A Week of Rain

It is so difficult to be productive when it's raining all the time!

Iris, Cinnamon and Honey have not left their shed since Sunday afternoon, and likely will not until Friday or so.  We have become a bit closer during this period, mostly because the girls are not willing to run out into the rain, even if it is to get away from me!  And, I brought them carrots!

Farming is a lot of trial and error. 

We found out that goats LOVE chicken feed.  But, we don't want to let the goats eat it, it's really expensive the way they go through it and I've heard it's not good for them.  Since the goats and chickens live together we had to find a way to separate the goats from the chicken feed.  First we tried creating a chicken wire barrier in one corner...Iris just laughed at us as she stuck her head under the chicken wire and pulled the fencing right up and over her.  We needed something sturdier.  I had an extra piece of plywood left over from the milking stand, it was approximately 18" by 36".  I used the jigsaw to cut a small opening on the long side of the board (an opening for the chickens to get through, but not goats!) and drilled small holes all around the edges.  Then I threaded wire between the board and a corner of the fencing.  I had created a (small) protected space for the chicken feeder, unfortunately it can only accommodate six or so birds at a time.  I figure once the rain winds down I will do the same thing with a much larger piece of plywood.   Trial and error, it will never end.

~A

Milking Stand

Last night I started work on the milk stand.  It was MUCH easier than I thought it would be thanks to Melissa Thomas' article in the Dairy Goat Journal.  I followed her directions exactly and so far it's been a piece of cake...time to add carpenter to my list of skills!

The base of the milking stand

Hopefully I'll have the finished product by tonight!

The goats and chickens are all getting comfortable with the daily routines, which is making it easier for everyone.

~A

Truce

I promised Iris today that I wouldn't chase her and she gave me a nuzzle.  That's good enough for me!  All three girls are becoming much more comfortable with their surroundings.

The girls are pretty excited that I brought home a mineral block for them yesterday afternoon.  Honey and Cinnamon are playing King of the Hill and keep head butting each other.

Honey & Cinnamon

I also picked up the wood and started working on the milking stand for Iris...soon we shall overcome!

~A

Day 2 - No Milk

Iris and I are NOT seeing eye to eye on this whole milking thing.  I chased her around wearing my hoodie, pink jammie pants and muck boots...I suppose I'm glad no one was down there today to capture the ridiculous event on film!

Tonight I will purchase the supplies to make Iris her own milking stand, perhaps that will make her (and I) more comfortable with the experience.

Don't say there was no progress though....  I was able to put new collars on the girls this morning!  Cinnamon has the purple collar and Honey has the pink one.

~A

Day 1 - No Milk

Our first morning together didn't go quite has I had dreamed...

Oreo

Dream Version:

I would show up at 6:00 a.m. fully clothed and warm, to a peaceful chirping and goat bleating.  I would open the door to the house and all the girls would come running lovingly to greet me.  I would easily refill all the food and water buckets for the animals without any problems.  Iris would come right up to me when it's milking time and she would stand so well that I would be able to milk her without incident.

The Reality:

I show up at 6:15 a.m. in my jammies and muck boots, I have to wear a hood to control my bed head.  The animal house is so quiet that I'm certain they must have all died in the night by themselves.  I have to twist the lock to the house off and recieve scratches all over my hands doing so.  I open the door and three chickens do their best karate kid impressions to attack me to try to get out.  Iris, Cinnamon and Honey refuse to come out until all of the chickens get out of their way.  The cap of the chickens water was screwed on so tightly that I practically burned my hands twisting it off.  The perfectly good hay left over from yesterday is no longer perfectly good hay for Iris the Queen.  And as for the milking...let's just say it's a good thing the kids are still nursing because I was unable to milk Iris this morning.

Iris, Honey & Cinnamon

So things didn't go as I had planned...oh well...life happens.  Everybody was fed, everybody is healthy, and everybody is (somewhat) happy.  What more can one ask for?

~A

And so it Begins...

Today is Mother's Day.

All I want for Mother's Day is for my chickens to move out of my basement and for my goats to come to the farm.  And guess what???  IT HAPPENED!!!

Iris, Cinnamon & Honey

The first residents of Longview Hill Farm have moved in!

Thomas getting photog lessons from his Momma (Liss)

~A

90% Accuracy

I think we may have discovered why all the chicks were being so mean to Daisy and pecking at her.  When I checked on Daisy's food and water this morning I took a really good look at her and noticed something quite different from the rest of the chicks we had ordered.  Daisy's tail feathers were very obviously much larger and sticking straight up.  Is it possible that Daisy could turn out to be a rooster?  Are the other chicks picking on her because Daisy is a girly name for a ROOSTER???!!!

Well, the hatchery does guarantee  90% sexing accuracy.  With the amount of chicks we ordered we could expect up to three of them to be male.

~A