New Additions

This week I was given a bantam hen and her lone chick. The hen has the beginnings of feathers on her feet, and her chick has significantly more feathers than she does. Cochins are my all time favorite, and I'm hoping they might have a little in them. Here they are on their first non-rainy day at my house:

Momma's not real sure about getting out of the cage. Baby's saying, "You can do it, Mom!" (I heard it with my own ears! *wink*)



Oh yeah! The grass feels good under foot and the bugs are mighty tasty.

The goats were out, too, and very curious about the new arrivals, especially that cute little puff ball. Momma hen was not impressed with the goats. The goats didn't know that squawking and spreading one's wings means, "Go away!" They do now. That tiny hen whipped every goat on the place!!! It all happened so quickly I couldn't get my camera out and focused in time to capture the hilarity.


Okay, time to get back where it's safe before the sun goes down!

Garden 2011

All tilled up and ready to be planted:
The chicken coop/former outhouse is in the background. We let them free range as much as possible, and are planning to fence the garden soon.

I was able to find enough stakes to lay out several rows at a time, which made the process MUCH easier! I planted 1/3 of the garden on April 30th, 1/3 of it last night, and will plant the last 1/3 of it in two weeks, when the soil is nice and warm for those tomatoes and peppers. :-D

The following veggies are planted:
Swiss Chard (Five Color Silverbeet)
Pole Beans (Green)
Cucumbers
Red Kuri Squash
Carrots
Red Pontiac Potatoes
Yukon Gold Potatoes
Silver Queen Corn
Yellow Straightneck Squash
Zucchini
Small Sugar Pumpkin
Dill
Cilantro
Yellow Granex Onion
Red Globe Onion

We still plan to plant peppers, tomatoes, beets, garden huckleberry, gourds, kale, and watermelon. We also have plans to put in a perennial garden in a seperate space for things like asparagus, horseradish, walking onions, garlic, and many more that I will come to learn about over time.

Herd at Sunset

*Sigh* I think this is what they call "the life." Do you notice how the screen on the door is bubbled out? That's thanks to Miracle dediding she wanted to come inside one nice day that I had the house open but the screen doors closed. Goats... gotta love 'em!

And a sweet, cuddly nap!

Checkup

Well, the kids are five weeks old. I can't believe how much they've grown! I weighed them last weekend and was shocked! Tonka weighs TWENTY ONE pounds!!! I didn't weigh the kids at birth, but I estimate that Nigel and Sassy were two-three pounds each, and Tonka was pushing five. Now Nigel weighs twelve pounds and Sassy weighs nine. I had a really hard time catching them in pictures. (The Welsummer rooster slipped into the shot, and I thought he was too pretty to crop out. :-) ) You know who Perle is. Sassy is the smallest, and her hair is reddish. Nigel is the middle sized one, and he has more defined spots on his body and stripes on his face. Tonka is almost white all over, and he's huge! Here are some pictures to let you see how they've grown:

A Quandry

I'm really struggling over the goat vs. cow thing. I definitely don't REGRET buying goats, but I chose them because I thought it was more cost effective for our small homestead. I was looking at the actual cost of the goats themselves. Now that I've been doing this for a year, I am seeing a LOT of hidden costs. Fencing that will hold goats is at least 3X higher than fencing for cattle. They are much more difficult to contain. Then, to get the cream from the goat's milk I need a cream separator for at least $200, maybe more. Goats have higher nutritionalrequirements, and so if you look at it pound for pound, they are more expensive to feed, not less. On the flip side, I couldn't cuddle and play with a calf like I can the kids, and I seriously doubt a cow would be as affectionate as the adult goats are, either. Goats are pets that produce. Goats were definitely a better choice for learning to milk and manage a dairy animal. I would have been SO overwhelmed with the volume of milk a cow would produce in addition to adjusting to the routine of milking. Thoughts, anyone?