**Sigh** It's been a long time, people! I could give you my list of seven billion reasons why I have been gone, but that's such old news, I'm not even gonna go there! The good news is, I am back to blog! And it feels GREAT!
Where do I start? Well, how about with goats??? Last I remember, we were about to get Alice, our pregnant doe. We got her, she came, she adjusted well into out herd of now three, and is currently big in tummy and head-honcho attitude. Alice let Arabella know, right from the get-go, that she was in charge. Even now, when I go out to see her, she still shows of and gives Arabella a good charge or head butt. I read somewhere that she's just showing off.
When we first got Alice, she was huge for the timing of pregnancy. Now, she's just pregnant. She's not huge anymore. Considering she's just a hair off from six weeks to delivery, I think she looks normal big. But then I see her everyday. Having something I care so much about--in my care--and this being is pregnant. . . I stress. I stress whether she is eating enough, whether she is healthy enough, and whether or not the babies are okay. I fuss about all my goats, but knowing there are little lives at stake just heighten my fuss levels.
When we got Alice, she was a healthy goat. But since we have gotten her, she is a beautiful goat! Don't get me wrong, she was in good condition in the beginning. But now she is in great condition; her fur is so luscious, thick, and shiny now. All dander is bye-bye! And her attitude! At first, she was fussy, kinda negative, and quiet. Now, she's a talker, comes when called, and loves to be whispered to. She is still my dominant girl. But she's so different than the first days she got here. Maybe it's the pregnancy hormones, who knows?
Soon after we received Alice into our herd, we got a little surprise. Eleven of them, to be exact. . . One weekend morning, Scott got up to do the feeding for me and about five minutes after he left the room, he was back. And waking me up. He said, nothing was wrong, BUT I needed to get up and come outside. And when I got out there, there were eleven chicks running around! Apparently, they had hatched under the barn. And we were oblivious. It was great! The downer is, three died to dogs. (Angel, our dog, didn't do it. For once.)
Since then, we have had another broody hen, Road Runner. Road Runner is a small banty that Dominic has completely tamed. She took in a clutch of nine eggs and nothing happened. We are pretty sure that the eggs were not fertilized. In fact, the eggs--all but one--disappeared one by one. We wonder if the chickens were eating them? A raccoon? Aliens?
We have also had a problem this summer with non laying hens and we think we have nailed down the reason. They need a bigger coop. Much bigger. Our girls are not happy and they need space to be happy and lay. So when we get back from camping next week, guess what is on our to-do list? We already have the framework done, we just have to assemble and close it in.
So that's the up-n-up on the "farm" animals. There's so much more to say, but I will close for now!
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