Sheeps and Peeps and Keets?

We had a very successful hatch. Out of 39 eggs, 24 hatched, 2 of those didn't live, and 3 of them went down the road for the neighbor's great-granddaughter.

Add to them the 24 pullets ordered, plus the 2 extras they sent, plus the 1 free rare breed chick included and: hmmm . . . guess that makes 46 chicks!

It is amazing how the shipped chicks can survive the two-day trip in their little box right after they are hatched.

All arrived safely and are doing well.

Ok, 46 isn't enough. We have to add 9 French Guinea keets.

Obviously, we have a very musical living room right now with 3 boxes set up as brooders.

Barn Cat Play Time

Everyone is enjoying the warm spring weather. Kismet especially enjoys feeding time. While all the mamas are at the feeders, he has the opportunity to 'play' with the lambs. Eventually the lambs tire of the 'play' and gang up on Kismet, who then (wisely) heads to the barn!

Another happy customer

Just could not resist posting a picture of this beautiful shipment of roving, shipped out today to Chestnut Ridge, New York.
We hope our customer enjoys spinning this fiber as much as we did preparing it.

Coopworth X Border Leicester roving, hand-washed, picked, carded and gently pulled; two-year old ewe, Athena.

Sunday blending

Today was an experiment in blending - beginning with hand-washed, hand-picked natural colored Coopworth X Border Leicester from one of our two-year old ewes, Athena.

Then we added yearling mohair locks that we purchased at the Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival.

The blending process began with the Coopworth-Border Leicester being run through the drum carder then we layered the picked, mohair locks.

After carding and blending and carding and blending (four times) we ended up with these very silky and lustrous spinning batts. Beautiful!

Where's the Peeps???

We have had several inquiries about the peeps part of Sheeps and Peeps Farm. Where are they?? Well, we haven't hatched out any eggs since last spring but have had some, saved from our layers, in the incubator almost 3 weeks now:

We took out the automatic egg turner, increased the humidity and ventilation yesterday:

And also have 24 assorted layers coming the first of the week from Murray McMurray Hatchery (www.mcmurrayhatchery.com ) Then a few surprises on reserve at the local Southern States store. More on that later. . .

Curley's Lambs

We got two beautiful lambs today from our romney ewe, Curley. These were somewhat unexpected as we didn't intend to breed her this year. Someone must have jumped the fences over and back after breeding season was officially closed. I say somewhat unexpected because she prolapsed about 10 days ago which brought to our attention (via Jonathan's MSWF phone call) that she did indeed show other signs of pregnancy. So, retainer in, we were anxiously waiting with no idea how long the wait would be. (Surely not July -- we knew a ram got in when the fences were down during the ice storm) So, this morning at feeding time, the new lambs greeted me. What a relief for us all!!

A black 11 lb 3 oz ewe lamb:

And a 12 lb 8 oz white ram:

The little ewe had some entrophin but the alligator clips are doing the job and should come off tomorrow. We are so excited to have 2 more healthy lambs.

Day Two - Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival

So much yet to do...

...checking out the angora bunnies (to buy or not to buy)

...angora goats (we didn't put the gofer on the truck, but maybe we could hold one on our lap in the back seat)

...alpacas (maybe too tall to fit in the back seat)

THEN FINALLY, in the final barn, in the final aisle almost in the final booth...

THERE. SHE. WAS.

MINSTREL.

Amazing felted art on display! What talent and imagination!

Parade of Breeds! ...over 35 breeds of sheep, a history lesson with each.

Everywhere we look we are surrounded by yarn and fiber in beautiful vibrant colors, dark earthy colors, brilliant jewel-like colors. If you have not visited the festival it is hard to describe the atmosphere. It is exciting and overwhelming!

Day One - Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival

By the time we got here, traffic was backed up the off-ramp all the way to the interstate, but we finally made it! First priority - visit the sheep barns - Border Leicesters first, of course.

Pictures above are from various barns and farms. Sorry, we neglected to make notes. We visited with Kelly from Spring Breeze Farm to give her an update on Liam and made our way around the barn. Check out this cute little Border Leicester ram lamb from Spirit Hill Farm.

We really enjoy the Sheep Breeds Display barn. Our 'neighbors', Dave Moran and Lori Walls from Crimson Shamrock in Eglon are here with their Wensleydale sheep. Who can resist a face like this...

Next, we are off to a seminar 'Preparing your wool for show and sale'. Good info, learned some things and learned a lot browsing through the wool show - lots and lots and lots of great raw fleeces.

Friday night...the eve of the Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival...Annie, the final ewe yet to lamb, decides this is the night. We were reminded of the old cartoon: Farmer "I wish she would lamb so I could go to bed" and the ewe "I wish he would go to bed so I could lamb". No, really it was not that bad. Around 9:00 a beautiful border leicester ewe lamb was born! A EWE lamb!! Jonathan was very relieved. He is the main provider for the weekend and was not looking forward to dealing with a lambing ewe on his own. (He would have had plenty of support from the rest of the family.) Well, it is off to bed. We must get rest for the long drive at the crack of dawn tomorrow. We are off to the MSWF!

Quiet Week

It has been a pretty quiet week. We are patiently waiting for the final ewe to lamb. Annie was due on Monday and is taking her good old time.

There is a lot of anticipation for the weekend. We are going to the Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival! We could only attend one day last year, but this year we are taking in the whole weekend. This is THE EVENT OF THE YEAR! Barns and barns and barns of sheep, wool, yarn, equipment! A shepherd/spinner's dream come true!

This is where we got our first up close and personal glimpse of Spring Breeze 5017 'Liam', our registered Border Leicester stud ram, shown here napping between shows. We will have lots of pictures and info to post next week, and you never know maybe a few surprises.

Many thanks to the family for taking over the chores for the weekend!!