Fith-Fath Farm

Meet Poppy the Ram

Alan — Wed, 28 Mar 2012 08:01:05 +0000

Here is Poppy, an adult Babydoll Ram from Michele Hill. We look forward to having lambs from him and Carmen next year. Although we could have looked for a ram lamb, I’ve read too many (conflicting) stories about how they should be treated to be sure that they grown up well adjusted and not overly dominant to the point of being dangerous. By getting an adult (Poppy was born in ’09), there would be no guess work for me in what his temperament would be like.

Carmen, Zeus and Fozzie all happily welcomed Poppy to the mini flock.

In the photos below, you can see that Poppy came to us already sheared by electric shears; while Carmen and Zeus were blade sheared (think scissors) by myself. It is normal for blade-sheared sheep to have up to 10 mm of wool still on the body while those done with electric shears can be shaved very close to the skin. Fozzie is still in full wool. Because of my joint condition, I only do one sheep a day, so that I do not over-tax myself. I just didn’t get to Fozzie yet. I thought it’d be interesting to see a comparison of electric verses blade sheared, and also of just how much bigger they can appear when in full wool!

Click images to enlarge…

tags: babydoll sheep sheep

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Turkeys! Group order for the Chicago area

Alan — Mon, 13 Feb 2012 06:30:25 +0000

Our turkey, Charles, is in need of a turkey friend (or two or three). Hatcheries almost all require minimum orders of 15 turkeys though, which is way too many for the space we have. Thus, I’m inviting others in the chicagoland area to go in on an order!

The woman I got Charles and Anastasia from got her turkeys from http://www.porterturkeys.com/ – I’d like to order from there. Check out all the beautiful varieties they have which you won’t find at other hatcheries!

If you’re in the area, and want to join in the group to order a turkey or two (or more) please join the Chicago Chicken Enthusiasts list and then look for this post: http://groups.google.com/group/chicago-chicken-enthusiasts/browse_thread/thread/c7d9607deb29d901/d704ccc26dcd4d9a#d704ccc26dcd4d9a

This is our Tom Turkey, Charles; he is a Royal Palm. See more photos of him and the late Anastasia on this page: http://fithfath.com/farm/poultry/turkeys/

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Little Duck is a Girl!

Alan — Sun, 06 Nov 2011 08:14:22 +0000

I forgot to mention, Little Duck (who is now officially being called “Duck Duck”) is a girl! She seemed quite proud of her first egg. Her second egg was a huge double-yolker. I’ve shared duck eggs now with a couple of people…. my mum hates them, but I love them for baking. They have larger yolks and are more ‘gooey’ which makes our cakes/brownies a little more rich.

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Post tags: Duck Duck, Duck Eggs, Little Duck

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Mikołaj’s First Halloween!

Alan — Mon, 31 Oct 2011 08:01:00 +0000

Click to enlarge!Click to enlarge!

He was the only dog people were asking to have their photo taken with…. but the store employees didn’t give him one of the 5 possible prizes. A dog that someone just slapped a wig and a tutu on however was.

Mikołaj also turned 1 year old a few days ago. He’s around 105 lbs and growing (slower though now).

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gratuitous sheep photo

Alan — Wed, 03 Aug 2011 09:07:58 +0000

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Meet Carmen

Alan — Wed, 13 Jul 2011 06:04:14 +0000

Carmen is our newest sheep, and the youngest of our itty bitty 3-sheep herd in the suburbs. She comes from Patricia Chambers’ Animal Instincts and is registered with the North American Babydoll Southdown Sheep Association and Registry.

This will be the last sheep we get for some time. While ewes can be bred as soon as they are fertile, it is best to allow them to put all their energy into growing big and strong, and breed them when they are two years. I’m told you can wait until three as well, but best not to go later than that as their hips could fuse leasing to difficult lambing. This gives us plenty of time to decide if and when it will be right for us to breed (and if we do breed, if we will get a ram, or have Carmen visit another farm for breeding there).

