Giveth and Taketh Away

Ask any farmer or homesteader about the circle of life, and they'll be sure to tell you they've seen it firsthand many, many times.  They can probably cite examples as well.  Let me add another.  As you know, kittens were born here on Tuesday.  It was wonderful, and we are all thrilled.  But there has to be a balancing, which every farmer and homesteader knows.  The circle turned again, and yesterday, I lost 8 young pullets in the rain.

Let me just say here--hybrid chickens are the STUPIDEST things on the earth.  They don't have enough sense to get out of the rain.  And they don't have enough sense to stay out of the rain, either.  It poured yesterday, thankfully (because it's been SO dry), and the pullets, who live in the coop, went outside in it.  So my husband went out and threw them back in the coop so they would stay dry.  Well, wouldn't you know it?  They went back outside immediately in the pouring rain and proceeded to stand in a large huddle.  And suffocate each other.  Not smart birds.  Needless to say, there were many losses.  When I went out there at feeding time, there were bodies all over.  Not pretty.

But the scales are balanced, I hope.  Maybe the circle can go turn for someone else.

In other news, I have started Replamin gel on my goaty people.  This is why:

Minerva

Dulcinea

Stewart

 Because they looketh like crapeth.  And that's putting it politely.  Minerva and Dulcinea have lost their black and settled into an ugly reddish brown.  Lilly is going that way.  Stewart's hair is brittle.  The only one not effected?

 

Cleo.  Probably because she sucks minerals down like it's going out of style.  Her coat is beautiful and soft like a kitten.

Currently, the regimen is: free choice minerals and copper sulfate once a week.  The minerals are Right Choice Onyx, which has a lot of copper in it: 2,500ppm.  That's way above the content in the minerals that are offered here, SweetLix  and MannaPro.  Unfortunately, it's not sold here, so I special ordered it.  I am happy with it and I believe it would be a good choice for my girls--if they would eat it consistently.  However, they do not.  This is why I added the copper sulfate regimen as well.  However, they are losing color and losing it fast, which means that all is not right with their mineral balance, and that's got me concerned.

We are in a very copper deficient area.  The girls (and Stewart) are all on hay and have been for a long time, since there were no leaves on the trees.  The hay doesn't have what the girls need.  The minerals didn't seem to be absorbed enough to make a difference.  So now I will try the gel to see if it makes a difference.  I am hoping that the gel form that the minerals are in will make the goats bodies' absorb them more readily.  It's a hope. 

If you are curious, the Replamin Plus gel is the one I am using.  The regimen is: 5ccs once a day for three days, then once 4 days later, and then once a week after that.  I will be tracking their progress to see a difference, and I will take pictures!  We'll know together if it helps. So far, I am on day two.  Cleo and Max (my mineral eaters) did not get any--I am putting them on a once a week regimen to maintain them.  Stewart, Lilly, Minerva, Dulcinea, and even little Cynthia are getting the full blown treatment (though Cynthia gets a smaller dose)  because they are all showing signs of stress.  I am hoping this works.  Wish us luck!

The Universe Sent Me Blue jays

Yesterday, as I was going to my other job, SaraCat decided to give birth. 

She followed me around the yard while I did my chores, alternately meowing and purring.  When I stood up to go get more feed, she ran back to the garage-barn and laid in a weird spot.  I watched and saw a contraction.  I brought her inside.

Many whiles later, she gave birth to the first.  I assisted (head was stuck), but had to leave for work, as I was already late.  My husband really stepped up to the plate and helped deliver the other 4.

 

He was a trooper.  For a man who's thing is computers and not farming, he really did a heck of a job.

 

I am impressed and grateful.

 

 

Of course, I wonder why SaraCat couldn't have popped out these kids on Monday, when I had nowhere to be.

 

But that's life. 

-------



On Sunday, my husband and I were talking about the many birds we've been seeing this year in our yard.  We have a barn swallow in a nest above one of our garage doors, and we were talking about all the different types of birds.  But we both said we never see Blue jays.  I like Blue jays--they're rambunctious and noisy and they were always around on Long Island, but in all the years we've lived up here, I've never seen a one.

And this morning, in the rain, there were 9.  My son saw them first and said "There are Blue jays in the yard".  And there were.  I couldn't get a picture, as they flew away before I reached the camera, but they were here.  In some small way, and for some reason, the universe sent them to us.  Isn't it funny how things like that happen?


Makes you wonder.

My Backyard is Magical

There are definite perks to living in the woods.

I used to say that fall was my favorite time of year, followed closely by spring.  But I'm beginning to think it's the other way around.

