Beckie - thank you so much for your nice post. Many blessings to you and your family as you continue your missionary work in Zambia.
Jean - always good to hear from you. Yes, the goats have had me running. The little buck stays with the little sister and the mama, who no longer pushes him away or shows aggression, but will spend all day standing on the table or milk stand in the tack room where they stay at night and on cold days. She will not let him nurse unless he runs up there and nurses while little sis is nursing. I bottle feed him twice a day. They are so cute and so friendly. They jump and climb all over me. On pretty days, I move them all back with the herd and the babies get to run and play outside. All the other goats seem to like them. Bitsy especially loves to play with the little buck and they play most of the day. It's amazing how fast they grow up because just the other day I saw him mounting his sister (or trying) so I guess it's true they are sexually mature by 8 weeks and need to be separated. These just made three weeks so I'll need to look for a little companion, proably a whether for him.
Redchicken - I've thought about putting some netting over the top but just haven't gotten around to it yet. The only reason I would do that would be to keep a hawk from diving in there and grabbing one during the day but that's a remote chance and Rex watches the skies and chases off any hawks or buzzards he sees flying over. It's a real stretch for me to lock them up at all since everyone else freeranges and I see them staring through the fence at everyone else running around and I feel bad for them. After I've collected a few more dozen eggs, and met and filled my orders for Marans hatching eggs/chicks, I'm going to set them free again and use the pen to breed another breed for awhile, always rotating so no one stays confined too long.
As this thread began - I try to raise them as close to natural as possible. So far, no hawk has gotten so much as a tiny chick that's running around here or out in the open pasture. We did have the bobcat that got about 6 hens and a roo over a two week period. It just learned to wait at edge of woods where our "yard" began and wait for the dogs to be somewhere else and would run up and grab one or wait for them to wander into the woods. Bobcat seems to have moved on after we kept everyone confined for a week or two and it's hunting season here. With freeranging there will be loses but the rewards are so great - getting to watch them be chickens in the truest sense of the term, running everywhere around the farm amongst our four dogs and two cats, and 6 peacocks, and 20 ducks, and 7 goats - it's a wonderful place to live and watch God's creatures co-exist in harmony. The goats even have their own pet chicken. There's a RIR hen that lives in the stables with the goats and eats out of their pan when they eat and sleeps in the feed trough in their stall. They've learned to jump up on the feed trough to look out the window without landing on her. It's quite funny and I need to get a picture of my goats and their pet chicken.
The good news is we've recently hired a "hired-hand" that can help me get the place in order. He's clearing brush from fences and repairing fences and gates and pressure washing and painting - my list (his list) is endless of things I need help with and I feel so blessed and encouraged to finally have someone to help me.
