Maisy, Max and Marco

We had our first, and most likely only, goat kids born this past Sunday.

Our Nubian doe, Ivey, gave birth to triplets! 2 bucklings and one doeling!

Unfortunately, Max, one of the little bucklings was born with white muscle disease. Most likely due to a selenium deficiency. He couldn't support his weight and his legs were spread out behind him.

We brought him in the house the first night since Ivey kept accidentally stepping on him. We gave him a shot of selenium and he is improving.

 But since he missed his first 24 hours with his family, Ivey has decided that he doesn't belong to her. I have been able to force her to feed him- but she will only allow it while she is busy eating. He will most likely end up a bottle baby.

But they are so adorable. The [human] kids are enjoying loving on them!

From L to R: Maisy (white), Max, and Marco.

The Big Snow: February 11-13, 2014

 Before last week the biggest snow the kids had ever seen was about 5-6 inches back when Annika was a newborn.

Monday we got a quick 3 inches- which was great for packing! They made lots of snowmen and snowballs!

And took a snow shower :)

In Tennessee we lived on a very level lot, so sledding was pretty much out. Here we are lucky to be surrounded by hills!

Everything started to melt, but started back up again on Wednesday, snowing throughout the day.

 And we woke up on Thursday to 10 inches! Which we all immediately went out to play in- after brushing off the goat and alpacas houses, both of which caved in somewhat with the weight of the snow.

The animals weren't quite so thrilled with the snow- the chickens stayed inside for the entire week. And the goats shivered in their barns. 

 

 Later in the afternoon, as the snow began to melt somewhat in the sun, we went out to make this huge snowman and a snowfort.

And the best thing about southern snow- a beautiful winter wonderland last Wednesday- and today we are out in sunny, nearly 70 degree weather!

Chicks, Fences, and Fun

 We got 25 new chicks- Buff Orpingtons, Black Austalorps, red stars, Rhode Island Reds, and a couple Blue-Laced Red Wyandottes.  We also thinned out out older birds- and sold 17 of them to a couple families in search of yard birds and pet.

This winter has been a series of warm and cold days. One day the kids were running around with no jackets- zooming down the pasture in a big Tonka truck....

And the next day- snow!

On the warm days we worked on fencing in the chickens. We kept losing birds to a fox, and we are adding about 300 strawberry plants this year and didn't want the chickens to eat them all!

Now the chickens are enclosed, seeds are started inside- and garden time is right around the corner!