Though, in the fall, this place is something to see.

But then again, it's really something now, too.

And this is why we'd never clear the land.  Not ever.   Can you imagine? 

Ick.  It's just completely beautiful this way.

Lucky chickens.  Because they are now in all the time, I added to their run yesterday.  It went straight back into the woods.  I envy their view and their shady beauty.

Because my children don't play on the lawn, and instead play in the woods, I have started to make little houses for them to find.

This is the first, and it's made on a stump out of scraps.  They found it very quickly, because it's next to the driveway, but I'm looking forward to adding more in other places.  I think it just makes things a little more special.

Enjoy the beauty around you today!

Baby Watch 2013

Time for some belly shots and some awards!

Da na nana na na DA!!!

First up, we have Lilly. 

Today

 

Lilly, due June 22nd, is receiving the "Totally Hiding It" award.  This picture, taken March 2nd, shows a tiny belly, which is pretty much what Lilly is showing today.

 

March 2nd

No folks, she's not letting on any secrets here!  However, her udder is enlarging, and there are other signs, so Lilly is definitely with child.  She just doesn't want to brag about it!

 

Next up, Minerva!

 

March 2nd

 

Back in March, we could see it, but it wasn't too obvious.  But now:

Today

Hello babies!!!  Sometimes it looks like they're standing up in there, I swear.  But that's not the most exciting part, folks.  The most exciting part is this:

 

Try and look past the hair

 

Hello udder development!!!  She has a month to go, and her udder is very large already, especially for a first freshner!  I have high hopes that she will be an ace milker, but only time will tell.  

 

For her good work on the baby front, we give Minerva the "Ace Baby Maker" award AND the "Ace Udder Maker" award!  Congratulations, Minerva!

 

Next up, in the "Is She, or Isn't She?" category is Cleo!

 

today

 

If you remember, Cleo seemed to have a miscarriage back in mid-March.  However, she's seeming to pop all of a sudden, and her udder seems to be developing. 

Little round belly

     As she's not a dairy goat, I'm having a hard time determining what her shape "should" be.  Her belly is very round (moreso than I remember it), and she's got a little pregnancy "pooch".  I can't tell.  Is it possible she miscarried one and not the other?  Am I just crazy?  Only time will tell here, I think.  But for keeping me on my toes, Cleo gets the "Maybe, Baby" award!

And now to bring it down a little.  In the category of "Pbbbbbbllllttt", we have Dulcinea.

Dulcinea looked pregnant.  Dulcinea's udder seemed to be developing.  Dulcinea's "plug" seemed to fall out.  But with Dulcinea due in 2 weeks, I can clearly state she is not pregnant.  Shame, shame.  About 3 weeks ago, Dulci's shape changed; she thinned out, her teats shrank.  She gives all signs of not being pregnant at this point, and that's what I think is going on.  I don't know what happened, but there doesn't seem to be a Dulci baby coming any time soon.  So for that, Dulci gets the "Liar, Liar, Pants on Fire" Award.  I'd also like to give her a secondary award, "What the Hell is Up with Your Color?", because she's supposed to be a BLACK goat, and her color is completely crap lately (I think the flash washed her out a little bit here, though.  She's not THAT bad.  But she's not THAT good, either).  Yes, I sneak in minerals in her feed.  Yes, I forced copper down her throat.  Still she's browning out.  That girl is going to drive me to drink, yes she is.

Next up, we have the "Would you Please Just Pop Already?" category.  In it is SaraCat:

SarahCat has a whole bundle o' babies in there, but she's not wanting them to come out.  Ever.

Ok, I lie.  We have no idea when the babies were made, so we have no idea when she's due.  We're thinking soon.  We're getting impatient. We want kittens!!!  (ahem)  SarahCat is therefore presented the "Get On With It" award.  I can only hope it will be soon.

And last, but definitely not least, we have the "Alternative Birth" award to give to Louise!

 

Louise is technically not the mama of her baby.  In fact, she hatched an egg that I found in my pocket and gave to her, only because I felt bad that she was broody in an empty nest.  Louise stuck with it, and hatched this little black baby out of a green egg.  Interesting genetics going on there. 

Louise is an EXCELLENT mother, and is very attentive to her child.  Congratulations, Louise!

And that's it for today, folks!  Tune in next time to see what develops!

Between

We're kind of between here at the moment--after the colder hardy crops are planted and before the warmer weather crops can be planted.  This means, of course, that I could relax and wait, but nah!  I can find a million other things to do.

