purplequeenvt - Ivy Knoll Farm

[purplequeenvt]

I'm still alive! I'm on the mend both physically and emotionally.

I delivered a neighbor's lambs this evening. This neighbor (we'll call her "K") got all her sheep but one from us and she's had sheep for 6 or so years now, but she doubts her abilities in an emergency and always calls me. I'm sort of the neighborhood sheep midwife.

This particular ewe, a Romney, is a pretty small first-time ewe and she started prolapsing a few days ago. We all knew that she was having a single. K texted me this afternoon to let me know that the ewe, Tess, was in labor and to stay alert in case she needed help. She updated me once in a while, but nothing had changed over the course of 2 1/2 hours. I went over to check things out.

Tess was pushing a bit, but not very willingly. I went in to make sure everything was in the right place. I found a foot and a nose and I was feeling around for the other front foot when I ran into a second head......twins and they were trying to come out at the same time. Thankfully they weren't tangled and I was able to pull the first lamb without and trouble. #2 was a little more difficult because one leg was back.

Two girls! They are nice solid (11+ and 12+ lb) girls with pretty dark noses. Tess is a little unsure of them. She never talked, never licked, but she is letting them nurse without anyone holding her so I think she will come around.

These babies are the great-great-great granddaughters of my very first ewe, Rosie.

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I ended up getting 6 straight run Silkies from TSC. I also got 5 more ducklings. I wanted 2 more Pekins, but I didn't want to leave the last 3 ducklings behind. I bought the 4 Pekins and they threw in the Mallard for free. Not a big fan of Mallards, but I can always eat it or find it a new home. The Mallard is living with the Silkies for now because my first batch of Pekins was terrified of him. Poor guy.

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Am I the only one whose goats routinely lay around in a "dead" position???

 

[Pearce Pastures]

LOL, no my goats have had me doing a "breathing check" from time to time.

 

[Four Winds Ranch]

Those are definatly a couple of cute, fluffy faced lambs!!
I can`t wait till my little chickies hatch!!!!| Do you find Silkies are just as easy to raise as the regular laying hens, I have never had any but would sooo love to get some one of these days!!

 

[purplequeenvt]

Those are definatly a couple of cute, fluffy faced lambs!!
I can`t wait till my little chickies hatch!!!!| Do you find Silkies are just as easy to raise as the regular laying hens, I have never had any but would sooo love to get some one of these days!!

This is the first time having Silkies. So far I've only lost one and the rest seem to be doing well.

 

[purplequeenvt]

It's been an odd week. My mom is on vacation with her mom and siblings in FL so I'm supposed to be keeping things running. We desperately need groceries, but I haven't been able to make it to the store yet. On Monday (the original planned grocery shopping day) I found myself driving to Saratoga Springs, NY (2+ hours away) to take my sister to her dialysis clinic. Tuesday (the backup shopping day) I was very sick after stupidly eating wheat on Monday. Today I drove my sister to Saratoga again. 3 days, 400+ miles, and a sandwich later.....I'm tired, my tailbone and gut hurt, and I still haven't gone shopping.

 

[purplequeenvt]

Trying to move on from last two weeks pain and craziness. Hopefully things will be calmer for a bit.

Bedroom Project

I have primed the ceiling and walls and the ceiling has a 1st coat of paint on it. I'm hoping to finish the ceiling and get at least the first coat of paint on the walls. There has been a change of plans regarding the rooms future occupants though....originally it was going to be me and my sister, but my parents have decided that it would be best if my sister stayed where she is (where she's been since we moved here). This means I get the room all to myself! I have never had my own room so I am pretty excited about having my own space.

Sheep

The lambs are all doing well and the ewes are starting to put the weight they lost right after lambing back on. We slaughtered all of the extra sheep so we are down by about 20. It is nice to have some lamb/mutton in the freezer again. I am starting to advertise the new lambs that we have for sale. So far no bites though. I'm really hoping to move most of the purebred lambs (the ones we aren't keeping) as soon after weaning as possible. We need to give CD&T this afternoon. It was supposed to happen over the weekend, but everyone was beat after a crazy weekend and the weather was nasty.

