A steal of a deal and chicks

For some reason pics won't upload. So, once again no pictures. Sorry.

Gosh the past few days have been busy! Got more blackberry bushes cleared out. For those of you who don't have to deal with out of control blackberry bushes, well, consider yourself lucky! They are awful! The plant, not the berry. Anyway, while putting all the vines into a burn pile I looked up and saw a young doe standing there watching me. I don't know what it is but I love deer. Such peaceful, serene, quiet creatures. 

The garden hasn't been planted yet but now it is just a matter of waiting for the weather to clear up enough to rototill. And speaking of rototillers, there was a steal of a deal on one listed on Craigslist. I'm talking a steal of a deal! The guy who was selling it said the wheels wouldn't turn and that the engine never shut off. Well, for the price I couldn't pass it up so bought it ( hoping it would be a somewhat easy fix), brought it home and my brother came over and got it running like new in less than half an hour! Yay!!!! Doing a happy dance! I own my very own rototiller!!

The Americauana chicks finally came in yesterday. All 13 of them! After picking and catching my chicks at the feed store and ready to pay I noticed a sickly chick. Knowing no one would want that one, I traded one of my healthy chicks for the sickly one. The gal asked me why I did that. Well, why not. The little chick had been through enough and survival wasn't likely. The least I could do was not let it die alone and uncared for.  The chick made it home, but shortly after passed away. I named her Phoebe, said a prayer and buried her where the other hens that passed away are buried.

Little Inger, my absolute fav chicken has been sitting on dud eggs for awhile now. So, knowing she loves to be a mama, I picked her up, put her into the trough set up for the chicks to see what she would do. The look on those chicks faces really was hilarious. They have not seen a mama chicken before so they just didn't know what to do. After a few minutes Little Inger started clucking to them and before long all 12 chicks surrounded her. Little Inger is happy, the chicks are happy and I know this sounds a bit selfish, but it is a bit easier for me.

This afternoon I am watching Grace for a few hours while her mother goes to lunch with a friend. Thankfully she is such a joy to be around so am looking forward to some 'us' time.

Hope everyone is doing well. Yet again I must catch up with all of you. I sure have missed ya'!

Until next time.....................

Goings on

Monday morning the senior from the high school came out and spent a few hours here asking questions and meeting the critters here. Her plan after graduation is to further her education concerning animal welfare and  eventually start her own rescue.
And come to find out her Grandmother lives just down the road from us! Since she comes out to visit her Grandmother she asked if she could stop by and visit the horses and donkeys. Well of course!

Yesterday Joe, my farrier, came out to trim horses and donkeys. It is always a pleasure to visit with Joe. About fifteen minutes after Joe left, I went inside the house then I heard a honking at the gate. There was a gentleman who wanted to let me know that as he was driving by he noticed the white horse's back leg was caught in one of the blanket straps. I thanked him and walked out to the pasture to either remove the blanket or see what the heck was going on. Since it was a nice day I took her blanket off and last night replaced it with another one.
This winter the horses have been terrible with their blankets! Lots of repairing blankets this year.
This community is truly amazing!



Even though I swore I wouldn't let Little Inger sit and hatch anymore eggs, well, you know the answer to that! I just can't say no to her!  She has eight eggs under her and they should be hatching very soon. Just what is needed around here is more chickens when I have Americauna chicks on order as well as Frizzles. Oh, and of course let's not forget the Guineas.




The donkey and horses are beginning to show signs of shedding. Yay!! I love when they lose their winter coats. Definite therapy for me to stand and groom them.
And speaking of therapy. This is kind of on the same note. For some time I have felt a bit out of sorts. Lost per say. Couldn't seem to find my direction again. But was unable to put my finger on as to why.
Last night it finally occurred to me ( with the help of my 'soul' sister) what the problem is. I need to center myself again. After realizing what had been lost, I felt so much better. Now I need to focus on getting centered and once there getting back into the captain's chair!



The other night I noticed Doug was limping on his right paw. After examining it I figured out he had been in a cat fight and there was an abscess forming on the pad. Off to the medicine cabinet I went, grabbed the Betadine scrub, sponge and some antibiotics and fixed Doug up. Today he is almost back to his wild man self!



The same night Doug was limping so was Sugar Dog. Checking her paw there was a blackberry thorn lodged between her pads. Yup, I'd be limping too! Since I already had the Betadine scrub out it was time to doctor her up. Pulled the thorn, washed out the puncture, put some Animax on it then wrapped her foot.

