Peep Peep and Zoom Zoom are young goslings of Tufted Toulouse/Embden gander and American Buff goose. The two Buff geese took turns sitting on the eggs and sometimes sat together. They hatched a whole bunch, 14 in total, but kept losing them to something, so their last three were removed to live with Peep Peep and Zoom Zoom and no, I did not name them. My son did and cared for them for the first few days.
The two goslings were hatched a day apart and thrown out of the nest because mamma goose was still sitting and she did not have time for the little one. The gosling would not have made it on his own and was brought to the house to live in a Rubbermaid tote with a heat lamp for warmth. Goslings do not require heat for more than a couple of weeks and if the weather is warm, they do not need it much at all. Unlike chickens, geese are very good in wet cool weather as well as warm dry days. Two weeks in the house and they had outgrown their tote. They then moved to the outside where the other three confiscated goslings joined them. At first they little goslings were afraid of the bigger ones, but within a few days, they were all fine together. A week in the outdoors in the puppy pen with boards over the top for security and shade and the older ones were returned to the parents. Hopefully they will not lose any more and take better care of these three. 

Peep Peep and Zoom Zoom were then let out in the farm yard with close supervision. I was outside all day supporting and helping the contractor as well as doing the regular farm chores and was able to observe the goslings. They stayed close to where their pen was for the half the day, then got brave and venture a bit further. They got to swim in the tote lid, which they loved and eat all the grass they wanted. 

The evening brings all sorts of terrors and although the dogs protect the farm with their lives, Peep Peep and Zoom Zoom are back in the puppy enclosure for the night for safety and security. They have a small bucket of water and their kibbles and some fresh grass. It is wonderful to hear them sing themselves to sleep, so sweetly and so softly they sing. They are totally bonded to humans now and prefer their company over the birds. They were in with the birds in the main yard for a few minutes but were terrified, so I brought them back to the farmhouse yard. For the next week they can wander around the farmhouse yard, but the reason it is fenced off from the barnyard was to keep the animals that poop anywhere on the other side, so their days are limited in the yard. Soon they will be bigger and more confident too and able to join the rest of the ducks and geese in the farmyard. 

Geese are wonderful companion birds, friendly and intelligent and like to be cuddled if they are from when they are hatched. Who would think that a goose was a great pet? Peep Peep and Zoom Zoom surely are!

Rabbits are newer to the farm than the other critters, having only arrived last year. I could have bred the does last year, but was not ready in my mind to eat baby bunnies. Rabbit meat is delicious and lean, and the rabbits are excellent feed converters, but feeding them when they are in cages is not easy. I pick some weeds and grass for them daily, sometimes twice if it is hot, and they pick at it, but do not eat much. They do like some leaves from saplings and will eat grain, but they love rabbit pellets. I did not want to feed pellets to them because the ingredients are made from genetially modified corn and soy and round up ready sprayed grains. Petey got sick though and was did not thrive on the hay ration and grain. He became thin and depressed too. Now he is closer to the girls and can see and smell them. The female rabbits are very good friends, Sandy, the red sandy Flemish Giant and Cindy, the French Lop. They have little houses they can go to, but often share one together and they have a barrel for when the weather is wet and driving, which they do use together as well. 
The does have dug two burrows to have their kits in. Most folks give the rabbits nesting boxes, but when they are outdoor rabbits, what do you do? There isn't room in their barrel for nesting boxes, nor in their little shelters. In the wild, does dig burrows which they then cover loosely. The burrows are quite deep and go down then back up to keep the little ones dry. They pull the soft down from their chests to line the burrow and when they have their kits, they only return once a day to nurse them, uncovering the burrow and then carefully recovering it when they leave. They then stay near by, but rabbits cannot defend themselves very well. They will bite and jump forward using their front legs as claws, plus kick with their strong hind legs, but they really do not have great defences. Staying out of site is best. 

