back on his head, and still has both eyes, though his beak is a little gnarly on top.  He was really a mess for a while, but is back out there terrorizing the roosters and lovin his girlfriends.  We also only have ONE tom left... his brothers were very tasty (seasoned with "these damn turkeys attacked my Choco").

Choco

What else, what else... Traeger and Weber, boer goat and katahdin sheep, are fat and sassy and slated for slaughter on the 19th.  We'll kill/gut/skin here at the house, and then take the carcasses to the butcher for further processing.  Very ready for them to go, as it's almost time for pigs!  We're debating taking the hides down to a guy in Clackamas to be processed, as they're really nice and fluffy from the unusually cold weather we've experienced over the last few months.  We could try to do it at home, but their coats are so nice... I think we'll practice on the next deer we get, and just have these professionally done.

Fat, Sassy, and headed for the freezer.

So, that's about it for the moment.  Not too much else exciting.

More soon!

Still alive, and goats are GONE!!

Lana, I'm still alive, and appreciate your concern. :)

Goats are gone gone gone. We got rid of Lyle about a month and a half ago, as he kept jumping the fence. Annnnnd, he ate a couple of my fruit trees. Just about a week ago, Cletus, my favorite goat, learned that he could walk over the electric netting. Then he taught the other three his neat trick. $200 worth of new fruit trees were destroyed. $&@&&$@!!!!! Very very angry owners. Like, "can we just shoot them" angry. So, I posted free goats on craigslist tonight. Within 1 hr of posting, they were gone. A nice gal about 10 minutes from us came and took them. She's a local 4H leader, and definitely knew her stuff.

The goats did a great job for us. They could clear 1/3 acre of brush and blackberries in less than 10 days. I'd rather have my fruit trees, though we're gonna have to pull out 7-10 trees and replant. :(

Problem animals don't have a place here. We're probably gonna butcher the two heritage turkeys tomorrow for that very reason. Though their wings are clipped, they keep getting on the chicken run, and have collapsed a couple sections. It's all a learning experience, eh?

Anyhoo, still lots of work to do. Will try to check in. Gotta tell about bird butchering, pig butchering (soon), eggs, garden, and more. Hope everyone is doing well!

Our little straw spreaders

I learned today that our chickens will spread straw for us. Good chickens. We cleaned out the coop today, and put linoleum down on the floor of the coop, trying to extend the life of the floor. I raked the chicken run and yard, and we tossed down a couple flakes of straw. We hadn't spread the straw, because we got distracted. Later, we went out to find the girls taking care of it for us, scratching away at the straw piles. Again, good chickens.

The meat chickens are getting huge, and we're restricting their food, trying to take them out to the weekend after next. Mom is coming to visit this next weekend, and I don't think she wants to take part in the processing. If we process weekend after next, that will be at 10 weeks. Should work, as they're all still getting around just fine, fat and sassy. We've been restricting food for the last two weeks. We only give them access between about 6am and 5pm. They are awfully friendly, and I try to ignore it, knowing that they will be in the freezer soon.

We moved the goat pen, which we should have done two weeks ago. These guys are nuts, stripping vegetation in record time. I've made a flyer to advertise Lyle. We need to go put it up at local feed stores.

Anyhoo, lots to do before Mom comes next weekend. Hope everyone has a safe and fun 4th!!!

His first crow, and it was pathetic

Yes, gimpy roo finally crowed. Long since over his limp, he's still a little slow. Yesterday, he finally crowed, and it was one of the most pathetic things I'd ever heard. But, at least he tried!

