Odd title, I know. I'm weird right now, my gramma is in a coma and I'm dealing with it. Please pray for her salvation and health.

Okay...on to the entry. Our hens are finally laying again. Yahoo! We had about 50 last spring, and the coyotes very kindly culled all but 14 for us. Nice, huh?
It's been so dark and dreary, and no lights in the henhouse, so we have had to gasp, buy eggs from the health food section at the grocery store. Ugh.
Today, after checking again for the first time in over a week, maybe two, my daughter found 18 eggs. We are celebrating with a good old farm breakfast this  morning.

About the Peas in the Teats...I'm sure you are wondering; how could you not?! I have a friend who is a really good breeder of meat and dairy goats not to far away. We were trying to figure out why one of her best Alpin milkers keeps getting calcified stones in her teats. The old timers call this "a pea in the teat". This is a totally different condition from the waxy plug that is often there. It blocks the orifices and you can't really milk her out well or at all. The verdict was just to take her to the sale, but after getting her history and researching on-line, I have a plan. This doe is three years old, and has had 5 pregnancies! Two of which have resulted in quads. That's alot. Not to mention, she is a heavy milker, normally. Now, here's the clincher, lates research for humans anyway, says that unlike what they had previously thought, calcifed lumps in the body are a result of not enough, or a lack of, calcium in the body. This makes perfect sense to me. This doe would obviously have serious reason to be calcium depleted.
So, after talking to a real Dairy farmer (of cows) and to the experts on the yahoo goats101 group, I have a plan: dry her off completely, and give her lots of calcium tablets. The stones dry up and turn to powder. They are attached by a "string" on the inside wall, or lining, of the doe's teat.  When they are dried up, the strings dry up and detach.
So, I will breed her next year after allowing her to rest dry, and we shall see the outcome!
I'll let ya know.