Sassy & Sweet Notes

Christmas Goose Wool Felt Ornament

The single most rewarding result of writing this blog is the people I've gotten to know through comments, emails, and crafty events (virtual and actual). Some of you have been reading my blog for years, and though we've never met, I consider you wonderful friends.

This beyond-adorable Christmas Goose wool felt ornament was a gift, handmade by long-time blog reader, and friend, Troy. I just *had* to share it with you!! In her letter to me she said she found the pattern in an old book and knew it was the perfect gift to make and share with me. How delightful! And how LUCKY for me!! This wool felt goose is truly remarkable.

Troy, your hand work is beautiful. Perfect little stitches, beads, and the flower detail is perfection.

I love, love, LOVE my new little goose, and look forward to her blessing our home for many years to come! THANK YOU!

Chatter's "Angel Wing" Update

In this post from earlier this month, I mentioned that Chatter had an issue with her wings called Angel Wing. Instead of the wing feathers all folding up nice and neat against her body, the tips of her wings dropped away from her body, leaving her wing feathers poking out to her sides. (Click on the photo for a larger view.)

In this photo, you can see Chatter (front/left) and Spruce (middle/left). See how Spruce's wings tuck up nicely, where Chatter's wings fall away from her body, out to her sides.

I have been working with her to correct it, and thought I'd share an update!

For 10 days, Chatter's wings were lightly wrapped with athletic tape, so that the tips of her wings were held in the correct position. She's still young, and she hasn't finished growing yet -- treating her early will allow the bones and muscles to be corrected. Her left wing was more severe than the other, so it took a little extra support to keep it in place. She didn't seem to mind the wraps. She could still stretch her wings out from her body, but the wraps kept the tips of her wings in the correct position once she relaxed them against her body.

After 10 days of having the wraps in place, I'm thrilled with the results! Her right wing is nearly perfect. Her long flight feathers tuck nicely in place now, and it looks great! It no longer drops away from her body, and the feathers fall into place just right. Her left wing still needs a bit more support before it's in such perfect condition. Now, instead of falling completely away from her body, it points straight back and still doesn't want to fold under the rest of her wing. But I am confident that it will, eventually!

For now, I put another wrap in place only on her left wing. I'll remove the wrap and check it again in a week and see how it's progressing! *Happy Farmgirl!*

Geese and friends

I've had several requests for updated photos of the three baby Toulouse geese, so here ya go! They don't really look like babies anymore, do they!? (Don't forget, you can click on the photos for a pop-up of a larger view of the image.)

Tally (the oldest of the three) is on the right. And while she (?) looks to be almost fully feathered, there's still some growing to be done.

Chatter (one of the younger two) is on the left side of the feeder, and towards the back of this photo is Spruce, the second of the younger two.  Admiral (the big rooster) is watching them enjoy a snack at one of the feeders.

Albert, Einstein, and Rocky are enjoying some time perched on the log I have in their yard. Albert and Einstein are while Silkie roosters. Rocky is a black frizzled Cochin. Silkies and frizzles aren't really known for perching on high perches, but they do enjoy a nice place elevated just enough for a different view on the world. The log provides that place for them. They were keeping a keen eye on the garden!

Here's another photo showing the geese. Chatter is the one closest, followed by Spruce, and finally Tally. You can see the baby fuzz still on the necks of Chatter and Spruce. Tally has lost almost all of her little down tufts now. Looks like Albert and Einstein are grabbing a snack, too... one on each side of the feeder.

Albert and Einstein are back on the log, facing opposite directions this time.

This is Tally, the oldest of the three geese.

Spruce and Chatter waiting their turn while some of the girls, and Albert and Einstein grab another snack.

This is Spruce. Notice the baby fuzz still visible on the neck!

This is Chatter. Notice the wingtips pointing outwards... that's called Angel Wing. The tips of her (?) wings don't naturally tuck under the rest of her wings, so I am working to correct it. While her feathers are still growing and before her bones stop growing, I have her wingtips lightly wrapped in the correct wing position (not in this photo, though). Hopefully with the wrapping, the muscles and bones will learn the correct placement, and her wings will look "correct" again.

Tally is very social, and always wants to know what I have in my hands. Looks like she'd been playing in the mud before she came to say hi.

Hope you've enjoyed this little update on the geese, and a few of their friends! I always love sitting out in the chicken yard catching up on the daily gossip. There was lots of it going around today!

Little Red Barn Update

My weekend and evenings this week have been spent getting the new coop all set up and ready for residents. I'm not completely done with all the details, but was able to get everyone moved in earlier this week. I haven't taken photos of the coop in detail yet, so I will snap a few shots this weekend and share. Until then, I thought I'd share some of the lucky residents!

