Blackberries in Framboise

Those who follow me on facebook got a sneak peek at the end result of my first canning foray this year. I've  been canning -- or assisting in canning -- since a very young age. I can remember being in the kitchen as my grandmother and mother put up muscadine jelly before I was even tall enough to see into the pot...but I still got to lick the spoon. ;)

But as much as I love jam and jelly making, I wanted to try something I hadn't done yet this year. So I bought the newest edition of the Ball Company canning guide and sniffed out a recipe. That's how my mother and I ended up going to three different wine and liquor stores to find Framboise for these blackberries. When we finally got back from that and other shopping, it was already well into the evening, and it ended up being well after midnight before we were done canning.

But it was so worth it.

If you enjoy putting up preserves, you have to try this recipe. The tartness of the blackberries pairs perfectly the sweetness of the raspberry liqueur, and the nutmeg and cinnamon adds another depth of unexpected flavor. It's perfect over ice cream or in kefir or yogurt. It would also be the perfect match for a lemon pound cake.

It's a very simple recipe with few ingredients. Just blackberries (more in the stainless bowl), lemon peel, nutmeg, cinnamon stick, sugar, water, and the Framboise. (Ignore the olive oil bottle in the background.)

The first step is juice one pint of blackberries, which is very simple. You just heat the blackberries until they are all hot and soft, then press them in a sieve or cheese cloth.

The end result is a beautiful purple juice.

Next is making an infused simple syrup with the cinnamon stick, fresh ground nutmeg, grated lemon peel, and sugar; then you strain it to remove the cinnamon. Your kitchen is going to smell so good during this step.

Next everything is added back into the pot: the simple syrup, remaining blackberries, reserved juice, and the Framboise. It is then brought to a boil and put into the jars to be water-bathed.

The end result is 3-4 half-pints of blackberries (we got three, but I packed them very full) and a lot of leftover liquid. I was unwilling to just waste the remaining sauce, so I jarred it up and processed it as well. In the end I had three half-pints of berries and four of liquid. In the future, I will probably pack my berries looser.

I enjoyed a bit of the sauce over ice cream before canning the rest of my berries (which I just put up as for baking). It is so yummy. 

It is a bit pricey due to the expense of the Framboise, but I believe at least two batches could be gotten out of one bottle. Alternatively, the left over  Framboise could be used in mixed drinks as well. Either way, I think the berries are yummy enough to warrant a little extra expense. :)

Next spring the first thing I will be making with my goats' milk is fresh homemade ice cream, and you can guess what I'll be topping it with!

Blackberries in Framboise 

3 pints blackberries
2 cups sugar
1 stick cinnamon, broken
1 tablespoon grated lemon peel
1/2 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
2 cups water
1/2 cup Framboise, or other raspberry brandy
Extract juice from 1 pint blackberries. Measure 1/2 cup juice; set aside.
Combine sugar, cinnamon stick, lemon peel, nutmeg, and water in a large saucepot. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer 5 minutes.
Strain syrup; return to saucepot.
Add blackberry juice, remaining blackberries, and raspberry brandy; bring to a boil.
Pack hot blackberries into hot jars, leaving 1/2 inch headspace.
Ladle hot syrup over blackberries, leaving 1/2 inch headspace. Remove air bubbles.
Adjust two piece caps. Process 10 minutes in a boiling-water canner.

Recipe from the Ball Blue Book Guide to Preserving, 2013 edition. I highly recommend the Ball Blue Books to home canners, new and experienced alike.

Being Wildlife Friendly: Dealing with Natural Predators and Livestock

This is sort of a part deux to my earlier post, but I felt like there was enough to say about the topic to give it its own post. Also, this round is focusing more on natural predators, whereas the other post is focused on predation by domesticated canines.

Owning livestock means dealing with predators. There is no way around it; it's a part of life with livestock. Livestock species are all natural prey animals, and therefore attract the unwanted attention of natural predatory species. Predators can be skunks, possums, raccoon, predatory birds, coyotes, wolves, bears, or even humans. In warmer climates such as the deep south, alligators also end up on this list. But the existence of predators does not have to mean a death sentence.

Predators and Nature

In most cases, predatory species are also an important part of the natural ecology of a given area. The presence of natural predators is essential for a healthy balance of wild prey species. If a predatory population drops too low, the number of prey species can get out of hand. In my area, the deer population is out of control due to a lack of sufficient natural predators. While in some states hunters are only allowed 3 deer a season, here hunters are permitted to shoot three doe a day because their numbers are so high. Disease has increased. Crop farmers, including my uncle, are issued special permits that allow them to shoot deer out of season because the population is so high that they are stripping crops and damaging yield and profit. I have seen with my own eyes the tops eaten off of almost all the soybeans in a field. The sad thing is that these off-season kills cannot be eaten; they have to leave them in the field where they fall. Clearly we need predators here to take the deer population back to a healthy level, and predators in this case include human hunters.

While nature has a way of righting itself, it still causes damage when things get out of whack. Often disease strikes and drops a population, other times a new predator will move into town and start taking out the over-plenty prey. My personal opinion about the deer in my area is that we will eventually see a population of mountain lion or possibly even black bear, both of which were once native here, regrow and start feeding on the deer if their numbers continue to remain high. Black bear sightings have already occurred and been documented in this area of the state, and many people -- some of whom are friends or family -- have claimed to see cougars in the area.