In the mean time, I think they are happier as a trio rather than a pair as it is more flock like. The two wethers, Fozzie and Zeus, welcomed her with no problem. The first day here, she didn’t understand what to do to at night (go into the pens and wait for me to bring snacks, fresh water and lock the door). She stood out in the middle of the yard bleating, for some reason too afraid to follow them, so they turned back and stood on either side of her and waited there bleating for us to come guide her in. The next night, she had no problem going to bed.

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Little Duck is not so Little Anymore

Alan — Wed, 13 Jul 2011 05:27:42 +0000

Little Duck is not so little anymore…. still too early to know if duck is male or female though.

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New chickens!

Alan — Tue, 21 Jun 2011 06:49:24 +0000

Last month, I took in some chickens from a kind woman who had an egg farm but was moving out of state and couldn’t bring all of the chickens. Among the hens, there are 9 Isa Browns, 2 Rhode Island Reds and 2 Bantam Sussex. There are also two roosters: a big beautiful Rhose Island Red and a sweet bantam barred rock.

Below are the photos of the pens for the sheep and the chickens. I took the first photo before I made the door. When I bring home a new chicken, I use cedar the first time in the pen, and then switch to aspen. Pine and Cedar is known to be harmful to small animals like rats, but those are in relatively small, enclosed cages. Large pens with good air circulation minimise the dangers, and, I feel, are made up for by the benefit of repelling mites. When we got our first rooster, Pasquale, we also got a chicken mite infestation that affected the cats as well as the birds. Now I’m extra cautious!

Aspen which I’m using now after the cedar is, in my opinion, the best bedding: absorbant, doesn’t stink when it gets wet (Carefresh, a paper bedding always smelled horrible to me after just a few hours) and of course, it is with out phenols.

The pens are only for sleeping in at night. During the day, the hens “free range” in the back yard (1/3rd acre). When chickens have access to fresh greens and a varied diet, the eggs have a richer, orangish yolk and are tastier!

There was a play set in the yard. Under it is a sand box. The chickens love to take dust baths in it. The chicken wire in the photo keeps the sheep away from my tomatoes, which are just seedlings so far here:

The following photos feature the new roosters, along with the new hens and one of the Langshan we got last year, named Josephine (she is the black one). Introducing a new chicken to a flock can be tricky, as the established hens will peck her, sometimes to death. There are two ways around this. You can use a dog crate or fencing to separate them, while still allowing them to see each other and interact some. After a week or so, put them together and supervise them. Repeat if necessary. The other method is to acquire and introduce several new chickens all at once. This is obviously what we did. With so many new comers, the established hens’ attention is so divided that no one chicken gets seriously pecked.

Next is the the Rhode Island Red Rooster. I keep thinking of him as “Big Red” but that’s such a sophomoric name, I want to think of something better for him before this name “sticks”. I don’t think I will end up naming the Isa Brown hens as there are 9 of them and they pretty much look alike. The two Sussex and Rhode Island Red hens though will eventually be given names.

This is “Wind Up Toy”, the barred rock rooster. He is a speedy little guy:

Here is “Toy” with an Isa Brown hen, and one of the bantam Sussex in the back:

Since his mate died, Charles, the Turkey, has decided that he is a chicken, and acts every bit like their rooster. When we introduced the new birds, he immediately had to assert is position to the new rooster. I kept an eye on them, and neither was hurt (but a few feathers were lost). They have since worked out their differences. The first image amuses me; it looks like they are observing dueling etiquette and bowing to each other.

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Eggs

Alan — Tue, 21 Jun 2011 05:07:40 +0000

We’ve made it to 100 eggs in 1 month! http://www.eggzy.net/egg-stands/211.

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Just had to share…

Alan — Fri, 20 May 2011 08:58:40 +0000

This is from a bird house in our backyard. Click the image and zoom in close to get a better look at the baby bird getting food from mom!

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