Eggs (week ending 9/23): 14
Eggs (9/1/06 to date): 36
plus sixty or seventy collected 7/06 - 8/06

For the last couple of weeks I've been thinking that I'd like to get another couple of layers because the current output of the three hens now producing isn't quite up to what our family uses. I wasn't too worried about it, figuring that I was going to order some New Hampshire Reds, Buff Orpingtons, and meat birds in the spring.

Then a friend of ours asked if we wanted some chickens. She and her husband had been given some as a housewarming gift, sort of a gag but not really. We were at the party when they got them - a nice trio of birds I couldn't quite identify, but the rooster was beautiful.

It turns out that the friend was afraid that their dog, a Husky, kept eyeing the birds with evil intent, and had concerns that the rooster's crowing would annoy the neighbors. Since we were the ones she came to for chicken advice, we were the logical ones to ask about adoption proceedings. Of course, I said yes.

She brought them over last Friday and I put them in a wire dog crate that I'd prepared for them - straw, a perch, and water. I kept them there until dark, when the other birds were asleep, and put them into the coop. They all seem to have assimilated with no problem. The two hens even laid eggs in the crate while waiting to be transferred.

There was one other interesting side effect. I was beginning to suspect that the Rhode Island Red rooster I got was having some potency problems. There were no signs of him chasing the hens, and the hens didn't show any of the ruffled feather signs of having been jumped. But the introduction of the second rooster brought out the man in the RIR. All of a sudden the hens are starting to look put-upon. The poor newcomer is so intimidated that he's been trying to spend his nights in the goat stall. I'm sure it'll all work itself out.

The icing on the cake - I'm pretty sure the hens are New Hampshire Reds. I thought one of the gift-givers at the party said they were New Hamps, and the look of them matches with some of the pictures of the New Hampshire Red section of Feathersite.

In other news, Ripley is now big enough to keep in the barnyard without escaping under the fence or through one of the gaps. I've now got her in a structured situation where she has a half-hour to eat in the morning or evening and, if she's not with a human being on a walk or working, she's in the barnyard with the goats. She's taking to the routine quite well. The breed seems to be quite intelligent. She has learned her name and some basic commands rather quicky. It's just that her size belies her intelligence, and the independent spirit of the Great Pyrenees can be taken as stubbornness or stupidity. I'm very impressed with the breed.

Things have calmed since the fair and we're falling into a routine. Ripley went on a trip to the vet a couple of weeks ago and we were told to keep her food at the current level and not give her any more (this vet had us switch her to adult food right away - something about the growth rate of big dogs, I guess). He thought she was a little heavy, but not too. It turned out that it wasn't the food. My daughter was giving Ripley the goat milk that at the time we weren't saving. We took her off of it, and she's looking like a much sleeker dog now.

The Great Pyrenees coat continues to amaze me. Briars and snags comb right out, as does dirt. She came home from a romp in the woods with my father-in-law and my nephew's chocolate lab, who is about the same age and weighs ten pounds less. She came back looking like a different dog, coated with dirt and burrs from head to toe, and two large dark spots on her left flank that look like she'd rolled in clay. I brushed her out that night and everything came out except the dark clay spots. They were gone the next day. My nephew's mother was going to wash the dog, but apparently thought we'd already done it. I don't know if it dried and worked itself out or if Ripley cleaned it herself. This is an amazing breed of dog.

The big news is that my daughter is getting enough quarts of goat milk from her main doe that we're slowly converting to using goat's milk in our household. Yesterday my wife and daughter made their first batch of goat cheese. It was wonderful stuff - much better than the buck-tasting stuff we got at a fancy market a couple of months ago. It was mild, mellow stuff that looked like ricotta. Wonderful.

And now, here's starting over with the tracking of the egg laying, thanks to the on-sale business calendar I got at Office Max.

Eggs (week ending 9/9): 13
Eggs (week ending 9/16): 9
Eggs (9/1/06 to date): 22
plus sixty or seventy collected 7/06 - 8/06

Well, the fair is over. We didn't sell off any animals, nor did we acquire any, although that whole thing about raising a pig keeps looming up. May make that happen sometime after more research - we'll see.

On the other hand, my daughter cleaned up ribbon-wise. Here's the tally. All awards are from Open Class and my daughter's Main Goat unless noted:

9th Place - Yearling Doe (Main Goat's daughter) (4-H)
5th Place - Best Udder*
3rd Place - Senior Showman (4-H)
2nd Place - Dairy Herd, Alpine (Main Goat, MG's mother, MG's daughter)
2nd Place - Yearling Doe, Alpine (Main Goat's daughter)
1st Place - Mother & Daughter, Alpine (Main Goat, MG's daughter)
1st Place - Doe 5+ Years, Alpine (Main Goat's mother)
1st Place - Doe 3 - 5 Years, Alpine
Champion - Alpine Doe
Champion - 4th Year Goat Harness (Lewis & Clark) (4-H)
Reserve Grand Champion - Goat Harness (Lewis & Clark) (4-H)
Reserve Grand Champion - Goat (4-H)
Reserve Grand Champion - Goat (plus a nifty plaque!)

Yeah, that's a boatload of trophies for her. More than last year, I think, but last year the Main Goat's daughter won Junior Grand Champion (in other words, the best of the goats not in milk). This year, a 9th and a 2nd from two different judges - which shows what a difference a judge can make.

Yeah, I'm proud of my daughter. And I can say "I helped," even if it was just occasionally feeding them and holding them while they were clipped. It was worth having my toes stepped on in the process - although steel toed boots are in the future if we're going to continue to show Open Class.

I should also note here that the goat that did the best was the one they almost wouldn't let my daughter take, as already chronicled here. The other interesting thing is that, while my daughter's Main Goat was isolated from others on the left and right, they said nothing about the goats on the other aisle, whose pen shared fence with ours. So much for biosecurity.

Finally, I went to Office Max the other day and found a 2006 office calendar marked down to $3.50. I'm going to hang it in the coop and keep track of eggs as they're laid. Hopefully this one won't get eaten like the last one was.

* Came in behind four Toggenberg does, a breed known for their, um, generous udders.