More Guard Duty

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Guard Duty

Huh? Whazzat?!

Don't be alarmed. I got it, I got it.

Plum Harvest!

Look what I found under the new plum tree we just planted this year! A perfect little plum. Granted, it's just one little plum, but hey, we didn't expect any fruit from the fruit trees planted just a couple of months ago so we're feeling very blessed.

I ate it. It was good.

Ridin' is Better

Harry has figured out that riding in the golf cart is much easier than running along behind. So he's getting ready to go out to the front pasture with Larry and Tom to pull fence. This is how he likes to ride - sticking out the back. Pretty soon, he will be too big for the cart.

Growin' Reds

Chickens are all feathered out. We still don't know which ones are hens and which are roosters. With our luck, they'll all be roosters. Tom takes Harry with him to tend the chickens so Harry will get used them and hopefully not chase or kill.

Harry

Harry likes to roll in the ground cover and is digging a hole to China right by the back door. He had his vet check up today. He's nearly eight weeks, 26.5 pounds, good health, no parasites.

A Job Well Done

Kip has been successfully integrated with the goats in the pasture. He's with the mommas and babies and there have been no casualties. He's turned out to be such a sweetie.

The thinks he's going to get a treat.

Hey! We want one too!

Kip is showing Harry who's boss.

Fraidy Cats?

The cats are afraid of the puppy. What's up with that? I mean, they aren't afraid of anything. They weave around the donkey's feet even though the donkey has tried to kill them. They follow the goats out to the pasture and hang out with them outside and in the barn. The slip into the stalls with the donkey and goats every chance they get. They play with Pearlie and rub up against her even though she would like nothing better than to kill them. They lay in front of a moving vehicle as if they are unsquashable. They weave in and out of our feet as we walk and they climb all over us. They go into the pasture next door and dare the longhorn cows to chase them. They climb to the very tops of the tallest trees. And they cornered a big snake, for goodness sake! So why are they afraid of a big sloppy puppy?

They stay up in the rafters of the barn, hiss with big wide pupils, and run around with their tails puffed out.

Silly cats. I hope they get over that or the rest of their lives will be miserable having to share the barn with the dog.

Sez Pearlie

"Mine... Also mine."

Livestock Guardian Dog

We decided to bite the bullet and get a livestock guardian dog. We have the donkeys for the pastures, but thought we needed a dog to patrol and protect our whole acreage.

This new pup is part Great Pyrenees and part Anatolian. He should be 100+ lbs. when he's grown. If the breeder was honest, he is seven weeks old and Meagan and I can attest to the fact that he is very heavy since we had to carry him through the market and out to the car. Yes, we did the unpolitically correct thing and bought him at the flea market.

I really resisted getting a dog. It's more trouble and more expense. But it seemed inevitable. So here we are.

We haven't decided on a name. Pearlie is not happy with this situation. Look at that pouty face.

Look What Jasper Cat Found

This was in our front yard by the wishing well. I was headed out to the garden and saw Jasper acting funny. I went to see what was wrong and there was this snake. It's probably about four feet long and I don't know what kind. Tom carried it out by the pond and let it go.

Poor Babies

The vet and his assistant were finished and just getting Henry and Kip on their feet when I went back out to the barn. They staggered around like they were drunk, so we let the donkeys recover for about an hour - until they could walk straight. Since the vet said they need to be up and around for their wound to drain and heal properly, we took them out to the pastures for the day. They felt well enough to run around a bit.

The poor little goats didn't get over it so quickly. They curled up together in the corner of the stall until we made them go outside. Then they curled up together out in the pasture until it was time to go back into the barn for the evening. All I could see all day was their little heads peeping up over the tall grass. When we took them back to the barn, they immediately went to lay down in the corner again without even eating any of their pellets.

Castration Day

The vet is here to castrate Henry, Kip, and Pansy's two kids.

As much as I want to be down there gleaning as much information as I can from the vet, I knew I'd better get out before the kids start their bleating. At least, mercifully, they put the donkeys to sleep for their procedure, but the kids will be awake and alert. I know I couldn't take it, so I headed out right as Kip fell asleep.

It Has Come To My Attention...

...that I had not posted a picture of the finished chicken palace. The building is finished. The yard is only partially finished. We're going to put chicken wire across the top to keep out the airborne predators. So far, the system is working well. Tom put a little sliding door in the side so that we can open it up for the chickens to go outside during the day.

At night, we call them in, "Here chick, chick, chick!" and they all frantically run in to eat the chicken scratch. I had bought a little round bowl with several holes in the top for the chickens to eat out of, but they have outgrown it. Somehow, they would pack it tightly with hay and it would get buried in the litter, so that every time we went to feed them, we'd have to dig through the hay to find it, then dig the hay out of the little holes. What a pain that was. So Tom put the big trough I had gotten earlier in the coop and we feed them in that. When the chickens are eating it sounds like they're popping popcorn.

Video?

Let's see if I can post a video. This is Henry and Billy. I don't know if they are fighting or playing, but this is what they do...only they were a bit distracted with me standing by the fence. They usually are a lot rougher with each other. Nobody screams in pain, though, so I guess they're OK.

