Homestead Happenings

Our new-ish chicken coop

I must apologize to my Handsome Hubby for taking so long to brag about the newest addition to the Colestead which he built.  Better late than never, I guess.  Here is the story:

After a lot of waiting and looking I finally found the material to build our chicken coop!  We were passing Lowes and I had made a habit of driving through the parking lot looking for such a deal as I found that day. There it was; a complete kit for a cedar shed on clearance for $200!  I had let a shed just like it slip through my fingers once before and had been looking for something like it for a long time.  There is was!  I hopped out of the car, dragging already tired children (plus 2 friends along for the day) with me and I practically RAN into the store to complete the purchase.

Once Handsome Hubby found the time the shed was up after a few days of work.   It is lovely! 


We attached the old run to it with plans to build a bigger run as time and money allow. 


We are hoping to use a large chain link dog kennel.  We need something secure as we have had 3 predator attacks this year.  Two of those were stray dogs.  People like to dump things "out in the country".  Ugh.


All this years chicks were in here when this picture was taken.  Since then the meat birds (white) were moved to a bigger pen.  The egg layers (Buff Orpingtons) and Jellybean (the black one that is the children's pet) will stay in here.  Once they are a bit bigger we will start letting them out for a few hours a day.

Building movable chicken pens is on my to do list.  You know, that list that grows when I am sleeping? Double ugh!  My plan is to build the pens so that they sit inside my garden beds.  I will move the chickens on the beds as I need them turned over and fertilized.   To make them predator proof will require they be made out of metal pipe and a mesh that it tighter (and more expensive) than chicken wire.

Pictures of the garden (such as it is) will be up soon.  Thanks for reading!

Our newest addition!!!

Introducing Violet!
She was born yesterday.  Daisy, her mother, had been showing for a few weeks.  Since I let my buck run with my doe I had only a rough idea of when she was bred.  Contrary to what I have been told this does not make her milk taste funny.  I digress......

We had friends over and as I was showing them my goats I notices Daisy had "bagged up" meaning to say her bag (utter) was full of milk.  Daisy was not acting like she was in labor and had no mucus or any dripping but I knew it would be withing 24 hours.  After my friends left we were outside until 3pm working in the garden.  We went into the house to clean up.  When we came out at 6pm Violet was born and completely dry.  I can't believe I missed it...again.  We have had 5 births on out place now and I have missed every one of them!  Oh well, I am glad she is a doe and was born safely.


As you can see mama and baby are doing well.  Violet is colored just like her daddy buy did  not get his blue eyes.  She has brown ones like her mama.  Daisy id Nubian and Errigone (the daddy) and 3/4 Nubian and 1/4 Nigerian Dwarf.


So now, counting Violet, we have 4 does.  Hopefully they will all be in milk next year, Lord willing.

Sad news

This is where Clyde, our little pygmy goat, spent his last days.  One minute he was fine the nest he was lying on the ground twitching.  It looks like he got worms and showed no signs until it was too late.  I am now looking up goat wormer recipes.    A hard lesson learned.

A new addition to our barnyard

Meet Ginger~


Ginger is a 1 month old Alpine-Nubian cross.  She  has a future as a milking doe here on the homestead.  It will be a while but buying a doeling is a lot less expensive than buying a milking doe.  We have purchased another doeling that will be here soon.  Plus we are fairly certain Daisy is bred.   As long as she has at least one doeling than we should be able to be completely off store milk next year.  Any bucklings she has will probably end up in the freezer.  I am still praying for a great deal on a milking doe for this year.  However, sometimes we must wait for what we want or need.  That can be hard to do in our "gotta have it now" culture.  I am so glad we moved out here.  We are learning good lessons.  It is not always easy but it is good. 

Chick update

That is actually pretty good.  The hatchery added 1 extra chick of each breed we ordered so we are still 1 chick above what we ordered.  Fatalities are expected.  That is just how it is.

The meat birds are different from the egg layers right from the start.  First off the meat birds are much more aggressive about their food and they eat almost twice as much as the egg layers. 

Now for some pics.
These are the meat birds.  Don't think about how cute they are.  They eat up their food quickly and jump all over each other in the process.

