My sanity is debatable. According to my husband there is no question. He will be the first to tell you that I am a few flakes short of a full bale.
First border collies, then sheep and now....chickens.
My boss wanted chickens on the farm. I found a screaming deal for a great coop and four laying hens on Craigslist. He bought it and I get to take care of them and eat the eggs between his visits.
Yesterday we picked the coop and hens up and brought them to the farm. They came with everything, feed, shavings, feeder, waterer, coop etc. We are building a chicken yard this week.
Two Rhode Island Red hens.
Two Buff Orpington hens
After getting settled in yesterday they gave us four eggs.
This morning I opened the nest box and found...
Later in the afternoon we went to a local guy who raises and sells chickens where I bought four of my own. A Cochin, some kind of a black and white spotted hen, a white leg horn hen, and another spotted hen (I cannot remember the breeds right now). After getting them settled into the coop they left me these.
Two of my new hens are not laying yet. They are only 4 months old. Now I am planning on setting up another chicken pen in the sheep night pasture and getting more chickens.
Baby Behemoth, the rambouillet ewe was fascinated by the chickens.
She followed and watched them for several minutes.
Very cute.
Another new development on the farm is the addition of three romney lambs I have been anticipating for a couple months. They were bred by Lin Schwider from The Pines Farm. One ram lamb, who will be used for breeding this year, and two ewe lambs. They are unrelated and registered.
I decided on Romney for a few different reasons. Versatility, as fiber animals or meat. They are perfectly suited for our wet climate.
Ultimately they compliment my existing Romney ewes perfectly and it just makes sense.
It made me feel really good about the condition of our lambs when I saw that my lambs were comparable in body weight, size and condition as these. Many of mine were born a full month later and are the same size and a few are larger.
After a couple days to get accustomed to their new home it was time to begin introductions with the dogs.
The ram lamb, we named Humperdink, decided to defend his girls. He stomped, stomped again....then Brynn felt it was prudent to educate him with her teeth.
I don't think this is what he had planned when he decided to challenge Brynn.
Oh yeah, Humperdink, you are a big strong Ram Lamb hiding in the barn.
He will be going into the ram pen with his buddy Fred next week. You remember Fred, our bottle lamb that was adopted by the lamb collector, Sadie. Fred has been granted a reprieve from the locker. He will live out his life as Humperdink's companion.
Let's hope they like each other.
First border collies, then sheep and now....chickens.
My boss wanted chickens on the farm. I found a screaming deal for a great coop and four laying hens on Craigslist. He bought it and I get to take care of them and eat the eggs between his visits.
Yesterday we picked the coop and hens up and brought them to the farm. They came with everything, feed, shavings, feeder, waterer, coop etc. We are building a chicken yard this week.
Two Rhode Island Red hens.
Two Buff Orpington hens
After getting settled in yesterday they gave us four eggs.
This morning I opened the nest box and found...
Later in the afternoon we went to a local guy who raises and sells chickens where I bought four of my own. A Cochin, some kind of a black and white spotted hen, a white leg horn hen, and another spotted hen (I cannot remember the breeds right now). After getting them settled into the coop they left me these.
Two of my new hens are not laying yet. They are only 4 months old. Now I am planning on setting up another chicken pen in the sheep night pasture and getting more chickens.
Baby Behemoth, the rambouillet ewe was fascinated by the chickens.
She followed and watched them for several minutes.
Very cute.
Another new development on the farm is the addition of three romney lambs I have been anticipating for a couple months. They were bred by Lin Schwider from The Pines Farm. One ram lamb, who will be used for breeding this year, and two ewe lambs. They are unrelated and registered.
I decided on Romney for a few different reasons. Versatility, as fiber animals or meat. They are perfectly suited for our wet climate.
Ultimately they compliment my existing Romney ewes perfectly and it just makes sense.
It made me feel really good about the condition of our lambs when I saw that my lambs were comparable in body weight, size and condition as these. Many of mine were born a full month later and are the same size and a few are larger.
After a couple days to get accustomed to their new home it was time to begin introductions with the dogs.
The ram lamb, we named Humperdink, decided to defend his girls. He stomped, stomped again....then Brynn felt it was prudent to educate him with her teeth.
I don't think this is what he had planned when he decided to challenge Brynn.
Oh yeah, Humperdink, you are a big strong Ram Lamb hiding in the barn.
He will be going into the ram pen with his buddy Fred next week. You remember Fred, our bottle lamb that was adopted by the lamb collector, Sadie. Fred has been granted a reprieve from the locker. He will live out his life as Humperdink's companion.
Let's hope they like each other.
1 comment:
Chickens are VERY addictive! I put off getting chickens for years and could kick myself every time I think about why I waited. They are so much fun to watch and to just have around... not to mention the yummy eggs!
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