Sunday Report

This is my 5th post of the day! I have 4 does who will be do soon/any time. I thought folks might like to guess how many kids they'll have, when, etc. So I posted them individually with a few pics and gave what info I could. The junior does will come later. So make sure you read all the posts today!

The goats are due soon and I'm started to get excited. I hope it's a good year kidding. With my first mini Alpines due out of a new buck, Nipper, who is an ND it should be!

This last week has been very busy. We finally got some warmer weather and I gave up and bought new hoof trimmers. I also got quite a few goats trimmed. We were having problems with Daisy's feet and I'm still a bit concerned. I don't know if the incessant laying down is due to her huge belly or if her feet hurt or what. The soles were a bit crumbly so I treated her for foot rot. We've continued to trim on her feet every few days trying to get them caught up. During a goat escape, my nippers (which I LOVED) disappeared and I couldn't find them. I was to the point they must have flown off the stand and bounced away from where the basket landed. True to form, after I found some new ones I like, the others surfaced!

Last week a predator got into the chain link pen with a buck and my Cochin chickens. We've seen coons, possums and smelled a skunk all last week. The dogs killed a possum in their dog yard and Murphy (corgi) broke out and killed one in the back yard. I don't know what got Blue Man, my blue Cochin roo who I REALLY liked, but it also returned. The hens aren't happy and have cut back on the egg laying in protest. Now every day I go out I'm cringing hoping my hens are ok. I REALLY like these Cochins and don't want to be loosing them! I don't want to loose any of my chickens! Hubby hopes he has the broken live trap fixed. I'm hoping so too as the war was started by the predators who think I'm offering free and easy chicken dinners! They can raid the compost piles all they want. They just need to leave MY critters alone and live harmoniously but they don't. :( So it's a critter war.

Due to the loss of Blue Man (yes, after the Blue Man group I've seen on tv), I've been saving every egg I do get and marking the date and what it's temp felt like when I got it. I've been going out hourly to collect eggs as the Americauna hens were eating eggs bad last year. I'm HOPING that I might have some fertile Cochin eggs. I just don't know if the individual brown eggs are laid by the Cochins or the Orpington hens. I also have 3 green eggs so far that I'm adding in. I have fiddled with the new incubator a lot and checked the temp, etc. I decided what would help me watch the humidity, etc. I'm ready to set eggs. I've sent my money for some hatching eggs to add a new breed I'm interested in.

Tuesday we are to go meet the folks with the Favorelles and finally get the chicken trade done. Between bad weather, illness, family commitments it's been hard to get it done with their daughter (who seems really nice and has a BAD drive to get down here in the winter). I was hoping the new little hen and my Fav would start laying so I could add their eggs to the incubator too but no luck. I'll have to wait til the next hatching for adding theirs and the new Favs' eggs. It will be a Fav rooster though and that is FINE!

Fortunately, some of the snow is melting off. It's a mess. I'm out of grain in the barn and my van is LOADED! I went out to move it to the barn this am thinking the snow was down enough and the ground would be hard enough but.... of course not. My van is stuck half way to the barn. I'll now dig the front wheels out and liberally add kitty litter and hope I can move it later when it gets back below freezing. This isn't good as we have one or 2 more nights of the temp dropping below freezing over night and then a few nights with it above. Once it's above, the frost will start dropping out of the ground and I'll be there for ever! I hate to ask the neighbor to come pull me out as his tractor rips the yard and drive up terribly and I HATE those deep ruts.

On the home front, my 2 dogs are coming into heat. I'm not breeding any pups in this economy. I won't breed unless I have puppy homes mostly prearranged, etc. It isn't a good time. Also with the economy, there are more dogs in the rescues and shelters due to people needing to move, and the rough things happening in their lives. I'd rather see those dogs rehomed first and the balance in life stableized. I was attending shows and hoping to show my male - didn't work out. I also don't want to breed my female Corgi. I don't know if it's her former hip injury or DM, but she's having problems and her eyes have gotten bad. I'm afraid her genetics might not be up to my standards so no pups for her. She had 1 litter and I now regret it. I've not had the money to get her spayed and I'd like too. I don't live where there are low cost programs and the vet quoted me over $100. I do a lot of crating and confining with crates and gates! The boys can get quite testy with each other. But that is also life and has it's responsibilities!

Homesteading and farming are definitely something one must think about and plan around! Other wise it's too hard, too messy and just not a happy proposition! I like to try to make things easier on myself. I try to do what is right for the animals I'm lucky enough to have!

My walnut squash bread is done so I need to get a move on! Have a great weekend and I hope you'll post your guesses on the kiddings on the threads for each of the first 4 to kid. I sold the other 4 who would have been in the first-round kidding.