Turkey Trauma

Sigh, our neighbor's wonderful dog attacked our "Tommy" (our tom turkey). "Tommy" has no tail and his back is chewed up really badly. (ie. no feathers and chunks of flesh gone.) I don't know if he's even make it. I gave him some banamine and he is acting a bit better. (If he's still acting bad tomorrow we'll have to put him down.) I think "Tommy"was protecting his feathered ladies. Poor "Tommy"!

To top it off one of the turkey chicks is dead. The weak one is the one who died.

Amazing Turkey Story

We have three Bourbon Red hens and a tom. I had the suspicion that someone was trying to have babies as one of the hens had disappeared . Well last week the mother hen came out with one chick (poult). One. Sad sate of affairs to only have one baby! I wondered if some chicks may have gotten lost in the grass and found the nest. There was one empty shell and 2 eggs that had chicks in them, one of which had a hole pecked in it. 5 were very rotten eggs. (One can tell that they are rotten as they are light and there is liquid inside the egg.) I thought well maybe she know that those 2 wouldn't hatch (dead), but brought them in and put them in the incubator any way.

Oh, her one chick was not a "newborn" as he already had wing feathers.

Well the "dead" chick was alive after spending a couple hours warming up in the incubator. He was having trouble getting out so after leaving him for 2 or 3 hours with no progress we decided to help him. After he was out of the shell, dried and rested it was very apparent that he was not "right". He could not get up and kept flipping over and twisting when he tried. It is not very uncommon to have a chick with that kind of problem (it's caused by being in the shell in a funny way and a variety of other factors.) My mom and I did not want to put him down so we decided to wait and see what he was like the next day. (Chicks don't need to eat right after they hatch as just before they hatch the last of the egg yolk is absorbed by them.)

By morning he was still not "right". I have him a medicine dropper of sugar water and a tiny piece of boiled egg yolk in his beak (old farmer remedy for weak or stressed chicks. ) I would take him out and work with him several times a day. He still wanted to stand but, one of his legs kept going to the side and not working. I kept pushing his leg back to the right position each time. After two days he started getting weak and could not hold his head up. On Sunday morning I decided to give him propylene glycol in a medicine dropper. It worked he was stronger again . When we got back from church he was up and walking! Out to his mom who was locked up in a pen with her one chick he went. He was not sure what do do at first, but got the hang of it and at night both chicks were tucked up under her wing. I checked them on Monday morning and he was as wild as ever and fast! He hid under her tail when I came.

The other egg never hatched and was discarded after it started oozing.

Well all's well that ends well and the mom turkey has two babies! Yeah the hard work payed off.

Sheep on the Hillside

I took a bunch of pictures of my sheep/goats on one of the hilly pastures. I love seeing sheep graze on hilly pastures!

Lambs and kids growing up

Busy last couple weeks. Got everyone out on grass three week later than normal due to the cold weather. Dewomed in the rain-bad idea as I got drenched. Here are some of the babies. Sale sheep are for sale pending horns, fleece, conformation, and growth rate at at least three months.


PS23 Finch X PS23 Fife AI (Orion)-white, was born golden and still has a gold tone to his legs, tail and nose. Very silky and soft. He will probably be a smaller ram. He may be for sale.
White kid-I think this is the doe kid out of France and Danburry (TX buck)
PS23 Funzie X ??PS23 Fife?-Moorit horned ewe. Will need to do genetic testing if I want to register her.
She is a shy baby-here she is hiding behind mom.
PS23 Emrald X PS23 Fairlight-white ram lamb. Silky soft type fleece. May carry polled as his sire is a half poll/scurred ram. Twin sister is a keeper.
Windswept Lime X PS23 Fife-white (born with three small brown spots that faded) ewe. May be for sale.
Sheepy Hollow Sienna X PS23 Fairlight AI (Jings)- fawn katmoget/ghost katmoget? His dam is moorit and his sire is white. His sire sired one musket lamb last year (out of a musket ewe) and this year he sired this guy. All of his other lambs were white. This guy's marking have faded.