I decided that since the coop was small, I would make it the bantam coop (and for now anyway, baby geese coop). This is Wiley in the middle of a bunch of his lady friends. Wiley is the only adult rooster in the coop. And I think he's pretty happy about that! And so are the girls! I think I have a few young male silkies and maybe a young male frizzle or two as well, but they're young enough it's still hard to tell. They can stay in this coop until they start being punks. Then they'll go into the larger coop with the big girls and boys, who will do a better job at keeping them in line.

Oh, and if you're wondering what bantams are, they are small chicken breeds as opposed to standard sized chicken breeds. The larger chicken house and yard (which we've had for several years) will be for the standards, ducks, my other two geese, and a few bantams that will do better just staying where they are.

I was happy to be able to move some of the older bantams into the new coop. This is Lovey, my oldest frizzle Cochin hen (she is the last of the Tiny Tim, Little Buddy, Ginger gang). I'm hoping that with less attention from roosters, her feathers will grow in on her poor little nake head, back, and neck. I'm also hoping that with a little extra TLC, she'll get a little more spunk. She's looking a little rough around the edges.

This is Peeper, the oldest chicken on the farm. She hatched 9 years ago... that's old! She was picked on by other birds from a young age. At one point, she got eye injuries that pretty much left her w/out her outer eyelids. Poor thing! I was thrilled to be able to move her into the new coop where she's not the smallest, or most timid one in the group.

I haven't put the trim up around the chicken door yet... but it's on the project list. I did get a nice ladder built though, with steps spaced just right for short bantam legs! Nutmeg is checking things out.

Nugget gives the new coop and run six big toes up! She is one of my smallest Old English Game bantams. She loves to be held, and even tugs on my pant leg to get my attention so I'll pick her up.

The three baby toulouse love the yard! They race around in circles, lay in the grass, and enjoy the sunshine.

Aren't they growing!

This is Rita, a young black frizzled Cochin. She was enjoying the sunshine that was filtering into the coop door.

I will take a few more photos this weekend, and share some of the other details of the coop. I've been getting requests for an update -- thank you for your interest! It's fun sharing their new digs with you!

Happy almost-Friday!!

Happy Friday!

Little Red Barn

There's a new addition to the farm! I ordered this cute little red barn from a local builder to use as a second chicken coop. It was delivered on Friday. I'll still be using the large coop that's already on the farm, but wanted a second coop that's slightly smaller, for some of my bantams and the baby geese.

The barn is 8'x8', with 4' side walls. Instead of one large door on the front, I chose to have two smaller doors. They will be easier to manage, and easier to create screen doors for. There is a nice 2'x3' window on the back wall.

I wanted it placed just behind the end of the larger garden, so I had to wait to plant that area knowing that they would have to drive through the garden to place the barn in the location I wanted. Not only does it get shade all day in this location, but it also creates a wonderful wind break for the garden from the hot, dry southern winds we get all summer long.

To deliver the buildings, the builders use a fancy trailer with multiple sets of wheels that allow the trailer to move sideways, or backwards. Cool!

Once the barn was in place, the fella that delivered it made sure it was level. Arizona, Alan's mother's dog, supervised.

With the barn in place, it was time to get started with the modifications. I had a little assistance putting the flooring in place. Actually, Daisy was less than thrilled to be helping. Pretty sure she would have rather been in the house lounging on her big soft bed.

I like using laminate flooring in the coops. It makes it so much easier to keep the floors clean -- sweeping up wood chips is so much easier when they glide across a slick floor! And it helps protect the flooring of the building from any moisture. Home Depot didn't have two boxes of the same "cheap" tiles, so I got creative. Pretty ugly! *grin*

I also made a heavy duty screen for the window, installed perches, and Alan helped me hang "poop catchers" so when the chickens are perched at night, their droppings don't fall all the way to the floor. Instead, they'll fall onto the "poop catchers". Hopefully they will make cleaning the coop easier and the hens will have a larger, cleaner floor space in the coop.

We don't have the run attached yet, no "chicken door" cut in the wall, and I haven't built the screen doors yet, but we have our first residents! The geese moved in, as well as four little baby chickens -- you can see a couple of them flying around in the background of this photo. They were very excited!

I'm so happy with this little red barn! Lots more work to do, but it's a wonderful addition to the farm!

What's Up!

About a month ago I bought two Toulouse goslings. Last week, one of them started having seizures, and I ended up losing it. It was a very sad evening for me. The second gosling was very lonely all alone, so I decided to get another baby so there wouldn't be any lonely geese on the farm. A long-distance friend of mine thought she might like to own a goose on our farm too, so I said I would be happy to raise a little one for her, and have it live on our farm. So, two additional babies were added to our menagerie. Geese are very much a flock animal, especially Toulouse geese. The three are doing super, getting along great, and seem to be quite happy! This photo was taken a couple evenings ago (or was it last night?) of them enjoying a snack of wild lettuce, a goose favorite!

