Marie's near death experience!

This morning was very scary! I usually hook the goats up with leashes by their boxes(where they get grain) so they won't steal each others food. After feeding and hooking them up, I went to take care of the chickens and other barn chores. When I went back in Marie had stood up against the wall then jumped back down and got the leash tangled on her chest. It was choking her! I dropped the stuff I was carrying and ran over. Unfortunately, you need slack to unhook the leash. She had spun around so it was pulling really tight. I tried to unclasp her collar but it wouldn't work. She started to fall to her knees and couldn't stand anymore. I grabbed and picked her up(she's really heavy by the way) as fast as I could and spun her around to loosen the leash. Then I finally got it unhooked. (The whole time Lucy stood by just watching.) Marie and I were both really scared and our hearts were pounding. As I was giving them hay and water in their pen she would not stop following me and got really upset when I would leave. She just wanted to snuggle so I spent some time sitting with her. The poor thing.

Our attempts at catching the weasel aren't working. We set a live animal trap, but just ended up catching 3 ground squirrels. Haha! The trap is still set so we'll just wait and see.

Daisy is doing amazing. She now has 6 eggs and has been moved to the vacant chick pen in a cardboard box. We're not sure if she's been getting up herself to eat, so we take her out sometimes and make her eat and drink. Her eggs are from different dates ranging from the 16th to the 19th. So they'll hatch on July 7th to the 10th. You guys get here the 9th I think so hopefully you'll get to witness it all. :) Yay!!! The chicks will be different breeds(I don't think any of the eggs are Daisy's). The rooster is an Ameraucana and we're not sure what the mothers all were since a lot of the eggs look alike. There is one Ameraucana egg so it'll be a pure Ameraucana if it hatches. There's no telling how many will actually hatch though. Some may not have been fertilized or maybe Daisy let one slip out from under her and get too cold. You never know. It's all very exciting!

kk

New name! Your opinion?

So, I've come up with a name for the new boy I think... Raziel! It's the name of an angel in a book I've been reading and I think the little guy looks like a tiny white angel. At first I was trying to think of something really cool. I got Balthazar, Nehemiah, or something. What do you guys think?

Raziel
Balthazar
Nehemiah(or some other cool Bible name)

Actually, why don't you guys decide? So, ask Lauren, Matt, and Uncle Attic, please!

kk

Weasel?!?!

Yesterday, my little brother went out to see the chicks and found a dead white Wyandotte lying on the ground, it's intestines all around it. :( We think the murderer is a weasel. We've seen how hawks kill and this was definitely not a hawk. I'll spare you all the details. We've suspected that a weasel lives in our barn for a while after my mom and sister spotted something odd that looked like one. Weasels eat small mammals, rodents, and sometimes poultry and birds. So, until we catch the assailant the chicks will remain inside their stall.

Daisy is broody!!!* I know I've said that before and then she stopped, but this time I am so positive. She's been sitting there for about three days straight. We had some complications with her eggs though. First Cara took them all and put them in the fridge, then Ethan did the same, then another chicken tried to get in the box with Daisy and crushed her egg. Now, I've moved her to a box the others won't mess with and she has three marked eggs.

One of the white Wyandotte's is a boy I think.* Wonderful... Not! It has a really big comb, that's why I think it's a boy, however I've been wrong before so we'll see. that would make a total of 8 boys, Veratess, Ravinar, Blue, Green, Conrad, Stanley, the white Wyandotte, and James.

My videos still won't work. My parents need to update the computer. So sorry!

Oh, and I got pooped on this morning. Ethan brought his chick, Cherry, in the house to show Brenna this morning. While I was holding her, she pooped all over my leg. Ew!

** I've posted some pics. Check them out at "BarnyardPics".

kk

A boy? and RiverRockGoods!

Hey there! Since I haven't been on in a while there is a lot of stuff I want to post.

We(my sister and I) went to a poultry meeting last night. We took 9 chickens for the "chicken man" to check out for us. We took Mim, Gwen, Pink, Blue, Green, Angie, Ravinar, Sayna, and Veratess. Here's what we found out.

Veratess is a boy! Unfortunately, he's not a very pretty one. His comb and crest are not very good and his toe spacing it awful. Silkies have 5 not 4 toes and the spacing is very important.

I was right about my Buff Brahma bantams' genders. Pink is a girl. Blue and Green are boys. They all have really good pea combs though. And Pink has a really good Asiatic head shape.

Gwen is a splash. Splash is a variety. When you breed for blue chickens there is a black, a blue, and a splash gene. You want blue, black is fine, splash is the most undesired. She can still show in Barnyard mix though.

