Tuesday, August 4, 2009

my girl is getting a beard

My girl is getting a beard. SweetPea is 11 months old now.


Franklin is getting new feathers


he's preparing for winter




For evening chores, I'm in charge of the water buckets and assisting if anybody needs vaccinations or medications.
I find that the goats drink more water if I use these white buckets rather than dark-colored buckets. I think they like to be able to see that the bottom is clean.
Mike collects eggs, feeds, and locks the goats and chickens in their stalls.


Punkin is a Salmon Faverolle hen. She's far removed from show quality but real cute anyway. And actually, she's several years old now, I have no idea if she still lays eggs but she gets around real good. (We also run a rest home for retired girls).


Early, our Cuckoo Marans rooster, and Punkin. He has dried mud on his comb but has a good comb.


Our young Wheaten Marans cockerel, Duffy, doesn't have a good comb but he's the only male Wheaten Marans that we have now. We had his Daddy and a backup, sold our backup, and of course, Daddy then fell over dead. Fortunately, we had Duffy as a chick. Two young Wheaten girls with him.


A Cuckoo Marans hen.


Tonight was TootleLu's turn practicing for the show ring. Anybody with Nigerian goat experience please comment and don't worry if you see faults, we don't care about being competitive, just trying to learn.




apples, apple pie spice, raisins, Splenda brown sugar, butter, granola, cover and zap in the microwave for 5 minutes, yummo


these two get out at night after the birds and goats are safely tucked away. Irish Terriers, Bliss and Brawn.


Brother-inlaw/contractor George and his oldest son, Savva getting the footers ready for our enclosed room and covered deck. George is Greek and when he starts fussing it's in Greek :-)


everything is a big mess right now, Mike has to help me get in and out so I don't fall over in big cement pits.

12 comments:

thecrazysheeplady said...

I didn't know that about the white bucket. Very interesting.

I just love trying to keep up with your crew. I don't know anything about nigerian goats, but I think yours look quite nice.

Gone2theDawgs said...

My tom hasn't started growing his feathers back yet...he's looking pretty motley! I think your Nigerians look gorgeous (however I'm not very knowledgeable in goat structure!) I keep thinking about getting some Splenda...can you tell the difference?

Deb said...

Your goaties are growing up so fast....they all look great and your birds as well.

Need to try your dessert - looks absolutely yummy :)

Lucy and Ethel said...

Love your updates! Everyone looks great as usual :)

Cheers from Ashe -

Helen

Nancy K. said...

Beautiful picture of Sweet Pea. Oh! She CAN'T be old enough to be growing a beard!! ;-(

Those new feathers coming in look PAINFUL! Or, at the very least ~ itchy!

I love learning the different chicken breeds ~ thank you!

Tootle-Lu looks SO tiny and delicate! Your goats all look so perfect and pose so 'professionally'. My compliments to the trainer...

Enclosed room and covered deck??? Much to look forward to in the BooneDocks!

Boozy Tooth said...

Okay, help me out... I don't know about goat beards. Obviously it's a maturity thing? And all goats get them male and female?

Oh Franklin. How I love him. When I was raising LuLu from a duckling, I was amazed when her pin feathers came in. Those spiky quills just look uncomfortable. But you know what? If anyone can rock new feathers, it's Franklin.

Love your post and photos as usual Joanna.

the7msn said...

I just googled - the word "goatee" is so named because of its resemblance to the tuft on a goat's chin. I tell you, this internet, it's a wonder.

Anonymous said...

I am pretty good at judging the goats in the Dairy Goat Journal, but that is about as far as it goes.

I love the goatees on my girls. Iris (alpine) has one. The saanans have them as well. It seems I have another but my old brain isn't kicking it on that one.

Joanna, I beleive you about the bucket color. For some reason my goats used to prefer the blue buckets over the red ones. I have no idea what that was all about!

Anonymous said...

Time for my chooks to molt and grow new feathers. They look really rough and their old feathers are ragged. Some of my hens have lost their tails and look like rumpless versions of their breed.

Sweet Pea has grown into a nice looking doe. I sure wish I could play with her and hug her!

Gizmo said...

The white buckets is GREAT advice! A dairyman in MD told me that last year, and I had forgotten.
I get such a kick out of your little/big girls. :)
I have Blue Slates (chicks), I can't wait for them to be Franklin's size.

Danni said...

Ha ha ha....7MSN's comment cracks me up...I had no idea that's where "goatee" came from! But Sweet Pea is lovely...and so grown up! I noticed that Pete (my 5 month old ND wether) has a small tuft already under his chin. My husband is really looking forward to goat beards - he's so weird. :-)
Will you let Sweet Pea keep hers? I know some peole shave them off their females for showing - not a requirement, just a preference for some.
TootleLu is a CUTIE PIE!! What a stance! I don't know what is right or wrong, but he looks awesome. :-)

Jennifer said...

Great pictures! We have a few does with goatees but our Boers don't seem to start getting them until they are several years old, the females that is. Some does don't have any at all. My goats prefer blue buckets to green and red ones. I have no idea why but they will always drink them empty first.