Rabbits and Turkeys and Sheep, Oh My!

The sheep we got in the spring are doing very well.  Babies are growing up.  Little Cinnimon - the one we almost lost - made it past her tough early days and started thriving.  She is just as big as her sister now.  We plan to buy a Ram Lamb in another month and breed them all.  We will be in Wool and Lamb next year!

The Origional Broody Hen never did successfully hatch any eggs.  However, we now have two broody hens - - each setting on a clutch of six eggs.  We are cautiously keeping our fingers crossed.

We got an incubator.  thried to hatch some chick eggs.  No Go.  Our incubator didn’t really hold the temp very well.  Later, we were able to hatch a few turkey eggs - though the babies died a day later.

The seeds went into the garden late again this year.  Sigh.  We are in lettuce like no one’s business - - - and we have peas and beans coming on now.  Corn?  Well.  Time will tell.  We may get one ear.  Will be an interesting meal trying to split that 5 ways for dinner!

5/7/2008:  More rain today.  We will stay in, bake some bread knit, and write.<br>
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5/6/2008:  We woke up to the pitter patter of rain on the rooftop.  It was just on time, I won’t have to water the new trees today!<br>
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5/5/2008:  Kids were asking me this morning if it will frost again….  They are anxious to get some seeds in the ground.  How much longer should we wait?<br>
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5/4/2008:  The days are getting longer and longer.  This morning at oh-should-still-be-dark-early the birds were singing like mad.  The forecast was calling for rain today, but we have beautiful blue sky’s.  I think I will work on preparing a garden plot.<br>
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5/3/2008:  Sunny day.  The turkeys and baby chicken have been kicked out of the coop.  Time for them to roam around.  They were unsure at first, but after a few hours they felt more comfortable venturing out.  The sheep were let out into a new pen.  The lambs were so happy the pranced in circles for an hour.<br>
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5/2/2008:  Spring is definitely here.  We are having some beautiful days – weather in the 60s or 70s.  The turkeys and the lambs are growing like mad.  We finally gave our broody hen some new eggs – she sat on one clutch but none of them hatched.  I think the clutch was too big and she wasn’t able to keep them all warm all the time.  We finally took those eggs and gave her a new clutch (only four this time) to sit on.   That was on the last day of April, so the 21st of May should be the day.<br>
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5/1/2008:  May day today.  The kids got some flowers and took them to the neighbors.  I think it added a little sunshine to everyone’s day.

No…. they were not born on the Lazy Sombrero, but they did come to us in April.

It is the big “farm note” of the month.

Here are a few pics to celebrate the newest addition to the homestead.

ewe

babies

The baby lambs the day we brought them home. They are twins - though you can see the black one was much larger than the brown one.

We started off very small - one ewe and her two ewe lambs. One reason I liked this match is because of the different wool colors I will have to spin next year. Each one is a different color. We brought them all home when the lambs were 2 weeks old. The littlest one, Cinnimon, didn’t seem to be doing well after a couple of days. It was very lethargic and seemed to be losing weight. Our caretaker told us he believed she was starving to death. Yikes! We brought her in and fed her with a bottle - - and still tried to encourage her to nurse. After a few days of this, she perked up and it was clear she had begun to nurse.

Now, they really seem to be settled in and are thriving.

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3/26/2008:  We have a broody hen, after a few false starts.  She was moved into a separate nest.

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3/16/2008:  Midnight had a false pregnancy last month – so she was re-bred today.

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2/14/2008:  We awoke this morning to find snow again!  It had been slowly melting over the last week and it is expected to be warm 38 degrees today, so it will likely melt again.  Our Wyandotte didn’t appear to stay on the next last night, but she is back on it again today.

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2/13/08:  It feels like spring.  The snow is melting.  We have a Columbian Wynadote that is thinking about going broody.  We will see if she stays in her nest tonight.  I am ordering some hedge seedling from the state today.

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2/10/2008:  I am feeling the need to plan.  Time to order tree seedlings from the state, relocate the compost bin, and re-construct the green house.

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2/9/2008:  It is so warm, 40 degrees!  The snow is turning to ice and slush.  The kids’ snow fort is starting to suffer. Coyotes were howling like crazy last night.