Only time will tell for the deer in my area, but nature is a naturally balancing, sustainable force. Each thing plays a part; the predators, though they kill them, work symbiotically with the prey. Without prey, predators die from starvation; without predators, prey die from disease (and cause problems for humans in the mean time). Exceptions to this rule include invasive, nonnative species, but overall if nature is left alone it balances itself quite naturally.

Unfortunately, humans are not a part of nature anymore, at least not to the extent that they once were. The numbers of hunters and fishers who act as predators in the ecosystem have fallen. Now most people get their meat and fish from the store, wrapped up in nice plastic packages. This isn't inherently wrong, but it does change the balance. Humans also encroach on wildlife habitats, which in turn drives out certain species. Though some animals do quite well adapting to human presence (like raccoon and squirrels) others are driven away by or clash with them. It is also an unfortunate fact that in most cases, people attempt to work against nature instead of alongside it. They fight it out of selfishness or greed, or even just sheer ignorance, and they cause problems when they do so. The buffalo massacres of times past comes to mind, as does the more recent introductions of nonnative animal and plant species by well-meaning but no less stupid and nearsighted humans. Nature is here for us to responsibly utilize, but often times we abuse it instead.

Predators and Livestock Owners

One way in which we often work against nature instead of in symbiosis with it is in livestock farming. People all too often either a) take the easy way out and deal with predators by killing them or b) ignore the very existence of predators until an attack occurs and they must kill them. In both cases, losses are going to be inevitable, and life will be an uphill struggle. Killing a predator only opens the door for either prey species to become overpopulated or another predator to simply move in and be the next threat to one's livestock.

I want to make clear right now that this is not me saying that predators should never be killed. If a predator is caught attacking livestock, they should be put down. Once that behavior is learned, it's there forever and that animal will always recognize livestock as a smorgasbord. Also, predators that do not fear humans are a dangerous thing. A quick Google search of wildlife attacks on people (especially mountain lions and bears) will assure you of that fact. That said, I 100% believe that the best way to deal with predator attacks is to prevent them.

Preventing predatory attacks on livestock has twofold benefits: 1) livestock does not die and 2) predators do not die. In short, nobody has to die if livestock owners simply take measures to ensure the safety of their stock rather than waiting until an attack occurs and acting after the fact. There are a number of ways to live in harmony with nature, including natural predators, and drastically lower if not completely prevent losses of livestock to predators.

Guardians

In my opinion, the presence of livestock guardian dogs is the best deterrent. The guardian breeds, when bred for the job and trained accordingly, are better at protecting livestock than even humans. With sharp eyes, ears, and noses they can detect threats long before a human could. They also add the benefit of being able to be with the flock 24/7, and the ability to deter most predators before they even attack. Unless a predator is desperate, they will most likely move on to easier targets before ever even attempting to go after the ones guarded by large dogs. Dogs, especially males, will also mark their territory to alert predators to their presence even when they aren't in that specific area.

How many that are needed depends on the predators native to the area and the amount of land the livestock are on. I have a small acreage with goats and chickens. Each goat pen is less than an acre. The only natural predators here that could feasibly attack a goat are coyotes. Therefore, I only have two guardians (though I do have plans to add a third in the future when our perimeter fencing is complete). If I had more land or lived in an area with mountain lions, I would have a minimum of two guardians in every pen, and if I had bears to contend with I would run three or more in a perimeter fence. Other things to take into consideration when choosing how many dogs to run include how big the predator population is, how ample their natural prey is in the area, how bold they are around humans, and how far spread out your livestock may be when grazing (i.e., the size of the actual livestock areas).

Fencing and Housing

This is also an important aspect of owning livestock. It's important that your fencing is able to keep your livestock and guardians in while also keeping predators out. After all, even a guardian can't protect a kid, lamb, calf, or what-have-you if it's running outside of the fence. Be sure and take into consideration the size of the stock that will be in the fence; for example, baby goats can slip right through the holes in cattle panels. Be sure to research proper construction if you aren't familiar. A well built fence will be useful for years, but a poorly built one with be nothing but a pain. Don't take short cuts -- it's not worth it in the long run.

I highly recommend using electric fencing around the bottom of the fence when housing small livestock, especially goats, or dogs that are known to roam or dig. For dogs that like to climb, a string around the middle or top also works well. Electric is difficult to maintain, but it prevents goats or other animals from damaging fencing by going under it or rubbing along it and using it as a scratching post. In order for it to work properly, it must have the correct size charger for the distance, the correct voltage for the species inside it, and no dead leaves or live vegetation grounding it out.

For extremely heavy predatory areas, electric can also be run around the bottom and middle or top of the outside of the fence. This helps deter predators without permanently injuring them. The bottom strand is most important in areas with canines predator species, while the middle and top are important in areas with climbing predators such as big cats or bears. Obviously a potent shock would be necessary to deter a bear.

Housing also needs to be a secure place, but understand that it must also be well ventilated. Housing cannot be your sole defense against predators for this reason, and because the livestock need to have free access to move in and out of the housing during the day. If a prey animal can get into and out of the housing from the field, so can a predatory animal. Therefore, fencing and guardians are the first line of defense. It is possible to lock livestock inside of their barn at night while predator activity is typically at its height. This is the recommended method for poultry, and is not a bad idea for young stock or for areas where predators are dense or of particular threat.

