Alpaca Shearing Day!

 It's been in the 80s the past few weeks and the alpacas were getting uncomfortable. Paco would stomp and wade in their water trough and we'd set up Atreyu with a mister during the day to sit by and keep cool. It took awhile but we finally found a shearer to come out and cut their fleece for the summer. Our shearer was Joe Moore, out of Western NC, and if you are in the South Eastern US, I would highly recommend him.

First up was Paco. To say that Paco is uncooperative would be an understatement. He's untrusting, rowdy and likes to spit. They had to carry him up because he wouldn't walk on the lead even with Atreyu leading the way.

But once strapped down and stretched, he had no where to go. He could still scream and carry on though.

Paco is a Suri, and is very soft. Compared to Atreyu the amount of fleece given was very small, but it's dense and beautiful.

The boys helped to gather up all the fleece as it was cut. It was pretty windy, so they had some catching to do!

All done! He had to be carried back to the pasture as well before he was set loose. I am sure he's much cooler now!

Then it was Atreyu's turn. He's much older, gelded and has been trained. So he was very well behaved.

His fleece was pretty thick since he's a Huacaya. We got about a half a bag full from Paco and 2 over stuffed bags from Atreyu.

I bet he feels 15 lbs lighter now! 

This post is linked to Frugal Days, Sustainable Ways, The HomeAcre Hop, The Homestead Barn Hop,

Mama Hen

 A couple of weeks ago Chickory went missing. The kids mourned her loss, assuming the fox got her. But 2 days later she came screeching into the yard, clucking and carrying on. Then promptly disappeared again. For a week she would show up every 2 days until finally we discovered her nest, safely in a corner of the barn. She was sitting on 20 eggs.

Now Chickory isn't a big bird. She's actually pretty scrawny. So I pulled about 9 eggs and left her with the rest, hoping it was a more manageable number for her to keep warm. I candled the eggs, threw out the non-fertile eggs and set the rest in the incubator. Yesterday was hatch day. We had one peeping in the incubator when we woke up and 2 more working their way out. A peek under Chickory revealed 3 chicks.

By mid-afternoon she had 7. And by evening, when all was said and done she had 9 little babies. And we still only had our 3 inside. We moved her into a safe, enclosed location- our "chick house" within the larger storage area of the chicken house. We slipped our 3 under her as well.

This morning we went out to visit them. Chickory is all fluffed out with her dozen chicks all crammed under her wings.

All but one so far looks to be half Brahma- fluffy feet and all. Only one little one- all yellow and no fluffly feet.

Annika is in love. She was sad to see the chicks leave the house. But is happy to be able to go out and spend time in the barn with the birds.

Here's our rooster, one of them anyway. A big, beautiful Buff Brahma who gave us lots of colorful little babies!

A Boy, a Girl and a Chicken

 Rylan has this bird named Queenie. We hatched her in the incubator last fall. She's was a sickly chick. Not very strong, a little floppy, one leg seemed a little off. When we let them out of the brooder and they were old enough and strong enough to hold their own against the big hens, Queenie stayed inside the coop, roosting on the feed cans or hiding behind them all day.

And because of this Rylan took a special interest in her. I told him not to get attached because I honestly didn't think she'd live that long.  But he brought her food and water. He carried her out back to be with the rest of the "chicks".  Finally she started to come around. She's still a little off looking and one leg is still a little odd, but she's running, pecking and venturing. She is also trained to run to Rylan as soon as she sees him. Or any person, if he's not around.

And now that we have a chicken that will run to us. A chicken that is a little smaller than average. Annika now has a chicken she can catch. And carry. And hug. And love.

And Annika really loves Queenie. Almost as much as Rylan....

This post is linked to the HomeAcre Hop, Farm Girl Friday, The Homestead Barn Hop,

Restructuring the Goats

We are making some changes this year in terms of our herd. When we first started out with goats we just got a couple of doelings with hopes of breeding and milking them the following year. Eventually our boys, Scooter and Scout, joined the herd as pets, weed eaters and company for any goat that needed them. And finally Thor, our buck. Over the past 2 years we have grown and today we have 13 goats in our pastures.

Now that we have a couple breeding seasons under our belts and we have a more defined idea about what kind of goats we want to raise, we are ready to make our changes. Over the next year we will be saying good-bye to most of our original herd. Thor and Bella are for sale now. This year's babies will be up for sale once they are weaned. And Bertie and June will leave us this fall or winter once they have dried up for the year or in the Spring if we decided to milk them through until our next kidding season starts. Scooter, Scout and possibly, Poppy, will be staying here. So who are we making room for?

Meet Dottie, a little 7 week old Nubian bottle baby and quite possibly the cutest thing I have ever seen.

She will grow up to be our first foundation doe. She is ADGA registered and comes from very good bloodlines.

 She also follows us around like a puppy and cries loudly when we leave her. In another month or so she will be joined by a second little Nubian doeling (provided she is born, that is).

 And this, is Dixon. Our future herdsire. We picked him up on a recent trip back to TN to visit with friends and family.

He's not quite as puppy-like as Dottie is, but his mama produces 2 gallons of milk a day, which is a pretty impressive amount. He is also ADGA registered and from excellent bloodlines.

So by this time next year, we will have a 100% Nubian herd and hopefully lots of little floppy eared babies jumping around!