Donkey Training

Here's Tom leading Kip back to the barn today. They're both getting better at it.

No Quarter

And they don't even let you "work up to it". We're beginners. We can't just buy the land and then instantly have all the livestock and all the produce necessary to qualify. Nope, from what I understand (and that's not saying much), if you don't qualify the first time you file the paperwork, you lose your exemption for five years. Then you can reapply. They said they're sending an inspector some time next month and as it stands right now, we don't qualify.

We were able to put Kip back in the barn tonight without much fuss. I coaxed him out of the pasture with some sweet feed and he came along fine. I asked Tom to come help because I couldn't carry the feed bucket and lead Kip at the same time. Tom wanted to lead Kip, so I walked along, carrying the bucket and giving instructions to him. I'm sure it was annoying to have me telling him, "Say, 'walk'; walk for a little while, then stop and say, 'whoa'; walk on his left side and lead with your right hand; don't let him lag behind; hold the rope closer to his chin; don't give him so much room to dance around...Ooops, ouch I bet that hurt." Well, if he had listened to me, he wouldn't have gotten kicked with Kip's back foot. How does a donkey kick you with his back foot while you're leading him? You let the rope dangle and let the donkey dance around with a yard of rope between you. That's how.

My philosophy is that every outing is an opportunity for training. Teach him to walk when I say "walk" and to stop when I say "whoa" and he must walk where I want him to at the pace I want to go. Obviously, I think my method is better than being dragged and kicked.

**sigh**

Well, you gotta hand it to the gov't officials. They are one clever lot...evil, but clever.

Tom went into town to file some paperwork on our acreage so we can keep our agricultural exemption. You have to have a certain number of livestock on a certain number of acres and if you grow a garden you have to sell a certain amount of produce to qualify.

For goodness sake. We don't want to go into business. We just want to grow our own food. The rules are many and include something like one cow per two acres (or is it three?), but three goats per one acre. So we'd have to have a whole bunch of goats - far more than I care to bother with. And I didn't want to have cattle, but it looks like we're just going to HAVE to. And our donkeys don't count unless we have an ungelded male. I don't have the skills to handle a full grown Jack donkey. And what if he somehow managed to get in the pasture with my neighbor's mares and produced a bunch of mules?! What a nightmare - Appaloosa mules.

And produce...well, to get the exemption, we have to sell the produce. To sell the produce, we'd have to have a much bigger garden AND, worst of all, we'd have all the gov't regulations for food handling to contend with.

So, they get us either coming or going. If we don't fulfill all the requirements for the exemption, we get hit with a huge tax burden. If we try to fulfill the requirements, we have all the regulations, paperwork, and fees associated with that - or we kill ourselves with working the land and livestock.

Tom is researching the issue some more to see what the easiest way for us will be. I'm hoping it will be as "simple" as putting a few head of cattle out there and just letting them eat the grass year round.

Oh yeah!

I also got our herd name changed to my first choice (of the second round), Legal Tender. I can't believe that name wasn't taken. I was sure I was going to have to go with my second choice, but was almost hoping for my fourth. Second choice was Oviedo, third was Asturia, and fourth was 371 1/4 Grains. Heh, I think that would have been great, but did not have any family support for it.

Who doesn't know what that means?

Anyway, I think it's pretty cool that I got Legal Tender for the herd name and SLVR (silver) for our tattoo, since Tom is so into the lawful money issue. Maybe we'll name our farm Little Oviedo or something like that. Meagan and I toyed with the idea of El Goato for the herd name, but in the end, I thought it was too silly.

So, we're set. I can register Rose and Cosmos now. I have my tattoo set ordered and it should be arriving soon. As soon as I get them tattooed, I'm going to put them up for sale.

Bird's Nest

A bird has built its nest on the back side of the light by the front door. It's a picture perfect little nest, daubed on with mud and covered with mossy bits. I peeked in the nest today while mom was away and there are four little eggs in it about the size of small grapes.

We dragged Kip out of the barn today and put him in the small pasture with Hyacinth. He had been in the barn for about 10 days and did not want to come out. He behaved well after we got him over the threshold of the stall. For some reason it freaks him out. However, it did not go well with Hyacinth. Even though she could go in and out of his stall without incident and didn't seem to be afraid of him and he wasn't disturbed by him, Kip ended up chasing her all over the pasture. I was afraid he was going to hurt her, so I took her out and put her in with the other goats. Not sure what I'm going to do about the donkey chasing problem. I need to do some research on it.

I'm thinking about training Kip further - possibly to carry a pack or pull a cart...maybe even to ride him. Pack first, I think.

Tom has been working on the chicken yard. It is enclosed all around, but doesn't have a top on it. We let the chickens out all day in the yard anyway. I can't be sure (because chickens are impossible to count), but I don't think we lost any to airborne predators.

New Front Door...Finally!

We got our new front door installed this week and the finish man just finished it out today. It is so nice to not have those towels stuffed up under the door in a vain effort to keep bugs, dirt, and cold out. And we can walk in and out without kicking and tripping over them.