These chicks are the same age right down to the day.  The bird on the left is a Buff Orpington (egg layer) and the bird on the right is a Cornish Cross (meat bird).  Notice how much bigger the Cornish is already?  These are fast growing meat birds that are frying size by 8 weeks and roasting size in 12.  When you eat a Cornish Game Hen that is a 4 week old bird.

They are all feathering out nicely. Feathers start forming at the wing tips.  Once the wings are feathered then they start down the back.  The neck and head are last.  Once a bird is completely feathered out it can better regulate it's body temp and no longer needs a heat lamp.

A dog came onto our place 2 weeks ago and killed all of our hens.  Grrr  Why do people think they can dump their unwanted animals out here?  All they do is kill our livestock or our pets and they end up getting shot.  If you don't want your animals take them to the SPCA.  OK, end of rant.

Anyway, we are brooding our chicks in the laundry room since the dog will likely come back looking for more chickens.  We can't use the front porch for brooding as we did last year.

We were blessed to be able to purchase a 6' x 8' cedar shed for $200 (reg price was $1000).  So once we get it put together and get a sturdy run attached these little chickies will have a dog-proof place to go.

Meet a new addition to our Homestead

Meet out new puppy Duke...
He was opened by the children but he is more of a gift for our Dog Jasmine.  She really needed a playmate.  Since Jasmine is 7 she is more of a nursemaid.  It has taken a while but she now plays with Duke and seems to be getting used to the idea of sharing her space.

Welcome to the Homestead Duke.  You will be expected to earn your keep here working security and keeping your new nurse company. 

My first trip to the auction

One of the purposes of this blog is to share our experience as we adjust to our "country life" (10 miles out of the city) after being city folk all of our lives.  That includes the good as well as the bad.  My auction experience does not fit in the good category.

We had 5 goats to sell.  I sold 2 privately and took 3 to the auction.  I was in a bit of a hurry to get rid of them since I had too many on our pasture and they were only eating our pasture and feed and not giving anything back.  Being on 1 acre we only have room for livestock and not pets.

Here are 2 of the goats we sold:

The top one and the one on pictured were Pygmies (one banded male and one buck) and the last one was a Nubian cross buck.

During the auction we saw a lot of goats in bad shape go for $50 or more.  These poor things were scruffy and their hooves were so overgrown that they could not even walk straight.  The udders and teats on some were so mal-formed that they could never be milked.  So imagine my surprise when my well-cared for goats went for about $20 each!  I was not happy.  On top of that the auction house gets $8 per head selling fee.  So I made a total of $38.50 for 3 goats!!! 

Part of the problem could have been that we arrived at the auction only 15 minutes before starting so our goats did not come up until 90 minutes into the auction and some of the buyers already left.  Next time (if there is one)  we will get there at least an hour early.

Since I had decided before hand that I would not buy anything I did not register as a buyer.  There was one goat I would have liked to buy.  She was a white Nubian, already bred, with a good udder and teats.  She went for $90.  Right now I am saving my "goat money" to buy the kids from friend that has a doe who was bred to a huge Boer Buck.  We are hoping she has at least 2 doelings.  My goal is still to have enough good milk does to not have to buy store milk at all.  I will let you know how it goes.

Thanks for reading about our ups and downs as we learn.  Bye!

Mother of 6 blessings (and #7 due in Jan. 09!) from the Lord & Helpmeet to my Handsome Hubby who is my best blessing of all

Sold!

Today we sold Coco and her doeling to a fellow homeschooling family in our area.  All of our pygmies plus our young Nubian buck are for sale since they are not good for milking.  The Nubian can't be bred back to his mama so I do not have a good use for him either.  Handsome Hubby and I have decided that any critter here must contribute in some way. 

The money made from the sale will go into buying new milk does.  I have been given the promise of first look at buying the kids of the bred Nubian of a friend.  She has also offered to give me a buck who will do until I can get a Boer buck.  A boer is a meat goat so any kids who we can't milk can go into the freezer.  That is the plan.

I am planning on taking the rest of the Pygmies to the county auction on Tuesday.  With the price of feed I need to sell them quickly.  Also, with only my milk doe (I may keep and pygmy doe for her to have a buddy) on the pasture the grass will last longer.

Kit was not really happy to see Coco and her kid go.  That is understandable.  As for me I would rather sell them while the kid is cute and not eating any feed than late when is she eating my feed, not giving me anything for it, and harder to sell.  Guess I am not as "city-fied" as I was a year ago.

