It's Officially Winter. Brrr!

Fern, Charlotte and Daffodil's eggs
(2 Welsummer eggs and 1 Easter Egger egg)

This is how last Saturday went...
Our dogs got into our goats' food.
Our goats got into our chickens' food.
Jonathan dug a trench with the tractor to redirect some water and broke a mysterious plastic pipe underground. (I'm sure it's fiiiiiine.)
My cell phone fell out of my pocket unbeknownst to me and Jonathan proceeded to drive over it with his truck unbeknownst to him.
Luckily, everyone survived unscathed (um, except the phone, that is.)
Just a regular day of chaos on the farm. :)

And Brrrr. As much as I do like winter, I could do without these frigid temperatures and the wind. Especially when dealing with changing the waters for the animals. Looking forward to Spring already.

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In other news, our hen, Charlotte, has officially laid her first egg at 9 months old, (only 4 months later than the others!) I guess she just needed some public shaming (from my last blog) to motivate her to get started. I found her in a nesting box for the first time ever last Thursday and a little while later, there was a beautiful Welsummer egg waiting for me. And just to prove it was Charlotte's egg, her sister, Fern, was nice enough to lay an egg the same day, too...Which helped to prove that now both Charlotte and Fern are laying. (Since their eggs look so much alike, if I didn't see them in the nesting box, it would be hard to determine which of the two laid their dark brown, speckled eggs.)

Welcome to the "Layer's Cub", Charlotte!
Finally!!!

In other good news, I'm happy to report that Minerva Louise, being the survivor that she is, seems to have recuperated from her sickness from the last post. After not laying any eggs (rubber or healthy) for about a week, she has started laying healthy eggs with hard shells again, thank goodness! Thanks to everyone who offered words of advice!

I was planning to give my hens a treatment that would de-worm them all in case that might have been the cause of her problems, but I went to three small local farm stores and none of them had any chicken dewormers in stock at the moment. It seemed like a sign to me, so instead of deworming them proactively, I decided to get Minerva Louise's poop tested for worms first to see if that was the problem after all, before I treated them. (When you de-worm your flock, you can't eat their eggs for 2 weeks, so it's kind of a big deal to do in a backyard flock.) Because I clean their coop everyday, I am pretty aware of their poop situation, and have never seen signs of worms. However, usually you only see signs of worms in their poop if the situation is really bad. For a small case of worm in chickens, you would need to send it out for testing to detect the microscopic evidence. Anyway, I'm happy to report that our vet didn't find any signs of worms in Minerva Louise's sample. So, I decided not to treat them for that for now.

However, I have started to add some electrolytes to their water which helps them to absorb the calcium better and it also gives them extra vitamins. I have also started adding organic kelp to their feed. Now that there's snow on the ground, they are loving the extra green treats. And I am continuing to give them plain yogurt and kale. The hens don't like to walk on the snow and all this wind, so they have been staying inside their coop most of the day. Having these treats throughout the day helps to combat the boredom that they must feel when staying inside all day.

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The goats are doing well. Just like the chickens, they don't go outside quite as much when there's snow on the ground. They are literally bouncing off the walls in their stall, but they were doing that before the snow, too! Crazy goats. :) They seem to be handling the cold temps well. They have a heat lamp in their stall which they occasionally lay under, but usually they prefer to lay under their hay rack on the other side of the stall. And they seem to have grown in a nice thick winter coat. At breakfast and dinner I bring them very warm water to drink. They love it! It's like getting a cup of tea on these cold days! They are also getting a little bit of kelp added to their food, and extra hay which helps them keep warm from the inside.

Brrrr. The outside water bucket freezes up quick these days.

I used an app called SuperPhoto to get these cool "paintings" of the animals...

Cream

Kit Kat

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Jessie is our polar bear who loves the snow. She doesn't seemed bothered by the cold temps or snow at all. Cooper on the other hand doesn't handle winter very well. He doesn't have much fur to keep him warm, so I don't blame him. He usually stays inside these days while Jessie and I head out to do the morning chores for the goats and chickens. My boys were insistent on buying Jessie and Cooper winter boots. I'm not a big fan of putting clothes on dogs, but Ben and Ryan really thought the boots would help the dogs and they offered to buy them with their own money, so they did. As you can imagine, it was pretty comical when we put them on the dogs! I was surprised that Cooper even let us put them on him! So silly. (See the video at the bottom of this blog.) These puppies are such good sports. It was also "National Dress Your Pet Up Day" recently, so of course we had to celebrate, and Jessie and Cooper let us have our fun with them. As Ben said, "What did we do to deserve dogs?" I totally agree. Dogs are such amazing gifts to our families. Always keeping us laughing.

