Mamaboid-Bad day turned out a whole lot better than it could have.

[elevan]

I have some questions that need clarifying for me. We gave all the goats their CDT shots the 18th of December, when Elsie was 4 weeks from kidding. Now Stephanie and Dusty are due to kid May 17th, and I just want to make sure I do this right. In order to give their kids the protection, I should give these girls another dose, right? Then do the kids at like 6 weeks old. Also, we gave Elsie's kids their CDT shots at 6 weeks old after Mom had hers at 4 weeks before birth. (actually 6 weeks because she didn't go as soon as we figured she would). They are now 10 weeks old, do they need another dose or are they covered til they get their shot next spring when we breed them? Can you overdo the CDT? I have read all the posts on this, and it just confused me more. Also, they are due for a second round of Di-methox. If they need CDT, should we do them while they are on the Di-meth or wait until they are done with this round? Sheesh, I feel like a newbie here with all these questions. Do you ever get all this figured out?

They have to get 2 doses (the kids must get 2 injections) 3 weeks apart.

The trick of giving the doe a dose prior to kidding (within 6 weeks of kidding) just allows you to stretch the kids first dose to 4-5 weeks of age...then you would redose at 7-8 weeks of age. You kind of pushed the limit with when you gave the kids their first shot.

If you don't give the doe a dose prior to kidding (or it's more than 6 weeks before) then you have to give the kid their first at about 1 week old and again at 4 weeks.

You can certainly overdo the CDT if you give too many injections, but your goats are due now based on when you gave them their first round.

There is no reason to contradict the CDT and Di-Methox...meaning you may give them together if it makes it more convenient for you. The Di-Methox is given orally.

 

[Mamaboid]

Thanks! The kids had their first round of De-Methox, and it was orally. It just makes it more convenient to do things on the weekends when DH is home because I still cannot hold or lift them, so I wanted to start the Di-Meth and also do the CDTs on the kids and the two soon to be moms while he could help. Thanks again for the clarification. I appreciate it very much.

 

[Mamaboid]

Hi all.

It has been a few days since I posted, so thought I would catch you all up on what is going on here.

We got our 25 meat chicks today...cute little yellow fuzzy butts.

Our ducklings are growing so fast it is unbelievable. We put them into a bigger pen, added a water basin, and they are wonderful fun to watch. I love to see them take their little tiny wings and try to spread the water over their backs. We put them in the shed where the new kidding pens are going, and there is a huge window where the sun shines in the afternoons. They were having a ball this afternoon.

I sit on the election board for our voting district, and the judge of elections who was the only person with more seniority than me quit so I will be moving up to Judge of elections. I have to run around tomorrow and collect some signatures to make it official, but it is a done thing. Basically it means I get an extra 10 dollars pay for election day. It is next Tuesday here in PA, and the day starts at 6am and usually it is close to midnight when we get the votes counted and all tucked in at the court house. It is long day, but I love it. I get to see people that I only see one or two times a year....voting day. I hope I am up to the task, I still get pretty tired pretty easily.

Counting the days til the big Amish auction on Saturday. The weather forecast does not look too promising. I think we might get wet. I am really hoping I can find a male guinea or two for my girls.

Speaking of guineas, I have a story to tell you.
My sister and her DH were here this weekend again. They came on Saturday morning and stayed until Sunday evening. We spent most of the weekend fishing in the pond, and eating. And eating while we were fishing....lol/

Anyway, while we were fishing, two of my lilac guinea hens decided that those worms on those hooks looked really good. We fought with them all day on Saturday to keep them from catching the hooks as we were fishing. Sunday morning, my sister had to take a nature call, and set her pole down in a hurry and forgot about the guinea problem. Yup, you guessed it. One of them grabbed her worm, tried to take off with it, pulled the pole over on herself and freaked out. When she freaked, she got the hook stuck in her neck. I made a grab for her and missed, at which point she pulled even harder and buried that hook completely through her neck. I finally got hold of her, and pried the hook out of her. Luckily, we bend the barbs down on our hooks because we catch and release a lot of our fish, but it still was very difficult to get out. She bled a little, but I could not keep hold of her because she was fighting so hard to get away. She went under the deck, and stayed hidden for a couple hours. Later that day, she was back to eating and running with the rest of the flock. (for any of you that are star trek fans, we call our guinea flock the BORG, because they run as one, and I sometimes think that they, like the borg only have one brain among them). She is fine, no worse for the wear, but I bet that she will think twice before jumping for worms in the air again. oooor maybe not.

Because we had company all weekend, we didn't get the goats clipped, or the kidding pens done. I am hoping to start on the clipping tomorrow afternoon after I get through running around. I will take some pics when I do get them done, and will start Dusty and Stephanie's kidding thread updates. They have a month to go today til due date.

I guess that is all for now...hope everyone has a wonderful day tomorrow.

Night

BJ

 

[HankTheTank]

for any of you that are star trek fans, we call our guinea flock the BORG, because they run as one, and I sometimes think that they, like the borg only have one brain among them

 

[TTs Chicks]

So true guineas are stoooopid

 

[elevan]

for any of you that are star trek fans, we call our guinea flock the BORG, because they run as one, and I sometimes think that they, like the borg only have one brain among them

 

[Mamaboid]

Hey everybody


Well, we went to our Amish auction yesterday and didn't doo too badly. We didn't break the bank, we didn't buy any goats, and we didn't come home empty handed.

