Tina's Suprise

Yesterday was Tina's due date and today she popped out twin GIRLS very quietly and without much publicity....the little sneak!  Girl 1 weighs 9# 9oz and earned the title of biggest kid of the season so far.....Girl 2 weighs 7# 5oz and is covered with spots.

Eggs!

We've had a number of warm days and once again my chickens are coming  to life giving us an abundance of eggs every day.  Once this cycle starts, I begin freezing batches of eggs on a weekly basis (sometimes more often).  It's a pretty simple procedure.

First - start with only the very freshest home grown eggs.  I would wonder about the safety of doing this with store bought eggs.

Most of my baking and cooking needs call for 3 eggs, so this is the volume I use most often.  Keep in mind there are big differences in egg sizes...but I've never had a recipe turn out bad from having an extra egg.

Beat the eggs well.  If you have strings of white or yolk, they will turn out rubbery when you go to use them.  Just be sure to beat the eggs thoroughly until frothy...

You will need containers for freezing.  I use just about anything that is flexible so that the egg can be popped out once frozen.  The container needs to be very clean, spray with a vinegar or bleach solution and let sit for 5 minutes before rinsing.  You don't want any hitchiking bacteria riding into this party...

Next is one of the most important steps.  You MUST spray the containers well with a non-stick cooking spray.  Ask me how I know.

Then it's just a matter of pouring the number of beaten eggs you want to save into their respective containers.  I prefer to put them all onto a baking sheet or bus pan then sit the whole thing in the freezer.  Leave them overnight.

The next part involves one of my absolute favorite kitchen appliances.....my Food Saver.

Pop the frozen block of egg out of the container, and place in a food saver bag and seal.  Be sure that you mark each package with the # of eggs contained, and a date.

I have a plastic shoebox in the freezer that holds all the bags of eggs...it's easier to find them that way.  These are great for holiday baking....and they will get us through the winter when the hens are no longer laying.  I have no idea what the shelf life is on them, but I have used some that had been frozen 18 months without ill effects.

Happy Happy Update and Continuing Through the Garden....

I am cautiously optimistic that Happy is on the mend!  Her liver and kidney function are well within normal ranges.....SOOO I will be continuing with the herbal therapies and my tonic and we'll see how she follows along.  It was such a relief to know that she has hope!  I really think that the cleansing therapy is doing her some good, but I will couple the homeopaths with some traditional meds just to keep all the bases covered.

Lots of things on the list to do this week!  For now I'll continue figuring out where the garden survivors are and what needs to be done.  There's no doubt that my poor little barrel water garden needs a complete overhaul.  It froze solid.  Twice.

It resides under the canopy....which also needs a complete overhaul.  We spend many hours during the warmer months under that canopy....talking, playing games, drying herbs, planting, drinking coffee, scarfing BBQ....it's our "kitchen table" outside.  Kinda desolate out there right now.

My small garden spot is pretty desolate this time of year as well.  Only a few stubborn cabage remain.  But I know that in a matter of a few months there will be a beautiful cucumber canopy covering that fence and gait...and the bed will be full of yummy things growing.  That's the plan, anyway.

The big project on the front of the house is the larger watergarden and the wisteria....

It doesn't look too bad from here....but look at the close-up!

Many of the other plants are a "wait-and-see".....we just don't know if they survived the winter.  The horseradish died back 2 months ago.  I thought about digging it up, but then ended up leaving it in the ground for the winter.  We'll see if it sprouts up when it warms.

The raspberry vines are still dormant and/or dead.

My biggest heartbreaker is my grapevine.  I pruned it too severely last year and I'm afraid I've done it in.  We'll know in a few weeks....

And the jury is still out on the Lemon Grass.  I sure hope this comes back....I love cooking with this stuff!

The Pear Tree is starting to get little plump buds....so I do think there is hope for it...

My beautiful Joseph's Coat Rose has stayed green all winter!  Silly thing should have napped when it had the chance!

And the garlic is doing great.  We've been harvesting all winter and still have lots to grow this year...

This will be the 10th year for our Rosemary hedge.  It needs a bit of pruning and a bit of manure tea and should be good to go for another year....

Over the next few weeks and months I'll be drooling over my boxes, bags, and jars of seeds....and try to make a garden plan.

In the meantime, we're still working with these little sprouts.....19 poults in all now, with more eggs incubating.  Look how fast they've grown!