The burrows are ready and the ladies are waiting. They have another week or so before delivery. I have not been able to move their cage because of their burrows. Usually the cage is moved daily to fresh grass and now I have to pick the grass for them. Petey's cage is moved too, but I have never seen him eat the grass even if it is fresh which pokes up through the wire bottom of his cage. 

I would like to look into naturally raising rabbits in colonies using an electric net fence and putting them in pasture. They would need some protection for the arial predators, so I was thinking of using a trampoline and some how fencing it in. The bunnies can dig well, but if they have what hey want and are not too crowded on the inside of the fence, they do not dig much to get out, at least not these two breeds. I will breed them two more times this summer and then let them rest until next spring. Three breedings should provide about 50-60 rabbits for the freezer. The rabbits have to be taken quite a distance to be processed since no abbatoire around here will do rabbits, but then rabbit can be sold from the farm or used at the bed and breakfast. Besides, I do not have the heart to kill a bunny or anything else. Even the chickens go the the processor. 

This will be the first breeding and I will see how that goes and where I can improve and change things to make it better. I want to allow Petey in with the girls for at least the weeks after he has bred them so he is not so lonely, so I will work on a large cage type area for them. In the meantime, stay tuned for bunnies in a week or so. If they are in the burrows though, I actually won't see them for a month. Who does not love baby bunnies?

Sometimes things do not go the way we envision, and so it was with the farm. The previous owners were not maintenance oriented and they did not take care of the houses much, or the yard, other than mow the extensive, useless lawn. The man loved his crushed brick tennis court though, and spent long hours grooming it and removing the poplar shoots with chemicals. 

The porch on the farmhouse had dirt pushed up against the wall, so I removed it and the porch came along with it, leaving a gaping hole. Covering up the problem with the dirt only caused the damage to escalate. So, last summer, I hired a contractor to rebuild it. It is a lean to style attached to the house, 10 x 14, not too large. Rebuilding it in the same footprint should have been straight forward, however; the contractor was useless and cut corners, plus had no clue how to do quite a few things, so did them wrong. 

There was no vapour barrier under the floor and it was not insulated. The dog's water froze solid in the winter sitting on the floor. The siding was on backwards and improperly overlapped. I could go on and on, but the short story is, I had to hire a new contractor to fix the errors, or at least the most problematic ones and finish the porch because it was never finished. The new contractor seems to be excellent so far. The rain water was leaking through the wall into the porch as you can see in the photo, so the insulation had to be removed and replaced and the floor had to be removed and insulated. The old door was in a wrong size jam and allowed wind to penetrate the porch, so a new used door will be installed. The front door will also be replaced with a new used door. Both doors are insulated and have proper jams and screens. 

The first contractor declared bankruptcy and is off the hook for the job. I would like to smack him upside the head a few times for taking my time and money and causing me the grief he has and the expense of hiring a competent man to fix the problems he caused. In this day and age, that is not acceptable, so I have to be a nice person and forget the transgression and the monetary loss. However, I will be grateful to finally have the porch completed. The new contractor feels he will take only 2 more days. The original contractor was working for 6 weeks - yes, 6 weeks for a three sided lean to porch. Unbelievable. At last, the porch will be finished and functional and I can work in it in winter without being frozen. Whew. Thanks, so much, new contractor. You are appreciated! Oh yeah, he is from Vancouver Island near home. Nice!

When I first became a farmer in 2011, I had a bird phobia, in fact, one so bad that the mere flutter of tiny wings sent me into a sheer panic for fear of death. When I was only three, I went into my aunt's chicken coop to see the babies chicks. The rooster spurred me and the hen protected her babies by coming at me and if anyone has been around a mamma hen, they can be vicious. This went on for at least fifteen to twenty minutes, with me screaming the whole time. At some point some one heard me and my mother and aunt came to rescue me, but for the next twenty minutes they could not settle me down. I was bloody and traumatized for life. 

But, I was determined to beat this phobia. I bought a budgie bird for my mother when I was a teenager and could not put my hand in the cage. If the bird was out to fly, I was out of the room like a flash. It did not work. 

