BlessedWithGoats Journal: Happy Birthday Gia!

[BlessedWithGoats]

Such bee-you-ti-full kits! I'm glad we decided NOT to breed our 2 bunny-girls for Easter babies. DH kinda thought that "Easter bunnies" equals unwanted, poorly treated pets that end-up dumped in the woods. NOW, however, I'm dying for some babies! Also, our barbu d'uccle started sitting a clutch of about 18 eggs today. Last June we had 1 of 24 hatch, but in Feb. they had hatched 18 for 18, so here's hoping for good things.

BTW, our darling 15-year-old Tortoise-shell kitty, Fran, died on Good Friday. She was just 1 month older than my DD. Kimmy was very saddened at her passing, but we had her for 15 awesome years. Sweetest cat EVER! ...and a great huntress, always bringing us trophies. We are remembering her through happy tears.

Aww! Smart thinking of your DH. I actually didn't plan mine to be around Easter, lol. I will either sell or process the ones I don't retain, Lord Willing.
Best wishes on your hatchings!
Sorry to hear about your beloved cat It is hard to let them go. Wish I could give you a real hug.

 

[BlessedWithGoats]

Love the bunny pics! Congrats!

Thank you! Two of the ones I looked at today had their eyes open!

 

[BlessedWithGoats]

Hello everyone!
I know I've been really absent from BYH... So much going on for me right now. Just started catching up a little bit today, but only finished with a couple of threads lol.
I still have Latte and my 4 boys. The little guy I had given to my Dad was given back to me (thank you Dad!), he's my surviving "Cookie baby". He's her grandson. Still makes me so sad to have lost her. She was so special. I'm grateful I had her, and I miss her so much.
I am adding two doelings to my herd in a couple of weeks Lord Willing! I am excited for that! I am planning on diminishing the size of my current rabbit herd, and putting a bunch in the freezer. I bred for meat anyway, and I feel it's just too much for me to keep a whole lot of them right now.
Odon has worked with me a couple of times on herding training, and he's been working on car rides too.
I ended up using Valbazen on the goats after the Ivomec plus; I still need to run fecals on everyone to get an updated count. I've done a few here and there, but need to set time and do them all at once. Working on minerals etc, and was able to get a second electric fence and a fence charger, so can have the boys and girls both out in the electric fence at the same time now!

 

[Hens and Roos]

for your new additions!!

 

[BlessedWithGoats]

 

[BlessedWithGoats]

Things have been busy here, prepping for winter and improving my herd management/housing. I brought home my two new doelings a week ago Sunday; they are sweethearts! Especially Josie, she just loves attention. Josie is 5 months old, and Eliza is almost 3 months old.
A family member has been helping me build a new house for the does. This one should be more winter-ready than my previous one. This will be good, and hopefully will help prevent pneumonia and some of the other issues I ran into this past winter. That was probably the hardest winter I've ever been through, and I want to prepare as much as I can to prevent it from happening again. The goats have been in that same area for a couple of years now, so it'll be good to move them to a new spot and let that land heal anyway. I will try and get some pictures of the new barn. I have the roof to finish, plus the rest of the walls. My brother will be making the doors, as he is better at that type of thing than I am. I am very grateful for his help!
I learned many things this year, and @Southern by choice has been a great help. I ran fecals on Josie and Eliza after I brought them home, within a week of bringing them home. I learned that moving goats/dehorning them/etc can cause a stress bloom with parasites, and that fecals should be done a couple of days after bringing them home. I am still learning how to do the fecals, but I can get a better idea of how the goats are doing than I could before. I find it still takes me a while to do one though, but hopefully it'll be streamlined with practice.
I will try and post pictures soon of Josie and Eliza!
I got another electric-netting fence this year, as well as the solar fencer! So now I can have both the girls and the boys out at the same time.

 

[Bruce]

I got another electric-netting fence this year, as well as the solar fencer! So now I can have both the girls and the boys out at the same time.

That is a BIG plus, you would rather they have access to the out of doors as much as possible. More browsing, less "in the shelter" poop removal

 

[Mike CHS]

I'm liking that netting also.

 

[BlessedWithGoats]

Yes, that netting is a blessing! Speaking of which, I've got to get out there and get the goats out.
Need to work on the goat house, and will try to take some pics of it.

 

[BlessedWithGoats]

Eliza is in the back left corner of the pic, and Josie is in front of her