Winter :p

Things I've learned from this snow storm.....
For one, I ♥ Summer, Spring, and Fall. Water freezes almost the second you set it outside :/ Cookie tin water heaters for chickens is the best thing the hubs has ever made for me and they work great! Milking a goat in the cold sucks for you and the goat, so I started the process of drying my doe up. My family is used to the taste of raw goats milk now and store bought cows milk tastes like a public swimming pool LOL!!! I will miss her milk, but am now on a mission to find a milk source close by. I also realized that even though I'm a homebody, I have cabin fever. I haven't left my house in about four days. You can hunt at night if it has snowed. We got a fox last night and it was fun to get out of the house and sit in the heated blind with the hubs watching nature tv :) Pictionary is a really fun game to play with the family and I am horrible with Geography LOL!!!! My chickens have all shacked up in different coops. I guess the chicken rules fly out the window when it's cold. I have anxiety daily about the well being of my critters. I have spent more time outside than I would like. Did I mention my dislike of Winter? Tom Turkeys are dumb. The hubs has to climb on top of the snow covered shed to get his crazy, suicidal butt down every night. Hey Tom, it's sleeting and like -5 wind chill you idiot! My little Yorkie, Wee dog, loves the snow, loves to sled, and loves being outside with my little one. Frozen chicken poop is impossible to scrape up, so the coops won't be cleaned until the poop thaws. Last but not least I HATE WINTER but I'm very thankful that we have power and so far we are ALL still alive and well!!!!! Stay warm and safe ya'll. Hopefully I will get out of this house soon☺

It worked!!!!

I have three dead mice in the bucket!!!!!! The hubs told me to have fun getting them out. Ha! I'm just going to take the bucket to the woods and feed the owls!!!!!!!

Eek!

 This is what I'm doing today :/

I hope I made this right and the little varmints drown!!!!!

Due April 23rd

I'm almost 100% positive that I just witnessed the impregnation of Mrs. Lady ☺
Even on this cold Winter day I am imagining Spring and goat kids, oh I can't wait!!!!!
I told you I would have a due date this time around!!!!!!

MAMMA BEAR

For some reason I can't comment on your posts! I've tried a gazillion times. I can comment on others posts just not yours it's driving me nuts! So I'm going to do a post to say what I keep trying to say to you, hopefully you read it :)
Glad your back, I missed you. I hope you, Papa, and the Marine are all doing well ☺
Tom looks like he will be YUMMY! I remember last year you made the coolest hats with the feathers.
Wow!!!! Your new barn is AWESOME!!!!
I'm going to be reading all your bee posts. I'm diving into beekeeping finally. I can't wait!!!!!
Have a very, very Happy Thanksgiving!

The homestead today is FREEZING! We are supposed to have a high of 32* with wintery precipitation this evening. I still haven't uncovered the garden from last night, I will uncover it until sun down and then cover it back up. I'm going to get some housework done and hopefully makes soap since it's too cold to be outside. It seems like I'm out there a lot when it's this cold to make sure waters aren't frozen. I HATE WINTER!!!!

Rifle season started yesterday......My game camera has shown me no deer activity lately just raccoons and coyotes. I think my big buck, mamma and the twins may be in somebody's freezer or hiding. The hubs is hunting again today, I hope he gets one so he can be done with it. I know, that's horrible. I just got used to seeing those cute little faces every day on the SD card and I miss my husbands company.

Have a Happy Thanksgiving ya'll!!!!!!!!!!!

free buckets/pain in the butt lol!

Stopped by the feed store today to get a gazillion bags of feed. I had a coupon for 10% off your entire purchase so I went big :) We have a tiny mouse issue going on so I'm hoping they stay out of it until I get some trash cans to put it all in. After getting the feed I ran into the grocery store next door to grab a couple things for supper. On my way out I asked the bakery if they had any plastic buckets that they were going to throw away. I guess they do sometimes but they aren't free :/ It took the lady forever to look in the back I think half a dozen people asked me if I needed help. She finally comes back and asks the nice man making sushi if he had any. He did, he asked me how many I wanted I said as many as I can get. He comes back with 2. The bakery women were trying to figure out how to charge me a dollar for these, which defeated my purpose of free buckets but whatever I'll take them. Then the nice fella making sushi, who had heard me mumbling that I wasn't paying for buckets that were going to be thrown away, told the bakery ladies that those were his buckets and he didn't want to charge me ☺ So after a LONG while sitting at the counter I came home with two free food grade buckets with lids. They used to contain ginger so that won't be too hard to clean out. I'm super excited to get them, now I just need to find another source that doesn't make it into such a big deal.
Earlier today I spotted the three deer that are in my yard. It's a mamma and her baby boy and girl. The camera took some good pictures. In this one I was looking at them so mamma was looking at me lol!

Brrrrrr!

Winter is officially here! My pumpkin patch, tomato, and pepper plants are goners. I covered up all my Fall veggies last night since it got down to 20* Ice chipping the critter's waters has started, which sucks. This morning my little one thought it snowed and when I told her it was frost she was annoyed. I guess she's ready for snow. I'm not, I like the sun. I could not get warm yesterday and finally checked the temp in the house. One of my darling, precious, little, angels had turned the thermostat down. I'm thinking a touch it and die note might keep my children from jacking with it, probably not ;)

The hubs had a birthday Saturday. His mom got him a trail camera. I was going to get the exact same one for him, but he would have griped if I spent our money on it (he's a tight wad) but since his mom bought it he loves it and it is really AWESOME!!! I think I've had more fun with it than him. We didn't get it set up until Monday evening but that night we got a pic of a coyote and our resident woodchuck. Last night we got a picture of a bird of some sort (it's blurry), the woodchuck, three deer, and two raccoons.

deer

coyote

woodchuck

raccoons

blurry bird to the right of the feeder

 

I really want to get a picture of the mountain lion. But I don't think corn, nuts, and apples are favorite dishes of those guys. I might need to put some meat out to get some good predator pics. I also would like to get two more cameras 1 for the goat barn and 1 for the chicken pen. Although I don't think I would be able to sleep if I knew what was creeping around my babies at night.

