Raising Delaware chickens

Last fall someone in the Chicago chicken group said that she wanted to order Delaware chickens from Sandhill Preservation in Iowa, but she didn't want 25 chicks, so was there anyone who would be interested in splitting the order with her? I said sure! Delawares are supposed to be a good dual-purpose chicken, and I am always on the look-out for a breed that can provide a lot of eggs for a good breakfast, as well as a decent chicken dinner. And it would be really nice if the chickens would get broody and raise their own replacements.

This spring the 25 chicks were shipped to my farm, and about a week later, the woman from Chicago drove out and picked up her 10 chicks. As the chicks began to mature, it became obvious rather quickly that only four of them were pullets (young hens), meaning that we would have a lot of chicken dinners but not so many eggs. As soon as it was obvious which ones were boys and girls, we put the pullets out in the hen house with the other ladies, and we put the boys in a chicken tractor. They are pictured here at four months of age.

I'm a little concerned that the hens are so white. Pictures of Delawares show more barring in the tail and neck feathers. I'm not sure if this is a maturity thing (because we've never raised Delawares before) or if it's a matter of breeding, but I hope they don't stay so white because pure white poultry don't do very well free range. They're blinking beacons for predators. One of my daughters tried to raise white Plymouth Rock chickens eight or nine years ago, and they didn't last very long.

In addition to the four hens that we are keeping for eggs, we will also keep two of the cockerels so that we can separate them with the hens and hopefully raise some of our own Delaware chicks next year. The rest of the cockerels will soon become dinner.

Happy retirement, Sherri!

We bought our fifth doe in 2004, two years after moving to Antiquity Oaks, and that doe was a yearling named Sherri. She is now ten years old, and I've decided it's time for her to retire, even though I'd love to have a dozen more of her daughters. But that would just be greedy.

Sherri is one of our foundation does, and her daughters have never disappointed us. They have all earned their milk stars, and they have wonderfully friendly personalities. In fact, our highest producing milker of all time is Charlotte, Sherri's daughter.

Although most people expect a great doe to produce great kids, that was not really the case with Sherri. She was not a record-breaking milker, and she was terrible in the show ring. The only thing we ever heard about her from judges was, "I'd like to commend the doe at the end of the line for her length of body." So, we knew Sherri had a nice, long body, but that was all we ever learned from showing her. I was a little nervous about getting her classified, but my daughter convinced me that she wasn't a bad looking goat; she just wasn't the prettiest goat in the herd. And she was right. Sherri classified as "Very Good," but with the lowest VG score in our herd. And in terms of conformation, her daughters have all exceeded her.

Sherri was the first doe we ever took to a show, and being our first show, we didn't think about taking a milk stand. But Sherri was always an angel on the milk stand, and even without a milk stand, she just stood there in the show barn and let my daughter milk her while I held a pan of grain for her to eat. That pretty much made her our favorite milk goat, even though she took last place in the show.

The only thing I never liked about Sherri was the fact that she gave birth with a little too much ease. It was because of her and her daughters that we created our kidding barn. She and her daughters (and grand-daughters) are all terribly stoic until the head is actually emerging, and if I'm in the house listening on a baby monitor, the baby is usually already born by the time I get to the barn. It's not a bad thing unless it's the middle of winter, which means the kids are at risk of hypothermia if they are not cleaned up fast enough. One of her daughters gave birth when it was 8 degrees below zero one year, and by the time I got outside, there was not one, but THREE kids sitting in a pool of amniotic fluid. I was screaming over the baby monitor for someone to come help me get them all dried off before they turned into frozen little kid-cicles. In that kind of weather, you don't just need towels, you need blow dryers and heat lamps. You can click here to read all about that blessed event. Here is a link to the story of a typical Sherri birth, in case you'd like to read more.

This year, we are keeping Sherri's daughter, Sophie Kinsella, pictured with her above. Sherri will get to enjoy her golden years with her daughters and grand-daughters here on the homestead. Although I'm sad that there won't be any more Sherri daughters, I am looking forward to more of the Sherri grand-daughters!

Moving day for goats ... again

A couple of weeks ago, we moved the goats to this weed-covered field. Yes, those six-foot-tall plants are weeds, not small trees.

We were a little worried that they would completely trample everything and wind up with little to eat within a day or two. But then again, we've never put them up against six-foot-tall weeds.

To our surprise, they stuck together and didn't venture very far into the weeds. They really have been gradually eating their way through the weed forest.

I suppose the reason this is working is because enormous weeds are not nearly as close together as blades of grass. When we've put them into areas with grass that was several feet high, they do trample that in no time.

Then again, maybe it was simply the height that intimidated them. I'm not sure they've ever been in grass that was so far above their heads.

We use rotational grazing both for pasture conservation and parasite control. If goats are not eating off the ground, they are not ingesting the worm larvae that has been deposited on the ground in goat poop. And if you move them before they eat all the vegetation down to the ground, they won't be continually reinfecting themselves. So, whenever they work their way through this little forest, we'll be moving them to another pasture.