This morning, as I was feeding the geese and filling waters before work, I heard gimpy-roo practicing in the coop. All the ladies were out in the yard, enjoying the morning scratch, and gimpy was in the coop all by himself, singing his heart out. It was pretty bad, sort of like a rooster being throttled while trying to imitate a cat in heat. I laughed until I cried. After a few minutes of early morning serenade, our bossiest buff lady was fed up with gimpy's antics. She turned to face the coop and cackled at him loudly a couple times. When that didn't stop him, she left the yard at a run, and scrambled up the ramp and into the coop, cackling at the top of her voice. Next, I heard a crash and a couple outraged squawks, and miss bossy calmly hopped out of the coop and returned to her breakfast. A couple moments later, gimpy followed. Apparently, she'd informed him that enough was enough, and breakfast was on the ground. Poor gimpy...

Farm updates... Probably not going to be posting much over the next two weeks, as Mom is coming to visit, and we have a LOT to do before she gets here. So, quick updates, and I'll hopefully be able to squeeze a couple posts in later to explain more.

Birds- I finally made a new door to the coop and a new ramp, and hope to get a window installed next weekend.

We lost a turkey poult last week. Whatever killed it didn't eat it. The bite on its neck looked like it was from rodent incisors. My best guess is that a squirrel or something was raiding the food and lashed out at the poult when it investigated the trespasser. It was one of our two bronzes. :(

Goats- the goats stripped their pen in two weeks. We're hoping to get them moved to a new impenetrably thick brush zone this week. Nuts! Lyle will likely be rehomed, as he keeps jumping into the pig pen to steal food, and is pretty mean to the other goats (especially poor Snowy). We don't want to have to build a fortress every time we move the fencing, so Lyle needs to go.

Pigs- they still think they're goats. They've started pushing down saplings so they can strip the leaves off. I swear they learned it from the goats. Good pigs.

That's about it for the moment. Hope everyone has a fabulous week!

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!

Our new goats, the blackberry destroyers!

Alrighty.  We finally have goats to help us tame our blackberry and scotchbroom infested property.  Holy cow, they really mow them down! Background story on the goats... One of LJ's friends had a friend that lost their farm.  LJ's friend took in their goats, 2 does and 3 wethers.  He didn't really need goats, and intended to rehome them when he found a suitable place.  We bought a big property with lots of good goat candy (blackberry bushes) and LJ wanted goats.  Thus, we now have 5 goats.

Here are the new mowers.  They came with names, not all of which we kept.  Doesn't really matter, as they don't know their names anyway.  I'd appreciate any help in identifying the breeds...

This is Snowy.  I think she's 5 yrs old.  Boer cross?

This is Macey.  She's 4, and one of the triplets.

This is Cletus (LJ picked the name, saying he looks like a Cletus with his wonky horn). He is the second of the triplets.

Last of the triplets is this guy.  LJ wants to name him Bubba, but I don't agree.  For now, he's nameless.

Finally, this is Pinto, aka "Old Man", aka "Lyle".  I think Lyle will be the one that sticks.  As long as he's over his urge to escape, he'll get to stay. As far as breed id, Toggenburg?

They're sure having fun in their new pen.  Lots of blackberries, scotch broom, and low hanging tree branches. :)   I'll try to get more pics up as soon as we get some sun.

Goats, icky chickies, quick update

Goats were delivered yesterday. 5 of them. Not sure what the breeds are, but they were free, and they have already done some serious damage to the blackberries and thistles. Woohoo! 2 does, 3 wethers. Only one wether is polled, and he may need to be rehomed somewhere else this week (today or tomorrow, preferably), as he is the size of a small pony and can clear a nearly 5' fence. The others are fine. The big boy is the only problem goat. I don't want him to teach the others to escape. He jumps the fence, even though he gets the bejeezus shocked out of him. All the others respect the fence. LJ wants to give him a couple days, but I need that goat to go away. Especially with lots of baby fruit trees, blueberries, and my garden at risk. Stressing me out. I really don't like problem animals...

Icky chickies are out in the chicken conestoga. They seem to be enjoying the forage and freedom. Now that they have room to run, they are having baby chicken battles. Pretty entertaining. At least they are getting some exercise. :)

I'll try to get pics up this week. Happy Monday!