Spring is buzzing!

Well, as I write this, NC Promisedland Z Bella is in the kidding pen. 

Bella's Baby Belly! 

I don't know whether she will kid today or not, but it would be great if she did! She's linebred to On Firestone Creek UP Sonic Boom *S, so I am crossing my fingers (believe it or not) for a buckling that is as well put together as Sonic's dad, Uproar, and one capable of producing lots of milk. After Bella, Sunnee and Palindrome are up for their part in the show. Palindrome looks like she is going to burst any day now. Both are due around mid-June. After that, it's Karamu's turn, along with Blanca and Namby (our experimental meat/dairy goats). So what can I say besides babies, babies, everywhere, and these are going fast, so if you have any interest, please contact me to get on the list.

In addition, I wanted to say that I'm proud of On Firestone Creek PALisade for kidding with triplets at Addie Pepoli's farm (Proctor Hill Farm). She had a rough delivery, and one of the little doelings almost didn't make it. Then the same doeling had problems with her legs, probably from being all cramped up because PALisade isn't a huge doe. Well, the doeling is doing terrific now, and she will be joining us here at Firestone Creek in the summer. Her name is Pure Joy; there was no choice but to name her that because, as you can see (below right), her name is spelled out on her side!! Palisade will be

Proctor Hill C Pure Joy
(Challenger and Palisade daughter)

staying with Addie, and hopefully she will earn her milk star this lactation! Her udder looks fantastic this freshening, and her progeny are looking very nice, too. Her daughter Firestone Creek R Minnie Me kidded with triplets a few weeks ago, and her udder is impressive, especially on a first freshening (see below). She is now living nearby at Run Joey Run Farm along with Jody's Girl, who is also reaching high production as is her daughter. Jody gave me around 8 cups of milk right after freshening while also feeding two kids. It's her fourth freshening, and she is producing well. Her daughter, Til Lee, born at Run Joey Run Farm is also producing very well with several kids on her. 

On Firestone Creek Farm Minnie Me

These lines go back to Hollywood out of Lost Valley. While they could use better attachments, which I hope to see in future kids, the teat size, ease of milking, and production is definitely there! 

On a sad note, Minnie Me's sister, Palabra, who is still living here at Firestone Creek, kidded a few days ago with a very large doeling that was dead at birth. She was overdue by about 6 days, so I was worried about that happening. She is a smaller doe, and she has been butted around a bit by a few of the larger girls. I think the doe was probably dead a couple of days. I assume that is probably what happened. She's sad, and I'm sad, too. I started milking her though, and so far she has very good production and excellent attachments and placement. I wanted to make sure I at least milked her some just to get her used to it. 

Other things going on around here:  
1) gardening and composting
2) recycling of several things around the house
3) vermicomposting

Glad summer is almost here! 

Kids, Kids, Kids!!



Firestone Creek M Pistachio



Firestone Creek M Butternut



 

Well we officially have babies at Firestone Creek farm!!
 

It's nice to have some milk around here again! I'm excited to start making yogurt and cheese and fudge (even though I don't need it!!!). On Monday, Acorn and Nutmeg kidded--Acorn, 1 big doeling named Butternut; Nutmeg, a buckling and doeling, the latter named Pistachio. Unfortunately, Nutmeg surprised me with the delivery, and I missed the birth, so I wasn't there to help her with the delivery. We lost the little boy, probably because she had them so quickly. I had just checked her maybe 45 minutes beforehand and no babies, but suddenly there were kids! Both of these doelings are blue eyed. They are doing well and are available. I would love to see the red and white go to a show home because she looks really good--excellent topline, very dairy skin, long and wide, and mom's udder has perfect placement of easily milkable teats with large orifices, good separation, and strong medial. I would like to see better side attachment, but I hope that paired with Mesa that will be improved with Butternut. :) She is $300 as is Pistachio, who is also a nice girl. I just tend to favor the red and white.

Chap

There's also a tiny buckling, Chapuline (it means grasshopper in Spanish, and we call him Chap; he's about as small as a kitten right now) out of Hazel Nut X Mesa that is also available. He's a chocolate and white, and he's been on the bottle some already. He will be available as a pet only for $100. I also have an Alpine/Nubian/Boer mix buckling available for pet/meat that is 2 months old now. He's very good size. Price is negotiable so contact me.

