One ... so far

I am happy to announce we now have our very first egg! :)

This past weekend, we added a few additional hens to our chicken flock so we are now up to 18. The new hens were already proven layers, so we are hoping they will encourage our young hens to get "in the mood". Monday, one of the new hens gifted us with our very first egg.

To help give the hens the idea that eggs belong in the nest boxes, and to encourage them to lay eggs, we have added some fake eggs to the boxes. Okay, so they are funny looking... we picked up some plastic Easter eggs that are kind of a tan camouflage color. They are reasonably close to the color the hens will lay at least! We just had some concern about putting bright pink or purple eggs in the boxes - that might scare the hens away entirely.

When we went to the grocery this past weekend, the kind folks in the produce department shared a bunch of greens with us that they were going to toss. The chickens went absolutely nuts over all of it - except the celery. One of the Buff Orpington hens grabbed a big leaf of lettuce and took off running to show all her friends. Once all the "good stuff" was gone, the celery became a toy for them all and provided them (and us) hours of entertainment.

This past Saturday, we had to take our bull, Casper, to visit the vet. He just seemed to be down in the dumps.... to us, he looked like he had lost his best friend. Big sad eyes, and even his ears weren't perky. He did not seem to be eating well either. Our vet checked him over and did not find anything concerning. He said he might have a little congestion that could be putting him off his feed a bit and kept him there for a few days to watch him. I spoke with the vet this morning and they said he seems perky and fine - just his normal laid-back self. He should be coming home tonight or tomorrow. :) His girls are all missing him like crazy!

Our four Nubian dairy goat does that are bred for this Spring are starting to drop their udders a little. They should all be due in 4-7 weeks. We are very excited and anxious to see how this year's kids will turn out.

We have a number of llamas also due this Spring; they should start delivering in April. We are hoping to see the first offspring from our miniature stud, Off The Radar. We also expect crias (baby llamas) from two of our other studs, Chance and Dreamin'. Should be an exciting Spring!

Warm Winter Days

While we were working hard this weekend, we looked out into the pastures and saw our animals lounging about enjoying the unseasonably warm, sunny day. Just had to snap this photo of our Nubian bucks "hanging out".

We are still excitedly waiting on our chickens to start laying eggs. The girls have discovered the nest boxes and have started to act a little more broody ... maybe soon! :)

Over the past few months, both of us have been dealinlg with some injuries that kept us from being very productive. Tho still on the mend, we spent this past weekend working thru our list of all the "little" things that need to get done around the ranch. Fixing things that were broken, building a feed sack bundler rack, putting rubber mats into the horse feeding stalls, cleaning out the creep feeder and refilling it ... you know, just regular stuff that gets pushed off. At the end of the weekend, while we were incredibly tired, we were happy to see what we had accomplished. There is always more to do, but progress comes in small steps sometimes.

This weekend we also said farewell to three llamas who went to their new home. This is a picture of Paloma, her daughter Faith, and the little boy, Taylor, awaiting the arrival of their ride and saying "Goodbye" to all their buddies. These three have gone to a wonderful new home filled with lots of love! What more could we ask for? :)