Maine

[MKandtheforce]

MK, I'm trying to make a decision to breed or not breed one or both of my does this next cycle. I want the milk, but I can't imagine another mouth to feed and the actual time consumed milking daily. But I want that milk.

And Caramel wants a boyfriend. I know it.

Aww, is she a full LaMancha? She's so cute! Maybe if she throws a doeling, I can adopt her. How many goats do you have? What do you do with your bucklings?

I like the chocolates too. We were a little worried about the squishing and have a near miss on video but all was good. Both my kids could do anything to that cat and he never retaliated. My son was devastated (as was the rest of the family) when we had to put him down due to a kidney blockage & scarring from the surgery of the first kidney blockage. I was very proud of him though...he helped his Dad bury him out behind our house. He was 8 at the time.

Envious on the goat front!! We saw a couple on Craigs List that I believe we would have had if they hadn't both been boys. My husband sounded like a little kid when he called out from the computer room, "Can we get goats?!" They were

Aww, that's so sad. It's never easy to lose a pet. Most of the cats we've had have been outdoors, so they just tended to disappear, so I haven't had to put a cat down before. Our family is looking for a little tiger cat right now to be a new mouser. Lucy's such a little sweetheart, but since she's indoors, she's a useless mouser, lol. If anyone knows of any cats/kittens for sale (my parents seem dead-set on a tiger) that isn't too far from the midcoast area, send them my way!

Man, I wish I could just scoop up goats right now! Sadly, I can't... I need to get their supplies, hah! I'm running out of goat books to read to keep my mind occupied, lol. I just finished reading Goat Song by Brad Kessler, and I loved it. His writing is like poetry.

 

[anyasmifya]

So I'll call you to come milk when I'm out of town? HAAHA.

I do not have either of the original 2 goats that I started with. But I still have a long earred one (Pippy) who won't make weight until very late in the season - she's always been about 5 lbs lighter than Caramel. Caramel is the no-eared goat that I got when my doe died in the spring. I can get any boy goat to breed her, but I wanted one of the same breed. The farm I got her from was very nice and I had wanted to try them first. They know of two other nearby farms that have that breed and can give me the info. You can line breed to get good traits - and the male comes from a championship line so it's not necessarily a bad thing to inbreed. According to her pedigree, only 15% of her genes would be "inbred" and 6% of that comes from the same father, basically. So to me it doesn't seem like a huge risk, but what do I know?

They do want her to put on another 3 lbs before she's bred, though. She's a hoover, so I don't think that will be a problem.

I deiced all my waterers this morning around 0630. I just went out again 2.5 hours later and everything is frozen solid. Sure is cold here. That wind bites. If I can find my earmuffs I might go string the extension cords to run the heated waterers. Guess I should have done that last weekend.

ahh, I love goats. I want some.

My chicken waterers are also frozen through! What is with this Wind! I feel like we are living in North Dakota. I also have to find my extension cord to plug in the heated waterers. I am sick of changing the ice to water!

 

[superchemicalgirl]

Aww, is she a full LaMancha? She's so cute! Maybe if she throws a doeling, I can adopt her. How many goats do you have? What do you do with your bucklings?

I only have 2 goats currently, although I "own" a wether that someone else has and will probably be selling.

Caramel is a registered experimental grade - half oberhasli, half lamancha. Lamancha crosses usually get lamancha ears which I find adorable... and they're QUIET. If I breed her to a pure lamancha and get a doe, that doe will be 75% lamancha, and if she throws a doe I'm back to full bred lamancha. The farm I got her from does a lot of crossing to get desirable traits into their purebred stock.

I have not done any breeding, yet. I attempted to breed my nubian doe late last winter but the buck wasn't interested in her and she died in the spring. I plan to eat the bucks (which we will wether) and if I get a doe I will probably sell Pippy to keep her. I do love Pippy, a lot, but she's loud. Nowhere near as loud as the original nubians I had, but I-can-hear-her-a-half-mile-away-hen-she's-in-one-of-her-moods loud that only nubians can be. It's possible I may sell the baby and keep Pippy to breed next year, so they get a year break (and nubian milk is supposed to taste a lot better than oberhasli/lamancha), but I won't know until it happens what I want to do. I'm still not quite certain why I have goats, but they're adorable, and I do want their milk. Eventually. Without waking up any earlier.

 

[Widget]

I like the chocolates too. We were a little worried about the squishing and have a near miss on video but all was good. Both my kids could do anything to that cat and he never retaliated. My son was devastated (as was the rest of the family) when we had to put him down due to a kidney blockage & scarring from the surgery of the first kidney blockage. I was very proud of him though...he helped his Dad bury him out behind our house. He was 8 at the time.

