Farm Update

Last week we we lost one of our bunnies to the dogs. Of course it could not be the unnamed meat rabbits, it had to be Elliot's pet bunny Penny. Luckily by the time I found her they had not torn her up, she was just dead. Elliot was very sad, but he asked if he could have a new bunny. We were in need of a buck breeder so we said sure. We got to pick him out, but he could be Elliot's bunny.

We placed some ads on Craigslist and a local pet shop responded us saying they had a 4 month old Flemish Giant. It was reasonably priced (and NO ONE around here has any bucks!) we went to go check him out.

When we got there the employee showed Leigh the rabbit (and after a rather uncomfortable moment to ensure that the rabbit was indeed a buck) Leigh asked how they knew he was a Flemish. The employee said "Oh, I looked on the internet and he looks like one." Ahhhh! Well, he does indeed look like a Flemish, and his feet are HUGE. He has a very bulky body. We believe he is part Flemish. We purchased him and let him lose with the ladies.

Meet Walter. 

He was very nervous about "colony living" at first. Having only lived in a cage free space to run around stressed him out. The does chased him all over every where. We left them out there for while and when we came back Walter was chasing them. I think he can get used to this kind of living. 

 We also had much mowing to do. The monsoons make all the grass grow out of control. This is our garden...somewhere under all that grass.

 We almost lost Quinn and Noah in it. 

There. Much better!

Then today we had a weird bee incident. When I got back from my run I saw tons of bees flying over the hives. We thought they were swarming. Once it had all calmed down Leigh went to go look for the swarm to capture it. Apparently they did not swarm...They bearded.

There are a lot of reasons why that could have happened, but we think it was not enough water. We filled up the water bucket near them again. We need to get out bee fountain up and going. But it was really cool to see so many of them at once. 

We Got a New Camera

I don't know what kind it is, but it is awesome! Leigh traded a shotgun for it. (Can I tell you how much I LOVE barter!) It is one of those cameras that you have to look through the viewfinder and it makes that novel little shutter sound when you take pictures. It also focuses on the stuff in the foreground. I love it!

This camera coincides with the "menfolk's" new hobby of bug collecting. Leigh has recently started collecting and pinning cool bugs from around here. The boys have jumped on board. We call it "Pinterest for Boys".

We have gotten some really good (albeit random) pictures with the camera. Enjoy!

The thing I love the most about this camera acquisition is that Leigh is all about taking pictures. I might start being in some of the blogs now!

Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About Goat Diarrhea

And probably more!

So we are new at this whole livestock rearing. Unfortunately for our livestock there is a learning curve. We did well with the full grown chickens, but when it came time for chicks, we did not know that chicks cannot eat layer feed. We lost all but Shiny and Tiny. The chicks had diarrhea and vomiting, then they died. We learned from that experience. Chicks get grower feed and layers get layer feed. Pretty simple.

The pigs we did well with. Though there was a scare when the male pig got rectal prolapse. It was gross and bloody, but eventually popped back in. Yuck! We hear he was delicious none-the-less though!

The bunnies we have not done as well with. One of the bucks escaped never to be heard from again. I am waiting to see little Californian/cotton tail mixes running around the neighborhood. Then we had the remaining two bucks get in a fight and one of them ripped the other ones penis and intestines out of a hole in his thigh...that was lovely. It was on Father's Day too. So Leigh and I got to butcher our first rabbit on Father's Day. He will soon be rabbit sausage. The other buck we lost to the heat about 10 days ago. We did everything we could to keep him cool, but it just wasn't enough.

Now for May Jane. We did not know that chicken food will kill a goat. Mary Jane and Bailey both love it. When we let them out of the pen they would scrounge any they found on the ground. Yesterday we let both the goats out for their daily romp, but Phoebe had ripped the wire off the front of the chicken coop. (She was trying to get at some rib scraps we had given the chickens after Fourth of July.) I didn't think anything of Mary Jane going in the chicken coop. Apparently she ate a lot of chicken feed. 

This morning she was lethargic and had horrible diarrhea. We called Chrissy (who is on vacation, so I think we just got voted worst niece/nephew) and she informed us we made a terrible mistake. Apparently chicken feed can be lethal to goats. Luckily over the counter Maalox is safe to give a goat. Leigh went and bought a huge bottle of it. Then we had a debate over how much to give her. 

Leigh was telling me that we had to give her 2 grams. I was thinking there is no WAY that could be right. 5ml is 200mg. So that would mean we would have to give her 50ml which is 10 tsp. That is almost 1/4 cup! I had Leigh call Chrissy again because I didn't want to over dose her. All I heard Chrissy say was, "Ya. Its a lot!" Then she expounded on how we needed to make sure she was well hydrated and she stayed moving. 

So after syringing a crap load of Maalox down Mary Jane's throat, every hour we had to walked her over to the water tub and there she would drink and drink and drink and drink. Then we had to walk her around and massage her left side in attempt to keep her from getting bloat. Vets can fix bloat, but it is really pricey. 

Towards the evening she was looking much better. She stopped having diarrhea, but I haven't seen normal stool. She was also a little less active than normal, but over all, seemed much better. 

So today we learned a valuable lesson. Don't let your goats eat the chicken food. We also have a renewed gratitude that Chrissy completed vet school! Thanks! And sorry we disturbed you on vacation!