More Peafowl on The Derby Farm

The peahen nest is right under where the chickens roost at night.

The peafowl population has grown from the inside and the outside!
As peacocks go, George is not too noisy. I'm not saying that his going off at 4am is not annoying, but he doesn't screech all the time. His call can be heard throughout our neighborhood, and I am sure it is very unpleasant to most. Except to one who must have been near by enough to hear it.
I looked out the window one morning before making my rounds of feeding, and thought that Mary, George's mate, must of gotten out of the pen somehow. Maybe the aviary door wasn't latched and all the birds are out wondering around the property. But, on a closer look, none of the other ducks, chickens, or peafowl were out. It was another peahen! She must have been attracted to George's manly call.
In case you didn't know, peafowl can fly. She could just fly away. One time, when the aviary door did fly open, George got out and was found doen the lane very high up in a sequoia tree. He finally got hungry and returned back home where he didn't have to work for food. I managed to get him back into the pen. Remembering this incident, I left food out for the visiting peahen for a day or two.
On the third day, I let the ducks and chickens out into the garden. When I went to gather them up again and herd them back in, she joined right in, and is now a remaining member of The Derby Farm. Her name is Elizabeth. So, we now have George, Mary, Elizabeth, but we also have three new members to the peafowl family. Three peachicks.

This is not a chicken. It's a peachick!

If you look closely on the right one of the peachicks is hiding.

 The funny thing is, two of the peachicks think they are chickens! We have a brooding chicken, and they bonded with her because she was sitting on the duck nest but when she saw these hatch she abandoned that nest and scooped them up underneath her. One peachick follows the real mama peahen around, and the other two follow a black chicken. Won't know for a little while yet if they are peacocks or peahens. Need to keep them alive by keeping them away from drowning in the duck pond.
The count we have now: 6 ducks, 6 peacocks, 7 chickens, 10 sheep, and 11 lambs on The Derby Farm.

A New Derby Farm Season

A New Derby Farm Season

A Fall Sunset Over The Derby Farm

A Summation of The Derby Farm Before I start Blogging Again... Or, Catching up on The Derby Farm

Lambs are born in late winter/early spring. Cute, playful, flocking.

Lambs grew up to be raggedy, loud, and boring in summer.

Lambs are delicious in fall. (I'll spare you the details.)

Lambs are made in fall when ram joins back in with the flock. Seven ewes pregnant this year!

Lambs will be born again in late winter/early spring. (Hence, the need to blog again.)

Ducks lay eggs in every season. Our ducks are always laying eggs. (Unlike the chickens.)

Ducks hide nest of eggs until it is too late to confiscate them because they are already sitting on them.

Ducks hatch out of eggs. Even after giving some away, we end up with 6 ducks.

Ducks hide more eggs.

Ducks hatch again.

We end up with 9 ducks, laying more eggs! Too many duck eggs!  Anyone want to buy ducks eggs to eat? Good for baking...people allergic to chicken eggs can eat them...

Some ducks need to go. I've been threatening to eat the two extra drakes.  Maybe, I will....

Peacock is finally getting the eyes on his feathers. Very beautiful.

No peacock eggs probably until spring.

Chickens have increased in number (thanks to a neighbor.) Hope their egg production increases, too.

Four chickens has gone to eight chickens. 

Chickens egg colors are now small white, blue, green, and brown eggs. This is good to tell them apart from the large white eggs from the ducks.

And, big news:

Out with the old, and in with a new... ram!

But, that will be the next Derby Farm blog.

