Meet the Flock: Hazel

Hazel!

Hazel is really shy.  She's just started getting close enough to eat treats out of our hands, but only if she has a buddy with her. 

Did you say peanuts?

All the sheep enjoy a good scratch against the fence from time to time, but Hazel loves it. 

Elvira and Hazel, wearing their lunches.

Hazel's sheep coat is getting very snug these days.   Soon we'll be finding out if it's all wool or if there's a little Filbert (or two) in there!

Hazel's coat is getting very snug...

...which makes it difficult to lay down elegantly.

One Excited Llama

We went to Tractor Supply.  Barack got some new treats (in case anyone is wondering, we did not buy any more poultry of any kind).  He loves his new treats so much that he is in most of the pictures I tried to take this weekend.

Like this:

I get treats for cuteness, right?

There are treats in the camera, aren't there?

Then there are the pictures of his nostrils...

He also thoroughly sniffed everyone, looking for treats.

Hmm, he smells like peanuts...

...but this one smells like alfalfa cubes!

I was working on additional "Meet the Flock" pictures.  Of course, Calico, Hazel, and Elsie didn't pose, but Elvira did.

Elvira...

...ready for her close up.

I thought I'd be a good role model and strike a pose.

Me, Henry, and the the entire woolly gang.

But none of the sheep followed my lead.

(Long Overdue) Weekend in Pictures

Busy season has begun.  Between taking care of the chicks, getting ready for shearing day, and anchoring the hoop house to the ground (because it blew across the pasture*), ...  really, this list could go on and on. 

The chicks are growing fast.  They've grown a lot since these pictures were taken.  They are beginning to be in the awkward stage in which they look like little dinosaurs.

Easter Egger ready for action.

Another Easter Egger checking the temperature.

Yet another Easter Egger, roosting on top of the feeder.

Phoebe, our enormous Barred Rock, got a string wrapped around her foot. We wouldn't have noticed for a while had not Theresa been staring at the chicken yard.  We looked to see what she was concerned about and saw Phoebe hopping around.  We went to her rescue right away.  Too much longer, and we would have had a one-legged chicken (or one less chicken). Phoebe is a big sweetie, and she held perfectly still while Scott cut the string off her foot.

Phoebe post-op. Excuse me, I'm molting.

The sheep and Barack have finished their first hay bale (a fact probably only interesting to our hay dealer).   Both the sheep and Barack are becoming quite responsive to treats, to put it politely.

Elvira gets into her food, literally.

First hay bale nearly gone.

Theresa wants treats but is too shy yet to eat from hands.

Henry is known for his pockets full of peanuts. Elvira gets her share.

Barack on guard, working hard for his hay.

Vegetable garden preparations continued.  We finally got the rye cover turned in and even started a new garden section.

Pansy helps with turning in the rye cover crop.

*There are no pictures of this incident as I was freaking out too much to remember that the camera was in my pocket.

Meet the Flock: Henrietta

Looking for a peanut...

...and she's convinced that Henry's a giant peanut.

The tiny black thing?  That's Henrietta.

Ouch, my thumb!

Henrietta is the smallest of our sheep, but not the youngest.  She's almost three years-old, but she's itty bitty. She's a good eater, though, and is frequently found near a hay feeder.  She tends to carry a bit of hay with her as well. Like Elvira, she's a lover of peanuts. However, Henrietta also will eat anything in the vicinity--gloves, thumbs, and so on. 

Chicks!

We have chicks!

The Buff Brahmas already have feathers on their legs.

An Easter Egger. She might look like Ambrosia when she's grown-up.

Sixteen wee little girls (hopefully on the girl part).

She's teeny now, but the average Brahma hen weighs 9.5 lbs.

Four Buff Brahmas, two mystery "red pullets," and ten Easter Eggers. 

Checking the temperature was so exhausting.

To make a long (and horrific) story short, we ordered chicks from a hatchery.   (Your imagination can fill in this part of the story.)  We now have chicks from Tractor Supply instead. They are all very active and seem healthy. 

A Brahma getting a drink.

These girls are going to be the "worm patrol."  They are going to hang out with the sheep (and the llama).  Chickens don't get the same sort of parasites as sheep and llamas, so they can break the life cycle of the parasites.  That means less wormer (which is really dewormer) for everyone.

....and the tail end of this blog post.

Meet the Flock: Grandma Sandy

Sandy is the grandmother of two and great-grandmother of one of our sheep (Hazel, Elvira, and Henrietta).

Sandy

She has an excellent fleece, always has twins, and is a good mother.  But she won't share grain with her grandsheepies.

Sandy has an entire bowl of grain to herself.

