Kids!

We are bad bloggers, nothing since Labor Day.  But we have been busy!  Laurel Haven 57 Shevy kidded this morning with a buckling and a doeling - the buckling is black and white, the doeling is black with a white poll (forehead).

Just a little behind...

We started our blog thinking it won't be hard to post a little something every week - really, it just takes 10 or 15 minutes.   But the last 1 1/2 months or so have been pretty busy - helping family move, picking up new goats (twice), meeting to exchange a goat (once), the project you can see in the background in this photo - the new fence (which was a BIG project - thank you Tony and Nicole!).  Then add in swim lessons in Anderson, work, weekends on call and you have the perfect recipe for very little free time.  So I plead guilty to reading instead of blogging - I enjoyed it ;)

 Some of what we have missed blogging is the loss of a lot of chickens - 14 were taken in 2 days over a month ago just as all the pullets were starting to lay.  A neighbors livestock guardian dog killed a fox shortly after, so we assume foxes are responsible.  The poor chickens have been up in their coop and run since the 2nd hit.  We hope to take care of the fox problem so we can let them back out.  In the meantime we have acquired some beautiful Americauna chickens as well as Speckled Sussex so Ben has been working on a coop up by the house for the Americaunas.  And over the weekend we have hatched 28 chicks from our existing flock.  Now if we can just keep them from getting eaten before they all lay!

The goats are all doing great - we introduced Shevy but have since acquired Annabelle and Replica.  Our new girls are very sweet - Replica is glued to us when we are in the pasture - still adjusting to the big change but they all are enjoying the amenities - lots of grass and good hay.

This beautiful girl is Lone Palmetto TG Replica - she is 8 months old and came to us last weekend as a result of our new fence - Ben traded the old fencing and we got her in return!

This little sweetheart is SGM Annabelle - she is 1 1/2 years old but tiny, and she is a real love too.  We got her earlier in August in a trade for one of our doelings, Binder Ridge Moonstone.  We heard another family visited Ashley at SweetGumMinis with her young daughters last week and they fell in love with Moonstone and took her home.  Now she lives in Westminster. 

So this is just a little of what we have been up to - I hope to post more this week, but it's a start!

Our newest herd member

We would like to introduce our newest herd member, Laurel Haven 57 Shevy.  Shevy comes to us from Paula Crowe at Crowes Nest in Rosman, NC.  She has been bred to Fairlea Jean Luc Picard for a late fall kidding, should be around November 20th if she took.  Shevy is 1 1/2 years old but she is still a pretty tiny girl - not nearly as big as Rhinestone.  She is still shy and a little stressed from her trip yesterday to her new home but we think she will settle in fine within a few days.  She certainly doesn't let the other goats push her around at feeding time!

This is a gratuitous photo of my boys walking down to the barn last night.  Love them - Kristi

Eggs!

So I have been spending a lot of time around the chickens lately, picking blueberries.  And I noticed that the rooster (who is about 4 months old but starting to take his job seriously, if you get my drift) is doing his job rather frequently.  With the young Buff Orpingtons.  Over the past 1 1/2 weeks I have seen him paying particular attention to the hens several times while I have been picking blueberries.  He tends to chase them down around the blueberry bushes to "have his way with them".  It's kind of hard not to notice:)  And I have starting getting excited because surely this means eggs are coming from these new hens.  And this week we have been rewarded!  I know at least 2 of the young hens have started to lay, and at least one of them is an Araucana.  Love those blue eggs.  So those of you who have felt a little deprived as our layers were reduced, the flood is coming.  Hope you like eggs - there are 14 young hens.  Did I hear you say quiche?

Happy 4th of July from Binder Ridge Farm

Happy 4th of July.

Purple Martins vs Hawk

Well this morning little man and I went down to do our daily morning chores - feeding and checking on everyone. As we were walking up to the chicken coop I noticed a Hawk flying very low coming towards the pin. I started clapping real loud to scare it off and then realized it was being chased by the Purple Martins. It was a sight to see ;-) They chased the hawk around the pasture and then it flew up towards the house and they were still going after it. So besides taking care of mosquitos apparently they take care of hawks as well. Luckily the Purple Martin houses are close enough to the chicken coop that they can keep a watch on our flock. The chickens were smart they were hiding in the shed when the air show was taking place. Smart chickens ;-0)

One more pix. of Rhinestone & the kids on the Boulder Mountain - Playground