Cat Country

It seems the homestead has become cat country! Sunday afternoon my mil saw a bobcat at the neighbors pond and Monday about 9:30am I walked past my back door and saw a mountain lion creeping towards the goat pen! I got my boots on and ran outside, about halfway to the pen I thought about my situation so I walked slowly to the compost bin grabbed a shovel and walked with very shaky legs around the barn. Luckily the big cat had left, most likely when I opened the door and screamed at my two little dogs to stay put. What's crazy is the Oklahoma Wildlife dept. people say we don't have mountain lions in OK and there has only been a couple confirmed mountain lion sightings. Ha! The reason they say this is because if you do kill a mountain lion you have to call them and they take the body and I'm sure they would act like you did something wrong. Well last year my neighbor two houses down on the west side of us had chickens killed by a mountain lion. Three months ago my neighbor two houses to the east of us came down to tell us their dog scared a mountain lion out of their backyard, it was after a rooster. The man that owns all the woods behind us has killed three,  and clearly didn't report it. A man that lives about a block away killed one several years ago, it killed his 70lb lab. It took him two weeks to lure the lion close to the back of his house but he got it and it's hide and head are mounted on his wall, clearly not reported to the Wildlife people. My in-laws have them on their land too, I've seen the prints next to one of their ponds. So now you know, Oklahoma does have mountain lions and if mine comes back I won't have a shovel in my hand and hopefully I will have something to not report and mount on my wall ☺

Side note:   I know a shovel was a stupid weapon but the shop was locked and that's where the shotgun was. I was trying to protect my goats and lost my wits. It's not everyday you see a mountain lion heading towards your barn!!! I now have a gun (powerful enough to kill the lion) sitting at the back door during the day while the kids are at school. If it does come back, I'm ready ☺

I wonder what I will see next a bear? or maybe Bigfoot?

Are we prepared?

My t.v. hasn't been on in three days so I don't sit around watching anything even the news. If we decide to watch t.v. we do, but it's a show we all want to watch and it will take up maybe an hour or two some weekend night. I do spend time on the internet. I feel you can get the cliff notes of any worthwhile happenings and if it does interest you research it further. So to my point. I don't understand economics very well. I do just fine with my household finances but the government spending, wall street, all that is just over my head. I do know we as a country are in and have been in a financial crisis. I do know as a consumer prices for EVERYTHING have gone through the roof while my husbands pay is still the same. I do know that my cellphone bill went up $15/month and when I call the provider they told me to contact my state representative. This really ticked me off. I didn't sign a contract with my state representative for X amount of dollars only to be raised three months in. TAXES went up. For what I don't know. What I do know is I am in a contract for another 18 months and I will downgrade all services to a reasonable monthly amount and when the contract is done to hell with my cell phone and the damn taxes! Okay done ranting! I came across an article yesterday about total grid failure. I know this isn't new but sometimes it takes reading something again to get me thinking about my preparedness. The hubs has reassured me that we are better off than a lot of people. I see that, but there is soo much more we can do. So I dusted off the book that I had won from a blog contest. Just In Case How to be Self Sufficient When the Unexpected Happens by Kathy Harrison and I'm starting it today. Chapter One~ Organize.
This one will take awhile :/

Oh yeah! My MIL informed me that THIS was on the news this morning. HMMMMM

My life this week in pictures

My first ever batch of mozzarella. It was good not really any flavor but the tomatoes and the basil from the garden gave it a little something ☺

My pumpkins are starting to come on! I have several of these little Cinderella pumpkins and a pie pumpkin. I've got a lot of blossoms. I'm going to fertilize this patch to make sure I have jack o' lanterns for Halloween!

My cherry tomatoes are overwhelming! Enough said!!!

My mother in law brought me three barn stars today!!! I'm so in love with them! I've been wanting some since I painted the barn but since I never leave my house and refuse to pay retail for most things I haven't found any. Luckily MIL is a yard saler and remembered that this girl was wanting some barn stars ☺

I harvested all my cantaloupe to make room for my Fall garden and had more than we could eat so, I've started a batch of cantaloupe wine............. I will let you know if it's good :/

Have I ever mentioned my LOVE of compost! We have the worst soil here it's all rock and clay so I add my compost to my gardens whenever I can. Right now it's going in the strawberry patch that I'm trying to de-weed and put to bed before Winter. Homegrown dirt makes me happy, happy, happy!

 

Have a great week ya'll☺

 

 

 

3 more

Babies are hatching!

I'm soo happy! I think this first baby is a giant Cochin. I will take a picture with my Giant Cochin rooster just so you can see how huge he is! Anyways, this hatch isn't like my others, there's new breeds in this one, and this mamma is excited ☺

Little white Silkie

Remember my little white Silkie chick I got in Febuary well he's all grown up now. This is Boots ☺

 

 

Homestead News

I'm just getting over my first ever case of Salmonella poisoning. It's been a painful week but I'm finally on the mend, just not 100%. In the midst of being sick I planned and hosted my daughters 8th birthday party. I was worried I didn't invite enough people or have everything together but I did and it was a great party!

I'm still milking Miss Lady twice a day. I was getting a full gallon every day but now I get about 3/4 gallon. My neighbor purchases a gallon/week which is great since we have so much. I would like to just give it to her but she insists on paying me. I've made my second batch of chevre. Everyone in the house loves it, my new favorite seasoning on it is French onion, it tastes like dip, yummy. The rest of the family likes garlic and dill.
I plan on breeding my girl again either in November or December. We usually have a pretty good snow storm in March so I don't want her to kid until April at the earliest. I hope she has a girl this time ☺

My garden was doing fantastic but we haven't had a good rain in awhile and now it's a dried up dreary mess. I'm still harvesting tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers, and cantaloupe. This weekend I harvested the last of the green beans. I am late putting in my fall garden but I think it's a good thing. The heat we have had would've killed anything I planted. I'm going to plant it this week.


this was one of my gardens in all it's glory

 I finally got meat rabbits!!!! One buck Peanut Butter and three does. I am excited about this project. The lady I got my buck from has workshops on how to butcher rabbits, she even tans the hides. I plan on attending her next one.

