Our newest arrivals - baby goats!

We are so excited to have our first baby goats! Our Toggenburg (Dairy) goat Maya gave birth to twins last week and they are SO ADORABLE! :-)
We purchased Maya and her little buddy Celia in October last year from a friend. Maya had just been bred to a buck. Goats are pregnant for five months, and those last few weeks, I thought Maya was going to explode - she was getting very very big and round.
I wasn't home when Maya delivered the babies in the middle of the day, but got home and checked on her minutes later, because the kids were still wet and she was in the process of delivering the afterbirth. One if the little doelings was trying to stand, the other one was tiny and just laying in the straw. It was very cold last week, even during the day, and I took both of them into the house to dry off and keep warm. I then gave both of them a few ounces of colostrum that i had purchased already from a bottle. The bigger one, Mimi, was great and sucked on the bottle vigorously, the little one didn't do very well, she was very listless and weak. I took her to my friend later in the evening, who tried to help by tube feeding her, but we lost the little one the next day. My friend thinks that she aspirated some food during our attempts to feed her.
On the positive side, my friend had already had a few of her many goats kid as well, and we ended up taking a little buckling home who was born the same day as our Mimi. We named him Momo. Momo is a mutt goat, but has all the characteristics of a Nubian, another Dairy Goat breed.

The little kids eat 10 ounces of goat's milk four times a day - they suck those bottles dry in about 30 seconds flat! We are bottle feeding them to get the kids used to being handled by people easier, and because we pasteurize the milk to prevent any infections transmitted through the milk. I had to learn how to milk on the fly! After many times of milking into my jacket sleeves, or loosing "my grip" and getting no milk at all, or having the doe kick up her hind leg and cause me to drop the milk pail, we seem to become a better team with each milking and am really starting to get the job done in just a few minutes. Despite the soreness of my fingers from the repeated milking movement, I enjoy the quiet time with Maya, and bottle feeding the little ones is just pure fun, alas a little hectic and messy!

It is funny how you can already tell their different personalities. Momo is a lot more pushy when it comes to feeding, he keeps getting of the bottle to PUSH PUSH and headbutt me to encourage me to feed him more. Is that a boy thing? :-) Mimi, being a little lady kid, latches on and sucks the bottle dry in one big gulp. She first didn't take as much milk as Momo, but now seems to have a bigger appetite, though they both get the same amount of milk.

Baby Rabbits!

The baby rabbits below were born on October 31st, 2009. Halloween bunnies! We had 12 in the litter, lost 2 pretty early when they fell out of the nest, than two more over the weeks because they just didn't thrive.
Did you know that momma rabbits only nurse twice a day and leave their nest alone all day and most of the night? this is an age old instinct to prevent predators to be drawn to the nest. Rabbit milk is specially formulated to give a young bunny enough energy to last for many hours without a refill!

A litter of baby bunnies - 1-2 days old. These little guys are still naked, blind and deaf.




































































It is now ten days later. the kits now have fur, and their eyes and ears are beginning to open. Despite the way it looks, they are leaving the nest only by accident yet.











































Five days later... see that little guy looking at you? They are now ready to start exploring their world!





























The rabbits are now 3 weeks and a few days old (below). They look like miniature versions of their parents, only more colorful! They will nurse for another 5-7 weeks (until they are 6-8 weeks old), but will gradually start eating pellets, hay, and other foods made available.

Santa Claus visiting the Spotted Horse Barnyard

Santa Claus made time in his busy schedule to visit the Spotted Horse Barnyard 2 weeks before Christmas and was welcomed by our "Christmassy" animals and lots of excited families! Don't Beau and Maya look handsome in their Christmas attire?
































Many kids had some solemn talks with Santa Claus, talking about their Christmas wishes. Santa listened to each one of them and posed patiently for many pictures...


















We had lots of cookies, hot cocoa and apple cider, and lots of love going around for all the animals big and small!

































All the kids got to ride the horses as usual, and everybody got Christmas presents to take home!








