Busy busy busy

We started the week with a bust. Literally. 

We incubated our first batch of eggs last month, it was a particularly warm day which made our rooster quite 'active' and we thought it'd be a sure thing. The eggs were supposed to hatch at 21 days. We listened for peeps, nothing. We watched for movement. "Did you see that?" "Did that blue one just twitch?"

Day 21. Nothing. Day 22. Nothing. Day 23, Rog's birthday. Nothing. So we weren't ready to throw in the towel quite yet so we did some research. Low humidity, low temps can slow things down so all bets are off until day 25 passes. 

Day 25. Nothing. 

We cracked the eggs, carefully awaiting the stench. Zero development, zero embryos, zero signs that they even started to do something. Hatching fail #1. We candled them but had no clue what we were seeing. Incubator 12. Us zero. 

Rog's birthday had an up side though. Or is it a down side. He grew up working with Nubians. Our first goat, Avery was a Nubian. A loud, obnoxious Nubian. So dummy bought him one as a birthday gift. Dummy being me. . . 

She is fantastically cute. And he loves her. She is Rock-E-Timber ET Sabine. She came home with us during a tornado and we couldn't find anything catchy related to the gods/goddesses of wind, storms, etc. so we settled on an ancient Roman name, Sabine which means the calm after the harvest. Pretty fitting, I think!

So we have sold most of the available kids, chores are smoother and easier, and I had to go and buy a freaking newborn Nubian. Sheesh.

More fatty fat meat birds joined the crew yesterday. 20 this round, 30 more coming in July.

The chickens are being inundated with birds. Starlings in particular. This year more than ever, nests appear overnight, poop covers every available surface. Yet another reason I hate birds. Dirty messy listeriosis carrying pests. This nest WAS quite lovely though. 

Blessing did remarkably well through kidding season. She adores the babies and lets them climb and bounce all over her. She is not fond of visiting dogs and voices her distaste, repeatedly. In other words, she is doing her job...well.

She earned a spa day after completing her first kidding season with us. We are much more comfortable with her now, haltering, catching, feeding, even trimming her feet have gone pretty well. But for shearing I thought I'd leave it to the professionals. A neighboring alpaca farm had hired a service to come out so I simply had to walk her next door and watch them get the job done quickly and efficiently, she handled it like a trooper. I think she looks creepier now. Tail is up all the time and I am definitely not interested in seeing the goods. She looks tiny now, but she tips the scales at about 280. 

Say cheese!

Week in Review

Is that the sun??!?!?!

Still hibernating. They're in therapy. Housecats really come in handy sometimes!

The birds moved in to every nook and cranny over the winter. This one is ingenious, a toppled over watering can was full to the brim with 'nest'.

We're going to need the seed spreader very soon...

What the hell is this?

Soooooo hungry! Outdoor time makes for ravenous babies. . . 

I leave town for a few days and come back to 10 new trees to plant.

I lost my garage space to the lawnmower.

We're getting there!

A blogging "funny"

When you manage a blog, you can track pageviews, browser types, most popular posts, etc. On any given day I can see that I have visitors from the US, Australia, Italy, China and the Ukraine. Cute "kid" pictures are popular as are gardening (failures!) and cheesemaking. A nice feature of blogger is that search terms are tracked, ie how do visitors find my blog? Do they type in a specific pedigree? Or breed name? Or Capra Lane? Today I had a unique search request:

Boy oh boy. Somewhere in the world a teenage boy is disappointed that all 'teats' aren't created equal. . .

No matter how long the winter, spring is sure to follow

Which do you prefer??

There- up in the tree? The first redwing blackbird of the season, a sure sign spring is near. 

Our new haybine. Another piece of equipment graces our lawn. Another step on the path to self-sufficiency.

Well, hello!

Mom, what is that bright light? Its new to us. . .
The sun, of course- you'll see it again soon. 

Luna is exhausted. She licked a lot of baby goat lips today.

End of the 2014 Kidding Season!!

We made it. Barely! I generally prefer to have kids clustered together, and although this leads to a lot of short term chaos, having births spread out over many weekends isn't ideal either. This year's kidding season spanned about 6 weeks which coincided with an unusually busy season at work, making it that much more painful. It feels good to drop the calendar of vaccines, inductions and births in the trash- yay!

Sage decided to put on a show for our guests and make a grand show of trying to deliver a very large and very stuck breech buck kid. At the same time, Lark thought it would be a good idea to lie down and push. Lark easily delivered twin girls, one saanen type and one solid black with a white splash. They are petite, cute and thriving - the little black doe reminds me of Stella, one of my favorites that I sold a few years back.

After much pushing, pulling and sweating, Sage's buck kid was successfully extracted. I was certain he was a goner, simply because of the length of the struggle and was shocked to see him gasp for breath. He had a weak start but is doing well now, topping the scales at about 12 lbs. What a beast! This was a breeding to Roeburn's Limerick Shamus, a pairing from which I was wishing for a girl...maybe next year.

Now its time to celebrate small miracles - the does jumping on the milkstand without assistance, keeping the inflations on their teats without spastic freak outs, putting away the disbudding iron and tattoo kit and finally, sending kids off to their new homes.

A Final Tally for 2014 ~ 27 kids

Alpines

Luna - 1 doe

Sage - 1 buck

Cammile - 1 doe, 1 buck

Charlotte - 2 does

Claire - 1 doe, 2 bucks

Lark - 2 does

Saanens

Masquerade - 2 does (3rd stillborn)

Luciana - 2 does

Mona Lisa - 2 bucks

Toggenburgs

Elina - 1 buck

Emilene - 2 does, 1 buck

Macy - 1 doe, 2 bucks

May - 1 doe

Emmette - 1 doe, 1 buck

Nearing the end

What do you get when you cross a saanen buck with a toggenburg doe?

One of each, of course. Emmette had a togg-colored doe kid and a saanen look buckling. Another 5 minute labor, for which Rog was very thankful for given he was home alone. 

The doe has a little white frosting on her coat and the buck is all saanen except for darker colored horn buds. 

Two more to go, Lark and Sage next weekend, then we're done with all this madness. D. O. N. E. 

A few kids have already moved out to their new homes and one of these days I have to post a sale ad for the two available doe kids I'd like to move along, one from Luci and one from Charlotte. 

Labor done the *right* way

Cammile is all business. She's the bully of the farm, a strong second in command to Elina. She is also inexplicably prettier when she's pregnant, which is strange. Better topline, better rear leg set. If only she had a full udder I think she would have no problem getting her last CH leg in the showring. She bounces around, beats everyone up- none of the lounging and grunting that many of the others take part in during the last few weeks before kidding.

Cam was induced for Saturday morning, a late Friday check told me she would go early so I started my hourly camera checks at about 3am. At 5 she suddenly laid down to push so I suited up and headed outside. By the time I walked from the milkroom to the pen she pushed out half the first kid, a chamoise buck. Before I could even lift him and put him in the tote and start drying him off, she gave another heave and out popped the second kid, a chamoisee doe.

Start to finish - 5 minutes. Tops. I looked at her, gave her a head scratch and without even a glance at her babies she popped up and started eating her breakfast. She seemed bothered that she had to take a few minutes out of her day to birth some kids.

It was a good morning. No sitting for hours on end, no disasters. I got the doe kid I was waiting for and even a nap!