Clucky Acres Farm

05/10/2023

Herd Dispersal!
ADGA/AGS registered Nigerian Dwarf goats available in Mount Jewett, Pa
Clean tested herd!

Also have Coturnix quail, chickens, and equipment available.

26/07/2023

Are You Farm Strong?
“Farm work doesn’t make you stronger. It doesn’t make you anything. It reveals you.
There’s gym strong and then there’s farm strong. They’re mutually exclusive. The toughest women you’ll ever meet spend their days on a farm.
There are more uses for twine than you can possibly imagine. You can tie up a hole in a slow feeder, fashion a tail strap for a horse’s blanket, mend a broken fence and use it as a belt.
“Well that certainly didn’t go as planned,” is one thing you’ll say quite a bit.
Control is a mere illusion. The thought that you have any, at any given time, is utterly false.
Sometimes sleep is a luxury. So are lunch and dinner. And brushing your hair.
If you’ve never felt your obliques contract, then you’ve never tried stopping an overly full wheelbarrow of horse manure from tipping over sideways. Trust me, you’ll find muscles that you never knew existed on the human skeleton to prevent this from happening.
When one of the animals is ill, you’ll go to heroic lengths to minimize their discomfort.
Their needs come first. In summer heat and coldest winter days. Clean water, clean bed, and plenty of feed. Before you have your first meal, they all eat.
When you lose one of them, even though you know that day is inevitable, you still feel sadness, angst and emotional pain from the top of your head to the tips of your toes. And it’s a heaviness that lingers even though you must regroup and press on.
You’ll cry a lot. But you’ll never live more fully. You’ll remain present no matter what because you must. There is no other option.
You’ll ask for so many miracles and hold out hope until the very last.
You will, at least once, face-plant in the manure pile. You’ll find yourself saying things like, “we have maybe twenty minutes of daylight left to git ‘er done” whilst gazing up at a nonspecific place in the sky.
You’ll become weirdly obsessive about the weather.
You’ll go out in public wearing filthy clothes and smelling of dirt, sweat and p**p. People will look at you sideways and krinkle their noses but you won’t care.
Your entire day can derail within ten seconds of the rising sun.
You can wash your coveralls. They won’t look any cleaner, but they will smell much nicer.
Farm work is difficult in its simplicity.
You’ll always notice just how beautiful sunrises and sunsets really are.
Should you ever have the opportunity to work on a farm, take the chance! You will never do anything more satisfying in your entire life.”

14/07/2023

Another round of testing is in the books! All goats here at Clucky Acres have tested negative for CAE and Johnes for 2023! 🥳

22/06/2023

22/06/2023

This is so cool! 🤯

Unfortunately one of my ladies had to rest so she was put to good use (thank you for Supper gal) and I was able to get this pic.

I thought this was cool tho!

While a chicken can produce an egg a day, it is false to say that it takes her 24 hours to make an egg. The ova develop into yolks slowly (remember she has all of them when she is hatched already!) and if you slaughter a chicken you can see dozens of ova being formed into yolks.

So… the ova begin development before the chicken is even hatched itself, then when properly stimulated the ova develop into yolks over a period of time (at least days, likely weeks). Once the yolk is released, it is about a 24–26 hour process to assemble the rest of the egg around it until it is ready to lay.

12/06/2023

Overcrowding? Nope! This is my sorting cage. These guys were in here for just a short time while I sorted for breeding yesterday.

Wanna hear about my process? Cool!

I gather up all of the birds of the variety I’m sorting and put them in one cage (or more if I have too many).

I have a three empty holding cages and a cull box.

I pull out one bird at a time and evaluate it. If it is a potential keeper, it goes into a holding cage. I have one cage for males and one for females. If it’s a hen that’s not a keeper but would be a good bird for someone to buy, I place it in the third cage. If it’s a hard cull, it goes in my cull box. The cull box later goes into the freezer to be donated to Middle Tennessee Raptor Center to feed to their rehabbing birds of prey.

What do I look for? Everything!

• I start by how the bird feels in my hand. Is it well-fleshed out or skinny? Does anything feel out of place or lumpy bumpy? Does the breastbone feel straight? Any divots or curves?

I feel the pelvic bones. Are they wide enough? Do they provide a good opening for the egg to pass through? Is one or both curved inward (cull)? This is important to check in both males and females.

After you handle enough birds, you’ll start to get a feel for how they should feel. You’ll even start to get a feel for the differences in how a hen feels vs a rooster!

• Along with how it feels, I am observing how it acts. Is it panicking? It’s it fighting to get away? Heart racing? If I can’t keep the bird in my hands and have to chase it around the room (I know you’ve been there) it may end up in the cull box.

