Gardner’s California Homestead

[GardnerHomestead]

Here is my buck Duncan, older pic of him, i need to get an updated one, his beard is pretty epic now lol.

The two kids that were born to my smallest goat, they are very little. The boy is quite a bit larger than the girl and is only 2 lbs. Boy is black and white with brown eyes, super friendly already and wanting to gnaw on everyone. Girl is black and white, blue eyed with some visible moonspots and some odd coloring that could possibly turn into spots? Im new to the moonspot world but i know they can change colors. We are enjoying all the baby goat cuddles

In other news greenhouse is up and i have about 100 starts sprouting. Seems to be doing its job keeping it above 50 even in the snow. Have to figure out how to piece some shelving together. Making do with scraps of lumber i have for now.

I started a experimental worm farm with some worms my kids dug out of the yard, been keeping it going for about 6 months now, in some old coffee cans, saw this morning that we have babies! or what will be worm babies. super cool. would like to expand this but just havent found the time to do it yet. Right now ive just been using the worm "pee" on my indoor plants.

 

[GardnerHomestead]

6 babies from my does total, 3 sets of boy/girl twins, i have a fourth doe that didnt settle when the others did but is getting a small udder so maybe in a couple months. My oldest doe decided to reject her doeling after disbudding, i didnt notice for a couple days, which i feel horrible about, she got really thin. Got her on the bottle and pulled a boy from another mother to be her friend. Sold both as bottle babies at about two weeks old and they are doing really well! We moved the electrical netting to the lower part of our property to keep the goats down there for a while to eat everything down. They havent been super happy because they no longer have access to the barn, which they were spending the majority of the day in, bums. The "barn" is really close to our house, not actually a barn but a really big three sided garage type of thing. The previous owner kept chickens in about a third of it so we have made that into the goats nighttime area. In spending alot of time in there they poop alot in there and we had a huge fly issue last year that i want to avoid this year. So out to the field they go.

Weather has been wild, my starts are all struggling, 85 degrees then freezing 3 days later. Potatoes and carrot seeds are in and i have appreciated the bit of rain we have been getting so i dont have to start watering yet. Flowers were all coming up and beautiful til the freeze hit them, tulips have bounced back but daffodils and crocus are done for. My fruit trees are yet to be determined they all flowered but the freeze hit when the blooms were still open. The greenhouse is going to need some tweaks for sure to get the temp down in super hot temps and up in super cold temps.

Hatched out an unknown number of chicks, havent had the chance to count yet, black and lavender orpingtons, and a mixture of my meatbird and orpington roo as an experiment. 3 of my meat crosses hatched going to raise them up and see how they do as a sustainable meat source.

 

[Baymule]

I just got electronetting, haven’t had a chance to put it up yet. Going to let the sheep graze the yard.

Congratulations on the kids!

You crossed an Orpington with Cornish Cross hens? Interesting, post updates!

 

[GardnerHomestead]

I just got electronetting, haven’t had a chance to put it up yet. Going to let the sheep graze the yard.

Congratulations on the kids!

You crossed an Orpington with Cornish Cross hens? Interesting, post updates!

I love the netting, best thing we have ever bought for our property makes things so much easier. Yes i held back a big old meat bird hen from our last butcher, put her on a layers diet and have been getting some eggs from her. she has to weigh 10 lbs at least but gets around just fine. My orpington rooster is a huge guy as well. Shes laying about 2/3 times a weeks so im collecting the eggs and have had about a 30% hatchrate with them so far. As a test run im going to see how quickly they grow, and then decide from there if its worth it. i know cornish cross are a hybrid so they dont breed true, results may vary lol.

 

[Baymule]

Please post pictures of your results and how they grow out.