A sure sign.

If your pig starts acting restless, foams a little at the mouth,  and builds a next like this, it doesn't mean she has rabies.... it means you are about to have piglets.  

We put some hay out for our gilt thinking she needed extra material to build a nest and we were amazed at what she did with it!  First she built it.  Then....

She buried herself in it.  All we could see was her snout sticking out.   She did this for a couple of days.  Then....

The next thing we knew, the piglets were being born.  This little guy was the first one born.  Eventually 11 more joined him.  

Do you see the runt on the right?  He was too small to hang with the rest so he is being raised in a cardboard box in the house.

Piglets in our future....

Well, it looks like our little girl is pregnant.  She is starting to show signs that her piglets may be due very soon.  First the physical signs....

She is also quite active building a nest of sorts. 

Preparing to farrow

Surprise find in the chicken house today!

Our 3 yr. old grandson was out on an egg hunt this afternoon.  He peeked in the chicken house to see if he could find any hidden eggs and came walking out with this one.

Now that would be a giant chicken egg ~ but we are guessing our little duck made a visit to the chicken house.  We put the egg on a plate next to one of the chicken eggs to show the difference.  

Happy to report our first duck egg (well at least we think it is our first duck egg) made it to the refrigerator without a crack.  One of the other finds today wasn't so lucky.  : )

Kids can be like kids!

Our little pygmy goats believe they are part of the family.  Today they saw me leaving and tried to get in the car with me.  

Cows

We now have Jersey cows!   I wish they were on our land, but for now they are on leased land.  We are hoping the day will come soon when we can say they are on our property, but for now at least they are close by.  The grandkids just love them!

Morning activity...

Mornings are not very quiet around here.  The roosters start their crowing competition long before the sun is up and the goats start their "baah-ing" the minute they hear us. Who knew goats had super sonic hearing?  They know when I open a door or a window no matter how quiet I try to be.  Their pen is set back from the house so how they can hear that is beyond me.  Who would have guessed that of all the animals, the pigs are the most well behaved and easily managed?

This is the face that greeted me this morning...