Vindicated By a Duck

In a prior post I mentioned that I gave 2 pre-K classes 20 chicken eggs and none of them hatched. We were so sure that the rooster, Big Foot, was not up to the job.

I knew it wasn't my fault.  And you don't know why I'm hostile.

  Then I gave them 11 of the 16 eggs that my duck, Daisy, laid.  I left 5 of the eggs in the nest.  But I had marked the 1st 4 that she laid with a big black X, because Daisy had not been sittling on them and they sat out in the freezing weather.  Then after more than 2 weeks she decided to sit on them.  I had collected the new eggs each day and saved them for the class. That was why I marked the 1st 4 with the X. 

 I felt so sorry for Daisy sitting for 28 days, barely getting up to eat, drink and take a quick swim once a day.  So on April 5th, when my grandson, Connor, yelled I see baby ducks;  I thought surely only the last egg had hatched.  So I said, "You see one duck?"  He replied, "No, there are 4."  Sure enough the 4 that I had marked with that X had all hatched; leaving just the newest egg unhatched.

I quickly texted the teacher to ask if her eggs had hatched.  None of hers ended up hatching.  So it appears Big Foot most likely does not shoot blanks.  I'm sure he is thankful to Donald for clearing his reputation.  It's still a mystery what went wrong with all those eggs at the school.  One theory is that the heating unit in the building is cut off at 3 pm each day; but I don't know if that really affected them.

Donald takes his job as protector very seriously. 

We are just happy that it is truly spring at our mini urban farm with baby chicks, baby goats and now 4 baby ducks.  Oh, and as for the 5th egg; Daisy had to move on with the 4 that had hatched.  Chase, my 12 year old grandson, understood what had happened and begged me to do something so it could hatch.  I had to tell him that I am not a mother duck and I don't have an incubator. It was just one of those tough lessons one learns quickly when raising farm animals, even as pets.

Adorable family of 6

Nothing beats a good spring rain.

The New Kids Spent Their First Night Alone

This is about 1/3 of what I bought that still need planting.

Today was a busy day.  I still have hundreds of plants to put out from last weekend's shopping trip to every nursery in town with my mother and daughter.  In fact, when we unloaded the truck, my daughter said that it looks like a nursery threw-up in my yard.

But before I could get to my landscaping, I had to milk Honey Bunny, my Nigerian Dwarf goat, for the first time.  This is very exciting for me, mostly, because I haven't had fresh goat milk to make all that cheese and yogurt I learned to make in the classes I took back in February in Waco.   

Milking Honey Bunny this morning meant that the kids, April and Minimus would have to spend their first night away from their mother.  I expected a lot of crying and that's what happened.  I decided to give Honey Bunny a bedtime snack. So I put her up on the milking stand facing away from the pen so she would not see me moving the kids into the "baby house."  That's where they were born and spent the first 10 days of their lives with their mother.  Oh! I haven't even blogged about their birth that was on April 1st.  Things move along quickly around here. 

April, Minimus and Honey Bunny

Of course they started crying when I took them to their house and their mother got upset and started crying.  I put her back in the pen and went to the babies and held them for 45 minutes until they fell asleep. Actually they were asleep after about 3 minutes.  I just enjoyed holding them.  Honey Bunny had calmed down by then. 

For her first day of milking Honey Bunny was super calm and still while I milked her.  Just the opposite of my stubborn girl, Dottie Belle.  Maybe it was good that Dottie Belle was my first goat to milk, so I can truly appreciate a great one like Honey Bunny.  Dottie Belle was a bottle baby. She was not raised with her mother. Instead I bottle fed her.  I'm not sure she has ever understood that she is not human.  So I think she cuts up  more because she is more familiar with me.  We'll have to see if Honey Bunny stays good.  Tonight the kids never cried when I moved them and they went right to sleep.  Honey Bunny still called out to them a few times, but settled quickly.

Working in the front yard allows people to stop and ask me can they see the goats.  Of course I love to do that.  So I had two sets of visitors today; both with children.  They all love holding the kids and chickens.

Gypsy Ginger enjoyed sampling my friend Lola's clothes.

  This evening it was so great to look in the refrigerator and see a jar of goat milk.  It won't be long before I can have some really great yogurt for breakfast.  Now that I have made my own yogurt, I can't eat that stuff from the grocery store.  

My Mini Urban Farm Needs a Fowl Psychologist

I had my pearls and boots on;  all ready to do my School Board Member duty of attending the Student on the Year Banquet at 6:00. 
It has been a very rainy and stormy day so that set-up a rather slippery situation.

