County Fair - Day Four and Still Functioning

Have you been keeping up with us? It's County Fair time. Head over to our family blog SixintheNorthwest.blogspot.com and read all about it...County Fair - Day Four and Still Functioning.

County Fair - Day Three...Keeps Getting Better

It's County Fair time for us. Head over to our family blog SixintheNorthwest.blogspot.com and read all about it...County Fair - Day Three...Keeps Getting Better.

County Fair - Day Two and a Great One at That!

It's County Fair time for us. Head over to our family blog SixintheNorthwest.blogspot.com and read all about it...County Fair - Day Two and a Great One at That.

County Fair - Day One and Counting

It's County Fair time for us. Head over to our family blog SixintheNorthwest.blogspot.com and read all about it...County Fair - Day One and Counting.

Time for a Little Maintenance

Today's goal, as has been for about about a week now, is to update our Goats for Sale page. We are down to only three does for sale at this point of the year. But that is soon to change...

This week marks the beginning of our kidding season, and we are likely to see our herd double in size quickly.

Our Nigerian herd sire, Mo, already has a mini Ober with almost no white on her on the ground from a breeding we did outside of our herd. Looks like a sweetheart.

More posts will be coming shortly with the results of his other breeding in our herd. The clock is ticking...

Where are the eggs?

Definitely the question of the month...where are the eggs? My flock of about a dozen laying hens have been conspicuously absent from the egg laying business. Most winters our egg production will drop and perhaps even stop all together for awhile after a significant drop in temperatures. But no eggs at all? I'm not dealing well with this at all.



I know the basics: good poultry feed; 14-16 hours of light; shelter; all the stuff that we normally provide. So what would be the difference this year?

Well for one, I had slipped into the habit of buying an all-purpose 14% feed. Definitely not the protein or calcium that laying hens need. So two weeks ago, I updated their feed and have made a commitment to always have their feeder topped off so they are not tempted to forage so much and dilute their diet.

We have been running a light on a timer all winter with a few hours in the morning and a few more hours in the evening totaling 14 hours. But I may have stumbled upon something out of curiosity the other day. Online sources I referenced made mention of providing light obviously but some went so far as to suggest red or orange bulbs that would provide more of the natural spectrum light they need. Being lazy I just stuck in a regular light bulb in their house without a thought this fall. I'm beginning to wonder if it was not providing enough of the right type of light for them. In other years I have run a red heat lamp and have had great laying as mentioned above throughout the winter months.



Other than these two changes, there isn't much more I can do I suppose. Fresh water is out all the time. They have a fantastic house to roost in. Nice laying boxes filled with hay which they prefer to shavings. Satin pillows perhaps? Soothing music? It has been two weeks since the feed change and just this week with the new light. So I'm anticipating some eggs here real soon. The kids are anxiously waiting to feast on raw cookie dough again!