Panic

Woke up at 4:30 this morning in a panic. Why? I woke up thinking about the date and that Christmas is on Friday. Then I remembered that the goats were scheduled to have their kids sometime around Christmas. As early as this week or as late as the next week or two we could have, if averages hold, 14 kids on the ground in a matter of days or a couple weeks.

Since our return from Disney, I've been sick, so I've not made it to the barns yet (my father-in-law has handled everything and really doesn't need my "help," to be honest). What I don't know: 1) are the pens bedded down sufficiently for the mama goats, 2) do we have ear tags and bands for "castration" of the males, 3) what do we do with kids!!!!! Honestly, I've not felt this under-prepared for something since I took the GREs about 15 years ago...or maybe it was when I became a dad for the first time...or maybe a dad for the third time. So, I'm realizing that I'm as under-prepared to manage a goat kids as I am my own. Well I need to relax because, afterall, almost all of the does have had kids already so they know what to do, right? Right?!!

Chicken Carnage

I received a dire report from my father-in-law yesterday: 9 hens had been killed and at least 2 more looked like they might not make it. Why? Raccoons had apparently found a way into the hen house. My schedule didn't permit me to help, but my father-in-law proceeded to shore up the area he was sure that they had gotten in through and he dispatched of the remains of the dead hens.

By my count, just under half of our hens were destroyed in this vicious attack with 2 or more having uncertain futures. I hope to have a better accounting of our situation this weekend. But that, my friends, is certainly a financial loss considering these hens should lay about 180 eggs each during 2010. Quick math goes something like 1,800 eggs lost divided by 12 (dozen) equals 150 dozen x $2.00/dozen = $300 lost. Well, I wouldn't have got that new car with that amount of money, but that's the chicken business I guess.

While we were away

While at Disney World, our part of Iowa had a blizzard. My poor brother-in-law couldn't get to the animals very well. The water tank froze in the goat barn. Drifts and white-out conditions prevented him from getting to the barn for a full day. The chickens and doelings all did fine, as did the other goats, but these were nervous times. In particular, the 7 does are due to have kids during the next couple weeks. We feared they might have their kids during the storm and what a headache that would be! We were fortunate; no kids yet!

Pre-trip scramble

We took our family to Disney World the first full week of December. We had heard a winter storm could occur during that time so we needed to move our 7 pregnant goats to better accommodations. To say the least, we were under prepared.

I'm learning that hungry goats are easy to move. My father-in-law skipped a feeding the night before we moved the goats so they would eagerly follow our buckets. After getting past their initial fear of walking into the electric fence, which we had disabled, they attacked the buckets we held in our hands. We crossed the gravel road and led them straight into their new holding area; the East end of the family's barn.

We moved a feeder into the area, a water tank, and filled racks with hay. After showing my brother-in-law what he needed to do within this area and with the remaining hens (more below) and 4 doelings, we headed to Disney.

The weekend before we left for Disney we culled our roosters. In total we have 23 chickens culled. Now we're probably not going to end up eating the first 2 or 3 because I have zero confidence that I cleaned them enough. The first bird I killed I tried to pluck it's feathers and clean. After 6 hours fighting weather conditions, etc., I had one bird done. One!

Though I froze it I'm not sure I'm confident enough in my work to eat that one. Because of the enormous time required, we decided to skin the chickens instead of plucking feathers. This was tremendously faster. Over the course of a few days I got much better at it and am much happier with the end product. Looking forward to eating those later chickens!

Chicken Cull: Part 1

Last weekend I attempted to cull my first couple of roosters. If I didn't do so soon the meat would get too tough for the frying pan and have to become chicken-noodle meat instead. My tools included a turkey stock pot for boiling water to singe the feathers for plucking, knives (that had to be sharpened because they were way too dull to cut where I wanted), ice water, freezer bags, and some wire to hang the chickens upside down.

I piled some wood in a concrete bunker and set up my stock pot for boiling. I figured I could kill the chickens and then start the fire so I fetched two roosters, one of which had a bad foot and was not eating and growing like he should because he couldn't stand to eat. I hung the chickens, stunned them, and then proceeded to cut the jugular of each chicken. Word of advice: buy "killing cones" as it holds the chickens in place; wire around the legs does not. Each chicken flopped out at some point and I had to re-hang them.

