Each one has captions, and you can click them to see a bigger picture. All of these were taken by their previous owner, who runs Shadowfax Farm. She's very nice, and focuses mostly on Arabian Horses, but who knows when she will have rabbits, goats, or sheep for sale! As you can see, LOTS of our animals were purchased from her, so she is a friend of ours, too. Hope you like the pics!
P.S. Kay, if you would like me to take photos off for any reason, let me know and I will. I love these live cams for horses, goats, etc.! They have them on several sites, although I never really paid any attention to them. There is one that I have been watching, located in Texas. The horse is named Kate, and she's close to foaling, so if you would like to watch, here is the link. Of course, some times are not very exciting, but if I ever get to see a foal born... Live.... I will be pretty grateful that I have kept my eyes glued to the screen! Hopefully, we will have one of these for our ewes, but we have not gotten to that point. Feel free to watch and chat with us. Hope to see you there!
Holly (This is not my photo) So, since it is Winter, nothing super exciting is going on here, except for that one thing about the bunnies..... Some people say that rabbits do not go into heat, and think it's funny when someone even mentions that, but a few others say that they do. ??? So, we figured that because most people say they don't go into heat, we would try our luck and stick them together. It took Tom awhile to get the hang of it.... but Holly is now bred. I'm hoping she took, otherwise I am going to have to worry about checking to see if my not-so-tame bunnies are in heat. So many people have raised rabbits, and it seems fairly easy, but everything seems confusing when it comes to doing something new... so hopefully this will all work out. I will have updates in about a week and a half about Holly, so keep reading! Thanks, Grace Christmas (of course), was hectic, but wonderful, as always. I look forward to Christmas all year long, and in the blink of an eye, it has already passed. I absoloutely LOVE Christmas! It is such a fun time to just sit around and talk to your family, eat all the food until you make yourself sick, watch everyone open the presents they got, and to unwrap the gifts you have been so excited to open since the day they were put under your tree. And then, once all the excitment is over with, you have got the New Year to look forward to. (Keep in mind, we are also taking care of our 70 animals while all this goes on...) It's always fun (for me, anyway), to stay up late with every one and wait for the clock to hit 12:00, or wait until you can hit your nice and comfy bed. Or for some, the New Year's eve party is getting even more fun. Me, well, I like to stay up until I feel like falling asleep, which is usually about 1:00. So, it's the New Year, and now it's time to go see Sue and pick up her duck, maybe sleep over, give her late Christmas presents, find some bingo prizes, play marbles, drink apple cider and then go home. Then, it's time to go back to school, and worry about the sheepies and goaties and chikenies (wait, no, that's not right...), chickens, I mean. Anyway, I hope everyone had a great Christmas and an exciting New Year's Day, just like we did.
Grace That time of year ...
"There was a time in my life (though it's getting harder and harder to remember) when I bred purebred sheep and showed them at various shows around the country. I do remember that it took a tremendous amount of energy and not a little amount of money! I'm not interested in investing either of those things these days. I love keeping my sheep here on the farm, out grazing in the fields where they naturally belong. The North American is a prestigious show, really considered the biggest of the big, so it's a great opportunity to see lots of different breeds in a short amount of time......" Read More at Sheep Dreams Over the past couple of years, we have hatched chickens, raised chickens, and basically just had chickens, so I have gathered information from sites and from my brain to come up with this for anyone that is ready to get into these feathery little things:
Getting your Chicks: We got our chicks from Estes Hatchery, in Springfield, MO. We ordered Barred Plymouth Rocks and Buff Orpingtons. The Rocks would sleep in your hand, but the Orpingtons were pretty stand-offish. They are now about 2 years old, and are very good egg producers. Some of the Rocks will walk up to you for you to pick them up, but like I said, the Orpingtons don't exactly want anything to do with you. The only problem was that we ordered all pullets, and got one rooster, which at the time seemed fine, until he got older and attacked every one he saw. We only lost one, to a condition that they call "pasty butt" that is caused by stress. I will explain how to deal with that later. Anyway, you might also choose to get your chicks from a farm store such as atwoods, but I don't usually think they are as healthy and well taken care of as the ones coming from local hatcheries. Getting Started: Of course, you are going to need something to put them in, like a plastic tub, or wooden