Spring is trying to make a return. Still some hard frosts at night but the days are reaching the 60’s some days which is a welcome change. Boot removing mud is everywhere as is typical for Spring. The wetness makes it impossible to do much of the cleanup needed as just walking makes huge ruts in what one hopes will someday return to grass. This is my eternal battle, trying to keep grass growing and yet continually losing it a section at a time. Around here pasture once lost is almost never regained due to traffic, preferential eating of the newly emerging plant life or the mysterious compunction to sleep on bare or newly seeded ground. As I do every year, I am contemplating installing french drains near the barn and more permanent paving than gravel for the path up the hill to the chicken yard and barn. Maybe this will be the year! Spring is so beautiful and yet there is always a period in which I am over whelmed thinking about all the work needed to cleanup from the winter. Maybe that’s why so many people move south!
Roberto Wonders What I’m Up To
One of my one year old laying hens prolapsed and I decided to put her down. I could have pushed her insides back in and tried to tie it up to see if it would hold until it had repaired itself, but thought it unlikely since a chicken is programmed to push eggs out every day. Several days later I lost a very old hen to reproductive system tumors, so the farm is down 4 laying hens in 2014. However, new chicks are coming in several weeks! This year I’m trying several new (to me) varieties that are bred to hatch well during the winter: Faverolles (French) and Chanteclers (Canadian). Tried to get Faverolles last year but they didn’t hatch at the right time for the rest of my order. The Australorps from last year are doing well despite the cold winter and their huge combs. I was afraid they might get badly frost bitten (knowing from personal experience how painful frostbite is) but they have only a few very small spots of damage and they seem happy and are laying well. I love the way they run to me when I call them – just like groupies at a rock concert, running with their wings outstretched and screaming (“wait I’m coming too!!!!) if one gets too far behind the rest of the group.
On April Fool’s Day I rescued a middle age cat that had been trapped by animal control and was being held by a vet I often use. No one had showed up to claim her in 4 weeks and I thought an older cat would be hard for the vet to place so I took her home. After a few days my current cat Ozzie was getting used to her and found her very intriguing, and she was settling in but still unnerved by his fixed stare and the way he would pounce up to the fence that separated them if she started eating. On day four the vet calls and tells me the owner has shown up and is looking for the cat! I take her back of course, glad that she could be returned to her original home but it was sad too. She was very sweet and well behaved, and think she would have made a nice playmate for Ozzie. He had a great evening checking out all the toys she had used during her visit.
Foxes are showing up on the game camera almost every night the last several weeks after no signs of them most of the winter. Racoons have returned to view as well. A neighboring farm has seen tracks of a pack of 5 coyotes and has been finding deer they took down. Last April I lost 2 of my oldest goats (>100 pounds each) to coyotes, the first time in almost 20 years here at the farm that I had ever lost a goat/sheep to a four legged predator. Since then I’ve been locking them into corrals at night which is a bit of a challenge with goats as they are programmed to whack things with their heads/horns and need a fair amount of space or they beat each other up as part of their social hierarchy maintenance. After several months of putting up the corrals and making adjustments the arrangement is working well, other than the extra work it entails (letting them out, locking them in and daily cleanup). A bit of extra works certainly beats finding mostly eaten carcasses in the pasture!
Had to reschedule shearing due to rain, but since it has been so much colder than normal think overall it was a good thing. Will try again on Good Friday. Poor egan stepped on something and really messed up her foot. Have been cleaning and re-bandaging it for about 3 weeks now as of course the barn area is 4 inches deep in mud. I’ve perfected the art of duct tape booties through the years and hers goes all the way to her knee. It keeps her foot clean and dry over the bandage and it’s loose enough to allow some air to enter from around the top. She is finally walking normally so I’m hoping to stop bandaging her next week. She’ll be happy as she is tired of my cornering her in the barn to con her into eating Ibuprofen for the pain and changing the bandages!
Megan Looking for a Treat