Freedom Ranger Chicks

 They're here! And early. They were shipped out yesterday from Pa. The lady at the post office called at 9:45 and said I had a box full of little peepers. I was expecting that 6:00 am call tomorrow morning. I thought I still had tonight to get the brooders ready. So had to hurry up and cut the 2 holes between the 2 boxes and put down shavings and mix their vitamin water and get their feed in the feeder. Got it all done and went to the Po. They were very loud. There was another lady there that came in after me and she just had a fit over them. They are cute little chicks.

 Here they are now all tucked into their new home for a few weeks. There are 51 of them. All differnt colors. I dipped each of their beaks at least 5 times in the water to make sure they got some. Then plopped them down into their feed trough.

 Then they took off! Some of them were a little slower and had to take a power nap. But after that, they were all on the run. Back and forth through the hole, from one side to the other. They look like little ants.

 But I think they have all been to the waterer and to the feeder now. And have all been through the hole several times. There is always one chick that's the loudest of them all. And I have one.

 This is a little video of them zipping around. The PO lady said these guys are bigger than any she's gotten there before. So hopefully in a few weeks I can put them outside. And they might not take the 12 weeks I had planned on waiting.

These little guys have not been vaccinated. They don't usually do that unless requested. So I got the vitamin and mineral additive to put in their water for the first few weeks. And the chick starter is unmedicated too. So they should be pretty natural healthy birds. Already have at least half sold. I'll post pictures every few weeks for my records and for others to see how these guys are growing.

Hard Work

You know you've been really working hard when the water in the shower is brown. And there is dirt after the water's gone down. And the white wash cloth is no longer white. I feel like I have been working harder the past few days than this whole summer. I have been mowing down old rows and tilling to make room for new things. I planted Blue Lake green beans this morning. Cucumbers a few days ago. I will plant Purple Hull field peas and squash tomorrow. I couldn't find zucchini so will look tomorrow. I also got some more beet and radish seeds. It seems like I have so much room for more things now.  I'll wait til about the middle of August to plant fall greens like kale, chard, collards, turnips, spinach and lettuce. It's almost August already!!

Here is some of the produce I took to market today. Not much. But I sold a lot of tomatoes, peppers and eggplant. I love all the colors of the peppers. And the little Lemon Boy and Pink Girl and Valencia tomatoes. So pretty and colorful. I sold a lot of soap today too. I just need to get motivated to make more. I just got my order from Brambleberry so I have lots of new essential and fragrance oils to play with. Peppermint seems to be a favorite right now. I only have 2 bars left.

So has anyone been playing out in the gardens, replanting or harvesting?

What?

Can you see this? Click on and enlarge this picture. It's a woolie worm. This is July 25 th. A woolie worm that is ALL black. What is an all black woolie worm doing out on July 25 th? Really weird. It wasn't moving very fast either. I guess it was too hot with all that black wool on.

Wrong one, Sophie

I told Stella to go to her crate. She said "But someone's sleeping in my bed." Sure enough, there was the bad old dog, Sophie. She has done this before. And Stella will not go in when Sophie is in there.

Yes, you are a bad old dog, Sophie. "But I like this crate better."

This is her crate. Nice soft quilt for an old dog to lay on. Hmmm.... She's only 15. So she should get her way, right? Stella doesn't think so though.

He's back

I went to check on Abraham this morning. Brought the bottle of Valbazen with me. And more minerals. He still has the knot under his jaw. I wonder if I am giving him enough.

Then I had to go to Tractor Supply. Found some electrolytes with vitamins and minerals. Got some. While I was standing in line, the guy behind me asked how my sheep were. It was the guy I got my 1st three ewes from. The Katahdin-Dorper ewes last June. I asked him if they were having problems with worms. He said no, that they rotate pastures. I said I did too. But am having such a hard time getting them under control.

Then it hit me. They only have hair sheep. My hair sheep are fine. The only sheep having a hard time with the worms are the Finn sheep. The wool sheep. I hadn't even thought about that til just then. It's Lucinda, the black ewe, and Darla, who is Abraham's mother. She is half Finn and half Suffolk. And Abraham, who is mostly Finn. And I got both Darla and Lucinda from the same place. Hmmm.

So now I am wondering if I want to just use the 2 hair sheep rams to breed the ewes next. And not use Abraham at all. I don't want to pass down his bad genes. I need to go ahead and just butcher him in the fall-winter. And maybe not have any more wool sheep. Just the ones I have now. But not breed for wool, just meat.

I brought Abraham back home with me. He's in the back yard with my buck, John Henry. I mixed up a pail of electrolyte water for him. And I'll go ahead and  give hime a little more wormer tonight. He seems to do better in the mornings and nights. These wool sheep don't like this heat at all.

I have a lot to think about. But that has hit me like a ton of bricks.

Abraham #0001

                             This is Abraham when he was just a few weeks old. He was so black.

                                This is him now. All reddish and huge with the black face and legs.

And he's sick. I took the 3 ram lambs to a friend's   place to eat down her garden area. They have eaten most everything in a little over 2 weeks. So I brought them some sheep feed and sunflower seeds and alfalfa pellets. She's been giving them minerals too. But I thought they might need something else. I noticed Abraham was a little droopy and hanging back from the others. Not his usual friendly self. Then I noticed the lump under his jaw. Again. I had wormed them all before I took them there. The other 2 look fine.

So today I made a list of what all to take to them. I stopped and got penicillan since mine was way out dated. Some syringes. Some thiamine. I have Valbazen and some Ivermectin. But didn't have any Cydectin. So stopped at the feed store to get that. Plus some ACV for their water. Got there and we fed them and I got Abraham and gave him Ivermectin and Cydectin orally. Then gave him a shot of pen. and thiamine. She also made a bucket of molasses, salt and baking soda and he drank a lot of that.

I called just now to check on him and she said he was up and eating and drank a lot of the molasses water. I'm going back to town in the morning and i'll go by and check on him again. I left 2 syringes of penicillan for my friend to give him every other day. I hope he makes it.

Any of you with sheep, have you been dealing with lots of worms and mineral deficiancies? It's been abd here. And with the goats. If you have any idea of what else to do for him, please tell me. I am open to any suggestions. I just want him to be ok. And why aren't the other 2 rams doing this as well? I went ahead and wormed them too with Cydectin. So it's been a little over 2 weeks when I wormed them before. Maybe too late?

Going out for dinner

Out to the garden, that is! I picked squash, red and purple peppers, cucumbers, tomatoes, okra, peas. And that's dinner for tonight. Plus some cantaloupe from my friend's garden. It's so nice just to go outside and pick dinner. Or lunch. And so much better than store bought. I just wish everyone could go out for dinner like this.