Quail_Antwerp: Words from the Barnyard...

[Quail_Antwerp]

All Marans are either French or English. French Black Copper Marans will be feather legged -and so any variety of Marans with feathered legs would be French.

Clean legged Marans are of the English variety. So, if you had clean legged Black Coppers, they would be English Black Coppers.

My Golden Cuckoo cockerel and my Silver/Black Cuckoo Marans are all English Cuckoo Marans. In other words, they are clean legged.

 

[big brown horse]

Well then, they are French blacks, they have fuzzy little leggos. And their parents were all black with a bit of copper around their necks.

Cool! Thanks for the lesson.

 

[lorihadams]

Stop the madness!!!........I'm already having trouble deciding what chicks to order....now I've got more breeds to think about

My hubby is gonna kill me......you guys are GREAT!!!!!!

 

[Quail_Antwerp]

Brown Chicken brown cow....brown chicken brown cow....brown chicken brown cow

seriously, can't get it out of my head!

so had an interesting coupla days here...

First, Job my beautiful darling Alpaca just dropped over dead yesterday. He has not had any signs of being ill, has had plenty of food and water, and was getting very friendly towards us. Went out to feed calves yesterday morning, and he was laying right next to the fence.

We can't find any marks on him at all, so we don't think it was a predator attack...but it was definitely a shock.

Trouble is going down hill again. It's frustrating to the point that E said, "If he's going to die, I wish he'd hurry up and get on with it."

And Blessing has become a PAIN big time. She is freaking wild! She jumps and skips, and kicks the barn walls if we don't get her chop and hay into her fast enough. She sucks her milk down like no one's business, and then looks for me. Glutton.

Yesterday while we were feeding, Lance the RP turkey tom walked up to the calf gate, gobbled and drummed....Blessing jumped 3 feet in the air - she totally freaked out! She knocked her bottle out of my hands and then mowed over Trouble to get away from the turkey.

She's so high strung and such a pain, that I think we're going to haul her back to the auction after she gets some size to her. And is weaned.

Such a pain she is!

Today, BeccaOh and I went to the church together to set up and decorate tables for a chili cookoff that our church is hosting. E is entering his Flaming Hot chili, and there are going to be prizes for some of the chilis according to catagories...If E's wins it will be under the so-hot-you-will-no-longer-have-taste-buds-and-you-will-breathe-fire.

After we were done setting up tables and chairs and putting on table cloths, we headed into town to pick up a few things. Like feed. Brackets for the dog kennel to tighten down more. Groceries.

Before we went to the church this morning we went to visit a local who said he had some mini-rex rabbits for us to look at. Becca got a beautiful pair of chocolate rex! They are gorgeous! I got two does, one is kind of an orangey color and the other is black. Plus I also got (but have yet to pick up) a dark silver buck and a lighter silver buck.

I also am hopefully getting a 9 ft long outdoor hutch, that will be perfect for housing 2 pregnant/nursing does. It's a trade in the works, so we'll see.

I have several rabbits sitting here that will be going to the auction ASAP and I just made a deal with my rabbit friend over the hill to get her adult trio of just heinz 57 rabbits because she's only going to be focusing on lops. Her trio throws beautiful babies!

So, that's how it's been here the last couple days. Oh, and we're getting adjusted to the whole online school thing. DD has completed and turned in all her assignments for the week.

Tomorrow, chili cook off, and then Monday - we hit FEBRUARY!! whoot!!!

Only 29 more days until MARCH!!!

 

[Farmfresh]

Wow! You have had a busy few days!

Too bad about Job. What a disappointment. I don't know if you said this before, but do you know how old he was?

 

[TanksHill]

Oh, Sorry to hear about your Alpaca. What a bummer. I must of missed it some where but Trouble and Blessing are calves??? When did you get those? What seems to be wrong with Trouble?

The bunnies all sound great. Now you are only breeding and selling them at the auction? the same as the chickens? How big is this auction? Seems like you never run out of customers.

That would be fun.

Glad to hear school is going well.

Have a great day,

gina

 

[justusnak]

Oh QA So sorry to hear about Job. Thats a mystery for sure. Will you have a necropsy done, to make sure there isn't something going around the farm?
Wondering why Trouble is struggling so much? So sorry to hear that.
Blessing sounds like a handfull....Wish I was closer...I would take her.
The bunnies sound wonderfull! I would love to have rabbits...but I really dont think I am ready for another adventure. Yet.
Tell E good luck on the chili cookoff!!

 

[FarmerDenise]

Sounds like you have had a lot going on this week. Sorry about Job. Great about DD getting her work done. and good luck on the chili cook-off for E.

 

[Quail_Antwerp]

No, we don't know how old Job was.

No, we weren't planning to do a necropsy on him, and we don't think there is anything going around the farm, but if Chase or Boss drops dead, well, then we might have to do some investigating.

Had a good day at the chili cook off, and E's chili was a big hit with the people who came to eat, but he only took 5th place with the judges. Northerners just don't appreciate a good burn-off-the-taste-buds-and-scorch-your-throat-can't-go-number-2-for-a-week chilis. We needed some Texans there I think

Regardless, by the time we were cleaning up and packing up to come home, there was only about one serving of E's chili left. (thank goodness! because I didn't want him and the kids eating that crap for the next week!!)

Came home to find that Trouble had finally given up his fight. We're kind of relieved. He just never fully recovered from his bout of scours, and the vet said you can't save them all. Out of 4 calves, he has been our only loss this time around (we've lost calves before back in '98 when we raised them).

So, had to take care of that body - lemme tell you, I'd rather have dead critters in spring/summer when everything is thawed so it's easier to bury them!

Checked on the chickerdoodles and opened all the coops. Kept them all closed in while we were at church. They were happy for the freedom lol. Fed them some of the leftover bread from the chili cook off. Collected 5 chicken and 1 duck egg so far. We'll be eating these, as my incubator is still kinda full.

I should have chicks hatching out on the 13th, and ducklings on the 20th. Most of the chicks will be going to the March 1 Auction, depending on how cold....I'll keep a few of the ducklings, maybe, but some of them will probably go to sale, too.

February 15th is Presidents Day, and there's always a special auction that day. I'm taking the rabbits I don't want to keep to the Presidents Day special. They usually bring $5-$10+ each at the special auction.

I'll just be happy to see the unwanted extras leaving.

Now I'm sippin' a cuppa joe (doctored with a good pouring of Belgium chocolate toffee flavoring) and munching on a lemon poppyseed muffin - I love gourmet muffins! so fattening and delicious.....

 

[The Vail Benton's]

QA, sorry to hear about Job & now Trouble. Such is life on the farm, I guess. I hope from here on out you will have smooth sailing. Maybe Blessing will calm down a bit and quit giving you such a hard time. probably not.