Sophie takes a wander, chicks have a new pen

After all the drama on Saturday losing my Brave One to the Killer Lester, I wanted Sunday to be a nice relaxing beautiful spring day...which it was until I let the dogs out again.

I try to keep them on the back 40, knowing that the chickens are usually out front. SO Lester and Sophie and I are walking down to the creek, right before the whistle blows at 5pm, dinner time. That has always been the plan, take them out at dinner time knowing they'll come back when they hear the whistle. Problem is, they are both going deaf. Lester's inner clock tells him it is 5 pm (even when it's only 3:30) so he mostly comes right back, no problem.

Sophie, on the other hand, disappeared. Two hours of searching, and no Sophie to be found. She has done this before, and usually comes slowly wandering back; but this time, it's getting dark and there's no Sophie. Luckily The Husband was on dinner duty, so I had all the time I needed to search... No Sophie...

Finally, and I don't know what inspired me to do this, I drove around to the road behind us, which I had already done a few times, and I parked the car. I thought I saw something Sophie-colored in the field, but I got there and it was just a broken tree trunk. But then I look around and there she is, way off to my left, down in the mucky, swampy part where I never would have seen her from the road or from anywhere else for that matter!

She had mud up to her knees, all 4 of them, so I think she might have gotten stuck in the mud, although she was not stuck when I saw her. And do you think she'd be happy to see me? No, still just poking around down there! Eventually I convinced her to follow me back to the car, and ride home, mud and all. Could be she was exhausted from unsticking herself from a mudhole, could be she's getting a little senile and didn't know where she was (or who I was ?). I dunno. All I know is that I was VERY happy to have her back!

And those short ribs The Husband made were perfectly done—cooked to perfection and much welcomed by a starving and exhausted me.

So after that horrible experience on Saturday with the chickie babes in the dog crate outside, I will be using the crate only as their night-time roosting spot from now on. They can have the Chicken Hospital space in the garage with the heat lamp until they get a little bigger and are ready to join the others in the coop. I spent the last 2 days creating an enclosure for them on the side of the garage. It's not pretty, but it is safe as far as I can tell.

This life on the farm ain't all it's cracked up to be! I knew it would be hard work, but I didn't know it would be so stressful. It is really hard not to get attached to these chickens! Who knew? And who knew these 2 old dogs were going to give me such a headache?

Big girls getting ready to fly the coop!

It's just a week since the last photo posted of the baby chicks, and they no longer look like babies. It is quite amazing to see how much they've grown in just the past few days.

Since the weather has been quite warm up here, I think we are going to move them outside this weekend. The problem will be integrating them into the rest of the flock. I think we will have to keep them in their little dog crate at night to keep them safe from predators, and at least in a fenced area during the day to keep them safe from their 1-year-old sistas and roo.

I can't wait to see the roo dance when he finally sees them for the first time. As ornery and obnoxious as he is, he is quite comical as well. That's the only thing keeping him from becoming dinner—he still makes me laugh. Well that, and the fact that neither one of us is capable of "making him dinner".

The gray one in the front on both photos is the one I am calling Brave One. She is always first to come see me when I open the door, and just recently will jump onto my hand and come out to sit with me. The only other one who has a name is Blondie, one of the red girls who had a very blonde head, but now that they're all almost redheads, I can barely pick her out.

UPDATE Saturday, 3/17: My Brave One was a little too brave today. After only one happy day outside in the sun, when I let the dogs out this afternoon, Lester immediately got to barking at the crate full of chicks. They went into a frenzy, and in the second that the Brave One poked her head through the crate, Lester got her. She is gone. I don't know how this integration of the babies into the flock is going to go. The other girls and Roo came out to see the chicks today and didn't seem to care, but I fear further issues will arise. And then there was that hawk circling above today...

And...

We went to meet the babies who will become the latest additions to the growing family at Lester's Flat—goats. Karen, who also works at the Farmer's Museum, has a beautiful farm not too far from here. Her goat mamas have produced 14 kids for us to choose from, but we will only be taking 3. I thought we would actually be choosing those 3 when we went to see them yesterday, but she still has not made up her mind as to which ones she wants to keep, and I can see why. They are all very adorable.

For as long as The Husband will allow me, these are the best photos of the kids—the only ones where they were standing still long enough to have their pictures taken. Thankfully, they were chewing on his jacket, and not on his hair, like they were doing to me when I sat down.

We were both impressed with how well this large assortment of animals all get along in one barn. In addition to the kittens and chickens and goats, there were adult cats, dogs, about 30 cows and calves, and who knows what else. The goat kids were jumping on and off a calf who was resting on the floor (or trying to).

I am thinking it is a good thing that Karen cares for them until mid-May—let them use up some of that kid energy before they come to live with us. I am not sure we can keep them entertained quite so easily.

New snow, new chicks, new feathers

Even though we have fresh snow again this morning, I do believe we are on our way to warmer temps. The snow in the previous photos mostly melted away in the last 2 days when it was almost 60°. Then it is cold again today, snowing on and off, but warm again in a few days.

The new chicks are doing well. They are getting big, and enjoying their new digs. They have outgrown their plastic bin, and moved into the dog crate (the same one the 2 pigs actually fit into when we first brought them home). I had to rearrange the crate a few times, because the chicks keep messing up their water and food with all their antics—flapping their wings, jumping up on things, pecking at each other and chirping away—just being crazy kids like they're supposed to be.