• I set it on the scale. Is it completely flipping out and scrambling to get away? Or does it calm down and start investigating the scale?

• I weigh the bird. Size isn’t everything, but if at the end of my sorting session I have 10 good birds to choose breeders from and only need 5, and all else being equal, I’ll choose the birds who weigh more. I also generally have a threshold of the minimum and maximum weight I want for a line. Anything above or below is a cull.

• I start at the head. I look at the beak first. I first look for defects. Is it nice and straight or twisted/scissored? Are the upper and lower beaks the proper length in relation to each other? Is the whole beak the proper length? Is it too long? Too short? Too narrow?

• Then I look at the nares (nostrils). Do I see any discharge? Any wet feathers around the edge of the beak/cere? Any swelling?

• Eyes are next. Any discharge or swelling? Are they the right size? Bright and clear? What is their shape?

• I look at the head. I look for any sinus swelling. I look at the overall shape. Is it too long and narrow? Too round?

• I run my hand down the neck and back, feeling for any abnormalities like humps or curves in the spine. I note the length and curve of the spine.

• I look at the wing set. Are they high or low? Broken? Split wing? Pointing out at odd angles?

• I look at the overall shape of the bird. The silhouette. Does it have the right body shape?

• I look at the legs. Do they have proper positioning under the bird? Correct angles? Too straight? Too long? Do they run parallel to each other? Bow out? Point in? Are the legs sturdy or thin and weak?

• If I’ve made it this far without culling, I will look at the feet. Are the toes straight? Are they the correct length? Any bumblefoot? Any signs of dehydration? I also look at the overall size of the feet. When selecting for jumbo/meat birds, you want to look for larger legs and feet to support a heavier bird.

While I’m looking at all of these things, I’m also observing the ones that are still in the cage. Do I see any bullies? Anyone running around terrorizing the others? If so, that’s an immidiate hard cull.

After I’ve done my first round of selection, I’ll select from what I have left. If I have 20 good birds but only need 10, I will evaluate again and select the best of the best to go into my breeding pen.

If I have 9 and want 10, I don’t settle for a subpar bird. I’d rather have fewer birds that are top-notch than have one bird in there that is not quite good enough. Your breeding program is only as good as what you settle for.

Let me say that one more time in all capital letters, because if there’s only one thing you get from this post, let it be this: YOUR BREEDING PROGRAM IS ONLY AS GOOD AS WHAT YOU SETTLE FOR.

11/06/2023

DID YOU KNOW?
The fat molecules in goat milk are 5x smaller than the fat molecules in cow milk.
Goat's milk is broken down in the stomach in 20 minutes; it takes an hour for the stomach to break down cow's milk.

26/05/2023

Twice a day milking has begun! I think it’s safe to say everyone needs a little work to get back into the groove of things 😂

25/05/2023

A big thank you to FunnyFarm Adventures for taking these sweet girls home! I’m definitely going to miss these two!

23/05/2023

I'm busy.

05/05/2023

Reservation Pending!
Born April 28th, they will be ready to go June 23rd.
Purebred Nigerian Dwarf, can be ADGA and AGS registered.

R8 Doe: Clucky Acres ML Rain
Buckskin with White and Moonspots; Brown Eyes
R9 Doe: Clucky Acres ML Rosie
Buckskin with Extensive White; Brown Eyes

Dam: Kindred Souls AT Fine Diamond
Sire: Lacey’s Little Herd LB Milo
Pedigree: https://www.adgagenetics.org/PlannedPedigreePrint.aspx?SireNum=D002190064&DamNum=D002073785

01/05/2023

That’s a wrap! Kidding Season 2023 is officially finished!

01/05/2023

Diamond kidded late Friday night with flashy twin does! Pics in comments!

16/04/2023

Sunsets on the farm ❤️

16/04/2023

Finnegan is ready for daily milking to start so that she can be done with her kids 🤣

09/04/2023

If you see these bunny's laying little brown eggs don't eat them there not chocolate 😉

Hope everyone has a EGG-CELLENT easter 🐣

31/03/2023

Up for discussion
R7 Buck: Clucky Acres ML Reuben
Buckskin with Moonspots, Blue Eyes

Dam: Clucky Acres ILFR Daisy
Sire: Lacey’s Little Herd LB Milo

Pedigree:
https://www.adgagenetics.org/PlannedPedigreePrint.aspx?SireNum=D002190064&DamNum=D002185201

31/03/2023

Up for discussion
R5 Buck: Clucky Acres ML Rip
Gold with Moonspots, Blue Eyes

Dam: Kindred Souls AT Fire Opal
Sire: Lacey’s Little Herd LB Milo

Pedigree:
https://www.adgagenetics.org/PlannedPedigreePrint.aspx?SireNum=D002190064&DamNum=D002073796