Currently, I'm painting the back deck.  The stain is crazy expensive, so it's going slowly, a gallon at a time.  As I am doing that, I am faced with the problem of the two concrete pads that are located at the foot of the two staircases on the deck.  They are ugly.  One is small, and one is large and cracked, and both were stained by me years ago, and it's worn away and they look horrible. Well, I didn't want to go through all the trouble of having a nicely painted deck and crappy concrete, so I tackled it.  I painted it with that Restore stuff first, and thought I'd leave it at that.  But the Restore color is very dark brown, and it made the concrete look like a black hole.  I didn't like that, so I got creative.

Using the stain I had left over from the first time I stained the pads, I went to it and made a design.

If the diamonds look a little "wonky", that's because I free-handed them.  Ok, I used a straight edge, but that's it.  I don't do math if I don't have to.  I'm a right brainer, after all!

This was easy to do, especially because I didn't bother measuring anything.

I was so happy with it and if looked so nice, I went to tackle the large side.  But I didn't want to do the same thing.  So I did this:

The "S", of course, is for Superman.
Or possibly our last name. 

Which nearly put me in the loony bin.

See those little amoebas?  That's a stencil that I applied over and over and over and over. First one way, then the other.  Holy cow.

I realized, when I had done three or four that it was going to be a horrible job and take forever.  But at that point, I had no more dark paint to paint over it and change my mind, so I was committed.  It took forever.  I have a hunch in my back from leaning over.  But it's done, and I like it.  I think it looks like a rug--kinda.

At least, that's what my daughter's friend said it looked like. 

But she's 11, so I'm not sure if that's good or not.

I think it's interesting and not a boring concrete pad, and that's what I like about it.  I'm hoping it lasts a little while, but this pad gets beat to hell with the traffic and the hose nearby, so I'm not holding my breath.  I'll be happy to get a couple of years out of it. 

And that's all I have to say about that.

Next time I will show you how the chicks are growing (huge) and how Minerva is growing (huge-er), promise

Take care!!

Snippets

• I had to go to the bank this morning, and I used the drive-up window.  Actually, it's not the window, it's the vacuum tube thingy.  This bank has a drive up window, but they never open it, they only ever open the second lane with the vacuum tube.  Anyway, while I was waiting (forever--there is only one employee at any time) this gigantic car pulls up next to me--you guessed it--right at the CLOSED drive up window.  The light on that side is red--there's no way to make that mistake.  Closed is closed.  Anyway, I was still waiting, and so was this woman, who was sitting in the closed lane, and she was getting very impatient.  So much so, that she got her butt out of her seat to bang on the drive up window.  Of the closed lane, mind you.  I couldn't see much else, because her car was SO frikkin' big, but it's obvious the bank did not know that the Empress of America was coming in to do her banking today.  Shame on them.  I am glad to report, however, that her Highness did get service finally and was able to drive away in her monster gas-guzzler before my transaction was even done, though I was there first.  Serves me right to bank on the same day as royalty.

• I have been working like a madwoman lately to repaint the forty acres of railroad ties that we have surrounding our house.  When it was built, the front door was a good 5 feet off of the ground, causing there to be either a long stairway to it, or a large concrete pad put up to it with gradual stepping up and down.  Luckily, the people who built the house chose the latter, and we have a really nice stone-textured pad with steps that go sideways and not directly TO the front door.  But with the huge concrete pad came the problem of covering up the sides, which they chose to do with railroad ties.  It's fine, and when they are stained a dark color I think they look nice, but there are a THOUSAND of them, and a number of them have been beat all to hell in the weather.  My husband replaced quite a few, but some cannot be replaced easily.  So I have been using that Rustoleum Restore stuff on them.  It is the weirdest paint I've ever used.  It's like plastic pudding with bits of grit in it.  Though once it dries, it's rock hard and fuses to the wood and fills in all the cracks and big honking holes, of which there are quite a few.  I think it works a treat, but I swear the wood under there is smothering.  I can almost hear it gasping for breath.  Hopefully, though, it will prolong all the wood the 8-10 years as promised, so we don't have to do any of this again any time soon.

• Speaking of changing things, we also put up a bit of fence in the backyard to give it some architecture, and we changed the shutters on the house.  We went from this,

Note some of the acres of railroad ties here

which looks like the roundup at the O.K. Corral, to this:

          which is much, much, much better, even though the picture's not that great.  And I love it, despite what anyone else thinks.  Love with a capital L.  Now if we could only thatch the roof, I think that would be grand.

• My husband brought home a bunch of pallets the other day, and I've been having a ball with them.  Those things are so useful, and I have plans for all of them.  In fact, I'll be sending him out to get more soon.  I will share the results, I promise!

