It's Still Snowing!

Will this winter ever end?  The calendar indicates that the season is Spring but you would not know it from the conditions outside - it has been snowing all day!  We are grateful not to have gotten the really big storm that they did down in the cities this weekend, so we really shouldn’t complain (but we will anyway)!

Our three kids are doing great.  What a little slice of joy it is just to sit with them in the barn and observe their energetic antics and adorably cute faces.  The little lads, Soot and Snow have had their disbudding process done already as their little horn buds were growing robustly.  Hopefully we did a good job of this and will not have to repeat the process.  Periwinkle has not been through that yet, but her time will come soon.  You will see below that her swollen ear is almost back to normal.

Between sleeping and eating, the three of them race around and around their pen and enjoy jumping up and down the spool tables – so much energy.  Periwinkle seems to be developing her jumping skills; as I watch I see her trying to jump up into the hay rack and making attempts at the gate.  She may become a challenge in that respect in the future.  For now, she is just too tiny.

Ok, wrote the above paragraph about Periwinkle this morning.  Turns out she is not the only one we need to worry about... this is what we found at chore time – Soot!

Echo and Vinca have plenty of milk to spare so I have been milking them both mornings and evenings.   The kids are taking a little more now though, so I am able to cut back to just in the morning.  In another week or two, we will begin crating the kids at night and then we will be getting a lot more of the deliciousness. 

In poultry news, there are two hens setting in the Winter Coop, but who knows how many if any of the eggs will hatch.  I frequently find them on the wrong nest, sitting on fresh eggs while their own grow cool.  The next hens that get broody will be moved out to the summer coop so there will not be any fresh eggs to confuse things.  We will see how that works out. 

The turkeys are continuing to lay eggs too but and I am not sure if they are setting or not.  Dolly/Polly is on the one nest quite a bit but off enough that I am not sure if she is actually incubating those eggs or just likes to hang out there.

Sorry, not many photos this week!  Hopefully I will do better with that next week.  Until then, be well friends.