Laffing Goat Farm and Wetland Preserve

03/13/2025

DAMN I am a great nurse! Yesterday her left leg was dangling, just flopping loosely like a pendulum on a string, clearly palpable displaced femur fracture, not splintable as too high up. She could not stand at all, just laid on her side. Kill or cure time: I did my best to gently reduce the fracture so the ends at least met (instead of overlapping) which I KNOW had to be excrutiating, but these fractures in chickens rarely heal without surgery (which itself is often fatal). Birds do die of heart failure when in severe pain. I tried a sling to keep her vertical so she wouldn't get pneumonia but she worked out of it twice and I was afraid she'd injure herself further. She was at least sitting upright finally and eating well, alert, and drinking aspirin-water and by late evening was trying to stand with toe-touch on that left leg. Today she is standing and partial weight bearing! Can't walk or bear full weight but she is hobbling around her little cage and talking to the babies in the brooder on the floor. DANG! I really DID reduce a fracture. Hopefully her musculatire will be enough to hold it in position long enough to actually heal and she doesn't displace it again.

03/13/2025

She's eating and moving around and staying upright, which is good bc she kept getting out of the sling.

03/12/2025

And these are my 12 new babies. They already have tiny wing feathers starting so at least a few days old, which is good, means they are healthy. Sometimes with just day-olds you don't know for sure. These are Prairie Bluebells, which always have interesting colors. I will keep separate from my Whiting True Blues, but they will have a WTB rooster to cover them so their children will all lay blue eggs as well. Exact same heritage, just the PBBs might carry a single recessive white egg gene and the WTBs are homogenous blue egg genes as the white gene has been selected out of the line. Breeding these with my WTB roo is a step toward selecting out that white egg gene in the next gen. Only 50% will still carry the recessive gene and 50% will be same as WTB. Of course there is no way to tell which are which at that point without DNA testing. So I'll still keep my pure Whitings in their own area with their own roo.

03/12/2025

My injured hen (they don't really have names as such) in the sling I made her. Can't stand up and I can't let her lay on her side as she will get pneumonia and certainly die. It's 50-50 if this femur fracture will heal at all since without xray can't tell if or how much it is displaced. It =seemed= very displaced when I first felt it but after gentle manipulation might be at least somewhat aligned -- and then again the sling and relaxing the leg into neutral position might just let it naturally reduce itself into a good enough alignment. Keeping fingers crossed. She is eating and drinking now that she can reach the water (she was eating before but couldn't reach the water without the sling). Aspirin in her water, she seems comfortable.

03/12/2025

Babies are settling in, took about 15 min to soothe down from loud chirps to soft little happy peeps and trills. Pics maybe this evening once they are fully adjusted and eating and moving around in the brooder owning their space. One had a pasty butt on arrival, soaked w wet paper towel until it melted off and is fine.
Aaand now one of my adult Marans hens is convalescing in the same room with a broken femur. At least I already had things set up and warming pads ready so I just had to put down a new puppy pad and set up her food and water (with 1/2 aspirin in it for pain). Feels like a clean enough break but I can't set or wrap it up so high so it will heal funny probably. :(

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03/06/2025

so excited, 6 more days!

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03/04/2025

hmmm I have 30 laying hens under 16 months old. Valued at a minimum (current market) $40 each ... I'd have to sell 171 dozen eggs at $7 each to make what I'd get just to liquidate both flocks (not counting feed for them while they lay 171 dozen eggs).

Not planning to do it but WOW! It does give one pause ...

even IF I sell 5 dozen a week it would take 8 months (34 weeks) to sell 171 dozen ... and again that doesn't take into account cost of feed $80+ a month. I have to think about this ...

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03/01/2025

Uses for jam and jelly:
put in yogurt and cottage cheese
topping for ice cream
spread on pancakes and waffles instead of syrup
flavoring for your slushees and smoothies
add flavor to your favorite tea
add to stir-fry (especially the plum)
use as frosting on cookies and cakes,
glaze for a ring cake or as filling for layered cakes.
and of course peanut butter and jelly sandwiches.

What are some things you use jam and jelly for?

02/27/2025

George found a duck nest with 3 eggs in it this afternoon. I candled and they all look good, but since I don't know when they were laid (a week ago or a day?) I am keeping them for myself to eat. I always date duck eggs fresh from the nest at 4 weeks out "best by" on my cartons (chicken eggs 6 weeks out as they are cleaner to start). I am sure these are good or I wouldn't be eating them of course. But now that I have discovered and ruined their daytime nest (they are only out 5 hours a day) I am sure these ones will go back to laying in their designated clean enclosed area.

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02/25/2025

The jellies are out again now that the frost is over, $5 per jar all freshly made locally sourced (many from this property) organic and properly canned, ingredients listed on the jars. 15 varieties of jam, jelly and sauces to choose from: 2024
Shiro Plum Butter
Shiro plum w Vanilla
Seedless Blackberry Jam
Concord Grape Jelly (2023 and 2024)
Strawberry Jam
Whole Cranberry sauce
Cranberry Jelly (strained, no pieces)
Cranberry w Mandrin Orange
Blueberry with Apple
Wild Plum Jelly
Concord Grape w Cinnamon
Dutch Plum Butter
Red Huckleberry Jam
Concord Grape w cocoa
Ginger Plum sauce

I only put out 1-2 of each but I have many many more in the barn where they stay cool year round.

