This week has been all about preparation. Preparation for kidding, preparation for our new chickens, preparation for weathering the COVID-19 crisis.
The kidding preparation is the most immediately exciting. We set up the Kidding Parlor. This is actually my enclosed back porch.
We covered the floor of the Kidding Parlor with interlocking spongy tiles. Like the ones they have in day-care centers for toddlers.
Next, we covered the kidding portion of the floor with wood pellets. Jan says these really soak up the smells.
And then we covered all of that with new straw. Man, this made me think of the girl in Rumpelstiltskin who spun straw into gold. This straw was so flighty. It would be a mess to try to spin.
We set out bins full of towels and extra blankets, we set up stools, and brought in this box full of mysterious items.
This week, we’ve begun trimming the goats’ hind quarters. Clipping the fur of their tails short, clipping any long hair that might get germy when they deliver. Phoebe is due on Wednesday! Here she is, looking round:
Lulou is due two days later - on Friday! (See the photo below). By next week I may be writing about babies!
All the pregnant does are getting extra grain on the milking stand every day now. The last one due to deliver is Delta. This week she finally got sick and tired of watching all the other milkers get special treats in the milking room, and she barged in and got right up on the milking stand! This is great - she’s a first time mom, so we were expecting to have to teach her to get up on the stand. We had to teach Rain, and it was really my niece Kat’s patience that did the trick with her. Kat spent a lot of time coaxing Rain up onto the stand - offering her a small bucket of grain, tempting her gradually closer and closer ’til she finally got on the stand without trauma.
The two goats who aren’t pregnant, Lezlie and Molly, usually hang around playing in the yard right outside the milking room. Molly is obsessed with the bungee cord that keeps the gate open. She stands up with her hooves on the chain link fence, rubbing her head all over the bungee cord. We finally had to replace the old bungee cord because she’d completely shredded it.
Meanwhile, Kat and I finished painting the chicken coop, and when Jan got home from California, she approved! Yay! I notice that the chickens sometimes pose next to the stencils of chickens!
We’ve moved on to working on the new chicken coop. We’ll paint the new one the same way. But, it’ll be awhile before we get to painting. There’s a lot of construction to do on that shed first. One more photo of the old coop, though:
When Jan and I were in the Tractor Supply Store this week, we saw some ceramic eggs. You’re supposed to put them in the laying boxes to give the chickens the right idea about where to lay their eggs. We bought some. We don’t know if they’ll work or not. It’ll be interesting to find out. In any case, the eggs are cute. And we're feeling more prepared for the arrival of our chickens.
When we were at the Tractor Supply Store they had scores of day-old chickens and ducks for sale, including turkens! I had never heard of a turken. I would’ve thought it was like turducken - you know, that bizarre Thanksgiving dish where you stuff a turkey with a chicken, and stuff the chicken with a duck. But, turken is what they’re now calling Naked Neck chickens. They have naked necks. Hence the name. Sometimes they’re called Transylvanian Naked Necks. HA! I guess because vampire chickens can more easily drink their blood.
And, of course, we spent some time preparing for the COVID-19, which mainly meant laying in a big supply of feed for all our animals. We got beet shreds and alfalfa pellets from the Tractor Supply, and big bags of cat food and dog food from the Costco, which was jam-packed. But, everyone there was oddly cheerful. Perhaps because they seemed to have apocalypse greeters there. I want to be an apocalypse greeter. I want to stand at the door and say, “Have a great apocalypse” to everyone who walks by!
It looks as if the rain is over for this week - finally! The goats are sick of huddling in their shelters. But, I’ll end with a photo of the rain covering the Monzano mountain range.
Fingers crossed for babies next week!