I also want to say sorry to have been away from the blog for a few days. The editing site I use to write my blog posts hasn't been available to me when I've sat down to post, due to some service issues the provider for my blog was having. Not having access to the editing site makes it a challenge to get posts up. Things seem to be a bit more stable now, so hopefully I've seen the last of the issues.

Also, spring is a very busy time of year around here. I've been busy trying to get the rest of the garden in, before it's too late and I run out of low enough temperatures. I haven't even taken photos of the magnificent wildflowers yet! Ack!! But, I'm almost done putting the garden in! A few more tomatoes to put in, a few more hills of squash to seed, and maybe some more spinach and radish, and I'll be ready to sit back and watch it all grow!

I do have some crafty projects to share too, so stay tuned!

One Giant Egg - HONK!

I shared this photo on facebook earlier this evening, but thought it was worth sharing here, too! These are some of the eggs I gathered today. Notice anything out of the ordinary!? *grin!*

The carton is an extra-jumbo sized carton (notice, only 10 spots) I use for eggs that are too large to fit in regular egg cartons. Some of our Golden Comet and Black Star hens, as well as a couple of the ducks, lay MASSIVE eggs that don't fit in regular egg cartons. So, I buy these extra-jumbo sized cartons for them. That's a duck egg in the back right corner.

Today there was a surprise in one of the nest boxes .... a GIANT goose egg! Thelma has been protecting that particular nest box for a few days, and now I know why! She wanted it to be ready when she was!

Omelet, anyone!?

 

A Goose Egg!

Alan found a nest made of twigs and leaves that Thelma (one of our Brown African Geese) made. And in it, a pretty white goose egg! I love how her nest is complete with one squeaky dog toy, one plastic scoop, and 8 inches of green cording. Looks like she found some treasures she wanted to decorate her nest with.

At least now we know we have a Thelma, and perhaps either a Louise, or a Luis. *grin*

They're Growing!

The goslings! Aren't they getting BIG! They are not the easiest critters to photograph, at this age anyway. They move very quickly, in random directions. *grin*

I am really enjoying them. I haven't NAMED them yet, though.... *ugh!* I just can't decide! It would really help if I knew their genders, but I don't want to insult them by attempting to check. This is the older of the two, and I have a feeling it's a male. Their personalities are quite different. This one LOVES me. Love to be held, climbs up on my lap if I'm sitting in the grass, follows me anywhere.

This is the younger of the two, and I have a feeling this one is a girl. This one is not as attached to me as the other. It does NOT like to be caught, but once I've got her, she enjoys being held. She is much more independent than the older one.

They are just the best of buds...

A Happy Goose Walk (Video)

Want to take the baby geese for a walk? I thought you might...  *grin*

As always, if you're having trouble viewing the video here on my blog, you'll find it on my YouTube channel.

Was Goose, now Geese!

So, I mentioned last week that we welcomed a new little gosling to the farm. Well, we couldn't have just ONE, so late last week we also welcomed a second little one to the farm! (I already mentioned this on FaceBook, but haven't mentioned it here yet...) I thought I'd share some photos of them, enjoying some time on my crafting table. Isn't that what everyone has on their crafting table?! *grin* The youngest one, on the left, is the second one we brought home. The oldest one, on the right, is the first one we brought home.

We haven't settled on names yet. But we do have some considerations...  Loosie, Raspberry, Zerbert, Doodles ... do you have a suggestion?

This is the younger of the two. She (we're going with that until we know for sure) was about 3 days old when I took these photos. She's more like 8 days old now, and I'm pretty sure she has doubled in size. Ha!

They really enjoyed the heat from the lamps I had on.

I won't be able to take photos like this for very long, at the rate they grow!

So fuzzzzzy! So CUTE!

I'm not sure she could be any cuter.

Checking out the lamp.

Might as well just take a nap.

This is the older of the two, and is the first one we brought home. While both of them are very sweet, this one I think might be the sweeter of the two.

The younger one likes to be held, but this one WANTS to be held. And snuggle. And poop. *grin*

Side by side, you can see how different they look and they're only a week apart in age.

I can't take the cuteness.

Want to see more!? How about in video form!?

Another...

And another!

And, as always, if you're having trouble viewing these videos here on my blog, you can find them here on my YouTube channel.

Cute, cute, CUTE!!!

Goose!

If you guessed GOOSE on my earlier "who's feet" photo, you are correct! We welcomed this c-u-t-e baby Brown African goose to the farm yesterday.

Cuteness overLOAD! I'm looking forward to watching her grow. She is as sweet as can be!

Who's Feet?

Any guesses as to who, or what, these feet belong to?