Before I leave in the late afternoon, I have to let Big Foot the rooster out, so when it gets dark the hens can go in the coop for the night.  I have  to manage him very carefully, because he attacks females; especially me.  So I let the hens out in the morning and he only gets out at the end of the day, when I am not going to go outside again until dark.  My only other option is to get my son-in-law to kill him.  Big Foot is giant size and really wants to hurt me.

So tonight before heading out to the banquet, I had to let Big Foot out of the coop.  I always have a big stick in my hand just in case I need it; which I do at least half the time. Well of course, this would be one of those afternoons when he chases me and almost caught me.  But just as I got to the carport I started slipping and I could have landed face first on the concrete or on a large holly fern in the flower bed.  Apparently my subconscious chose the holly fern. I had just had an encounter with the sidewalk 10 days ago and I am still on the mend.  At least the rooster stopped.  He was probably laughing.

So instead of going to the banquet, I got out of my muddy clothes and watched TV in my pajamas all night with my hurt ankles, neck and right thigh; to say nothing of my pride and feelings.

My husband pointed out that both male fowls, Big Foot and Donald, have a lot of aggression toward me.  That maybe the 3 of us should get some psychological help or at least the one  that allows the other 2 to continue to live on our property? 

I need a male fowl whisperer immediately.

Come on out here so I can bite you.

Ducks

Last spring I bought 2 ducklings.  I wanted a male and a female, so I googled to find out all I could about how to sex a duckling.  What I read was that the female would be noisy; always quacking.  The male would be quiet, but moving around a lot.  So off to the Tractor Supply Store.  All they had were Peking and that was fine.  So as I observed them, I did notice the 2 very different types of behaviors.  I got one completely yellow one that was making a lot of noise; therefore a presumed female and one black and yellow one that was quietly running all over the place; my presumed male.  Without a lot of thought, I named the Daisy and Donald. 

About four months or so my designation of each ones gender was confirmed by their behavior in their little pool.

This year Daisy is sitting on 5 eggs.  I had read that Peking ducks don't go broody, so I marked the first 4 eggs in her nest and began collecting the new one each day to dye for Easter.  I also gave 11 eggs to the Pre-K teacher to see if they would hatch.  Daisy laid one final egg and has decided to hatch them.  I don't believe the 4 I marked will hatch because we had several days below freezing and she was not on them.  But for the past 15 days, she rarely moves from her nest.  Let's hope that at least that one egg hatches after all her dedication.   

You can see the x I marked on the eggs.  I do feel guilty about that now.

Daisy looks so sweet taking care of her eggs.

And what is Donald doing while his mate is no longer running around quaking at him all day?  

Mostly he quietly stands guard very close to Daisy.

When I open the door he runs up and attacks me.  It is very painful to be bitten on the ankle by a duck.

You Knew I Was a Snake

I know most people have heard the story of the monk who met a snake going up a mountain that was freezing to death.  The shivering snaked begged the monk to carry it up the mountain so it could warm itself in the monastery. The monk argued that it could be deadly to be bitten by a poisonous snake.  But the pleading snake promised not to bite him, if he would just be so kind as to save his life. Of course as soon as they were at the monastery and getting all warm; the snake promptly bit the monk.  To the shocked monk, the snake replied, "But you knew I was a snake when you picked me up."

Well as a School Board, we choose to "work" with a charter school and its board of directors, who are members of our community.  But like most people who are trying to make a profit off of public education; ethics and perhaps laws are rarely a top concern. As I read the following article in yesterday's local paper I could not help but think about the monk and the snake story.  We know Charter Schools are the poisonous snakes in "public" education.

Governor Jindal: Killing public education one school at a time.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Coates Bluff Wright Island files suit against city, charter school

Shreverport Times picture.

 http://www.shreveporttimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2013130326058&nclick_check=1
. . .  Coates Bluff Wright Island — developed by U.L. Coleman — filed suit against Shreveport Charter Foundation and the city of Shreveport, saying the city illegally allowed the foundation to construct Magnolia on River Parkway Boulevard right of way.  . . .

This final statement speaks of the confidence the Charter's Board of Directors have that they are above the law. “We have every intention to open Magnolia at the beginning of August just as was the plan,” Rozeman said. “This suit doesn’t change that for us.”   

I hope that my shaky faith will be restored in Louisiana's judicial system.  But politics, not honesty, often prevails here.  And for the record, I did not vote to play with these snakes.

Easter Cold Snap

Yes, it's wisdom handed down from our grandparents, don't plant the vegetable garden until Good Friday and look out for the Easter Snap.  I just googled "How often is there an Easter snap" and found not meteorological data. Anyway for the past 2 weeks the weather has been very spring like.  We planted the tomatoes, squash, tender herbs and peppers. 