Peanut Butter


 

I've got turkeys now!!! Meet Tom and Tilley. They came from Rocky Oak Homestead, we did a little critter swappin' the other weekend. That's where I also got two of my female meat rabbits ☺ I really like Tom the best for some reason he is friendlier than Tilley. I need to learn how to clip wings, they are flying over fences and having their way with my gardens. Mrs. Puff my black Silkie is broody. I gave her some eggs to sit on, they should hatch this weekend. I'm so excited, I ♥ baby chicks! I sold five more chickens last week. My chicken count is 33 as of today ;)

Tom and Tilley

I totaled up how much I have spent so far this year on feed and hay. Whew! It's a lot! It's time to get serious about making some money off these animals and making them self sufficient. I figure if I could make $100/month. That would be enough to take care of the feed bill. Now I just need to figure out what to sell to make this money.

TMI

My little baby buckling needed to go bye bye. He has been hogging up the milk for the last two months and now is obsessed with mating with his mother. Not good!!! So I put him for sale on Craigslist at a price that everyone else had on their bucklings. Well no response so I lowered the price about $15 and put on the ad that I would also trade him for a trio of meat rabbits, still no response. Panic started to set in, he has to go and quick! We started discussing eating him. As "homesteaders" we need to be able to eat any animal we can't sell so it only seemed logical. Except he was my first baby and as many of you know much anticipated LOL and I loved that little guy. The hubs wanted to eat him but didn't want to kill him or butcher him, I think he loved him too. Here comes the TMI. The hubs talks to numerous people about it, I watched a gazillion videos, and by the end of the night my brain hurt. The fact is we got goats for milk not meat so we weren't mentally prepared for that. I lowered my price another $20 and a few hours later baby boy was gone. It broke my heart to see him go but I'm so relieved he won't be able to impregnate his mamma and guess what! I'm back in milk!!!!!!!

August 22nd!

My girls will all be in school and I will be back!

I didn't mean to take a summer vacation from blogging. I've been crazy busy, I miss reading everyone's posts and sharing what's going on around here. I'll be back in my blogging groove soon. Until then ya'll enjoy the rest of your Summer ☺

Damn tick!!!!!

I can't quit clawing at my leg! It attached its nasty self in the crease on the back of my leg. I'm pretty sure it was riding a vein. This is an itch that can't be scratched away, uggghhhhhh!!!!!!

Also saw a tarantula this morning. Summer is definitely here. Have a great day ya'll and stay out of tall grass!!!!!!

taters

 

I'm so excited for this harvest (this is only some of it)! These taters are going to be yummy and free up a huge raised bed. Hmmmm, what to plant there now.........

Four more!!!!

These four babies hatched yesterday!
I could sit and watch them all day. Cute, little, tiny, fluffy butts ☺

Off topic but I guess I jinxed BB by posting a picture of him. He's been hanging around our yard for months and since the day I posted the pic we haven't seen him at all. Maybe he choked on my sunflowers :/

BB

This is BB. It's a wild rabbit that has been hanging around for months. I used to like this rabbit, but today it has murdered my sunflowers :( 

Raw Milk

Now that we have milk from our goat and we are consuming it raw. I have questions. Do my fellow goat milkers drink their milk raw or do you pasteurize it? When I look on the internet the main opposition to the public drinking raw milk is the CDC, FDA, basically the government. Which I don't think they are all that concerned about the populations health so much as making money. My only concern with drinking milk raw is my little one. She had a very low immune system for most of her life and is finally healthy so I don't want to make her sick again by unintentionally giving her something "bad". She is also lactose intolerant, is borderline asthmatic and loves milk. She had cereal yesterday and then a glass of milk with graham crackers and hasn't gotten boogery or complained about stomach issues yet so as of right now I'd say so far so good on the raw business. But I'm still curious how do you drink your milk?

I'm still here......

just extremely busy!
You would think the end of school would mean some down time for me. Nope! My girls have had me running since their last day and when you add their plans with everything I need/have/want to do I am BUSY!!!!

My strawberry patch has been producing like crazy this year! I've had to share my harvest with rolly polly's. I remember when I would have to turn over rocks to find those guys and now they are everywhere :p

My goat and I are in a good milking routine. I get a quart in the mornings and a pint in the evenings. We have started using her milk instead of store bought. So far soo good :) I'm going to try making some ice cream with it soon. My baby goat is still nameless. I call him Sonny so that might stick. He's loves to sit in my lap when I milk his mom. He's such a cuddler ♥

My chickens have been penned up for over a month and I love it. We haven't had any losses and the poo is contained into one area. They have ate every last blade of grass so it's a dirt pen now. I noticed the egg yolk color is not as orange so I started throwing them grass/weed clippings. I will let them free range again this fall when the neighbors done gardening. I have six broody's right now and that's making it rough on my other hens. It's time to get rid of some roosters that's another down side of penning up chickens the hens can't get away from the roo's as easily.

My garden is looking pretty good even after being flooded by all this rain. We got so much rain on Thursday that our woods flooded. We had a nice little river running through and it made about a three foot pond deep in the woods. My little one put on her suit and swam until dark! It was really funny to watch! We are filling up our pool today so their won't be anymore hillbilly waterin' holes for awhile ☺

I sold my mama, daddy, and baby rabbit with the hutch a few weeks ago. I miss them but they were pets and I need animals that we can eat if they don't sell. I still have Ellie my first bun to be born here. I don't know what I'm going to do with her yet. If we get rabbits again they will be meat rabbits.

I finally got some overalls! I found them at the Salvation Army store. Two pair of vintage corduroy overalls for $2.50 a pair and one pair had a dollar in the pocket! So I got both pair for 4 bucks!!!!

Life is just chugging along and I'm enjoying every second of it.
Have a great Sunday ya'll

:'(

Round 2!

It's headed our way. The hubs has left work early and is heading home. He's in your neck of the woods Sandy and said there was a 2 mile wide tornado and lots of hail, you and your family take care. Hope everyone in the path of this one stays safe. I'm starting to miss Winter LOL!!!

I hate

tornado season in Oklahoma! Everyone in the path of this storm take care! This is crazy scary!!!!