We just have a temporary doorknob on because my lockset/handles are on order and haven't arrived yet. And some day, I hope to be able to afford decorative iron grilles to attach over the glass part. But, for now, this is what we have and I'm very happy with it.

The front hall (which isn't finished because we don't have the door casing yet) is so light and bright that Tom and I keep think we left the door open. It'll take us a while to adjust to light entryway instead of a dark cavelike entrance.

Peeping Skunk

That's where Pearlie lays while I'm sitting here at the computer on my kitchen desk. See the window right behind her? Just a few minutes ago, something moving outside the window caught my eye. I've seen possums ambling by a couple of times, so I was expecting that's what it was. Nope. It was a skunk. It made a tiny scratching noise when it put it's little front paws on the window to look in.

I sat very still, hoping that Pearlie wouldn't notice (she was busy licking her foot), because if she saw that skunk just about one foot away from her, she would have come unglued, which may have made the skunk come unglued, which would have made me a very unhappy camper. Of course, it would have sprayed on the window and brick instead of us, but I'm pretty sure the smell would have seeped into the house.

Lovey Dovey

Well, Kip has turned out to be a real sweetheart so far. He's always there to greet me at the front of the stall and loves to get rubbed. He'll let me take off and put on halters and lead him around the stall. I haven't tried leading him out of and back into the stall, but I'll try that soon. Knock me over with a feather.

Hair

Remember when my hair was really, really long? Not so long ago. And I wanted to cut it because it made me look old. So I've been wearing it much shorter for several years. Now I'm toying with growing it out. I wore it in a tiny ponytail today. It's been a while since it would make a ponytail.

Coyote Scat

...er, poop (for those who don't know what scat is), has been found uncomfortably close to my house.

At least, I think it coyote scat. It's not dog and it's not cat (cats usually cover theirs). I went looking on the internet to try to confirm my suspicions that it is from the coyotes. Not surprisingly, there are tons of pictures of animal poop on the internet. What is surprising is the number of pictures in which the poop is held in a human hand. Ack!

Anyway, the scat is full of bugs that have been injested by the animal. I really didn't know that coyotes ate bugs. I thought it should be full of rabbit and mouse parts. But what other animal could it be? I first noticed the unusual poop just a few yards from the chicken coop. Uh-oh. I think they're peeking in and planning a raid.

Then today when I walked out to the garden, there was a large pile that looked as if several coyotes (or whatever) had all pooped in the same place. That's just a few yards from the house. I've been hearing the coyotes yipping very close by lately, so I try not to let Pearlie out after dark except right by the front door. I probably should go ahead and get a very large dog. That might be helpful in keeping coyotes away from the house.

Gadonk-adonk

Kip is in the barn!

I went out after lunch, put some food in his bowl in the trailer and when he walked up in there, I shut the door quickly. Then I went in with him to try to put a halter on, but he tried to kick me, so I had to rethink the strategy.

Meagan came out to help and we were able to get a rope around his neck so Meagan could put the halter on while I held him still. He didn't fight too much, but I think it was because the rope was so tight, he was having trouble breathing...poor thing.

Tom came out and helped us hook the trailer up to the truck, then Meagan and I drove the truck to the barn, backed it up to the stall, hooked two ropes onto his halter and led him out. He did not want to go into the stall. We had to pull him with all our might, but we got him in and he's OK. He's remarkably calm. I expected a fit from him. He's just hee-hawing a lot, but he came right up and took a carrot from Meagan so I think he's not as scared as Henry was.

And Hyacinth has mastitis in one side of her udder. Ever since I started milking her I've noticed that the one side only gives a few ounces while the other gives the bulk of the milk. Then on Thursday evening, there was a little bit of blood in the milk from the smaller side. So I bought a mastitis test yesterday and tested her milk. Sure enough, that side is infected. I got some meds from the vet today. Oh joy, oh delight. The medicine is in a syringe. I have to put the syringe tip into the opening on the teat and squeeze the medicine into it while "reverse milking" so the medicine will go into the udder. Hyacinth will love this.

Sometimes the section of udder that is infected gets so much scar tissue that it will no longer produce milk. I think that may be the case with Hyacinth, which will be bad if she has twins again.

Let the Weaning Commence

Whew! This is how my day has gone so far.

Milk Hyacinth; put Pansy and all kids in pasture four; put Billy in with Buffy (who was by herself in pasture two, which is not goat fenced); put Cosmos in with Henry (in pasture three); watch to make sure Henry doesn't kill Cosmos; put Hyacinth in corridor between pastures three and four (which is goat fenced); go out to try to get Hilde in the trailer; on the way see that Billy has escaped pasture two; detour to get Billy corraled; on the way see that Henry is trying to kill Cosmos, who is running for his life along the fence line and Hyacinth is running along other side of fence line, then I'm running across the pasture trying to stop Henry; save Cosmos; look over and see that Hyacinth has miraculously escaped her corridor (must have jumped the fence in a panic to save Cosmos); hold Cosmos so Henry can sniff and understand that Cosmos belongs, but soon after I put Cosmos down, Henry is after him again; get Cosmos out of dangerous pasture while trying to hold Billy in; shuffle six goats in and out of same pasture with the intent of getting them all in pasture three except for Hyacinth because Rose and Cosmos are desperately trying to nurse (I thought they'd be weaned by now, but no); put Hyacinth back in barn. **big sigh**

Now, where was I? Oh yeah, try to get Hilde in trailer. Hilde went right in. I inched the door up slowly in case she tried to leap out, but she was calm. I closed the trailer all up, went and got the truck and Tom and I moved her into pasture two with Buffy. Now Kip is in the big front pasture by himself. The question is whether to leave him out there by himself to night. I really don't want to do that. He's still a little guy and despite all his bluff and bluster, he probably is vulnerable to coyotes.

