Which leads me to the next topic, the daily hunt of eggs. It is like Easter every day on the farm. The free range birds do not always choose to lay in the many and differently situated egg boxes and they may just stop laying in a favourite spot for a reason only known to the hen, and look for a better place. So, the hunt is always new and interesting. Here is a photo of the new Standard Bronze turkey hen, or rather her tail, as she is laying her egg in the curl of the hay bale which has come down enough to make her think it is a safe and sheltered place for eggs. The ducks sometimes lay eggs on the ground almost as they waddle around and I try to collect them often throughout the day before the dogs or ravens find them. The dogs have gotten very good about not touching the eggs this year though, so that is less of a worry. The other nice treat is that the eggs are already dyed very pretty interesting colours, including bluey green, pink , light beige, dark tan and cream, plus of course, white. Thank you hens! and bless those little bodies that work so hard.
Technology is good and bad. There was a time when reading about another's life was only in the newspaper or a good book, and now, blogging has become as much a part of communication as those old standbys. But, when technology crashes, so do the pictures and stories. I know better and still have not backed up my photos and data on my computer. Fortunately, mail and blog content is remote managed from a different server and would only be lost if those servers went down and content was lost. What I lost over the past week was minimal really, but it was not convenient. Photos had to be transferred one at a time, so I did not transfer as many and with missing keys and a non functional space bar on my old laptop, which I have kept for the great playlist and was so grateful to have it, I also did not write as much. Then there was the issue of the passing my friend and web master, which caused the .com domain to be inaccessible for nearly two full months. Power of attorney papers and identification of the executor and so on had to be provided before I could access my domain. As a result both .ca and .com now work for thefatewe. Frustrating as it also was, the ending developed to a good outcome really.
Which leads me to the next topic, the daily hunt of eggs. It is like Easter every day on the farm. The free range birds do not always choose to lay in the many and differently situated egg boxes and they may just stop laying in a favourite spot for a reason only known to the hen, and look for a better place. So, the hunt is always new and interesting. Here is a photo of the new Standard Bronze turkey hen, or rather her tail, as she is laying her egg in the curl of the hay bale which has come down enough to make her think it is a safe and sheltered place for eggs. The ducks sometimes lay eggs on the ground almost as they waddle around and I try to collect them often throughout the day before the dogs or ravens find them. The dogs have gotten very good about not touching the eggs this year though, so that is less of a worry. The other nice treat is that the eggs are already dyed very pretty interesting colours, including bluey green, pink , light beige, dark tan and cream, plus of course, white. Thank you hens! and bless those little bodies that work so hard.
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After one false start, followed by unseasonably frigid weather, we finally have spring! The snow is rapidly melting, leaving the tell tale signs off critters and their mess gathered over the past six months. One beautiful thing about snow is that it is pristine and clean and covers so many transgressions. Today, I picked up two bags of bones and a mess of torn cardboard, a winter diversion for young dogs with not a lot to do. There are still large patches of snow and ice on the shady sides of buildings, and as the snow is melting, it is leaving behind sand, dirt,silt and debris. A very major yard clean up will have to happen as soon as the rest of the ice is gone and garbage trapped in the ice is freed. The ducks and geese are loving the puddles and enjoy their whole day digging in the mud with their bills. The farmer has to change over the winter wardrobe too. The heavy boots will have to be washed and dusted with baking soda to keep them fresh in storage. The winter parkas, down vests and insulated coveralls will need laundering prior to storing. It is a good thing the little farm house has a basement, such as it is, where the winter clothing can be stored. The coat racks will be lighter, though, and that will be nice. For now, just attempting to keep the mud and manure caked to the footwear out of the house and porch is a monumental task. I swept the walkways at the farmhouse and put down two mats at the door, but the debris still tracks in the porch and eventually into the house. It is surprising how quickly the melted snow dissipates. The puddles are quickly absorbed by the dry earth and in a day or two, there is no trace of the water. A bonus to the thaw is the hose can be employed to water the animals, which saves an hour of chore time. Ah, spring. It makes me think of fresh linens on the clothesline, summer cottons smelling of sunshine and flowers. How full my heart is to see the changes of the seasons and to love it all.Thank you Creator for the most incredible gift of change. Thank you. Robbie helped me herd the new geese into their shelter for the night. They had taken over the bird pen and ousted the farm geese, which did not know where to go for the