Angie might be a boy. That would be awful, so I hope not. The "chicken man" says maybe. She's an Ancona and they have such large combs that you can't really tell yet.

Mim is fine. She's still going to get new feathers twice more since she's so young.

*I know a lot of this is confusing Auntie, but if you have any questions about all this chicken talk, post them on "Chick-a-doodle".

Yesterday morning we went to a 4h Marketplace meeting(it was 5 hours though!). At fair my sister and I will have a booth to sell our products for an hour. Other kids will do this too. We came up with our logo and slogan for. I'll post a picture later. We came up with, "RiverRockGoods!" written really cool as our name/logo. Our slogan is "Maa! Cluck! You're in luck!" What do you think? We'll be selling my goat milk soap and eggs. And maybe cross stitches of chickens and goats and painted river rocks. The "chicken man" also wants us to sell little day old chicks, but we're still working on the details.

We're working on buying a goat share so we'll have some goat milk. I can't wait to start making soap!

Have a great day!
kk

2 more boys!

Hello! So, while locking up the barn last night I decided to check out my Buff Brahma bantams to see if I could tell if they're boys or girls. I'm pretty sure that I have 2 boys and 1 girl. Great. My sweet little Pink Floyd is a girl and Blueberry and Green Bean are boys. I'll keep Pink and sell one of her brothers at fair.

I've started a new project. I'm writing a research report on CAE. So check out my "Projects" page to see my research and progress.

And that's all! Bye!
kk

More videos soon!

Hey there! My lovely sister finally put my chicken bath video together for me. Yay! So, I'll be posting that soon(when I can get YouTube to work).

I made a video of how to show a goat. I still can't get YouTube to work though. It's probably just my computer. But just wanted to let you know.

We left the little chicks out last night(we usually put them in their box). They were all doing great this morning. :)

Nothing new with the other chickens.

Our 4h project tour is this weekend. So, our club will be driving around viewing each others barn set ups and showing their animals. It's so fun!

And my dad just bought us a new small horse trailer! Yay! So we'll transport our goats in that now instead of the cage in the back of our truck. Here it is...

 

 

 

kk

Shaved!

So, we shaved the goats the day before yesterday. Yay! They look great and are really soft now. However, their undercoats are a different color, so they have more black on them now. I will post pictures when I get a chance.*

We've started training the goats for fair. They've gotten really stubborn, so that's why we've started so early. I'll give a video demonstration of this soon.*

Nothing new with the chickens.

kk

Shaving soon!

So sorry I haven't posted in a while, but I have been very busy and sick. :( Nothing much has happened. We got lots of gardens built and planted in. So, we'll have lots of yummy produce this year.

Everyone's doing good still. We've been getting about 8 eggs a day, which is a lot for us. We had 5 dozen in the fridge yesterday and had to take some to our neighbors.

It's getting warm so we'll probably shave the goats soon. We'll shave them as summer is starting so they don't get too hot and then again at the end of summer for fair. They don't really like it, but they look so nice and clean afterwards.

Well, I have to go now. We're leaving in a bit to place flags at the cemetery for memorial day with our 4h club. Bye!

kk

A real word?

The weather was beautiful yesterday! I didn't do much at the barn though, since I was busy with other things. Everyone was doing good.

Also, I think that your just pulling my leg with that epimeletic word! Is it even a real word? I couldn't find it in the MicrosoftWord dictionary and this spell check says it's not a word. Here, I'll look it up. Give me a minute...

Okay so I found a medical dictionary that had it. That's why I couldn't find it anywhere else, it's a medical word. Cool!

epimeletic behavior

maternal behavior; that demonstrated by a dam caring for her young in the early stages.

et-epimeletic behavior

care-seeking behavior; young responding to the dam's care giving. In puppies, this includes tail-wagging, licking the dam's face, and following the dam closely.

 

Haha!

 

kk

 

Forgive me

Forgive me for not writing on here in a while. I've been really busy with school and my grandparents coming. Here's what's been going on...

The weekend was good. Everybody's doing great and the chicks are getting bigger everyday. I had to take Ruby out of her crate as you know, but still may hatch out some chicks.

We're thinking about how many and which chickens we will be selling at fair. My sister and I have to sell an even ammount so that our feed records for 4h will be easier.

We went to a friends house today. They were the ones that got our Wyandottes and Silkies for us. They had a racoon get into their chick house and it took out a few of their chicks. So sad! But on a happy note, they have a hen, Speckles, that just hatched out 4 little chickies. They were so cute!