So I'm going back out this afternoon to see if I can get him in the trailer and move him to the barn. I probably will not be able to do that, but my options are to leave him alone or move Henry and Billy in with him.

Funny observation: When we put Billy in with Buffy, he reared up to head butt her right away. She promptly turned her rear end to him like she was going to give him a kick and he didn't do it again. She immediately established the fact that Billy was not the boss of that pasture and she was not going to put up with his nonsense.

Got Milk?

I am consuming goat milk as we speak...so to speak.

In my cereal.

I'm a little freaked out, but it tastes just like regular milk as far as I can tell. I'm not a milk drinker. Milk has always kind of grossed me out to drink straight. Since any kind of milk might make me gag, I'm not a good judge of milk taste, but as long as it kind of fades into the background of the cereal taste, I'm OK with it. And it does. So, I'm OK with it. Sort of.

Gadonk

Seems that's what I call Kip more than his name. It just fits.

Neighbor, Joann, came out to the pasture to help me with the donkeys, but as I expected, they wouldn't have anything to do with her. Before she arrived, they were gathered round me getting rubs and nibbling my fingers, but as soon as Joann arrived, they went off. So we stood around in the pasture talking a long time just so the donkeys would get used to her being around. After a while, they did come back and kind of hang around, but as soon as we got out halters and ropes, they took off again.

Oh well, I had a good visit with Joann, so it wasn't a total waste.

Last night, in desperation, I wrote to a complete stranger, a goat farmer I found on the internet, to ask for advice about how to get Hyacinth to stop kicking. She actually called me today. I was very surprised that she would take the time. We had a good long talk and she gave me some tips. But when I told her my plan about weaning the kids, then milking Hyacinth, she wasn't on board with that at all. She thought it was a bad idea and referred me to her website on which she addresses that very issue.

I liked what she had to say, and it made sense, but I decided it did not apply to my situation because Hyacinth was a different kind of mother. I won't bore everyone with the details. Suffice it to say that I will continue with milking Hyacinth unless or until it proves to be unproductive. I got another quart today. At that rate, although it is paltry for a Nubian, I would get more than a gallon a week and that is way more than we regularly use. So it's enough for now.

If you're interested in what the advice was, you can go to the website and read it. I think those who know Hyacinth would agree that it doesn't really apply.

http://www.glimmercroft.com/Udder.html

We Survived

We survived the milk test. Although, I don't think it really counts since it was only five tablespoons in the bread and it was cooked. The real test would be to pour our cereal in it and eat it. I was going to do that this morning, but cereal just didn't sound good.

Milking went a tiny bit better this morning. I still had to give Hyacinth wee bits of food to keep her still, but she didn't kick as much in between. Maybe she'll calm down after she learns the routine. Routine seems to be important to goats.

The carpet is being installed in our other house today, so Tom is there seeing to that project.

A friend helped me figure out how much fabric I need to make my curtains. 33 yards for the bedroom, 52 yards for the living room, and 2 1/4 yards for a roman shade in the kitchen pantry area. Friend used to make window coverings professionally and has offered to help me. I might take her up on that. I could probably learn a lot from her.

Goats, Donkeys, and Fertilizers

Donkey Plan B went into effect today. Actually, I didn't have a Plan B. It just happened.

As usual, donkeys were all lovey dovey and "gimme, gimme" when I went out there by myself today. They went nonchalantly in and out of the trailer, so I practiced lifting the ramp a tiny bit just to see what they'd do. Of course, Hilde and Kip got their nose all out of joint and ran off. Buffy was in to eating all the food herself, so I got brave and lifted the ramp a little more (the ramp lifts up to close the trailer). She didn't freak out, so I lifted it all the way. She seemed a bit concerned, but was calm, so I latched it. I called Tom and told him I had Hilde in the trailer and we might as well move her. So he drove the truck down to the pasture.

Neighbor's daughter-in-law, Jesse, happened by as I was closing the trailer, so she helped us hook the trailer up, then went to help me move Billy and Henry. I had put moved them to the next pasture over so they could have some new grass to eat. That pasture wasn't goat fenced so I was a little concerned that Billy might get out, but as far as I know, he didn't evey try...and why should he? The grass is definitely better on his side of the fence. Anyway, we moved them back to their regular pasture and put Hilde, by herself, into that pasture. Tomorrow I plan to try to get Buffy and Kip into the trailer. Neighbor, Joann, said she'd help get them in and then she would put a halter on Kip. I said, "Better you than me." Heh.

