We had our first farm baby today. The tail wagging is the cutest. Baby is nursing and is just the sweetest little thing. We believe this lamb is a boy (it's what we doš¤£.)
We spent this beautiful evening trying to halter train the sheep. Kristoff doesn't care what we do. Elsa is food motivated (same girl) but laid down when we started walkingš¤£ and Anna is apprehensive about all aspects of life. They are super sweet and we are praying for babies this June!
Ewe wouldn't believe what the Dake farm has now...meet Kristoff, Anna and Elsa. Anna is clearly the one trying to fight our cocker spaniel and protect everyoneš¤£. These are Shetland sheep. The females are full grown and Kristoff will get a little bigger as he is only around 6 months old. They are known for their soft, non itchy wool, docile behavior and charming disposition. Kristoff wags his tail when snuggled and pet. They are extremely weather hardy and don't really require shelter; the cold never bothered them anyway as they are used to the harsh winters Scotland weather can bring.
Bringing them home was quite the adventure. Anna is every bit the personality we named her after and was stubborn as could be. She took off when we opened the trailer and it took us 3ish hours to wrangle them. Kristoff patiently waited for his ladies. We feel like we are officially farmers now and that someone needs to learn to rope and fastš¤£š¤£š¤£
Tested out the new to us square baler.
Our Swedish Black Hens or Svart hona chickens started laying. This extremely rare breed is cousin to the Ayam Cemani. They have many advantages over the Ayam Cemani. They are cold weather tolerant and lay 250 eggs a year, laying into the winter. They are also less flighty and more socialable than your average chicken.
Axel candling some turkey eggs. š
Finn talking about his new Bantam Black Ameraucana chicks. They are actually Self-blue/Black Splits!!! So chicks will be Black and some Self-blue. So thankful to get these chicks for award winning lines of Tracy Buck. They are actually part of the group trying to get Self-blue recognized by the APA.
Axel kept saying, I hear chicks? Where are the chicks? I don't see the chicks! Then we showed him with a light in the small windows of the incubator. This is our first hatch in the hatchtime incubator. #hatchtime #chickens #dakeboysbirds
#chickens #barnevelder #dakeboysbirds
#chickendaddy #chickenmom #chickencoop #eggs #homesteading
It is always very exciting everytime chicks hatch. These are especially exciting. They are an ultra rare breed called Svart Hona or Swedish Black Hens. They are an all black breed related to the popular Ayam Cemani. This breed lays in cold weather and lays more eggs than it's cousin; so we are very excited to be adding this breed to our family.