Did I mention I live in a modular home and we haven't got a cellar yet, We'll be in the ditch if one hits :/

From the garden

I also made a strawberry pie from my first strawberry harvest. It didn't last long enough for a pic LOL!!! Don't you just love growing your own food ☺

What's Happening

Around the homestead
My flooded garden is recovering ☺ Sprouts and sunflowers are coming up and peppers are coming on! Just harvested my first bunch of strawberries (delish). I had to share some with roly poly's and grasshoppers though, grrr! Pickled some eggs :/ I have never tried those before, so this should be interesting. I'm attempting to crochet a huge market bag, it will take awhile since I don't have much down time. I'm reading the book Goat Song and soo far I like it. It's a story of a couples journey with goats. It's like reading my own story but I think theirs ends with a successful cheese business.
Baby goat is my little love. I had him disbudded Saturday. The only place that could do it was the same vets that screwed up Wilma's delivery, so I was nervous. He looked like an alien for a couple days with silver nubs on his head, but he's doing great. Little goat is also getting out of the pen. I find him next to it tormenting his poor mother to death! Mama hen and babies are mingling with the flock. It's amazing to see those little tiny's running with the big chickens. They are tough little boogers. My girls only have two more days of school before summer break. I'm really looking forward to this summer! Hope everyone had a great Mothers Day!

Monday

I am still sore but feeling alot better. The minute I lay my head down at night, I am out. The hubs says it takes about 2 minutes for me to start the chainsaw. What? I don't snore, okay maybe I do a little when I'm exhausted LOL!!!!
I am soo in love my doe. She is the best mommy to her baby ☺ I think I was trying to smother him so I totally opened up the barn cleaned out all the old hay and poo. Opened windows and am letting him run in the pen with his mom. He is bouncing all over the place now. I also milked Lady after he ate to see how much was left. Not much, seems like he was eating a little better this morning ☺
I don't know if I told you guys but I had a broody sitting on eggs. They hatched around the same time Lady was in labor. I moved them all to the ground as of yesterday I had two baby chicks. As if I need more :p The mama hen seems to be doing a pretty good job this time ☺Chicken Count ??????????
I have soo much to catch up on around here (like actually cooking something for the two legged people to eat), I probally won't post for awhile. I will read what you guys are up to and while I'm not posting I will take lots of pictures of all my precious babies ♥
Enjoy the week ya'll

Why am I......

so sore? You would think I gave birth to the little one. I feel like I've been hit by a semi truck! Several days ago I pulled a muscle in my upper back/neck working in the garden it's still sore and now my legs are killing me. I guess I did some major squats yesterday  ☺ I also backed up into the stanchion trying to take a pic of the baby and bruised my butt pretty good.

So I'm already going to be annoying with questions. How can you tell if he's eating enough? I've watched him nurse but it doesn't last long. I milked her biggest side this morning and she already looks like she's about to bust. I think the next time I milk her I will see if he would take a bottle just for my peace of mind. I've also got the barn pretty much draft free and closed up since we had nasty weather the last few days. I'm thinking Mrs. Lady would like to get the heck out of there for a little while so I'm going to take down the makeshift wall. Hopefully the little dollface won't get too cold.

Is it normal that he sneezes alot too? I'm assuming he's clearing his airways still. It just seems like alot of sneezing. He's getting around really well, at 1 day old he's already trying to jump on walls and he's head butting. Cutest thing I've ever seen ☺

I need to clean up chicken poo today and really give the coops the once over. They were severly neglected yesterday and with this rain it's pretty nasty.

Enjoy the day ya'll!

It's done ☺

Finally! Heres the story.......Yesterday around 10am I touched Ladys ligaments the same ones I feel about 50 times a day and they were GONE! Her udder had ballooned up like crazy. I still don't know what I was thinking every other time I thought she was in labor, but anyway she was stretching every 10 minutes so I assumed those were contractions. I came in told the hubs that this time I'm 110% sure she's in labor. I tried to do some things in the house but couldn't so I ran outside and started cleaning the barn and the pen. I brought out my birthing bag and waited. Around 6 pm I had lost my wits. I had babies hatching in the coop that needed to be moved to the ground, my goat was in labor and my girls + a friend were on their way home from volleyball practice and I needed to feed them! I started having a forever hot flash. I'm thinking it was more like high blood pressure from anxiety since it caused a headache but who knows. Everyones home I run get some pizza, eat, do my chores and go back to the barn and wait. I chat back and forth with my goat mentor/Carolyn about how long this all should last and what to expect and why did I drink beer to calm my nerves because now I'm sleepy!  Between 10pm and 11pm there was the goo she had told me about. I looked insane jumping up and down in my driveway, high fivin' the girls, and squealing like an idiot. This is the moment the hubs finally realizes it's happening!!!! I went to bed at 12:30 set my alarm and got back up at 3:30 went to check, not much going on, went back to bed and woke up again at 7am! I could have died that I slept that late. I rush outside and there is a good bit of goo. I let all the chickens out walk the dog and start the coffee and then I sat in the barn drinking coffee for the next two hours while Mrs. Lady labored.
First thing I want to say is why did I choose to look like a bum this morning. The video would be soo much better if I looked a little less homeless :/ Ok back to the story, so we have some serious goo and about 9am she's streaming and then it's in the hay. My little one, my oldest and the hubs are in the barn watching Lady lay her head on my lap, sniff at my face, and try to drink my coffee. She was such a love this morning. The father in law shows up to take my little one for the night so everyone leaves the barn we have decided it will be awhile (NOT)! The second they step out Lady lays down next to my stool and starts pushing. I get up gather the towels, bulb syringe, and yell out the door she's pushing. So here comes the hubs, the wee child leaves and the big one goes in to work out. Within 10 minutes her water breaks and I start to see the baby's feet. It was awesome and scary all at the same time! She pushes and I see two feet no head I start to freak out and think about going in and then I see the little tounge and nose :) It was moving and I was soo thrilled that it was alive! Lady screams and pushes the hubs says to help her, I pull a little, I didn't want to pull too hard. I finally got a good hold on both hooves and out came the baby. It was like every ding dang video I have watched on YouTube but it was really happening in my barn this time it was AWESOME!!!!!!
So I'm sure all my blog buddies are super excited that I won't be talking goat birth for awhile. I did get a little annoying ;) And I would like to thank Mamabear, Kristin, Queensacres, Peggy, and last but not least Carolyn for all the great advise and for putting up with all my questions. I feel like I'm giving an award speech LOL!!!! But seriously I appreciate everyones advise and encouragement. I'm BEAT and going to bed!

Oh and Little guy is no longer wearing his pink camo sweater that his two legged mommy made. It was really cold and rainy when he was born but warmed up this afternoon. He also thought it was itchy and girly. Wait until he gets his collar. I was hoping for a girl so I bought a pink and a purple one ;)

Its a boy!!!!