I thank God every day for each of His blessings, and try not to take anything for granted.

Please Think Happy Thoughts and Pray for Happy....

My most elderly goat, Happy....aka Happiness....aka HappyHappyJoyJoy......has been unwell for a few weeks.  We have done the usual array of therapies to no avail.  She carried her pregnancy well and looked fantastic.  She freshened Jan 7, with an easy delivery...but has not done well since shortly after.  She had lost a bit of weight and never came into milk.  I stopped milking her because of her condition.  Around the end of Jan I noticed a small tumor on her right shoulder, way below the skin.

On Feb 10 she was a very thin 165pounds
On Feb 20 she was a painfully thin 140 pounds

I started her on a regimine of herbs, acidopholis, DYNE, Wheat Germ Oil, and B vitamins.  The only way to get the mixture into her is to soak doughnuts in the mixture then feed them to her.  Whatever she wants.  She did regain 2 pounds this week.

Today the vet is running her bloodwork to make sure her kidney, and liver function is up to par.

I don't want her to suffer, but I'm not sure I'm ready to let her go.  We will probably know today.

Signs of Life...

We're having a brisk early morning here which prompted me to scour the garden beds for signs of life.  We have had a brutal winter (for our area)...and I'm not sure what our garden losses are.  My biggest suprise of the year are these mums...

Let me preface this by saying, I very rarely buy or grow flowers.  I appreciate the beauty of cucumber blossoms, the rarety of the rosemary flowers.....and would rather plant things we can eat and/or use since we have such a tiny piece of this earth.  One huge exception is the wisteria...but that does provide shade...  Anyway, we bought a dozen or so mums 2 years ago simply because they were on sale for a very good price AND my daughter was planning her wedding and these were perfect colors.  These are the survivors...there used to be 4 in this pot...but considering the amount of neglect they endure I think they're doing pretty good!

To my amazement, my window box of Chamomile has seeded itself and is sprouting up nicely!

The box of lemon balm is hanging in as well....although I'm not sure it's possible to actually kill this stuff!

We have 2 sage plants that made it through....for the most part.  A little TLC and they should be nice bushes once again....

My little herb garden was not so lucky.  It ended up being turned into a chick brooding pen so that we could get our meat chickens grown during the harsh winter months....

Speaking of meat chickens....the last 3 from our Fall and Winter hatchings should be in the freezer by the end of the week!

Epoch Has Arrived and so Has Spring Weather!

When our #2 Anatolian LGD became obsessed with getting out of the yard, we knew it would just be a matter of time before she was hit by a car and killed.  We worked immediately to find her a good working home, one where she would remain safe from vehicles.  We found the perfect place for her, she is now guarding a herd of sheep and doing her job very well.  We will always miss our Koruma.....but we feel good that she is in the right place, working hard for her new owners.

So this week we welcomed a new Anatolian puppy.  Epoch is about 10 weeks old, and he is Aegis' nephew.  We'll be training him over the next year or two and hopefully he will work along side Aegis to protect our herd.

Here he is the very first day.....carefully watching our most prized goat Tina.....protecting her from the ravaging wild animals that he must be dreaming about....

The little barn princesses watch with a careful eye....keeping their royal subjects in check..

Can there be any doubt who the next herd queen will be??

And speaking of herd leaders......take a look at who is going to be a new herdisre!!

Queenacres Frosty Frodo....isn't he striking???

In other news, we have successfully migrated 8 of our turkey poults to the outdoors!  We put them into 2 groups of 4 and set them up in large cages.  Now they can fly a bit, roost at night, and are off the ground to grow more before graduating from the cages.

Inside the house in brooders we still have 6 poults....and now close to 20 eggs still in the incubator.  My BR hen got off her nest yesterday and she is down to 6 eggs.  She's a good diligent mother so I expect them to hatch if they were fertile.

Angel's Boys....

Well Angel looked at her calendar and must have said "hmmm, today is my due date"....Feb 11, 2011.

 I woke up at 3 am and was uneasy....so I figured there was a reason for me to be awake.  I checked the barn monitor and sure enough, Angel was making all the tell-tale noises that she was in labor.  With such a difficult pregnancy, I have been watching her very closely.  She has lost a lot of body condition and things just did not seem "right" with this whole pregnancy.  Angel is the half sister to my beloved buck Exadore that we lost a couple years ago.  She is also the daughter of my dear Legacy. I have been very concerned about her health this time.  She is bred to Pete, and these kids will be very special to my herd...but I knew something just wasn't right.