Making soap

We've recently been making goat milk soap. Or I should say, Mike has been making soap -- a couple hundred bars to be somewhat more precise. We were almost completely out. I think we had four or five bars left. I have to say that we have the most wonderfully patient customers in the world. Even though the soap page on the website has said "sold out" for years, our regular customers email and ask when we'll have anything available. Sometimes we have something, but I haven't had time to update the site, so I tell them what fragrances we have, and they send the money via Paypal, and we ship the soap. And before I've had time to update the website, we are again truly sold out.

I don't even know the last time I looked at the soap page on the website before today, but I see it needs a complete update because I now use all organic oils in the soap, and the scented soaps use only essential oil for fragrance. And I use only sustainably-grown palm oil.

A few months ago, I asked Mike what was his favorite product that we produce on the farm, and he said, "Soap." So, we are going to work on actually getting ahead with our soapmaking. And then we'll update the website with pay buttons and everything. At least, that's the goal.

This also means that we will have plenty of choices available for this Saturday's Farm Crawl.

Another baby llama!

Mike really scared the daylights out of me on Monday! I heard him calling my name from outside, which usually means that someone is injured or dead, so I went running to the window, screaming, "What's wrong?" And then he said, "Sitara had her cria!"

Oh, happy day! I didn't slow down at all as I was pulling on my shoes, but I did take a second to run back to my desk and grab my camera.

We are pretty sure it's a girl, but it isn't as friendly as the little dude that was born a couple of weeks ago, so we haven't actually been able to catch her. However, unlike him, she keeps her tail up a lot, and we have gotten close enough that we feel fairly confident that it looks like a girl.

I was so excited when I snapped the picture of Sitara giving her baby a hug. Okay, maybe she was just sniffing her to make sure I hadn't switched crias on her, but it looks like she's giving her a hug!

I wanted to get a picture of the other cria next to her so you could see how much he's grown, but this was the best I managed. He does look like a big boy compared to her, and I know a couple of weeks ago, I thought he looked so small and scrawny.

We are so excited to have two, beautiful baby llamas to add to the farm.

A new lamb!

When our milk tester arrived last Thursday, she asked us about the new lamb, and we said, "Whaaaat!?"

As Mike and the milk tester began the goat milking, Kat (who was home visiting) and I went running out to the sheep pasture as the sun was already setting and the sky was getting darker and darker. From a distance I could see the tiny white ball of fluff moving around the pasture.

As we got closer, however, I realized the sheep were not really in a social mood and were spooking really easily. Not wanting the cute little darling to get trampled in a stampede, Kat and I finally gave up and decided to check on it in the morning. It was clearly doing just fine already.

So, Kat got these great pics on Friday morning.

Getting ready for next weekend's Farm Crawl!

Last August, we participated in our first Farm Crawl, which was an opportunity for people to visit our farm, as well as three others within a few miles of us. This year, we have a fifth farm joining us. If you want to know more about the other farms, you can visit the official Farm Crawl website. The event will be held from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday, August 17.

And we are freaking out here on Antiquity Oaks. In case I haven't mentioned it enough lately, my children have had the nerve to grow up and move away, so now I understand how those people feel when their company downsizes and then you have to do your job, as well as the jobs of one or two other people!

So, Antiquity Oaks is not as spiffy as it has been in previous years -- and that's not saying much. I always have this Martha Stewart country estate in my mind, but it's never quite happened. And now we've taken a couple more steps farther away from that ideal. (Sorry, this is not supposed to be my annual panic post.)

Back to the Farm Crawl -- in addition to seeing all of the animals, visitors will also have the opportunity to buy our goat milk soap made with organic oils, Shetland wool roving, Shetland and llama yarn, raw Shetland fleeces, Old English Southdown wool batting, naturally colored sheepskins, books on raising livestock, gardening, homesteading, etc., including but not limited to the books I've written. We will also be doing the following demonstrations:

• 10:30 a.m. Scything
• 1:00 p.m. Goat milking
• 1:00 to 4:00 p.m. Spinning wool

In addition to cold, hard cash, we also accept credit cards. Admission to the Farm Crawl itself is free. We're looking forward to meeting you!

New chicken tractors

I am not a big fan of chicken tractors, but my husband loves them, and since he takes care of the poultry, I'm not going to argue the issue. Over the years, we have had four different designs ... PVC construction, all wood construction, wood frame and stainless steel sides and roof, and then this design. I personally thought this one would fly off like a big kite, but we've had this one for three years, and it's still here in one piece, and we have never (knock on wood) had it fly off or flip over in high winds. So, when we recently realized we needed a couple more chicken tractors, this was the one Mike wanted to repeat because it is light-weight and easy to move.

He wanted to build them in the barn so that they would be flat on concrete ... meaning they would be square. Building them outside on uneven ground might make for an uneven foundation, and that would be bad. Here are a couple of different views of construction, in case you might want to make one.

If you've ever searched for chicken tractors online, you've probably found similar models posted on other blogs and websites. One reason I'm kind of excited about this one is because I had an 'aha!' moment about this one recently. I'm hoping to turn one of them into a high tunnel this fall. We only use them for roosters and turkeys, which are destined to become meat by fall or earlier, and it occurred to me that we could replace the blue tarp with greenhouse plastic in the fall and ... voila! ... we'll have a high tunnel!

