I have been both very busy and very distracted for the past month. though it does not seem as though a month has past, I cannot deny what the calendar is telling me. Time to close out the year, tally the up the good, the bad, and the egg-ly. So, here we goFirst, lets review this month, December with the last week of November thrown in for the heck of it.
Last time I posted, I was trying to figure out what was wrong with Hank Jr, my new buck. I finally gave up and called the Vet. She was out of town for the week, but her partner asked me to bring in a fecal sample. It turns out he has a MASSIVE parasite infection and coccidia. I don’t know where he picked them up. Further tests confirmed that none of the other goats have any parasites. So I started treating him for the coccidia and worms keeping a close eye on the rest of the herd to make sure they do not pick up any.
Now after five weeks of treatment, he is just getting back to normal. I also started treating all of the water buckets with ACV as a preventative measure. I should have quarantined him for at least a week when he came. I knew he had bounced through 2 farms before coming here. All things considered though, I think he will produce good kids.
While he was sick and weak he could not even fend off Rusty and was getting pushed around a lot. I had to move Rusty in with his papa. I don’t think he likes the arrangement, now he is the one getting pushed around, and as it gets colder and we really move into winter weather, I may have to move him into the shelter with the milker goats. I’m not concerned with him getting any of the girls pregnant. He only thinks he is a buck, I tell him he’s not even 50cent. He can be a real annoyance though.
The 8th of December brought sadness to our world with the passing of my brother James Gustav Essinger. Even though he had not been very healthy lately we did not expect him to pass so quickly. The world is an emptier place now, we will all miss him.
On to the egg business. For a while the older chickens were doing quite well and then it got cold and they started slacking off like most chickens will. Now after I had almost given up on them the new girls have started laying. The eggs are quite small, but it is a start and I expect that all eight of them will be laying by the first of the year.
The ducks are laying for now but only 2 or 3 eggs/day, and I expect they will stop for a couple of months this winter. I did have one day at the end of November that they gave me 8 eggs, but I doubt that will happen again until spring.
The egg count:
For the week of 11/23/2014 thru 11/29/2014:
- Gathered – chickens 44, ducks 20
- Sold – chickens 2 dozen, ducks 3 dozen (1 4us)
- Cartons – chickens 3, ducks 2
For the week of 11/30/2014 thru 12/06/2014:
- Gathered – chickens 42, ducks 21
- Sold – chickens 5 dozen, ducks 0
- Cartons – chickens 4, ducks 1
For the week of 12/07/2014 thru 12/13/2014:
- Gathered – chickens 33, ducks 21
- Sold – chickens 4 dozen, ducks 0
- Cartons – chickens 2, ducks 2
For the week of 12/14/2014 thru 12/20/2014:
- Gathered – chickens 43, ducks 16
- Sold – chickens 3 dozen, ducks 4 dozen
- Cartons – chickens 3, ducks 1
For the week of 12/21/2014 thru 12/27/2014:
- Gathered – chickens 52, ducks 15
- Sold – chickens 2 dozen, ducks 2 dozen
- Cartons – chickens 3, ducks 2
I think I will save the month and year summary for another post.
Tonight I moved Rusty in with the milker mamas. He is learning from JuneCarter just who is boss in that pen.