Meet The Crew Archives - Archie's Acres

December 15, 2017

Meet our 1st goat rescue, Poncho!

Poncho is our 3 year old Nigerian Dwarf goat.

He was brought to our farm to be a companion for Tilly, our rescue lamb. Tilly, being a pack animal, was incredibly depressed because she was alone without a herd. She tried to bond with the chickens, she slept in the coop with them and followed them around the farm but the chickens were not interested in that, and Archie wasn’t much of a companion because he didn’t sleep outside. She was beginning to lose her hair from stress and was visibly anxious. She cried constantly. It really bummed us out to see her that way.

Tilly followed the chickens under the house…then got stuck!

Poncho came from a very small farm in Monroe, Wisconsin. He was in danger of becoming someone’s meal when we met him. His owners loved him and cared for him but were unable to keep him anymore, so we bought him for $50 before someone else could. He’s a Nigerian Dwarf goat so he easily fit into Archie’s car carrier, so we loaded him up in our truck and took him home that day.

Tilly was so happy to see him. They became fast friends. He’s a great guy. Friendly, playful, social and a real joy to have around. He’s now the leader of our little pack of goats and we’re so happy to have him.

August 29, 2017

Meet Von Cheep Cheep!

She’s a small bearded lady!

Von Cheep Cheep a small Easter Egger hen packed with attitude. We named her Von Cheep Cheep because she had an almost cartoonish mischievous little face when she was a baby. We also knew that she was plotting to take over the world.

easter egger, baby, mischievous — Baby Von Cheep Cheep

I mean, just look at that face!! She should be wearing a tiny little lab coat while she paces back and forth brainstorming in her tiny evil lair. She looked like this for her first 2 months.

And now she’s a full-fledged bearded lady!

Clearly, she now looks far less serious. And the chickens were smart enough to assign her to be one of the top chicken-to-human reps in the coop, she’s one of the first chickens to run out with demands. She will also fly up and sit on your shoulder if you’re taking too long feeding the chickens in the morning.

easter egger, bearded lady — Von Cheep Cheep the bearded lady.

And best of all…

…she’s a blue egg layer!!

She started laying last week, just a few weeks shy of turning 6 months old. (Birthday was Feb 28) She lays the brightest blue eggs. Small eggs from a small bearded chicken.

March 30, 2017

Meet the inseparable brothers, Jerry & Beavis!

Meet Jerry and Beavis!

They are not only brothers, but they are the best of friends. You will never see one without the other a few feet away. We hatched them last Spring in a homemade incubator made from a cheap styrofoam cooler, a glass lid from a small aquarium and a lightbulb. We couldn’t believe it worked! We turned the eggs 3-5 times a day. It was tedious. But so cool!

Our homemade incubator and egg turning schedule was a success.

We hatched 3 boys and 1 girl.

Jerry and Beavis are the 2 remaining roosters from the 4. Rillo, the 3rd boy, got picked off by a hawk last summer. Beavis’ mom was a Cinnamon Queen hen and his dad is an Old English bantam rooster. Jerry’s mom is a Silver Laced Wyandotte with the same father. (We only had one rooster at the time) His name is Nacho. He’s the boss.

When Jerry was born, he had a severe vitamin deficiency from the 11 hours it took him to break from his egg. It generally only takes a couple of hours for a chick to hatch. So we had to give him vitamin water (Flintstone chewable vitamins crushed into a water paste) manually a few times a day.

He had badly curled toes on one foot and he would stare up at the heat light so tall that he’d fall on his back and be stuck there until one of us flipped him over. We were very worried about him. But our treatment helped and now he’s a regular dude with curled toes on one foot.

Jerry and Beavis spend every minute of the day together. They stay out later than most of the chickens, clucking and beeping as they scamper around looking for seeds that might have fallen from the bird feeders. They frequent our wrap around porch every day between 10am and noon, where they shout together.

The boys shouting on the porch in unison.

March 15, 2017March 18, 2017

Hi, I’m Steve. I’m an Egyptian Faiyumi.

But I’m actually a lady

I’m an Egyptian Faiyumi hen. After it was pointed out that I look like a seagull, I got the name Steven Seagal, but I go by Steve. My sister, Chipmunk, and I were adopted from a family in LaGrange, IL and we love living at Archie’s Acres!

Category: Meet The Crew