Friday, January 13, 2012

Five Weeks

Nettie is due to kid in just five weeks.  And the "little" chickens are still roosting in the kidding pen!

Well, it's my fault that they are still roosting in there as I've never trained them to go into the "Big Girl" coop yet.  We haven't had a light in the goat / chicken barn since last kidding season so the new chickens have had no incentive to move into the bigger coop.

I've been meaning to buy one of those solar panel kits from Harbor Freight, but haven't yet.  Maybe later today.  Right now, if I want light in the chicken coop / goat shed I have to run a loooooonnnng extension cord from the garage, across the driveway, through the garden, up a pole to "above-goat-chewing" height and then into the shed.  Either way, I'm going to have to get light in there for the impending kidding as well as to get the chickens out of the kidding pen so it can be used for kiddings!

Winter has finally reared it's ugly head.  Yesterday was really cold (ok, not really, really cold, but I like to complain) and windy and I was outside at least four times to skim ice off the water buckets.  This was after chipping chunks out of the buckets first thing in the morning.  The goats have free choice hay all day and get grain at night, but I also gave them alfalfa pellets mid-morning hoping it would help them keep warm.

The rooster seems to be doing a bit better.  When I was out there this morning to fill up his water dish and fed him a mash of warm milk and chicken feed, he came right up to the feed bowl and chowed down.  I haven't put a hen in with him yet, but think I will tonight if I remember to grab one when I'm closing everybody up for the night.

PS - I'm still having trouble with commenting; I can comment on your blogs, but not my own.  Anyone got a fix they'd like to share?

7 comments:

  1. I would be burying some underground wire to those outbuildings this spring! Seriously, I say this when I have been using a loooong drop cord from a building out maybe 40 feet to my chicken house for several years now! Maybe this will be the year I actually do it.

    I hope you catch a break on the weather for the kidding.

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  2. We are due to have kids in May. I sure hope my daughter is home when it happens. It's our first time for us.

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  3. I like the new colors on your blog! Don't know about the commenting thingy but I have noticed that Blogger has added a "Reply" option underneath the posts when embedded, cool! Maybe try logging completely out of Blogger and logging back in?
    I'm glad the rooster is doing better!
    You guys keep warm!

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  4. Wow! I love your blog makeover!! What a fun surprise this morning.

    I'm glad to hear about your rooster's improvement--I was popping over to ask about him. :)

    Have a great day!

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  5. To be able to comment relog in and make sure that the keep me logged in box isn't checked. Sometimes blogger checks this for me for some unknown reason and I can't comment.

    Gladd the rooster is better, I was just telling my husband about him this morning.

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  6. Whoo-hoo! I can comment again!!!

    gld, yes, and underground electric line is in the "want" section of our farm list.

    Kristina, good luck on your first kidding & I hope you human kid gets to be there also!

    Candy C., I was going to try for a snow-winter-ice look, but couldn't bear to look at the freezing stuff, so this is as close to a winter scheme I'll do.

    Mooberry, thanks! Rooster seems to be getting better, but I think he still has a while in the recovery room.

    The Family, tried it, but now I have no idea what I did or why I can comment now. Stupid 'puters.

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  7. I've been wanting to see one of those smaller solar setups in action!

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