(Okay, okay.  That was one day.  But she does like her food.)

Sandy with her progeny: Hazel & Elvira (Theresa is in the background)

She's definitely the matriarch of the group.  If Sandy's not going in the barn, no one is going in the barn.  It's fascinating to watch, though, because the others fight for their place in the pecking order.  Sandy doesn't.  Sometimes she gets feisty when it comes to food...

No rhyme or reason, unless you count the Electric Slide

Apparently, chicken combs can grow back.  At least Floppy's comb appears to be growing back.  I didn't think it was possible.  (No dramatic pictures of it yet.  Besides, I don't think anyone other than myself or my boys would notice.) 

In the garden, we planted winter rye for "green manure."  The plan was to turn it under before it went to seed.  I've been working on it for days*, and I have one and one-quarter of our three (slightly) raised gardens finished.  And it's not like we don't have enough manure.

The chickens enjoyed some time in the backyard over the weekend.  They helped me in the garden.  Hopefully, they were eating whatever life stage of squash beetle that is lurking the in ground, waiting to eat all my squashes.

Happy chickens

My little garden helpers

Barack is doing a good job as a guard.  He's working hard for his hay (and llama food and treats).  He also has a fondness for pine needles.  He eats needles, stems, everything.  (And I'll probably be mentioning a vet visit next week.)

Don't mess with my sheep.

Pine tree.  Yum.

Hazel allowed me to take a picture of her, and she's even begun approaching when some of the other girls are begging for treats.  Elvira, Elsie, and Henrietta will eat peanuts from my (or Henry's) hands, and although Calico will do anything for corn, she turns up her nose at peanuts.  

Hazel

Elvira really loves peanuts!

Other things we did while not digging in the garden:

We did some additional electrification to the fence.  I want a sign that says "It's electric, boogie woogie woogie." 

We tore down one bluebird house while building the fence, so we made two more today.  The bluebirds seem to be waiting for them.

We did some prep for our new arrivals.   Everyone is really excited!

*Okay, so I've worked on it for a little bit at a time over the past three days.  It really feels like it's taking forever.

Meet the Flock: The Baby

Meet Theresa, the youngest of our flock.  She's almost a year old.  Theresa is curious but very shy. 

Theresa stayed extremely close to the other girls her first few days here.

Peeking around the hoop house.  That's Elsie in the background.

Hiding behind Calico.

In the hay feeder.

Theresa!

Good news: We've found a shearer and have a shearing date scheduled.  Yay!

Snow Day

It snowed here on Sunday.  Everyone was excited except for the chickens and I.  The chickens eventually came out of the coop, and I vicariously enjoyed sledding.  Of course, I have to post animals-in-the-snow pictures.

Ambrosia, one of our Easter eggers

Barack was wary of the sleds whizzing down the hill.

Barack and the sheep following me to the other pasture.  It's not always so easy.

We have animal(s) arriving next week.  Any guesses?  Some members of the family are more excited than others, but I can't say who.  That would be telling.
 

Coats Off, Coats On

 I've been meaning to do a "meet the flock" post, but certain ladies do not like their pictures taken.  (Ahem, Hazel.  You don't look fat.  Okay, you do, but it's okay for a sheep.  Especially a woolly, pregnant sheep.)

While I wait for the others to stand (somewhat) still and look pretty, here's Elvira:

Elvira.

She's a black gulmoget (it's a Shetland thing, describing her markings) and she's gorgeous.  She's pretty friendly, too.  She has mixed feelings about people singing Oak Ridge Boys songs to her.

Elvira eating a peanut from Henry's hand.

Here's the whole flock without their coats:

Calico, Theresa, Elvira, Elsie, Hazel, Henrietta, & Sandy

We took off their coats to help the llamas bond to the sheep.  Barack O'Llama is doing good with the bonding thing, so we decided to put their coats back on today.  We managed to coat three sheep before feeling bad for them and giving up.  (And none of the sheep fell on her face and then was trampled by six sheep.  That was me.  Hazel even got stuck on my back, and Scott had to help her off.  I'm really glad that we chose a small breed of sheep!)

Barack O'Llama watching over his sheepy friends.

While I'm at it, I might as well explain why we put the coats on the sheep in the first place.  It's not to keep them warm.  (They have several pounds of wool on them, so a tiny layer of nylon is not going to make much of a difference.)  It's to keep their wool clean.  Otherwise, it will look like this:

Henrietta is trying out a hay bale costume for Halloween.

...and cleaning it before spinning and knitting it will not be fun.

It snowed here today (gasp!).  Barack O'Llama and the sheep seemed to enjoy it.  Perhaps it reminded them of their ancestral homelands?

The whole gang running to greet me.