I put all goats except Hyacinth out in the pasture today. It didn't seem to bother the kids that they went without their mother. They stuck close to Pansy. I guess she's their surrogate now. I figure if I keep Hyacinth and her kids apart for a few days, they'll forget about the nursing and I can put Rose back in with her mother and send Cosmos out with the big boys. Poor Cosmos. Maybe he'll have his voice back tomorrow. He sounds so pitiful - like a kitten.

I milked Hyacinth again tonight. In between feedings, there was a lot of kicking and thrashing. I left her on the stand longer than I needed to just because I was feeling annoyed and she needs to know that she stays there until I'm finished. All told, I got a quart of milk from her today. And I used some of it to make my focaccia bread tonight. If you don't hear from me tomorrow, we might have died of goat milk poisoning.

Tom finished his fertilizer training. It's kind of a catch 22 situation (sort of like getting a gun license). Now that he is a licensed applicator, he has to keep up with all these rules. Even if I (me, myself) buy a jug of round up to squirt on a dandelion, Tom has to keep a log of it and we're supposed to notify anyone who comes on our property that we just sprayed something. He even has to log my use of compost tea and orange oil on my garden plants. There are a whole bunch of other rules, punishable by fines, criminal charges, and threats of losing one's license. The problem is, you can't buy the products to use unless you have the license. So they've got you no matter what.

There are still 23 chickens alive and well.

Pimiento Cheese Spread

I made this pimiento cheese spread for lunch today. Since I didn't have any gluten free bread made, I put it on some GF crackers and I must say, it was wonderful! I copied as best I could the pimiento cheese that a tea room in our town serves. Mine was better - I think because my cheese wasn't as sharp as the cheese they used.

I didn't measure the ingredients, so if anyone wants to make it, you just have to eyeball it.

grated cheese (I used the cheddar/jack finely grated cheese from Costco)
chopped pimientos in a jar
chopped pecans
chopped candied jalapenos
mayonnaise

Mix all ingredients together until it is the consistency of a chunky spread.

Yum!

Moderate Success

I attempted to mik Hyacinth last night. It was pretty much a disaster. She'll stand still as long as she has something to eat in her bowl, but the instant it's empty, she starts kicking. I estimate that I was able to get about two cups of milk, but none of it was usable.

With all the thrashing around, I had milk squirting everywhere, so not all of the two cups went into the pail, some of it got spilled and she stuck her foot in the pail several times, which, as you can imagine, contaminates the milk terribly. The whole process was very frustrating. Especially since preparations to milk (all the sterilizing, etc.) are time consuming. It's frustrating to go to all that trouble just to have Hyacinth act awful and spoil the milk. I suppose it can't be fun for her either with her head in a headlock and having someone squeeze her udder.

Well, I tried again this morning armed with a slightly better plan. Instead of pouring all of her food into the bowl, I just gave her a little at a time. It was a pain, but it worked. I was able to milk her without any feet in the pail and I got 12 unspoiled ounces.

Poor little Cosmos must have cried all night. He was so hoarse that he could barely manage to whisper-cry this morning. Rose seemed to have fared better. At least, her voice was strong. I hated to think of them without their mother last night. As luck would have it, we had one of the coldest nights we've had in a while - about 34 degrees, and we've moved our only heat lamp to the chicken palace. So Rose and Cosmos had to rely on the hay and each other for warmth.

Our donkey plan was a bust, too. We could neither get the halter on Kip nor get him in the trailer long enough to shut the door. Whenever anyone goes out there with me to the donkey pasture, they are on high alert and they know we're up to something that they aren't going to agree with. We'll have to try something else today.

Today Tom is taking a class on organic fertilizer usage. It's a mandatory training before anyone can purchase and use fertilizers - or large amounts of fertilizers, I guess. We just found out that he had to have the training before he can treat our pastures. So we're a little late on the weed management of our hay field.

Crying Babies

I'm weaning Rose and Cosmos today. Tom and I cleaned out all the stalls. Ugh, what a backbreaking job. Then we put Rose and Cosmos in their own stall and gave them a little grain. My intent was to take the rest of the goats out to the pasture for the day as usual, but surprisingly, no shockingly, Hyacinth wouldn't leave the barn without her kids.

I coaxed her out and a little way from the barn, but she kept stopping and looking back. Of course, Rose and Cosmos were crying and crying their little baby "maaah's". Then she just wouldn't go any further and she turned around and ran back. So, I just put her, Pansy and Pansy's kids back in their stall.

I'll be attempting to milk Hyacinth this evening. Wish me luck.

Tom and I are also going to attempt to get Kip into the horse trailer and into the barn some time this week - maybe today or tomorrow. I still haven't got a halter on him, so I don't know how this is going to go. Wish us more luck.

The chicks spent their first night in the chicken coop. We put a heat lamp in there because it was in the 40's last night and is supposed to be in the 30's tonight. When I went in to feed them this morning, they were all huddled in the light's heat. And they are already learning that "chick, chick, chick" means "come eat". I have to teach them that so that when we start letting them out during the day to range, we'll be able to call them back into the coop for the night.

