Fall Chicks?!

We went out to the barn Wednesday morning to milk and Vet2Be saw Midnight (the cat) looking as if she was listening closely to something in the hay stack. Vet2Be went over and listened, too. He thought he heard a bird caught in the hay somewhere so he went looking around on top of the pile of hay bales to see what he could find.

He found a hen sitting on a nest of eggs with 2 chicks. Then he noticed that some of the chirping was coming from a different spot! He looked between the outer wall of the barn and the inner wall and saw another chick about 8 feet down.

That is a long way down!

He was wondering if there was any way to get the chick out. Yup! A net duct-tapped to the end of a long pole. The other option was to move the entire 4 1/2 tons of hay out of the way and remove the bottom 2x6 to get to the chick. Needless to say, he decided to try the stick and net idea.

It took him about 45 minutes to get the little chick out of the narrow between the walls area and bring it safely to it's mother hen. He was very happy with himself! So was I. It took lots of dedication to stick to that task. No complaining, no giving up, he just kept at it until he got the chick out.

In the process of trying to get the chick out, he also dropped the camera down the hole. After he got the little chick out, it only took him a few moments to grab the camera out with a hook attached to the bottom of a pole.

He decided that the floor was a better place for the hen and her chicks so he gathered up the new family and put them in a dog crate on the floor of the barn. Hopefully they will be warm and safe down lower.

And of course..... last week I decided that there was no reason to keep the chick starter crumbles that were left over from the last batch of chicks earlier this summer. We dumped all of it into the chicken feeder and let the poultry finish it off. I thought it was better than letting the mice get into it over the winter. So Vet2Be had to crush up lay pellets to make sure the little chicks had something they could eat. I don't know how well they will do with lay pellets, but I am not going to buy a 50 lb bag of chick starter in the fall!

I'm glad the hen hatched out her chicks. It is always easiest for us when the mama raises her own young and we don't have to help. I can't imagine raising chicks at this time of the year. Yesterday winter hit here, too, so it was cold and rainy. I really don't want to try to keep these little ones warm and dry right now. I'm glad they have a mom to take care of them.

 

There is one of the chicks to the left of the hen.

Sweaters for Kid Goats

Newborn kid in a Kiddie Goat Sweater

Although I have 6 of these on hand for spring, now is a good time to make a few extra to store. I thought some of you might like the pattern, too.

My pattern is modified from Shirley Smith's pattern found at Fias Co. Farm. You can find my pattern on the same page along with the original pattern, a hand-knit pattern, and a crochet pattern. If these sweaters don't fit your kid goats, you can alter the pattern by loosening or tightening the tension on your knitting machine.

All our kids wear sweaters for at least three days after they are born. We generally have kids born in March and April and it makes us feel better to know that they are spending their energy growing instead of keeping warm. Some kids have worn theirs for as long as two weeks depending on the weather.

I make all my sweaters from Lion Brand Wool-Ease. I like the idea of having some wool in the sweater because wool holds moisture and keeps heat in better. But I also like the idea of being able to machine wash and dry these sweaters! I use whatever leftovers I have from other projects. Some of the sweaters have 3 or more colors. I don't have photos of all of them, but you can see a few below.

Check out the pictures below, the kids are so cute in their little sweaters!




Here is the pattern. You should be able to click on the link and download it in a PDF format.

Goat Sweater

Done with Grapes

I have finally finished with grape juice! I gave away the last box because I was too tired to do them. We got about 30-ish quarts of juice from this batch.

Here is how my juicer is set up on the stove. I have to pull my stove away from the wall about 10 inches otherwise the microwave gets in the way.

I love these buckets! They are so easy to clean and move. Since they are flexible, it also makes it easy to 'pour' the grapes into the strainer basket of the juicer.

 

It always seems as if there is still some juice in the grapes when I am done with them. So I put them in a strainer which just happens to fit in my mixing bowl to get the last few drops out. I usually put the juice from the strainer into the refrigerator and drink it instead of bottling it. The chickens get the leftover grape skins and seeds. They love their treat, too.

Most of the jars of juice :) Yummy! We gave a few away to friends because we have such nice friends. It is always fun to share some of the harvest.

The New Girl

I couldn't resist the chance to buy this little doeling from our friend. She is a daughter of our buck and she is polled! She is also registered so Vet2Be can show her next year. She has the best conformation of the triplets born to Gidget this spring, too. Her name is Pearl and she is a beauty!

Sadly, my good friend would not let me her buy her--she insisted that she wanted to GIVE her to Vet2Be. I have to think of something extra special to do for this good friend who is always sharing so many wonderful things with us.

