Daydreaming while waiting impatiently!

[frustratedearthmother]

Awesome - congrats!

 

[Denim Deb]

Good luck w/her.

 

[Britesea]

What breed is she? Grats on getting a full size goat; they are more efficient on the feed to milk ratio than the pygmies are

 

[hqueen13]

Yay goatie!

 

[tortoise]

The goat, now named "Banana" is very sweet and tame. She is very well-trained for milking. She is nearly dried up. I'm continuing to milk the little bit she has. If I find milking is not too much commitment, we might breed her this fall. After I figure out her breed, lol I'm pretty sure she is a Sable (a colored Saanen).

Chicks arrived on Saturday! The free rare breed chick died today. I hope the rest make it. I worry because they seem to be eating their wood chip bedding.

 

[hqueen13]

Yay goat!
Sorry about the chick. Wish I knew what to tell you, I don't know why theyd eat bedding.

 

[tortoise]

Banana the diary goat saved my butt the other day. My son went through the goat pasture for a shortcut and left a gate open. The goats wandered out. Banana came to me. I was walking a petsitting dog that chases goats, so I leashed the dog and walked her fast to the shed building where here kennel is. Banana followed me and the 4 little goats followed her. Then I caught Banana and leashed her, and walked around the pen to the gate and walked in. The 4 little wild goats followed! She earned her feed! I was hoping that having a very tame goat would help us move them to the big pasture on the other side of the barn. Mission accomplished.

The RIR chicks are a week old and getting big! Eating a lot! My fiancé's brother has a couple of layer hens. 1 went broody and reared some chicks. He is planning on bringing them up to us this weekend. I don't want to end up with mixed breed chickens, so they would be meaties.

Which brings me to a question. The hatchery we got our RIR chicks from states that they tend to not go broody. We want to raise a large chicken flock, but do not want to deal with incubating eggs. I am wondering if we can introduce a different chicken breed that tends to be very broody and keep hens to sit on eggs - without ending up with mixed breed chickens. Maybe if the broody breed lays white eggs (RIR lay brown) and we're careful to take white eggs out of broody nests?

 

[Denim Deb]

That's what I'd do, or go w/a breed that lays small eggs, like a silkie. I believe their eggs are lighter in color than a RIR.

 

[Britesea]

See if you can get your fiance's brother to give you that broody hen-- she's already a proven mother. Also, the chicks might go broody as well, since they came from a broody hen... might want to consider keeping at least one hen from the lot to see.

 

[hqueen13]

Yay goat to the rescue!