I have to shower and run kids (2 legged) everywhere and then I will post pics!
It was AWESOME!!!

It's started!!!!!

Ligaments gone, udder is HUGE, and she has had some contractions :) I'm soo excited no sleep for me tonight!

♫♪♫Happy Birthday to Bub ♫♪♫

Today is Bubba's birthday! We got him when he was just 2 weeks old, so we've had that little fella for almost a year. I can't believe it! Where does the time go?

We went from sweating and getting sun tanned yesterday to jackets, hats, and gloves today. The weather is frigid, the heater is back on and the last I heard it could snow, ridiculous :/ And of course I got my garden all planted yesterday and tonight I will have to cover it, yeah me!

Mamma goat is still withholding child from me. It's becoming a joke! Literally, my youngest does an impersonation of me saying we can't go anywhere because Lady could birth. Grandpa peeked his head in the barn one day while we were trimming Bub's hooves and commented on how big "her" bag was getting. I guess Bub has it going on back there LOL! The hubs hopes she has it during the night so I miss it (EVIL) he might not survive this birthin'!!! I have also seen every goat video on the internet and don't care to see anymore, ever!!!
On the positive side the hubs finally agrees a kid is coming. The youngen thought Lady was in labor yesterday because she was acting weird. So either it's finally almost time or my goat crazies are contagious! Next year will be different better!!!!!!
I am checking on her every hour today. Her udder looks soo much bigger than yesterday and with this horrible weather and the fact that I would prefer her not to kid today she will probally do the exact opposite of what I want :/ Whatever, I'm just ready for the end and wouldn't it be neat if baby and baby daddy shared a birthday ☺

Enjoy the day ya'll!!!!!!

31 days or less.......

My does udder changed this weekend. The hubs actually noticed and said "well I guess she is pregnant" He may not survive this birthin' LOL!!!! Her ligaments have gone soft, came back, one would go and one would stay, then finally yesterday they were both soft and this morning they are still soft but I can still feel one. It seems like they are wider on her back than before. The time is getting closer for sure ☺
We introduced the 10 teenage chicks to the flock yesterday. They have been in a pen inside the chicken run for a month so everyone has seen each other they just hadn't mingled. It's pretty cute to watch. Little black Silkie is without a doubt my favorite chickie. When I pick her up she coo's ♥ that bird. I need to sell about 15 more baby chicks but I've been procrastinating. Not a big fan of dealing with strangers.
I think the baby bun is a boy. He is a doll but I don't need another boy, so he will go to a new home when he's old enough. I'm not sure I want to continue with cute rabbits. I would like to try my hand at meat rabbits. I just don't know what to do with the buns I have and my youngest is really attached to them :/
Planted the most beautiful grape vines yesterday. It took longer than I thought so the big garden will be planted today since it's supposed to be over 80* and I'm hoping the garden won't be as muddy ☺
Hope everyone has a great week! Happy Monday ya'll!

Still waiting :/

I have figured out that she should be due anytime between today and 36 days from today at the VERY latest :/ How's that for an estimated delivery date! I'm weary and ready to look at anything besides goat hiney. Tonight is a full moon, hopefully that will drag it out of her. Fingers crossed

Bunny pics!!!

11 days old. Eyes still aren't open but it's soo cute!!!
Okay going outside now to garden and soak up some sun. Have a great weekend ya'll ☺

4/20

My doe has discharge and her udder is tightening up. We are getting closer ☺☺☺
Apologies to my male readers who are grossed out by this! I'm just soo excited (squeal)!!!
Just for fun, here is a picture of my puppy. The one I bottle fed. She has a new favorite spot ☺

Any Guesses??????

This is what I stare at a gazillion times a day :/ Sounds fun huh!?! My neighbor thinks another 4 weeks. The hubs might be with her on that but I'm not sure since he aggravates the living daylights out of me by acting like her udder isn't growing or she's not even pregnant! I've had her "in labor" about a dozen times so my thoughts don't count. What do you guys think?

Goat ?

Last night my pregnant doe had what looked like stomach cramps. She would hunch her body up and squat and push really hard which would cause her to toot. She did this about three times in a row but then stopped. I've seen my buck do this a few times but his was from man business. Fiasco Farms website said that female goats can get "girl boners" too but I have never seen her do that before (hormones maybe?). They stayed in the barn for almost two straight days because of the rain. I'm assuming she ate more hay than usual from boredom, but the feed hasn't changed. Any thoughts on what I should look for or be concerned about?
Also I've noticed her licking metal objects alot lately. I give my goats a free choice mineral supplement should I include a salt block of some sort? I've read that the block will keep them from consuming the free choice minerals and that wouldn't be good but I feel like she's lacking something. What kind of minerals do you guys offer your goats?

Busy

With school coming to an end we are busier than ever. Volleyball games, cheer clinics, and programs are keeping this girl very busy. Back on the homestead my rabbit had one baby yesterday :) I need to check on them since the weather went from 80 degrees and sunny to 34 degrees and raining this morning. My goat is still pregnant, looking at her now I can't believe I ever thought she was close to delivery before (face palm)  DUH!!! I'm new at this goat stuff and it's all a learning experience. My newest challenge is to battle the mosquitoes and flies. They are driving the goats CRAZY! The chickens got a new pen. My neighbor is about to plant his garden and without proper fences you can only imagine what my feathered friends would do. With them penned up the last two days I have worried less about stray dogs, foxes, coyotes, and them being somewhere they aren't supposed to be. The hawks still worry me but they are pretty good at taking cover and my roosters are good at their sky watching job. A few weeks ago I sold 20 of the new baby chicks for $1 a piece. I have 20 more that are selling today and 15 eggs still in the incubator. The broodys all snapped out of it the day I found two babies in the yard with no mamma hen and one that had been trampled to death on the platform where there food was. I took all the eggs and babies and cleaned the nests up and they were over it. There was just too many mammas in the nests for them to care for the babies I think there was seven hens in three nests, and visitors all day long to eat up the food it was ridiculous! I did end up with six silver Cochins that look like my Ms. Squirty so I'm happy about that! I harvested more asparagus for dinner last night, too yummy! My green onions are ready and with this rain my lettuce and carrots are growing really well. We have about another week until its safe to plant the big garden. Enjoy the day ya'll and if anyone has a good mosquitoe/fly repellent recipe for goats I'm all ears ☺