So that our livestock plan is in motion.  If only I can get my garden and fruit trees doing well we will "on track".

Mother of 6 blessings (and #7 due in Jan. 09!) from the Lord & Helpmeet to my Handsome Hubby who is my best blessing of all

Lookie what I found this morning!!

This morning I heard a familiar sound and found this....

I thought Coco was far off from delivering.  Shows I still have a lot to learn.  This newborn kid is only abour 7 inches tall.

Here is the newborn beside her mama, just to show how tiny she is.

Sadly, her twin was stillborn.   That's the way of things here on the homestead.  We are planning on taking all of our goats to auction except for my milk doe and the heard sire.  I adore my milk doe!  Her name is Daisy.

Daisy is a Nubian so she is HUGE compared to the Pygmies!  That is her buckling next to her in the picture.  He is going to auction since it is bad to breed him back to his mama.

Yes, I adore my Daisy!  I am hoping to make enough money from the sale of the other goats to get 1 or 2 more milk does.  Our family goes through a lot of milk and one of my goals is to be able to quit buying milk.  That will save some $$$ for sure.  I have a friend who has a Nubian that is possibly bred with her Boer sire and I have first chance to buy any doelings!  She will give me a good price too.  God is good!

Mother of 6 blessings (and #7 due in Jan. 09!) from the Lord & Helpmeet to my Handsome Hubby who is my best blessing of all

Easter Eggs!

Well these are not our first homegrown eggs but they are our first from this batch of hens.  Can you pick out which ones are ours?

Notice anything strange?

Yes the eggs are really green!  One of the breeds of hens we have lays eggs that can be green, blue, or even pink.  Each hen lays her own color of eggs.  Every day there is an easter egg hunt on the Colestead!  They are all the same on the inside.  Except homegrown eggs taste better, in my opinion. ;-)

Mother of 6 blessings (and #7 due in Jan. 09!) from the LordHelpmeet to my Hubby who is my best blessing of all

Goats 1, Milkmaid 0

The time has come to start milking my goats, Sammy and Cocoa.  Their kids are over a month old and have started eating hay and grass plus they are drinking bits of water from the pail.  I figure I can leave them on their dams until I get good at milking so the does will not dry up.

So I set up my milking place.  Buying a milk stand is not an option.  I know I can build one but if I start one more project around here my hubby will not be happy.  Guess I need to finish the girl's room that I am working on first.

So I get a table that was in the goat pen (for them to climb on) and I put a little feed pan there by attaching it to the fence.  I add and chair and poof! my milking place.

Having read about milking step-by-step I feel that I am armed with enough knowledge to get the job done. My goats had other ideas.......

This is Cocoa

She was unhappy from the second I washed her udder.  She kicked and wiggled and called to her kids.  So I put them in the pen next to where we were so she could see them and that calmed her down....until I tried to milk her.  See my yellow rope.  Well that did not work.

This is me trying to get Cocoa to be still.  The grain I gave her was gone in a flash so here I am trying to bribe her with hay.  No luck.  I moved my bowl (that held a tiny bit of milk) because she had already seen fit to step in it.  I will be getting a goat hobble......very soon.

I knew I was losing to a goat but I was determined to get some milk from both sides.  If nothing else this was a training time for both of us.  There are no more pictures after this because I sent my eldest daughter, Kit, to the house.  The giggling was getting on my nerves.

I released Cocoa and got Sammy who was no better than Cocoa.  So I got a bit from both sides of her.  Then I put everyone back in the pasture and when back to the house taking with me the sign of my defeat.

Yep, this is what I ended up with.  Want some?  Me either.  I will not give up.  So far I have figured out that I need to cover my table (aka stand) with rubber so they will not slip.  I also need a different restraining device since the rope was not working.  Some places say to seperate the kids during the night so that the does are full in the morning and them will want to be milked.  We are considering this.

What about those giggles?  As the Mother I could not let that stand.  So I let Kit try it for herself.  The giggles have been silenced.  When I do come in with that first good milking my blessings will know that it was not easy.  Then they can learn to do it.  Who will be giggling then?  Me!

Have a blessed day!

Mother of 6 blessings from the Lord

Helpmeet to my Hubby who is my best blessing of all

New Additions

Our chicks came in the mail yesterday.    We had to go to the post office to get them.  It would not be very good for them to drive around in the mail truck all day.   Although we have raised chicks for about 5 years now this was our first mail order experience so I thought I would share it.

