Wednesday, October 15, 2014

New life on the farm & more fun







 September ended with a new batch of Chickens. Yes they are in my bathtub and yes I have went a little should we say country/redneck?! Oh but the fun of it all.... It works out pretty good actually. We have a spare bathroom that is never used. The chickens stay in there, nice and warm for the first week and then outside they go and the tub can be cleaned.
Our barn cat, barney, likes to keep an eye on the chickens so they won't be harmed.
 25 chic's in all. Most will be meat but some will live on to be egg layers.
Did you know baby chicks like to cuddle:-)
Next we had a great field trip with 17 preschoolers, teachers & moms.
 All the kids got to take an alpaca for a walk & give them some grain


 They also felt different types of Alpaca fiber & sheep wool. That's about all the kids are interested in.
 Soon after the field trip and around the time of the full blood moon, the first of 2 fall cria's (baby alpacas) were born




This is a picture of Bella starting to deliver her little one

I think she's trying to figure out whats going on back there. We call this spin dry baby because mom keeps spinning around in a circle to check out what is happening.

And Elliot is born. He was very tiny and we were a bit worried at first

I probably should not be interfering but I just helped a little by drying him off

I think mom and anti were alright with that. The head it cut off in this pictures but our girl Bibb's played nurse maid with this one. While preparing for and delivering, there always seems to be 1 Alpaca that stays within a few feet of the soon to be mom throughout the delivery. Once baby is delivered they all come huddle around to meet the newest member of the family
Here's 2 more Aunts checking out the new guy. The lt. brown girl on the left, Grayce, was thought to be pregnant and due around the same time. Turns out she's just been eating really well!

The next day, I was pretty sure that Raine y was in labor with her first cria. I checked her for the last time at 11:30 at night and she was laying down so I thought maybe false labor. The next morning I went to the barn upon waking to find this pretty little girl had just been born. It was a cold morning and they were in the field, so I brought them into the barn and made sure they rested on fresh hay.

Here's a few pictures of the baby a short time later up, waling nursing. Big sigh of relief. 2 new baby's in 3 days both healthy & strong

We are still trying to come up with a name for this pretty girl born to Martini's Rain. Any ideas? More pictures to come soon