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2/8/2008:  We are getting consistently 5 to 7 eggs a day.  Nice for this time of year.

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2/7/2008:  There were 3 bald eagles in the field this morning.

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2/6/2008:  Calf!  There is already a calf in the field next to ours!  Babies already?  I can’t believe it.  Spring is right around the corner.

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2/5/2008:  Our first full day back on the farm after a month off.  The first think I did was take in all the snow!   While it was nice to be warm in Mexico, it is great to see snow again.  I do love having four seasons.  The next thing we did is…  breed the bunnies!  Time to get some productivity going again!!

We had a donkey on our property - he belongs to someone else, but boards here. I don’t know his real name, but we have affectionately called him Eeyore.

It had been a few years since I have watched or read Winnie the Pooh. When my kids were younger, the 100 acre woods was a favorite place to visit. But other then a few favorite sayings “My spelling is wobbly” that have remained in the household Winnie the Pooh had not been a part of our lives…. until Eeyore showed up on our property.

Our Eeyore was just like the Eeore from the story. His head hung low - and he was never in a hurry to get anywhere. I used to watch him in the mornings - before my household got too loud. I never put too much thought into watching him and what he did for me…. until I read a description in Pencil Dancing : New Ways to Free Your Creative Spirit about Cow Brain and Race Horse Brain.

Cow Brain is the take-your-time-observe-everything-enjoy-yourself lifestyle. Race Horse Brain is goal and productivity driven. If you spend too much time in Cow Brain Mode you will never get anything done. If you spend too much time in Race Horse brain, you will become the most dull person on the block - turning your creative life to dust.

Now, for confession time.

My name is Homestead Mama and I am a workaholic.

I am a complete and total Race Horse brain. I have been known to have tunnel vision and completely miss the life that is happening all around me. I have a big fat gaping hole where my creative life should be. I realize now that watching Eeyore gave me a few minutes of Cow Brain time.

Eeyore died while we were away on our trip. He lived a long life - 22 years - but the farm is a little gloomier these days - without our gloomy Eeyore. But he taught me a lesson that I will carry on. I need more Cow Brain time.

Thank you Eeyore - and Goodbye

Eyore

12/28/2007:  We were away from the homestead for a 4 days over Christmas.  When we got home, we found 3 DOZEN EGGS!!  Our little hens have been busy!

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12/13/2007:  We are up to about 5 eggs a day!  Enough that we hardly have to purchase them from the store anymore.

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12/10/2007: We woke up this morning to find a colt in our field! We board horses for a neighbor. He must have dropped it off last night.
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12/8/2007: It was 7 degrees when we woke up this morning. It will be an indoor day… making gingerbread houses, board games, hot cocoa, reading, writing and knitting. Brrrr.
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12/7/2007: We had a very warm afternoon - up to about 40. All the snow is gone. The kids went out to play for about half an hour. Wanderlust came back in, announcing “I think it is time for piglets!” We have been taking baby steps with the homestead - small animals first like chickens and rabbits. But Wanderlust is growing impatient. oink. oink.
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12/6/2007: We got another double yolked egg today!
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12/4/2007: We got 3 eggs today! For the last week, it has steadily been one a day, so our little hens are picking up production!
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12/2/2007: We had enough eggs this morning from the chickens for our first “farm egg” breakfast. 2 of the eggs had double yolks!
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12/1/2007: The compost pile was re-located today. It is now closer to the chicken coop - making the mucking easier.
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All day yesterday we had a young hen (she just started laying last week) refuse to leave her nest.  She was carefully making sure those two little eggs she sat on were staying tucked under her.

Last night, however, she got off to eat - then went to the perch rather then back to the nest.  Obviously she is not officially broody - but I wonder if she is thinking about it.  It would seem very odd to me if she did go broody…  we are  in the middle of the winter!

On the other hand, it has been nice FINALLY getting some eggs!  We first got about 25 chicks in March, but the neighbors dogs got to most of them.  Though it was late in the year, we got 25 more in July.  It is this batch that just started to lay about a week ago.

I wonder if hens go broody gradually - or they just up and decide one day.

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