The poultry meeting yesterday was a blast! We talked about feeding requirements for chickens and conditioning them for show. We also practiced a poultry test that we'll have to do at fair and got all of our questions answered, which was awesome! The "chicken man" gave Cara advice on her Silkies and what would be best to breed. I'll go into that on "Chick-a-doodle" when I get some time.* Basically he told her it would be besdt to keep and show all as a breeding trio. I found a hole in each of the Wyandottes foot and asked him if that was okay for show. He said it's fine and the hatchery just did it as a way to tag them. Stanley and Conrad combs won't be DQ's for fair, but will be a fault. They're still fine to show though. Yay! And we're thinking about getting some quail from him. My brother loved them and he has lots to get rid of. Anyways, it was awesome!

I spent a lot of time with Marny today. She's such a doll! I sat down at out table outside, put her in a paper plate in front of me, and we talked forever. Haha! I would coo and make sounds to her and she'd just sit and listen intently. She was so calm. We also snuggled for a bit. She is soooo soft and sweet!

And that's basically it. Oh and I gave Ruby a bath! I took a video and some pics that I have to put together, but will post soon. :) I think I got just as wet as she did though.

Love you!
kk

*Will post on "Chick-a-doodle" about breeding Blue chickens soon.

Creatures in water buckets

We tend to find dead mice all the time in the chickens' outdoor water bucket. The chickens like to pull them out and play with them. Yuck! Yesterday when we checked there was one dead mouse and something else, a huge salamander! He was about 6 inches long and my brother decided to name him Salrock. I have some pictures that I will post to "BarnyardPics". It was so neat!

Also, I'm working on getting videos on here!

kk

Rainy day

It's raining today! Yay! I just love rainy days. The goats don't though... They do not like water very much. Luckily it's just a drizzle, which is great for the grass. The chickens actually don't mind it that much. They especially love the worms that come out. We'll probably move the little chicks(order 2) out to the barn. They'll have to stay in the brooder box. We're going to do this because (1) they're getting older so the inside box is too small now, (2) as they get bigger they flap their wings alot so the pantry closet gets really dusty, and (3) we are getting more chicks tomorrow. The hatchery that was going to replace the chicks that died never called this weekend, so the soonest we could get them would be next week. We decided to just get our money back and buy some from the local farm stores. We'll be getting 8. 4 will be white wyandottes and 4 will be amber links(I think that's how it's spelled). Well, I have a busy day. Bye!

kk

Saddles

Hi! Today was good. I worked on my project some today! So, do you think I should make a new page for that or just post it on an existing one? Marie's tummy is pretty much better. The chicks got to spend lots of time outside with my brother. He tried giving them some worms,but they just got confused. It's weird cause last year the chicks would all race around fighting over them, but oh well, they'll get the hang of it. The older chicks(blue wyandottes and silkies) are now sleeping in the stall. They had been put in a box at night, but they're getting really big now. Any time they get put in they'd just jump back out when you'd open the lid.

Oh and we'll be getting a call either tomorrow or Saturday about our reship of chicks. So yay! I need them for my project(I'll explain later).

Note: This next post is not G-rated. Haha

We're thinking about making saddles for the hens. When the rooster, James, mates with them he tends to rip the feathers on their backs out(that's where he puts his feet). There are only a few that he doesn't get, some just have a few feathers missing, while 2 have completely bald backs. The ones with bald backs get really red skin cause he scratches them. A saddle looks just like one made for a horse except smaller, obviously, and made out of a think fabric or leather. So, it's either saddles or separation, so we can show them and just for comfort.

And yup! That was my day!

Oh and Chibi, my Buff Brahma bantam laid an egg today! :) But on a sad note, my old hen, Dove that I'd given to my sister's friend was killed by their dog. :(

kk

Tricking Lucy

May 1st

Sorry I didn't get a chance to post, but I was babysitting all evening. Anyway, just another calm day. Marie got a bit of an upset tummy, so my sister gave her some Probiotics. She's really great cause she just licks them right out of her hand, unlike her mom, Laverne, and Aunt Shirly used to be. Lucy ran up to see what Cara, my sister, was giving Marie, since shes not allowed to have any, Cara gave her a stick to fool her into thinking it was nothing special. She immediatly spit it out and lost most interest. Haha! The chickens and chicks are all great. We let the chicks out to sunbathe and they loved it.

May 2nd

Since nothing has really happened yet I'll post on today later this evening. Oh, and my brother just brought me his Red star, Licorice and she decided to poop right on the dvd sitting next to me. Wonderful... Haha! He loves her so much!

kk

Mild day

Hey! Today was pretty plain.

We took the chicks out in the sun today and I unpasted them(more on that later).

The chickens and month old chicks all got dusted with Sevin dust today.