The fire had trouble starting and the breeze didn't help. I then had a wild-ish barn cat show up and start sniffin' around. I couldn't get the fire to start for some time and when it did finally start, the wind blew the heat away from the stock pot. Two dead chickens and an hour later, I had failed!

I packed up operations and headed to my house where my wife put the stock pot on the stove while I set everything else up outside. Forty minutes later the water was finally hot enough. Dunking and plucking took about an hour...for 1 bird! Trying to figure out how to clean it took another hour because I had no idea what I was doing and I was being way too careful. I put one chicken in the ice once it was fully dressed and took its remains and the chicken that had not grown too well to an area 1/4 of a mile from my house and dumped. It was all now coyote food.

Yesterday, Thanksgiving day, I met up with my father-in-law in the barn. We'd decided to skin the chickens instead of pluck them. And my father-in-law was not as cautious as I had been. He started cutting the skin and yanking on it to pull the feathers. He was breaking the bones where needed and once I carefully made the cuts to gain access to the chickens internal organs and my dad reached in and just had at it! He tugged and pulled and in a matter of 20 minutes or so, Dad had skinned and dressed the chicken. An hour-and-a-half later we had cleaned 3 chickens. Obviously this will be the game plan for the remaining chickens.

Fixin' Fences

With approximately 6 acres of graze-able pasture (10 acres with the pond), we think we have plenty for the goats to eat during the winter. But its been a few years since any livestock haunted the pasture. Fences had gone un-mended for quite some time. With beautiful early Winter weather, my father-in-law and I took advantage of our opportunity to put some woven wire up.

Long old fence row to fix...looking across the pond to the barns

Since the farm has been around a few years, we have plenty of materials tucked away. The older goats helped clear enough brush that we found rolls of forgotten woven wire. No need to buy new!

Wendell cut the wire to wrap around the corner post. It was tricky business but we got it done.



It's essential to get the wire tight before attempting to hammer metal staples into posts. Wendell wrapped one end of the woven wire around a small post, hooked log chain to it, and pulled it tight with the tractor. At times it was too tight and the staples would be repelled by the tension in the wire and send a sharp, double-pronged staples zinging towards our eyes. I got a small flesh wound on my cheek from one. We were able to use trees and tree stumps for wood posts along the fence line which allowed us to avoid having to put in new posts...awesome!

We took the fence line as far as we could but we have a new challenge: There's so much debris laying on the fence for the last 1000 feet or so and that part of the fence sits in a very marshy part of the pasture that there would be tremendous amount of re-working required to fix it. We decided to skip fixing this part of the fence and will instead reroute the fence line. We'll soon be driving metal posts to a fallen tree close to the pond, which will serve as a corner post, and run woven wire to it. From there we'll run it back toward the corner post of the original fence. It'll be a lot of work, but less than trying to fix the destroyed fence.

After a long day I followed Wendell and the tractor out of the field, but not before I took a few photos that depict why I country boy. What a great way to wrap up the day!

Sharp corners and the water hose

We have torch-cut cattle panels hanging to our barn gate. The corners are sharp. Very sharp. I've sliced my arms and wrists numerous times just hooking the chain. Tonight, however, the sharp corners attacked!

While reworking my chicken tractor (I had to change out and rehang waterers and feeders because the birds were pooping in the other waterer...) I looked at the barn door and saw a hazy mist filling the backlit barn door. The soggy doorway dripped and then I heard a steady hiss. Then I realized that the hose I had used to fill the waterer must have exploded and was spraying the barn. Ever heard the term "madder than a wet hen"? Well that was our primary concern; soaked chickens. My father-in-law hot-stepped it down the hill. He headed to the shut-off valve while I headed to the barn. When entering the barn, with a showery mist dowsing me, I began working the chain-shut barn gate when it happened. A sharp corner grabbed hold of small part of my scalp and sliced off a souvenir. I might have said something bad but, as I grabbed at my scalp, I noticed a hair with some of my skin hooked to the corner of the gate.

