Well this is my journal. I will write regularly about my life. Mostly about the farm, the animals, volunteering at the local vet's office, showing livestock, just basically my life as a country girl. I will keep you updated on my farm and stories from the farm.
~Erin
My BYC page:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/littlecreekfarms-member-page
Quote: "When we count our true friends we must not forget the animals, for one of these may be the truest friend of all"
-About Me
I am a home schooled, christian girl that has grown up on a farm. I have had a bond with animals since I was just a baby. It all started with a cat, then a dog, and now I have 3 dogs, 2 cats, 1 fish, 4 ewes, 2 lambs, a couple of cattle, 23 chickens, and 1 pheasant!! I am involved with 4-H and I show lambs and cattle at our local yearly livestock show as well as showing poultry at state competitions and I am on the local livestock judging team. I volunteer at our local vet's office which helps me a lot with what I want to do in the future, which is to be a veterinarian. I have an exciting life and everyday is amazing! I wouldn't trade in the farm life for anything! I also enjoy hunting, learning about wildlife, and spending time with animals. I'm a little shy but when I'm with my animals everything clicks! They understand me and I understand them. Animals are some of the best friends out there! Well, I've had to do some crazy things on the farm like birth a calf, bottle feed lambs, catch crazy sheep, band lambs tails, give chickens bathes and catch cattle that escape their lot! Life is amazing on the farm and out in the country. So I hope you enjoy this journal and all of my amazing farm stories!
-Erin(littlecreekfarm)
-Lambs are here!
1/24/12
Well my ewes have begun lambing! Our ewe named Rainbow had 2 lambs and one was very weak. We kept him inside and fed him from a bottle. We named him Pomp, from the Lewis and Clark expedition. He was pure black and he was so sweet. However, he had something wrong with him. His eyes couldn't focus and his body was so weak he couldn't keep his head up. We figured he didn't get any of his mama's milk. We tried hard to keep him alive but a day after being born he passed away. That is life and sometimes that happens. RIP Pomp. Rainbow's other lamb is a healthy, strong, male lamb!
My 9 year old ewe gave birth to a ewe lamb that I named Olive. She is adorable and is very tall! I am going to keep her in the flock and she will be trained with a halter this summer. We are now waiting for Lucy, our black ewe, and Daisy to lamb. We have them in a barn to keep them safe from bad weather. I remember Friday putting the fencing up so they would be safe. I'm so glad we did because the next morning Mary lambed and it was a very cold and rainy day.
More Lambs, Bad Luck with hatching & Runaway Pheasants!
1/28/12
Our ewe Lucy, who is black, had 2 lambs. Daisy has had 2 lambs also. I finally got to naming these lambs,
Mary's lamb is Olive, Rainbow's lamb is Cloudy, Daisy's are George and Tiny! They are so sweet and their personalities are starting to come out! Olive is a frisky lamb that loves to play, George is a curious little guy that loves people, Cloudy is bossy, and Tiny is a sweet little girl that loves to sleep! My favorite are Olive & George.
Lately I've had bad luck hatching eggs. First time I got no chicks, they died on hatch date. And this time my dog got into our hen house and ate 10-11 of the 12-13 eggs set. I was so upset. I have 3-4 left that will hatch sometime after 2/11.
Hopefully better luck hatching in the future.
Last month my pheasant hen escaped her pen when I was holding her. Now my last pheasant hen dug a hole under her pen and escaped! All I have is my male pheasant left. He is not happy with me and I'm hoping I can find him a few hens.
George
Olive
Candling, and moving sheep
Well after my dog got into my hatching eggs I decided to candle the remaining 4 eggs. 3-4 of the eggs are developing great! The last one I'm not sure about. It may just be new. Around 13 more days for the others!
Today we moved the ewes and their lambs to our big sheep lot! We loaded them up in the trailer and made the holding pen and released them! Boy, were they excited! They didn't know what to do! The lambs jumped, ran and played and the ewes galloped with them! It was a sight!
1/29/12
More to come soon!
More Eggs to set and worming the flock
My Dog got into the henhouse and ate the rest of the eggs I set! So, I fixed the problem. I put a board across the door so ONLY my chickens can get in, and I fussed at the dog so I think she is under control. I set 12 more eggs, in a higher nesting box. So far no eggs have been eaten and the broody is doing a good job. I hope to candle on day 18. It is day 3 right now so 19 more days to go! I will be counting the days down! Many people may not know this but on day 2 of development, the hearts starts to beat. So the embryos are alive!