Color aside his is an excellent ram. His fleece is very fine and soft. He has great conformation and poll wool! A keeper for now.Close up of the previous ram lamb's face.
PS23 Ferndale AI (Gordon) X PS23 Campbell AI (Jericho)-fawn katmoget ram lamb. May be for sale.
Sabbath Farm Fonteyn X Drum Ram (AKA Black)- grey katmoget ram. He is a keeper! Very soft and crimpy fleece. Long and somewhat tall, nice build. He's freindly to boot!
PS23 Evening Primrose XPS23 Campbell AI (Jericho)-grey katmoget ewe. She has a longer silky fleece. A keeper for now.Just for fun a Shetland X Corriedale grey katmoget ewe.
PS23 Finch X PS23 Fife AI (Orion)-moorit gulmoget ram lamb. Very silky and soft. He will probably be a smaller ram. He may be for sale.
PS23 Forsythia X Drum Jings-grey ram. He has a white twin ram. (The white lamb in the picture is a crossbred lamb.) I haven't been able to catch him or his brother so don't know what their fleeces are like. I expect them to be soft and crimpy based on parentage. One may be for sale.Last, but definatly not least, is my bottle baby doe kid out of China X Danburry (TX buck.) She is a doll! Friendly, super friendly! (Most Angoras are shy.) She was born red with a darker red splash on her side. Very soft mohair. She is very vocal about her bottles. I got a video of her drinking just for fun.



All done kiddo. "I want more, please give me more!"

Interesting link

This is a really neat article on some Angora goats and handspinners in another country, Tajikistan. The women there spin and sell yarn from the mohair for a living, somewhat like the women of other rural areas including the Shetland islands, did an era ago. There are some neat picture of the goats, women spinning, and the BEAUTIFUL yarn.

http://handeyemagazine.com/content/new-choices

Lambing/kidding stats

PS23 Fife AI (Orion)-moorit very fine and crimpy
PS23 Essex (moorit)- 2 moorit rams
PS23 Daysong(grey katmoget)- moorit ram
PS23 Finch (white)-white/tan? ram and moorit gulmoget ram
PS23 Ely Cathedral (fawn katmoget)-moorit ram and fawn katmoget ewe

PS23 Edelwiess (musket katmoget)-fawn katmoget ram and fawn katmoget ewe

PS23 Campbell AI (Jericho)-fawn katmoget long fine crimpy fleece
Windswept Lime(white)- moorit ram and white with fading spots ewe
PS23 Dingdong (fawn blettet)-fawn katmoget ewe
PS23 Eastwind (emsket HST)-moorit krunet ewe
PS23 Evening Primrose (black gulmoget)-black ewe and grey katmoget ewe
PS23 Ferndale AI (Gordon black/sheala?)-black ewe and fawn katmoget ram, ram may be for sale
PS23 Flourance (white)-white ram
PS23 Fiona (black)-black krunet ewe and grey katmoget ewe

PS23 Fairlight AI (Jings)-white cimpy and fine, polled/scurred
PS23 Emrald (grey katmoget)-white ram and white ewe, ram may be for sale

Sheepy Hollow Sienna (moorit)-white ram and fawn "ghost" katmoget ram-this guy is super nice! May be for sale if I don't keep him

Alice white Merino-white ewe lamb

Fronzie white Shetland X Merino-white ram and white ewe

AI Jings (white)

PS23 Forsythia (grey)-grey ram and white ram

AI Drum Ram (black)

Sabbath Farm Fontyen (fawn katmoget)-stillborn fawn katmoget ram, grey katmoget ram and fawn katmoget ram

Sabbath Farm Silvia (grey)-grey ram

AI Island Skeld (white)

Sabbath Farm Swan (musket)-white ram and white ewe

UNK sire

PS23 Funzie AI(Jings grey katmoget)-moorit ewe. I think PS23 Fife is the sire, but will have to do parentage testing to register.