I think they will have to be inside chicks for a few more weeks. Even though their new feathers are coming in quickly and will keep them warmer, I have to keep them separated from the big girls until they are big enough to defend themselves.

And just look at those new feathers! The little barbs with the new feathers inside actually push out the downy baby feathers. Until the real feathers fluff out, the girls look pretty scraggly.

Hey, what happened to that warm winter?

We were supposed to get 2" to 4" of snow yesterday, after having very little this year. We probably got about 4" to 6", but look what's happening today! Hey, c'mon, it's March 1, knock it off with the snow!

At least we won't feel as though we wasted our payment to our snowblower, Mr. Kelley. It would have been tough to hand over the $300 we still owe him at the end of the season knowing that he only came out 3 times before this. He's earning his money today I am sure.

Thank you Rick and Michele

We sent our 2 favorite pigs off to Larry's Custom Meats yesterday, but they did not go willingly. Everyone says that pigs are very smart, so everyone must be right. Rick Perry took some convincing, but fairly quickly jumped up onto the trailer. Michele Bachmann, on the other hand, was not taking any of the bribes we offered (banana, dog biscuits, pig feed, beef fat). Bob, our transport guy, allowed us to do our best, much to his amusement I am sure. Finally with his help we were able to convince her to go, but not until The Husband and I were covered in pig poo. I guess we deserved it.

This is our first experience in "harvesting" any of our animals, and it was not easy for either of us. As much as I know all of the good reasons for doing this, I could have happily kept those piggies as pets; but if we are going to continue to eat meat, I do feel better about knowing that my meat comes from some very spoiled and happy animals.

Thank you, my pigs.

New additions

Just when you thought we were done...

In thinking about what to do with the naked girl who doesn't want to leave her cozy chicken hospital to rejoin the others in the coop, we decided to get her some baby chicks to keep her company. Since she is Red Momma, who kept trying to sit on her eggs to hatch them, we thought that maybe she would accept some little ones as her own. Of course we did not consider the fact that chicks need to be kept at constant temperature of around 90°, and that would be hard to accomplish in a cold garage even with a heat lamp.

So the babies are in a plastic crate in the Music Room. They are just 1 week old today. As they get a little bigger and get their big-girl feathers, we will see how Red Momma accepts them...or doesn't.

They are 3 Rhode Island Reds (the orangey-red ones) similar to Red Momma but she is a mix. The little brown ones are Araucana/Ameraucana otherwise known as Easter Eggers because they lay all different color eggs—turquoise, aqua, olive green.

The cats are very much interested in the peeping coming from behind closed doors, but the dogs are definitely older and going deaf, because they don't hear a thing, and that's a good thing.

Rotten Roo and the black girls

Roo and the black girls have come back a few times a day to visit with my naked hen since we have been letting her loose. The red girl (in the photo) is becoming less naked every day, but she prefers to stay in the garage at night, rather than going back to the coop with the girls (and Roo).

The new plan is to get some chicks for her to raise and create her own new flock (on her terms) and then see if we can return all of them to the coop out front. Worst comes to worst, we'll have 2 separate flocks to deal with.

Rest in peace, my good friend

Don't know what to say except that you are in a better place. After a 7-year (or more) painful battle with breast cancer, we lost you yesterday, Jane. We miss you. You are the strongest woman I have ever known.

9.17.1962 to 2.9.2012

It feels like Spring!

Sophie's back, Red Momma is healing, hens and Roo are roaming—it's a beautiful day in the neighborhood. Supposed to reach 50° here tomorrow, February 1.

You can tell Sophie is all better when she recaptures her favorite spot (the sofa) in her favorite position (belly up). She gave us quite the scare.

I had to add a heat lamp to the Chicken Hospital last night, because Red Momma was shivering in there and looking very pathetic. Her feathers are coming back, but so far they are just little stubs with none of the feathery parts to keep her warm. She is thankful for the warm front that came through today that brought lots of sunshine along with it. The Chicken Hospital is now in the sun, the best kind of warmth there is.

Since the others have been in a frenzy being locked up in the coop, I let them roam again today. There are still some snowy patches out there, snowy patches with unidentified animal tracks in them, but I need to wear them out so that they stop beating up on each other. I would almost rather have one taken away by a predator than pecked to death by her sibling. Almost...

Cats on the sofa (not for Ms. J!)

We had a sunny and not terribly cold weekend at Lester's Flat, nice enough to let the chickens roam free to take their little chicken minds off of beating each other up. The chicken patient is recovering nicely in her private bed in the garage. I am curious to see how long it takes for those feathers to grow back, and even more curious to see what happens when we re-introduce her to the others in the coop. She was already at the bottom of the pecking order, how much lower can she go?

I am getting tired of talking about patients, and even more tired of being their nurse, so here are some photos of 2 happy, healthy, spoiled cats: Will and Dave. Those 6 big windows in the living room let in a lot of sunlight on that sofa. Get the woodstove fired up and the sofa is often the best seat in the house. Sometimes the humans are allowed to sit there as well.

The Husband celebrated his 56th birthday on Saturday by staying home and being pampered by his loving wife. I would have more photos of him on the blog, but I am banned from showing his face on here...which is fine, because the loving wife doesn't really want her face up here either!