Farm Happenings

Not a lot has been happening lately around the farm, now that old man winter has set in (other than snow).  The turkeys have grown nicely over the past couple of months, and would be ready to butcher in a couple more weeks, except now that we have lost all but two (a tom and a hen) to predators. We will not be eating these remaining lucky birds.  I'm keeping my fingers crossed for some fertile eggs in the spring to toss into the incubator.  A Blue Slate / Bourbon Red Cross should make for some interesting poults, no?

The mother rabbit and her three babies that we acquired back in October appear to be all grown up. As mentioned before, I know absolutely nothing about rabbits.  My husband built them a four foot long box to live and hide in, and he refused to separate the boys from the girls, so I would assume that someone will be having babies soon.  When he goes away for work in January for a few months I will sneak in and separate them, if I can manage to learn how to sex them.  I'm all for a scheduled breeding program! 

Speaking of scheduled breeding programs, I really have to learn more about goat husbandry.  I let the female goat run with the buck all summer and didn't separate them until sometime in October.  I have not idea if she is pregnant or just fat. They had a "date" this past Friday because she was wagging her tail and seemed to be very interested in hanging out with him, but once we let them together he didn't seem so interested in her, or perhaps he just didn't want an audience?  Regardless, she will either give birth in the next couple of months, or she won't.  Time will tell.  And next time, we will schedule her dates with the buck!

The chickens are rather boring right now.  The last time I counted, I had around 42-45, with about 5-6 being roosters. I would think that egg production would be a little better, but as of the last few weeks I am only getting 1-6 eggs per day.  Not much. 

Speaking of eggs, the sole remaining Pekin duck that we were given back in October started laying an egg a day just over a week ago.  I thought she was a boy.  I was most definitely wrong.

And what can I say about the horses?  They are just here, hanging out in the snow, burning through six bags of grain every week (along with hay) and giving nothing back in return.  Yet.  Two are racehorses, and I hope they will pay back their way, and that of the other two, next season at the racetrack.  Otherwise, it will be time to decrease the herd for sure.  Horses are the biggest expense on the farm, and usually do not give back much, other than a fun ride and something to play around with when time allows. Oh but they do look pretty standing out in the pasture, right?