Goats and chickens...

The new baby goat is the apple of our eye. I let my 6-year-old great-niece choose her name. She will be known as "Shine." 

I want her to be tame and friendly, so I pick her up every chance I get. This morning I brought her into the backyard for a cuddle. She closed her eyes and took a little nap. It was blissful. 

I am puzzled about what color she will end up becoming. When she was born, I thought she was black with just the big white swirl on her head. After she was well dried, I could see little white dots sprinkled about. They seem to become more pronounced by the day.  In the sun, the hair on her face is almost silver. And one eye is blueish, the other more golden. The white tip on her tail is the cutest.

Plenty Goat is not sure what all the fuss is about. She is convinced that she is the prettiest of the herd. She certainly is the bossiest! 

Last week I saw a post from the guy I have been buying my chickens from the previous two years. He had some Lavender Orpington pullets for sale. Orpingtons are calm, docile birds and decent egg layers. The Lavender ones are particularly lovely. Although I think our current laying flock of 6 hens and a rooster is enough, Chris was convinced that the birds would stay warmer in the big coop this winter if there were more. Who am I to ignore my husband's suggestion that we get more animals? Yesterday we had a lovely hour-and-a-half drive to a little town near Bangor, where we gathered our 6 newest flock members. They are pretty now and will be beautiful when they mature. 

They are in a temporary coop until they get bigger and acclimate to the place. Last night we had heavy rain. I went to check on them at bedtime, and the foolish things were asleep in a pile, pressed against the grated door, getting soaking wet. I trudged back up to the garage, got two thick flakes of hay, and laid them at the center of the coop, up off the damp grass. I put a small flashlight into the enclosure so they could see and nudged them away from the door onto the dry hay. With mutters of protest, they complied. I watched, getting drenched, as they preened some water from their feathers and settled down. I secured the cover of the gas grill over the door to prevent rain from blowing in that way in case they decided to resume lying there, left the light on for them, and went to bed, fretting.  They are all fine this morning, nibbling on grass, catching the occasional bug, and basking in the sun. After this one display of stupidity, I hope they will mature into excellent farmlette additions. 

Goats and chickens are my current focus these days. What could be better?