Bun Video

While we were in Iowa Stef took this video of him feeding a bunny. I thought it was cute.

Theyr'e hear....

and not a moment too soon. Meet our new barn cats (tentatively) Tony (black) and Maria.

Tony is much friendlier than Maria. She is NOT a happy camper. He doesn't mind being petted. We don't know if she minds yet, no one has been brave enough to try.

They came with the names Romper and Maria. WE don't like the name Romper but don't mind Maria. Stef thought Tony would be a good match for Maria (West Side Story). Everyone likes it except Niko. He is campaigning for a different name.

Now it is time for ... Drum roll please ... my daily brag about LALA!!! Look at her, she is so sweet and already protecting the kitties even though they scare the crap out of her! It's pretty funny. They have both jumped and hissed at her.

Chicken ER

This is a chicken that was attacked by JD when she got too close to him while he was eating. She is having a problem walking but can get around. She kind of scoots around. Niko is taking care of her in one of the kidding stalls. She is still laying her pretty green eggs for us. She doesn't seem to be in pain and Niko wants to doctor her. We will keep you updated.

Barn Cats

Stupid, stupid, stupid rats and mice. I recently heard you could not have both a rat infestation and a mouse infestation. They were wrong. We have seen mice running around occasionally and the poop around the milk stand is either from a rat or giant mouse, which really is just a rat anyway, right? They are no longer avoiding the area around the rat trap, they are just walking and pooping all around it. This morning I found a big hole in the top of a plastic garbage can we were using to hold chicken scratch. Chewed straight through. Stupid,Stupid,Stupid.


Yeah, I know they actually sound pretty smart, but I'm sure you get my gist. At first I though it was a raccoon, but a raccoon would have just opened it up and wouldn't have had to chew through the bag. The teeth marks are pretty big on the lid. I think it had to be rats. Anyway, Stef is picking up 2 barn cats at an animal shelter today. 2 because the lady at the shelter convinced me that these cats weren't completely feral, just preferred other animals to humans, and would be happier with 2 of them. I'm starting to feel I may have been taken. She even mentioned me taking 3 at one point. I'll post pics later.

Chicken Turf

We were looking out the kitchen window this morning and Stef commented at how interesting Featherfoot is and then I read my mom's comment below and it got me thinking how interesting the chicken society is around here.

We have 2 main roosters Featherfoot and Mr Tibbles. Featherfoot lives near the barn and Mr Tibbles lives near the coop. I say he lives near the coop because he eats there and sleeps there but after eating promptly escapes to forage. Featherfoot gets fed by himself by the barn because Mr Tibbles doesn't allow him to eat in the coop area. These are their territories. A while back Mr. Tibbles started coming over to the barn area and started a turf war. I though he was going to win too. I'm not sure what happened but Mr Tibbles is back where he belongs now. There are also certain girls that hang around more in certain territories than others. Featherfoot is a firm yet loving partner. He lets the ladies know that he is to eat before them but then lets them join him. There is one particular hen, Awkward, that just ruffles his feathers, he is always having to tell her off about something or other. Mr Tibbles is more of a tyrant. Most of the time he eats fine with the other chickens but sometimes gets irate over some wrong doing. I just don't see him being very compassionate towards his subjects. For those of you who know about chicken mating know that it is really just barnyard rape and that is what Mr Tibbles does. The hens holler and holler until he lets them go. It is quite brutal. We also have 2 other roosters that have somehow escaped the butcher knife that hang around with Tibbles. At first he ostracized them but it seems they are a part of his gang now. The girls don't like them either and sometimes after a failed breeding attempt the poor guys lose a few feathers from a ticked off hen. Featherfoot, on the other hand seems to have some sort of camaraderie with his girls. He protects them too. When they are laying in a nest, lord help you if you happen to walk too close and interupt her. She screams at him and then he screams at me. Or maybe they are just screaming at each other. There is one hen in particular that won't shutup for a good 20 minutes after the disruption. Poor Featherfoot, nag,nag,nag.

Bummer

First of all the rat is back. Yes, that's right, after not seeing any droppings for a week maybe, he is back. Stupid rat.