Birthing pens should be especially secure, both in fencing and housing. The sounds and smells of birth draw predators looking to make an easy meal out of vulnerable young or mothers in labor.

Other Habits of Prevention

This is a list from PredatorFriendly.org of other methods of preventing predator attacks. Predator Friendly is an organization dedicated to promoting wildlife stewardship practices by farmers and ranchers. They promote coexistence between livestock owners and natural predators and offer certification to those farmers who work to coexist.

• Schedule pasture use when predator pressure is low

• Graze cattle with smaller livestock to protect sheep, goats, and calves

• Time calving and lambing to avoid predation risk

• Lamb in sheds, secure fenced lots, or protected pastures

• Make frequent and unpredictable patrols in pastures

• Fence out predators

• Learn the ecology and habits of area wildlife

They also recommend the use of guardian animals. All of these are methods of preventing predator attack, and they all relate to two core principles: 

1) Create safe environments for livestock that keep them separate and guarded from potential predators. Having secure areas, especially for small livestock and for young and birthing animals, guarded by dogs bred and trained to protect them ensures safety and often negates the need for action against predators.

and 

2) Be aware of wildlife habits and the local ecosystem. Understanding the way predators operate, and the important role that they play in their natural habitat, is key to operating a farm that is beneficial rather than harmful, that works with the natural processes instead of against them.

Conclusion

I have always believed in being sustainable and as naturally responsible as possible. Coexisting with native wildlife and plants is just one small part of raising happy and healthy livestock in as natural a way as possible. It is a common desire among small or hobby farmers such as myself to raise animals humanely and naturally as possible -- to step away from the modern conventions of putting profit above all and quantity over quality -- but all too often we leave out this important part of the equation. Wildlife, predators included, are important. It would be remiss to seek to responsibly raise livestock with our right hand while our left hand blindly struggles against nature.

*You will notice that I did not mention dogs in this post. This is because dogs, domesticated or feral, are not a natural predator. They are instead an introduced threat that become predators and problems for small livestock owners when the owners of the dogs do not act responsibly and keep them on their own property. However, the practices listed here also work toward preventing attacks on livestock from wandering dogs as well. Furthermore, my statement that wild predators attacking livestock should be put down applies to dogs as well. There is more about dealing specifically with dogs as predators in this post.

Wandering Dogs

I have been silently following a thread on social media by someone who lost two of her goats to a neighbor's marauding dogs. The neighbor, after having her dogs shot and being taken to court, has made blog posts and fb statuses about how her dogs "never could have done that" and that the owner of the goats was in the wrong. Of course, after reading the posts by the dog owner, I'm convinced she has more air in her head than brain. The woman's dogs were caught on the goat owner's property having killed on goat, maimed another to the point it had to be euthanized, and were in the process of attacking a third; she (dog owner) is responsible for her dogs roaming and the goat owner was not at fault. Period, end of story.

However, as my grandmother would say, I don't have a dog in that fight. This post isn't about that situation, and I would personally rather not link to the woman in question as I feel that she is getting far more attention than she deserves.

Instead, I simply want to go over my experience with wandering dogs and make note of some dog characteristics. I'm going to recount some instances where I have lost animals to stray dogs.

My Experience 

The first animals I ever lost to a neighbors dog were rabbits. I bred rabbits when I was kid-preteen, and they were the first livestock species I owned (other than the family horse). However, I was raising them as pets, not commodities. At the time when I had first gotten three does, a huge mastiff was routinely doing his rounds through the neighborhood. Long story short, the mastiff literally broke into our rabbit hutch -- which was well constructed with wood and wire -- and killed my rabbits.

The second rabbit loss occurred at a later date and was caused by my own dogs. A storm came through in the night with strong wind. It blew over our rabbit hutch and opened our dog fence. You can probably put together what happened after that.

I have also lost chickens to a neighbor's dogs. This was the worst encounter. A German Shepherd and a Lab mix continuously got out of their owner's fence and came to our property to get our chickens. Our birds were in a fence; however, the dogs learned how to double team them and make them fly out. One would bark and run them from one side, and the other would do the same on the opposite side, until finally a terrified chicken would fly out and into their waiting jaws. This happened almost every day, and almost every day my parents (who wrongly believed that she would actually keep her dogs on her property and wanted to keep a good rapport with her) called and told her to keep her dogs up and that they were killing our chickens.

The neighbor's obviously did not do this, and we lost almost our entire flock. Then one morning while I was sleeping, the dogs caught one of our Pomeranians outside and killed her. The neighbors then took their dogs to be euthanized, and the story ended unhappily for all involved.

Misconceptions

The saddest part about all of this is that it could have been avoided. First of all, in our county there is a leash law, meaning that all dogs must be kept either on the owner's property or on a leash. Secondly, one of the many misconceptions that dog owners have is that their dogs will not kill other mammals. 

