Third time's a charm – two charms, actually!

Dear little Blaise, who had a stillborn single ram lamb at the end of her first pregnancy and was nearly dead last year when she delivered Bling and a stillborn twin ewe lamb, surprised me at chore time this morning with lively twins, a spotted black gulmoget ram and a black gulmoget ewe (also technically spotted because of the wee white tip of her tail). I hustled the little family from the Sheep Sheraton into the readied stall in the barn, and rubbed the still-wet lambs down to dry them off more. Both figured out where the milk was, even though Blaise's udder is small (part of why she surprised me). I decided to pick up some milk replacer and a replacement heat bulb after church, figuring I'd know by the time I got home if the lambs were getting enough nourishment.

dramatic clouds on my way home, but thankfully no drama at home

Thankfully, both were still perky and active, not cold or lethargic, so I hung the heat lamb and enjoyed watching the happy little family. Blaise is being a wonderful mom:

(Stills in black and white to eliminate the red from the heat lamp.)

They would probably be fine without the heat lamp, but it makes ME feel better with our current cold weather. Yesterday was crazy; photographic proof!

Decided a wool hat was warranted!

And this by the end of the day.

This morning there was a fresh skiff of snow, followed by periods of rain and small hail throughout the rest of the day. A female Anna's hummingbird looked pretty cold at the feeder this morning; earlier this week I found a male in the grass. I'm not sure what happened to him; I gently moved him to a protected spot in case he just needed time to recover from a window strike, but he didn't make it.

After the rest of the girls got some pasture time this afternoon, I looked carefully at each of the four expectant ewes. I think Bridget and Bette could lamb within a week, followed by Bernadette and eventually Bree. After loving on everyone for awhile, I took a little video so you could see them all:

Did you notice that I got wee Bling sheared earlier this week?

So along with the daffodils, lambs are popping out at . . .

The shepherdess' guesses

Now that entries are closed for my lambing contest, I'll give you my best guesses, along with reasons based on my daily interactions and history with the ladies in waiting.

1. Who will lamb first? Blaise, because she has the most udder development and vulva changes.

2. What will be the date of that first lambing? March 28, because Blaise's udder and vulva do not yet indicate imminent lambing.

3. When the dust settles, how many lambs will I have? Nine. I think Bree will have a single and everyone else will twin.

4. Will there be more boys or girls? I'm going to say girls, but as blessed as I was by ewe lambs last year, this may well be a ram lamb year.

5. What percentage of the lambs will be black-based? I'm going to say four out of nine, or 44.4%. That's more than Spot has sired so far, but he does have a 50/50 chance of contributing a black gene, and that's all it takes to produce a black-based lamb.

Bernadette has been waddling uncomfortably for weeks, if not months. Friday evening she laid down and I was sure I saw contractions, even though her udder and vulva didn't look promising. Stranger things have happened, though, so I got busy readying the lambing stall while thinking of "Irish" names (Blarney Stone and Baileys Irish Cream were the top contenders). Then I caught her up for a closer examination (by now she was up and eating) and decided she must have only been trying to move her lambs into more comfortable positions. She's so round and uncomfortable that I was entertaining the thought of triplets until I looked back at my 2022 posts; Bernadette was very round and waddling uncomfortably more than two months before giving birth (via c-section) last year. Another example of the benefits of blogging....

I did get one sheep sheared during last week's nice weather. Since Bridget's sheep suit was very snug and she has the woolliest tail (making lamb watch harder and lambing messier), her number was called on Friday:

She looks much rounder in real life!

Got milk? Not yet!

Tuesday looks like an auspicious day to shear another ewe. Last year I was able to roo Bette in April, so I will check her fleece first. If she's not roo-able, I may shear Bernadette. Why not Blaise, if I think she'll lamb first? She wasn't sheared until May last year, so I'd like to wait another month.

Blaise, R, with Bette, who I think will lamb second

Blaise with the very round and uncomfortable Bernadette

L-R: Bernadette, Bree, Boop, Bridget, Bette, Broadway, Bling, Blaise

Last week's spring-like weather made the purple croci out front smile brilliantly:

Oh, how I love these colors!

That's it for now from . . .

Chicken Pi Day

Time for a different kind of flock talk!

The girls have slacked off a bit from the January/February egg rush, but we are still getting enough to use and sell. Rhode Island Red Kate (no photo) stopped laying her large brown eggs for several weeks, and is now laying JUMBO eggs. Whiting True Blue Splash is currently my closest hen-friend; she's the only one who seems to enjoy being held:

Once-gamebird-beautiful Spangle (my other Whiting True Blue) is molting so heavily she looks like a quail amongst the flock, poor thing:

Pearl, one of our four recent acquisitions (along with Puff, Lady E, and Ashes) is so similar to Splash that I have to look carefully at their combs to tell them apart from a distance. Up close it's a no-brainer since one is friendly and one is not. Pearl is downright vicious when in a nest box!

Little Puff, like Pigpen in the Charlie Brown comic strip, is always dirty.

I named this Easter Egger Lady E, but I've often thought since that with her white 'lace' collar, she should have been dubbed Ruth, for the Notorious RBG:

Ashes, above, is very different in color and shape to my three old grey hens. The six-year-old Blue Wyandottes are massive in comparison; beautiful to look at but not great layers.

My other old hen is a seven-year-old Black Australorp, not shown. Never fear; none of them are ending up in a pie or pot in this vegetarian's kitchen, today or any other day! Our hens live out their days here, and I enjoy watching and interacting with them.

That's it for now from . . .

Spring towards St. Patty's Day!

Blaise

Bree in front, her daughter Bette behind

Bernadette

Bridget

Yesterday was a beautiful day, so the horses got arena turn-out and the sheep got pasture time. I walked around and took 'belly drop' photos of all the pregnant ewes and wished for a week of likewise weather so I could start shearing. It's grey, damp and cool today, but I may get my wish later this week; so hurray – and pass the Aleve. 😉

All those bellies, and slowly filling udders, mean it's time, folks; this is the official lambing contest post! You have from now through midnight Friday (St. Patrick's Day) to enter by putting your answers to the questions below in the comments to this post, or emailing them to me at mmcmillen AT macnet DOT com. (I understand the link at the right that says "Email me!" may be broken.) NOTE: QUESTIONS HAVE BEEN UPDATED as of Monday afternoon!

Yes, I've buried the lede in order to add a little weight in favor of faithful readers. And in appreciation to faithful commenters, bonus entry points will be added based on the number of prior 2023 posts commented on. At the end of lambing, the person with the most correct/closest-to-correct answers + points can choose between a handknit headband,  a Fair Isle hat, or a set of sheep photo notecards as a prize. Here goes:

1. Who will lamb first?
2. What will be the date of that first lambing?
3. When the dust settles, how many lambs will I have?
4. Will there be more boys or girls?
5. What percentage of the lambs will be black-based?

I did finish my second Da Crofter's Kep, the one I plan to keep. As a palette cleanser, I'm spinning up the last of this black merino/alpaca/Tussah; then I'm going to cast on a new Fair Isle hat that I'm not going to keep. 😉

Let the lambing countdown begin at . . .