This post has been linked to the Farm Girl Friday Blog Hop,  Homestead Barn Hop, The HomeAcre Hop,

A Tribute to David

 A sad thing happened last night when we went to lock up the chickens. Every night we feed them, count them and lock them up. Over the past few months we've lost a few due to a fox that hangs around during the day. And every day I hoped that no more would be missing, but I especially hoped that the favorites- Helen, Ping and David- would be there. And last night, David didn't come home.

David came to us last year as a replacement for Cohen's hen, Prunella, that got nabbed when she got left outside overnight. He was supposed to be a hen. But as he grew, the size of his feet alone told us that he was a rooster instead.

But Cohen loved that bird. He held him all the time and David turned out the be one of the tamest roosters I've ever seen. If you picked him up, he would sit with you until you put him down. He didn't mind being held and never showed once ounce of aggression towards us.

He was also one of the best roosters I have ever seen. Before we got rid of a couple of our not-so-nice roosters, he would stand guard over the hens and chase off any offenders. He would call the hens to him when he found treats to eat. And every afternoon he took a walk around the pasture with a group of his hens and a duck.  He walked along the road, while the hens stayed in the ditch pecking around. He was everything you would want in a rooster.

He was a good rooster. And Cohen, who takes any chicken death hard, was pretty upset. And even though losses like this are part of farm life, it was a very sad loss for all of us.

And he will be missed.

This post is linked to the HomeAcre Hop, The Homestead Barn Hop,

The Kidding Kit

You can now find this post on my other site, The Free Range Life. Here is the link to The Kidding Kit.

On Burnout, Writer's Block and Moving On

I've been feeling rather burned out lately. Well, make that very burned out. You know when you feel stressed and exhausted. Physically, mentally and spiritually.  It tends to happen when I put on a happy face too long. When I smile and push back and ignore that stress.  But there comes a point when you just can't anymore.

I used to write a lot when I was younger. Being published was a big goal of mine.  Then along came a time of extreme burnout and I got blocked. Sometimes I joke that I have had writer's block for over 10 years. Words used to flow from me- poetry, stories, etc. But they stopped. In the basement I have a box full of pretty books and journals filled with words. And seeing those books make me a little sad. Sad that I don't write much anymore and sad to see how my pretty books have been replaced with cheap 17 cent notebooks bought during school supply season at Target. And those notebooks don't exactly scream inspiration!

I think that tends to be the cause of burn out in moms. They put themselves last in a long line of responsibilities. They don't feed themselves and they lose their identity as a person and become simply "mom".  So I am trying. I've admitted to myself that if I want to feel better- I do have to take care of myself some.  I am trying to relax some of my requirements and checklists. I am trying to find time to do something for me- that has nothing to do with the kids.

But still, life goes on. Kids still need me, dinners need to be made, laundry needs to be done, the house needs to be swept and animals need to be fed and cared for. We sold Johnny last week. That was hard for me. Animals are a soft spot for me and I need to learn that we can't keep every animal that lives here on our farm. Especially the bucklings. Johnny was the first kid born here. And he was very sweet.

But in exchange for Johnny, we got Poppy. She's a Nubian doe, with one kidding under her belt. That is about all I know about her and she is still pretty skiddish around people. We are slowly trying to warm her up to us, but she still runs and comes back to eat once we've gone.

We should find out in the next couple days if our bid for the Nubian buck from the Carl Sandburg Farm was accepted. And if it was we will also be looking to rehome Thor...which I am sure will be equally as hard to do.

The Bird Boys and Other Fowl Updates

 My boys love their birds. I think I may have mentioned that before. They spend more time with their chickens than they do their dogs or other cuddly pets. And if you think you can't pet a chicken, don't tell them that. Our newer chicks are now out and free ranging with the rest of the chickens. They still have separate coops, and I am wondering how I am going transition the old birds to the new coop. I have a feeling they will just go back to the old one every night.

We've had a couple broody birds over the past few months. Muh- yes, Muh, said like Duh! Is what they named the poor bird. Sat on eggs for the whole 21 days, a few exploded on her and had one partially formed chick. But she wasn't a very good sitter and left them often. The turken, named Turken Lee Jones, goes broody, but only in the old, broken down chicken coop in the goat's yard. She refuses to sit on eggs in a safe place. Then there was Black Hat, Lakin's crazy chicken. After attempting to break her since her choice of laying spots was the tool shed we finally gave up and gave her some eggs. She's due to hatch any day now.

The guineas are out and about too. I can hear them squawking right now. We started with 10. We had to cull one because of a nervous disorder. And on the 3rd night out we didn't make it out to make sure they all got inside before dark. About 5 min after dark we went out and couldn't find them. They had scattered. Armed with flashlights we found them- in trees, under bushes, etc. But we only found 6 of the 9. Hoping for the best we went back inside. Only one remained in the morning, and we found 2 piles of feathers. So we are down to 7 guineas. I think we have 3 girls and 4 boys.

And, then there are these 4, who I am not sure I have ever mentioned. They are Timber, Maple, Twinkle and Hank. They are Swedish Blue and Swedish Black ducks. I am not sure if they are hens or drakes yet, but so far I am leaning towards hens. They are about 7 weeks old now.

And finally, thanks to a customer at Paul's work, we have these in the incubator. 2 peacocks eggs. I am not sure what type yet, and it can be hard to hatch them out of the incubator. If we get another reliable broody chicken we might move them to under her. I am excited to see them hatch and what breed they are!

linked to
 Weekend Whatever
 Farm Girl Friday 
What's Cluckin'  
Homestead Barn Hop