Once the water pressure subsided, and after I got over my flesh wound, I saw a small puncture in the water hose at the bottom corner of the barn gate. That's right, each corner attacked. Me and the hose were victims of a sharp-corner assault. It was like they were in cohoots and planned their attack. They've probably been scheming for weeks and this was their chance. I'm wearing a hat from now on.

Big Move

So this was "big move" weekend for the young roosters. We had built the chicken tractor to use as a move-able shelter for the chickens, but I was never happy with the top cover. It was made of wood material that was to be used indoors and, though it would be light, I was never confident that it would reject water. After some torrential downpours, my theory was proved correct; water seeps right through.



This weekend I replaced the cover with tin. The only problem with this design is that it's not nearly as easy to get into. On the day we need to cull the cockerels/roosters we'll have to pull the metal roof to get to all of them. But, most importantly, I believe they'll stay much more protected and drier than with the previous lid.



Moving the chickens was a bit of a trick. I had read that chickens tend to relax when you hold them upside down by their legs, catching them to hold upside down, however, was another story. At first they did just fine because they come right to the gate and wait for me to enter the coop when they hear my voice. They know I've got food, so they look forward to my visit. After capturing about 10 of the 20 or so I needed to move, the flock was panic stricken by my presence and I had to corner the chickens, turn them upside down, and try then try to catch more. I attempted to carry 3 with each transfer to their new home.



Most of the time I carried 3 once I got the hang of it. And, yes, they relax. But some of them will give you a fight and it's relatively frightening at first when the chicken starts doing these ridiculous upside down ab crunches to start biting at your glove and arm. Eventually they relaxed and let me carry them to their new home where I gently laid them in the tractor. They jumped up, turned their head and clucked. I think they were calling me a jerk!



I was happy to find that all the young fellas survived their first night in their outdoor home. We are, however, down one cockerel. My father-in-law went to feed the chickens on Friday and found one dead. No signs of distress or attack...just dead. I too found nothing obvious that was wrong. To date we've lost exactly 2: one when the chicks were transported to us from the hatchery and now this one. We have one that is having trouble with it's legs but does not seem to be sick. I believe he's outgrowing the strength of his legs. I may have to cull him sooner than the rest.

Funny Note: I had captured all but one cockerel. He'd figured out I was trying to catch him so he'd run as soon as I entered the coop. On my return I saw his head peeking out from behind this leaning board. When I looked at him, he ducked behind the board...twice! When I approached the board, he bolted but there was nowhere to hide and there's a reason why humans are at the top of the evolutionary ladder...we know where you're hiding.

Goat Personality

Until we started this new goat-raising adventure, I didn't know very much about goats...still don't. But I have learned one thing: they've got personality!

Grandma

Though most of our goats don't have names, per se, they have identifiers. One obviously older doe (female) we've nicknamed "Grandma" because she obviously is the matriarch of the group; nobody messes with her. She has this matronly look about her and she almost seems to have this wise, smarter-than-you look to her.

Horner

The girls have nicknamed one of the does "Horner" because it has no horns.

Flip

Another is nicknamed "Flip" because she has two ears that are folded at the tip. Apparently because she was a triplet and the lack of space caused her ears to permanently deform. Each one of the "older" ladies are always very curious and enjoy a nice scratch on the back...who doesn't.

The four younger ladies have slowly become accepting of me.
Bondsy

The first I nicknamed "Bondsy" after James Bond because she has ear tag "007." Sweet little girl. After the second night at our farm I fed her some grain mixture by hand because the 3 other does kept butting her out. Ever since then, she comes right up to me and enjoys a scratch.



The dominate female of the younger girls has a brown spot on the middle of her back; so she's obviously nicknamed "Spot." Just yesterday she decided she wanted to see what this scratching was all about so she let me rub her back. She's been back for more every time I've shown up at the barn since then. The other two let me have a go at scratching their backs tonight. I'll bet I have plenty of company during tomorrow's early morning visit.

Personality of the older girls: sweet and curious. The younger girls: skiddish/nervous at first, but their warming up and are also sweet. What I didn't know was they must have a heirarchy as each group tends to single out 1 or 2 of the others and headbutts them for no apparent reason. When there's food around, I understand. But just to be aggressive surprised me some. I suspect its just a reminder of who's in charge.