Twenty-three Rhode Island Red chicks from the flea market at three FRN's each, hatched on March 13th. If the chicken man made an honest attempt at discerning the sex of the chicks, there should be about 20 hens and three roosters. He didn't guarantee it, but promised his best guess. Tom and I worked most of yesterday on the palace and finished up today putting trim on the roof and corners.

More About Chickens

The chicken palace now has a roof. Walls to follow later this week.

We were told by a friend that you need two different kinds of chickens - one kind for laying eggs and one kind for meat. I don't accept that. In my Storey's Guide to Raising Chickens (thank you Tina) it says that there are such a thing as "dual purpose" chickens. It says "best of both worlds--eggs and meat. Dual purpose chickens "don't lay as well as laying hens and don't grow as fast as meat birds, but they lay better than meat birds and grow faster than laying hens...are the classic backyard chickens."

They give a list:

General Purpose

Dominique
Houdan
Plymouth Rock
Sussex
Orpington
Wyandotte

Better for Eggs

Australorp
Red Sex Link (hybrid)
Rhode Island Red

Better for Meat

Black Sex Link (hybrid)
Langsham
New Hampshire

And the book tells me the number of eggs that I should expect per day would be two eggs for every three hens. I should figure out how many eggs I want and decide on the number of chickens from there, figuring in a certain percentage of chickens that might die off.

So, with that information, I've decided to start with 25 Rhode Island Reds. We'll see how that works out. Chickens aren't a long time investment as they are only good for laying for about a year or two and you don't want to wait until they are too old to eat or they'll be tough. If the Reds don't work out, I think we can easily switch to a different breed.

Perhaps I'm relying too much on a book (sort of like Howard Garrett's gardening book that has been proven wrong too many times), but...well, that's what I do.

Sad, Sad Garden

I am becoming disillusioned with Texas organic gardening guru, Howard Garrett. I've been planting according to the schedule in his book and hardly anything has sprouted at all. The only things that are growing well are the onion, asparagus and cabbage plants. I think the main problem is that it is just too cold still. The other problem is that stupid hairy vetch. I can't get rid of it and it's choking out the tomato plants and the squash seeds that I planted.

Chicken Palace

It's almost done. For the floor, I used some of the saltillo tile that we had saved when we took it out of the house. I just need to cut some pieces for around the edges and the floor will be done. Tom had to go out of town, so when he gets back, we'll put metal siding on the roof and walls. Then it will be ready for chickens!

Bummed? No...Mad

To register our Nubian dairy goats it is recommended that we choose a herd name. When naming a goat to be registered, the herd name comes first. If you don't have a herd name, then they simpy put "The" in front of the name. I didn't want everything to be "The", so I applied for a herd name. The application has space for three choices. My choices were "Silver Dollar", "Pearly Gate", and our last name. I only put our last name because I didn't dream that the other two would be taken, I couldn't think of anything else, and I knew that our last name would be entirely unique so nobody else would have applied for it.

Well, I got the paperwork back today and the herd name is our last name - my last choice. Now I'm feeling extremely bummed...even to the point of anger. Not sure why I'm feeling angry. I really didn't want our name to be the herd name. I'm thinking about calling the association and challenging the notion that the other names were already taken - especially Pearly Gate. I mean, why would anyone name their herd "Pearly Gate"? Besides me, that is.

I spent the day in Dallas looking at fabric for curtains for all these windows in the house. That is exhausting. I also ran a bunch of other errands. I didn't buy the fabric, but I brought a bunch of samples home. Nearly all of them could work, so I just have to decide which of them I want to use. Or maybe I want to get more samples. I always feel like I have to look at every piece of fabric within 100 miles of me or I might miss the one fabulous fabric that I NEED. Heh. Actually, I didn't see any fabric that I would call fabulous. Maybe that's the problem. If I don't love it, it's hard to make a decision.

More Chicken Coop

At the end of the day of chicken coop building, Tom's drill and power saw batteries ran out. He so wanted to finish cutting this one board so he could install the door, but the only handsaw he could find was this little bitty saw from Paden's childhood tool kit. Tom used it and after much effort, he finally got the lumber cut. By then, it was so late in the day that we didn't get the door installed after all.

It rained today so we took this opportunity to go to Dallas and check on the repair progress of our other house. It's almost completed and the new carpet should go in next week. If the weather is good for the rest of this week, we hope to finish the chicken coop.

Chicken Coop

We started building our chicken coop. Tom calls it the chicken palace because he thinks I want it too big and fancy. I wanted at least 10x10 and he wanted something like 6x8. Tom found these old telephone poles laying around on our property and since they were the right height, we used them as the corner posts. We got that done on Saturday. Then I convinced Tom to take a break and not work on it Sunday afternoon. On Monday we got more of the frame up and put a window in. Then we went and bought a storm door for it.

Morning Trek

This is usually what our morning looks like. The neighbors horses are intrigued by the kids.

Mountain Climbing

The new kids like to play King of the Hill on the haystack. When the moms and kids get to the pasture, they all fight over the stack of rocks and knock each other off.

Buds

The boys worked out their differences pretty quick and now hang out in the pasture together.

