Monday, August 25, 2008
Chicken Tractor
Friday, August 22, 2008
More Chicks Ordered & Goat Update!
SGM AZ Danse The Cha-Cha, Contredanse's 2008 doeling that we retained to our herd.
We have decided to sell Potsie and Contredanse. I have a few others up for sale. I am thinking of reducing the herd to around 18 Nigerian does and with my 2 Lamancha does we'll have 20 does to go into the winter with. That seems like a good number. We're down to 4 bucks with Ace and Rue being sold. If I retain Civil's buckling we'll be back up to 5. He won't be big enough to do an breedings till well into the winter I would think. So I'm still on the fence about whether or not to keep him.
Better Blues Good 'N Plenty, beautiful blue-eyed doe who is for sale!
It took so long to build up our herd that it is just heartbreaking and downright hard to let them go. I'm fighting the temptation to keep them all though. And I am proud of myself for doing so. I just really feel that the herd has grown too large and as a result it hasn't been as much fun to have them when there's so many. So its best to reduce to around 20 does. That's a much nicer, easy to manage size for our family.
I've had quite a few people interested in Plenty especially and some interested in Hera too, but so far they're both still available. I really like these two too.
I'm waiting on the does to start going in heat so I can chart them and even breed a couple. The heat I guess is keeping them from cycling. I have tried walking a buck around the doe pasture and letting them smell and letting him blubber at the does some but still no signs of heat yet. I can't wait to see what our junior bucks can do! I am so excited to see the kid crop next year! I kept 10 doelings this year and 1 buckling. I hope I can refrain from retaining that many next year. Haha
Thursday, August 21, 2008
Chicks are Here!!!!
I could hear the sweet little chickies chirping from inside their box. They were ready for some warmth and some food! So I cut the strap.
I am so far very happy with my cute little Cochins. There are 10 Birchen and 10 Blue. Looks like 7-8 Blue and 2-3 Splash. More pictures as they grow.
Tuesday, August 19, 2008
1st Day of School in 1st Grade!
Monday, August 18, 2008
Building or Buying?
We've looked around at several homemade incubators online and have actually made 2 of our own in the past. Neither seemed as successful as the store bought incubators though. So Steve has collected a few materials and will be starting a homemade bator soon. I have already located one at a store to purchase in a week or so. We may just do both.
Next we'll be on the hunt for some eggs to hatch! Our Rhode Island Reds and Sebrights are not quite laying yet. The RIRs are 15 weeks old so it won't be too much longer. The Guineas also are 15 weeks but I believe it'll be next spring before they lay. The Sebrights are suppose to molt and then she'll start laying. As it turns out, the Sebright rooster isn't a purebred. He has the hackle feathering more like and Old English bantam would have. Purebred Sebrights are hen feathered so he is not purebred. That's ok, he'll be used for mutts and eggs to hatch in the meantime.
Hannah starts school tomorrow! Can you believe it? First grade already. She's so excited. I can't wait to see her settle back in at school. I think it would do her good to get around more kids again. She did very well in Kindergarden last year.
We're also discussing whether or not to attend the fall dairy goat shows. We were definitely planning to go to the South Carolina State Fair. Maybe the Gwinnett, GA state fair and the Fletcher, NC state fair. So who knows. We may yet.
Well that's about it for today. Not a lot of fascinating things going on. But that's our life.
Sunday, August 17, 2008
Civil Kidded!!!
Thursday, August 14, 2008
Ordered Baby Chicks!
I am awaiting baby goats! Civil's udder has grown huge and her ligaments are gone. Not sure she's going to kid today though, she's in no hurry. I'm ready to see what she's got in store for us!
Took a few pictures of our Rhode Island Reds and Guineas. Getting about time to separate them as they'll be laying soon.
I'll get photos when the new chicks arrive next week.
Monday, August 11, 2008
Welcome & Introduction
I am 28 years old and an animal fanatic which you will learn by reading any of my posts. My husband Stevie is 35 and along for the ride. He wasn't really into or against animals, but has learned that living with me means a lot of critters around. He has adapted and even learned to love some of them. We were married November 30th, 2001. I can't believe its almost been 7 years already. Seems like just yesterday.
I grew up here in South Carolina, but was born in Medina, Ohio. Stevie was born and raised here in Easley, South Carolina. We have a nice home and are happy.
About our critters. Well I have been involved with animal rescue and fostering through two organizations. One was Greyhounds & Love in Anderson, SC. There we fostered 5 hounds and ended up chipping with Ace our 5th foster. So we stopped fostering since we're softies. We also volunteered and fostered for the Kitten Action Team in Fountin Inn, SC. We also wound up keeping foster cats and kittens so we have learned fostering doesn't work well for us. LOL Our pets right now are Ace (getting ready to turn 8 years old) He is a retired racing Greyhound. We have 7 indoor cats. Chloe is the oldest being over 10 though we are not positive her age. She was 2-3 estimated by our vet in 2000. Wendy we found in the Wendy's parking lot here in town in 2000. Felix and Lily were foster kittens back in 2003. Itty Bit found us in 2005. The two little ones are kittens from family. And we also have a few gerbils (use to be a breeder).
We raise Nigerian Dwarf dairy goats. We just added two Lamancha doelings to the herd this year so we'll likely have Mini-Manchas here next spring. We currently have 23 does and 5 bucks. Expecting kids to be born this week too! More on the goats later. We also have 8 RIRs, a pair of Silver Sebrights and 4 noisey Guineas.
I will post more information as I get familiar with posting and blogging. Thanks for reading! Ashley