02/25/2025

02/14/2025

Ordered new chicks today and hope to be getting 5 new ducks a few days after these arrive, trying to keep up :) Meanwhile all our hens (duck and chicken) are either just under a year or at most 18 months old so weather permitting we'll have plenty of eggs in spring and more as the newbies start laying in the Fall.

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02/12/2025

I am hating this freezing weather and so are my birds. No duck eggs or goose eggs today (Cordelia the goose is on an every-other-day schedule and missed her scheduled product today) and only a few chicken eggs. I gave everyone treats anyway -- goats got sliced apples, chickens got stale (cos we didn't care for them) cinnamon cakes and meaty steak bones and fat and chopped romaine lettuce and a frozen duck egg I found by the duck pond, (yesterday they got fresh homemade corn tamales cos I made too many) and ducks got thawed frozen peas. The younger ones still aren't sure what to think of them till they see the older ones chowing down and realize maybe this is something they want too. And I carried out buckets of hot water to the goats and chickens -- they had water but it was iced over somewhat and very cold. The goats in particular love the hot water. The chicken waterers just needed some refreshing, some weren't frozen but some were (each enclosure has at least 3 water options) so we replaced one that just wasn't doing it, and the others topped off with the hot water that should stay at least tepid for an hour or two. There's heaters under these so they don't really freeze but we all like a hot cuppa, am I right? :)

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02/07/2025

I was extravagant and ate 3 of my Marans eggs for breakfast and took a peek at the yolks before putting them in the frying pan: YUP the rooster Goliath is doing his job! Three nice little perfectly formed bullseyes on 3 yolks. Now if they'd just pick up production I could start selling hatching eggs as well as eating ones.
Next week I'll check out my Whiting True Blue eggs to make sure Goldie is doing his job too, If he isn't, I have a spare LOL

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02/03/2025

I constantly see posts on local groups (homesteading, poultry, farming, homemaking groups all the same) questioning egg hygiene science. Now, I'm a retired RN, 6 years university graduated Magna Cum Laude and worked for 40 years before I took retirement. I do not believe in many of the things being DONE with this new religion we call "Science", and just because a practice or idea wraps iteself up in the banner of science like a holy flag doesn't make it good or right. BUT some things are tried and true and when I tell you about egg hygiene backed by science, believe it.
Eggs are porous, and initially covered with a thin outer film we in the US call "bloom" (In Europe they call it "cuticle") that protects the egg inside from bacteria getting in through the porous shell. In the US you MUST refrigerate eggs you have bought from the store because 1: the bloom has been washed off already (in Europe it is illegal to wash eggs, in US it is done by the producers before packing and shipping) and 2: they have already BEEN refrigerated.

Will explain why this is important in a minute. I want to address the people who insist "well I always do this or that and I haven't died from it". Although salmonella and other egg-born illnesses CAN kill you, it usually won't BUT ... are the hours and hours of cramps and diarrhea and vomiting so much better? One bad egg can lay you out for days. So you missed your friend's wedding, your kid's recital, that hiking trip you planned, big deal, you didn't die.
I have myself eaten bad eggs and other things that weren't quite right, and paid the awful price. At 70 now I have finally learned: if in doubt TOSS IT now (or keep tossing it for days later).

The REASON you must keep store eggs refrigerated or cook and eat within 2 hours after taking them out is that porous shell: condensation (water from the warmer air) will accumulate on the cold egg and seep into the egg carrying bacteria with it where it rapidly (and I mean rapidly, 2 hours) grows enough to sicken you. You cannot SEE bacteria, so people suggesting you just crack it open in a dish first are just, well, stupid. And others telling you to "float" the egg are equally uninformed: a floating egg doesn't mean a spoiled egg, it usually just means an OLD egg which has dried out some inside allowing the air sac at the large end to grow larger as the egg inside shrinks. For a truly spoiled egg to accumulate that much gas from bacterial action would take many days and you will smell it the instant you crack it open. Old eggs don't smell and aren't dangerous, just flatter and not as pretty. And floating it allows more water and bacteria to get in the shell so this practice just contaminates your eggs.

There are a couple of pinned posts at the top of this page with links to bona fide USDA science sites that explain in detail how eggs should be handled, when and how to properly wash them if you feel you must (in very warm running water and immediately dried and refrigerated) and store them (refrigerated under 50F).

I only wipe our chicken eggs with a dry or minimally damp paper towel, the bloom is still on and I refrigerate them as soon as they are boxed. So you need to keep them that way. The duck eggs usually have footprints on them enough that I often have to run them under (VERY) warm water and wipe dry immediately when I box them. They have a thicker shell and a much heavier bloom than chicken eggs but still need to be refrigerated after they have been washed. My egg fridges on the porch have 2 thermometers covering each to make sure the temp stays around 50F or less so they are good when you get them, and dated with "best by" as long as they remain refrigerated.

Stay healthy!!

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