If you visit my website, Firestone Creek Farm, you will find more info on animals currently available, including some adults. For instance, Hazel Nut may be available after weaning/sale of Chap. I will probably consider the sale of Palabra since I will have a 1/2 sister here out of her, soon, and since I also have access to her full sister, Minnie Me, through John at Run Joey Run farm. I will still have that line. Palabra is due any day now (actually the 22nd), and her udder looks really good, but she is also a small, refined doe, and I prefer a larger doe (just my preference). Muddy Creek Panama is also for sale, as is her son, Bo, and Old Mountain Farm JZ Arizona's son, Mesa, who is the father to many of the kids here this season.

Bella will be kidding soon with Sonic's babies! I am looking forward to that, so you will be hearing from me soon!

Outside work and a goodbye

Well, it has been a good day, but a bittersweet day, too. I spent the morning with Jose and Mikey; Jose had to go to work, and Mikey went to a friend's house, so I decided I would spend the rest of the day working on the garden, getting things ready for spring planting, and on the barn, getting things cleaned up a bit there.

I am planting part of this year's garden using raised straw bales, so hopefully before long I have lots of strawberries, squash, cucumbers, tomatoes, potatoes, watermelon and more, all outside of my back door. I stacked the bales for now, but I am thinking I am probably going to move them around so I get more use out of them.

I spent part of the afternoon working around the barn, putting out minerals for the goats and giving the goats and chickens mineral blocks, which they absolutely adore. They need lots of copper right now, and I am hoping this will help some since I want to wait a few more weeks before bolusing everyone (more to come on that). I change light bulbs around the barn, and then I checked the fence and fixed a few places that needed it. The chickens tend to dig where they shouldn't, and the next thing I know, I have a hole that needs fixed! I also secured the fence on my gates in a few places; it has been needing that for a while. After that, I made a small fire to burn branches and other odds and ends that have been lying around the barnyard for weeks.

After the fire was going good, I dug into one of the old compost piles in the barnyard. I hauled about five loads of composted manure and plant material that has been 'seasoning' for about two years now to the raised beds behind the house and threw it in there. Now I just have to till and work the ground. The peppermint, some green onions, parsley, and lemon balm is still hanging around from last year's garden. Speaking of last year, over half of the garden came back on its own last year. I planted green peppers, and that was it! The tomatoes, cucumbers, and onions came back on their own. I'm wondering if the same will happen this year. I want to try to go organic and non-gmo this year, so just in case, I am thinking I will till up everything to make sure I don't get anything popping up from last year's crop.

And on a sad note, as I was cleaning the barn and trying to fill in holes where the chickens were trying to relocate themselves to China, I noticed some pink on Panama's nose. I couldn't figure out where it came from, so I started looking around, and then I found some blood under her tail, too. I looked around to see if I could find a baby anywhere, but I couldn't, so I am thinking she aborted early or is in the process of it right now. She's not contracting or anything. She would have been a little over two months along, due in June. I have no clue what has happened unless she's been fighting with Queen Cozette; that is always possible. Cozette is getting ready to kid soon, and she's a cranky butt, ramming everyone when things don't go her way, which is quite often. That's the only thing I can think of that could have caused it; everyone else seems fine. Panama was standing at the buck pen, wagging her tail before I came in the house, so I guess she knows what's going on. She seems sad, and I know that feeling. :( Poor girl...  and goodbye little one or little ones.

Until next time...

Spring and Silkichins

Splash Silkichin at Firestone Creek Farm

Spring?!?

So spring is almost here. It can't get here fast enough! Jose, Mikey, and I are tired of the cold weather, and so are my chickens and goats. The cold doesn't bother me as much as the mud; sometimes I think I need to invest in a pair of stilts to keep my shoes out of the muck and out of the house. I find myself sweeping and mopping several times a day!

We're awaiting the birth of goat kids. We got a late start this year, so we have kids due mid-spring, which is not the norm. We are watching all of the girls here at Firestone Creek Farm get chubbier every day, but we won't start seeing udders for a few more weeks, I guess. We do have a Nubian/Alpine/Boer cross that is expecting, but I have no clue when she will deliver; no one wrote down the date when she was bred! The lady I bought her from said sometime in October, she thought. Obviously she wasn't bred here, since I, like most other Nigerian breeders, obsess over due dates and write down everything. HAHA! So, I do know when everyone else is due, but for her, no clue! I guess you will see pics when she kids. She is developing a very nice udder though, so I am hoping for plenty of extra milk to get the season started. I am ready for some yogurt and paneer! I am very thankful that we decided to hang on to the goats and not sell everyone. :) I'm a happy girl!