The peach tree is blooming.

The dogwood tree is in full bloom.

 

The azaleas are in full bloom.

 Then the forecast for 6 a.m. Monday was a low of 31, Tuesday, 28 and Wednesday, 31 degrees.  So the entire area was under a freeze warning.  Of course down here we can't really complain, many places just a little north got a blanket of snow.

I have always planted after Easter, but for the past 2 years the temperature hits the 90's and even 100 degrees before the tomatoes have time to develop.  So I decided not to wait.  I want a good crop of tomatoes this year. With that decision comes the extra work of covering all the vegetables when the Easter Snap attacks.

Yes they are warm under here!

Tomorrow and this weekend it will be back to the 70's, that's degrees not ugly clothes. 

Gardening is a Family Affair

My parents raised 6 children in the country.  We raised just about everything we ate.  My parents planted the garden, but the children picked the beans and such.  I have had a vegetable garden now for about 15 years with varying degrees of success and I've managed to involve the grandchildren. In an effort to cut down on weeding, last year my husband built raised beds. A co-worker of Don's raised a fantastic garden last year and he used cotton seed compost from the Gilliam Cotton Gin. So a couple of months ago we went there and for $25 got a truck load.  

At the end of February we planted potatoes, onions and spinach.  Last weekend we planted 12 tomato plants.  Almost all were a different type.  I'll list them later as they begin to produce.  Usually Celebrity produces best here, but they don't taste the best. Planted 4 bell pepper plants, but a chicken ate one of them, 3 eggplants, and sowed some Royal Burgundy Bush Beans.  We also planted 2 crooked neck squash plants and sowed a few butternut squash seeds.

A couple of chickens helped mix up the soil.

Connor and Kennedy have always worked well with us.

Working in the garden has never been Chase's thing.

Egg-gate or My Rooster Shoots Blanks

In February I took 10 eggs to a Pre-K class to incubate.  24 days later I got a sad call that none of them hatched.  So I took 10 more eggs to them.  Well this past Tuesday I received the following text message.
"Try to find a fertile rooster.  Your rooster is definitely shooting blanks.  I'm going to the farm store to get some chicks to place in the incubator.  Time for a big cover up.  No roosters.  I got 6 chicks.  Leaving 4 unhatched.  Not sure if this lesson is process or product. One thing's for sure...things aren't always what they seem?"

The next day she sent this picture with the caption 






                                       "Mission Accomplished!"

She said I'm not doing what?

The students were very excited when they opened the incubator and found 6 little chicks.  Four eggs had not hatched.  When the students asked why they did not hatch, their teacher told them that the rooster had not done his job.

Well as Big Foot's human, I have seen him performing his only duty rather diligently, but I can't explain the failure of 20 eggs to hatch.  A couple of years ago his sister went broody and she hatched 5 of 9 eggs.  

 Anyway, Friday after school I received 6 very cute little chicks; 2 Plymouth Barred Rocks, 2 Rhode Island Reds and 2 Buff Orpington.  I have to say that Mrs. Flint was extremely determined to give her students a great experience. 

Baahing at the Barkus and Meow Parade

Thursday, January 31 while my daughter, Jacquie, and I were getting pedicures; I chose to have my toenails painted purple, gold and green for the Mardi Gras season; Jacquie mentioned the Barkus and Meow parade was Sunday.  I told her I was going to ask Don if he was up to taking the grandkids and enter the goats in the parade.  This is the one parade that one can just show up and enter!  I really thought it was a long shot that Mr. Introvert would entertain that notion for a second.  But "Sure!" he said. So I spent Friday and Saturday making and gather 5 costumes and devising a way for Dottie Belle and Gypsy Ginger to pull a wagon with Kennedy in it.  Don and I practiced with the goats before we told the children what "our" plan was.  We found a scrap piece of PVC pipe about 30" long and put the 2 leashes through it to keep the goats straight, looped the leashes through the handle on the wagon and clipped them on the goat's collars.  It actually worked well.  I didn't photographically document it very well. I was too rushed and was afraid of trying Don's patience.

Getting ready to line-up.

The theme for our float was Capricorn.  Connor was the mythical god, Pan (half goat/half man). Notice hat with horns. This picture shows some difficulty. The goats kept losing their boas.

 Notice Kennedy is not riding in the wagon.  It took way too long for the parade to start, so I had to carry her most of the time. So the boys used the wagon for the candy and beads to throw.

