We have started hatching! We have 8 baby chicks, and more on the way! We decided that with the CSA program, if we are going to offer chicken, we need to start raising them, so Jerry built an incubator. We put the first batch in a few weeks ago, and now they are coming to life! So the good news is, IT WORKS! I’m excited! Everything is taking off with the CSA program pretty quickly.
We only have 3 does left to go for this kidding season. Trudy, Ruthie, and Lexi. We have no idea when they are due, it is just a guessing game. Trudy is huge, I would imagine she is probably gonna have quads. Ruthie looks like a normal twin and I think Lexi is just gonna have one, but we will see. The race is on I guess.
Well doe number 11 is not Trudy. She still has not kidded, big as a house, and looking miserable. Doe number 11 is Esther. She had a big, gorgeous baby girl a couple days ago. Eve weighed in at 9 lbs. 13 oz. Esther had no problem with the delivery. It went very easy. We were watching her, and hoping she would have more than just one, but no such luck. Oh well, she did good with just one.
Now you have to understand, here is this pig that weighs probably somewhere around 1200 lbs. not a small fella. 
I have never seen a pig, or an animal so lazy in all my life. But that is ok, that is Bill’s problem. Watching Cathy and Bill and how they got along was an experience. It was funny how so many things reminded me of our own human characteristics.
There was a day where Bill was laying in a mud puddle, and Cathy walked up to him and laid down next to him and he just kinda pushed on her. She promptly got up looked at him like he was stupid and wandered off, kinda like she was saying, “well you just screwed up, see if I talk to you for the rest of the day”.
About a week ago we decided to wean the piglets off of Cathy, and find her a boyfriend. Apparently if you wean piglets, the sow will come back into heat with 2 to 4 days afterward. I would not suggest breeding a sow back that soon if she has not held up her weight very good, but Cathy has, she still looks really good, and the weight that she lost when she had the piglets, she is already gaining back.
We have a friend that has a Durock Boar that he said we can borrow. Now ‘Bill’ is huge. I don’t mean he is a little bigger than Cathy, I mean Holy Cow, are you sure that’s a pig! We went over to the house to pick Bill up, and he wasn’t so bad to get into the trailer, but it took some maneuvering. We took him home, and he settled right in, and within just a day or two he decided he really liked Cathy. 
And the really good news is that Cathy really liked Bill, so we should have piglets again in 3 months, 3 weeks, and 3 days.
So, I have had the privilege of caring for goats for about 3 1/2 years now, and you would think that would be long enough to learn something. This year has been a year of firsts for us all the way around. I have had girls swell up a month before they give birth (they are supposed to swell up within 1 to 2 days, not 30). I’ve had girls not get a tight bag, It’s just been crazy.
So Doe 11 was Trudy, well she is still as big as a house and has not dropped her babies yet. But we got home from church yesterday and Cheyenne had a baby girl! We put her and mama in the OB ward, and a couple hours later, here’s another girl! Good deal, twin girls. One was 6 lbs. 13 oz. and the other was 8 lbs.
So now we are just waiting on Trudy, she might give birth sometime this year. Then we have 3 left after that. I’ll be so glad when kidding season is all over.
Well Reba and Suzie finally decided to pop! On Friday, April the 9th. That morning I was sittin at my computer, had just turned it on, I barely had time to take my first sip of coffee, when Jerry comes in the house. “Hey, Reba has afterbirth hangin, and I can’t find any babies!” So I run go put some clothes on (I was still in my pajamas) and go outside. Reba didn’t have afterbirth, her water broke, and she was starting to deliver. So we got her moved to the OB ward, and a couple hours later she was the proud mama of a girl and a boy!
The girl is the traditional (white body, red head) and the boy is the paint. She did a real good job.
Shortly after all the excitement with Reba was done with, Suzie got to lookin kinda funny. She was just starting to go into labor. Whew, ok, no big deal. Put her in the OB ward with Reba. Jerry and I had to go to town that day, and when we got back, Suzie had a little girl on the ground! Well, Reba was confusing Suzie’s for hers, so I moved Reba and the twins next door, and left Suzie with her little girl. Ok, now are we done for a bit, I hope so, cuz delivering two does on the same day is exhausting!
Poor Trudy. She looks like she was bred to a mack truck. She is so HUGE! She looks like she is about to explode! I’m not sure when her due date is, but I would bet that she is gonna have either trips or quads! 
The really funny part is to watch her try to run, or even to walk. She doesn’t even waddle, her whole body just sways as if being pushed side to side.
And through all this she does not even slow down on her eating not one bit!
Reba and Suzie do not want to have those kids for some reason. I don’t know what the deal is, but I think they hate me, and don’t want me any where around when they finally do. They are holding on to those babies like crazy, they look like they are gonna burst any minute! Every time I look at them they seem like they might be about ready, but not quite. This is really getting frustrating. Oh well, they will have them when they have them.
Zebra finally got to lookin’ like she was gonna go, but not all the way yet, so we decided to go ahead and put her in the OB ward. I felt bad because she was gonna be in there all by herself, so we went ahead and put Reba and Suzie in there with her. They I guess have decided to just hold on to their kids just as long as they can. Lol!
Put Zebra in the pen on March 25, and the next day I kept looking at her, she just was ‘off’, but couldn’t figure out why, as she did not look like she was in labor.
The Pastor came out for a bit and we were standing around talking, and I looked out in the pen and saw these two little white things, and thought, why is there puppies in the pen? No, those aren’t puppies, they’re to small, Oh, Zebra had her babies! Well, I missed another one! But the pastor got to see them just seconds after birth, and see them get up and try to eat. It was kinda cool! She had two little boys! I’ve ’bout had it with boys this year, I think that is enough! We are up to 10 boys now and 6 girls!