Tom getting his nose scratched



Tom, our purebred Boer buck, is hillarious! He hates to be left alone and he'll cry like a baby if he's by himself. I can hear him clear down the road when he's upset like that. He stinks. He will stink worse when he is "rudding" prior to breeding. He urinates on his face. He too loves a good scratch on the back and seeks me out to get one. But the funniest part is that this goat loves feed, or rather his feed bucket.
There's got to be something to eat in here!

One morning shortly after we brought him home, I entered the barn and found him laying on the floor with his head inside the bucket. I thought he was dead. I said, "Hey, Tom! You still with us?" He jolted, stood up, shook his head eventually flipping the bucket off, looked at me and baahed. The big oaf had fallen asleep inside his bucket! I've now caught him sleeping inside his bucket on at least 3 other occasions. Ah, I'm sure the ladies think that's quite the fella they've got there. They'll get used to him. All males of every species are just a little off center I suppose :)

Chicken Tractor

Now imagine if that were a chicken driving that thang' and you got a chicken tractor. Well, okay, not really! But my father-in-law and I have taken our first shot at building a chicken tractor. What's a chicken tractor? It's a portable pen that helps protect your chickens from predators while still letting the chicks get outside in the sunshine, eat bugs and grass, and get out in the fresh air. This is considered free-range, though it's a little more limiting. We will move the tractor (we're sure to be building more as we grow our flock) routinely to get the chicks to fresh grass and new areas frequently.

We built our chicken tractor using scrap wood we had around the farm. It was, generally speaking, not too difficult but it took some trial and error before we came up with the right materials and right set up. We wanted to make sure that the tractor was light enough to move yet sturdy enough to protect the chicks from the elements and predators.


Frames, corner posts. Our first go we build the tractor 4 ft high...that's waaayyy too big! We're going to use it as a winter coop next to one of the sheds. This way the chickens will be protected as they go outside and we won't need to redo it. Our second was a 7x7x2 tractor. Much better.

We used scrap paneling on 2x4 boards. I was able to move it on my own without a rope or wheels, but both will be added soon to make it easier.




Here's the chicks enjoying their tractor. We'll keep them in their brooder during the evenings but keep them in the tractor during the day as frequently as is possible until they are fully feathered. Now all they have to do is take their driving test to get their license to drive the tractor!

Chick feeding frenzy

The chicks are growing exponentially and they are staying warm despite the unseasonably cool temps we've had. I may have worried for nothing but I think the addition of tarp covering the brooder may have made a big difference. To date there have been no additional deaths since the one lost during transport. And did I mention they're growing fast and huge!!!

I think that they're growing because they love to eat...I mean love it! I've particularly enjoyed the morning feeding frenzy. I recorded a short snippet from my Blackberry but I must say, this doesn't do it justice.

Piranhas would be jealous of such skill, such grace in utter gluttony, a beautiful dance of carnage...well you get the picture.

Jumpin' Goats!

The goats are coming! The goats are coming!!!!

That's the feeling I had over this past weekend: Underprepared with a large learning curve. We were awaiting 7 exposed Boer does and 4 doelings on Monday (8/24). But the State Fair was taking place on Saturday (8/22) and Sunday (8/23) and the goat shows were taking place. My father-in-law, Wendell, spent both days there and by the time I showed up things had already started to unfold.

As one of the shows was winding up, Dad says to me: "Wanna see the buck I just bought?" Huh!?! I didn't see that coming. Of course I did but I had no idea he planned to buy a buck. We were standing at the pen talking when the previous owners, Diemer Hilltop Boer Goats (I hope I got that right) from Hawkeye, Iowa. The goat, "Tom," took 2nd in a show the previous night and was about to be shown again for Grand Champion and Rsrv Grand Champion. So Katie Diemer took "Tom" to the ring and, to my wonderment, "Tom" took 2nd place and competed closely for Rsrv Grand Champion!!!!!



A quick note about the Diemer family: class act people, one and all!!! It was truly a fantastic opportunity to meet them and to get to know them in such a small moment in time. I do hope to do business with them again in the future, but, more importantly, I hope that the collegial kinship that developed as we entered into the goat market with one of their fine goats, will extend through the years.