What did help, finally, was when I got the first lot of just hatched chicks and one had a syndrome which twists the head and makes the chicken go backwards in circles. I was determined to save it, though that meant I had to pick it up to dropper feed it. I dressed in coveralls, hat and gloves, absolute arsenal for the chick, deathly afraid to pick it up even wearing heavy leather gloves. But, its life depending on me doing so, and I steeled my will and dropper fed this creature several times a day. Then one day, it was standing upright and peeping. I had done it with the grace of the Creator. And the chick had saved me too, because I was not as afraid as before. 

As time progressed, I got more and more comfortable around the birds, chickens not as much as ducks because chickens could fly and the wing flapping sent me into the state of terror. Now, I have chickens, ducks, geese, guinea hens and turkeys. I can go in the coop, pick up the birds and I am not in the least afraid, except when I have to be in a closed coop catching them and they fly. Then the little hairs on the back of my neck stand on end and I breathe heavily and still feel as though I am going to die. I have caught adult geese and caged them, turkeys of all stages and chickens, ducks and ducklings and all except the guineas who do not like to be caught. 

What I have learned about chickens is they are like people. Some are better than others. Some breeds are better but within each breed, there are huge differences too, just as within any race, the individuals are all different. First I had no idea about chickens, so tried a lot of breeds, just two or three of each. Some ate too much and were too lazy, others were flighty and unapproachable, and some fared extremely poorly in our bitterly cold winters. Finally, for this climate and my purposes, I settled on two main breeds, Chateclers, both white and partridge coloured, and Ameraucanas. The Ameraucanas I got were coloured blue, black and spotted, called splash, though I much preferred the Wheaten variety which look just like the rooster on the Corn Flakes box, only prettier. The Chanteclers are super winter hearty being developed in Quebec and Alberta, and the Ameraucanas are the best forager birds I have experienced. 

My aim then was to create Chatecaunas, the cross between the two breeds, so the birds would be better foragers and convert their food better than the fat lazy breeds, and bigger, stronger, healthy birds, since the roosters are put in the freezer each fall. This is the first year for the Cantecaunas and they are beautiful. Most are white, but some are blue, black or splash coloured and they are friendly and docile, but out to forage as soon as the sun is up. The egg laying will be telltale in the spring next year, unless they begin to lay before winter and lay throughout the winter. 

I am seeking a special Ameraucana rooster and another Chantelcer rooster for the next breeding of the birds. The adult hens will be put with the new roosters to produce another strain of the Chantecaunas and the first strain will be bred to the second strain to produce the first true Chantecauna birds. The best of the bunch will be selected for breeding to the finest rooster produced by the first breeding. Of course they will have to separated for this breeding. 

So, what I have learned about chickens is that they are not all the same. Each person must find the breed that suits them the best according to the needs they have. If the birds are to be confined to a coop and covered run, the foraging ability is not useful. If they want big fat lazy chickens because they like to eat big fat chickens that are more tender because they have been confined and do not use their muscles, then the breeds they choose would reflect that choice. Some just like pretty feathers, do not even eat the chickens or the eggs, and keep the birds in small cages so they remain undamaged and pristine. Though I do not condone showing birds or any animals, there are breeds for that too. 

The final aspect for me about chickens are the eggs. I eat duck eggs primarily, which are three times more nutritious than chicken eggs, so the eggs are a by product of keeping the birds. The birds are fed organic wheat and oats in the summer, with added seeds and vegetables in the winter. They forage from sun up to sun down in the entire barnyard, through the goat, sheep, llama, rabbit and alpaca manures and spent hay and eat tons of grass. The mosquito and fly populations in the yard are minimal, but step out to the pasture and clouds of them come to eat you alive. So, the birds do the job they are here for well, and the eggs, though they are some of the best in this area, do not sell. People here could care less about their food being organic and clean, and will only pay 2 or 3 dollars for a dozen eggs, but will pay 5 or 6 dollars for an iced coffee from Tim Horton's or a hundred dollars for alcohol without batting an eye. So, I give some eggs away and the feed some back to the animals and compost the rest. The food bank is not allowed to accept farm eggs, sad to say, so they are thrown out. 