It is that time to worm the flock again. I rounded the chickens in the barn and caught each one individually, then my mother, who is a wonderful mother to acctually help me with my chickens, and trust me she is not the farm type, she mixed the valbazen and water up and we gave each bird 2cc with a syringe. Catching 21 birds ONE AT A TIME is difficult! We had one escape, so we wormed her a day or 2 later. But we were able to worm all the chickens! We can't eat eggs for 13 days. But in all, I think it's better to have healthy happy chickens than to receive eggs. I want my animals to have a wonderful life here too, and I try my best to give them that.
2/4/12
Animals have touched my heart
I volunteer at our local veterinary office. It is really fun and I love it there. Yesterday there was this dog, His name was Speckles, the poor thing wasn't doing good and was slowly passing away. It almost made me cry thinking of this sweet dog passing away. I comforted him and pet him and talked to him. He was so sweet. I'm starting to get emotions for all these animals. I see now that some animals have a hard time being adopted and have to be put down. It just tears me up. I want to help those animals more. I want to donate things to the Vet and local animal rescue. I really feel for these animals, I really do.
I have 8 broody hens. 2 of them are setting on eggs. It's sad that my dear silkie hen has gone broody. I wish she didn't but it's her breed. I have eggs due the 23rd of February and March 1st. Two dozen blue laced red wyandotte eggs have been set.
Almost spring
It's almost spring! A couple more weeks to go. I have 12 eggs under my broody hen due to hatch this coming Thursday....very excited! Six more days left, all that's going through my mind is, when will they pip? When will they peep? When will they rock? When will they hatch? It's very overwhelming!
I'm starting to really get the hang of volunteering at the local veterinary office. I'm learning and I enjoy it. I know I want to be a livestock veterinarian when I get older. I'd like to go to VA Tech.
I've been practicing for a livestock competition and I am working hard at practicing. I've started training my lamb, Olive, who I plan to show at our local livestock show! She is so sweet and has lots of personality! She is very spirited, loves to gallop in the fields, loves to be pet and loves attention. She's already starting to like the time I spend with her. I think she will make a good ewe. She is already around 20 or more pounds! Amazing how fast they grow, she is about a month or 2 old. My grandeddy built me a creep feeder to get her big enough for the show.....I'm so excited!
Me working with Olive:
2/17/12
~Erin
My BYC page:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/littlecreekfarms-member-page
Quote: "When we count our true friends we must not forget the animals, for one of these may be the truest friend of all"
-About Me
I am a home schooled, christian girl that has grown up on a farm. I have had a bond with animals since I was just a baby. It all started with a cat, then a dog, and now I have 3 dogs, 2 cats, 1 fish, 4 ewes, 2 lambs, a couple of cattle, 23 chickens, and 1 pheasant!! I am involved with 4-H and I show lambs and cattle at our local yearly livestock show as well as showing poultry at state competitions and I am on the local livestock judging team. I volunteer at our local vet's office which helps me a lot with what I want to do in the future, which is to be a veterinarian. I have an exciting life and everyday is amazing! I wouldn't trade in the farm life for anything! I also enjoy hunting, learning about wildlife, and spending time with animals. I'm a little shy but when I'm with my animals everything clicks! They understand me and I understand them. Animals are some of the best friends out there! Well, I've had to do some crazy things on the farm like birth a calf, bottle feed lambs, catch crazy sheep, band lambs tails, give chickens bathes and catch cattle that escape their lot! Life is amazing on the farm and out in the country. So I hope you enjoy this journal and all of my amazing farm stories!
-Erin(littlecreekfarm)
-Lambs are here!
1/24/12
Well my ewes have begun lambing! Our ewe named Rainbow had 2 lambs and one was very weak. We kept him inside and fed him from a bottle. We named him Pomp, from the Lewis and Clark expedition. He was pure black and he was so sweet. However, he had something wrong with him. His eyes couldn't focus and his body was so weak he couldn't keep his head up. We figured he didn't get any of his mama's milk. We tried hard to keep him alive but a day after being born he passed away. That is life and sometimes that happens. RIP Pomp. Rainbow's other lamb is a healthy, strong, male lamb!
My 9 year old ewe gave birth to a ewe lamb that I named Olive. She is adorable and is very tall! I am going to keep her in the flock and she will be trained with a halter this summer. We are now waiting for Lucy, our black ewe, and Daisy to lamb. We have them in a barn to keep them safe from bad weather. I remember Friday putting the fencing up so they would be safe. I'm so glad we did because the next morning Mary lambed and it was a very cold and rainy day.