Garland (white Coopworth X Shetland/BFL)-white ram

Cooper-white Coopworth

Fuzz (white Shetland X Corriedale/Dorset)-white wether and white ewe

Febee (white Shetland X Merino)-white ram and white ewe

PS23 Bluebell (sheala iset)-white ewe and white ram

PS23 Cinderella (black iset)-2 white rams

PS23 Early Spring (moiget)-white ram

PS23 Ewe Won (mioget HST)-white ram

0364 (unregistered musket Shetland)-2 white rams

0367 (unregistered lt.grey Shetland)-2 white ewes

0369 (unregistered lt.grey Shetland)-white ram and white ewe

Windham-white (color carrier) Corriedale

Echo (grey katmoget Shetland X BFL)-2 white ewes

Fudge (charcoal Shetland X BFL)-white wether and charcoal ewe

PS23 Dove (white)-white ewe and grey katmoget ewe

PS23 Ewe Two (moorite)-white ram and white ewe

PS23 Felicity (white)- white ram

PS23 Easterlilly (white)-white ram and white ewe

PS23 Fairlie AI( Orion fawn)-white ewe with black dot on neck

Grant-colored (charcoal/grey) Coopworth

Bramble Jocelyn (moorit)-black ewe and black ram

UnderTheSon Sorelle (moorit iset)-black ewe and black ram

Longshadow Amber (musket)-2 grey rams and black ewe

UnderTheSon Claremori (fawn)-black ram and black ewe

PS23 Elm (lt. grey)-grey ram and black ram

0363(unregistered lt.grey Shetland)-black ewe and grey ram

Goats:

Albee-AAGBA white OR buck

England (CAGBA "black")-pale silver buck, cream buck, white doe

Pearl (CACBA faded red)-white buck, white doe

Eden(AAGBA white)-stillborn white buck

Caspian-faded red CAGBA buck

Belle(CAGBA white)-2 white bucks

Danburry-AAGBA white TX buck

China(CAGBA "black")-2 reddish bucks and a reddish doe with a darker spot on the side (they will look like white goats when they grow up)

Terra (AAGBA white)-white buck-died

Jade (AAGBA white)-white buck

Treasure(AAGBA white)-didn't kid

France (CAGBA white)-white doe

92 born out of 53 bred 174% lambing/kidding

182% with just the sheep, 220% for CAGBA does, 75% for AAGBA does (both kinds of goats together 133%.)

Out of 92 3 died/or were stillborn= 3% death loss

Summery: I really need to work on lambing percentages! The AAGBA goats do have an excuse for this year as 3 were from OR (one of the OR does is the one who didn't kid.) My goal is to get over or at least at 200%

Last year I had 166% lambing/kidding, so at least this year I did make a little progress (8% better.)

Lamb and kid pictures

This is the youngest lamb-a single ewe. I love her! She is out of PS23 Funzie (F1 Jings). I don't know who her sire is as I thought her dam had settled to AI as I had put the teaser ram in and she didn't act like she came into heat. Haha to me she was in with everybody as I had stuck all the ewes and rams together when she did come in heat. I think PS23 Fife (F1 Orion) is her sire, but if I won't to register her I will need to do genetic testing. Or I can just keep her as an unregistered ewe.These are the youngest babies. Colorfield Farm Pearl had a buck and a doe out of Albee (the white AAGBA OR buck.)

This is the best black ewe lamb this year. She is out of PS23 Fiona and PS23 Campbell. She is keeper at this point.
This is her twin also a keeper.
PS23 Edelwiess'es ewe lamb (the other is a wether.) She'll probably be a keeper.

Thief! This lamb was caught in the act of stealing milk! She waited untill the opportune moment, when the ewe got up and was stretching to get a swig of milk. The moorit is her twin brother (a wether.) He had been born at night and his dam acted like she was done, but in the morning had a little "leftover" lamb! They are out of PS23 Ely Cathedral and PS23 Fife.

I have seen lambs trying to steal from does and vice versa this year. That looks funny when they do.

PS23 England had triplet kids out of Albee. The silver and pale cream are bucks and the white is a doe. The lamb in the background is out of PS23 Finch and PS23 Fife. He is a pale tan color. His twin brother is a moorit gulmoget.
Close up of the tan ram lamb. I'm guessing he is white genetically.
Moorit gulmoget ram lamb.