The attitudes of our neighbors (at least, as they appeared to be -- I don't know what they thought or felt, I can only go by their actions) was that it was "just a chicken." Of course anyone who owns chickens knows that losing them is a financial drain as well as an emotional one. Adult laying hens sell for $20 and up from individuals, and much more from hatcheries. Then there is also the value of the eggs, the time and money that was put into raising them from chicks, and the time and money that is required for us to replace them with chicks which we then had to spend time and money raising again before they reached laying age at around 6 months old. Also, in my experience, hens do not lay consistently until they are older than that.

Furthermore, once a dog has learned the behavior of killing, they will not change and the behavior can easily progress from killing one species to another, as was evidenced by our neighbor's dogs. No, not all chicken-killing dogs will also kill other animals, but for the most part it can be assumed that they likely will. If a dog ever learns to hunt and kill, it is very difficult to rehabilitate them and is many times impossible. It is for this reason that most dogs who have been trained into dog fighting must be euthanized and cannot be adopted back out by a rescue. Once that instinct has been ingrained in them, it is there to stay. Many older people will use phrases like "having a taste for blood" to describe this type of behavior. 

People believe that their precious Fluffy and Fido could never hunt and kill because they have been domesticated. As much as I would like to live in a world where that were true, it's simply not. Dogs have been bred down over many, many years into the breeds that we have today, but they are still a predatory species. Many breeds were actually originally bred to hunt, such as my grandmother's dachshund that was quite skilled at hunting and killing rats. He had never been trained to this behavior, but it was in his blood. Canines are built to hunt and kill prey, and though some breeds have been selectively bred to bond to certain species and only attack threats (LGD breeds), or to be typically non-aggressive in general, that is not only not the case for most breeds, but there are also still exceptions even within breeds developed to be non-aggressive. For example, one of LGDs will kill chickens if they fly into his pen. He was not raised with foul, so despite being kind and gentle with goats (including babies), cats (who he will let eat his food), and our other dogs, he will go after our feathered friends.

Just as we cannot train a cat not to catch a bluebird or dig up a mole, it's impossible to undo thousands of years of predatory instinct in dogs. While many dogs, especially those who are raised around other species from puppy-hood, do get along just fine with livestock species, the ones who have not been trained to be safe around chickens, goats, sheep, or even larger livestock like cows often still see those species as prey and not fellow pack members.

With the dogs that killed our chickens, even though their owner believed them to be dog safe and "couldn't believe" (her words) that they would do such a thing as kill another dog, the problem lay in the fact that they had learned how fun and tasty killing smaller animals was. Dogs don't necessarily differentiate between a chicken and another dog that isn't any larger than a large hen or a rooster. Bree was small, and therefore Bree was prey. Again, that isn't always the case, but it can be expected. I expected it and  gave this warning, but others did not understand or believe it. I understood because I had researched the issue of predatory dogs while preparing for my goats and again when prepping for my Livestock Guardian Dogs.

Yet another common misconception is that a livestock owner has no rights over dogs on their own property that are posing a threat to, or have already killed, their livestock. This is not the case. In my own state, as in most if not all, it is entirely legal for a livestock owner to kill a dog that is harassing, preparing to kill, in the process of killing, or has just killed livestock as long as it is on the livestock owner's property. It is not legal to follow the dog off of the property to kill it; if it has left the property, the owner of the livestock must go through the court system. The owner of the dog is legally liable for damage and losses caused by their dogs. 

These are the facts:  

1. It is the dog owner's responsibility to keep their animals on their own property. 
2. Dogs will hunt and kill livestock. In fact, they are notorious for this behavior among livestock owners, and for good reason.
3. Livestock owners are within their rights to take action against such dogs and to seek reparations from the dog owners.

Dealing with Wandering Dogs

I can't tell you how you should deal with stray dogs on your own property, or what you should do if you have incurred a loss. That is a judgment call that only you can make because only you know your situation. But I will tell you how I handle them.

First of all, I have livestock guardian dogs in with my goats, and have plans to add a third for my chickens when our perimeter fencing is complete. I believe that the best way to deal with livestock loss is to prevent it, and one thing that I will tell everyone to do is to have an LGD if they have small livestock like goats. For those living in an area with predators larger than dogs and coyotes (cougars, bears, wolves), I say have guardians for any species of livestock, and to have them in pairs. But unfortunately it's hard to convince some people that they need LGDs, and then those same people end up hurting after stray dogs kill their beloved goats (or sheep, chickens, what have you).

Secure fencing is also important, but fencing fails. Predators like dogs can dig under or even break through fencing with ease, or simply scare animals out of it like they did with my chickens. It's not enough to put up fences and have secure barns, because animals find ways into and out of fencing even when it seems completely secure. We have recently added a perimeter fence as well as our individual fences to add further protection and to protect our own dogs when they go outside, but I still do not trust it to keep other dogs out 100%.

When dogs roam through the part of our yard that isn't fenced -- like this huge bloodhound that has been running around the neighborhood lately -- I leave them alone so long as they don't bother things. I know that sometimes dogs run off. We have had dogs hit by cars, so I do completely understand that sometimes dogs go where we don't want them to. I also get that, just as fencing doesn't always keep them out, it doesn't always keep them in, either. We've had breakouts of our own.

But I have zero tolerance policy for any dogs harassing my livestock. I have tried the playing nice game, and it got me nothing but heartache and an anger that still has not completely gone away. If I could go back and do things differently and save Bree I would, but unfortunately that's not possible. What's done is done, and though we did the best we could at the time, we made the wrong choices. I won't make those mistakes again, and my parents wouldn't either.

