Bruce's Journal

Ya better watch out feeding the Boys by hand too much, they just might accept ya in the Herd, and realize ya ain't such a bad thing after all....

That would be nice! Um, unless they get ticked off and decide they should spit at me.

The hard thing about the door is what will happen if they go partway through then change their mind. The door will close as they back up and will trap their head/neck and cause a panic. Not sure how to make them understand that once they start, there is no going back without going all the way out and starting from the other side.

Maybe you will have to demonstrate the process for them

I DID!!!!!!

Push the door and walk through. Turn around, push the door and walk through. I tried holding it open a distance with one hand while on the inside, container with pellets in the other. Laddie is very into the pellets. He put his head through the opening and pushed a little, I let go of the door. He then got scared and started to back out while the door closed on his neck. He really panicked. That was yesterday. Nasty snow and ice coming tonight and tomorrow, sure would be nice if that door was closed.

On the touching front, I was able to scratch his neck (at least I think there is a neck under all that hair) when giving them their pellets this morning. Have I mentioned that he really likes the pellets? He had his face stuffed in the container and managed to not shy away RIGHT as soon as I touched him. Of course that made Teddy nervous.

Zero eggs today.

Don't blame ya for staying inside more, and it sounds like ya got something working for ya with the Boys....Teddy will come around...just takes time. Those hens heard about the Noreaster coming and decided it wasn't very urgent, now if it Storms it may Scare a double Batch out of them..

Both Eos and Yuki laid today

This morning I got up and helped my wife chip the ice off her car windows ... in the rain, freezing rain. Sure was fun! At least it wasn't raining hard. First I spread some ashes from the wood stove bucket so we wouldn't be seeing the car from the wrong perspective.

Went down to the animals later like a few hours after it got light! By then the rain had changed to snow. The boys were at their end by the gate waiting for their pellets. So they were smart and spent the night inside right? Nope, they were covered with icicles and snow. I didn't have my camera because I had 2 containers of squash guts and the ash bucket (so I could make sure I got down to the barn on my feet). My alpacas don't like squash guts.

I took these pictures at "closing time". The longer icicles had disappeared but they still had ice and snow on them. Not so cute now! Teddy is sporting a bizarrely flat dirt/snow/ice/burrs hat.

Ah they're so cute!
It was nasty enough this morning that all of the animals were inside. The turkeys don't go inside for much. Not a lot of snow but a good amount of freezing rain.

Great Pics there Bruce!!....sorry ya had to Endure such conditions today, that "Mess" is just Awful!...mighty "Gentlemanly" on your part helping the wife with her Ice situation.
I just bet those Boys have character, personality, and spirit that will be Fun to experience....
I was thinking while I was digging holes today about ya and if ya could teach them to "Pull" as a team, they could help ya with some of those Rocks...aren't they a pack animal?
Ya'd have plenty of rock ya could try your hand at some stone masonry.

Yep, I could build a few things with the rocks I pull out of everywhere. And the old foundation for the rebuilt north building of the house was added to the rock pile on the north side of the barn. Those would be fairly big and fairly flat on 2 sides.

Not a whole lot happening here but a kitten decided to take up residence in the section of the barn next to the workshop. My guess is he is about 3 months old. DD1 (23 years old) named him Christofur. From the house, workshop is in the far right section. If you look at the 3rd picture you can see the cat in his cat bed. I made 3 of them for the indoor cats years ago but they have stopped using them.