Egg update

Alright, so we got 2 more eggs today, enough to try out with our ramen (the good stuff, not the instant kind) for lunch.  We cracked them open and the yolks were just as beautiful as we'd hoped.  Nice and deep orange from all the plants they've been eating, not like the eggs you get from the big confinement operations.  And they were very flavorful as well.

First Egg!

This morning when I went to feed the chickens I looked on the floor of their coop and found an egg!  It's our very first from our first batch of chickens.  We ended up giving it to Mr. Harms as a gift so I'll report back later once we've tasted one.

Cedar Waxwing

I finally have a sculpture up for sale on Etsy!  I've been making practically nothing but custom dog portraits for the past few months but I finally had a chance to make something just for fun this week.  And since I love birds, I decided to make this life-size Cedar Waxwing you see below.

Experimenting

This past week was a busy one for all of us on the farm.  On Friday we let the sheep in with #13 in the pasture around the barn... and #13 was not too happy about this.  He immediately charged the sheep and proceeded to chase them in circles around the whole pasture until we were able to distract him with some alfalfa and tie him up in the barn.  Later that day after we had released him #13 seemed to have become more tolerant, and since then they've all been peacefully coexisting.  Unfortunately the sheep are still terrified of #13 and are very careful not to get close to him.

#13 eying the intruders

Earlier in the week we moved all of our now 2 month old chicks out of their comfy heated kiddie pool and out into the real world.  The adult chickens we moved into their winter home: a make shift coop inside our equipment shed.  We also decided to experiment with letting our adult chickens and ducks free range.  So far it's been a great success.  We haven't lost any to predators and the birds have never looked happier.

First step into the great outdoors

Chickens in the front lawn

Our magnificent Delaware rooster

Heimdal

Heimdal, named for the Norse guardian of the gods is our Icelandic ram.  I was commissioned to make a portrait of him by my landlady.  Because our Icelandic sheep have such long wool that comes in multi-colored locks, Heimdal's coat was a bit of a challenge.  I had to roll up dozens of little strips of wool to make them look like his locks and then blend them with layers of white and brown. 

photo by Kelty Luber

photo by Kelty Luber

photo by Kelty Luber

The original Heimdal