Sweet Local Farm

We love you two!

Starting a few weeks ago, we began noticing a hummingbird visiting flowers in our garden. Twice I’ve tried to photograph it, but these helicopter-sounding birds move much too quickly.

Coincidentally, my parents sent me this video the other day. It’s nice to see a hummingbird up close. Also, notice how the mother is smaller than her baby…funny how nature works.

thx mtm

The sun shone this morning and temperatures rose above freezing. We took the opportunity to get out doors and play with our animals. Here is Luke holding our rooster, Mr. Matt Damon

He pecked me good the other morning when I made the mistake of trying to bring him water before I brought the food.

Here is Rosie, or Rosemary, eating last year’s kale from the garden:

Birch always like to eat, especially if he sees his sister eating.

Luke always handles Birch because he is much bigger and stronger than Rosemary. I handle her on walks. Luke and Birch off in the distance:

How cute were our little chickens!

So fluffy!

It is really cold. This morning it was 10 degrees. We thought the chickens were coping well, but today I noticed some serious frostbite on our rooster.

Parts of his comb and wattle turned grayish black. The other rooster, the less dominant one didn’t have any symptoms. He seems to stay in the coop more which could be why. The hens have some mild symptoms. To remedy the situation we closed up the coop. They will have to stay inside for the next week or so as we experience very harsh weather and low temperatures. We also rigged a 60 watt light bulb on a timer to run from dusk until dawn. We own a heat lamp from when the chickens were chicks, but the thought of that running all night in the barn made me nervous.

We are still not sure how to treat the frostbite. The internet is filled with conflicting advice. Some say use petroleum jelly or neosporin on the comb and wattle, but some say that it doesn’t work. Some say the frosted area needs to be docked, but that sounds extreme. Others say leave it alone and it will eventually scab and fall off. We are hoping their improved, warmer coop keeps them from any more damage. We also gave them some antibiotic to ward off infection.

Does anyone have any advice?

Our goats have a cozy, hay filled shed to call their home on these cold winter nights. We feed them in the shed every morning and have it insulated with bales of hay. There is only one problem- the goats don’t sleep in there! For some reason they sleep outside on the cold asphalt under the barn overhang in a corner by the chicken coop. We have gone out to look at them with flashlights at all hours of the night. Now that it is really cold out, I got very concerned.

I posted on the Horsetopia message board and got some great advice.

For example, “We have 3 little pygmy’s. They have fluffed up recently and look like little puffballs with legs. They grow a winter coat. They too have access to an insulated dog house (large one that will fit all 3 comfortably with room to spare) lined with straw but sometimes choose to be outside. Silly goats . If they are warm and don’t appear to be shivering or cold, don’t worry about them too much.
I know we all want our animals to be warm & comfy by our standards, but sometimes, by goat standards, they are warm & comfy just lying in the sun on a bed of straw.”

and

“i live in alberta where it’s not uncommon to get -30 weather. my 5 goats sleep in the barn in cubbies full of straw and wood pallets covered with wood. i have a double door and keep the top half closed. one of my goats doesn’t even go in the barn until it gets fairly cold. i also have two donkeys living in the barn with the goats. they have about 2 feet of straw in there (more if it is -30) and if it is calling for -30 or lower i shut the bottom door overnite. They all get good winter coats but some days you can tell they’re chilly and look kind of miserable. also when it’s colder than normal they get extra hay and cubes. if yours prefer sleeping under the overhang maybe a wooden platform with some straw might be a little comfier so they’re not on frozen ground. i always worry so much with the severe cold but they seem to come out of it just fine. two of the goats are seniors, 3 young goats and two very senior donkeys. my goats also love if i bring out a bucket of really quite hot water to slurp up. their goat “tea”. they do also have a heated water trough. i have also read that if otherwise healthy with a good coat the temps don’t really bother them until it hits about -20. i think it worries me more than it actually affects them.”

So I took this advice, brought them some hot water and built a little hay nest where they like to sleep.

They may not be bothered by the cold, but this will give me some peace of mind.

Birch and Rosey love jumping on the bales of hay and hopping back and forth between them. All that action probably keeps them warm too! They seem happy and warm in their fur coats, so I’m happy.

Living on the farm isn’t all fun and games. We do more than play in the garden and decorate for holidays. We spent the last few days cleaning up the barnyard.

We cleaned and swept out the chicken coop and filled the nesting boxes with clean dry hay. We spread all the manure on the garden. We also mucked out the goat pen and cleaned out the old hay. We threw that on the garden too.

Have you ever given a goat a pedicure? I never had either until two days ago. But, the goats need their hooves trimmed before winter or they could experience uncomfortable health problems like hoof rot.

I ordered the best hoof sheers I could find and Luke and I went on a mission to catch the goats and hold them steady for a few moments. It wasn’t easy, but we got the job done!

After reading about it in a few goat books, I watched a couple videos online to get the technique down.

Hoof Trimming Goats — powered by eHow.com

My friend Megan does beautiful portraits of animals. She has painted her two cats, as well as many of the dogs that she works with. She painted these lovely portraits of our little goats:

Rosemary, the goat, with her crown of rosemary, the herb.

Birch doing what he does best, chewing on some birch.

Yesterday was a beautiful autumn day. I went outside to capture some of the fall foliage, animals, and fading garden beds. Please enjoy the tour.