More Lambs, Bad Luck with hatching & Runaway Pheasants!
1/28/12
Our ewe Lucy, who is black, had 2 lambs. Daisy has had 2 lambs also. I finally got to naming these lambs,
Mary's lamb is Olive, Rainbow's lamb is Cloudy, Daisy's are George and Tiny! They are so sweet and their personalities are starting to come out! Olive is a frisky lamb that loves to play, George is a curious little guy that loves people, Cloudy is bossy, and Tiny is a sweet little girl that loves to sleep! My favorite are Olive & George.
Lately I've had bad luck hatching eggs. First time I got no chicks, they died on hatch date. And this time my dog got into our hen house and ate 10-11 of the 12-13 eggs set. I was so upset. I have 3-4 left that will hatch sometime after 2/11.
Hopefully better luck hatching in the future.
Last month my pheasant hen escaped her pen when I was holding her. Now my last pheasant hen dug a hole under her pen and escaped! All I have is my male pheasant left. He is not happy with me and I'm hoping I can find him a few hens.
George
Olive
Candling, and moving sheep
Well after my dog got into my hatching eggs I decided to candle the remaining 4 eggs. 3-4 of the eggs are developing great! The last one I'm not sure about. It may just be new. Around 13 more days for the others!
Today we moved the ewes and their lambs to our big sheep lot! We loaded them up in the trailer and made the holding pen and released them! Boy, were they excited! They didn't know what to do! The lambs jumped, ran and played and the ewes galloped with them! It was a sight!
1/29/12
More to come soon!
More Eggs to set and worming the flock
My Dog got into the henhouse and ate the rest of the eggs I set! So, I fixed the problem. I put a board across the door so ONLY my chickens can get in, and I fussed at the dog so I think she is under control. I set 12 more eggs, in a higher nesting box. So far no eggs have been eaten and the broody is doing a good job. I hope to candle on day 18. It is day 3 right now so 19 more days to go! I will be counting the days down! Many people may not know this but on day 2 of development, the hearts starts to beat. So the embryos are alive!
It is that time to worm the flock again. I rounded the chickens in the barn and caught each one individually, then my mother, who is a wonderful mother to acctually help me with my chickens, and trust me she is not the farm type, she mixed the valbazen and water up and we gave each bird 2cc with a syringe. Catching 21 birds ONE AT A TIME is difficult! We had one escape, so we wormed her a day or 2 later. But we were able to worm all the chickens! We can't eat eggs for 13 days. But in all, I think it's better to have healthy happy chickens than to receive eggs. I want my animals to have a wonderful life here too, and I try my best to give them that.
2/4/12
Animals have touched my heart
I volunteer at our local veterinary office. It is really fun and I love it there. Yesterday there was this dog, His name was Speckles, the poor thing wasn't doing good and was slowly passing away. It almost made me cry thinking of this sweet dog passing away. I comforted him and pet him and talked to him. He was so sweet. I'm starting to get emotions for all these animals. I see now that some animals have a hard time being adopted and have to be put down. It just tears me up. I want to help those animals more. I want to donate things to the Vet and local animal rescue. I really feel for these animals, I really do.
I have 8 broody hens. 2 of them are setting on eggs. It's sad that my dear silkie hen has gone broody. I wish she didn't but it's her breed. I have eggs due the 23rd of February and March 1st. Two dozen blue laced red wyandotte eggs have been set.
Almost spring
It's almost spring! A couple more weeks to go. I have 12 eggs under my broody hen due to hatch this coming Thursday....very excited! Six more days left, all that's going through my mind is, when will they pip? When will they peep? When will they rock? When will they hatch? It's very overwhelming!
I'm starting to really get the hang of volunteering at the local veterinary office. I'm learning and I enjoy it. I know I want to be a livestock veterinarian when I get older. I'd like to go to VA Tech.
I've been practicing for a livestock competition and I am working hard at practicing. I've started training my lamb, Olive, who I plan to show at our local livestock show! She is so sweet and has lots of personality! She is very spirited, loves to gallop in the fields, loves to be pet and loves attention. She's already starting to like the time I spend with her. I think she will make a good ewe. She is already around 20 or more pounds! Amazing how fast they grow, she is about a month or 2 old. My grandeddy built me a creep feeder to get her big enough for the show.....I'm so excited!
Me working with Olive:
2/17/12
