Squirrels Haven

08/01/2026

This little dodo was causing my dogs to go nuts last night because it kept activating the driveway camera! What on earth is this little one doing! It was having way too much fun on my driveway 😂😂. This went on for hours.

07/01/2026

Still nothing happening besides the ladies getting fatter and fatter! My guess is patches in 2 weeks, Lulu in 3.

03/01/2026

Lulu finally dropped her udder. Both girls udders are quite small, so I doubt we are due this month, likely next. But time will tell..... For now, all is well. The crew is getting alfalfa and extra grains (keeping winter weight on), ladies are getting tums, and of course loop. Here is hoping all goes well in the coming weeks.

I've now seperated the goats from the chickens, and I'll be keeping an eye on the girls for when I need to move the boys to the side with the birds and keep everyone seperate.

I anticipate that if there was going to be a problem male around the babies, it would be Inky..... Aspen would not be. He's already been around kids, and he's an absolutely gentlemen. I don't know what to expect from Inky however. He can sometimes be a bit of a jerk. Either way, boys will be kept seperate from the girls.

01/01/2026

Happy new year! We have officially started baby watch. Patches has an udder which is increasing in size daily. Lulu I'm a little unsure about. There is no udder development quite yet. She's due first by my best calculations, but she always carries small and drops her udder later. Even with twins where as Patches shows her pregnancy readily and shows her udder early. Once Patches starts letting me love on her, I know we are close.

Babies "should" be sometime in the next 2-3 weeks if my calculations are right. Jan 13 is 150 days for Lulu, and January 21 is 150 for Patches. If my calculations are wrong, add 3 weeks to each date.

Check out the belly movement on Patches! Right side.

20/12/2025

Inky and I had a bonding moment today. He came to me seeking scratchies! This is a first. Then when I stopped, he came back for more. He's a very timid goat. I'm very limited on touching him, and I've not even had a chance to trim his hooves yet as he's so skittish. So this is HUGE progress.

18/12/2025

Ventured into the coop for a late day feeding of the birds. Needed to shovel out first. There was a LOT of shovelling required! The drifts were 2ft deep along the coop wall outside in the run. The doors needed to be shoveled out, as did their heated water bowl. It was down right tropical in the coop. 😂 It was 24 degrees warmer inside the coop than outside. Needless to say, the animals were quite happy and content. I'm hoping this year will be the first year I don't have any major losses or frostbite damage on the birds.

The birds were warm and dry, and very pleased to see me. Goats got lots of hay yesterday in the other coop, so they were content munching away and of course got extra snackies. They can come and go as they please thanks to the doggy door. Lulu lodged her complaints about the weather as soon as she saw me. She let me know she was very upset about this weather.

18/12/2025

A last minute delivery of straw, left my animals extra cozy as we batten down the hatches for the incoming blizzard. The bedding was getting icky and I needed some shavings, but hadn't gotten a chance to get to the store.

I asked on a local page for some straw, well in advance of the "kids" due in January, so I was ready, just incase. Well, he came today, so I took advantage and ordered some extra.

Happy warm animals as the weather takes a nasty turn over the incoming days.

Before and after pics.

16/12/2025

My husband is organizing a skate-a-thon to raise funds for soldier on. Please support him by coming out for a skate, or if you are able to donate a few bucks, it's to a good cause.

Soldier on is an amazing program that helps injured veterans with their recovery, through enabling them to lead an active life and continue with their previous passions, through equipment or other supports. It has been a program which has been fundamental in his own personal recovery.

He has a direct link to donate all set up.

https://www.soldieron.ca/?give=J3E7NPDN&fbclid=IwdGRjcAOuZXtjbGNrA65lcmV4dG4DYWVtAjExAHNydGMGYXBwX2lkDDM1MDY4NTUzMTcyOAABHhG9CoJWo7CjzLkEPLZs22yOz8IQLlKDyUNdJVnK2gjnv0z3ViaBz-p5-HwU_aem_uZpdGeWlLXaPUH0d7E3P9w

If you own a small business and would like to be a sponsor, please let me know. Squirrels Haven will be a sponsor.

https://www.facebook.com/share/17cACNYBeE/

Soldier On is a Canadian Armed Forces program committed to supporting veterans and serving members to adapt and overcome permanent physical or mental health injuries through physical activity and sport. Soldier On is recognized for improving the quality of life of the ill and injured. The program is...

14/12/2025

Damnit Inky! Why are you like this? Watch the "other rooms" to the top left of the video.

This goat really knows how to push buttons. I will NEVER EVER EVER own a full size goat. He is a mix of small and large, and he is my biggest goat. Never ever ever again. Only small goats will ever be on this farm.

See comments for the footage just BEFORE he jumped the gate.

How on earth am I going to keep him away from the moms and kids next month. Ugh!

13/12/2025

My husband is planning a skate-a-thon again this year, but this time to raise money for soldier on. It's a program which helps injured veterans recover from their injuries through providing them with sporting, fitness and creative equipment in order to help them maintain their physical and mental health. It's a great program, worthy of donations.

Once he's got everything set up and running for donations, I'll share more info.

If you know of any businesses wanting to sponsor him in the mean time, please let me or him know.

More information to come!

Squirrels Haven will be a sponsor of course.

For those who don't know, my husband is an injured veteran himself. Suffering both physically and mentally from his career in the military. This program helped him recover from some of his injuries and was pivotal in his recovery.

Now he faces a new hurdle and was diagnosed with primary progressive multiple sclerosis two years ago. Regardless of his illness and his physical decline, on top of his military career injuries, he is choosing to push himself and keep as active as he possibly can to keep his MS at bay as long as he can. He is truly the embodiment of the soldier spirit.

09/12/2025

The necropsy results showed Sprocket was sick for a long time. He had chronic intestinal inflammation, and lung inflammation. Neither of which showed up on assessment. The lung damage was quite surprising for the vets, considering he showed no outward symptoms. They suspect some virus which affects young goats, and it caused catastrophic damage. Preventing nutrition from being absorbed via the intestines. Without further testing, we won't have a definitive answer.

The good news in all of this is that the "common" issues that cause illness and or death, were absent such as liver flukes, or other parasites. So both the breeder and I did our due diligence to make sure he was healthy in that aspect.

It is sad, but at least I have peace of mind knowing there isn't something I did or didn't do, which caused this. It was simply bad luck.

Moving forward, I've got prego mamas to care for, who are due in about a months time. So I'll be ramping up their nutrition and getting thing prepped for babies. They are getting wide! I'm honestly suprised they still fit in the little door.

08/12/2025

It's a very sad morning here. We got a call from the vet last night about how well sprocket was doing. He was up, he was eating and drinking and doing all the things he should be. The vet was thrilled with his progress and I was to pick him up this morning for 9am

I checked my phone at 8am as I always do and had a missed call from 7:30. The vet called.... Sprocket didn't make the night. They are doing an autopsy this morning and I'll know more later today

Run free over the rainbow bridge little one. I hope you hop and bounce and have all the snackies you could ever want You were an absolute doll. I'm sorry I didn't do better by you.