I really can't believe it's the start of a new season already! All of the snowstorms made this winter go by so quickly. So here we are...2010 season. We received the egg layers yesterday. This year I decided on Russian Orlorffs and Welsummers, both rare breeds. I like to order different kinds of chickens because there are so many beautiful breeds, each having different personalities. Tomorrow we receive the first batch of broiler chickens. Starting next week, the first group of eleven sows will begin farrowing and won't end until May. Around that time my second group should be ready to breed for fall piglets. The Culpeper's Farmers Market begins April 24th. It'll be great to see everyone again!
I was down with the group of pigs we just moved and noticed one in heat. Of course she is too young so now we need to separate the girls from the boys. That should be an easy task. I also noticed some odd behavior amongst this group. Not bad odd, but good odd. The young Berkshire boars in this group, Duke and Simon, have always been so friendly. They love getting attention and are just my sweet boys. The girls, however, have been slightly stand-offish. They'll come up to me but as soon as I try to pet them they take off. Today they were different. Some of them were actually competing for my attention. They would rub up against me and let me touch them. I noticed them frolicking more as they discovered wallowing for the first time. I didn't think it was that warm, but for them a nice sunny day was warm enough. I'm sure it felt good on their skin. Surely, these animals felt the stress of this past winter just like their owners did!
The older pictures above show some pretty White Rock hens, Scott and a young Ollie, and the last one(I think that was 3-4 years ago) shows some major clearing and excavating of the front. It was very much over grown. Sam is the little guy with the orange shirt.
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