Actually, the wife, Melissa, said she used to have some dairy goats, but had to get rid of them because of carpal tunnel. I mentioned about my goats' milk soap and she asked if the kids could come over some time for a demonstration as a school project (they home-school). I agreed quickly...
As you all know, I've been stressing lately over trying to get in decent hay this year. Between bad weather and mechanical breakdowns, it just didn't seem to be happening. In past years, I've bought hay if I didn't have enough from my own fields but this year everyone else around here has been...
Here's my favorite "going green" tip:
To scour out bottles or any container with too small an opening to get a brush into, use a funnel to put about 1 tsp of plain uncooked rice into the container, then add a small amount of water and shake, shake, shake.
This is the only way I've found to...
I'm coming in late here, but I just have to get in on this fascinating discussion. I trained as a cultural anthropologist and am now a small scale farmer. It was, in fact, the development of agricuture that paved the way for specialized labor and the move away from each family producing its...
FF, those tankless water heaters have to be gas fired, don't they? I would LOVE to have one of those but we don't have natural gas available where I live.
A cistern is a large tank, usually underground but if your winters are mild you might get away with having it above ground. There is a pump inside that pumps water into the house. It's almost like having a well, except you have to fill the cistern from some other source.
When we lived in...
Aly, I hope you don't think I'm sticking my nose in here, but how much of that $7000 was for the actual drilling of the well? The reason I ask is I'm wondering if putting in a cistern would be cheaper and more quickly obtainable. You would still need to do the plumbing, etc. and would still...
Thanks, Punkin. They'd be even happier if the rain would let up enough for them to come out and enjoy the run. We get too much snow in winter for me to put any kind of solid roof over the run.
Thanks, DancingBear. Your description of what to look for helps a lot! I'll take a closer look at them this morning. From what other people have said, I'm assuming now that the two with white are roos. It's really only the black one that's questionable now. Here is a close up of its neck...
Okay, this is getting frustrating. Due to poor weather all throughout the spring, the hay crop all over Saskatchewan is way, way down and now, the rain won't stop long enough to let people get it cut and baled. I have a 30 acre field that is about half cut, and has been for a couple of weeks...
I'm confused. I posted a reply with a new picture but it's not here. Unless I accidentally put it in the wrong place, I guess it's gone into the ether. I'll try again.
It was a lot of work, but we managed to get the dog kennel moved and set up for the chickens. Here are my 3 mystery guests...
No, I'm not saying that at all. The concensus seems to be that the black one MIGHT be a hen. It is also the biggest one, so it will have a better chance of defending itself if I'm wrong. What I'm going to do is move the other two that are most likely roos into the empty dog run and if the...
Quail, those baby bunnies are totally precious. Seeing them really makes me miss raising rabbits, but at least I can live it vicariously through the forums. More pics any time you want!
That orange-y brown color is called Tortoise (Tort, for short) and the ones with the white would be called...
Thank you to everyone for your opinions. Believe it or not, a look at my calendar has solved my problem. I've had my LGD females kenneled in one of those portable dog runs because they were in heat, but I just checked the calendar and it's been 3 weeks now so I think they can come out soon...
Thanks, everybody. I'll see what I can do about getting full body shots. They're in a small cage in a dark barn (which is why I need to move them), but I'll see what I can get.
A few weeks ago, I bought a box of mixed young chickens at a local auction. 3 were standard size and the rest were bantams, so I separated the 3 bigger ones. They are now almost as big as my laying hens and are very crowded in the only cage I have available. I want to move them in with my...