I got 3 male guineas, pearls. They are beautiful birds. Right now they are locked in a cage in DH's work shop, watching the girls out through the window. The weather here stinks, so as soon as it stops raining and snowing later in the week, we will put the cage outside during the day so they can watch them from there. Will do this for a few days, then lock them in the chicken coop for a few days, and finally let them out. This method seems to keep them from flying off, never to be seen again. Although the way they are calling to the girls, they might stay anyway. Not taking any chances, they were not cheap. I also bought 4 EE hens that have just started laying. (we had 3 eggs in the box when we got home). Two of them are real dark copper colored, and two of them are light cream with brown and black head accents. Very nice looking birds.

I also bought an incubator. Little Giant still air, no turner or fan kits, but with the price I paid for the incubator, I can afford to send for the other parts. I paid $12.00 for it and it has never been out of the box, still had the original tape seals on it.
Have it plugged in right now to check it out and it seems to be working fine. So I think I did good.

I also came home with something I didn't really want. I took pity on a lonely little black rabbit that was in a tiny box all by himself. He is coal black, tiny and sweet. Nobody wanted him, as they were selling mostly meat rabbits and/or pairs and he was single. I paid $5.00 for him and he will be my 'token rabbit' for the farm. I will have some pics of some of the new family members, chicks, ducklings, and rabbits included in a few days.

Papaboid finished the two kidding pens today, and I will show you pics of them later in the week too.

Hope everyone had a wonderful weekend, and to those of you who are expecting 12 inches of snow the next two days, STAY SAFE! and WARM!

BJ

 

[marlowmanor]

Wow, snow in April! That's just crazy to me! Of course I live where we rarely see snow anyway, but snow in April that is just mind boggling to think about. Can't wait to see pics of your new farm members, especially those EE hens and that bunny. I hope you stay warm and safe yourself.

 

[Mamaboid]

Hi all.

Well, I have had quite a week so far. Yesterday, I worked election from 6am until 11pm. It was a very long day, but I enjoy it. I am Judge of Elections in our Township, so I had to be present during all processes. It pretty much turns into a reunion of people that you only get to see on election days.

This morning, I got all my gear ready, and proceeded to clip three goats, and that was fun... NOT. Brandy was pretty good, Dusty was a little difficult, and Stephanie was a real PITA. But I got them done...or at least done enough to suit me. I can now see udders, and at least tell what is happening back there.

Tonight when we put everybody to bed, we moved them all into their new digs. The kids went to bed separate from Elsie for the first time. Elijah got his own hut in the big boy pen, and will join the big boys herd tomorrow for the first time. The two little girls went into their normal bed, but Elsie didn't go with them. She got her own hut, and seemed to be kind of relieved that she was gonna get a good night's sleep. I am going to milk her tomorrow morning for the first time ever. This should be interesting. She is very mild mannered, but has not ever been milked. Stephanie and Dusty are sleeping in their new kidding pens tonight for the first time. They can see each other, and the camera is on them. They seem to be settled down nicely. They have 6 ducklings and a rabbit for stable mates. My poor dh has now officially lost his work shop. It has gone to the animals. He is taking it quite well.

I took pics of girly parts, new hens, ducklings, bunny and new guineas and will post as soon as I get them off my phone.

I clipped Brandy too, just so I could get a better look at her. She looks like she has baby bump, should be bred since she runs with the bucks all the time, but she has no udder at all, so only time will tell. This doe just baffles me. She is in good health, eats great, looks good, acts normal. She just will not breed. Actually, I still think she miscarried back in late January, but she hadn't developed any udder then yet so I am only going by a small amount of discharge she had for a couple days. It had a bit of blood, but no substance. If she was bred, it was early days. Oh well, we love her and if she doesn't want to have kids, I guess that is up to her. As long as she stays healthy that is really all I care about.

I spoke to a guy yesterday that has boer goats, and we are going to talk some more, but we may be swapping kids. He would like a little Fainter blood to add to his lines, and I want to get a boer or boer X to mix with my Fainter to see if I can get some nice meat kids for our own freezer. Could be interesting and fun to see what we can get. He has some nice colors in his boers, and my tri-color fainter buck should add some interesting patterns too.

So, tomorrow morning when the goats come out of their bedrooms, their herds will both have changed. I plan on spending most of the day just observing and intervening if I need to til they get adjusted to the new dynamics.

I think I have two hens now that are wanting to brood, so I may set them up tomorrow also in a brooding hutch. I also may (if I get time) start my first incubator hatch. I have about 3 dozen eggs ready to put under hens and or in incubator. If I do both, at least I will have chicks the same age. By the time they hatch if I set them now, the meat chicks and the black giants chicks should be big enough to come out of the brooder and I can start over with new babies. I just love baby chicks. I have some of the meat birds sold when they are ready to butcher, and the people I have promised them to might want to do another batch a little later, so I may get another batch to raise. I think this is going to be a very busy spring and summer. I love it.

Well, I am very tired tonight, but it is the first time since my surgery that I am tired from actually doing something and I feel good about it. I think I will call it a night. Hopefully I will have those pics tomorrow.

Night all.

BJ

 

[Roll farms]

It's fun to watch the new herd heirarchy form when you move them around....

Congrats on getting a lot accomplished. That's the 'good' kind of tired.