Tuesday, August 7, 2012

UPDATE ON THE ANIMAL BABIES

We're on the far side of Summer now;  time to pause and give thanks for all the wonderful produce we have been enjoying-  and for our excellent kidding and lambing season and our healthy flock of future laying hens.

GOATS-
We moved the goats out to their summer pasture on the far side of Spring Branch (a small stream that runs through the farm) about a month ago.  They have been feasting on all the grass there ever since- and taking care of some weed problems for us at the same time.  Our final kid count is 23- all are doing very well.  Their moms are still letting them nurse for short periods of time, but over the next month they will gradually wean the kids.  The youngsters are spending some of their day playing, but are settling down more and more into the routine of the herd.  Luke, our guardian dog is doing a great job-  just like a seasoned pro, even though he still isn't quite a year old!
Luke and the goats in the summer pasture.

SHEEP-
Our final count for lambs is 7, including 5 ewe lambs!  We will keep all the ewe lambs, since we are building up the size of our flock.  Leia (Luke's sister) has also been doing a super job as flock guardian and adjusted very quickly to working on her own.  The Tunis lambs are a rusty brown color when they are tiny, but their fleece starts to fade to creamy white in a few weeks.  Almost all of the lambs are the same color as their moms now.  They spend part of each day just running around and generally enjoying life- what a pleasure to watch!
Dean and two little helpers feeding the sheep.

CHICKS-
Our little chicks have really grown up!  They have almost all of their feathers, and only a little baby down is left.  They still cheep like chicks, but look a lot like miniature chickens.  They have three months to go before they will be ready to lay eggs;  in the meantime, we will be feeding them chick food that is higher in protein than regular chicken food.  We keep our young chicks in the aviary in our front yard until they are full size and ready to join our layer flock- they are safer there (the aviary is completely enclosed in chicken wire) and it is also very entertaining to have a flock of busy chicks where we can see them from our dining room table :)

Visiting the chicks.

No comments:

Post a Comment