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Saturday, February 27, 2010

Stormy Moves Outside!

Today was a big day for Stormy the cria.  He finally moved outside into a small pasture with his mom, Dolly Llama.

He was born on January 20, so he's been inside the barn in a stall for over a month.  It's been really cold here - our temperatures have been well below normal for several weeks.  Now, the weather is finally starting to go back to "normal" and while that's still cold, it's not as cold outside as it has been inside the barn some nights, so I was confident he could go outside.

It was quite an operation to get him moved because Dolly doesn't want to move unless he's by her side.  Once she was on a lead, he followed, but then upon going outside, he wanted to explore around, and he would prance off to one side, leaving Dolly on the lead making her little whining noises.  Once she saw her llama friends, she was excited to reunite with them, but it was important to keep her with Stormy until he's a little older.  He could get butted and hurt by the sheep or goats, so he's in a small fenced area with Dolly where they have their own personal shelter.

He ran around in the snow and explored, but always went back to her side, which was great to see.  They have really bonded closely.  He kept sticking his nose into the snow and then pulling back, as if to say "Hey, that's cold!" but then he'd do it again!  I think it will take some time for him to learn that snow is cold every time you stick your nose into it!  You can definitely see that he's her son!  He really took her colouring.

Leslie is still holding out for warmer weather.  No lambs were born today.

The chickens enjoyed the sun, which has been conspicuously absent lately.  They enjoy sitting on top of the chest freezers that we use in the barn to store bags of feed.  They're not plugged in, but they are certainly mouse-proof, which is a great way for us to safely store bags of feed without encouraging mice families to move into the bags!

The ducks gathered around to bask in the sun too, but then the sun moved, and the ducks didn't.  A lot of them have black streaks on them because they insist on hanging about underneath the tractor, where there is a copious amount of grease and oil.  Silly ducks.

Finally, a short update on the barn building.  It's come a long way this week, with the overhang being installed all the way around the barn on three sides.  Here you can see it on 2 sides, but it's also on the front, which is facing away.
The back of the barn has a lean-to built onto it, which will become a large chicken coop.  You can see in the picture below that the roof on the lean-to is installed, but not the roof on the main barn.  That should happen this coming week.  It's exciting to watch the progress and know that it will be a great shelter for our animals in the future.

9 comments:

IsobelleGoLightly said...

Sunshine! I hope we get some sooon! I like Stormy.. he is really cute and still has that squinkie look that he had when we was born! hee hee

Esther Garvi said...

Wow! I have never seen a baby llama before. He is like the sweetest thing ever!!!!

Alison said...

You must be very excited about moving your animals into that new barn.

I'm surprised how strongly Dolly is attached to Stormy, considering how she left him on his own after he was born. Guess he passed the test with flying colors!

Joanna@BooneDocksWilcox said...

More Stormy photo's!

Sure wish Leslie would deliver already, your nails must be gone.

Christy said...

Beutiful building! I wish our building had a larger overhang. And the baby is precious.

Mom L said...

What a beautiful pair Dolly and Stormy are! Gorgeous coloring. We've had lots of sunshine lately - wish I could share it with you. But it's still snow everywhere.

I wonder what Leslie is waiting for? A dark stormy night just to test you? Can you take her for a ride on a bumpy road - something my older sister tried when she was 9 months pregnant and no sign of baby? :)

Nancy

Laughing Orca Ranch said...

Oooh! That little cria is so stinkin' cute! Brrr! All that snow and cold weather. It's snowing here today and I'm over so this winter thing!

Looks like you've got dalmation ducks! hehe!

Looking good on the barn additions!

~Lisa

Ebonwald Cardigans said...

You Know Claire....I do have several of your BFL sheeps' siblings.

Why today I had my very first set of lambs from this year!

I have Nubia, who is Assyria's twin sister out of Black Pearl. you'll have to read up on her on my blog. she prolapsed BEFORE she lambed...*sigh*

fingers crossed your girls lamb without incident!

Unknown said...

Claire, I love looking at your beautiful photos! Thank you so much for the stories. Stormy is beautiful!