Thanks "V"!
Sunday, February 28, 2016
The power of a raised index finger
While the Mini-Handlers were visiting for the holidays, I supervised the building (or re-building) of the chicken coop. It was a grueling task keeping them on task, but someone had to do it.
Nostra, the dog, was marginally helpful.
There were a few breaks where I positioned myself for maximum gain.
After about a week of building, the coop was done in time to visit the agricultural auction which happens the second Saturday of every month.
The Handlers inspected the offerings ahead of time. Being novices, they knew barely enough to confirm that the majority of the chickens up for auction were the hybrid layers. Never having participated in an auction, they watched as ducks, parakeets, parrots (ok, why?!?! This country is full of parrots), rabbits, and even two donkeys were put up for auction. Should you have an itch on your nose at the moment the auctioneer is looking at you, you best hope that whatever is being auctioned has a subsequent bid after you scratched your nose, otherwise it's YOURS. And it could be an entire flock of whatever or a 20 kilo bag of potatoes!
Mini-Female Handler was brave enough to lift her index finger, and ...then 6 hens became THEIRS.
A couple of things have come out of this experience....
1. These lovely ladies are beyond their egg laying days which would explain why they were only US$4.00 for all 6 chickens.
2. The way that ladder is configured above, they spent DAYS not bothering to venture up into the coop. This was later re-worked and they no longer have such an incline... (yes, Senior Female-Handler, we heard you...).
3. Because these fine ladies are just a tad old (ok, REALLY old), the Handlers are making them as comfortable as possible, and in turn are providing the Handlers with some wonderful fertilizer and keeping the insect population at bay.
4. Best to keep the screen on the rain barrel securely in place. Yes...you guessed it... (and yes, it was sad!).
The ladies are let out of the coop area every day. They enjoy coming to the front porch and clucking away as the Handlers eat breakfast there. In addition to clucking, they do a bit of scattering.
And a bit of resting.
Before the goats are brought in at the end of the day, the ladies know that they need to go back to their garden as the gate will be secured in place to prevent any fox from having an evening snack.
Then Female Handler makes the rounds raking the mulch back into its proper spot...and the cycle begins the next day.
Nostra, the dog, was marginally helpful.
There were a few breaks where I positioned myself for maximum gain.
After about a week of building, the coop was done in time to visit the agricultural auction which happens the second Saturday of every month.
The Handlers inspected the offerings ahead of time. Being novices, they knew barely enough to confirm that the majority of the chickens up for auction were the hybrid layers. Never having participated in an auction, they watched as ducks, parakeets, parrots (ok, why?!?! This country is full of parrots), rabbits, and even two donkeys were put up for auction. Should you have an itch on your nose at the moment the auctioneer is looking at you, you best hope that whatever is being auctioned has a subsequent bid after you scratched your nose, otherwise it's YOURS. And it could be an entire flock of whatever or a 20 kilo bag of potatoes!
Mini-Female Handler was brave enough to lift her index finger, and ...then 6 hens became THEIRS.
A couple of things have come out of this experience....
1. These lovely ladies are beyond their egg laying days which would explain why they were only US$4.00 for all 6 chickens.
2. The way that ladder is configured above, they spent DAYS not bothering to venture up into the coop. This was later re-worked and they no longer have such an incline... (yes, Senior Female-Handler, we heard you...).
3. Because these fine ladies are just a tad old (ok, REALLY old), the Handlers are making them as comfortable as possible, and in turn are providing the Handlers with some wonderful fertilizer and keeping the insect population at bay.
4. Best to keep the screen on the rain barrel securely in place. Yes...you guessed it... (and yes, it was sad!).
The ladies are let out of the coop area every day. They enjoy coming to the front porch and clucking away as the Handlers eat breakfast there. In addition to clucking, they do a bit of scattering.
And a bit of resting.
Before the goats are brought in at the end of the day, the ladies know that they need to go back to their garden as the gate will be secured in place to prevent any fox from having an evening snack.
Then Female Handler makes the rounds raking the mulch back into its proper spot...and the cycle begins the next day.
Sunday, February 21, 2016
Hiding in the tall grass...
A canis lupus familiaris and a mantis religiosa!
Eeh??