Ears

Billy is hilarious with those ears. He stands them up straight when he prepares to bash heads. Hyacinth does it, too, when she bashes heads with Pansy and Rose and Cosmos do it with their tiny ears. I haven't seen Pansy or her babies stand their ears up yet.

Who Da' Man?!

We moved Henry out of the barn to the small pasture with Billy to see how they'd get along. Billy tried to prove his manliness with his customary head butting. Henry was unimpressed.

New Trees

We've planted the fruit trees in the circle of the driveway. The plums have already put on leaves. I also made a donation to the Arbor Day Foundation and received eleven free "trees" (more like twigs) for my efforts. Hey, they were free. I've planted them all, but they are all still just bare twigs. See if you can find the tree in the picture. Heh.

Azalea

At least one brave azalea survived my neglect. I wish I had time for landscaping, but there are too many other things to tend to. I see so many plants at the stores that I want to get, but there are no places prepared to put them - just weedy grass in the yard right now.

Mission Accomplished!

We moved Henry (oldest donkey baby) to the barn yesterday. I ended up walking him on a lead rope from the front pasture to the barn. He was a little hesitant, but didn't give me much trouble...until we got to the barn. He did NOT want to go in. At that point, Tom came to help me. He ended up dragging Henry, who was sitting back on his haunches with his front feet braced out in front of him. Fortunately, he couldn't get any traction on the concrete so he slid most of the way. When we got to the stall door, he really made a fuss, although not as much of a fuss as I imagine Kip will make. Tom pulled and I pushed and we got him in the stall.

After that, he has been very calm. Because my neighbor told me so (she has weaned many baby horses), I expected a royal fit of kicking and rearing and flinging. She told me not to go in the stall with him for a couple of days because I'd get hurt. Pshaw. Henry has been a sweetheart and I've gone in the stall several times already. He mostly stands in the corner, scared I think, but he'll come up to me for a treat and a pat and he's eating fine. His mom has been making a racket out in the pasture calling for him though.

Midnight Babies

Our neighbor was out checking on her horses late last night and heard baby goats crying. She went to check and Pansy had had her babies in the shed. She called us and we went out to get them since the weather forecast was stormy and cold.

So in the middle of the night, we (with our neighbor's help) lead Pansy and Billy and carried the babies to the barn. Pansy is not used to the lead rope, so I started out by dragging her, then our neighbor took over and even carried her part of the way. Pansy probably weighs about 50-60 pounds. Surprisingly, she did not struggle while being carried. Our neighbor is a woman, which begs the question, "Just who is the Pansy here?"

Pansy seems to be a better mother than Hyacinth was in the beginning. She had the babies all cleaned up and doesn't kick them away when they try to nurse. The babies are two boys (I think). The white one is really showing his boer roots. I don't know where that little fawn one got his coloring. It would be interesting to know their bloodline. They sure don't have much of their sire in them.

Having all the goats in the barn, as well as the pouring rain, is putting a crimp in my donkey weaning plans. I don't have an empty stall now, so the only way I'd have room for a donkey is if I put Pansy in with Hyacinth, which would probably be OK, but if we don't get a break in the rain, I won't be going out there trying to get Henry in the barn.

Weaning

My neighbor suggested that I borrow her horse trailer to move the donkeys when it's time to wean (in two days). Of course, they won't go in it, so I'm not exactly sure how it will help. Neighbor brought the trailer over and parked it in the donkey pasture. The idea is to feed them in it so that they be comfortable with it, then on the designated day, they'll go in to eat and I'll just close the door behind them. Easy peasy!

Not.

The trailer wasn't moved in until last night. Today was the first day I tried putting their food in it. They wouldn't go in - at least not while I was watching. If the food is gone tomorrow, I'll know that they snuck in during the night. In any event, two days is not enough time to condition them to the trailer.

I think the best plan is to get Henry and Kip into separate stalls in the barn and let them pitch their I-want-mommy fits in a safe, enclosed environment that I have easy access to.

There are multiple problems with this plan. I'm mulling over solutions. In the meantime, still trying to get the halter on Kip.

Tom is still dealing with water heater fall-out. The new heater was installed today. We have very good insurance. State Farm has always done right by us. Of course, it helps to have an agent that is a member of the church. We've been told that they will pay for the replacement of all the damaged carpet rather than just having it cleaned. Since the carpet was installed in huge pieces (like our whole master bedroom and bath was installed as one whole piece rather than cutting it at the doorway), we will be getting a great deal of new carpet. And since the water heater guys really dirtied up the stairway carpet, the insurance company will pay for new carpet there, too. Of course, we have a deductible, but we might actually break even or better because we were going to have to have the carpet cleaned anyway.

So, even though this event is terribly inconvenient, we might be better off for it.

When It Rains...

I was thinking as I was writing the To Do List entry that things are going too good and I shouldn't be writing that. I was too smug. Well, I wasn't really smug because I was aware that something must always go bad as soon as things are going good. Was I right?

First, the Dodge truck broke down as Tom was driving it in town towing a trailer. Something to do with the fuel system. Thankfully, he was close to the Dodge dealership and could leave it there for repair. Big money.

