Chicks, Ducklings, and Poults- Oh My!

They're here! We got the call about 8:30 so of course the whole morning schedule was compromised. Oh well, we're back on track now.

All the peeps were alive and kicking upon arrival, woo-hoo. We got them home in the brooder. They sent an extra turkey and an extra chicken so our numbers are 13 barred rock chicks, 6 blue slate turkeys and 5 ancona ducks. As an added treat, I put some warm goats milk in the brooder and they dig it!

Here are the pics-

Blue Slate Turkeys

Ancona Duck

Barred Rock Chicken on the left, Ancona Duck on the right

They really like the milk!

From Puppies to Crawfish and Spider gets a Win

Rupert

Yup, another pup. Rupert is a lucky boy pulled from the Forsyth County Animal Shelter. Chuck has been talking about having a dedicated farm dog- the Danes make great mascots but they really are lazy- so I started looking at the local shelter pages on the internet. I fell in love with Rupert's sweet face (who wouldn't) and we went to meet him. The rest is just details. He is a 5 month old rough collie mix according to his paper work.

He's done really well today adjusting to the farm. No signs of chasing chickens, seemed fine with the goats, etc. Of course, he's on light duty from his neutering so all his interactions have been brief and at the end of a leash. He is such a sweetheart.

And this is the crawfish. Crazy! We had 4 3/4 inches of rain yesterday, with a lot of it falling last night. I'm assuming this little guy(?) just got confused and thought water rushing by the chicken coop was a real creek. I found him this morning as I went to let the chickens out and gather eggs. Luckily , I had the egg basket, so I scooped him up, showed Willow, took pictures then put him in the woods by the actual creek and in he went.

Here he is making his getaway. He was pretty big as crawdads go. His body was at least as long as my index finger. I didn't measure closely. Scary claws. He's back in the creek where he belongs now. (Not in a pot, sorry honey.)

Now, this next picture I find fascinating. I was hanging out laundry (umbrella line on the porch) and heard a strange buzzing. I look around and on the railing see this spider that just caught himself a fly. He must have just been hanging out and blending in until dinner flew by. He was engrossed enough that my taking pictures didn't bother him.

Nature is cool.

So farming stuff... Chicks/Turkeys/Ducks should arrive tomorrow. Processing of the Delaware chickens is scheduled for June 5th. They're finally starting to look meaty. Dairy stuff is going well. FINALLY got the cream separator working. It's labor intensive and takes A LOT of milk to make any useable amount of cream so it's put away until we NEED it. For now, I can get local cream and be quite happy. The garden is giving us snowpeas! One of my favorites- I've been eating them right off the vine with a bit of dressing. Yum! The beets are not doing well, but most of the other stuff is coming in as predicted.

Hopefully there will be pictures of baby birds tomorrow...

Hooray for Polliwog!

The bright spot of the week has certainly been Polliwog going to his new home. I am so excited for him that he gets to go be a pet goat along with his half-brother, Niblet. The family said Niblet has adjusted well and he seems to be spoiled already. He gets rocked like a baby and plays soccer. Here are a few pictures of Polliwog before he left.

Polliwog

Kisses from Mom

Baby nom-nom-noms.

Roscoe checking on his does and son.

Daddy nom-nom-noms

"Head butt?"

Scarlet, Queen of the Table

It's life as usual for the rest of the livestock, everyone is doing well. The new order of chicks, poults and ducklings arrives next week. So cute and yummy.

Relaxing turkey

Cheeky Chicken- one of the Araucanas

Mystery Chick- I think she's a White Jersey Giant

"Whatcha got there?"

The crops are GROWING! There are tiny snow peas that will be ready very soon, and everything we planted last weekend has shot out of the ground. We're getting a few strawberries here and there and I'm looking forward to getting enough to do something with. If this hot weather keeps up my spinach is going to bolt before I can harvest it, but it's supposed to cool down again this weekend a little.

And lastly- milking is going well- we're getting at least a gallon a day. While we haven't tried the cream separator again, Chuck has made several batches of delicious cheese. Queso blanco, mozzarella, and ricotta so far. Mmmmm.

That's all for today!

May Begins

Farm life is good! Everything, well mostly everything, has been going well. In crops, we've harvested our very first strawberry! This little guy even beat out Dad's established bed of strawberries. It was very delicious, and there are more ripening! Success!!

We also planted the last of the seeds today- corn, cucumber, pumpkin and bush beans. I also added a tomato plant we found at Lowe's - an heirloom variety that grows HUGE fruits, and an eggplant plant. The other stuff is still coming up, some better than others. The snow peas have blooms so we should have some peas soon. I LOVE snow peas.

Our first strawberry!

All the animals are doing well. Dinkey the Donkey has adjusted quickly and he and Roscoe seem to enjoy each others company. Dinkey is getting used to walking with a halter and lead rope. He gets to come out of the paddock to munch on our lawn and get brushed. Roscoe gets to come out less often since I have to make sure he doesn't eat the ornamental plants. Goats- jeez! At least the new super hot fence is keeping him where he's supposed to be.

The does are giving us about a gallon of delicious milk each day. Polliwog is still with us- we never heard from the family that took Niblet and said they wanted P-wog, too, so we have some deciding to do on that front. He's doing well and is so cute with those blue eyes.

We're still not having any luck with the cream separator. Chuck has called the company to do some trouble shooting but it looks like he'll be calling them again. He has, however, figured out how to make cheese! He's made a couple of batches of simple cheese and tonight made fresh goats milk mozzarella. It was very yummy and is already gone. Luckily, more milk to come in the morning.

Cheese and Quackers have moved from the brooder to a small pen in Rascal's coop. They have most of their big duck feathers but still have that awkward teenager look. Pictures to come soon when they're all prettied up! Rascal continues to be a lot of fun. She makes a mess of the fish pond, but it makes her happy so Chuck just rinses the filter several times a day.

Here they are practicing their pirate routine.

And here are the chickens hoping for a treat.

We have 2 weeks until the delivery of our next poultry order, and tentatively 3 weeks until processing of about 15 chickens. The bunnies will be ready to breed soon, too.

That catches us up for now!