Big Island Chickens

 Big news! Our very first mammal birth on the farm happened early this morning. Our very own flock has been expanded by a count of one. We had a ram lamb born this morning sometime early because by the time I got out there for morning feeding, it was settled, dry and apparently had it's first meal. We did the checks- Teats open and flowing-Check  Little guys knows which end to find food- Check Umbilical Cord ok- Check Afterbirth cleared- Check Second Lamb- Only a cursory check made- No tools for internal checks available. She did make moves like she was or might have another pawing,   pacing, but no real labor signs so I think they may have been to contract the uterus back to normal. But what do I know= I raised market lambs years ago not breeding sheep. This also marks the milestone of our Ewe, our Ram, and our lamb. Up till now, we have bought lambs to be grown up for the freezer , this is our first to be raised made by our flock. For those of you that will ask, 'how can you

 Processing Day and More Sheep!  Today is December 23 so todays post is a few days old, well, not quite a week since we processed the  chickens out of the flock. We also have more sheep but more on that later.  Processing day was on the 18th, a Saturday and since we were taking the birds off to a friends to make a day of processing both our and her birds, AND she has a working feather plucker, we loaded up our 19 hens and the 2 roos we decided to cull. Our current flock is in it's third year of hens with a very few that were in their 5th year. With this years particularly hard molt (nation wide if you gauge it by the general tone on the chicken forums online) that saw egg production go from 25 eggs a day to actually zero and the high number of older chickens in the flock we decided a hard cull was in order, saving only the youngest in case they start up again in Spring. That means we are keeping the golden comet hens that have been the dominant layers for us this year, accounting f

 Feeder Results The girls are using the feeder well, of course the goats are wanting to climb into it. Sheep have no such inclination. As long as they can eat, they are happy munching outside the feeder.   As for the chickens, they too tend to hop up and into the feeder. We do feed alfalfa pellets and some occasional grain for the goats and the sheep so they are looking for the left overs that get missed.  Though this is a Chicken Blog, right now we are focusing on our meat flock of goats and sheep. Today's concern is setting up appointments for seeing candidates for two new additions of sheep ewes. We have two farms we are looking to set up go see's for tomorrow. Both on the north end of the Island. WE want Dorper's, but most breeders are ranging their herds so inter breeding and crosses are really all we are going to find here. Still, they are hardy and reasonable fast growers if crossed with Katahdins.  We fell in love with a few on Craig's List that showed black ag

  Sheep or Goat Feeder We do more than Chickens here and this project is all about our goats and sheep.  This build takes basic woodworking and basic metalworking skills. If you know how to weld and use a saw, you can do this. I have a table saw, miter saw, metal cut off saw, pneumatic tools, drills, sanders etc., but this can be made with a hand saw, hammer, nails, and a drill.   Design: I started with an image of a shed type of feeder that I found on Google and modified it based on what I felt I wanted for my animals. 1.        Less waste. More feed in the animal is better, right? 2.        Covered area. We like to eat in the shade, why not them? 3.        Raised tray. Eating up off the ground means less chance of parasites. 4.        Holds a full bale. Less feeding time means more for other things. 5.        Easy loading. Well, because I’m old and getting lazy. 6.        Cheap. I wanted to use what I had on hand.   Build: The plan I came up with was based

 What's New A month has gone by and of course by now you know that had Mrs. Sheep delivered a live or dead lamb, I would have been eagerly posting the news. Well, her due date has come and is long gone and we have decided to rent a Ram from a friend to make sure the deed is done and we will be expectant farmers in just a few months.  The Ram has indeed been delivered to the farm, today in fact. His name is Liam and he is a fine hair sheep of the breed St Croix. Looks to be at 100-125 pounds and he hit the ground ready to do his duty. Not so sure about Mrs. Sheep. While her  introduction was not so much seduction, she seemed interested though in tried and true 'hard to get' fashion, her interest was feigned with a distancing dash to the pen. Things look to be busy for the month and I am sure he will get it done. New due date will be 5 months from now or March 12 plus or minus. Rambo of course, is totally confused as to the new occupant of the property and doesn't know wh

 What's Up? Well, its been a few days and we have had a couple of odd ones. We are running out of time for this pregnancy to actually be a pregnancy. Goats gestational period is 145 days, give or take and she is taking as many as possible. I went to Blackies Suffolk and Veggies site† to use their gestational calculator and found out this: Breeding Date: Since we didn't know exactly when, I used the last possible day it could have happened, the day before we picked her up which was September 6th The calculator spit these out: Due date- 08/30/2021 As early as-08/26/2021 As late as - 09/11/2021 So there is only 5 possible days left until she either is a fattie sheep and I have been over feeding her and it's my fault she is a tubby sheep, not a pregnant sheep OR she is just taking her time and enjoying the ride. As I stated in earlier blog posts, she has had days of what I would call Braxton-Hicks like contractions where it looked like she was in what I have been described as a