My Little Problem Child

Big Buck Ranch Candor

One week ago a beautiful, unexpected doeling entered the world.  She looks just like her mama.  I didn't realize mama was pregnant until nearly a week before she gave birth.  Erudite is normally a little wide after she eats.  She was supposed to be bred this fall, not accidentally this summer.  Here is her beautiful little girl, Candor, born in the warmth, spending her first week dealing with unseasonably bitter cold.   Thursday morning, I found her shivering, stuffy, and wheezing after a frigid night of eight degrees below zero.  After a dose of VetRx and a little goat coat, she was clear and perky yesterday morning.  Yesterday was a balmy 40+ degrees, a perfect day for a new baby to finally warm up.  This morning, my little surprise goat once again had to deal with the deep freeze, as snow a single digit temperatures raced in.  As  I went around doing morning chores, I discovered Candor with her front feet in the bucket of warm water I had just put in the shelter for her mom.  Luckily, I had a towel in the shelter to dry the wee one off.  Candor seems more fragile than the other babies born in the past couple of months.  She's more wobbly, had to deal with winter right off the bat.  I worry because she's precious.  Hopefully, next week with it's warmer temperatures will give Candor a chance to thrive!

Ewwwwww, there's poo!

Freshly laid Big Buck Ranch eggs.  The green own comes from a breed known as an Easter Egger.

Let's face it, chickens aren't the cleanest animals.  They poop anywhere and everywhere they please.  This includes their nest boxes.  Ugh!  Fresh chicken eggs are not the pristine specimens you find at your local grocery store.  On some occasions it's a rarity to find a clean egg in the coop.  Most of the time the chickens have gotten something on the shell, this includes feather, wood shavings, dirt and poo.  Fear not, this gunk on the shell will not hurt the egg!

I do not like to wash my eggs, much to the chagrin of my husband, I prefer to keep the poo on the egg until it's time to crack it.  The day I use the egg, is the day that it's washed.  When a hen lays her egg, she puts a protective mucus coating on it called the bloom.  The bloom dries in a matter or seconds after the egg is laid.  Chances are unless you've seen a hen lay an egg, you wouldn't ever know that the bloom was there.  The bloom protects the the porous surface of the egg from bacteria.  Soooo, by not washing the egg I keep it a little fresher, a little cleaner, and a little safer.  Bon appetite!

Our Little Angel

Angel

Once again, I missed it!!  Sweet Candy, my yearling doe, was due November 1.  Lo and behold, she delivered in the cold two days before her due date.  I had left the ranch to attend my son's last regular season football game.  Sweet Candy was looking big, but she was eating normally and hanging with the herd.  Nothing seemed to be happening.  Midway through the first quarter of the game, I got a phone call from the lone child at home.  Sure enough, Sweet Candy had delivered twins.  The babies were tiny and fragile; the white doeling was alive and well, while the black buckling struggled for air.  My daughter tried to revive him, but he quickly faded.  The game was a blow out on our part, so I cut out during the final minutes of the first quarter to rush home to the new family.  I placed the wee doeling in the warm shelter and had to catch mom to get her in.  We decided to call the doeling Angel, a fitting name with her white fluff and blue eyes.  Mom and baby are warm, snuggley, and doing incredibly well.

The Maternity Ward

Erudite and Sweet Candy in the birthing shelter.

Last Thursday my yearling doe, Sweet Candy, gave birth for the first time.  She had twins, a boy and a girl.  Sadly, the little boy did not survive.  I've been struggling with his death.  I was gone the night Sweet Candy delivered, I keep wondering if her buckling would have survived if I had been there to help.

This morning, I headed out to the goat pens to give them some hay.  Webi and Sweet Candy are currently in one pen with their babies and Pipsqueak, my wether.  The other two does, Dauntless and Erudite, have been moved in with the bucklings for breeding.  I was putting hay in their pen, when I noticed Erudite looked very wide.  I walked behind only to find a swollen back end and what looked like a full udder.  Not too sure who the daddy is, and I'm shocked I completely missed her pregnancy.  I quickly moved Erudite back to the "baby" pen.  This led to a hasty division of my large shelter where Sweet Candy and her doeling are.  Sweet Candy and Webi delivered out in the cold, Erudite will deliver in a warm clean shelter.  I'm not taking any chances!  Once again we're on baby watch.

Meet Teddy!

Teddy the morning after his birth.

Teddy at 1 week old.

Yes, I am incredibly late with our big announcement; meet the first Big Buck Ranch baby! Teddy.  Teddy was born in a mud puddle on October 2, despite the fact that I had thoroughly cleaned both shelters.  My darling hubby named him after Teddy Bridgewater, since he was born the night the Green Bay Packer massacred the Minnesota Vikings.  

Teddy comes from an amazing gene pool.  His mom is BOHICA ACRES WebiGayle and dad is 5280 Farms Eli.  Mom may be golden, but dad is a pretty black and white.  I plan on registering the cute little guy as Big Buck Ranch Zeus.  The birth went smoothly, and Webi did a fabulous job.  She is being awful to milk, but Webi is a great mama!

Anxiously Waiting!!

Webi earlier this summer.

The first Big Buck Ranch Nigi babies are arriving any day.  My beautiful blue-eyed blonde doe, WebiGayle, is due Monday.  I am on birth watch!  I keep peaking out the windows at the goat pen, looking for any changes in my girl.  This will be her third kidding, so I'm confident in her birthing abilities, not so confident in my ability to help.  I'm sure I'll have an update soon!

Random Thoughts of a Stressed Mommy

Lately life has been a tumultuous series of ups and downs, chapters ending and chapters beginning.  The month of August was a blur, I'm not sure if September will be much better.  There have been events that bring me great joy, great sadness, and great frustration.  For every blessing there is a battle that ensues.  I'm exhausted, and still feel the effects of the cold that hit me three weeks ago.  I need to keep pushing forward, looking for the good in every situation, relying on the amazing people in my life that keep me grounded.