box. We usually have the tub for 1-10 chicks, but you might want to nail a few peices of wood together to make your own box. If you are planning on using this for more that 3 weeks, I would recommend about 2 feet of height, because they more than likely will start to fly out once they get some adult feathers. The temperature for your chicks is going to vary on how old they are, but you can find special chick thermometers in farm stores that tell you the right temperatures. I do not recommend pans or trays for them, because they will always step in and poop right in their food, so why not just throw it on the ground? Because they will eat their poo. A wonderful thing to use is a chick feeder like this, because they won't go to the bathroom in it very much, and you probably won't have to fill it up every day, depending on your chicks. For water, we use one of these most of the time, but this works for up to 5 small chicks. The bases of both get this goopy stuff on them every once in a while so make sure to scrub them regularly. For the bedding, straw would probably be fine, but pine wood chips is what we use. Make sure you have chick food BEFORE you get the chicks (of course), but you do not need grit if your feeding JUST chick starter. For a fun little treat, you can get dried mealworms. The birds love them, and it's adorable to watch your babies scratch to find them, but they don't usually come at a cheap price. Those are pretty much the only things you will need at the beginning. Preparing for your chicks: Keep in mind that you REALLY should get these things done before you get your ckicks, so as soon as they get home, they have a place to go. Two times in a row we have gotten un-prepared for birds, which is not a good idea, because they need warmth constantly when they are babies. Before you get them, find a place in your basement, barn, shop, etc. that has available outlets (for the heat lamp), and that you want your chicks to stink up for the next couple months (in other words, a place that not many people will be in). Put your tub/wooden box in there, and fill with about 2 inches of wood chips and/or straw. Right before you get them, you will want to turn the heat lamp on, making sure it is pointed in a corner, and fill their food and water. Bringing your fluffballs home: A good idea (if they are being shipped to you) is to order at least 17, because they rely on each other for warmth. We actually ordered 25, because that was the fewest you could get (like I said in the last sentence, there needs to be a lot of them for them to keep warm), and they gave us 2 extras (in case one died.). If you are bringing them home, you don't want it to be more than 30 minutes without warmth, so the main rule is to keep these babies warm! Once they are home, dip each of their beaks in food and water, and put them down. You are going to need a special chick thermometer that tells you what temp it should be, so make sure to get one! Problems we had: "Pasty butt", which took one of our chicks. There really is no way to prevent this from happening, so don't feel bad if it does. You need some Q-tips and warm water to wipe them off. Take one hand, flip him upside down, and wipe him off ever so gently. It's fine if you don't get all of the poop off, but there can't be any plugging them up. You might need to do this several times a day, but remember, they CAN die from this, so keep them clean! If you somehow end up with a mean rooster, do not deal with him. Remove him from the flock, because you do not want to fight a rooster EVERY DAY. We had one a long time ago, and trust me, it is a lot less stressful to have a nice, peaceful rooster! You are on your way to eggs and/or your own meat, so don't give up! Good luck! (If you have any questions, requests, answers, etc. feel free to comment! Hope you find this useful!, Grace Does anyone have any easy way to tell if a sheep is pregnant? It would be more than 60 dollars for a vet to come and do an ultrasound, and the internet is not helping much. I might post some pictures of Beady to see if anyone thinke she looks pregnant. Really hoping she is!!
Thanks, Grace And it sure did. Oh, and my birthday just "happened" to be the day after. Yes, I am one of those people who freak out over silly things :) . Hey, at least I am 12 now!
Grace Hershey's Favorite Hot Chocolate:
1/2 cup sugar 1/3 cup water 1/4 cup HERSHEY'S Cocoa 4 cups milk Dash of salt 3/4 tsp. vanilla extract 1/8 tsp. cinnamon (optional) 1. Mix sugar, cocoa and salt in saucepan; stir in water. 2. Cook and stir over medium heat until mixture boils; boil and stir 2 minutes. 3. Stir in milk and heat. DO NOT BOIL. 4. Remove from heat; add vanilla and cinnamon. So that's the recipe if you would like to make a lot. I have not tried this, but here is the smaller recipe that was also on there: "Perfectly Chocolate" Hot Chocolate: 2 Tbsp. sugar 2 Tbsp. HERSHEY'S Cocoa 1 cup milk Dash of salt 1/4 tsp. vanilla extract 1. Mix sugar, cocoa and salt in large mug. 2. Heat milk in microwave at HIGH 1-1/2 minutes or until hot. 3. Gradually add milk to cocoa mixture; stir well. Stir in vanilla. I hope these recipes are helpful! Thanks for reading!, Grace |