We've been using unheated low tunnels to grow food through the winter for three years now, and the only thing I don't like about them is crawling around in the snow to harvest lettuce and other greens. I've looked at commercial high tunnels, but they cost more than we can afford, so this seems like a great solution. With it being lightweight, the plan is to lift it up and sit it over one of our existing raised beds.

This post was shared at the Homestead Barn Hop!

Llama drama

We had the annual llama spa day a week ago Sunday, and as usual, the llamas were not impressed. I took pictures and was all set to tell you about how easy it was this year. There was absolutely no drama by anyone, including Sitara, who decided to stage a sit-down strike last year. She sat and sat and sat through her whole shearing and even as the shearers packed up their things and left. Finally that evening she decided to stand up again, and we could see the funny fringe of hair she still had under her chest, which was unreachable by the shearers since she was kushed (llama lingo for laying down).

The biggest excitement of llama shearing day this year -- oops, I mean llama spa day -- was that we noticed some mammary development on Katy, and that can only mean one thing .... a baby llama is coming soon!

When I was in town on Wednesday, I got a text photo with a picture of a little brown baby llama! I happened to be sitting in the waiting room at the chiropractor at the moment and like any proud grandma, I had to show off the picture to everyone.

But the next day I went outside and took a few more photos, as well as a video of the new little darling. But of course, nothing ever happens without any drama around here, and when I first went out to the pasture the morning after he was born, I thought he was already dead because right next to his mama I saw what looked like a pile of brown fluff. I couldn't even make out heads or tails from across the pasture. I'm trying not to be paranoid, but after all the death we've dealt with lately, it is hard to stay positive. As I moved across the pasture and got closer, I suppose he heard me coming with his big ol' ears, and up popped his head. Yes, I was relieved!

I should add that I didn't know that he was a he at that moment, and it was quite a challenge to figure it out by looking from a distance. He is a fuzzy little thing. Since I've never been able to catch young llamas by myself -- they are not very friendly -- I asked Mike to help me. As soon as Mike picked up the little guy, I felt under the belly, and yup, it's a boy.

We actually have no preference for boys or girls when it comes to baby llamas because they're just going to grow up and become guardians for our goats and sheep. Actually it's probably better if it's a boy because we can get him gelded (that's llama lingo for castrated), and then we don't have to worry about any accidental breeding.  If we have a female, things could get a little tricky as the only intact male on the place would be her daddy.

After Mike put the little dude down, he just stood there, so I decided to pet him, and he still just stood there looking at me with such curiosity. He let me continue to pet him until his mama got several feet away, and then he took off after her. New daily chore: pet baby llama so that he stays this sweet!

And here is the short little video I took. Can you tell I'm excited? But he needs a name, and I've never been great at coming up with names, so I need help! Mama's name is Katydid, and daddy is Dolce & Gabbana. He is all brown with a blackish-brown head, and his future career path is that of a livestock guardian. Ideas? Suggestions?

Farewell to our faithful guardian

I was gone to a conference towards the end of last week, and as I was going from one venue to another, I glanced at my cell phone to see a text that simply said, "Hey, call home when you're free." That type of text usually means something bad, but what? When I called home, my son's first words were, "Sovalye died."

What? He wasn't even sick. It was a shock, and it was hard to have it all happening when I was away from home.

This is what my son posted on his Facebook page:

I don't like dogs, for the most part. I can stand them in small doses, but most of the time I just find them obnoxious, whether they're barking at you or begging for attention. Sovalye was an exception. He was friendly, but in a shy, non-pushy way that you rarely find in dogs. He was our farm's first livestock guardian to last more than a few months, and while he wasn't able to hold on to the title for as long as we would've liked (he's been mostly retired the last few years), he was still extremely effective at his job when he was all there mentally.

He passed away last night at the age of 9. We found him this morning, and it appears he sustained some sort of injury, which probably happened sometime yesterday when he got off our property, a frustrating hobby he's picked up over the last few years (it's not worth trying to catch him when this happens, because he would just run farther away from you - I've chased him a whole mile before), but we weren't able to figure out where they came from. I guess it doesn't matter too much at this point anyway.

Even with all of his issues, he was one of the kindest, most modest dogs I ever knew. He could be ferocious when he wanted and needed to be (he literally shook an invasive raccoon to death when he was only a year old), but deep down he had a very kind heart. Though I've seen dozens of lives come and go on this farm, I'm not sure I'm going to miss one as much as him.

 By the time I got home two days later on Saturday night, Sovalye had been buried, so I was not able to say a proper good bye to him. And it didn't really hit me that he was gone until I milked the goats. He normally waits for me in the barn, and when I walk out of the milking parlor, I give him the strip milk, which is the first few squirts of milk from each goat, and with 14 does, that adds up to a decent amount of milk. But as I reached the end of the milking Sunday morning, I knew Sovalye would not be there waiting for me when I walked out. And tears rolled down my cheeks.