night then. So, I ousted them, reinstated the farm geese to their pen, and then after quite the round up, Robbie put them into their proper place. He is getting more and more skilled all the time. But the turkeys, well, that is another story. They spent 3 nights and days in a pen, a rather nice one, with food, water and a roost, plus a nice place to lay eggs for the hen. There was no way they were going back there though. They decided to fly up on the coop roof instead. It is remarkable that birds that big fly so well, but these heritage turkeys were the result of a cross with wild turkeys, and they certainly retained their flight abilities. So, up on the roof they were, making their turkey noises and not wanting to come down for no one , no where! Robbie and I left them up there and where they will sleep tonight, who knows, but it is not going to be a cold night. They are very hardy though and can withstand the winter roosting in trees apparently. They do have a barn and their own shelter, should they choose to go in for the evening. Silly turkeys! The little ewe lambs were put in with the big ewe lambs today. Some of the little ones were the daughters of the big ones and sheep can and do recognize one another, even after months apart. The joy in the sheep pen was amazing, but there was sadness too. Two sets of twin ewes called and called for their mothers, but it was those mothers who died in the dead of winter to bloat from bad hay, so they were nowhere to be found. After a while, the little ewes gave up searching for their mothers and looked for food instead. It is only three weeks until the first lambs will be born and the presence of the older ewes may comfort the younger ones who are bred. This also cuts down on one set of chores, so the ewes can be watered and fed together now in one pen, though they have access to all three pens. The little ewe lambs stayed with the adults in their pen and everyone seemed content and relaxed. The two livestock guardian dogs kind of did a double take on the quick increase in numbers, but they know the ewe lambs, though they have not directly lived with them yet. I trust all will be well in the next few weeks as the preparations for lambing begin. The ewes must be sheared or at least crutched, that is the wool removed from their tail and udder areas for ease of birth and so that the silly newborns do not latch onto a chunk of manure covered wool thinking it is the teat instead. Lambs have been known to do that! Excitement is about to begin. The Standard Bronze turkey can be dated back to perhaps earlier than the 1700's when the settlers arrived with domestic turkeys and allowed mating to the wild turkeys. The resulting birds were much larger than the wild counterparts, and much tamer, so the breed became a standard. Being a hybrid, the hardiness and vigor was also increased and for two centuries, the Standard Bronze turkey was the most popular turkey. It gave way to the Broad Breasted Bronze turkey, which lost popularity to the White Broad Breasted turkey because the white feathers resulted in a cleaner carcass. The Broad Breasted Bronze and White turkeys cannot breed on their own, but the standard Bronze still can. The toms are over 30 pounds and the hens half of that. The hens make excellent mothers and will often raise a brood of their own turkey babies, called poults, each year. The breed is known for its less aggressive tendencies, however; there can be differences within the flock, depending on the breeder and selection. The Standard Bronze turkey is on the endangered list. The Fat Ewe Farm is hoping to build a small stable flock of Standard Bronze turkeys to keep the breed going, but also to have roast turkey from the farm raised birds. The turkey hen has laid two eggs, but the first one was frozen by the time I found it. If she appears to go broody, I will give her back the eggs I have collected and have her raise her own babies. It is not unheard of to have a chicken hatch the turkey babies, but they are more delicate than chicks and need more attention for a longer period of time. The Bronze turkeys are slow growing and do not mature until nearly a year old. Welcome to the Fat Ewe Farm, you lovely thangs! Daphne has a full udder and it appears her babies have dropped. Her vulva is swollen, but she is not due until the 30th of this month, unless that little buckling somehow snuck through the fence and bred her early. The bucks were not put in with the does until the 1st of December, and with a 5 month gestation period, the earliest delivery should not be until April 30th. But, Daphne is showing signs of being ready as is one other doeling, her daughter from 2 years ago. I guess we won't know for certain until the time comes, who the sire was and when the ladies were actually bred. Raven is a tiny buckling from a delivery of twins, Weezie's last babies before she went off to greener pastures in the sky. He would produce lovely babies, but it is hard to believe he would have been big enough to manage even Daphne. The other buck is Angora though, so if the babies are born with lovely curly locks, they will be Nygora or Pygora (Nigerian Dwarf or Pygmy crossed with Angora, which produces lovely spinning fiber). I just hope she is not delivering prematurely, though the babies likely would survive with extra care at this time. Excitement abounds. |
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AuthorFluffy writes daily about the experiences on the farm and with the bed and breakfast patrons. Archives
October 2020
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