Tomorrow is going to be a very fun and exciting day! Anyone want to guess why that might be?



Until next time.............................



Why do animals scare the heck out of us?

Late yesterday afternoon we loaded up the Rubbermaid shed which I am going to use as the chicken coop at the new house. Since we needed to get to the new house while the sun was shining the shed was loaded up and off we went. Arrived at the new house, unloaded the shed and hurried back home. It was dark by the time we got back home.

Game plan was middle daughter to go lock up the chickens and I'd start dinner.   As I was preparing something to eat middle daughter comes running into the house crying. In between sobs she tells me Little Inger, my favorite chicken, is dead. "What?" "Where?"

Sprinting out the door with a flashlight I ran to the chicken coop where middle daughter said that is where Little Inger is laying by the fence. Holding back tears I bent down to check her. Yup, she's just laying there caught in the fence.  No movement.

As I reached to get her out of the fence and start talking to her, she lifts her little head and starts talking back!!!  "What!" She's alive!!!!! After a few minutes of getting her wing and head out of the fence, I picked her up, held her close to my chest and  she began telling me all about her ordeal. Somehow she managed to get out of the fenced in area and tried getting back in on the opposite side of the fence. That's when she got stuck. And since it was dark out, she played 'dead'.

After she and I both calmed down, I put her back inside the coop and told her she was going to get a stern talking to in the morning for scaring me like that!!

Our animal family sure know how to scare us!!!!

Until next time................................

Lots going on

I have been so preoccupied with other things that I didn't notice something was missing until.............. it literally hit me. I'm sure you are asking why is there a picture of a spicket surrounded by tall grass. Nope, there is nothing to see except the spicket and grass. Although, yesterday evening as I was getting ready to water the front and back pasture waterers, I reached down to turn the spicket on and was hit by a very small Gardner snake. Then I realized I hadn't seen all the frogs who live in the grass for awhile now. Well, obviously little snake found an all you can eat buffet. So, little snake lives by the spicket now, so will be more careful when turning the spicket on.

I have been asked from several folks who is all going with me when the time to move arrives. So, besides all the cats, the three dogs, the five goats ( minus Betsy goat), Pearl ( above) and

Mike and

Pewter and

AJ, Arnold, Doughnut, Cookie and

Little Inger and

Houdini ( my horse) and Marshmallow will all be moving with me.

We had another yard sale this past weekend. Got rid of a lot more stuff. Met some fantastic folks. And consoled an older woman who was very distraught when she learned as to why we have to move. I kept telling her it was going to be okay. That the right place will show up when the time is right. And that the animals will stay with me. She gave me the biggest heartfelt hug with tears streaming down her face. She almost got me to crying because I felt so bad that she felt so bad and we didn't even know one another. She calmed down when I assured it that it really will be okay.

Today I have been trying to catch up on the house chores ( it looked like a band of renegades lived here) and while everything was going smoothly enough another challenged reared it's ugly head. After cleaning the main bath toilet I flushed it to watch the water start to rise to the top of the bowl! Oh great, now what. So, grabbed the plunger, got the water to recede, and reluctantly flushed again. Nope, here came the water rising again. So, after checking the main bath shower to see backed up water in there, then checking the master bath shower and seeing water standing in there, it was time to walk out to where the septic tank is located. Sure enough water was leaking from the drain. Really!! Well, today is Labor Day and I am not calling a plumber to unclog the line ( I know exactly where it is clogged) and paying the holiday rate. I will wait until tomorrow. Heck, I may just run to the hardware store and buy one of those snake things and do it myself. I've been through this whole thing before so know exactly where to snake at). So long as the lines aren't overloaded with water everything will be just fine. A thought just ran through my head. Since I no longer own the house, then I suppose I am not responsible for paying the plumber. Hmmmmm. Regardless, I will fix the problem.

Slowly but surely I have been playing catch up with everyone's blogs.

Have I told you that you are all wonderful and quite the excellent support system? Well, each and every one of you are! And I truly thank you for it. :)

Until next time...............................

Updates

For those of you who remember the neighbors dog, Persistence aka Little Dog, well, I haven't seen him in quite awhile. Nor have I heard him bark. Don't know if he is still next door, or just gone. Kind of sad because he really grew on me. Got used to him being around.