Not so Good Friday

Friday my sweet neighbor texted me that her goat Wilma had discharge. If you didn't read Wilma's story here is the link. Wilma was at day 152 of pregnancy. The hubs was picking up my little one and her friend and I picked up my oldest from school. My middle daughter had cheer tryouts until 10pm so she was still at school. We all got to the house around 2pm and decided to go next door and check on Wilma. After watching her for a few minutes I could tell she was in labor. It was everything you read about the goo, the contractions, the nesting, and it was awesome to see it instead of read about it. After about an hour things were progressing and she was going into active labor. I ran home to get my kidding bag and by the time I got back Wilma's owner had called the vet. New plan, we were taking her to the vet just in case she needed help delivering. My husband picked her up and put her in the back of a Toyota Four Runner and off we went. The only vets around here that treat livestock are 30 minutes away. So here I am driving a SUV that's not mine, trying not to hit bumps or swerve too much because Wilma wouldn't lay down for the first half of the trip. It was nerve racking and the gas light was on, so we had to stop and get gas on the way LOL!
We make it to the vet. Neither one of us has used this vet and they were recommended to me by several people that have goats. The vet gets her out of the car and onto a stanchion where the assistant holds her by her horns. I cringe just thinking about how Wilma felt. They examined her for a long time (too long if you ask me). The hooves were out after a bit but the head was turned back, they worked on that forever (too long). After maybe 30 minutes they decide to do a c-section but the vet that was working on her had to go on a farm call so the other vet who was busy was going to do the surgery. They take poor Wilma with hooves hanging out and put her into the nastiest stall to wait (too long) She was in the poo and pee encrusted stall for almost 20 minutes until the vet was done looking at a calf and had prepped the room. They got her in and on the table. My oldest daughter and I went to the restroom and peeked in the room and saw the baby on the ground and heard them say there was only one. After 30 minutes they said she had one boy and they were both fine but things could change you never know what could happen. We pulled the car around they brought out the baby. It was limp, lifeless and barely alive. We rubbed it's chest and pulled mucous out of it's mouth while they loaded up Wilma. I finally told my neighbor the baby wasn't right she took it and couldn't get it to respond and asked the vet to look at it once again. He said it was gone :( He was the same color as his mother and looked like a Nubian like it's daddy, he was a doll.
I'm not too happy with that particular vet. In my opinion they left the baby inside the mother too long with it's sack broken. For poor Wilma and her owner to go through the c-section and come home with only a scar is a tragedy. I cried the minute we got into the car to leave but quit, since her owner, the 12yr old granddaughter and my 16 yr. old were being so strong. When we got home I ran to my house got the hubs to help unload Wilma took my little ones friend home, grabbed some subs from Subway for my family, did my chores, went back to check on Wilma, came home and finally got my cry out. It was a very long and very sad day :( The only good thing to come from this is a new friendship with my sweet neighbor. She is one tough lady.

Dreaming

I have so many little chicks that last night I woke up yelling at the hubs that we were squishing the babies. I thought they were in the bed with us!!! That's when you have alot of chickens LOL! We are at chicken count 61! I'm going to keep the colorful ones, but most the the black chicks I will post for sale today. 

Also at some point last night or early this morning I remembered that back in December I thought my goat was in labor (remember I am new to this goat keeping thing). Since she ran with my buck which they won't do this year I'm not sure when or if she even got pregnant. Now thanks to my dream or memory resurfacing I realize that she was in heat. This new revelation has given me some much needed relief. Miss Lady isn't due until May!!!!! No more midnight checks for a few weeks and maybe I will get some sleep. I will eventually figure this goat stuff out, it's a learning experience and hopefully this time next year I won't be such a sleep deprived lunatic and I WILL HAVE A DUE DATE ☺

Easter Sunday

I hope all my blog friends had a blessed weekend ☺ We've spent the last two days with family. Its really nice to get together but I still prefer being at home. I might have to host one big Easter party next year so I don't have to leave the ole' homestead LOL! I have some stories to tell from this weekend but not today. What I do want to tell you all is that this is the FIRST EVER Easter that I didn't have to buy ANY eggs!!!!!! I hard boiled 25 eggs for the kiddos to dye. I made 12 more into deviled eggs. We had 9 with breakfast and I still have almost two dozen in the fridge ☺ I am blessed with eggs and wanted to brag share!

Remember all the hatchings that started around the full moon. Well I have 24 new babies!
CHICKEN COUNT 56!!!!!!!!

Quick Update

I don't think Wilma is in labor, yet! She was laying down and breathing heavy but thats about it. She's at day 150 of her pregnancy.  My neighbor is gonna call me and I'll call her when our does go into labor, we are both excited and maybe between the two of us being there everything will go okay :)

On the chicken front, I think we have four new chickies. One is another Little Squirty Jr. So not wanting to lose this one to a foot happy hen. It's in the house :)

I got all the chickens shuffled around. The teenage babes are in the chicken tractor I'm working on a little run for them so it will make cleaning easier. The babies are in the shop. I think they are still shocked at the new digs. And I have three new chicks in the house. I had taken one from the nest this morning it wasn't being covered up and was being stepped on and pecked. I'm not sure if it has anything wrong with it, but it looks fine to me. Then I brought another one in to keep it company. Then I discovered the little white one. So I might take the one I brought in for company back out to the hens. I really want them to figure this mommy thing out :)

I will let you know if anything REALLY exciting happens but until then ya'll enjoy your evening!

Full Moon Madness

Chicks are hatching and my neighbor thinks her goat is in labor. Guess who gets to midwife since she's at work, Me! This should be an interesting day ☺

Welcome ☺

This is long overdue but I would like to welcome my newest followers. Tombstone Livestock, Jimmy, Hommer of TC, Xoliwe, Connie, Sandi Jo, Michelle, Sinder Ella, Cherie Campbell, Kristin, Holly Gordon, Garland Girl, and bargirl 2381. Thank you all for following my blog. I hope I don't bore you with my ramblings and maybe you will get something useful from my mistakes and accomplishments. If you have a blog and I didn't find it please leave a comment so I and others can check it out ☺

Not much....

going on around here. The weather has been dreadful and cold. It's supposed to start warming back up today. I'm ready! I hope it's the last morning I have to thaw out all the critters waterers and I'm ready for the sun! I need some vitamin D!!!