Thankfully we have not had another instance of dogs harassing or killing our livestock, but if we did there would be no warnings to the owners to please keep them up. There would be action, and yes, I might go to court for reparations next time depending on the extent of the loss. 

I have been a dog owner much longer than I have had livestock. I have volunteered for dog rescues, and I have even fostered dogs for rescues. As I type this, there is a Pomeranian laying on a pillow by my desk and a rescued Collie mix sprawled out behind my chair. I love all animals, dogs included, but I still have a no tolerance policy with dogs harassing my livestock. I understand that the owners of dogs who have to be put down because of killing livestock hurt because of it. I would hurt if I were in their shoes, and yes I would be angry at the situation, but when it comes down to it if one of my dogs somehow escaped and attacked someone's livestock, I would accept the fact that they should have been on my property. (Of course all my dogs have been trained to be livestock friendly, but that isn't the point).

When it comes down to it, dogs owners accept a responsibility when they buy or adopt that cute little puppy. They have a responsibility to give it proper care, and they also have a responsibility to keep it on their property. At the end of the day, if the dog isn't where it belongs no one is at fault but its owner.

In Memory of Bree.

Gape Worm

No that is not a typo, and I didn't mean to say tape worm. We're talking about gape worm with a G (Syngamus trachea).

Yeah, I had never heard of it either.

I learned about this parasite only after one of our chickens became ill. Dad had noticed her acting 'weird' the day before, but we all thought she was just doing some strange chicken behavior. Chickens can behave strangely at times, and usually it's nothing to be concerned about.

This time, though, the behavior meant something more than a chicken being a chicken. When I let the chickens out of their coop to free range yesterday morning (we lock them up at night to protect them from predators), I noticed one of the hens was already outside of the coop. Now that is extremely unusual, because 99% of the time all of the chickens are back on their roosts by dusk. It's like clockwork. So I knew automatically that something wasn't right.

I went to check her out, and she let me walk up and pick her up with no protest. Another red flag for our chickens, who -- although calm around people -- do not like being caught. She had zero injuries or signs of a predator attack, but she was definitely not doing well. I brought her up to the house to watch her more closely. The symptoms she was exhibiting were some I'd never seen before. First of all, she had the hiccups. (Who knew chickens could even get hiccups?) Secondly, she was breathing heavily, and with every breath she would stick her head way up in the air, inhale as big as possible, and then slowly pull her neck back down to her chest and hang her head. She also had mucous on the tip of her beak.

So off we went to Google. Dad found the culprit first, and I looked up and read what he had found as well. The diagnosis was almost undoubtedly gape worm, and I believe the mucous was an indication of a secondary respiratory infection brought on by the parasites.

So what is gape worm? A nasty, nasty little bugger. The worms set up shop in the birds trachea and feed off their blood. Thinking about it makes me want to gag. Having worms in your trachea must be one of the worst sensations ever. The worms slowly suffocate the bird by blocking off their airway (hence the hiccups, labored breathing, and stretching to try to open the airway). According to what I've read, if the obstruction doesn't kill the birds, a secondary infection usually does.

There were several treatments listed, including fenbendazole (Safeguard), ivermectin, and moxidectin (Cydectin). I had Cydectin on hand, so that was the treatment plan I went with. I wanted to dose her as quickly as possible in the hopes of saving her. I also moved her out of the heat and humidity and onto our air conditioned back porch in the hopes that cool dry air would help her breath. I also offered apple cider vinegar spiked water, but she didn't drink any.

Unfortunately she showed no improvement; instead, she got steadily worse. Dad and I talked it over and decided she most likely wasn't going to make it, and it would be cruel to let her suffocate to death.

So what do we need to know about gape worm?

• Gape worms can be carried and transmitted by some of chickens' favorite snacks, including red worms and slugs. Wild birds can also be carriers.
• You can check for gape worm by examining the throat/trachea of the bird by propping her neck open with something like a pencil. We did not do this (the thought really grosses me out, too), but it would be a good way to differentiate between a respiratory infection or gape worm if there was any doubt. Look up more thorough instructions before trying that, of course.
• Gape worm is apparently most common in young birds and peasants, but can happen in any domesticated fowl. Being on the ground increasing the risk (i.e., free ranging).
•  The only way to completely prevent it, it seems, would be to allow birds zero access to the ground. Since I believe that birds should be allowed to naturally forage, that is not an option.
• Trying to minimize the amount of carriers in the soil or coop area might help. I treated our coop with diatomaceous earth.
• Once a bird is infected, it can expel the eggs of the gape worm through its feces or by breathing. So if you have a symptomatic bird who has gape worm, she has probably deposited the eggs all over the place.
• Based on what I have read, unless gape worm is caught very early the bird is not likely to survive. In my limiting experience and from what I have seen of what it does, I am inclined to believe that. Culling may be the best option unless its caught and treated very early.

I'm no expert, but this is what I have gleaned with my limited internet research.

