Spring has sprung at Llamas on the Loose Farm!

Some exciting things have happened lately on the farm!  On Sunday, we found an adorable llama at Mama Llama's side.  It turned out to be a little girl cria, and we named her Lucy Llama.

Then, we had Ezra's 3rd birthday party on the same day (Sunday) and had a petting zoo come out and bring some more animals - they brought some lambs, a babydoll sheep, an adorable baby nigerian dwarf goat and a young female nubian goat, a mini-pig (for real mini, not like Peetie turned out...), a cool young llama, a mini donkey, a big sulcata tortoise that the kids could ride, and not one but 2 kangaroos - one of them a 6-month-old wearing a diaper!  The kids (and kids at heart) all had an awesome time, and when it came time for the petting zoo folks to pack up, we sent them home with our buck goat Stevie B.  He was our very first goat (we got him when he was 2 months old, along with his twin brother MooMan who we sold last year) and he was awesome, but he was still intact and had too much testosterone to stick with our 4 girl goats.  The petting zoo folks needed a male to impregnate some of their females, so it worked out perfectly.

Then, on Monday, Lou had her kittens.  She started out with 4, but one was stillborn and another had a severe birth defect and died 2 days later.  But the 2 remaining kittens are adorable and growing like weeds.  Lou was not the most caring mom at first, but she has turned into a loving and attentive mom over the course of the week.

And after resisting for as long as I could, I bought some Easter Egger hatching eggs on Ebay yesterday and have fired up the incubator for a round of egg hatching :)  To be continued....

Here's some pics from the last month:

Stevie B and Lacey Lou made a temporary move to the front of the farm

Our hay stash in the building at the front of the farm

Dolly, Brutus, and Mama

Those llamas...

The whole farm gang

Ezra helped Jason gather wood for our backyard bonfire pit

Zelda came to hang out too

Lou hung out by the backyard bonfire pit

Gotta love that Opal!

Jason hanging the porch swing

The chains were a little short...

We got some rocking chairs for the front porch

Got Lou a cat bed for her to have her kittens in, but Zelda immediately took a liking to it and showed off her Type A personality.

Jason's co-worker brought his wife and daughter out to the farm - she loved the tractor!

Lou also wanted to drive it.

Our new bunny, Earl!  He's a lionhead.

Aunt Penny got Earl for Ezra as an early Easter present

He wasn't quite sure what to think

Carly checked out Earl when we let him into Norman's outdoor enclosure

Earl with Opal and Carly

The goats got Ezra's chicken scratch, and he was mortified!

All lined up for feeding time - we decided to introduce some organization into that routine.

Awesome Opal

Baby Carly

Sweet Ruby

He's always up for a wagon ride!

Dolly decided to go rolling in the leaves...

Norman out and about in his enclosure

Lacey Lou got to move back to the big field with the other girls

Ezra "helped" Jason do some tractor maintenance

Ezra got all of his vehicles lined up against Earl's cage

Feeding time again

Carly

Brutus and the goats devouring some hay

Oh goodness, it's egg cleaning time!

Got the husband to help me this time - check out that stack of egg cartons on the left that I found on Ebay

Lining the eggs up on the kitchen island to dry after washing them.

Egg washer in training

3 hours later, we have 20 dozen eggs ready to sell!

Got the swing hung right this time...

The porch is done!  We even got a bird feeder for the front yard - see it on the right.

All in a day's work

Got a new grill!!  It's half propane, half charcoal.  

Everyone's gathered at the gate for feeding time.  Lacey Lou feels the need to jump up on the fence.

Hare and tortoise

Restocking the hay - Dolly is psyched!

Lou enjoying some time in Brutus's stall

Lou hanging around for the hay restocking

Stevie B ended up on our front porch...

Now that's some fancy organization of goats!

Where's Ezra?

Went to pick up the Gator from getting the oil changed, and Ezra was in hog heaven

Beautiful sunset while enjoying the backyard bonfire

Introducing - Lucy Llama!!!  Ezra and his cousin Eli were more concerned with playing with their toy cars in the field.

Super adorable

Had to get my pic with her :)

Ezra's petting zoo party - how can it get better than a tiny goat on a big ole tortoise??

Cowboy the kangaroo and his friend the babydoll sheep

Jason took the kids on a hay ride

Ezra's friend Grayson rides the tortoise cowboy style!

Kailyn takes the tortoise for a spin, too

Then it was Ezra's turn

Sweet Lucy Llama still wobbly

Lucy Llama with her Mama Llama

Lou crawled into this back up cat bed I got her (it's a shark...) and ended up having her babies in there.

The day they were born

Ezra called them "mouses" LOL

The 2 surviving kittens - a tabby and a mainly white one with tabby spots

Lacey Lou getting vertical on the gate

Lucy Llama hanging out with her sister Dolly during feeding time

Big Blue and his fancy flock

Lou took a break from her babies and helped me feed the animals

She managed to get a tiny bit dirty.

This chicken really wanted into this coop, but we have it blocked off now because another chicken is laying on some eggs in there.  When we let the other chickens into the coop, they lay their eggs in the same nesting box that the other chicken is sitting in.  Then we end up getting wasted eggs because the first ones will hatch 21 days from Day 1 of sitting.

Lucy Llama hanging out next to the barn during feeding time - if you look behind Lucy, you can see a very concerned Mama Llama checking in on her baby's well-being

Dolly Llama wasn't really excited to see Lou

Sweet baby Lucy Llama sunbathing on this beautiful Good Friday :)