I will be shuffling chickens tomorrow. The teenage babies will move to the chicken tractor, after about a week they will get some supervised free range time with the flock. The five babies in the house will move to the big brooder in the shop until they feather out more and then will be introduced to the flock.. I am going to do some baby chick proofing in the little coop. No more eggs have hatched but with the full moon tomorrow you never know :)

No news on the goat. Supervised breeding will happen next year so I won't be guessing on a due date. She is in the very late stage of pregnancy but I have no idea when she will kid. I would have bet money on it happening before now and would have lost. Hoping the moon makes magic happen in that regard also. I'm getting weary.

Have a great week ya'll!

Chick update update

I brought the chicks in. I watched her all day and she was kicking them and stepping on them. One of the problems is that shes a normal size hen and the eggs she stole and sat on are bantams. They are soo tiny and she is just too big. They seem to be doing alright, with the exception of one who looks like it has a chromosone missing like one of the chickens I hatched out not to long ago. I think it was the last one to hatch so that just goes to show you that incubating or all natural a late hatcher is not right  :( Mother hen has put herself back into the nest boxes where there will be more babies hatching soon. I just hope she doesn't repeat her behavior. Harvested my first ever asparagus MMmmmmm it was delish, sauteed in butter and garlic topped with parmesan cheese. I can't wait for the next batch to pop up.

What do I do????

I moved the original mommy hen and the eight chicks to a very nice chicken tractor with a heat lamp. This morning two chicks were dead, both were the cutest of the bunch one was little squirty jr. the one I was trying to protect since it fell out of the nest earlier that day. Last night I had a feeling it was going to die because I saw the mother step on it really hard. Do I take the six remaining babies and bring them in? Do I let nature take it's course and see if she can be a better mom and quit stepping on them? I have went out there several times to bring them in and just leave them. They love their mom and I love seeing them all together. I just don't want to see anymore dead babies. What should I do?

Baby Update

Last night I saw that one of the baby chicks looks almost identical to my deceased favorite chicken of all time Ms. Squirty. Today I find that same baby chick on the lower level of the coop chirping it's head off. Also found one baby chick had been abducted by another broody hen, she ended up getting her butt kicked. Not good! So I moved one mommy hen and all EIGHT babies to the chicken tractor which has a heat lamp in it. So far so good, the babies are running around everywhere and seem happy.

My neighbor who's goat Wilma had came for a visit in October stopped by to see if we had goat babies yet which we don't :(  Anyway she hugged Lady's belly and felt the baby kick. I'm not sure if she thinks Ms. Lay is going to kid soon but I do. That girl is miserable.

I have five more broody hens sitting on who knows how many eggs. I had collected almost 20 eggs from the nests and put them in the incubator. Lord willing I will have some baby chicks for sale soon ☺ So basically I stare at baby chicks and goats all day! Envy me LOL!!!

They are starting to come out :)

See all the mommy's in one nest! It's ridiculous! They all told that baby to get back under them, it didn't listen and I'm glad because isn't it adorable! There is more babies under all those mamma's I can hear them I just can't see them yet ☺

Wilma

I don't think I ever told you all this story. So here it is....
October 29, 2012 that white goat on the left, Wilma, wandered into my yard. At that moment we had the goats tied out in the back back yard so we could work on their pens. My goats were not liking this stranger at all, so we got them penned back up and Wilma just kinda hung out around the fence ALL day. 2am the following morning, I wake up suddenly scream to the hubs that something is wrong with the goats and here we go barrelling outside to find Wilma with her butt up against the fence and Bub screaming in tormented pain. Good Grief!!!
The next day Bub screamed and acted like a lunatic while Wilma tormented him through the fence. I stopped at the house where Wilma lives and talked to the super nice older woman who informed me, her daughter wouldn't be home until the evening so the goat would be staying in my yard until later. I posted this pic on FB and my other neighbor sent her husband over to fetch the goat and take her back to her house. I get back home from picking my little one up from school and the neighbor meets me in the driveway to tell me he got her back to her yard. I laughed because she was at my goat pen again!!!! We watched my tormented buck all day and finally by about 9 pm her owner came over and gave the okay to breed her. I wasn't too keen on this idea because I thought she was too small of a goat to be bred to a Nubian but hey, it's not my goat. Wilma is a 12 yr. old fainting goat. She has had one kid her whole life. I forget his name, it's a cute name too but anyway he's a wether and they live two houses down from me with a donkey and some chickens. You have never seen a goat more determined to get pregnant than this girl. Long story short she slept over. Bub was a little aggressive with her. I had never seen him act so rough, so by the morning Wilma was ready to go back home. I opened the pen and she left. She hasn't been back either. The other day we asked her owner if she was pregnant and she said no. I thought that's too bad because she really wanted to be. Well yesterday, Wilma's owner yelled to us that she is pregnant! She had given her a hug and felt the baby kick! I'm so happy! That old girl will get to have another baby. She is due the end of the month ☺

Chicken Count.....

Who cares!!! This is the cutest thing I've seen in my entire life! I finally (at the protest of the mothers) saw the little ones peeking out from underneath one of the hens! AWWWWW it's the most beautiful thing I've seen in FOREVER! If you think broody hens are cranky, mother hens are worse! I will post pics as soon as the mamma's let me LOL!

This is for the birds

I hear cheeping in the nest, but can't see any babies! The nest on the left had 10 eggs and one broody but now it has three broody hens. The babies won't have to worry about fitting into the flock since half the flock is in mommy mode LOL!!!!!!

Spring Break Tradition and What Not To Do

Yesterday was the first day of Spring Break! When my oldest daughter was a toddler I got a baby pool and let her swim, even though it was too cold. I'm probally a bad mom for doing this but it's became tradition. When the outside temps are hot enough you want to be in the water, but the water is so cold it numbs whatever part of your body is in it. This is our teeth chattering, numb your buns off tradition. So this year, since my oldest is 16, I got a family size baby pool! We set it up yesterday I called it the Oasis, but it's more like a hillbilly vacation! We layed out, dipped into the pool and listened to the radio. Everyone has a sunburn, so we won't be hanging out at the Oasis today but we had a great time!