We even had a reindeer in our barn, though he didnt have a red nose and was rolling his eyes for the picture to boot....

PARDON THE TURKEY PARTY A SUCCESS!!!

Our Pardon-the-Turkey Party was a great success. We dressed up a little (boy, was that a riot!!!) and had fun petting turkeys, chickens, rabbits, goats... and of course horses.














Then, we had all the kids ride the horses in the pasture - always a highlight!- and everybody played a lot with the goats in the haybale maze-mountains... Sorry we didnt take any pictures.
Everybody warmed up in the barn with cookies, chips and dip, hot cider and hot chocolate- yummy!!! The most fun part in my opinion was to listen to the kids' speeches to PARDON THE TURKEY!!! We had a blast and laughed a lot. it was decided that an anonymous vote should be held for the best speech, and Cyrus and Caitlyn won a Spotted Horse Barnyard T-Shirt each!
We are hoping to see you all again soon!

What do they do at night?

I had to go back to the barn tonight to put one of my chickens' cape back on (this is a story for another time I guess)...
So here are some pictures. The horses are resting, though standing up. I am pretty sure they do lay down for a while over night.
The goats... Maya claims the 'fun' spot on top the wooden shelf i guess. Funny to find out. Celia was by the gate greeting me. The chickens' light was still on, but they seem to be mostly in 'sleep' formation anyways. When I do my evening feedings and I guess at night too, the cat I "trip over" the most is always Alvin. Funny how that goes... My low ranking rooster chooses to sleep outside weather permitting. As do the three of the four turkeys in the neighboring coop. The young chicks are spoiled and still get a heat lamp... (no picture) but their days of growing up are almost over. The rabbits are truly nocturnal I think, and I have suspicions that water fowl is somewhat night blind as chickens are, but not quite as bad. they rallied and got up as i got into their run.
And since it is late... i wont try to bully those pictures into some kind of order, so it is what it is... :-P
Good night! :-)

PARDON-THE-TURKEY-PARTY at the Spotted Horse Barnyard!

We are going to celebrate Thanksgiving with a
PARDON-THE-TURKEY-PARTY!

We invite you to join us on November 21, 2009 between 10.00am and 2.00pm for our party - petting zoo style.
We will probably set an alternate day in case of bad weather for the Sunday after, or the Saturday after Thanksgiving... Better be prepared than sorry in this Colorado weather.

Of course, visiting the animals, horseback and haywagon rides are included as usual. Everybody four-legged and feathered will be glad to see you, as the winter months tend to be pretty uneventful around here!

The kids are invited to participate in a speech competition for exciting prizes to honor our turkeys and the Thanksgiving Holiday, just like our president does at the White House every year!

Please email or call us about details for the speech competition or to sign up. I am thinking to invite some special friends to form a committee of judges.

Space will be limited as we will have the main event happening inside the barn! This should be pretty nice, as we have a heater to keep everybody warm, a podium (of sorts) for the speakers and benches for the audience!

We will be offering free warm drinks and snacks. Doesn't hot chocolate and some homebaked cookies sound pretty good for a thanksgiving snack???

For some extra fun, please join us in dressing up in PIONEER CLOTHING! I already have part of my pioneer costume ready.

Hope to see you then!

Eggs Galore!

I have been thinking about posting a blog about the various eggs that I collect.
Quite a lot of eggs going around here!

This first picture shows a collection of eggs my fowl currently lay - in October. I get some turkey eggs (top row), duck eggs (bottom row) and quite a variety of chicken eggs. Our goose lays eggs, too, but only in the spring!This picture below is of a FIRST egg laid by a young hen that is just getting started. The first few eggs are often very small... they are so cute! Of course the egg to the left is a regular sized egg of an older hen. you can see in the picture above that my chicken eggs don't only come in different colors, but in different sizes as well. The size, just like the color, depends on the breed, but even more on the age of the hen. The older the hen, the bigger the egg, and the less often she will lay. Most breeds start out with one egg every day or every other day, but depending on the breed, the frequency goes down fast over the years.

