Goats, goats, goats!

This past weekend was very productive.  The garden is officially planted...woohoo!  

We're starting to get into a lovely routine here on the farm.  In the evenings after the goats have their bottles, we all go for a nice walk around the pasture.  There's an apple tree in the far corner that we stop at every night (goats LOVE to eat apple leaves).  We take turns holding the tree branches down so the goats can snack.  In order to better reach the leaves, they usually try to stand on each other, Piper or us.  This video is them approaching the tree and waiting for it to magically lower to their level:)  

 Little Lola posing for the camera.

Teresa snuggling with Winslow and Abby (or them trying to eat her).

This place is really going to the birds

Well, I think it has officially happened...Silver Hill Farm has gone to the birds.  As previously reported, the new layers have "graduated" to the coop with the older girls.  After the establishment of a new "pecking order" and some creative maneuvering by Teresa to keep the peace, it appears that all is reasonably harmonious again.  George is pictured below.

With the six chicks out of the house and in the barn, there has been a distinct lack of chirping in the mud room.  As luck would have it, our turkeys landed a few days early on Wednesday.  The new birds seem to be settling into the water trough brooder quite well.  They seem to be living up to their reputation as being...not having such good self preservation instincts.  The turkeys eagerly run straight up to one's hand when in the brooder as compared to the chickens who scatter.  Apparently, a baby turkey's prime activity is figuring out creative ways to kill itself.  We hope to prevent our six from succeeding.

Not to be outdone, our layers appear to be taking field trips to the hay bales to make a cozy place for egg laying.

We continue to have regular hummingbird visits in the mornings and evenings and have confirmed that we have a pair of Ruby Throated Hummingbirds.  Eric even spotted them together at the feeder.  The female is peeking out below.

Teresa continues to hone her amateur wildlife photography skills and shot this bluebird while stalking hummingbirds.

Our little goat friends are doing well but had a rough morning at the veterinarian.  They were disbudded/neutered as appropriate and received CD/T shots.  Needless to say, things are quiet in the pen right now as they all recover.

Why did the bear cross the road?

A couple nights ago we were heading to trivia night at the Skunk Hollow Tavern.  At the top of our hill Eric suddenly shouted, "BEAR"!  This was no surprise to Teresa that while driving Eric managed to spot an animal in the woods (he has a knack for that).  Sure enough, a big black bear was running along the ridge, parallel to the car.  Eric stopped the car as the bear made it's way down a steep bank and it ran right across the road in front of the car.  Eric said it was one of the largest black bears he's seen; Teresa was just shocked to see a bear so close for the first time.  So, why did the bear cross the road?  We have no idea, but it was quite the awesome site to see.

Darling little Lola

Yesterday evening Teresa was planting pansies into the old bourbon barrel in the yard.  Little Lola was outside hanging out with her.  Lola approached the flowers and bent down to sniff the largest of the white flowers.  CHOMP!  Gone!  Teresa came into the house laughing hysterically, holding little Lola as she continued to chew and swallow the flower.  I guess we should just be happy they're starting to eat things other than milk.  Lesson learned, never plant flowers with your goats around.

Winslow is doing really well eating dandelion leaves from the yard as well.  This is a skill we hope he continues to perfect!

The baby chicks went outside with the big girls yesterday as well.  We soon discovered the baby chicks were scooting right through the electric fencing....not very protective if they're on the outside!  When we shut all the birds in the coop together, some of the chickens were picking on the chicks.  The big girls were done laying for the day, so we put them outside and locked the baby chicks in the coop.  At dusk we opened the door to the coop and wouldn't you know, the big chickens climbed onto their perch to roost and went to bed!  This AM things seemed a little more harmonious, but the chickens were blocking the chicks from getting to their food.  Teresa put the big girls outside with a block of wood in front of the door.  Hopefully this will keep the chicks inside, but  allow the chickens to hop over it (to come and go as they need to lay their eggs).  We will see if we've outsmarted our feathered friends.

Our little helper

Piper has resorted to licking the goats as we bottle feed them.  She's quite the motherly dog!

Amateur wildlife photographer

Teresa has decided to quit her day job and sit in front of the hummingbird feeder all day to capture the tiny bird when it comes to eat.  Here are a few of yesterday's photos! 

And their names are....

The goat train is as follows (left to right):  Winslow, Abigail (Abby), and Lola 

The goats are continuing to eat us out of house and home (I mean settle in well)!  Here's a cute video of them enjoying time outside in the sunshine.  

Last night Eric hung the hummingbird feeder after a hummingbird was spotted in the yard.  Since then we've seen a hummingbird drinking 3 times from the feeder!  

The kids have arrived.

The babies came home today from Trevin Farms.  It was a very quiet car ride, surprisingly!  We are currently naming the girls, but they are just perfect (see below).  They love snuggling with each other and seem to have settled in very quickly.  Mr. Harvey jumped in with the goats to give them a warm welcome.  I'm pretty sure he scared them, but Winslow got Harvey back outside when he very loudly "Maaahhh"ed at him, causing Harvey to jump and run!  Stay posted for many more pictures and videos to come. 

Mr. Winslow

Teresa traveled back to Trevin Farms and visited with Winslow.  He's growing well and becoming very lively and fun.  He spends most of his time sleeping or playing with the other kids.  There are now a total of 8 babies...many more to come.  Still no news on the baby girls yet, so we'll have to wait and see who his sisters will be!!

Chicken's First Day Out

The baby chicks enjoyed 15 minutes of sunshine during their first outdoor adventure today.  They spent most of the time chirping and looking around.  Good old rooster George (yes, we're still fairly certain he's a rooster) chased down a flying bug and nabbed it out of the air...so proud!  We're enjoying watching them grow their feathers out, even if they are ugly little things right now.