More Eggs!

The egg on the far left is one of the biggest chicken eggs I have ever gotten, it is double yolked and measures about 3 1/2 inches ( if I had placed the tape measure correctly!). The one in the middle is standard size and the one on the right is the smallest egg I've ever gotten.

Paige recreated!

Laurie Sharp of Wool Pets http://www.woolpets.com/ in Suquamish made a felted version of my Alpine Paige, she turned out really cute! I am tempted to buy a few more in the future!

Have-a-Heart......

.....is the kind of trap they are bringing out next wednesday. I FINALLY found someone to help me! This is going to sound nuts but the USDA will come out and trap nuisance wild animals for you! They will leave the trap for up t 3 weeks. I just have to check it every day to see if it it got anything. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that it works. They came 2x in 3 days to get my yummy ducks.....

The coyotes came......

.....and got a few of my birds. I am so upset! I have called trappers, animal control, the Dept. of Fish and Game and there really not alot they can do. I can no longer let all my cute little birds roam around the yard, I have to lock them up so they're safe.

Baby goats

Last year our Alpine Paige had twin baby does that were so cute! We only had them for about 3 weeks before they found a new home. Here are some pictures of right after they were born. I'm hoping this year I can keep one for myself.......

Pheasant Fields Farm

We went and visited Nikki down at Pheasant Fields Farm yesterday. I met Nikki a few years ago. I was interested in getting chickens and decided to talk to local farmers to find out the best coup designs and get advice on raising them. Nikki gave me tons of great info to get me started and since them we've kept in touch, she only lives a few miles down Clear Creek Rd. from me. Pheasant Fields Farm has been owned and operated by her family since 1949. Here is a little information on the history of her farm: http://www.pheasantfields.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=15&Itemid=44

Pheasant Fields offers a variety of products and activities throughout the year. A CSA, http://www.pheasantfields.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=category&sectionid=9&id=30&Itemid=65, farm fresh eggs, fresh chicken ,pumpkins and a corn maze in October, and many other great products. She is also a seller at the Poulsbo Farmers Market and one of its founding members.

Here is a link to her website: http://www.pheasantfields.com/

Thanks Nikki for letting us visit!

Coyotes

Seems as though we have coyotes watching our animals. The coyotes stalk them for a while before they do anything, There have been several daytime sightings recently. We have called a live trapper that catches them and the relocates them to a safer less populated area. I just recently talked to another farm owner. She had a flock of 35 sheep that were decimated within a year from coyotes. By the end of the year she only had 4 left and just gave them away. I am a bit worried.....

Oops!

Falling down in the snow....

My partner in.....

.......milking goats! We have been neighbors for a few years and also went to highschool together. We both started out with chickens the same year from Mc Murray Hatchery and then for various other reasons it evolved into us going into a sort of joint venture. Her husband built our goat barn and milking room. My husband put the fence up and we split most of the "duties". Milking, breeding, maintinence, feed etc. Dairy goats must be milked 2 times a day rain or shine so to do it alone can be a pretty big commitment so it really makes it nice to have somone to share it with.

Another snowy day.........

We woke up to another 5 inches of snow yesterday morning just after another 6 or so inches had melted from 2 weeks before! You'd think from all these pictures we live in Alaska! My goats LOVE eating fir branches, every couple day I throw 1 in and they go absolutely nuts!

Inter-species love.....

So my black swedish duck had decided that my Buff Orpington rooster is her "boyfriend". She is constantly following him around, quacking at him and doing a little love dance of bobbing her head up and down. It is the funiest thing. She is dancing for him in these pictures.

Crazy things......

Every so often chickens will lay eggs that are "different". Some with double yolks, no yolks, no shell, wrinkled shells or odd shaped. Some hensthat are new layers can have miniatute eggs the first few times they lay. The egg on the right is standard size, the one on the left is about an inch long. I got 2 of these a few months ago.

Lamanchas...

Lamancha goats are known as the "no eared" goats and many people are suprised when they first see one. One question I've gotten many times is "What happened to her ears?!" They are known by many people to be one of the sweetest and docile breeds of goats. And Sweets defineatlty is! Here is a little history about the breed: http://www.ansi.okstate.edu/breeds/goats/lamancha/

My Black Frizzle Cochins......

I have a pair of bantam(miniature chicken) black frizzle cochins. Somewhere along the lines a mutant gene showed up in this breed which are just called cochins and it caused their feathers to curl or frizzle. They are less than a pound a piece and very sweet and tame.

Species identity crisis!

Here is my black swedish duck Sweety. I aquired her a few years back from Nikki at Pheasant Field Farms ( http://www.pheasantfields.com)

She was orphaned and needed a home. I was in the process of raising 30 chicks so we threw the cute little duckling in and hoped for the best. Things turned out great! As time went on we got more ducks and we tried to let her free roam around the yard with them but she did nothing but scream to get back in with the chickens. So my duck thinks shes a chicken!

Farm help.....

....my husband

Our goats.....

The first goat is our Alpine doe Paige, she is pregnant and due the end of May. The second goat is our Lamancha doe Sweets, she is also pregnant and due the end of April.