I have hens that lay white eggs, green eggs, pink eggs, tan eggs, brown eggs, and even dark brown eggs. Here are some interesting facts I read somewhere: the brown color is derived from blood and can be wiped off just right after the egg is laid, still a little wet and warm. The green color of the Araucana and Ameraucan chickens comes from the gall bladder (gulp) and is inside the shell, hence, cannot be wiped off. Green eggs, brown eggs and white eggs are exactly identical on the inside - no different chemical composition. Some more eggs:

Now this big egg below is a goose egg. I just spent a lot of time looking for some more goose egg pictures, but cannot find any - I'll have to take some come spring and my goose starts laying again (it is only October and I already cannot wait for spring!!!)! Anyways, the goose egg below was very lop sided, with an almost flat long side. I keep track of my layers, in fact, I'll scan and post one of my logs, too. The geese probably lay for about 2 months in the spring, then stop for the rest of the year.

The ducks lay eggs almost the same size as the chickens, just a tad bigger. My duck hens are a Buff Orpington and two Khaki Campbells... they are not very big ducks, but good layers. They lay more eggs than then chickens all summer long - I probably average more than 6 eggs per week for each duck all summer long. since the ducks and geese live outside even in the winter, with just a big dog house for shelter and a green house that they dont like to go in much, even though their food is in there, I think they are more susceptible to cold weather and take a break from laying in the winter.
There isn't a lot of information out there about the differences in duck eggs, goose eggs and chicken eggs for cooking and baking, but I have heard that people with chicken egg allergies are not usually allergic to water fowl eggs, so they enjoy those eggs immensly.

Duck eggs look and feel different than chicken eggs for sure. The shells are thicker than chicken eggs and harder to crack. They stay "fresh" longer due to their thicker shells (even though even "regular" chicken eggs can be kept at room temperature (!!!) up to three weeks, and a lot longer if refridgerated!). The yolks are *very* firm and the whites are also very viscous.

I have read that they can readily substitute chicken eggs in any recipe, and that, in fact, they make baked goods more "moist and fluffy" and hence more delicious. Duck egg white has more protein, so it gives cakes more loft, and the egg yolkes are a little richer (more fat). Makes for tastier end product - sounds pretty good to me. :-)

I just learned something new about duck eggs, too, and wanted to share that. It is from this site...

HEALTH BENEFITS: Besides being great to bake with duck eggs are sought by cancer patients. Apparently, duck eggs are alkaline (basic), chicken eggs are acidic. Cancer cells don’t thrive in a basic environment, so some cancer patients adjust their body’s environment by eating alkaline foods like duck eggs.

source: “http://urbanhomestead.org/journal/2008/05/22/duck-eggs-2/"

now, here is a picture of two cracked eggs from my chickens. They tend to be more orange (I read that has to do with their nutrition, they eat greens with chlorophyl while running around outside, which makes the egg yolk darker) than store bought eggs, and their egg whites are more viscous as well - probably only because they are fresher. Did you know that an egg that is less than 1-2 weeks old can almost not be peeled once hardboiled? I tried. It is very difficult. I found that boiling the eggs with some oil helps, as does letting them sit out on the counter for a few days before boiling them - but of course I never have that much foresight...

I still haven't talked about the turkey eggs! Amazingly enough, they are the same size than chicken eggs, even though the turkey hen that lays them is about double if not triple the size of a chicken... wow. My turkey eggs always have speckles and are pointier on one end then chicken eggs. I use the turkey eggs that get laid off season and won't be put in the incubator for baking and cooking just like all my other eggs... I find little difference between the turkey eggs and the chicken eggs.

Goose eggs tend to be like duck eggs on the outside (hard shells) but more like chicken eggs on the inside (not quite as viscous), only double the size at least! I always think it's a lot of fun to use goose eggs for baking. Substitute 1 goose egg for 2 chicken eggs in a recipe if you ever want to try cooking and baking with them. Delicious!!!