What about the doeling that Vet2Be was going to keep? He might decide to sell her since she is a sweetie and will go to a good home. We weren't really planning on adding another dairy goat to the herd, which is why he sold her mother-Glacier, but this was such a wonderful opportunity to have a beautiful, registered doeling that I didn't want to pass it up! Sometimes things just feel 'right' and I have learned that feeling means that the Holy Spirit is whispering to me. If I follow the prompting--things work out better than I could have expected.

The small farm where Pearl was born called her "Snotty" because she was not the nicest of the triplets born to Gidget this spring. The other two were much sweeter in temperament. Vet2Be and I have always been able to change a borderline temperament into a sweet and loving one. We've never had to deal with a real stinker but we wouldn't take anyone that badly behaved, anyway. The number one rule on the farm: Be nice, or be tasty!

I met Pearl last Tuesday night along with the other two doelings from that kidding. Our friend wanted to use our weight tape * to see how much her kid goats weighed. She also dropped off Gidget to be bred to our buck again. Two years in a row this pair has produced triplet doelings! Both years there were 2 polled kids and one that needed disbudded. We are all hoping for another great year.

I thought Pearl was lovely and I didn't notice any problems with her personality. My friend said Pearl was sweeter after she left here on Tuesday than she has ever been. I guess she was meant to be ours, what a blessing for us!

Pearl's mother, Gidget. She is so sweet :) 

* If you are curious about using a weight tape but don't have one (or don't want to buy one) and want to use a sewing tape measure instead, look here. Surprisingly, this way of measuring a dairy goat's weight is fairly accurate.

Fall Beekeeping

Vet2Be and Hubby checked the bees on Friday (9/25) and put on a bee escape. The bees can go down through the escape, but can't get back up. We are ready to harvest some honey (which is unusual for a first year hive where we live) and we didn't want any bees on the super.

  Here is a photo of the bee escape Hubby. 

There are a few different styles, but Hubby likes this kind the best.

  Another view. The bees come out at the edge of the triangle and can't get back up through.

Hubby also tried a new type of smoker fuel this weekend. They have used pine needles in the past. Hubby said this stuff lasts for hours in the smoker and does a better job. 

Ross Rounds in the shallow super. We got 18 full rounds this year. Many will be gifts for Christmas.

Hubby said the super weighed at least 60 pounds! He said we will probably get about 30 pounds of honey since the weight also includes the wax and the brood (the queen visited the super). You can see the 4 frames stuck to the medium super. Vet2Be is ready with his hive tool to get them unstuck.

Two medium supers (top and bottom) and the Ross Round super in the middle.

Checking on all the bees in the top deep super. They look great and have plenty of honey for the winter. Hubby is scraping off the burr comb that the bees made while Vet2Be is using the smoker.

 The bee escape installed. It doesn't look like much from this photo because the triangle screen is on the bottom of the unfinished board.

All back together.

The Ross Rounds all ready for gift giving. There will probably be a few left that we can sell, too.

Hubby went to a neighbor's house to spin out the honey on Saturday. It drained for about 24 hours into  bucket. Seems like there is about 25 pounds of honey in the bucket. We are grateful for wonderful neighbors who let us use their equipment!

Here is the first quart of honey in a quart jar. We were so excited to pick up the honey from our neighbors that we just had to fill one jar and look at it.

Sometimes...

It is wonderful to know who is really in charge and that He is there no matter what.

Hot Fudge

Last night after dinner Vet2Be noticed that the home-made Hot Fudge Sauce was all gone! Oh, NO! No fudge sauce for his ice cream. He was so disappointed because he had just found the half-empty jar buried in the back of the refrigerator a few days ago. Who knows how long it had been tucked away under the lemon sauce in the back of the fridge?

So, amid the bottles of cooling grape juice and the stove top steamer (still 1 1/2 bushels of grapes to go!) I found a few moments to make more Hot Fudge Sauce. I'm not sure where I got the recipe, but this one is Vet2Be's favorite version. This recipe cooks up in about 15 minutes and I usually have all the ingredients on hand.

Hot Fudge Sauce (makes about 2 cups of sauce)

• 2/3 cup heavy cream
• 1/2 cup light corn syrup
• 1/3 cup packed dark brown sugar
• 1/4 cup unsweetened Dutch cocoa
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 6 ounces fine quality bittersweet chocolate
• 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 1 teaspoon Mexican vanilla

Bring cream, corn syrup, sugar, cocoa, salt, and half of chocolate to a boil in a 1 to 1 1/2-quart heavy saucepan over moderate heat, stirring, until chocolate is melted.

Reduce heat and cook at a low boil, stirring occasionally, 5 minutes, then remove from heat.

Add butter, vanilla, and remaining chocolate and stir until smooth. Cool sauce to warm before serving.

The recipe says that it can be kept in the refrigerator for up to a week. Ours had been in the fridge for months and still tasted wonderful :)