The ducks have started laying, and in just in time, too, because the chickens have almost completely stopped. As the days grow shorter and colder, the chickens say, “Eh, we’re tired of this egg thing. Lay your own if you really want them.” Luckily, the ducks are much nicer and don’t seem to care so much about light or temperatures.

The first duck egg Andy found was about the size of one of the regular-sized bantam chicken eggs. On about the third or fourth day, Andy got a huge surprise.

Going right to left, the first duck egg, a duck egg a day or two later, and the Giant Massive Mutant Duck Egg. When I put the GMMDE into an egg carton, it fit incredibly snugly into the little spot. When I tried to close the lid, the GMMDE pushed up on the styrofoam and made and little outdent on the carton.

This is a BIG egg.

Since that day, the eggs have gone back to a more normal size. Maybe this one is a double-yolker? We haven’t opened it yet. I think Andy is afraid a dinosaur may pop out of it when he cracks the shell.

Oh, and the ducks have started laying eggs!

Two weeks ago was shearing day here at the farm. We had a young fellow and his father come out and shave all our sheep – except Pumpernickel, who seemed to have some really tough wool near her skin, and he didn’t want to force things and cut her, so she is half shaved and half stubble. Very punk.

Well, they hay rack made out of scrap material lasted about 2 days before the sheep demolished it. Thankfully, the Canada Plan Service came to our rescue with their incredible selection of farm-related plans. So yesterday Cabol’s dad and I went to the store and got some wood, and made a combination hay and grain rack!

Cabol’s Dad Screwing

Andy and the Finished Rack

Sheep and Andy Looking For Food

Happy Sheep

Yesterday we were coming up the driveway when we saw one of the chicks outside their tractor. But surely it is an optical illusion, because chickens can’t walk through wire. But sure enough, there were 4 or 5 chicks (well, youngsters now) running around outside. Apparently they dug their way out from the inside. Fortunately no hawks saw them running around chasing crickets, and they all made it home safe once we caught them.

Talked to the vet this morning to discuss the results of Pumpernickel’s most recent poo test. She still has worms, but they are at a moderate instead of high level. Also, her cockadoodledoo levels were high (internal critters all sheep have but can get too high when the animal is stressed). We had to swing by the vet before heading out to get the new sheep so we could pick up some more meds…some cockadoodledoo stuff and some vitamin b (injectable…aie).

After the vet, we hopped on the road towards Roanoke and points beyond. The farm, Ingleside Icelandics, was sort of near Appomattox, and we drove right past all sorts of Historic Sites. We pulled into the driveway at the farm and saw our sheeps waiting for us in a little pen. We chatted with the Ingleside folks for a bit and then loaded Pearl, Sadie, and Sydney into the back of the truck. These sheep are so big and fluffy!

On the way home we stopped to get gas. While the gas was pumping we stared in at the sheep. This guy filling up his SUV next to us kept kinda peeking over. Finally, he came over and grinned and said, “Can I see?” His daughter came out of the gas station, and she came over and they both peeked in and made “oooo” and “ahhhh” sounds. The guy thanked us and said, “It’s not very often you see someone at a gas station with sheep. Thank you for letting us look at them!” It was cool.

Finally we got home. Andy put Pumpernickel up in the barn ’cause we had to give her meds, and then we set to getting the sheep out of the truck. They did not want to get out. We ended up pulling and pushing and finally prying Pearl out, and once she was out the rest followed more easily. They ran right into the field and started chowing down.

After we got Pumpernickel her meds, we opened the door. Pumpernickel RAN out of the barn and headed straight for the other sheep baaaaaaaaaaaaing all the way. She seemed incredibly happy to see her new pals and went over to each in turn and said hello. Then the new sheep sort of circled her and sniffed her butt and went back to eating grass.

A little while later, though, Pearl decided Pumpernickel was a little uppity or something because Pearl ran over and headbutted Pumpernickel right into the fence!

The next fun task was to get the rope-type ties off Pearl’s and Sadie’s necks. The ties were on to help catch and move around the girls (Sydney has horns), and if we’d been thinking we’d have taken the ties off while the sheep were in the truck. Instead we spent about an hour chasing them around. We did finally get Pearl’s tie off by tempting her over with some grain, but Sadie was too shy for that. We stopped, though, when Pearl started to pant and we realized we were stressing them. We would have just let them go for a while, but at one point Sadie got the loop of her tie caught on a nail on the barn. Finally, we herded all three new sheep into the barn and managed to get hold of Sadie and get her tie off. All the while, Pumpernickel just sort of looked on from afar..wondering what the big deal was.

So, um, yeah, we went with option D…if you hadn’t figured that out yet.

Today I built a hay rack for the sheep. I’m not sure if it is 100% sturdy if it is bumped into a lot and stuff, so it might need some extra supports, but it stands upright and holds hay, which is what’s important!

Hay Rack in Garage

Pumpernickel and Hay Rack