Envious on the goat front!! We saw a couple on Craigs List that I believe we would have had if they hadn't both been boys. My husband sounded like a little kid when he called out from the computer room, "Can we get goats?!" They were adorable!! My sister has been thinking about goats. I'm thinking we could share.

Awww what a sweet little face she has!! I tried goat milk & absolutely love it!!

Did someone say they want goats? I have two girls who would be perfect for someone. One nubian and one dwarf/pygmy. The nubian is older (12) but still going strong. The little one is 6-7 for a guess and full of life.

 

[Mainechick168]

Oh Jeeze, too much goat talk! I am slowly...slowly...slowly wearing down DH on the goat thing. Atleast he admits he wants them too someday! We will have Nigerian Dwarfs- they are small, and their milk has some of the highest butterfat content. Did any of you get one of those snow squalls last night? We didn't get a flake, but my mom ( in Brunswick) got about an inch.

 

[Widget]

Got my turkeys back today. A bit on the small side but I was expecting that since they were not fully mature yet except for the slow moving Midget White pain in the rear tom. And I can say slow moving since I had to catch him twice yesterday morning. The first time was easy. At 5 am it was still dark so I was able to just walk up to him and grab him from his roost. But once I tried to add the second bird to the crate Mr. Tom decided to make an escape from the crate. He got about 20 ft before I managed to grab him again. The third bird took a bit longer since all of the birds had picked up on the fact that something was up.

The Midget White came in at just under 10 lbs. The two Royal Palms were just under 7 lbs. Not great for a large family but for me just right. Hopefully next year I can get some birds up over 10 lbs.

Of course on the trip up to Gardiner the puppy decided she just had to get car sick. Since she did not seem interested in sticking her head out the window to empty her stomach while we were going 65 mph I had no choice but to let her go where she wanted. But she was a very good dog and ended up throwing up in one of the cup holders. I stopped at the next rest area and was able to easily clean up the mess.

This morning for some reason the remaining four turkeys were no where to be found. They waited until I had fed and watered everyone else before they came out from hiding. Guess they were worried they might go off somewhere and loose their feathers.

And I think my A-Team/Macgyver water tank insulation is going to work. This morning I checked both 70 gallon tanks. The water in the one with no insulation had an inch of ice on the surface. The insulated one had no ice.

. If this continues to work it will save me so much time.

 

[superchemicalgirl]

Oh Jeeze, too much goat talk! I am slowly...slowly...slowly wearing down DH on the goat thing. Atleast he admits he wants them too someday! We will have Nigerian Dwarfs- they are small, and their milk has some of the highest butterfat content. Did any of you get one of those snow squalls last night? We didn't get a flake, but my mom ( in Brunswick) got about an inch.

Sorry for the goat talk, that was my fault. Nigerian Dwarfs also have the smallest teats of them all - I've heard it makes it slower to milk.

My boss near Brunswick got about 2 inches of snow. When he called this morning and was talking about the snow I thought he had gone crazy. Nothing but cold and wind up here.

 

[Mainechick168]

Sorry for the goat talk, that was my fault. Nigerian Dwarfs also have the smallest teats of them all - I've heard it makes it slower to milk.

My boss near Brunswick got about 2 inches of snow. When he called this morning and was talking about the snow I thought he had gone crazy. Nothing but cold and wind up here.

You don't really have to be sorry Just makes me have goats on the brain! hmm...slower to milk...I guess I can't always win!

When I saw the photo of the snow I thought it must have been from last year. I'm glad we didn't get it- I am so behind on winterizing everything.

 

[learycow]

Yes, my other hens.  I have four other hens that are blue egg layers.  One is a year old, and she laid well for a while, but I guess they went through a molt and she hasn't resumed laying yet. 

Do muscovy lay well?  I do think that come spring we'll add more ducks.  Will the ducks tear up the garden much?  My ducks seem to lay better than the hens right now.  I do hope this picks up.  The good thing is that they are all freeranged, so they eat very little feed.  I think between my 13 hens, 5 ducks, and 4 geese, we might go through a bag of feed over two weeks.  Of course, they get lots of scraps, and are all over the farm picking whatever they can find to eat. 

Muscovy are not a production breed and they tend to be seasonal layers here in Maine. Mine lay April through October (earlier if we have a warm spring). And they typically lay and set (they are the absolute best broody duck) so you would have to collect daily to keep them laying (and they will try and hide thee eggs from you if you keep taking them).
If you want ducks for year round laying, I would suggest khaki Campbell's or welsh harlequins. Both breeds out lay my golden comet hens!

 

[lazy gardener]

I am frozen to the core. Spent the bulk of today and yesterday buttoning up the coop and the added sun room. the girls looked miserable. Especially RIR who looks like a puffed up porcupine. I hope the ground is not too frozen tomorrow to get some re-bar posts pounded into the ground to complete their temporary run. It'll require about 50' of fencing.