Then, last night the realtor called Tom. The house was being shown to a prospective buyer and there was water dripping from the ceiling of the master bedroom. For those not familiar with our previous home, there are no pipes above the master bedroom. There is only another bedroom above it and above that - the attic, which contains the hot water heater.

Tom had to rush to the house an hour and a half away to check things out. The hot water heater has come to the end of it's lifespan. Hot water heaters do not die alone. They like to take part of the house with them. The water has leaked through the ceiling on the second floor, soaking a large area of ceiling, wall, and carpet; down into the first floor, soaking more ceiling, wall, and carpet. Tom soaked up as much as he could with every towel in the house and turned all of the water off.

He went back today to pull up the carpet and take out the carpet pad. Tomorrow he has to go back to deal with the new water heater installer, the insurance company, the carpet company, the dry wall repairer and whatever else needs to be dealt with. Big money.

Tom went out to load up the Dodge for tomorrow trip back. The truck is dead.

On another note, Wednesday is a full moon. I never knew anything about full moons and never have paid attention to them. Who knew we had a full moon every month? I think. Anyway, those in the know recommend weaning equines during a full moon. It's time to wean Kip and Henry. Wednesday is the scheduled day. I'm not sure how we're going to accomplish the separation, but we're going to give it our best shot.

This Tree

I love this tree. It stands all alone in the middle of a neighbor's pasture (except for that dumb cow that wouldn't move) and has that funky twist in it's trunk.

To Do List

I've about had it with this excessively windy weather. It is very unpleasant, but warm today, so I could at least do a few things outside.

I'm a list person. I like to keep a to do list going all the time because some days, when I'm trying to decide what to do, I can't remember anything that needs to get done. I also like to write it on a nice clean piece of paper. A to do list on the computer just doesn't satisfy. When we had the hired guys working on the house, I kept a list for them so they could check off what they had done and wouldn't always have to ask me, "What next?"

On our to do list right now is:

Build chicken coop
Build garden shed
Weed/fertilize hay field
Finish baseboards
Paint bathroom vanity (in progress)
Build shell of barn apartment
Organize garage
Install new front door (which should arrive any day now)
Shop for drapery fabric
Mulch garden
Make tomato soup
Finish goat fencing pastures
Halter work on donkeys
Paint powder room ceiling (in progress)

I also try to prioritize the list partially. Some of the things aren't urgent and can be worked on any time, but our priority now is to build the chicken coop and my garden shed. The garden shed is partially built, since we're just going to enclose one of the loafing sheds and put shelves in it. Oh, and I'm going to use some of the saltillo tiles taken out of the house as a floor in the shed. I'm very excited about this garden shed. I think we might even reuse a couple of the windows and a door that we took out of the house when we remodeled.

I add to the list as things come up and it feels so very good to be able to cross a project off the list. This evening Tom and I are going to Lowes and I hope to find some organizational tools to use in the garage.

On another note, it has become quite easy to move Hyacinth and the kids to and from the barn/pasture. We stroll out in the morning and they graze along the way. It doesn't take much coaxing to get them to the pasture and the kids run right in the gate like they know where to go. Then in the evening, I can hardly walk fast enough to keep up with them on the way back to the barn. Seems that once they know the routine, they're happy enough to go along with it. There is no more flopping on the ground and pouting and it is an enjoyable quiet time for me in the morning. It will be interesting to see if Pansy is as agreeable to the routine as Hyacinth is.

Rose seems completely recovered and her head is finally healing. She's still quite a bit smaller than Cosmos, but she doesn't let him push her out of the way while nursing anymore. In fact, she even pushes him away sometimes.

Bossy Goat

A goat-raising friend said that he mixes diatomaceous earth with his goat mineral as a de-wormer for his goats. I've been chemically de-worming mine so far, which involves syringes and/or eye-droppers and more medicine on me that in the goat's mouth.

I did a little research on the internet, and it seems that there are other people who use diatomaceous earth for that purpose. Now, I don't know if my goats have worms or ever had worms and I don't really intend to try to find out. But I have read that goats have worms and that they must be de-wormed regularly or they could die a slow death - especially mothers of newborns. So I've been dutifully de-worming.

Tom and I decided to give the d-earth a try and I bought some little buckets to screw onto the walls of their sheds and stalls in which to serve the mineral/d-earth concoction. I quickly installed one in the empty stall after moving Hyacinth and kids to the pasture. Then I went to install one in Billy's loafing shed. What a project.

I barely made it across the field to the shed without Billy knocking me over. He is getting so aggressive. Not mean, just pushy and trying to assert his dominance. When I finally got to the shed and tried to install the bucket, Billy had his nose stuck in everthing and was climbing all over me. He's probably about 100 lbs. now and it's no small thing to have a 100 lb. goat pushing, shoving, and jumping all over you.

So I trooped back across the field, having to hold onto Billy's ears to keep him from ramming me, to get my rope out of the golfcart. I tied Billy to the fence and let him wrestle with the rope while I went back and finished my task. Should have done that in the first place. Good lesson learned.

Wind Shields

This is the new golf cart cover that Tom found. It so happens that it also fits on his tractor, so he got two. It really helps keep us warm while we're driving around.