Well, our week-end is over. It was sort of a long one, as Herbie was here Monday but had to fo to a work meeting on Wednesday, which took nearly all day.
Took the lambs to the other sheep today. The boy lamb baa-ed and baa-ed all the time. The girl-lamb follows him around, but is mainly quiet. She only baa-s when I call them for feeding.
Have a Toulouse goose lying on eggs in the one window well. I put a pallet in front of her for protection / privacy, and added 9 eggs to the 5 she was sitting on.
Lost our one little bantam hen yesterday, the broody one that was sitting on eggs :). I climbed the ladder to check for eggs in the rafters, and saw her sitting on her eggs, but her eye was closed. Strange, she usually ruffles and fluffs and clucks when I look at her. She was dead, sitting on the eggs, with a little blood around her neck. What ?? There was blood on 3 rungs of the ladder. I can't figure out what happened. Maybe a rat attached her, was injured or attacked by the other chickens on his way down ? Herbie thinks maybe an opossum or raccoon, but they usually kill them and leave the bodies on the ground. Well, she left 5 eggs, maybe I can hatch some out. She was such a little mother, hatched some chicken chicks the year before last.
Egg sales are picking up, always good. Now if only Dolly will drop her calf so we're back in the milk business, it will look rosier on the farm.
Chatted to Herbie. We will stay here for this next year. So I have one more year to make this place pay for itself. Have been putting infrastructure into place for the past 4 ½ years, so maybe now we'll reap some rewards. Eggs, chicken - live or processed, lamb - meat, wool and babies, cows - beef, milk and calves, vegetables, apples, cider and hopefully other fruits. Unfortunately, it doesn't seem the bees survived this past, rather hard Winter. Fortunately I was able to make some maple syrup.