Chickens are valuable on farms and should be kept free range. My dogs, bless each and every one of the seven, keep the chickens safe from predators so they can do their jobs and do not have to be kept in cages or runs and confined. Chickens should also be kept in the cities, three hens or so in movable cages with no bottoms and an insulated sleeping compartment. They will eat bugs, grass and fertilize as well as provide a family with fresh eggs, no rooster required. Before purchasing chickens, I urge people to ask themselves why they want them and what their purpose will be so they can select the proper breed. If they are to be confined, there are breeds that bear confinement without adieu, where others would be unhappy and nearly die without the freedom to roam. 

I almost forgot about the setting ability. Many breeds are not good setters, because they have been bred for other traits. That is why I have included Silkies and Bantams in my mix. They will hatch a clutch of eggs per year. Some lines of Ameraucanas and Chanteclers will also sit on a nest. I have one such hen who has 12 little white Chantecaunas running around with her. Having a mother hen raise the chicks is the most ideal, dispensing with heat lamps, brooders, chick feed and time. The chicks the mother hen raises are not fed anything special on this farm, nor are they confined. She takes them around and teaches them what to eat and also provides the best brooder, her warm breast, to keep them toasty and safe. The only problem is the chicks are wild and will not be calm in the coop, if they go there at all. One year, the hen raised brood settled under the coop and eventually froze to death in the winter. Last year, we caught the hen raised brood in the fall and locked them in the coop for a week to teach them where they should rest in winter and that worked, so it might have to happen again. Right now, there are 6 ducks sitting on nests and one guinea sitting on 8 Muscovy eggs. I don't know if the guinea hen will mother the ducklings if she hatches them at all. Time will tell. 

When looking for chickens, make a list of the traits desired, the type of housing offered (confined or free) and the end result wished for (eggs or meat) and then find a breed that is most suitable. Happy Farming with chickens! The Fat Ewe Farm would not be without them.

There are three boy goats on the Fat Ewe Farm. Little Colby was born here last year and cannot be used for breeding, but he does have very nice fibre. He will be shorn in the fall and likely used to breed the Pygmy and Nigerian Dwarf goats.  Leo bred the does this year and the Pygoras and Nygoras are his progeny. He will either be sold with the two Angora girls (number 13 will stay) as a breeding trio, or be sold for meat after shearing. Such is the lot of the males. Little Raven was Weezie's twin boy, a very small goat because Weezie was not well. Raven was given many shots of vitamins to boost his system and he has turned out rather well with a sleek black coat and cute little body. He remains very friendly and warm and would also make an excellent breeder with any of the does, since he is not related to them. If he was a little bigger, he might be able to breed the Angora girls. I will be picking up a pure bred Pygmy buck this summer though, and breeding the does to the Pygmy rather than the Angora. Pygora and Nygora goats are not popular here and the males are left. There were so few girls born this summer. The Pygmy can also breed the Angora goat, number 13. Hopefully she will have twin girls and one buckling from this year, a special little Nygora, can breed the girls the following year, Nygora to Pygora. One more breeding of Pygmy to Angora and the Angoras are done here. The only one kept will be 13 for her mohair, but after a few years the mohair becomes coarse and is not soft anymore, so they are used for breeding then more than fibre. Leo is a good looking guy, weighs about 150 and has a great coat. He is 2 and he is for sale. Colby, last year's buckling is also for sale. 

It was 30 degrees Celsius today and the humidity was high, making working outside during the day very uncomfortable. The evenings bring out the mosquitos making working outside impossible unless something is used to repel the varmints. In the shelter where the ducks are nesting, 4 ducks in three nests, the temperature probably was closer to 40 degrees. There are openings for air and no door, but being on the west side of the building, that shelter was a swelter. But Mamma duck is smiling today. Three eggs hatched and one other one, a little black bantam chick so tiny and so cute. But it has to be a little rooster. He already is zooming around the shelter, has the exits and holes figured out and bombs through them like nothing. I thought I could catch him, but that was impossible. He hid under the building the shelter is attached to. You have to love those bantams! They are born smart. 