About six weeks ago, AJ, came down with laminitis. ( Inflammation of the hooves). I have had several horses come down with it over the years and have always been able to get it under control in a rather short period of time. But this time around it has been a battle. Soaking hay twice a day, keeping her stall almost knee deep in pine shavings, feeling for heat in her feet, etc.. It hasn't been until the last few days that finally there is progress. Whew, happy about that!

Little Inger has kept to her end of the bargain. She still only has the two eggs we agreed upon that she can hatch out. She hasn't laid or stole any eggs since our talk!

This morning as I was out in the playroom drinking coffee, watching the news and gearing up for the day I heard the neighbor lady hollering and yelling. Not knowing what was going on, outside I went to find out what the heck the commotion was. Well, their dog, the one who came onto my property and killed one of my hens, had gotten loose and attacked their goat! Her husband had coming running out of the house wrapped in a towel, grabbed the dog and made the comment that if he was dressed he would shoot the dog. Well, didn't hear a gunshot, goat is stressed and have no idea where the dog is.

Fire season has been push backed thanks to all the rain and cooler temps we have had as of late. As far as I'm concerned the hot weather can stay away for a lot longer. Fire season always scare me.

The Egyptian Geese babies and parents are doing great. Those babies are getting bigger and bigger with every passing day.

And I thought instead of responding to everyone's comments about Drama Queen middle daughter moving back in, that I want to say thank you to all of you for your comments. They really let me know that I am not the Evil parent I'm sure Drama Queen thinks I am! Kids!!!!

Until next time....................

Sunny Day

This post is for the kind folks who visit my blog that are having to deal with winter weather aka a LOT of snow and freezing temps. Bonnie is still sitting on five eggs. Hmmm, wonder if and when they are going to hatch. I took a peek under her and there are four Bantam eggs and one big white one.

Thought you might like to see how big the first chicks that were hatched compared to the last two. Quite the difference!

Today it has been close to 70 degrees. Beautiful blue sky. Warm soft breeze.

Pearl just relaxing and enjoying the day.

Arnold snoozing with the warmth of the sun upon him. Cookie not wanting to do much of anything but stand around.

On a side note, this morning I had to drive to town and on the way back the traffic slowed to a crawl. What the heck. The speed limit is 45 and everyone including me were doing 30! Was there an accident up ahead? Did a car break down blocking traffic? Nope, neither of those. It was a truck way up ahead with no one in front of them, and that driver was doing 30, which caused the whole line of traffic to do 30. Um, at that moment the word hostage came to mind. Here it was, one driver was holding up a lot of traffic by going that slow and the rest of us didn't have a choice but to follow. Ugh!!!!

Back to today being a beautiful, warm sunny day. I hope the pics put a smile on your face for those of you dealing with snow and wanting Spring.

The video at the end is short, sorry.

You can hear the frog next to the house, but can't see it.

Until next time..........................

Bringing the outdoors in

Today is a beautiful, blue sky day. And with such a beautiful day the cats are really paying attention to all that chirping going on inside the chicken house. Trashcan ( black cat) and Chit Chit ( gray tabby) acting nonchalant. I was mistaken about them wanting to get inside and help themselves to a chickie meal. Yeah, right boys, you were just hanging around to protect them!

So, since Little Inger, Bonnie and the chicks cannot come out of the hen house, I dig up some dirt and grass and brought the outside to them.

le+Inger+007.JPG">
One of the chickies trying a piece of grass for the first time. I am pretty sure he'che liked it.

Little Inger has done such a good job teaching the young ones to scratch and look for food.

dGw/s400/Chicks,+Little+Inger+003.JPG"> Finally a picture of the second White Sillky baby.

No other eggs have hatched this morning. Bonnie is still sitting on them, so will let Mother Nature take her course. Maybe tomorrow there will be another surprise.

Until next time...............

This n that

Lately I seem to have lost some of my sense of humor. Okay, a lot of my sense of humor. Before, not much would put me into a good, hardy laugh. You know the kind, the one with tears streaming down your face and your side hurting. See this ordinary looking hat? Well, somewhat ordinary looking. This hat had me laughing pretty darn good.

Until you press the botton under the bill and voila', there are two small lightbulbs that light up! Last night I had to see how much light there was to see by ,so off outside into the dark I went. My goodness there was a lot of light! Surprised the heck out of me. You should have seen the cats. They didn't know wether to run and hide or come investigate. As you can see in the picture Ozzy is investigating.

This morning there was another surprise ( sorry no pic of the new baby yet). Yup, another White Silky baby. To date there are three black ones and two White Silkies. Here are two of the older babies inder Little Inger keeping warm.

