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More Babies!

We had an eventful (and sleepless) week on the farm this week.


On Thursday night Maria went into labor. We brought her into the kidding parlor, and took turns checking on her every hour. I took the even hours, and Jan took the odd hours. When I checked on her at midnight, I thought about calling Jan, but hesitated. Around 12:30, the sounds she was making changed. I hurried back to the kidding parlor (I had been dozing on the sofa - so that I could hear her). There was a nose emerging into the world!


I ran over to Jan’s house. “It’s time!” I yelled, running right back out of her bedroom and returning to the kidding parlor. Already, there was a head and a hoof trying to be born. A perfect position would be a head and two hooves. I thought I was going to have to find the second hoof and pull. I began searching for the other hoof, when Maria had another big contraction. She pushed, I pulled, and her first baby was born - an amazing boy, weighing over seven pounds!


I brought the buck to her face, and she licked him as I began toweling him dry. Jan arrived, in time to catch the second baby, a beautiful girl. Finally, a really simple birth. We were up most of the rest of the night, getting the babies eating, dealing with their cords, waiting for Maria to deliver the afterbirth. Here's Maria with her two new kids. The light tan one is the boy, the black one is the girl:



The next night, we brought Lezlie into the kidding parlor. We were a little worried about Lezlie, because she was three years old and this was her first kidding. Last year we put her in the pen with Pete, and Pete was a dud.


Tired as we were, Jan said she’d sit with Lezlie for a while, so I got two blissful hours of sleep before Lezlie needed our help. She began pushing around 10:00, but all she could get out was one lonely hoof. Finally, at 11:00, Jan texted our next door neighbor, who used to be a vet tech. She was awake, and came over! What a gift! She pulled Lezlie’s first baby, but that baby’s cord was still attached to Lezlie, so we couldn’t bring her around to Lezlie’s face right away. Jan had to tie the cord in two spots with dental floss and cut in between before we could bring her to show Lezlie.


Lezlie ended up with two delightful babies - both with wattles! Lezlie is our only goat with wattles, and we were surprised that both babies had them. Anyway, she now has a boy and a girl. Once again, we were up the remainder of the night - for the second night in a row. Her babies have the same coat patterns as Maria's. The boy is the light colored one, and the girl is the black one.



The next day the farrier came to our farm. He came to trim all the males’ hooves. The bucks are larger than we are, and dramatically stronger, and we can’t trim their hooves ourselves.


In the process, we did a lot of dog moving - getting them into different pens so that goats could be led through. At one point we were in the back yard, and I noticed that Vera had something hanging out of her mouth. I said, “What is that?” And Jan said, “Oh, it’s just a bird.” I said, “That’s not just a bird. That’s one of our birds. That’s Poofy Face!” At that moment, Vera dropped what she had in her mouth. It was the head and neck of Poofy Face!


Aw, Poofy Face.


She was the only chicken who used to fly to the top of the fences and drop into pens where she didn’t belong. She flew into the milkers’ pen all the time. The milkers had grown accustomed to her. I had to get her eggs out of there every day - ever since that day we discovered she’d amassed 15 eggs in the corner of one of the shelters.


Well, apparently she’d dropped into the big dogs’ area. And Vera had a feast. Vera carried that head and neck around for the rest of the afternoon - eating a little bit every now and then. We think she was so stuffed from eating the rest of Poofy Face that she just couldn’t finish. Good grief! (Look at that grin - she was PROUD of eating poor Poofy Face).



We couldn’t get mad at Vera - Poofy Face had gone into a yard where she didn’t belong. But why? Ever since the day long ago when she first dropped into Vera’s area, and we had to rescue her (she was able to scuttle behind some rakes and hoes, and Vera couldn’t manage to get to her) she had avoided that area. Had something scared her so badly that she went into a dangerous area?


That same evening, when it was time to shut the chickens in for the night, we noticed a large gray mass in front of the coop door. Jan stopped at the gate and said, “What is that?” It looked almost like a wolf puppy from where we stood. It was clearly an injured animal.


As we got closer we realized it was a chicken! It was a chicken lying in a really weird position, with one wing extended, as if she were trying to cover her face. Jan touched her, and she jumped up and dragged herself into the coop. We realized she was Top Hat, one of the older hens from the original flock.


We don’t know what happened to her. She is definitely damaged. Instead of walking like a chicken, she now walks like a penguin. You know how a chicken kind of looks like a boat, balanced on top of two tall legs? And a penguin looks like an upright heap all settled down on top of invisble legs, with only toes sticking out? That's how she carries herself now. I hope she heals.


We kept the chickens out of the wilderness area for several days - in case it was an encounter with a predator that caused all this havoc. Hopefully we’ll get to the bottom of it soon.


Meanwhile, In soap world, I’m preparing for Kat’s arrival, which will mean beginning to make more beautiful bars. Kat has an artistic eye - we're going to make soaps with lovely designs. Stay tuned! And, shop if you need soap: https://www.serenasoaps.com/



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