I hate deworming or giving medication preemptively, but I absolutely believe in treating when necessary. For my goats, I use the FAMANCHA method combined with observing body condition to determine when I need to deworm. I have also been using smart drenching rather than treating on a schedule or treating every animal when one is infested. I also attempt to use natural means to prevent infestations: keeping things clean, feeders up off the ground, keeping water clean, keeping minerals accessible, and bolusing for copper. In the future I hope to be able to use rotational grazing. I will also be breeding for resistance.

But...chickens are a horse of a different color. There is no FAMANCHA method for birds (at least not that I'm aware of). We do work to keep housing clean, put DE under bedding, and allow them room to roam (crowding and confinement increase the spread of parasites). But chickens love to scratch and eat things from the ground, including those insects which are carries for parasites (and parasites themselves, I am sure). This leads me to my next point.

Knowing what I do about gape worm, the horrible way in which it kills, and the fact that our affected hen could have spread it literally all over our entire chicken area, I decided it would be best to deworm all the chickens as a preventative measure. My parents also agreed with this, and I was given the same advice from a friend who also has chickens. Though the dewormer I am using has no milk withdrawal period, it is off-label for chickens. That means no withholding time for eggs has been established or studied.

Which, unfortunately, means that for the next 30+ days, while the chickens are being dosed and the self-imposed withdrawal time to be safe, we will have no eggs to sell to others. We are truly sorry for the inconvenience, but we simply can't risk the health of our entire flock for the sake of being able to sell the eggs. Believe me, it totally sucks to know we'll be throwing out eggs during the middle of the peak laying season. *sigh*

Here are the links to the pages from which I gathered my information:

http://www.backyardchickens.com/t/74676/gapeworm-treatment-and-how-soon-can-you-eat-the-eggs/10 (post #12 here contains the dosage instructions I followed)

http://www.backyardchickens.com/t/87267/gapeworm-what-do-we-do
http://www.backyardchickens.com/t/419463/if-they-have-worms-what-is-the-treatment/10
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gapeworm
http://poultrykeeper.com/digestive-system-problems/gape-worm-or-syngamus-trachea
http://www.backyardchickens.com/t/602699/worming-chickens/10#post_7931055

Babies, Babies Everywhere!

I am only slightly exaggerating! Moma Hen's final chick count was six chicks out of nine eggs. (I originally thought I had ten eggs, but apparently I can't count.) Of course I would have loved for all nine to be successful, but I am certainly not complaining. Not one bit.

The best part is that all the chicks are thriving. In the past when I've had hens set, it usually turns out that at least one chick out of the bunch hatches but doesn't make it. Sometimes they have trouble hatching, and sometimes there seems to be no obvious reason other than that it just wasn't meant to be. But so far all these little ones are full of energy and spunk.

The funny part is that not a single one is black! I'm thinking our hen decided she didn't need to go through the trouble of laying when she had other hens generous enough to donate to her cause. In a way I am disappointed because I was hoping to carry on her broodiness in my flock by keeping a daughter from her, but on the other hand it will be a nice surprise to see how these little ones grow up. I know at least one is a RIR x EE cross. Also, perhaps broodiness is a learned trait more than a genetic one. We will see.

The other baby on board is our new buckling, Parham Farms DT Bazinga! He finally came to live with us here after being weaned. As you can see, he has certainly made himself at home.

Originally he was going to be staying in his own spacious pen with his own barn. I had cleaned the kid space out over the last week, installed a new hay rack, and even bought a dog house because that barn is a mostly open, lean-to style. I thought he would be more comfortable, warm, and secure feeling in a smaller enclosure while sleeping by himself at night. He was going to be sharing a fence line with the does, but not a barn.

That plan didn't work out, and in the picture above you can see why. Little 'Zinga is a loud mouth. I can't blame him considering he has just been separated from his mom and siblings and moved to a new place, but it still threw a hitch in my plans. I could just imagine every predator from miles around coming to snack on a goat kid buffet that night. Every cry surely translated to "Free food! Helpless baby over here! EAT ME!" in predator language. 

Luckily our doe barn is unique in that it was originally a horse stall and open overhang. When we converted it for the goats, we put up a panel fence and gate around the front and latched the stall door open, creating a connected space of two 10 x 10 areas. Normally I only use the partition to contain the does in one side when I need easy access to them for hoof trimming, deworming, etc, but it came in handy Saturday. 

I closed the gate to give the does one half and Bazinga the other. I moved Bazinga and his dog house (and my chair) over to the front half of the barn and let the does have the back, which is connected to their fenced area. The only problem so far is that the only hay rack I have for that barn is on the doe side, and the only mineral feeder is on Bazinga's. But I will deal with those minor inconveniences for a couple of weeks for the sake of knowing that Bazinga will be quiet at night because the does are there next to him, and that even if he isn't my LGD Lakota is right next door and could easily alert us or even climb the gate if some hungry hooligan tried any funny business.

Even though these babies are cuties, I'm excited to see how they grow up. The chicks will be a total surprise as their mature feathers come in. They could be any number of colors. As for Bazinga, I know he is going to be an impressive buck. He has the most incredible bloodlines and I'm already impressed by his conformation. I expect great things out of him!

Broody Mama

Most of us are aware that the majority of traits are passed down genetically, with the rest being learned or developed after birth. The breeders of commercial agriculture have cashed in by exploiting this simple fact and using it to create monocultures in livestock (and crops, but that's another story for another day). They have selectively bred their way to profits on top of profits by creating animals that produce the greatest amount for the least amount of investment.

