A full herd again!

Ivy and her sister are back together. I'm calling her Nutmeg. They are almost a matched set, hehe!









Sage doesn't seem to care a bit, hehe.



I'm impressed by how casually these girls take everything. Oh, ride in a car, new home,  blah blah blah... whatever.

Also...





Dexter is a bit annoyed at all the attention the chick is getting. So he keeps trying to slip between me and the brooder. lol.

This + this =

This:



+ This (one in back, to the right.. the one in front is currently holed up in the coop sitting on about 7 eggs):



=











I was using a terrible little incubator just because it was super cheap and i wanted to try it. I managed to get one of the two eggs to hatch, but it went three days over due. Chickie is currently living in an old fish tank in the kitchen with a heat lamp. It's a noisy little thing, but cute as all get out. I keep calling it a "he" but lets hope it is actually a she so we can keep it.

This is amazing, really. i want a real incubator, so I can do this right next time.

Crossed fingers, empty stalls, gifts.

Crossing my fingers that my two little eggs in my cheap little incubator make it. The chicks inside were moving as recently as 4 days ago, but I haven't handled them since aside from turning them until two days ago when my instructions said to back off and leave them alone. I have been leaning over them every couple of hours to see if they are cheeping in there or not. Tomorrow (the 25th) is supposed to be their big day, if they made it.

They are arriving by spaceship.... lol...



It's almost impossible to regulate the temp and humidity right. I KNOW it is too humid in there but everything I read says too humid is better than not humid enough.

On the bright side, if this fails... it looks like I have a broody hen finally. This is day 4 of her sitting here, and she has a bare patch on her tummy and only gets up to eat and drink and heads back.



This is Fluffy Butt, the Buff Orpington. When she is out eating I am taking out the brown eggs and leaving the white and green under her. I get a lot more brown eggs than the other colours and at least one of the people I am supplying eggs to won't eat the brown ones, so I need more white and green. These chicks won't be the best mix for egg laying since daddy is a Phoenix and they are an ornamental not a production breed... but they should be quite pretty.

So, on the goat front.... I'm not sure it seems "right" only having two does. Two does does not a herd make, lol. I moved them into the Ladies Stall once Rosie and Thyme headed to their new home and the stall seems so.... empty... with just the two of them in there. I think they need a Nubian to keep them company. Someday. I may be going to look at a few Nubian doelings next week but unless I sell my cart and/or saddle that won't happen. Anyone looking for a wide Aussie saddle or a Shetland sized pony cart? I have names in mind for a Nubian should I ever get one. Artemisia or Belladonna, depending on colour. I like to plan ahead.

Thegirls are settled in to the big stall nicely.



Ivy is sure if she keeps checking something yummy will appear in her bucket.



Sage is looking a tad narrower in the belly today, at least from the front, but no smaller from the side.



I'm crossing fingers for the chickies and for Sage to have girls. If I can't get a Nubian this year then her girls will be my primary "sweet milk" does. So yeah, I need them to be girls. NEEEED. Plus I need new a "Rosemary" and "Thyme" to keep my herd's Scarborough Fair core in tact, lol. Yes, I fully intend to name two more of my goats by the same names as two previous goats. They will just be Rosemary II and Thyme II.

A friend of mine, Erin from Cadence Rhythm Beads (eBay seller: ExtraHannah) sent me the loveliest string of rhythm beads for Brego. He isn't quite sure what to think of them, he kept twitching his skin like he had a fly on his side and it kept making them jingle.



They are just gorgeous, I'm tempted to wear them myself when he isn't using them to look handsome and sound beautiful.



I told him he sounded like a bellydancer.



Just lovely.