Saturday, July 30, 2011

Sales List

I just updated my sale pages and have a few NASSA registered Shetland ewe and ram lambs and some older ewes available. I also have some Angora wethers and some Shetland wethers with fine soft fleeces for fiber pets. I have 3 or 4 crossbred ewe lambs that will be available this year as well.

Thursday, July 14, 2011

Shepherding

In a little house in Wisconsin, all covered in white siding
lived one shepherd girl and the rest of the fam(i)ly

As she lay down at night all curled up to sleep
one little Baa sounded not "right"

She went to investigate and much
to her horror, all hundred and more
Sheepies were out!

She ran and she chased to get them back in
before she could be retiring!

(I really am not a poet and don't know the "rules".) A couple nights ago at 11.30 the jerks flattened the fence by stampeding it. They were all milling around the driveway when I "caught them in their crime".




Friday, July 1, 2011

Chicks

This is a "newborn" chick. When it is in the egg it's head is curled over to it's side and it's tiny wing is over it's eye. the chick starts hatching by pecking a pip hole. It is usually several hours before they hatch. Most of the chick cracked their eggs completely in half. Right after the chicks hatch they loose a little blood in the umbilical cord (not sure what it's called in a chicken) area . They are so exhausted that they just lay there. The tiny chicks also peep really loudly right after they hatch. After the little guys are dried off and fluffy out they go to the chick pen!

We had 14 hatch. 2 eggs were duds and 1 chick died in the shell. These guys are Black Australorps and Black Australorp X Americaunas

Close up of a chick! A couple days after the incubator chicks hatched a mama hen had 4 babies, 1 died the next day though. She is taking care of her 3 chicks and is so proud!
We are also raising 35 meat chicks. They grow super fast and only take 10 weeks till they are ready. Then we take them to the butcher and bring home nice, big frozen chickens! Home gown chicken is so much tastier than the store bought. Many of the store bought chickens are fed a very bad diet of old cookies (from factories) and recycled pig manure. Yuck! They sit in their own manure so bad their chest feathers get burned off due to the ammonia. Ours have a short happy life and get to go outside (once they are feathered out.)