At 3 am she was very uneasy and pawing at the ground.  She'd lay down for just a few seconds, then get back up. 

at 4:42 am she had the mucos discharge that signifies that kids are on the way soon.  (we call it "goo").  Once a doe has "goo"....you know to watch for kids.

at 5:52 am she pushed for the first time.  The birth fluids were amber colored, something that concerned me.  That push was followed by a series of laying down, groaning....getting up....stretching her back out....putting her front end on the ground with her back end up.....
Over and over again.  I think the kids were malpositioned...but I gave her time to work through this and give the kids time to position correctly.

at 6:42 am she pushed again.  That push was followed by another series of up and down and arching her back and putting her forelegs under her and back up again.  By this time I was VERY sure the kids were not positioned correctly for birth....but I do prefer to let the doe sort things.  It is her body and God gives them the instinct and knowledge to know what to do.  I'm just the hired hand.

At 7:20 she was pushing for a kid.  She would get up and move a bit, but she was steadily trying to get the kid out.  Within a few minutes I saw a head.  The kids' forelegs were behind him so he was presenting with head and shoulders. 

At 7:38 the first buckling was born.  5# 15 oz.  Head and shoulders with forelegs back.  A very long and hard delivery.  Angel relaxed a bit as I talked to her and massaged her..... and her labor progressed...

At 8:09 the second buckling was born, 5# 11.6 oz.  He presented normally and without complications.

I went in the house to check on the bucklings.  Our kids are taken at birth and brought inside to be cleaned, dried, umbilical cords clamped and saturated with iodine and to be sure they are on their feet.  I was a bit concerned about buck 1 because of the difficult presentation at birth.

At 8:32 the third buckling was born, 4# 13 oz.  He presented normally and without complications.

I sent buck #3 with my daughter into the house for the routine cleaning, clamping, drying...etc.  and focused my attention on Angel. 

I gave her a big bucket of warm molasses water, which she drank very well.  I also gave her fresh hay, cookies, and another good rub-down.  Once she began to pass placentas, I removed them and let her rest.

I've been so excited to see these kids....but I was disappointed that they were all bucklings.  Pete has always been a "doemaker".  So far this year we've had 5 kids sired by him.....all 5 are bucks. 

Back to Angel's triplet bucklings.  I have handed each one to my daughter and by now it is nearly 10am.  I was exhausted, my back hurt really bad from sitting on a milk crate in the birthing stall.....and my feet ached from being so cold (19º F during those birthing hours).  Angel was doing really well and I went into the house to do my double-check on each kid and get some colostrum into them.  I do them in birth order.

Boy 1 was re-dunked with iodine, cord clamp checked, and he got 4 oz of colostrum, and put into the playpen.

Boy 2 was re-dunked with iodine, cord clamp checked, and got 4 oz of colostrum, and put into the playpen.

Boy 3 was re-dunked with iodine, cord clamp checked, and as I was giving him his bottle of colostrum, I saw a problem.  He wasn't able to suck well and that is when I got a good look at his face.  He had a severe cleft lip.  My heart sunk.  I held him close and gave him the colostrum anyway because he was hungry....but I knew in my heart what had to be done.  One side of his face was completely normal, the other side was not.

By 10 am what had to be done was done.

Angel is recovering from a very difficult pregnancy and birth. 

Boy #1 is now known as Queenacres Faux Paus (because he should have been a girl)  He has been sold.

Boy #2 is now known as Queenacres Frosty Frodo...and we plan to keep him

Boy #3 is now at the rainbow bridge...RIP little boy....

New Tool...Queenacres goes high-tech!

Yea right.  Well it is a bit high tech for around here....but these devices have been around for decades.  After getting very little sleep for the past 3 nights waiting for Angel to have her babies.....I gave in.  I admit it.  I am lazy.  Getting up all hours of the night to put on muck boots and a heavy coat over my jammies to stumble out to the barn to check on a pregnant goat has gotten to me.  I've had enough.  So yesterday I started thinking about our different options to put some sort of a camera or listening device out in the barn to save my lazy self a few steps and gain a few winks of sleep.  Enter....my new partner....

It's a Graco Secure Coverage Baby monitor.  About $25 including tax + 3 AA batteries.