The goats have been adorable as always! I watched them playing around out in the yard. They stand up on their hind legs then slam down into each other. It's so fun to see.

That's really all though. So, just a mild and peaceful day.

kk

CCSI

Hello! The weekend was fun. Nothing big happend, just cleaning and stuff like that.

We took the goats on a walk down the street, it's been a while since they've been on leashes so we're working on getting them trained again.

Also, they worked on some weed control. Goats love weeds, so we put them in one of the gardens for a little while to clean it out a bit.

We're still treating the chickens' bugs since we ran out of spray last week, and we're using Sevin dust now.

I've been carrying my Buff Brahma bantam hen, Chibi, around as my barn buddy. People kept asking why I had her with me so much, my reply,"She's in training." When asked what kind of training I would say,"She's training to be a CCSI! Chicken Crime Scene Investigator!" It sounds much more interesting than just saying to make her sweet. Haha!

The 1st order of chicks are still doing great. They haven't been infected with bugs yet so that's great!

The 2nd order is growing up fast. They're alot of fun. We take them outside in a little pen sometimes, but they get cold pretty fast.

We have a 3rd order coming next week I think. We asked for 7 Brown Egg Layers assortment chicks, therefore, we don't know what we'll get yet.

All so fun!

kk

Barn Buddies

Yesterday and today haven't been too eventful. Our goats had had upset tummies from the switch in food, but are all better now*. The chicks and chickens are all doing great. We took the older 6 chicks off of the heat lamp tonight. Our chickens are all really nice, but some are pretty skittish and 1 little hen can get a bit mean sometimes. This can be a problem at Fair though, when everybody's stressed. To fix this issue we've decided to have barn buddies! Every night when my sister and I close up the barn we are each going to pick 1 chicken that could use some love and carry it around while we do the chores. This can really improve some nasty attitudes and it's fun to have some fluffy company during work! That's about it for today though!

*See "GoatieGals" for more on goat tummy issues.

kk

Awful Chicken Day

Okay, I guess I'll start posting everyday (at least I'll try) on what's going on around here with our animals. Let me just say that yesterday was absolutely crazy...

It started out with me being abruptly awakened to get the chick brooder ready while my mom and sister went to pick up our newly arrived order of chicks. I had to get a heat lamp hooked up and put some food and water out. However, my sister called me as soon as they received the chicks... 6 of the 16 were dead! It was the saddest sight. The poor little things had frozen to death. With such a small order a heat pad should have been put in with them, but coming up to such a high elevation with the temperature being 20 degrees the night before and the hatchery didn't think one was needed. Really? We called demanding a refund for the expensive shipping, unfortunately since it was less than half they didn't want to. We finally got it all sorted out and they offered to send us new chicks, but they didn't have very many breeds available and with fair in August they'd be too young. So we ended up with: 2 red stars, 1 ancona, 1 blue Andalusian, 1 Colombian wyandotte, 1 welsummer, 3 buff Brahma bantams, and 1 silver laced wyandotte. The wyandottes and red stars are my sister's so she has only 4 and the rest are mine. 1 blue andalusian, 1 Colombian wyandotte, 1 silver wyandotte, 1 welsummer, and 2 silver lakenvelders died. (I know you probably don't know what all of these are.) So that was our morning.

Next we discovered a dead hen in the barn. Poor Sunni will be missed. :( It was odd though since she had no blood or injuries. She was just lying there. We suspected mites had probably been the cause. The bird mites and lice that chickens get, while harmless to people and dogs, can kill a chicken if untreated. They worry themselves to death. We had assumed for a while that since our chickens hadn't been around other chickens that they were clean, when these pests are actually most commonly transmitted by other birds that can fly around in your coop. We checked our still living hens and sure enough they were infected. The best way to treat this is to spray them with Adams Flea and Tick spray for dogs and cats. We also cover them with ash from the fire pit. So we're still working on this issue and will still be for the next few days.* Hopefully we won't lose anyone else.

Lastly, our rooster, James, was attacked by 2 of our dogs. The dogs are mostly fine around the birds but if one jumps, flaps, or freaks out in anyway the dogs tend to snap. We're usually around to stop this, but James likes to escape his pen to peck at the fresh spring grass. We were walking back from cleaning out a ditch when we saw the commotion. The dogs paused upon hearing our shouts giving the rooster just enough time to make a quick run for home. He's perfectly fine now, just a little shaken up and with a handful (or mouthful) of feathers missing from his gorgeous tail. At least he's okay though.

And that ends my long recitation of today's happenings. It's usually not that nuts around here. Haha!

*check "Chick-a-doodle" for more on mites and lice.

kk