So after this wonderful surprise in the ring, we knew that after doing homework for over a year on the subject and trying to learn all we could before jumping in, Wendell had definitely landed a winner. But now what?

I asked if Dad's friend was going to keep "Tom" until we were ready to house him? Nope! He's coming home! Huh!?!



Wendell and I frantically started setting things up. "Tom" was going in the barn and eventually will transition to prairie. But since he would be on his own we wanted to make sure he felt safe. So bedding, food, water all had to be in place. Panels had to be set up. And just as we were feeling pretty good, this approximately 150 pound (probably more) goat takes three steps back and runs toward a gate in the barn and nearly clears it. He gets over, but clips his leg on the way. Lesson #1: that gate ain't high enough!



As you can see from the photo we added a panel for height after "Tom" scaled the gate a 2nd time. He snapped the halter we had on him so I pushed and pulled and gently lead him towards the barn the second time. He tested the side boards and the gates for the next couple hours but eventually calmed. After 5 hours of frenetic work, "Tom" settled in. And though I woke up with horrors throughout the night that somehow one of our gates failed and either "Tom" was wandering around the fields or a predator had simply walked in and did what predators do to goats, I found "Tom" raring to go first thing in the morning when I went in to feed the chicks.

Warmth

Unseasonably cool temps worried me with my new chicks. It dropped into the 50s overnight 2 nights ago and even cooler last night. I didn't do much the first night, but the chicks were obviously cold. The 2nd night I added a tarp for part of the brooder, another lamp, and a round tin cover trying to trap as much heat as possible. Though the birds were still cool, they didn't seem too bad.

This morning I left all these items on after their morning feeding/watering. This afternoon I came back and they were nicely scattered around the brooder. I picked one up and it was warm to the touch, so they're definitely warmer, but maybe too warm. I left the tarp off and will put it back on tonight.

My New Peeps

Like an anxious father pacing the floor at the hospital I've been awaiting the arrival of my chicks. Finally, the doctor...er postmaster called me at just before 6 AM and told me of their arrival. I was instantly awake and thinking what do I do now? Not unlike my first foray into fatherhood, I guess.

After getting the brooder warmed up and the watering items (apple cider vinegar and sugar) set up, I traveled to the post office where my chicks were awaiting my arrival. The postmaster said she left them in the back part of the post office because they started chirping at 5:45 and they were too loud to keep in the main area. Indeed, they were singing up a storm!!!



I first checked for mortality when I got the box o' birds home. Only 1 had died in transit. I had read to expect a few deaths so I was pleased to see only one had not survived the journey. It wasn't until later that I realized the box had been separated boys from girls, so I was able to determine we'd lost one of our ladies. And I forgot to start counting each one as I took them out of the box. So I think there's about 50 total, but I don't know with absolute certainty. Counting chicks as they run around a brooder just can't be done!


I took each peep out the box and dipped their nose in the water/vinegar/sugar concoction and made sure I saw them swallow the water before letting them go. They immediately ran under the light, then quickly figured out where the food was, and then started running in circles like a bunch of drunk racehorses let loose on the track. Maybe less sugar next time.


Then I just watched...and watched...and watched some more. Studying. Learning. Enjoying. It was really quite relaxing watching these chick run all over the place while chirping and pecking at things and each other. Eventually they quieted from their sugar rush and would periodically drift off to sleep wherever the stood. Some fell asleep inside the feeder. Others fell asleep right where they stood.







You talkin' to me?


My primary concern was warmth for the chicks. The light was too hot so I went to raise it and the cord popped free of the drop cord and the light fell down, right on a handful of chicks. I quickly went to work lifting the lamp from the brooder floor and the dazed chick at ground zero stood up and sped off. I started rearranging the whole brooder after that and eventually added a box that acts a little like a "hover" so the chicks could get out of the draft and, between their body heat and the heat lamp, I think they should be fine during this unseasonably cool week predicted.




The kids, of course, were jazzed to hold the chicks.




The shipment came with a "surprise" chick. Can you guess which one it is (if you've seen the above pics you probably have already noticed one of these things doesn't look like the others)? I'll have to do a search to find out the breed of our "surprise."



The girls named it "Surprise" despite my discouragement. They also named this one "Egghead" because a tiny piece of its shell was still stuck to its head.