Selective breeding is not a bad thing by any means. It can be a very beneficial tool. All serious livestock breeders use it to make their lines the best that they can be. Animals are selected for their ability to produce, their conformity to their breed standards, and their thriftiness. The ideal homestead or small farm animal is one that converts feed to production well while also adhering to standards set for the species and breed and maintaining optimal health with proper management and without an excessive need for medication or intervention. Carefully selecting breeding pairs based on their traits is necessary to producing good quality animals.

Commercialism takes this too far. They have bred down from a diverse collection of foundation animals that successfully produced good amounts of milk, meat, or eggs while still being able to function naturally to a handful of breeds that have been bred to do nothing but convert grain to massive amounts of food for these least amount of money. The ability for the animals to be able to live on pasture, stay healthy without too much human intervention, and breed naturally has become moot for commercial livestock breeders because they now possess the ability to feed them nothing but cheap grains, keep them pumped full of antibiotics, artificially breed them, and raise their young for them. They have traded the ability of an animal to be naturally sustainable for the benefit of higher profits.

There are a ton of risks and problems that this type of management creates, and I could spend all day going on about the inhumane practices and the detriment of this single-mindedness to the diversity and well being of heritage livestock breeds, but today I just want to focus on one aspect: The loss of natural mothering skills found in commercialized livestock, particularly poultry.

Broodiness, aka the instinct for a mother hen to set her eggs and rear her chicks, has been almost completely bred out of the commercial breeds. It is no longer important in the commercial agricultural industry for hens to be able to raise their own young, because their eggs can be taken and incubated by the humans. But the biggest reason this trait has been bred out is due to a loss of profits when a hen goes broody, because broody hens will not lay as well. When a mama bird has the urge to make some babies, she will stop laying and focus on hatching eggs. This means a loss of profit on that hen because she is not producing as well while she is trying to start a brood.

But broodiness is a beneficial trait for a homesteader or small farmer! Having a hen that will go broody when left with a clutch of eggs is invaluable for those of us who desire that our livestock not only be productive but also reasonably sustainable. If I have to incubate eggs or buy new chicks every time I need to refresh my flock, I am spending more time and money than necessary (because of course I can't do this as cheaply as a commercial hatchery) and my flock is not truly sustainable because it cannot reproduce itself. But if I leave a clutch of eggs with a broody mama who then does all the work of raising them for me, I have put forth much less effort for the replenishing of my flock. I have payed much less for the new chicks -- only the cost of feed, shavings, and water -- and I can take the set back of losing a hen's production for a while because I don't have as great a demand for eggs as someone whose entire income depends upon the production of their chickens.

And this is the way that homesteads and farms used to operate. They were diverse places that held several different species, and possibly breeds, of livestock and crops. They had less of a demand for one thing, and could make up for the lack of a few eggs from one hen by the fact that she would be bringing forth new stock that they didn't have to spend a ton of time or money on raising. They also didn't depend on one single thing to keep their farm working. Their homesteads were polycultures that worked symbiotically. Their animals may not have had twice as much weight on their frames as their bodies could actually support (I'm looking at you, commercial meat poultry), but they could do well with natural browse and could reproduce on their own. They didn't have to be constantly medicated or artificially inseminated in order to keep existing.

Release a flock of commercial broad breasted turkeys into a pasture and they probably wouldn't last a month.

All of this is why I am proud to say that I have a line of hens, stemming from my foundation stock, that will set eggs and raise chicks when given the opportunity. I was afraid I had lost all of my original stock to predators, but thankfully I know that at the very least I have one hen and one rooster that come from those first birds, and most specifically from that first hen who liked to go broody. I now have a beautiful Australorp x RIR cross setting ten eggs due to hatch the 15th of June. I know she is one of my home grown girls because she is mostly black with some red feathers -- clearly she came from an Australorp egg fertilized by my RIR rooster and reared by one of my first broody RIR hens. She may not be a pristine purebred, but I am proud of her nonetheless and am hoping her hatch will be successful.

There is a strange sense of pride in knowing that my animals know how to be animals. Of course they are given the care necessary to make their lives as successful, productive, and happy as can be, but it's nice to know that Mama Hen is out in her brooder keeping eggs warm and preparing to care for them naturally, which keeps me from having to invest in an incubator or the cost of purchasing and shipping chicks from a hatchery (which of course I had already done this year! Oops!)

Thanks, Mama Hen, for knowing to do what you were created to do, and thank you breeders who have not dumped all other breeds of chicken in favor of commercial layers and growers.

Exciting Announcement!

I have officially chosen our new herd sire! I am incredibly excited to introduce Parham Farms DT Bazinga!

*Image is from Parham Farms, www.parhamfarms.com

He is not here with us yet, but will call Wonderland home once he is weaned. I love Kathy Parham's goats -- she is knowledgeable, breeds with a purpose, and produces amazing quality dairy animals. I bought my favorite doe, Tiramisu, from her and would recommend her goats to anybody looking for MiniManchas or Nigerian Dwarfs with strong milking genetics. 