Scraggly Lambs

More Egg Laying Ducks

Small Eye Feathers on the Peacock, George

A Few New Oviparous Additions to the Farm

A Free Loader Found

There is a newly discovered  free loading creature on The Derby Farm, and I am quite glad to have it.  I had a glimpse of  it once before, but not quite like I did a few days ago.
Thinking that I'd give the sheep a snack, I whipped back the silver tarp from atop the alfalfa hay, and there it was in full view. A very large and beautiful snake. Took me a bit by surprised, so I did let out a little yelp.  Not being shy of a woman calling to her friends to come take a look, the snake remained right where it was, which made it easier for us to catch it to take a closer look. 
There are mice who sometimes nibble on the eggs in the aviary before I have a chance to collect them.  They have also made little nests underneath the pallet where I keep the hay for the sheep. These fattened mice must make very nice eating for a local snake.  There are also numerous gofers and voles, frogs and toads and other delicious morsels a snake enjoys. So, we made sure to release the slithery creature right back where we found it. As long as it is not the one nibble on the duck and chicken eggs.
So, it is nice to have a snake near the garden on The Derby Farm.

A New Ducking and Where Are All the Other Eggs?

I collect and sell duck eggs.  About a month go, I thought the ducks were in a lull of laying eggs.  I didn't find as many eggs.  Those creative ducks were hiding them from me.  They would lay them, then pile straw on top of them to hide them. Ducks won't sit on eggs until they have a full clutch.  I had no idea how many eggs they had.   I use the word they, because there were so many eggs it took two ducks to lay on all of them!  

The pink eggs are the peacock eggs.

The peahen has been laying eggs, too.  (By the way, I did scramble a peacock egg up for my teenage son, and he ate it fine.  Didn't notice anything different.)  One morning, I left a peacock egg to see if she would sit on it, and came back the next morning to find it was gone.  Hmmm.  These eggs are too big for a mouse to eat.  (There are definitely mice around.) What happened to it? I collect eggs every day.  It should have been here.  I am missing a few chicken eggs as well. What is happening to these eggs!

Today, I found out.  But, there is something else I discovered, too.  A new duckling!  One so far. I have no idea how many  will be born, but what I do know is that there are two of my ducks are sitting on a huge stock pile of eggs. There were a few chicken eggs, but also two peacock eggs!  Delta, the original hen duck, is probably rolling whatever egg she finds near the nest into the nest she is sharing with Denta, one of her ducklings from last year. (Denta has a dented wing, hence the name.  All our ducks' names start with "D".  There's Dexter the drake, Delta the original hen, then there is Dot, Dash, and Denta, all offspring of Dexter and Delta.) Not worried about the chicken eggs in their nest,  Since we have no rooster, it is highly unlikely there will be any chicks, but I expect many more ducklings.  How do the ducklings know which duck is their mama?  Will it  turn into a chapter from the children's book Are You My Mother? by PD Eastman? We will have to wait and see.
I'll take more pictures this week and post them as soon as I can.  More new life on The Derby Farm!

Sheep in a Shed Get Sheared!

We are starting to get some warm days here in beautiful Sonoma County.  The leaves are budding on the grape vines; gardens are getting planted. Next week promises sunny skies and 75. Wouldn't want to wear a wool sweater outside in perfect weather.  I didn't think the sheep would either, so why wait?  Time to get them sheared.
As a new farmer, I am learning to do many things myself: inject shots, give medicine, squirt de-wormer in their mouths. But, there is no way that I can shear by myself.  Time to bring in a professional. 

Taking it easy in the barn pen, not knowing what's coming.

To make things easier, I thought I'd corral the flock into the barn pen.  But, I should have locked them in the barn shed instead.  Once those ewes got a sight of the shearer and his large contraption, they went crazy!   Daphne was so scared she broke through the small gate to the pen, and the others, of course, started to run out to the pasture after her. Freedom! But not all of them made it out. We trapped them back into the barn pen, when Fiona tried to jump over the fence! Those girls can jump! It was a little too high for her, so she ended up ripping the fencing right off where it attaches to the barn shed. Oh, no! I was so embarrassed about the behavior of my sheep in front of the shearer.  What was I going to do?  He had to go to another farm after me, and my sheep were running for their lives!
I know!  I'll bribe them back in.  Sweet and delicious oats.  From out in the pasture, I know they heard me dishing it up into their buckets.  I gently called to them.  "Sheeeeeep!  Sheeeeeep!" When they hear that call, they know there is a treat coming.  It worked.  Got them back into the barn pen.  He quickly tied the gate closed, and I trapped Brownie and Adelaide in a jug in the barn shed.  Then, I lured a few others in, but the poor shearer who wanted this whole thing to be over, had to chase the other sheep in the barn.  He left his precious machine leaning against the side of the barn to help. He was worried that if they tipped over his electric shearing machine, they could break it.  To add to my further embarrassment, they proceeded to do just that. Over it went.  To my relief, once he started to shear, it did run. Whew!
Amazingly, the lambs stayed out of the way.  The littlest lamb got caught in the foray of the sheep running into the barn, but I easily picked it up and put it outside the barn with the other lambs. They did not like being separated from their mamas, and made enough noise to let us know that.  They probably sensed the tension from the ewes.  The ewes were to busy trying to get away from the shearer to even notice that the lambs were not around.  They remained quiet.

