Poor Cloud, Poor Cole

We had a near disaster on the farm overnight. It was nearly 9:00pm last night when we finished dinner. Chase and I went out to lock up the critters by the light of an iPhone app.

Fast forward to this morning when Cole came inside nearly in tears. It seems his little silkie, Cloud, spent the night in the duck pond. She must have fallen in and gotten water-logged. Since it was dark when we locked up, Chase and I didn't notice her.

She was lethargic and shivering. We put her under a heat lamp and dried her feathers with the hairdryer. I'm happy to report that she seems to have made a full recovery! Looks like we have another step we need to add to our evening routine....check the pond for chickens.

Just Ducky

Clyde and Clay enjoyed their fresh water last night. And despite my son's comment, it had only been two days since I'd cleaned it.

Monday, we had to get out the door to a doctor's appointment. I was trying to get my hair dry and makeup on when Chase yelled, "Mom, the meaty birds are out". I looked out the window and sure enough, there was a flock of white chickens on the neighbor's side of the stream.

We rushed outside and followed the birds up to my neighbor's house. All the time I'm thinking the neighbors are going to love having my chickens tearing up their landscaping and pooping on their pool deck!

The birds beelined for their backyard. I had one of the kids go knock on the door in case they were home to explain why we were prowling in the backyard. About this time, I saw that the white birds had black on their wings. Check the picture a couple posts down- ours are all white. Then I saw the coop. We had just gone on a wild chicken chase after our neighbor's chickens!

We made it to our appointment on time, though I got to go with wet hair, and we learned a valuable lesson to go check the pen to make sure our birds are missing first!

Barn Raising

Our barn finally went up last week. It has been so rainy here that the contractors were delayed and kept putting us off. As it is, they worked in the rain one afternoon.

We still need to do a lot of build-out to make it what we want, but at least the goats no longer have to vie for shelter under the lean-to. We are planning to close in one end with a loft for feed, stalls for the goats and an area for milking. It will be really nice not to have to drag them through the rain to the driveway to milk!

A Broiler by Another Name

My friend Lori dropped off her 9 half-grown Cornish roosters today. She just doesn't have the time to care for them. So we ended up with a new taste treat that will be ready in about 4 more weeks!

Cheese Making Workshop

I have been toying with the idea of offering a cheese making workshop. In the first workshop, we would learn fresh mozzarella which is an easy cheese that will take just over an hour to complete.

The workshop would be open to four people only so everyone can have plenty of room and one-on-one instruction. Cost would be $30 and would include rennet and citric acid so you can continue to make the cheese at home as well as your homemade cheese and whey. Each attendee would need to bring a fresh gallon of whole milk (Not ultrapasturized. Plain old Publix milk works fine) and a large microwaveable bowl.

Please comment or email if that's something you would be interested in so I can set it up.

Once a Day

I'm intrigued by this milker. Works for goats too...only $50. May have to get one.

With homeschooling back in session, I have to take some things off of my plate. The first was the bobwhite quail. I released them last week though they still hang out around the farm. Suddenly I like them again!

The other is going to be milking two times a day. When I got the goats, I'd planned on milking once a day. That was one big advantage they had over cows! Since I've had them, I've been milking at least twice a day to try to provide milk to everyone who wants it and have some for myself.

I can't do it anymore. Starting today, milking will be once a day. Now instead of milking, I'm going to go make my kids some whole wheat pancakes (with our milk, grain and eggs of course)!

A Milk Maid's Confession

I can't handmilk. There I've said it, I'm a wannabe milk maid. Glad to have that off my chest.

My hand pump broke yesterday and I have been struggling to get the girls milked since. I have the replacement part on order(as well as a spare pump), but it can't get here soon enough.

This morning, I got Kat on the stand and put the bucket up under her. After about 4 minutes of milking, she had finished all her feed. "Here, have some alfalfa, Kat." Of course, that made her stompy and, bam, a hoof goes into the bucket of milk. Not a huge loss since I'd only managed to milk about a cup at that point.

So out came the broken pump, which is still more efficient than my hand milking. I am so tempted to go to a once a day milking but I can't seem to keep milk in the house for my family, it is in such demand.

I ran a CMT test (California Mastitis Test) on all the goats this morning because I want to see if Onyx is clearing up. If I have it out, I may as well test them all. Kat and Trix are neg. As is Onyx's right half. The good news is, her left half is showing less infection! There's hope for us yet.