A dog and a praying mantis.
Eeh??
A dog and a praying mantis.
Sunday, February 14, 2016
Let me explain the quiet...
I've been quiet because there's been a lot to consume our thoughts...
1. Our neighbor's dogs attacked all three of our adult does the day of my last posting. We could see that Chochi put up a good fight. All three does, Chochi, Timi, and Alita were killed. It was a difficult time shortly thereafter. While as much as I would like to say that this blog is completely about me, the Maine Coon watch-cat of this farm, truth be told this farm revolved around Chochi and keeping her happy as the matriarch of the goat family. Chochi came into our lives two weeks after we moved to this farm and pretty much everything revolved around her because she provided us humor, reality checks, fertilizer, copious quantities of milk which in turn allowed us to benefit from making an endless supply of cheese, and she provided us with four sets of adorable kids.
We miss each one of these ladies daily, but we especially miss the matriarch of this farm.
Sonny, our billy (and Chochi's son), and Chochi's last set of kids were what remained of the goat population.
2. Sonny was attacked by the same dogs about 10 days later, but managed to free his stake and did a good job in fending for his life. The Handlers got to him and chased off the dogs before too much damage was done.
3.The Handlers had the opportunity to trade Sonny in October for another billy and they decided it was a good idea to bring in outside blood. Sonny went to live on a farm with 13 does; what's not to love about that situation? In return, Mochi (our new billy) came to reside at our farm. Mochi is also a Saanen, but without horns. Mochi was a tad feral so there were many months of adjustment. Not all of it was easy during a time when the Handlers were hyper vigilant about another attack.
4. In mid December the neighbor who owned the dogs was admitted into a mental hospital after his house and a couple of other structures on his property burned down. With no one left to care for the dogs, they then started disappearing.
5. By mid January the Handlers finally had the confidence that Mochi would not bolt, if given the opportunity. Mochi had settled in, and decided this was actually a good gig. The kids had also accepted him.
6. Five months on, and peace has settled on the farm.
I'm back, and I promise to bring you up to speed in due time. In the meantime, I leave you with a picture of the evening that Chochi came into our lives. Little did we know that one goat could redefine the direction of this farm and what was really important to its inhabitants.
1. Our neighbor's dogs attacked all three of our adult does the day of my last posting. We could see that Chochi put up a good fight. All three does, Chochi, Timi, and Alita were killed. It was a difficult time shortly thereafter. While as much as I would like to say that this blog is completely about me, the Maine Coon watch-cat of this farm, truth be told this farm revolved around Chochi and keeping her happy as the matriarch of the goat family. Chochi came into our lives two weeks after we moved to this farm and pretty much everything revolved around her because she provided us humor, reality checks, fertilizer, copious quantities of milk which in turn allowed us to benefit from making an endless supply of cheese, and she provided us with four sets of adorable kids.
We miss each one of these ladies daily, but we especially miss the matriarch of this farm.
Sonny, our billy (and Chochi's son), and Chochi's last set of kids were what remained of the goat population.
2. Sonny was attacked by the same dogs about 10 days later, but managed to free his stake and did a good job in fending for his life. The Handlers got to him and chased off the dogs before too much damage was done.
3.The Handlers had the opportunity to trade Sonny in October for another billy and they decided it was a good idea to bring in outside blood. Sonny went to live on a farm with 13 does; what's not to love about that situation? In return, Mochi (our new billy) came to reside at our farm. Mochi is also a Saanen, but without horns. Mochi was a tad feral so there were many months of adjustment. Not all of it was easy during a time when the Handlers were hyper vigilant about another attack.
4. In mid December the neighbor who owned the dogs was admitted into a mental hospital after his house and a couple of other structures on his property burned down. With no one left to care for the dogs, they then started disappearing.
5. By mid January the Handlers finally had the confidence that Mochi would not bolt, if given the opportunity. Mochi had settled in, and decided this was actually a good gig. The kids had also accepted him.
6. Five months on, and peace has settled on the farm.
I'm back, and I promise to bring you up to speed in due time. In the meantime, I leave you with a picture of the evening that Chochi came into our lives. Little did we know that one goat could redefine the direction of this farm and what was really important to its inhabitants.
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