And, quiet they stayed as he grabbed each sheep around the neck, and plopped it over onto their back.  In that position, there is not much a sheep can do.  There is a little struggle.  He easily took the electric shaver and proceeded to shear off pounds of wool.  The wool on my sheep is not very good or useful wool.  The sheep are meant to be for meat not wool.  But, I kept the bags of sheared wool in hopes of finding something useful for them.  When you touch the wool, you can feel the lanolin in it.  Once it get cleaned up in very hot soapy water, there has to be something we can do it with it.

No! Not me! I like my coat!

Sheila, the sheep who survived the mastitis infection, was already loosing her wool.  She appeared rather mangy. (Infections can make even humans lose some of their hair.) I think she needed the clean up the most. Somehow, during the "Trying to Escape the Horrible Shear Master" episode, Sheila must have slammed her nose into something or someone, and got a bloody nose. And, as long as we had her flipped over onto her back, we got to spray her dying, stinking udder with a good dose of antiseptic.  So, she was hit doubly hard, because that stuff probably stings something fierce.  She really needed it though.

Once all the girls had their coats removed, it was time for the big guy.  The ram.  I had to get him from his back pasture to the barn.  Once I released the ewes from the barn, I had them graze out in the yard with the lambs.  This way, I had a chance to get Sean into the barn pen.  Bess had been in the back pasture with him, and followed me easily because of the bribe I held before her.  Sean, wasn't so convinced.   Sheep do follow each other, though, and he found his way, wanting some of the oats that she was getting.  Gotchya!  There was no way he was going into that barn, though.  We had him in the pen, at least. Chasing him around was no fun.  He wasn't go to tire easily, and the shearer was tiring of the situation.  He finally was able to grab Sean by the neck and guide him into the bar, and flipped over this massive sheep onto his back.  He has gotten quite big just grazing on pasture.  I have had to barely feed him any alfalfa. Once it really heats up around here, and the grasses started to brown, that will change.  In the mean time, the shearer said that the flock all look good and healthy!  We didn't bother to shear Bess.  He clipped her hooves, as he did the others, but after a look in her mouth, said that she really was only fit for the auction.
Below are s few before and after photos.  Brownie turned out to not be pregnant after all.  She is just fat, and had a t least 2 to 3 inches of wool on either side of her which made her look fatter.  So, it looks like there will be only 6 lambs this year on The Derby Farm.

Before and After of Brownie and Jackie

Before Sheila got sick and then before and after shearing

A Delicious Recipe for a Low Fat Shepherd's Pie from a Shepherd

Here I am, a shepherd(ess) raising lambs, and my husband won't partake of their meat. No mammals. So, here is my recipe for Shepherd's Pie, but made with ground chicken or turkey. (I prefer ground chicken.) The classic version that is made with ground lamb has more fat than this version, but feel free to make it with ground beef or lamb, a mixture of those, or ostrich, or whatever ground meat you like.


(Next time I make it, I'll add pictures. But, here is the recipe anyway.)


