Thursday, June 24, 2010

Barnyard Update

It's time for an animal update!

The turkeys are doing really well, even though they don't like the heat. The love being in the tractor and seem to be foraging really well.


Here's a hen with her saddle on. I need to make a few more.



And here's Darla's lamb. She's now 5 days old and filling out nicely!


She likes to explore.


And she's adorable, as most lambs are.


She's even cute when she's scratching her back!


Darla is still a really great mom.



Did I tell you I lost my female guinea? She was sitting on a nest of eggs and something got her. Luckily for me, I stole 2 of her eggs and put them in the incubator about a week before she died. Both eggs hatched and I have them in a brooder with the little chicks now! The male guinea has been feeling a little lonely, so he's been hanging around the turkey tractor with the juvenile guineas I got from the auction. I decided to let those 2 young guineas out so they could be a happy guinea family.


It didn't quite work out though. The young guineas were scared and really wanted back in the tractor. The big guinea got bored and wandered away. After about an hour, I lifted the tractor up so they could scoot back inside. I guess I'll have to try again later!


The broilers are now almost 5 weeks old and growing like, well, broilers! They're outside now and doing fairly well. I tell ya, a few of them are real porkers!


Here are the chicks from my last hatch! I was hoping to sell them, but I never got any response from my craigslist ad. I'll just keep them for a while and try selling them when they're almost laying. You can see the 2 baby guineas down there...they're gray and in the center of the picture.


I'll do an updated carden post soon, but I wanted to show you this picture of the zucchini and squash I got. This is 2 harvests worth. I skipped a day picking, and you can see how they got overgrown. I'll have to be more diligent!


6 comments:

Jen said...

Love all the update pics. Katie... very nice. Everyone looks so happy and cute! Your garden harvest is beautiful :)

Foothills Poultry said...

HMMMM, rack of lamb sounds good. Just kidding, I promise.

I would rather have a young broiler. At that size they make terrific individual roosting birds. You should try a couple. The meat is so tender and juicy at that age.

Fix with some fried squash. ;) I really was kidding about the lamb. She is just too cute to think of something like that.

~~Matt~~

Susan said...

Darla's baby is Darling!
Sorry about your guinea hen. I hope the eggs you stole hatch!

katiegirl said...

It's ok Matt, I'm planning on processing one of my lambs this fall after he breeds my ewes. And I was planning on processing Darla's lamb too, but now I'm not so sure. :)

Susan, the two eggs did hatch! :-)

Deb Johnson, Quiltbeeme said...

What a productive farm you have Katie!!! Darla's lamb is HUGE!! She looks much older than a typical 5 day old lamb! Way to go Darla! I can't wait to see how she grows! I still LOVE those ears! I love how she looks like she's wearing leg warmers! Your turkeys are doing really good! I am so sorry about your female guinea. How smart of you to pull out a couple of eggs! What happened to the rest of the nest? Nature can be cruel. Your male guinea is just gorgeous!! I wish I could have a guinea here. They are so funny looking and pretty at the same time! Your broilers are growing fast! I just want to know how you got a pig to breed with the broiler hen? (porkers) I know dumb joke! :-) What a great squash harvest. You are mamaging everything really well and with a job on top of it all! And kids! I am very proud of you my farmer Katie! That's an enormous amount of work, and to do it so well! I have about given up on veggies here except for beans and tomatoes. Too little sun and too much wildlife! Keep up the great work and thanks so much for the pictures of the my latest grandlamb! Love you, Momma

Becky said...

Wow! Everything is growing so well! Those turkeys and broilers are getting so big!
Darla's lamb is adorable. I cna't wait to see her in August but I know she'll be really big then. Your squash looks awesome! I love the green and yellow ones.

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