Here's the professional video from the parade.  We actually made it at the 1:58 mark.  It's just a very quick appearance. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x5rt4T3R67c

Don summed-up his experience as an intravert's nightmare with all those people jumping out and wanting to pet the goats.

The children, goats and I had fun, but were totally exhausted.  Dottie Belle spent the rest of the afternoon lying down.  Gypsy is a high energy kind of girl, so she fared the best. 
  


 

Cheese Making Classes

I mentioned earlier that from August through November, I was milking my Nigerian Dwarf goat, Dottie Belle, and making cheese, butter and best of all yogurt. Dottie Belle is the first animal that it has ever crossed my mind to milk. If fact, this whole goat, milking and cheese thing is way off path for me, unless one considers that I am always up for a new adventure.

The most milk I ever got in 1 milking was 34 ounces.  Nigerian Dwarf goats give very rich and sweet milk, but not a large quantity.  But they are very small animals compared to a cow.  So I would have to save up to make a batch of cheese or yogurt.

 I bought 2 books.

A friend loaned me this book.

It's great to have all this information along with many internet sites, but none of them exactly agreed.  My first attempt was a failure, because this former 4th grade teacher forgot how many ounces were in a gallon and I only used 64.  That was the "simple" recipe I got off the internet where you add apple cider vinegar.

Anyway, I did manage to be successful at making a strong traditional feta and ricotta.  But I went crazy over the yogurt it was so good. I will share that in a post by itself.

For a combination Christmas/Birthday present, my children went in together and paid for me to attend 2 cheese making classes on February 8th and 9th.  http://www.sustainlife.org/ On Friday, we learn to make soft cheeses and hard cheeses on Saturday.  The classes are in Waco, TX a little more than 4 hours away.  My husband is taking 4 vacation days to drive over there with me.  He's not interested in taking the classes.  But we will come back through Dallas and visit with his daughter and my son.  So it's a long weekend that we both look forward to.

Honey Bunny

After I have acquired all that cheese making knowledge, I will have to wait until my doe, Honey Bunny, kids hopefully in early April, so I can have milk.  When we left town for 3 days in November, I hired someone to milk Dottie Belle for me.  When I returned she had decided she was not going to produce milk anymore.  That was a big disappointment.  Have any of you had an experience like that with your milk animal?

Gypsy Visits a School

Last week Kennedy and I loaded up the truck with Gypsy and 2 chickens, Gracie and Moonshine.  The Pre-K classes at Shreve Island had been studying the letter G.  They had also learned the song "Gus the Goat."  

When we drove up to the school, Kennedy pointed to the playground and wanted to go play.  But I told her we had to show all the children her goat and chickens.  The children certainly enjoyed petting Gypsy and the 2 chickens.  As I was holding Moonshine and passing her around so the children could feel her feathers, we heard a splat/crack.  I was so shocked. Moonshine had laid an egg and it hit the concrete.  It almost hit a child on the head.  I can't believe I didn't get a picture of that, but I was just too surprised.  Now the children know first hand where eggs come from.

Moonshine right before she lays an egg.

By the way, the first Pre-K class took Kennedy to play on the playground while I showed the animals to the next class.

On Friday, I took 10 eggs to one of the classes to put into their incubator.  Hopefully, by the end of February they experience chicks hatching.

Goodbye to Jazzman

Last July Dottie Belle was the first goat here at Thornhill Acre to kid.  She had 1 buckling that weighed 5 lbs.  The average size for a newborn Nigerian Dwarf kid is 2.5 lbs. So he was a big fellow and I was so lucky that the birth was easy.  He had great coloration and clear blue eyes; but I can't start out keeping every kid that is born here.  So when I got a chance to sell him to a good home, I did.

Jazzman

Anyway my grandson, Connor, came over and I told him that the lady had just left who bought Jazzman.   Connor was very disappointed that I would sell a boy.  He believes the farm has too few males.  How do you explain to a 6 year old boy that a farm doesn't need very many male animals?

Billy Shakespeare

I told him that it was okay to sell Jazzman, because Shakespeare was now living with Honey Bunny, so we should have some new kids in March or April.  He replied, "No, Shakespeare is Dottie Belle's husband."  I told him that boy goats could have 3 wives; since I have 3 does. His eyes lit-up and I knew what that little boy was thinking. In the past few months he told me there were too many beautiful girls for him to have just one girl friend.

Honey Bunny

Therefore, I quickly added, but people can only have 1 husband or wife.  His expression quickly changed and he said, "But what if there are just too many beautiful women?"  I then said, "Well then you are not in love, so you can't get married." There are such tough lessons to learn.