You are probably wondering what a package containing live chicks looks like.

We could here the chirping as soon as we walked into the post office.  I'll bet the workers were glad we showed up early.

As we took each one out of the box they were checked for injuries and over all health.  They were all very "chicky" and full of energy.  Once each is looked over I show it where the water dish is by dipping their beak in so they drink.  They are shipped with no water and are thirsty! 

See how nice and clean the paper and water are?  Not for long!

We had one injury.  My camera is not good for super close ups.  I should have taken a farther off shot and zoomed in with Photoshop.  Sorry.  Anyway, this little guy probably started out with a little cut.  By the time I got him the others had picked his toe down to the bone.  So he has to be put in solitary or the others will kill him.  Birds can be very cruel.  We cleaned his wound and applied some liquid band-aid to keep out infection.  He did not seem to appreciate our efforts and made his displeasure LOUDLY known.

See, he does not have it too bad.  We are going to pick up some strawberries today so we can put him in a basket with another one on top so he can stay warmer.  He does not like being by himself and lets me know....loudly....all the time.  I am glad they are on the porch. 

Aren't they cute?  Well don't think about that.  These are broilers.....as in meat birds.....as in they will be in my freezer in about 8 weeks.  These are Cornish Rocks and are bred to grow quickly.  They do not get names.  I don't spend time petting them like I will my laying chicks.  In just a couple of months I will be posting how we butchered these birds.  That is just the way it is.

Here you have the yucky side of bird keeping.  They did this fairly quickly.  I will be cleaning their box out about twice a day.  Notice the darker colored chicks?  My darling hubby picked those up at the feed store.  They are Arucanas.  These will be part of our laying flock.  We will name them, pet them and keep them nice and tame.  I have wanted this breed for a long time.  They are also known as Americanas or Easter Egg chickens.  They lay colored eggs, mostly blues and greens but sometimes pinks.  One chicken will not lay all colors but tones of one color.  I will be posting pics when they do.  He got 10 of these!  I would also like to get some Buff Orpingtons as they are supposed to lay through the winter.  Hope I can find some.  I don't want to mail-order them because I don't need 25 and that is the minimum order so they can keep warm in the box.

Gotta go.  My children, chicks and kids need attention.  This IS the life....and I am blessed to be living it!

Poor little Sammy

Our pygmy goat, Sammy, is due very soon.  We do not know exactly when but I do not think she can get much bigger.

Books (and websites) have been read.  Supplies have been gathered and put in a box ready to be wisked out on a moments notice.  I have never been a "goat midwife" before and am a little nervous due to my lack of experience.

So stayed tuned.  I will post pics when the kid (or kids) arrives.  Please pray for my little does and her keeper! :-)

New Chickens

We were recently blessed with 7 chickens.  They were given to us by a family that no longer wanted them. 

We were given 6 hens (4 Rhode Island Reds, 1 Barred Rock, and 1 White Producer) plus a little Banty Rooster that came with the name Fireball.  We have had hens for about 6 years but never a Rooster,  He had better behave himself or out he goes!  I would say he would go into my freezer but he is so small he would not be worth butchering.  So far he has been fine.  He little crow is funny. 

Meet the new additions~

This is Fireball.  That is a full grown hen next to him.  Can you tell how tiny he is?  We have not had a Banty before so this cracks me up.

Happy Homesteading!

Goats aren't that bright!!!

We have had our goats for 3 months now.  It has been an adventure.  But I have come to the conclusion that goats are not that smart.  We have a pair of pygmy goats that were given to us.  The female, Sammie, keeps getting her head stuck in the pasture fence.  I thought she would have learned after the first two times!  She keeps doing it and then she goes nuts when we try to free her.  I like having goats but do not enjoy being jolted out of a sound sleep by the very loud cries of a stuck goat first thing in the morning.  Then I must trudge out into the cold in my robe and boots only to have the stubborn thing not let me help her.  So I just feed her and keep her calm until she works herself out.  I am sure there must be a better way to do this.  I guess my "city" is showing.  (smile)

They are much more gentle now and will be lead on a leash from their pen to the pasture or elsewhere when we are staking them out.  They are quite nice little weed eaters!

Feel free to comment with advice.  I am willing to learn.