Chicken Scraps Blog

Late last year I got my ewe, Winnie, bred to a large Suffolk ram.  Early this spring she lambed- giving birth to a very large single lamb, which we named Anak.  He weighed 12.5 lbs at birth.      We had been watching Winnie for several weeks, as we didn't know the exact date she was bred, and therefore had only a general idea of when she would lamb.  Finally, on April 27th, 2012, we noticed that she was acting a bit differently- standing in the pasture with her head down, not wanting to eat her feed.  We caught her, and put her in the stall, where she stayed the rest of the day.  That evening she went into hard labor.       The lamb was very large, and she couldn't push him out by herself, so I had to pull on his front legs for quite some time before he was finally born.  In the video, it is difficult to see how hard I was pulling, but for a while the action was rather intense.  I was a bit exhausted when it was all over, but happy to have a healthy lamb.  Of course, like a

Looking for a good family dog?  Need one who will be friendly with your animals?  We are offering Inez's puppies for sale/adoption to good homes.  As stated in other places on this blog, the sire is a beautiful, purebred Chocolate lab who lives near us.      Inez is a full-blooded Great Pyrenees.  We used to lose chickens to the many predators which live all around us (foxes, raccoons, opossums, hawks, and coyotes, etc.)  But since we got her, we have lost hardly any poultry at all.  In fact, we no longer even need to shut or lock the coop door at night.  (Note:  We do not guarantee that the puppies will be as good at protecting as she is- simply that they come from a dog who is excellent at it.)  She is also super sweet to people and our farm animals.  She is gentle, and enjoys being petted, and although she is slightly reserved with strangers, she has never been at all aggressive.  Little children love her, and she loves them and is sweet and gentle.    The puppies wi

Naturally de-worming animals can be challenging, and some people will say that you are just better off going with the chemicals.  There are several problems with chemical wormers however.  You see, a chemical wormer is actually a poison, which is fed to the animal in large enough doses to kill, or expel the worms, but in small enough amounts that it hopefully will not injure the animal.  Trouble is, worms have an ability to build up resistance to the chemical poisons used in these wormers.  For example:  A few years ago, when I first started with dairy goats, I had major trouble with worms.  In fact, I lost quite a few goats to them.  I tried using the chemical wormers- SafeGuard (at 4 times the dosage for horses, for 3 days straight), and Ivermectin.  The goats' hair remained curly (a sign of a heavy worm load), and their gums and eyelids were pale.  Finally, most of them died- including three beautiful purebred, registrable Nubians.  I was heartbroken.      Several years later,

Here they are!  Inez has finally whelped, and now is the happy mama of 8 beautiful puppies.  There are 2 white females, 4 black females, and 2 black males. The daddy is our neighbor's purebred, and very sweet Chocolate lab. They will be available to new homes for $200.  Contact me for more information at chickenscrapsblog@gmail.com .  For a fuller description of this particular whelping (and the adventures which went along with it) view this link:  They're here!