Thursday, November 4, 2010

Chrissy (The other goat)

A unsuspecting goat is now being sheared.
 Today, I'm going to talk about Chrissy. She is owned by our friend, Wendy. Chrissy has a sister! Her name is Lotte, and she is on the front page. But something exciting has happened. Chrissy has recently been sheared for the first time! Here are a few pictures of her.
Oh my! She is losing fleece!

Wendy looks sore in the neck and back and Chrissy is eying that food.

She is almost half way done.

Oh No!!!! They've killed her!

A once active goat, standing like a statue.

YAY!!! Revived by pear leaves!!
 When Chrissy got in the back yard, Katie, who is at the bottom of the pecking order, thought Chrissy was a new goat. She started acting all tough and tried to butt Chrissy. It was really funny, but I felt bad for Chrissy. She has to start at the beginning. She has to work her way up the chain of command again.          






 Posted By Claire

Monday, November 1, 2010

Yes, We Have No Eggs...

With cold weather, short days, and the unexpected loss of a few of our laying hens, we are staring at empty nests and empty egg cartons.  The hens are beginning to molt and recharge their systems after a long season of laying.

 
Cartons and nests are empty!!
We are therefore closing down egg sales until next year.  Our chickens are allowed to rest.  The typical commercial egg model involves things like forced molts, artificial lighting, and aggressive culling.  We rely on the sun and seasonal day lengths to provide a natural cycle for the girls - no lights.  And we do not cull our laying flock, meaning that the hens live out their full natural lives whether they are laying or not.  This is pretty much unheard of in the egg industry, even for "free range" or "organic" operations.  The benefit of older hens, besides their wisdom and personalities around the chicken yard, are the jumbo eggs they produce as they get older.  We are happy producing less eggs.  Instead we have large eggs coming from loyal old hens that we raised from baby chicks.  Some of our hens were born in 2002, and are still laying!

We have 27 healthy and hungry growing chicks (and one mis-sexed rooster) who will be joining the flock soon, along with additional heirloom hens coming in the spring.  We should have eggs again by February or early March.  We will be posting an update on our baby chicks soon and are working out our winter veggie growing system.

...and Bishop residents, please don't forget to VOTE on Measure C!

Vote!

EGG CUSTOMERS, WE'LL SEE YOU IN 2011!