Poultry

The 2 female geese are setting! I think they have 12 or so goose eggs between them plus a few duck eggs that I threw in there. I'm planning to take the babies away as soon as they hatch. The parents are really nasty. Not so much to people, but they are horrible with the ducks and chickens. I'm hoping that if I raise the babies with ducklings that they will behave better than their parents.

I also have a setting duck. We'll see if she manages to hatch anything. This is the 3rd or 4th time she's tried setting and she has only managed to hatch 2 babies - 1 chick and 1 duckling. She is a bit scatter-brained.

My favorite d'Uccle hen, Lola died a couple days ago. I was expecting it as she was older and had seemed a bit under the weather for a while.

I made the mistake of going to TSC a couple times and now I have 11 ducklings and 12 Silkies. 10 of the ducks are Pekins and 1 is a Mallard. I love Pekins, both alive and roasted. I'll probably keep a few girls (assuming there are some) and everyone will get eaten. The Mallard....we'll see what happens there. I'm not a huge fan of Mallards. I only got it because it would have been the last duckling left and so they gave it to me.

I started with 6 Silkie chicks and then one died so I went to the store to see if they would sell me just one as a replacement. The guy said that he would give me one, but then I saw that there were only 7 left and they were all 1 and 2 weeks old. And they were half price. So I got 7 chicks for the price of 3.

I just placed an order with Stromberg's (never used them before, but I had a rough time with last year's chicks from McMurray so I thought I give Stromberg's a try) for 25 Speckled Sussex pullets, 10 SR assorted color Silkies, and 15 SR assorted color d'Uccles. I'm planning to keep 15 of the SS and sell the other 10, although I haven't decided if it is best to sell the right away or to raise them up for a while first. A friend of mine has been buying chicks and raising them until they don't need a heat lamp anymore. I think she's been getting $8/bird. I'll pick the best girls and maybe a rooster out of all the Silkies and sell the rest (extra boys I'll eat if they don't sell). From the d'Uccles I'm hoping for at least nice Porcelain pair, a nice Mille Fleur rooster.

I need to clean out my flock and get rid of some of the older birds and the ones that I don't like as much, but I want to have some young stock coming up before I do that.

 

[Canadiannee]

Those are SOME cute baby sheep!

Congrats in getting your own bedroom! lol, whatever are you going to do with all your own space now?!?!

What kind of geese do you have? I've never had geese and am interested in adding a couple to my barnyard... but I've always thought them to be notoriously LOUD and grating on the nerves! LOL! Is their a quieter breed?

 

[purplequeenvt]

Those are SOME cute baby sheep!

Congrats in getting your own bedroom! lol, whatever are you going to do with all your own space now?!?!

I have no clue!

What kind of geese do you have? I've never had geese and am interested in adding a couple to my barnyard... but I've always thought them to be notoriously LOUD and grating on the nerves! LOL! Is their a quieter breed?

They are barnyard mutts as far as I can tell. I originally got them as New Year's Eve dinner. I got one slaughtered and then we changed the menu so the other 4 never got done. I think that once I have some younger (and hopefully nicer) geese I'll probably put the other ones in the freezer. Mine aren't horribly loud. They do honk whenever something excites them.

 

[Queen Mum]

Wow, Lots of birds. I wish I could get some ducklings. I would like a few ducks around here but then my neighbors would probably shoot them...

 

[purplequeenvt]

It was gloriously warm today. Very windy, but warm. It's been a busy week....my 6 year old cousin came home from FL with my mom on Monday and he just left today. So much energy, so much noise! He is a good kid, just hyper and very much an "only child", if you know what I mean.

I got a few pictures this afternoon.

Click

Millie

Remy (AKA Reming-Turd, JerkFace, Turdly)

No pictures of Meg...She was in Spazz Mode. :/

Gecko, yearling BL ram

Sebastian, yearling BL ram

Eugene, yearling BL ram

Celia Mae, yearling BL ewe

Signe, Shetland ewe lamb

Freyja and Signe

Kitty and Breeja

And finally....I think that I am trading Breeja for this little girl! She is a moorit gulmoget that was born a few days ago.