Last week, one of our barred plymouth rock hens had to be put down. She is our first animal loss since moving to the farm.
Here is a picture of one of our two barred rock hens.
One of our Barred Plymouth Rock Hens in the field.
She was very sick and likely wouldn’t have lived much longer.
Although there was a cold spell earlier in the week that saw temperatures dip below freezing several nights in a row – spring has mostly arrived!
The clover is in full bloom – see all of the little purple flowers in the fields.
Clover in bloom in the fields.
In addition, the chickens are venturing further out to check for delicious bugs around the property. Two of our hens, Mindy and Sindy, along with our rooster Pineapple recently ventured out of the pastures to the front yard to help dig up the front flower beds in front of the barn.
A couple of weeks ago, at least one of our hens was laying some odd sized eggs, from tiny to extra large.
Here is a picture of the different sized eggs to help refresh your memory:
Different size eggs (likely from the same hen).
Well, we decided to crack open the eggs to see what, if anything, was inside.
Click through to see what we found.
It is now early March and the weather is very warm. The high temperature was over 70 degrees earlier this week. The average high temperature normally doesn’t reach the 70s until June. Even the deepest snow piles have almost completely disappeared. Instead of mid-winter, maybe this is really an early-summer update.
How have the chickens fared over the winter?
Like the goats, the chickens are doing well! On the coldest days, the chickens remained inside the chicken coop with a space heater to help them keep warm. On days at or above freezing, the chickens would usually venture outside as long as the snow wasn’t too deep. During the recent warm spell, the chickens spend most of their day outside.
The chickens out in the field enjoying the early warm weather.
The chickens are venturing out into the pastures during the warm weather and enjoying the longer days.
Click through for more pictures, including an interesting egg phenomenon.
It is now mid-February and we are approximately half-way through our first winter on the farm. The first part of the winter was very mild with limited snow and high temperatures through the holidays. Late January and early February have been much colder and snowier than the early part of winter. The actual temperature hit -23 degrees a few days ago and it was closer to -30 with the wind chill!
How are the goats doing? The goats are doing well! While they generally don’t mind the normal winter temperatures (as they have thick mohair coats), they usually stay inside while it is snowing or if there is a strong wind.
As the fields are now covered in snow and the goats are unable to graze, we have been providing them with more grain than we do in the summer.
We spread the grain around into multiple feeding bins so each goat can get some grain without having to fight for it or wait their turn. The goats typically spread out to separate bins at the beginning. After a minute or so, one goat will decide that another feeding bin is a better option and attempt to move. This often sets off a chain reaction where the goats switch bins to find the best grains. Here is a video of the goats in action:
Winter has finally arrived. We have been receiving regular lake effect snow fall of an inch or two (or more) just about every day for the last week.
The snow has made it relatively easy to track movements of some of the local wildlife through the snow.
Can you identify the animals based on their tracks in the snow?
Click through for the answers and some additional information.
We normally use rubber feed bins to feed the goats their grain and minerals. The rubber bins normally just sit right on the ground. The goats sometimes step in the bins and flip them over, spilling out any grain or minerals onto the ground. This wastes food as the goats typically refuse to eat most food that has touched the ground (except of course for live grass or other plants that they graze on…).
Rosebud using a rubber feeding bin on the ground.
I wanted to build a better feeding bin for the goats, but without having to spend a lot of money.
Click through for a more detailed guide to build an elevated goat feeding bin.
Several readers have asked how much it costs to care for the animals.
All 5 goats hang out in the pasture (with the cows in the background)
I did not keep very close track of the specific recurring expenses for just the animals since we moved in so I do not currently have a very good estimate. However, starting from January 1, 2016 I am going to keep close track of all of the normal recurring expenses for the animals and post the total costs periodically for those interested.
For those who are interested in such details, these costs won’t include any allocation of the cost of the land, property taxes, electricity to run the well pumps, costs of the farm sitter during trips or our time, but rather just straight out of pocket expenses of a recurring nature that are easily identifiable as connected to the animals. This also won’t include one-time infrastructure spending like the materials needed to build a feeding station or pen.
Click through for the current total and an update on the fiber processing.
One morning while tending to the flock, I noticed that Elf’s head was covered with blood. He had broken his horn and was bleeding from the wound in his head.
Goat’s horns are actually a living part of their skulls. As a part of the skull, the horns contain blood vessels and usually bleed when broken. A broken horn can cause significant blood loss, and even death in some cases.
Luckily, Elf’s horns had mostly already been removed earlier in his life and he only had a small scur on his head that broke off. It was a small break so while there was a decent amount of blood on his head, the active bleeding had mostly clotted on its own.
I managed to separate Elf partially from the main herd. By the time I got him separated from the others, the bleeding had stopped. I sprayed his head with a veterinarian antiseptic spray called Blu-Kote. The spray helps prevent infections. It also turns everything very blue to help you tell where it has been applied.
As you can see in the below video, Elf’s head is now blue!
Click continue to see more pictures of Elf’s recovery.
Our most independent hen, Mindy, often spends a part of her day hanging out with the goats. While most of the other hens are either unable or unwilling to get over the fences separating the pastures, Mindy goes right on over the gates to search out the best places to scratch for food.
Below is a picture of Mindy out in the middle of one of the larger pastures as the goats graze in the background.
Mindy out in the field with the goats.
Click through to see more of Mindy with the goats.