• The plants I ordered in the fall have been arriving in drips and drabs, so I've been planting a bit, too.  There are several raspberries coming, and some white Rosa Rugosa, which I'm going to plant up against the little fence bit in the backyard.  It'll be beautiful when it fills in.  On top of that, my husband is going to plant grass back there, which will be a nice change from the dirt we have growing currently.   Unfortunately, this means the chickens will have to be in a run from now on.  Free ranging is wonderful, and I love having my chickens around me, but they are so destructive.  Mulch goes flying, plants get eaten, and every year they have at it with my annuals, and I just can't afford that.  I want pretty flowers, so the chickens will have to learn to live in a run.  We will expand it for them, but that's it.  There'll be no more random chicken-ness here (except maybe in the winter).

• And, because I know you're all wondering, the last little bunny passed away yesterday.  What a fighter he/she was, but there was something going on he/she couldn't get away from and that was it.  Despite dragging a very unwilling Camille in for him to nurse, despite feeding him more often than I'd fed the last batch of littles, despite keeping him warm and leaving him be and trying to give him fluids and electrolytes, he just faded away.  No matter how much he ate or how long he nursed (he was at it for 10 minutes straight one time.  Boy, did Camille like that!), he never filled out and was always dehydrated.  The last little bunnies would grow before our eyes with a good meal, and when they were done, were fat as dumplings.  I could give this little guy a great meal, and it would make no difference.  He got thinner when he should have gotten fatter.  My heart still hurts from the losses.  There were just too many.

• But it does leave me with the question of what to do with Camille.  Two litters, completely dead.  She has no mothering ability.  She's hard to handle, not particularly friendly, and doesn't really like to be touched.  I love her color, but I am thinking that the yarn she can make is not enough.  Camille may be re-homed at some point, I am still thinking about it.

And because I don't want to leave you on that horribly sad note, I will leave you with this:

• I went to Tractor Supply yesterday, and walked in as a lamb in a diaper was walking out.  Well, with her owner, not by herself.  Can't have un-chaperoned lambs running about.  I laughed when I realized what was on the leash, and lady said "I know", like she was about to explain how odd she was for bringing a lamb into Tractor Supply.  Which of course prompted me to talk about how I had goats in diapers for a couple of weeks and was always tempted to bring them to the Tractor Supply, but demurred because I thought they'd climb the shelves.  So she's not so odd after all, or we're both odd.  Take your pick.  Anyway, the lamb's name is Pockets, and she is completely adorable.  And she fit a size 3 Pamper very nicely, tail hole and all.

Not Always the Way you Think

Well....I've been wrong before.

I said that all the little bunnies were going to live.  All 10 of them.  Because, Camille, who is a crappy mama, was going to be watched very carefully and live in the house.

It didn't matter.  And it seems to have not been Camille's fault, directly.  Oddly/interestingly/sadly enough, the babies have just been up and dying.  We are down to two.

I think by tomorrow, we'll be down to one, if any.

Having watched 8 babies die, I have come to the conclusion that there is some sort of genetic mishmash going wonky here.  They were fine for the first 3 days.  Then on the fourth day (Friday), we started to lose them by the bucketload--four in one day.  At first we suspected Camille was stepping on them, but Camille was removed and they died anyway.  Yesterday, we lost one more and I got to see what happened to the little one as he/she went.  First they get very skinny, which seems to happen despite being fed.  Then they get cold.  Usually they crawl away from the pack.  Then they stiffen up to the point of being frozen.  Their mouths open, and then their muscles relax, but then they gasp for breath until they die.

It's truly horrible. 

This morning, three more are gone, leaving the two above to remain.  The one on the right in the picture is showing signs of the "disorder".  He/she is getting thinner already, though he still ate and peed like a champ this morning.  All the bunnies, up to the point of dying, have been perfectly normal in all respects.  Then they thin out, get cold, and so on and so on.  It has been truly heartbreaking to watch.

Though I guess it leaves an interesting question behind.  Camille is a red Satin Angora.  Buckley is an Opal English Angora.  What is it about the two of them that should not be bred?  I can't say that I have completely ruled out environmental factors, but it seems that the combo of the two parents are what is causing these babies to die.  I'm wondering if it's linked to hair color, or the breeds together, or if one parent has something that got passed on, or if they both are heterozygous for something that, when put together, equals dead babies.

I don't know, and I'm going to look into it as much as I can.  If I get any answers, I'll let you know.  In the meantime, think good thoughts for these littles.  They're all that is left!