I can't think of much to write about so I will just write about what is going on around the farm this week.
The two baby boy goats are growing like weeds! They are 5 weeks old now and doing really well. Both are eating lots of grain and hay, while still loving their 2 bottles of milk a day. On Saturday I cut a hole in their pen in the barn to make a door to the outside. On the outside of the barn I used my two old chicken pen panels that I had made 4 years ago to make a small kid goat pen. Now the boys can go in and out as they wish. The outdoor pen is only 8' X 8' but it's enough for them to get some fresh air. This outside pen should come in handy, no matter what animals use it.
The adult goats are doing well. I cleaned the barn on Sunday to get ready for Pepper Ann (the Nubian) to kid. She is due on the 15th. She will be the last goat to kid for the year. I am kind of enjoying having the kiddings spaced out by two months this year. It gives me enough time to truly enjoy the first set of kids, before the next set comes. Last year I had three kiddings in the same weekend and that was a little intense. I am not sure how I will space it next year. I will have to wait and see what breeding season brings and how I feel.
Pepper Ann will most likely go to a foster home for the summer. A friend of mine is interested in getting into milking goats. She has some Nigerian Dwarf goats lined up to buy this summer but none of them will be in milk. I offered Pepper to her for the summer since Pepper will be in milk, is a good goat to hand milk, and her absence will help me out with my busy summer. My friend has the option to purchase Pepper if she decides she wants to keep her. Pepper is a great goat and I wouldn't let her go to just anyone, but I feel confident that my friend would be a great home for her.
Speaking of Pepper, I am getting her daughter from last year back. I sold her to a neighbor and now he can't keep her. I am excited to have the opportunity to get her back because I have been kicking myself for selling both her and her sister. She comes from a great breeding of Pepper and a buck from an unrelated line. The buck was gorgeous and was a show Nubian, so I am not sure why exactly I sold both does and didn't keep one for myself. Another plus to getting this doe back is that she is a tricolor - black, white, caramel - and that will satisfy my new found hunger for a black goat in the herd.
This weekend I was visited by the "Loon Lake Chicken Caper" and now have 1/4 less hens than I did. Something spent most of Saturday night hauling off hens, one by one. It was my fault because I blanked on the fact that the chickens were loose and didn't put them away for the night. I can only assume that the caper came in the evening before all of the chickens had gone in for the night. I have 6 Polish chickens (which are mostly blind from their crested hats on their heads) and not a single one of them went missing. They usually go in very early for the night, so they must have gone in the barn before the caper came. Oh well... I am happy that most of my other hens are alive. Now I have room in the chicken house to do a hatch of eggs that I have been waiting to do.
Other than that, not much is going on around the farm. The blackflies hatched this weekend so I won't be spending near as much time outside doing farm projects.
Sometimes I know better but can't help myself. This week I got a goat back that I had sold in the fall. She was a good goat from a great breeding and I am not sure why I sold her in the first place. When I found out she was going to be sold, I jumped on the chance to have her back. Now I have Cookie, a Nubian. She is a year old and from my Nubian doe. I put her in with the baby boys to live for now because I figured she would a) want company, b) not get beat up by the little boys, and c) not beat up the little boys. So far they are all getting along. 