I can't wait to see what this little guy brings to our farm. I was drooling over him and his pedigree for a week, and comparing it to all of my does to be sure it would work, before I even talked to Kathy about him. It was love at first sight with this one. I couldn't let him get away!

His incredible pedigree (also from the Parham Farms website):

sire: Agape Oaks GHIR Dark Truffle *S
dam: Agape Oaks CK Pizzazz *M *D AR
ss: Agape Oaks GHIR Dark Truffle *S
sd: Agape Oaks Burn Ban 2*M AR
ds: Lost Valley KW Cherokee *S +B
dd: Agape Oaks Sparkler
sss: Piddlin Acres PV Pokemon *S
ssd: MCH/GCH Gay-Mor's JJU NonPariel 3*D 1*M 'E'
sds: Flat Rocks Firecracker +B
sdd: Flat Rocks Golden Rule *M
dss: Gay-Mor's RA Kingwood ++*S
dsd: Lost Valley Hopi 2*D
dds: Flat Rocks Firecracker +S
ddd: Flat Rocks Twinkle Little Star *D

Update

It has been quite a while since I've made a new blog post, and it is definitely beyond time for an update!

As you may or may not have inferred from my absence from the blog and a lack of kids for sale, I took a sabbatical after my 2010 kids were born, for a couple of reasons which I will go into shortly. I would like to apologize for not making myself more available via the web regardless of my sabbatical, however. I hope that no one hesitated to contact me due to my dropping off the face of web. 

The reasons for my sabbatical were twofold. One is that I simply had too much going on between finishing up my last year of undergraduate school, being active in a pet rescue group (including fostering, transporting pets, and occasionally trying to revive sick animals), and having so many animals of my own. I did not have the time or energy to breed any does during this time, because I knew if I did I would not be able to continue juggling all of my responsibilities sufficiently.

The second reason I took a break was due to a string of heartbreaks that made me hesitate to breed more goats. I suffered several losses, most of which were completely unexpected, between 2010 and present. The causes ranged from stray dogs to cancer to having to sell when I hadn't planned on it. 

It was a hard few years, and I was in a place where I was wishing I had not had any animals ever at all. It was difficult to deal with so many unexpected losses within such a short period of time. Because of this, I was not ready to face the risks of breeding any of my girls; in the back of my mind was the voice that said, "if you breed them something bad will happen." I wasn't ready to face the risk of having any more losses. 

It is difficult to come clean about these struggles, partly because it is a sign of weakness and partly because I still feel that they were my own fault despite the fact that I logically know that I was doing the best I could and that there was no way I could have foreseen or prevented any of these problems.

However, it is true that time heals wounds. Over the past year I have debated whether I wanted to breed goats again or if I should sell out. But I knew deep down that selling all of my goats was not something I wanted to do, but milking them and having babies running around was something I wanted to do. I was able, through my sabbatical, to recognize that I needed to do a few things: I needed to come to terms with the fact that loss is a part of life and that having animals means losing animals. I needed to decide whether the joy animals could bring was worth the pain of losing them, whether it be through death or having to sell them, and I discovered that it is. And I needed to reevaluate my goals for my herd before I began breeding again. I needed to center and plan out how I wanted my herd to evolve before I made my fresh start, and that is what I have done.

Over the years from 2008 to present my goals for my goat herd have undeniably changed. I am no longer interested in showing or breeding as a hobby, and have therefore chosen to not breed as frequently or as many animals at once. The primary reason behind this has been a steady decrease in the amount of time I have to allot to my herd. I recognize that, with all the other things that go on in my life, I will be stretching myself too thin and not be able to give 100% of myself to every area of my life that deserves it if I breed too many to kid at the same time. With this in mind -- but still with a desire to continue my heard -- I have chosen to significantly downsize my herd and shift my focus from the Nigerians to the Minimanchas, which I have found to truly love and which combine increased milk production with the compact size of the Nigerian. My goals have shifted from wanting to show and breed show quality animals to wanting to focus on the milk pail and breed animals that are correct from the inside out. I want to breed hardy, healthy, productive animals that give back in the bucket and kid without problems. Furthermore, I want to breed my does to kid at intervals rather than all at once. That way, if there are any problems, they will be easier to manage.

This decision means more for me than for interested buyers, but there are some things that will change for others as well. One result of this decision is that I will have fewer kids for sale and also that some of my foundation stock is now for sale. After reevaluating my goals I have worked out which animals do not fit  these goals and am working them out of my herd. There are also does who I am keeping for the time being but will be reevaluating as they kid and I milk them next spring. Those that don't fit my new goals will be sold or, if I am very attached to them, retired.

As part of my herd reduction/reevaluation, all but two of my males are for sale. I will be keeping one buck, Wybie, and one whether. Which whether I retain really depends on which one sells last. Check out my website (link to the side) to see the for sale animals.

As for the future, I am spending this summer improving fences and housing to make for better organization and will hopefully add a new herd sire when mine is sold. I plan to slowly convert my herd to a majority of MiniManchas rather than Nigerians, but I will continue breeding a few Nigerians as well. Babies will be on the ground starting in January of 2014 and kids will be for sale. Some adult does in milk may be as well depending on how I feel about how they add to my herd.

I hope that this explains my absence and that bigger and better things are ahead for Wonderland. Thank you, as always, for reading.

- Rachel in Wonderland