2 lbs potatoes (We prefer gold, but whatever kind of potatoes is fine. But no skins is best for this dish.)
1/2 cup milk (We tend to have low fat on hand.)
2-3 Tbsp. of cream cheese (I tend to use the reduce fat version.)
1 lb ground meat of choice 
2 large onions
2 carrots
2 stalks celery
1/2 cup dry cooking sherry to caramelize the onions. (Dry white wine works, too.)
1 1/2-2 tsp fresh thyme (or about a heaping 1/2 tsp of dried.)
1 package frozen petite peas (thawed) (I end of microwaving them to defrost.)
1 package frozen corn (Once tried a package of grilled frozen corn from Trader Joe's. Like it this way, too)


1. Cut potatoes into quarters for making the mashed potatoes. Cover the pieces with cold water and heat to boiling, uncovered. Simmer about 18 minutes or until tender.  (The potatoes can cook while getting the other items ready and cooking.) Once you have drained them well, return to them to the sauce pot and add the milk, cream cheese, and about 1/4 tsp salt and fresh ground pepper.  *Mash those tatties until smooth.
2. While the potatoes are cooking, finely chop the onions, celery, and carrots.
3. Brown the meat with about 1/4 tsp salt and 1/4 tsp pepper.  Remove the meat with a spoon, slotted preferably, leaving all the juices in the pan.  This adds to the flavor of the onions.
4. Oh, yes, remember to preheat the oven to 425 degrees.
5. In the skillet that you browned the meat in, on medium high, add the onions, carrots, and celery, and once again add 1/4 tsp salt and the same of ground pepper. Cook about 7-8 minutes. Then add the sherry or whatever wine you are using. Cook another couple of minutes to reduce the liquid by half.  Stir in the thyme, and add back the ground meat that was previously cooked in this skillet.
6. (If you have cooking spray, you might want to use it on the dish before you start assembling the pie. It still works if you don't spray.)
In a casserole dish, spread half of the mashed tatties (potatoes) evenly along the bottom. The next layer will be your seasoned meat mixture. Then layer on the thawed peas and corn. Spoon on the last bit of mashers that remain, evenly over the top covering all the filling.
7. Bake for 25 minutes or until you see the top is turning golden brown.


* I learned a fun Scottish (Cape Breton, actually) hard shoe dance called Mashin' Tatties. Had to make a reference here.

Eggactly! Three Edible kinds of Eggs?

The chickens and ducks are laying like crazy!  The peahen, not to be outdone is laying, too.  I wondered...are peacock eggs edible? Why not? They really are big chickens with much prettier feathers.  So, I hard boiled one.  Here comes the classic line, "Tastes like chicken." The peacock egg did taste quite a bit like a chicken egg.  Although, next time I want to fry it.  (Think I'll do it, and then serve it to my hungry teenager, and not tell him what kind of egg he just ate. Hmmmm. Wonder what his reaction will be?)

From top to bottom:
Peacock egg
Duck egg
Chicken egg, chicken egg, chicken egg
Chinese Silkie chicken egg

Peacock eggs are a  shade of creamy pink with undertones of brown. When you pick up a peacock egg it is quite heavy as eggs go.  
The ducks eggs have a thicker shell than the chicken eggs, and many people find them delicious.  They are not my favorite (but, my dog Max is crazy for them.) There are benefits to eating duck eggs. I'll share more about this in a later blog.
We have these two small black chickens we call Ying and Yang. They are Chinese Silkie chickens. Can't tell them apart, but they both lay these tiny white eggs. Then there is Sam. She, of course, she lays the green eggs.  Blue eggs come from a chicken that we haven't named yet. What is a good name for a chicken that lays blue eggs? We haven't named the small red feathered chicken yet either. This chicken lays off- white, very oval shaped eggs, and likes to lay them with the ducks' eggs.  But now that two of the ducks are sitting on a clutch of eggs, she isn't welcome near their nest anymore, and has had to  go back to laying them with the other chickens eggs.
There is nothing like warm farm fresh eggs right from underneath a chicken (or a duck or peacock)  straight to the frying pan served on toasted sour dough English muffins.  Love living on The Derby Farm!