Now for what not to do. My last incubation of eggs went HORRIBLE. I cannot stress enough how important the temperature and humidity control is! I thought that we were done with the sadness from that hatch but we are not. One of my chicks that has been perfectly fine for the last two weeks has curled toes and can't walk now. This is from the low temps while incubating. We made it some shoes to straighten out it's toes but it's legs are too weak to even hold itself up, it's going to die. I'm hoping none of the other ones come down with this but I won't be suprised if they do. I only have one of the two black Silkies. One didn't last two days and the other has issues we are dealing with. I won't go into all the details but look chicks over REALLY well before you get them from a feed store! So that's my PSA's for today! Have a great weekend ya'll!!!

Getting ready for chicks ☺

Most of the eggs the broodys are sitting on are bantams, so that means they could start hatching as early as tomorrow. The weather is warmer than it has been the last few days so I decided to tidy up the coop a bit. I crawled through the open air bottom area and popped my head up to the next level of nests. Oh my goodness! You would have thought a tiger crawled into the coop. The SCREAMING!!!! It was soo bad I actually started to wonder if something horrible was in the coop. I looked up, behind me, on the ground, to the sides. Nada, it was just me!!!! I got the platform in front of the nests swept up and doo doo free, cleaned all the ladders, added new straw to the bottom area, and placed food and water on the platforms next to the crazy ladies nests so they can stay put until the babies get a little bigger. I'm not as anxious as I am with incubating. I have confidence these girls will know what to do. I am excited to hear the little peeps from under the mamas. It will be so cute!!!!! I will post pics as soon as the first batch hatch. Have a great day ya'll!!!!

Weekend Update

No news on the goat yet. I had miscalculated her due date by a whole month so she isn't really due for a few more days. Won't be long now!!!! Miss Piggy went to live with my husbands uncle. The minute he got her he let her run around his living room with his dogs. She stayed the first night in the house. I think we found the perfect home for her! We couldn't justify spending so much on the feed to get her grown. The hubs is going to go hunting for some pork instead of raising it. Plus we were already getting attached to the little darling, so I'm sure butchering day would have never happened. I have FOUR broody's in the little coop. They have taken over all three nests. Two are sharing a nest. Not sure the exact number of eggs they are sitting on. The one in the left nest box has 10, they are due to hatch around Thursday :) The broody in the right has 8. I'm pretty sure the two in the middle have at least 10 if not more. They shove all eggs that are laid by anyone under them, as you can see in pic 1 there are three hens (aren't they cute) and in pic 2 the egg is being confiscated! So count that up folks! It's over two dozen possible chicks GASP!!!!! My seedlings are doing great, the last picture is of the strawberries progress slow but green :) The weather here is dreadful, rainy and cold but supposed to be beautiful by mid week into the weekend. If you need me I'll be digging in the dirt LOL!

Thanks A Million!!!!!

I just wanted to take a minute to thank all you ladies for taking the time out of your busy day to answer my silly questions! I really appreciate every ounce of knowledge you all share! I have soo much going on and soo much I need to get done that I won't be posting for the next few days, unless of course the blessed event happens, then I will have to share the news ☺ As of right now, the hubs loves the piglet. I think it's a little wild and do not look forward to feeding it during the day :/ but it is cute! I have three broody hens sitting on eggs. This will be a first for me and I can't wait to watch the mamas care for the chicks ☺ We are building a big run for the chickens this week. Hopefully they will adjust to limited free ranging and it should keep them safer from coyotes and foxes. Lady seems to be in a happy place licking her big belly and just laying around sleeping. The anticipation is killing me so I'm going to busy myself around here. Maybe if I quit watching the pot it will boil ☺ Enjoy the weekend y'all!!!!

Googling Goat Stuff!

I'm so glad I came inside to search what a goats private area looks like before birth! First off I was unaware that a water bag comes out first! I could just imagine my horror at seeing an empty sack!!!! I have also stumbled upon some disturbing facts. Like some does don't have milk right away. My does udder is really small compared to others I've seen. Should I get some colostrum from the feed store just in case? Is there a healthier homemade concoction? Also I read that you should assist if there is no progress within 30 minutes. Is that true? I'm hoping and praying everything goes smoothly but I'm nervous!!!!! Okay I'm going back outside to stare at my goats butt LOL!!!!

A suprise is coming...... + pics!!!!!!!!!!

The hubs is bringing me a new baby. Not sure if we are keeping it or not yet. Will post pics and details in about an hour after he gets home and we meet the little girl!~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ She's a feral pig. The hubs friend went hunting last weekend and killed the mama. She had three babies with her and gave us one. Still not sure if we are going to keep her. She had a windy trip in the back of the work truck and was upset when they got home, think Tazmanian Devil!!! I'm hoping she settles down ☺

Butt Watch 2013 +UPDATE

My does getting puffier every day under her tail ☺ Her ligaments are loosening up ☺ And she is thirstier than normal, is that a sign of impending labor? I haven't heard or read that one before. Every time I give them water she dives in and doesn't come up for awhile. I'm going to take it as a sign but was just curious if any of my wise goat keeping friends had noticed the extra thirst with their does? UPDATE~~~~~~~~~ Went to check on the goats before leaving to pick up the wee child from school. Miss Lady was sitting in a spot not normal for her. She was panting with her tongue out and yelling Ma Ma nonstop. I immediately thought she's in labor. Lets just say I lost my wits, brains, and common sense for a little while. Rushed around like a crazy person getting everything ready until I realized even the buck was in labor Ha!!! They were hot it was 77* today!!!! This false alarm made me realize that I'm going to need back up LOL!!!!!

11 Little Blessings

I know in my last post I seemed ungrateful and down, but I'm really not! I have many blessings in my life and here is a picture of some of my baby chicks. The one I said was a rooster from day 1, well I'm still sticking with it! Look at the chick with the black around her eyes, isn't she beautiful! Her name is Cleo and see the white fluffy butt on the fuzzy chick under the perch. That's one of my giant Cochins and my little white Silkie is growing pretty good on the right! My gorgeous funny daughters, my hard working handsome husband, my two dogs, all my chickens, my goats, and my super loving baby bunny are just some of my many blessings! Life is good there are just some bumps along the way but I am Blessed! Have a great day ya'll!