Hay Day

Weekend Hay

Tifton 9 Bahia rolled this weekend.

My Favorite Breed of Chicken: Bantam Cochin

Mottled Rooster

Barred Pullet

Herd Matrons

So excited to have Beatrice and Maribelle joining our herd soon.

I love Nubians!!!

New Buck

Thanks to the Mothersheds in Huxford for our new buck, Buddy. Sydney is such a fan of Cake Boss!!! 

Sunshower?

Today, I'm looking out the window and watching the rain pour down while sun shines brightly. I was reminded of an old saying I heard from the time I was young that rain on a sunny day meant the devil was beating his wife.

After a little bit of googling, I found that there are lots of names for this phenomenon... a monkey's wedding, a jackal's wedding, the devil's wedding, rats getting married, foxes getting married, bears getting married, or a monkey's birthday.


Who knew? Hope you have a little rain over your way today!

Make hay while the sun's shining

Sunshine, Summertime.

Mud Puppies

Violet and Lily were so happy to be cool and wet that my camera couldn't keep up with them!

Sydney with our latest kid

Almost ready...

Black Satin Thornless Blackberries. Our best variety!

New Baby

Wild Nubian

Still living with Daddy's cows. Don't think I'm ever going to catch her!

Sunset from the big pasture

Craig's teenie tiny egg

Craig found this small bantam egg in the hen's nest today. It is about the size of a dime or a small marble.

Freerangers!

Good day!!!

Picked a quart of blackberries and a nice basket of eggs today!

White Deer?

This is a little off-topic, but interesting... Years ago, around the time my grandfather was diagnosed with terminal cancer, he told us he'd seen a white deer. It was never to be seen again. All these years, I've watched the treeline and the back pasture, in the off chance that another white deer would appear. I'm sure my "wild goat" fooled a few folks before she decided to live with the cows at Momma and Daddy's. She had a love of random green patches in the surrounding hunting clubs.

From buckmanager.com

Anyway, was searching for examples of goat coloring and came across this post on Piebald Deer. Apparently, they are rare, but not unheard of. Piebalds are not completely white, like an albino would be. An albino has no pigment, while the piebalds can be spotted or frosted looking.

According to BuckManager.com, a piebald is an animal that has a spotting pattern of large white and black patches. The color of the horse’s skin underneath its coat may vary between black (under the black patches of hair) and pink (under the white patches). The coloring is generally asymmetrical.

A genetic variation (defect) produces the piebald condition in white-tailed deer, not parasites or diseases. Piebald deer are colored white and brown similar to a pinto pony. Sometimes they appear almost entirely white. In addition to this coloration, many have some of the following observable conditions: bowing of the nose (Roman nose), short legs, arching spine, and short lower jaws. This genetic condition is rare with typically less than one percent of white-tailed deer being affected.

Color and nose sound like a Nubian, don't they? LOL.

Spring!!!

Everything looks green and new!!!

Chickie Babies!

Goldilocks and her chickie babies   :)

Baby Girl

First-time mom and triplets

Brownie the Nubian had her babies today. All three were chocolate with frosted ears. So far, two have survived. Here's a pic of the second, a small doe.

Baby Aster

Hopefully, the little buck will make it and I'll take good pics of both of them after work today.

I am taking a hint from Eden Hills Farm and am naming kids by the alphabet. Sounds like a wonderful way of keeping up with ages, etc. With that being said, this little doe will be Aster. Her brother, Abe.

Welcoming new animals!

Here are better pics of Maybelle, Penelope and two of the bunnies...



Maybelle the Nubian







Penelope the Nubian





Sydney and Maybelle





Californian Mix bunnies



New on the Farm

This weekend, we welcome five new animals to our farm. Sorry these pics are so dark. I spent a couple of hours with Daddy, feeding the cows and horses. I guess the sunlight just got away from me.

Penelope and Maybelle came to us from Crestview.

Maybelle and Penelope, Nubians

 I bought three Californian bunnies at the feed store on Sunday. They are absolutely precious. Appears to be a male and two females.

Two of the three bunnies.

Oops! I forgot about the two splash hens and partridge silkie hen.  :)

Turkens!!!

Many thanks to my dear friend, Gina King, for picking up my Turkens. I am now the proud owner of two roosters and five hens. They are lovely birds. I'm starting to think I'd rather have an entire flock of them. So nice to have birds (Turkens and Dominiques) who aren't aggressive. After those mean Rhode Island Reds I had the first year, I promised myself I'd never have another mean bird.

Never say never...

I have a phobia of all things rodent. I put all this aside when I saw a beautiful mini Rex at the sale yesterday. So precious and soooo soft. I brought him home is a small wooden box. Sydney had no idea what I'd bought and was anxious to see the "chicks."  When she realized I had a rabbit for her, she was speechless. After mini squeals, oohs and ahs, she jumped up and squeezed me tight. He is very sweet. Tiger the cat likes him a little too much, though.

Short stretches

We are replacing several short stretches of panel fences with old-fashioned board fences.

Candling

Photo courtesy of Sydney Adams, Jr. Phorographer Extraordinaire.

Candling eggs is an age-old technique for determining chick development. We use a bright, LED flashlight. Here's a pic of a white egg we candled tonight. This egg has been in the incubator for two days.

Let sleeping dogs lie.

Isabelle stays busy at night, so she naps when she can.

Welcome Turken Chicks!

Turken chicks in the brooder

We had a great day today. Made two new friends in Mitch and Beverly Sconfienza of Silver Hill. We bought 20 of their little Turkens. After a quick trip south, we found that Mitch and Beverly share many of our loves including Nubian goats and Great Pyrenees.

We made it home just before dark. Installed the chicks in the brooder and added three eggs (thanks, Beverly) to the incubator.

In approximately 21 days, we'll have Dominique chicks and more Turkens to join these chicks. I may set a few Bantam Cochins tonight. Haven't quite decided.

I've seen it all!

A washing machine converted to a chicken cage!!!

Spring? Maybe...

Lots of sprouts on my pineapple pear. The Kiefer Pear seems to be about a week behind. I hope we can produce a little fruit this year.

New Buck

Sandrock Acres Joey

Sunday Supper

What is a Nubian?

There are many breeds of goats with uses ranging from milk to meat to foragers. I've always been a fan of dairy goats because of their size, personalities and the fact that most are disbudded (do not have horns). My favorite breed is the Nubian.

What is a Nubian? According to the American Dairy Goat Association, the Nubian is a relatively large, proud, and graceful dairy goat of mixed Asian, African, and European origin, known for high quality, high butterfat, milk production.

Appearance, according to the breed standard is described below:

• Head is the distinctive breed characteristic, with the facial profile between the eyes and the muzzle being strongly convex (Roman nose). 
• Ears are long (extending at least one inch beyond the muzzle when held flat along the face), wide and pendulous. They lie close to the head at the temple and flare slightly out and well forward at the rounded tip, forming a "bell" shape. The ears are not thick, with the cartilage well defined. 
• Hair is short, fine and glossy.
• Any color or colors, solid or patterned, is acceptable. 

We own one Saanen goat. Maxine, as she is know around our farm, is a great goat. Shorter than our Nubians, she has a wonderful personality, beautiful udder and is a fantastic mother. Saanens are white goats with smaller, alert ears.

There are a few other dairy breeds I'm interested in, namely the La Mancha. La Manchas are easy to spot because of their tiny ears. We owned one, a few years back. She was remarkably quiet and meek compared to the boisterous Nubians. I would like to have a few more of this breed one the farm. What a contrast! Long ears and almost no ears grazing together in the pasture!

Nu Nubian

From Creekwood Farm