Second, we have had a broody hen over the last few weeks. I was pretty excited and curious if she'd actually hatch chicks. She did. Last night Stef and the boys were out doing chores and heard a bunch of chicks chirping. We didn't go look at them or anything. I was scared the mama hen might get nervous and move them and it was kind of wet last night. We couldn't wait to go out there today and see them but there were no chicks. They were gone. Not a peep. Stef thinks they were being so loud a raccoon probably got them. They, of course, weren't in the fenced are with the dogs. They were on the outside behind the barn under a tarp on the hay. I didn't hear the dogs raise a ruckus either, which I think they would if there was an ambush, but something had to have happened. We are pretty bummed, but hope to have a better chicken system done soon. At least we know we have a few broody hens.

Mad Goat!

Our beautiful, loving, friendly Flower has an evil side. It is weird, she doesn't like certain kids. She has been around our boys and a few of their friends and been very friendly. A couple of months ago my nephews were here and she attacked them. At the time we blamed it on a peanut butter sandwich that they had just eaten. Thought maybe she could smell it on them and was trying to bully them into giving some to her. Well, today the boys had some friends from down the road over and Flower attacked one of them. Ian says he doesn't like peanut butter so that is out. When Donavan was petting her she kept ignoring him and was staring at Ian the whole time then when he turned his back... Flower attacked! She was headbutting him and trying to knock him down. This is our sweet bottle baby that drives us nuts trying to cuddle with us, this is the sweet girl that tries to sit in my lap. Very Odd.

The New Loo

Here it is!! Our New Humanure compost toilet!!!It is sitting in the living room right now, but after being painted and made pretty will take its rightful place in the bathroom.

Aw, rats!

I set up the live trap in the milk room and a regular rat trap where I see the poop and we caught nothing. No new poop for 2 days either. Can they sense the impending doom? I'm gonna keep setting them if it is keeping them away.

Rat Hunting

The rats are getting worse. Every morning I see rat droppings on the milkstand feed tray. I think they are also harassing the rabbits. I set a trap for them in the barn, but I'm not sure the rats will be heavy enough to set the trap off. I will try it tonight and see if it works, if not, I will have to buy some real rat traps. I think I am going to have to get more serious about a barn cat. Fran was concerned about toxoplasmosis and the goats, but with the amount of time the goats actually hang around the barn area and the amount of area they have to roam I think it will be okay. I will reasearch more and think more about it if my traps don't work.

Random pics

This is Charity and Cole hanging out in the tiki hut. Someone finally uses that spot! We let Cole out a few weeks ago because he was so lonesome all by himself in the buck pen. I figured all the girls were bred so we didn't have to worry about unwanted pregnancies. I am so glad we let him out too, because out of nowhere Holly went into heat last week! I saw Cole mount her several times so I hope she is now taken care of too. The only other question about him being with the girls is that sometimes the buck scent can make the girls' milk taste off. We haven't noticed anything so far though.


This is Lazy DD. I swear not a day goes by that she doesn't scare me to death. I always think she is dead. She lays so still in the weirdest positions.



Here's our big porkers. I tape weighed them yesterday and they were 170 lbs. We want to get them up to 250 before we butcher them, but it seems like it is taking forever. Stef and I discussed maybe feeding some pig feed to beef them up a little.

Rabbits

I got up bright and early this morning and put a fence around the rabbits so the dogs can patrol their area too. The only problem is that the goats also have access to them, I hope they leave the buns alone.

I also put the babies and the Male New Zealand in their new cages and put them in the barn until we can put them with the others. Stef is working late today and we have soccer practice tonight so we probably won't get to it.

I also introduced Lala to the babies. They were very unhappy about it but Lala really liked it. She started guarding them outside of their door and barked to let everyone know to watch out. She is so Awesome! When all of the rabbits are moved to their permanent spot I'm going to introduce all of them to all of the dogs. Then hopefully if we have any break-outs the dogs won't be as likely to kill the buns
This is a picture of Lala after meeting the bunnies. She looks almost as happy as when the goats have babies.

New rabbit Set up

We are moving the rabbits to the side of the barn. The spot we had them in was supposed to be temporary. Hey, it only took us a year to move them! We have the 3 cages already in the top half and Stef is putting the roof on it. He also built 2 more cages for a male New Zealand that was in the colony and has been living in a dog kennel and for the babies. Tomorrow we will move the fence to encompass the new set up and put the other cages below the top ones. We will also set up a system so their poop and pee goes down a slide into a bucket to take to the compost pile.

Superbowl!!!

WOOHOO!


That's all I have to say!