Every now and then my camera takes a really good pic. Just precious.

These are just two of the cats ( Miss Kitty on the left and Goat on the right) hanging around the coop fascinated by the new babies. Okay, let's call it what it is. They want to have a meal with those babies!

Maybe tomorrow there will be another surprise.

Until next time..........................

Another Surprise

Look who was born this morning. The first White Silky baby! So small compared to the other three.

The first three chickies born are now venturing outside the hen house into the enclosed outside pen.

Little Inger has been teaching her kids all the tricks of the trade. They are growing so fast.

I was told that chicks raised by the mother grow faster.

Stay tuned. Maybe tomorrow there will be another surprise!

Until next time................

Not yet.

Miss Kitty followed me inside the girlie coop to help check Little Inger and Bonnie. Miss Kitty staring at Little Inger and Bonnie.

Awww, look how cute they are snuggled up to each other.

Uh, Bonnie I see an egg. Is it possible the babies are beginning to hatch?

Nope. Not yet. Darn it. Must not be enough room for all those eggs!

11 days to go for hatch date.

Until next time............................

Seeing Double

Yesterday late afternoon I went in to check on Little Inger and her eggs. To my surprise I walked in to see Bonnie ( the other White Silky) stealing an egg from under Little Inger! Once she stole one egg, she went for another one and got it! Then she sat down on 'her' two eggs right next to Little Inger. Pleased as punched she was. Bonnie is in the front. Little Inger is in the back.

Bonnie has shown no signs of being broody so this was a surprise. Looks like she wants to be a mommy too!

This is going to be such a surprise when the eggs hatch and watching Little Inger and Bonnie raise 'their' babies together. And also what breeds the babies are going to be. For sure there will be White Silkies.





Hatch date is still no later than Feb 6. Figured we would still use that date since Bonnie is stealing eggs!







Until next time.....................

Had to find out!

Alright, I admit it. Curiosity got the better of me. I had to find out just how many eggs Little Inger is sitting on. Here is Little Inger keeping her eggs nice and warm. She is so happy.

Sorry about the picture being fuzzy. I picked up Little Inger, held her and took this picture of her eggs and immediately set her back onto her eggs. Um, some different colored ones there! Looks like Little Inger has snagged a few eggs that were not hers! There is one Americauna ( green egg), one white egg from one of the Mottled Houdans, one or two larger brown eggs ( either from an Americauna or the Polish Laced hen). The rest of her eggs are, I am guessing from her. Heck who knows, maybe some of them belong to the other White Silky Bantam! I have no idea how such a small girl is keeping all those eggs warm!

Of course Mr. Worm had to come inside the chicken pen to help me.

According to my calculations Little Inger's eggs should hatch out no later than February 6th! I am really looking forward to seeing how many will hatch......and of course how many different breeds she will mother.

Until next time...........................

Someone's Being Broody!

For the past week I have noticed Little Inger wasn't coming out with the rest of the girlies. Everytime I went into the hen house Little Inger was in the same spot. Since I am new to chickens I became concerned. When I picked her up to see if maybe there was a wound or if she had 'poopy butt' she got really upset. When I set her back down she just flopped onto her side and stayed there which really scared me. Oh no, not Little Inger.

I called Rooster who is an employee up at my favorite feed store and told him what she was doing. He giggled and told me she was being 'broody'. She wants to sit on eggs and have babies! I asked him if it was okay to let her have babies in the winter. After all, it's so cold. Again he giggled and told me to let Mother Nature take her course. If Little Inger wants babies, to let her. So, guess what? Yup, Little Inger can sit on her eggs and if Mother Nature wants her to have babies, then it looks like their will babies.

And look. Little Dog was in our driveway today! Fine. So be it then. So long as he behaves himself he can stick around.

Until next time....................

Is it Snow? Or Freezing Rain? Hmmmm

Today has been an odd weather day. Clear skies this morning. The the clouds rolled in. Then it got dark. Then it started raining. Then hailing. Then snowing. And now freezing rain. Danni here is as confused as the rest of us are. Which is it going to be? Rain? Snow?

Yeah, everything is starting to turn white. But it really isn't snow. And it really isn't hail.

"Is it over with yet out there" asks Stew Pot.

This wacky weather had Little Inger confused so she kept 'talking' to me telling me she wanted 'up'. So I carried her around while I took some pics. All the while she is 'talking'. One of these days I am going to learn chicken language!

Until next time...................