Mamma duck's eggs do not smell good, which means there is at least one rotten egg in the bunch. The chick looks like he is a few days old and she has not taken him out to feed or drink yet. There is no water shallow enough for the chicks so the duck waterer will have to be changed tomorrow. Newly hatched ducklings and chicks drown very easily. Nice work Mamma Duck. 

There are a lot of chickens on the Fat Ewe Farm. Currently they are housed in outdoor hoop coops that are moveable, therefor the task of cleaning the coops is eliminated. Two coops have the young birds hatched earlier this spring, including three goslings. It is not ideal for goslings because they prefer to wander and eat grass, but they seem to be adjusting. They were taken from their parents, who started with 14, but kept losing one or two daily. The last three were confiscated to ensure their survival. Most of the chicks are now perching with the exception of the silkies, who perch on a corner brace in the back of the coop. Two of the coops house the adult birds, including a turkey and 5 guineas. The other turkey is sitting on a duck who is sitting on a nest of eggs. The turkey claimed the duck's nest as hers and the duck did the same and refused to move, so the turkey is sitting on the duck. I sure hope the eggs hatch, but goodness, the turkey won't like it when the ducklings want to swim. Turkeys do not like water when they are young and drown easily. Hmmm. Back to the coops.
The ducks and geese are able to enter two of the coops and park in them to get out of the sun and rain if they wish, but they do not. The only time they go inside is during the winter. I am surprised the turkey goes inside, because when the other turkey and the tom, who died, were together, they roosted on the roof of the chicken coop in all weather. As the chicks grow, they will need more roosting space and new boards will be added. For now, all is well in the four coops on the farm. 

Goodness gracious she is a challenged girl, number 21. One of there Angora does bought from the White Treasure Farm last year, she is so problematic. She sticks her head through the fence several times a day and does not remember how to get it back out, so calls and calls for rescue. I rescue her and within a few hours she has done it again. When she had twins, she looked at the bodies and walked away. Imagine zero mothering instinct? These goats are so highly bred for fibre the breeders have forgotten the most necessary traits. When the goats were first acquired, they did not know how to eat hay because they were only fed pellets to keep their fibre clean. I had to sprinkle pellets on the hay to get them to eat or they just might have starved. 
Because number 21 did not nurse her babies, she developed a terrible case of mastitis and will not be able to nurse even if her instincts did kick in, which I some how doubt. I have tried to sell her with no luck so far. She does have beautiful fibre and if some one wanted their own mohair, she would be the girl for that. In the meantime, number 21 drives me insane - don't say it. I mean more than I already am. 

This is summer at The Fat Ewe Farm. It is tranquil though we are only 750 feet from two highways. The traffic noise is audible, especially when the wind comes from the west where the highways are, but the farm is recessed in a beautiful valley surrounded by tall poplar and spruce trees, very tall for this area, and rolling hills. The trickling creek is just behind the fence down at the bottom of the valley and there the grass is lush and green. The sheep have been freed from their pens because they ate all the grass and no fencers can be found. Rather than let them starve, they have been unleashed. 

But the greatest blessing is not the tranquil valley, the gentle willows or even the lush greenery - it is the large white fuzzy creature with the sheep. Mike is a livestock guardian dog, bred for centuries to bond with his charges and stay with them, guarding them with his life. Mike is only a year old and is staying with his sheep more and more and that is so comforting to me. In this valley there are foxes, coyotes, bears, wolves, cougars and owls that love to prey on sheep and lambs, but with that dog there, even his presence, because he is huge, the sheep are very safe. 

And that is the greatest blessing on this farm today, Mike the dog! Bless you Mikey. I love you.