Silkichins

The original blue Silkichin hens, Betty and Bessie

A lot of you know that I started developing my own breed of chicken several years ago. Lots of people have mixed breeds, but I specifically bred my show Giant Cochins to my show Silkies to come up with the Silkichin that I am breeding today, which is now in its 4th generation and onward. Yes, the first breeding was an accident. However, the birds I got out of that breeding were so beautiful that I had to keep breeding these, especially after I realized the benefits of the breed. 

Not only were these birds beautiful, but they were good layers and fantastic moms, in addition to the roos being quite docile. I had problems with my Cochins, who would only hatch two to three eggs and then hop off the nest and head for the hills. They were good moms, but only to the extent that if you had hatched, you lived. Anyone that hadn't hatched, was doomed. The Silkies on the other hand, would sit... and sit... and sit... and yes, sit some more, until the eggs all hatched. I thought, "Wow! What great moms they are!" But then, after everyone was hatched, the death count began. The mom would walk off, leaving these teeny tiny babies to chase after her through the grass, over fallen branches, through the barnyard mud, and everywhere else. I do free-range my birds because it is healthier for them--at least all of them except the Silkie babies, who would refuse to let me catch them, but would end up dead by goat hoof, mud puddle, or some other means in the weeks that followed. If it weren't for the Silkichins, I would have resigned to hatching everything myself, and since I don't always have a lot of time to do that (and flip eggs several times a day), I don't think I would have lasted long with raising chicks. The Silkichin stepped in and changed all of that. 

Silkichin caring for kittens while nesting

I can spend all day telling you how good a Silkichin is at mothering, or I can show you. Betty, above, laid a single egg in the barn, and one of the cats had kittens about three feet away from her around the same time. When the cat went out hunting, leaving the kittens behind, Betty decided the kittens were abandoned and hers. She pulled all of them to her nest and tucked them under her with her egg. My son was gathering eggs, and found the hen with one egg and four kittens. He said, "Mom! She already hatched four kittens, and there's still one egg left!" Well, Betty never discriminated. She kept caring for the kittens. In this photo, they are about a week old; she took care of them like this until they were crawling off on their own. The mama cat just nestled right in beside of her to feed them because Betty refused to give up part of the care! Silkichins are very serious about their job. They lay, sit until they hatch as many eggs as possible--usually all of them, and then fend for their babies, watching over them, taking excellent care of them! The only problems I've ever had is with them stealing each other's babies... haha! They will readily care for any orphan, and you don't need to sneak the chick under the hen at night either like most breeds. Just give it to her, and she will take it. They are the moms and foster parents of the chicken world.

In addition, the second most amazing thing to me is the docility of the rooster. We had Buff Orpingtons when my son was two, and one day as he was walking through the barnyard, one of the Orps jumped up into his face and flogged him. It scraped him along the side of his eye and around his nose. It left a scar; it is still noticeable today, and he is seven now. Of course, the roo met a quick demise and was digested over the next few days by all of us, including my son, in the form of my mom's wonderful chicken dumplings. However, it frightened my late husband and I enough that we sold all of the Orps. The Cochins, too, would occasionally get a 'wild feather' and decide to follow me or my son around, waiting for a chance to jump on us. I even had a little Silkie roo do it! Sure, he was small, but spurs HURT no matter what the size is. To the contrary of these other breeds, I swear I have never had a Silkichin roo try to follow me, my son, or any other person. They are completely docile with people, and never try to do this. They are very safe around children. I do have roos try to tango with each other on occasion, generally over hens, but at least they know to keep it to their own species! In fact, both the hens and roos are docile enough that they can be petted while feeding them. My son loves doing this.

Recipes

I'll finish this post off by adding that I've added a few more recipes to my website. I'll probably blog them here, too. You can see them by visiting the recipes page.

Gotta run! Have a good day, and stay dry and warm!

Angie 

Visit us at http://www.freewebs.com/firestone-creek-farms