Really?
(This just might qualify as animal-abuse.)

I'm only doing this for the treat in your hand.

("paintings" made by SuperPhoto App)

Jessie

Cooper

A few silly videos for you....

If you'd like a good laugh, here's a link to a video of our dogs wearing the boots for the first time. Too funny. (I apologize for my annoying voice.) Click here: Dogs In Boots For The First Time

Also, here's a video of Kit Kat the goat, doing her best impression of a turtle. (Not only do the goats love playing on top of their trampoline, but they also love going under it!): Kit Kat's Turtle Impression

Aaand, here's a video of the goats and Jessie playing in the snow. Click here: Jessie, Kit Kat & Cream Playing In The Snow

Enjoy and stay warm!

Happy New Year 2016

Happy Holidays from Glen Hill Farm!
2015

It took about 100 pictures of chaos to capture the picture on the left.
The picture on the right is a more accurate shot of our life. :)

2015 was a great year for our family here on Glen Hill Farm. We had some sad losses along the way, but that is par for the course in a life with animals. And the sad times were definitely outnumbered by the happy times. So grateful for our life here and I'm keeping my fingers crossed that 2016 will continue the fun for us.

Speaking of fun, our little goats, Kit Kat and Cream, are definitely keeping us entertained. Every time one of us comes back from the barn after visiting with the goats, we always announce "Those goats sure are CUTE!" They are just so curious and affectionate and snuggly. They are the most agile--yet clumsy--creatures I've ever met. One second they are making the most graceful leap through the air and the next second they are tripping over their own two feet! Very entertaining. They get so excited and totally spaz out for no reason, and then they'll charge directly at you trying to land in your lap for a cuddle. Whenever I notice the tell-tale sign of Kit Kat stomping her feet I always yell "Incoming!" to warn the people I'm with to get ready because she is about to leap into our laps. And Cream is on the opposite end of the spectrum. She is so much more calm! She loves her snuggles with her people, but she usually prefers to stay on the ground next to us and just lean in for a nice long scratch. Their personalities are so different, in fact, that when Farmer Jen (who we got the goats from) came to visit them, I actually needed her to confirm that there wasn't anything wrong with Kit Kat! Because she was just SO much spazzier than Cream that I was a little worried! Luckily Jen was able to witness Kit Kat's craziness and she confirmed that she was just a silly goat with a big personality!

Kit Kat. A little goat with a BIG personality!

Sweet, calm Cream, who loves nibbling zippers. Love her.

And she loves nibbling ears, too!

Santa brought big tires for the goats to play on!

Kit Kat doing her best Rudolph impression

The girls just chillin' outside.

The girls chillin' inside on their new trampoline.
(Thanks Uncle David & Aunt Richelle!)

We took down our tree on New Year's Day and gave it to our goats.
They love snacking on it!

While Jen was here visiting, she also gave us the confidence to let our goats out of their fenced in pen while we were outside with them. (I was too afraid that they were going to take off and I'd be chasing them all over the neighborhood.) But the goats were very good about sticking pretty close to us. You can see their herd mentality at work, because when we humans changed locations, those little goats came running behind us to keep up.

"The goat's on the grill!"
In some countries that would mean dinner's almost ready.
On Glen Hill Farm, it means there's literally a goat on our grill. :)

Looking outside my kitchen window.
Hello Cream!

Speaking of herd mentality, we've also let the dogs and the goats interact. I have to say that they are all doing pretty well. There's some chasing going on...Jessie is definitely trying to herd the goats around, and Cooper occasionally gets in on the herding action, but for the most part, the dogs are being careful. And the goats almost seem to enjoy the game. It's like a big game of tag for the four of them. At this point I trust the dogs 80% that they won't hurt the goats. But every once in a while the energy of their game gets a little crazier than I like. But luckily the dogs listen to me when I remind them to be gentle, or to come over to me to let the goats rest. And occasionally, the goats turn the tables on the dogs! Kit Kat will occasionally try to head butt Jessie. Very funny. I'm still a bit nervous about the four of them playing because I'm worried that the dogs will hurt the goats by accident. But so far, so good. And I felt this nervous about the dogs being out with our free ranging chickens at the beginning, too, and now I trust the dogs 100% with the hens.

Goats, dogs and hens all out and about!

