A farmer's lament

Warning, much whining ahead. I'm not really feeling the farm love lately.

I have 12 laying hens, 1 is sitting on a nest of eggs right now so she's excused. But the other 11 are only managing to lay an average of 4 eggs a day. I thought maybe they were hiding them so I kept them locked in the coop the last 2 days. I got 5 eggs one day, and only 1 yesterday! I'm going crazy trying to figure out what is going on. I have people that want eggs and not nearly enough eggs for them. All I can figure is their eating them?

Then I have my bratty milk goat, and bratty is putting it nicely! It takes me 5 minutes to drag her to the milk stand each morning. She then lets me milk her for about 3 minutes before she decides she's done. And when she's done, she isn't kidding. She kicks, stomps, sits down, dances, everything she can think of to make me stop. She spills the milk every 3 days or so. I'm starting to really dislike this goat. She's also a bully to the other goats. Her only saving grace is she's a good mom. I'm seriously considering giving up milking. It isn't worth the daily fight for 4 ounces of milk. I dread getting up in the morning because I know what is coming.

And if that wasn't enough, the guineas are making nests in the hardest to find places. I've found a few of them recently with many eggs in them. One had 16! I have no idea how old the eggs are so I just mark them and keep checking the nest to see if we get new ones. Not only do we not get new ones but over the next few days all the old ones disappear. This has happened a few times now. We haven't had a guinea egg in well over a month.

On top of all that, the goats have discovered that good stuff is growing in the garden and they are now getting out every day and eating the garden. I thought I had all the places they could get out sealed up, but apparently not. I've long suspected that they could escape whenever they want and just stay where I want them out of kindness. The lure of the garden is too much for them to resist right now. I'm trying to seal any spot I find.

And speaking of the garden, it has rained everyday for the last week. Which is great, except the weeds are now so big I can't find my plants! Of course, the goats can, they don't eat the weeds, just the stuff I want. It finally isn't raining today but it's in the 90s out there. I have no idea when weeding may occur.

And Mark wonders why I'm not in the mood to make dinner at night!

Ursa Bear

I guess you guys are tired of Callisto videos based on the lack of response to my last post...

Many of you probably forgot that we got a little angora doeling a few days before Callisto was born. Ursa Bear has been neglected on this blog, but don't worry, not in real life.

When we got her she was very shy and scared of us. After Callisto was born, part of my morning routine started including sitting on the ground so Callisto could climb all over me, eat my hair, and fall asleep in my lap. Ursa watched from a distance for the first week then slowly started coming over to me. I guess she figured if the little baby trusted me enough to fall asleep in my lap then she probably didn't need to be scared of me.

Now she comes over every morning as soon as I sit down. Callisto jumps on me and acts like a baby goat, while Ursa stands quietly in front of me and lets me pet her. She is so calm and gentle, I never knew a goat could be calm and gentle. In case you can't tell, I adore this little girl.

She and Callisto have become pretty close. For those of you with angoras, do they ever play or jump on things? Callisto has been jumping on the big spools for over a week, but Ursa has never gotten on any of the spools. She also never plays head butting games even though Callisto tries to get her too. I just want to make sure she is ok.

Cute video of Callisto and Logan

This video is from last week. I have another cute one to share tomorrow. Then I need recent videos taken this week!

I'm too busy playing with her cuteness to video tape her.

A friend visits the farm

We had a friend over today that has a 10 year old boy too. The boys had a great time!

She did a better post than I'd ever do, so here is the link:


http://waiting4news99.blogspot.com/2010/05/visit-to-friends-farm.html?spref=fb

A question about predators

I went out this morning and found 7 or 8 guinea eggs spread about the pen. They were broken perfectly in half, not shattered. The insides were gone but the shells were in good shape, just open. What could have done this?

I think I have a guinea that has gone broody and that whatever broke open the eggs must have chased her off the nest last night. I will move her to a safe location today. Just wondering what may have gotten the eggs and if I need to worry about it getting the chickens.

Logan and Callisto

Videos of the babies

2 videos from last week. The babies were only a day old here. I'll get new videos of Callisto today. She's much more active now. She jumps and hops and runs. It is very cute!