Yes, that's right.  I'm a whimp.  I didn't use one of these for my own children (probably because they were in the bedroom with us until they were 2)...but now I am old and lazy and my back hurts.

I wasn't willing to leave Angel alone for the 1+ hours it would have taken to go to Walmart....so I sent my pregnant daughter.  It's okay, she stayed in the baby department starry-eyed and making plans...before bringing my new little friend home.

Biggest drawback to this device so far is that you have to leave it on for an initial charge for 16 hours!

On the other hand, it's rechargable so I don't have to feed it batteries all the time (the base takes batteries in case of power outtage), but the handset is rechargable.

This morning it is my favorite radio station.  We have another winter storm coming in, and rather than having to bundle up and drudge out there to check on her....I can listen from inside and cook some stew and bake bread!

Of course being the paranoid goatkeeper that I am.....I have run out there 6 times already this morning trying to learn what the "noises" are.

Goat Update and the Breaking the Turkey Code....

Our next goat kids are due on the 11th, so Tina and Angel have been moved to the goatie day spa.  Tina loves any special attention (because she's a supermodel)....so she is eating up every minute of it....

Angel, on the other hand....has had her share of problems this pregnancy and nothing will make her happy.  I think she's carrying trips or quads and for 3 weeks she's been putting everything into her kids.  We have really had to step up her feedings and give extra calcium, vitamin E, kelp, etc...just to maintain her health.  I've been very worried about her and will be glad once this kidding is over.  We are watching closely because she could kid at any time...

Speaking of kids.....we used an old shipping crate to make a warm bed for the little barn princesses this weekend.  Filled with hay, and it has a slatted floor off the ground so they stay warm and dry.  During the afternoon the sun beats down on it and they were spralled out soaking every bit of it up...

This is really nice for them because their pen is so wet it's squishy.  Lexi's boys are growing and we plan to keep one as a herdsire...Queenacres Fine Future...."Future"

Isn't he a handsome boy?

Yesterday was the first day out for the boys...they really enjoyed the sunshine.

Tracy has been helping me figure out how we got this oddball baby turkey...and I hope this will shed some more light on the genetics...our tom is a Bourbon red, that's him on the right.  I have a Bourbon Red hen, a Royal Palm hen, and then these 2 hens pictured with the tom....

I am thinking that our little auburn colored poult may have come from that hen on the left.  She doesn't have the usual Narragansett ticking on her feathers, she's a deep chocolate color.  Here's another picture of the little poult....along with one of the BR poults.  Please excuse the dirty brooder it has been a long weekend.

In the other brooder we have the other oddball...but I think he's gonna look like a Narragansett...

We have many more eggs incubating.  My Red hen is sitting on a nest of 7....she's stayed on that nest even through all the bad weather....

And there are still over a dozen eggs in the incubator.  Now I'm anxious to see what we get!  Any ideas?

My favorite tool...

The shepherd's hook is without a doubt the handiest things I use around the homestead.  Sure, a shovel is the right tool if you are digging a hole.  And I wouldn't be without my 4 long-tined rake when it comes to cleaning the barn...

But when it comes to something I use most every day....it's this...

It used to look better.  A long time ago.  But this poor thing has been left out in the rain, sun, sleet....you get the idea.  In other words, it has been well-used!  When it's rainy I use it as a cane to keep from falling.  I have used the hooked end to catch smartellec goats when they dart through the gate.  I have used it like a pool stick when it comes to rat killin in the barn.  I have used it as a correction tool for a wayward LGD pup (NO not to beat it, but to poke it on the butt and get it's attention).  I've used it the same way for goats that get too pushy (which, by the way, is most of my herd). 
It's really a beautiful piece of equipment.  Well, it was at one point. Now instead of a fine piece of bent wood, the top looks like this...

I have left it out in the rain so much that it's lost it's bend.  No matter, it still works like a champ. 

We modified the other end immediately upon purchase.  Bob happened to have one of those rubber furniture cap thingys that fit perfectly over the end.  Very handy as a no-slip device.  :)

This morning my normally hour long job of barn chores was compounded by 11º weather turning it into a 3 hour job.  I can't tell you how great it was to have this tool.  It kept me from falling many times on the ice, broke up the ice in the water buckets, and quite frankly, is like having an old friend by my side while I work in this insane weather.  It is a rod and staff...

Psalms 23:4
......thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.