Chiques chicks - my little corner - had to pick hottest day

[chiques chicks]

Why does it seem there is never enough time and energy.

Had to actually but firewood. Just didn't get time to cut and split enough with the fence building this fall. Oh well,

Goats are doing well, growing, always wanting attention, begging for their daily carrot, lol they are neat animals, I can understand the addiction.

Five turkey decided my place is a nice place to live. Three wild type and two royal palms. Asked around, no one knows where they came from. I using they got called in by my four.

Breaking up ice in water bowls, hauling water from the house since I had to drain my outside system, guess we all experience that to some extent.

I might get internet service! The road I live on wasn't serviced, but they put a line on a couple months ago. Hopefully I'll get hooked up tomorrow and be able to upload pictures and browse more! My phone speed is so slow here, I'm on the edge of service for about the towers so it's sketchy most of the time. Real internet! Haven't had that in 5 years since I moved here!

I might be a phoro bombing soon!

 

[chiques chicks]

Had the first light snow last night. Just enough to make the roads slick at midnight
finally got real internet out here, and i promised some pictures...

The neighbors daughter loves to come see the goats

The royal palms(?) that showed up and decided to stay

just a beautiful foggy sunset

 

[HoneyDreameMomma]

Cool - free turkeys! I'm guessing since no one is claiming them you're going to try taking them on? Kind of funny the royal palms hooked up with the wild turkeys. You might tame the wild ones a bit if the palms teach them to come for food. We haven't had turkeys here yet - but I've heard domesticated turkeys can be very social and often like being with their people. Lol - although it might just be that they like their people because they know they bring food. You'll have to let us know how things go.

Btw, those Nigie wethers are cuties!

 

[chiques chicks]

the Royals and the wilds showed up together. I have four Bourbon Red in an enclosed run, so they probably came to visit. They have been hanging around for over a month, of course I put out feed and water for them.

The only place around I've seen turkey were a farm camp up the road. I called them and they said they had been hanging out around there for the last year or so, but they weren't "theirs". between the chickens, rabbits, goats, and dog, what's a few more mouths to feed. I would love to get a wild turkey population in the area, but really don't want the breeds mixing in the wild. they aren't tame as in being handled, but allow me within 5 feet, so I can't call them "wild", but rather "wild type".

I only have around 5 acres, but am trying to grow the wild diversity in the area. it's a balancing act between domestic animal safety and wildlife. My property is bordered by an agriculture preserved farm on two sides, a creek/floodplain on one, a no-chemical farmette on one, and a road. Part of my property is floodplain as well, so I sort of plant that as a riparian buffer intermixed with vine crops I don't mind losing, pumpkins and such. there is a nice mix of woods, farmland and stream banks here, so diversity is decent.

 

[Latestarter]

Glad you have a better source of internet than your phone. I'm thinking you'll enjoy it much better now. Nice pics, thanks

 

[chiques chicks]

Well, winter was kind of rough. That big storm that hit the east coast was nasty. I had bought snowshoes on a whim a couple years ago. Certainly made getting to the coops and pens easier.

A week of very cold temperatures followed, I hate cold wet hands. I have nerve and vessel damage in one hand from an industrial accident and a few fingers freeze easily. Looks like most of the horrible is behind us.

Lost a few chickens, not surprising, although there appears to be little frostbite damage on my flock.

The real bad. A few weeks ago, one of my two young goats died. He seemed fine in the evening, next morning he was dead. His partner was upset and not looking "right", so I brought him in the house so he'd be near someone.
After a few days he was back to himself so I put him back out. He seems to be doing fine.

Of course I can't have a single goat! Only option was a friend. Or two. This past weekend I found someone who had two mini Nubians they needed to rehome at a decent price, so I got them Sunday.
They are so much bigger than my young Nigerian, so there were a few days of pushing and shoving. They were in new surroundings and shy to me, but after just a few days seem to be adjusting.. Not great friend with the youngster, but he is holding his own. He has placed to get away and take a break when needed.
New ones are both about a year old does. I have a feeling this fall goat math may join chicken math as one of my classes!

Put some eggs in the incubator as an experiment on our Hatching protocol. If any hatch, they are a first test run on my albino project as well.

Now mud season starts. Such a high water table here and surface springs all over the property. It's like walking in a swamp.

 

[Latestarter]

Sorry for your losses. That east coast storm did a lot of damage to a lot of folks. Sorry for your losses. I am however glad to hear about finding those 2 mini Nubians. That was a stroke of luck! I don't remember if your goat(s) were wethered or not... Hope the herd stabilizes quickly for you. You know, it's been said that without pictures, it never happened... Would love to see your new goats Please and thanks

 

[chiques chicks]

The two new additions. Harley, the one with more white, and Carla the primarily brown. They still are getting accustomed to their new place, but have learned I bring good things. Carla lives to have her head rubbed, Harley likes treats. My little Leonard just loves attention and treats.

Carla seems to have much better features for the breed,

Leonard is a wether, so no problems with unintended matings. I'll probably see how things go this summer and perhaps look to breed in the fall. I'm considering a pygmy or ND buck when the time comes because I'd like to work toward slightly smaller animals. I had no intention of getting Nubians, even minis, but they were there.

Plans change.

 

[Latestarter]

Very nice. Thanks for sharing!

 

[chiques chicks]

The new goats are adjusting. Definitely becoming friendlier.

Just completed a hatch with my project chickens. I have what appears to be an albino gene floating around. It appears I got two, maybe three albinos out of 6 that hatched. They were intentionally incubated with little care or control, just to see what they would handle. I out 6 live out of 11 locked down.

Here is a white, red eyed, pink legged Orpington chick. Believed to be albino.