Here's a video of some fun we had in December with our baby goats. They are pretty darn cute:
Video Link: Baby Goats in Dec 2015 Video

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The hens are doing well. Ruby is the only hen still molting. Most of the others are fully recovered from their molts and have their full set of feathers back. In fact, Buttercup and Daffodil each just laid an egg this week for the first time since October! Woohoo! I wonder if hitting that winter solstice makes a difference? The days are very slowly getting longer and maybe the chickens are taking notice.

Ruby's soft, downy feather.
Close up, they remind me of snowflakes.

Sadly, I do have one hen who is having some issues this week. My sweet Minerva Louise, my favorite white leghorn, wasn't feeling well. I gave her an epsom salt bath and that seemed to help so much. Actually while she was in the bath, she became so relaxed that she laid an egg in the water! Turned out that the egg was a rubber egg. (Actually the hard-ish shell part came out separately, or maybe it separated on its way out? Not totally sure. It was very strange.) But that told me that the reason Minerva Louise was sick was because she was having a hard time getting that egg out. Sadly, these rubber eggs are a common problem for Minerva Louise. She is eating very good pellets for laying hens, so I confirmed that that is not the problem this time. I'm also supplementing her with crushed oyster shells, crushed egg shells and plain yogurt. I even gave her some extra Vitamin D supplements, to help her absorb all that calcium I'm giving her to help improve her shells, but it's just not helping... She laid another rubber egg today. :( I'm very worried about it, because at this point I think that it's just an abnormality in her system, because my remedies are not helping. (She's definitely eating plenty of calcium for a normal laying hen, so I don't know why this issue isn't being resolved.) Sadly, this is something that could eventually kill her. Sigh. But she's a survivor, and she's acting healthy right now, so we'll just keep positive and keep her happy while she's still with us. And pray that whatever is at the base of this issue resolves itself.

A sick Minerva Louise soaking in her epsom salt bath in the barn sink.

Feeling better the next day, eating yogurt.

I also have one hen who has NEVER laid an egg yet! It is Charlotte, one of our Welsummer hens. I have caught her sister, Fern, in the laying box many times, but never Charlotte. The cute thing is that Charlotte always stands guard for her sister when she lays, so she certainly knows how it's all supposed to work. But as far as I know, she has yet to lay her own egg yet. Not sure what's going on. Is it possible to have a hen who just doesn't lay eggs??? She's definitely not a rooster. Time will tell! She's nine months old, so she definitely should be laying. (I have searched out in the yard for a secret laying place, but never found one if it exists.) Hoping she's just a late bloomer and maybe this spring she'll start. Silly girl.

Fern laying in the nesting box,
while her sister, Charlotte, stands guard.

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The dogs are doing great. Although, my buddy, Cooper, got in a scuffle the other week. He went charging out of the house towards the back field. I figured that he was going after a squirrel, as usual, but then he stayed out for a long time, so I went to go see what he was up to. I found him at the very back of our property sitting on guard under a tree. When I looked up into the tree, I expected to maybe see a raccoon, but instead there was a big white cat. Poor thing. I happen to love cats as much as I love dogs, so I certainly didn't want Cooper to be harassing them. I told Cooper that it was okay, and to come back in the house so that the cat could climb down and go home. (I've seen this cat around many times before, just usually not in our yard. Although, the first year we lived in this house -before Cooper arrived- I opened my barn doors one morning and this cat ran out! It must have gotten closed in the night before by accident! Anyway, that was years ago.) I'm not sure who the cat belongs to. As I'm bringing Cooper back to the house, I looked down at him and realized that the cat must have stood its ground with Cooper, because Cooper had big, long scratches right near his eye! Hopefully, Cooper will learn from this experience to leave the cats alone! And I'm happy to say that his scratches have all healed up.

Cooper sitting below the cat in the tree.

Don't mess with cats, Cooper!

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We recently cleared out "the cottage" which is the glorified shed next to our barn. We were using it to store lots of hockey equipment, golfing gear, bikes, scooters, etc. which was kind of a waste of a cool room. We moved all that junk into the basement of the barn and we have now turned the cottage into a music room for our boys to play all their instruments. The boys wanted a drum set for Christmas, but I didn't want it in my house. I also didn't want it to give my animals a heart attack in the barn, so clearing the cottage out for the drums and all their other instruments was the perfect solution. It is heated, and has electricity, so it is working out nicely for them! It is not even close to sound-proof, so I can still softly hear them from the house, which I like, and I can see them from the kitchen windows. Perfect!

The Music Studio!

Jam session for the Kaplan brothers