ldawntaylor - bits and pieces

[ldawntaylor]

Gata came back. I wonder, has she just been hunting? Or was the neighbor feeding her? She's basically been gone two weeks but hasn't lost any weight.

I brought her in for a quick picture. She was not happy about that. For a cat that was raised indoors she sure likes the outside.

I know a bit blurry on both of us. She wouldn't be still and, I am not proficient with the selfie feature on my phone.

Here is a picture of my "morning greeting committee". There are more chickens, the others just don't fly or don't think there is enough room for them too.
Sometimes these birds remind me so much of children. When it is meal time they are under my feet what ever I am trying to do. Any other time of day it is like "oh Mom, leave me alone I'm busy". Unless something scares them.

For the moment I need to get back outside and get to work. More than one project I hope to acomplish today.

 

[ldawntaylor]

Time for a short breakfast break.

I've already acomplished as much today as I did all day yesterday. If I can get 4 more strands across or at least halfway across I should be able to use the step-stool instead of the ladder. I would really like to finish with that ladder today. I feel like I've must have climbed that ladder a hundred times on this project. I guess it would be the same effect as a stair master at least to some extent....

I also find myself thinking of something my dad often says..."about the time I figure out how to do this effeciently this will be finished." Part of why this project is taking so long is because I am weaving the monofiliment through the wire instead of making it an additional layer. I finally got smart and dug out a crochet hook to help me bring the fishing line through the wire. I've also learned if the fishing line gets crimped it is harder to work with.

Ah well, breakfast/snack, and then back to work.

 

[ldawntaylor]

What is that saying about the plans of mice and men? Or was it just my birth father's saying I'm trying to remember? I don't know.

Anyway, I'm really not much further along than I was this morning with my chicken run. Just as I finished eating my mom and dad (yes, technicaly he is my step-father) showed up needing help moving a stove into storage. By then I got some work done but now where near what I was hoping. I decided it was warm enough to take the newest chicks outside for a brief introduction.

When I took them out in a small enclosure the older chickens just ignored them. After a while I let them out to see what interactions might be. All went well. The two I'm just about positive are roosters were being a bit agressive with the youngest ones. The bantam rooster was being especially agressive. The cherry egger was just very watchful and pecking if the little ones got too close. I guess he learned well from his first encounter with my adult hen. Most of the other half grown chicks just came running whenever one of the little ones "discovered" something.

One bantam, eight weeks old, was only slightly larger than the ones that are two weeks old. The younger ones were trying unsucessfully to make the bantam the lowest in the pecking order. She wasn't having any though.

The youngest chicks are back inside for now. They don't have enough feathers for the cooler night weather. In a week or so I plan to have them outside during the day though and only in at night. I'll have to keep a pretty close watch on the weather forcast though. I just hope it doesn't interfer with my plans for Monday.

I've just remembered what I wanted to write on Thursday night (May 5th) and was so annoyed when I couldn't. With the older chicks being in the coop and run the adult hen has started coming out into the run again. Until the 5th I don't think she had been outside the hen house since it was built back in November.

Of my things I planned to do today I did get my grocery shopping done. I also walked fence line. I like to do that after every heavy rain or major wind storm just to be sure the goats don't have anyplace they can get out.

Even though I didn't get the chicken run finished I still got stuff done. I work this weekend so farm activities will be limited.

For now my bed is calling so, until next time....

 

[ldawntaylor]

I am so pleased...I got about an hour's work done on the chicken run this morning. And in that hour I finished what I need to use the ladder for. The reinforcement isn't complete, neither is the wiring. But, I only need my step stool to do the rest.

On these pictures, if you bring them up to full size you can see the fishing line I've been working with. I think this will work quite well for what I want. I think I've even got my dad convinced to add electricity to the hen house, both an outlet and a light fixture.

For such a small area - only 10 feet by 22 feet - I still feel a huge sense of acomplishment at having gotten so much done. I know ... I know ... I still need to figure out what to do with so many chickens. As adults I will have way too many if I don't do something. But, I still have a little time...right?

At least I don't need that ladder unless one of the hens decides to lay an egg on that flat roof. The hen house is under the lean-to portion of the barn so a flat roof isn't an issue in terms of weather.

I separated the buck kids from their moms overnight and milked this morning. I don't have much choice but to leave them together during the day. But, last night there was no distress at being separated. So, I will finally have goat milk again. Of course, nursing buck kids and having the adult bucks around means it isn't prime quality or anything. But, for me it is okay.

I have a second fridge/freezer out in the barn so I can start the milk cooling almost immediately. The milking stand is only feet away - still a separate room - but very close all the same. Both does behaved very well. I suspect they like to be able to eat without sharing for one thing. And thankfully they are both easy milkers too. Being part nubian their milk is a bit richer too.

Well, I will have to leave for work soon. So until next time....

 

[ldawntaylor]

In a few minutes I need to get ready for today's big adventure. We , my parents and I, are going to Fort Smith for some shopping and then to eat out. After we eat we will be going to the Fayetteville (sp?) area to pick up my new Welsummer chicks, I decided to get an Ameracauna and an Olive Egger as well.

After picking up the chicks we will be heading straight home. I have no idea how long or short a time I'll be gone but I plan to enjoy myself. After all, I'm off work today. That in itself usually makes for a good day.

For now, I need to get ready to go as my parents tend to be early rather than late.

So, until next time....

 

[ldawntaylor]

Oh my, here I am just getting set up with chickens and my mother is starting to talk about a mini cow, Jersey, perhaps. I can see advantages.

But, I keep thinking "It hurts bad enough when an adult goat steps on my foot!" But, more milk to work with...more of the pasture utilized.... Who knows maybe. It will be a year or two at least - if then.

I got my new chicks yesterday as planned. They are adjusting well and have already found their food and water.

For the moment I have the hen house plus two brooders in use. I'm hoping I the weather warms up and I can at least get the older chicks integrating with the half-grown ones. Being almost as big as the bantams, if not bigger by now, the warmth is the only real issue left.

Later in the day I will post pictures of my flock. Or is it flocks at this stage? Anyway...until next time....

 

[Ferguson K]

It sure looks like you're coming along! I'm sure they're liking all the new room.

Your cat looks like my Gator kitty.

 

[ldawntaylor]

Thanks, it has been a lot of work. There is ample room for now. As the chicks grow that will change unless I make some decisions.

I have a neighbor who would take the roosters. One of the people who bought goats last year expressed an interest in raising birds for meat as well as eggs. I wonder if she would be interested...it is worth a phone call to find out.

I've been thinking about something this morning. The responses from people when one looses an animal is a prime example of the difference between sympathy and pity. I've often thought sympathy could be described as a sense of "whether or not I experience loss, your loss causes me pain". While pity has a sense of "I'm glad it is you and not me". I think everyone here has experienced loss of some type. So, that leads me to believe that most here are expressing sympathy when they respond to the loss of another.

Off to another subject, there was a hawk in one of the trees by the coop this morning. I hear a hawk almost every day. A couple days ago I saw two in flight. I am begining to think there is a nesting pair close by. Some days I hear a wood pecker. Just two days ago I saw my first indigo bunting and sissor (sp?) tail fly catchers of the season.

I got this picture just a few days ago.

This is neither all of my flock nor all of my herd but...I like the picture anyway.

I also got this picture of my mother's cat.

My opinion she is really hard to see, but look for the white of her face,chest and paws and you will spot her.

I also got this picture yesterday. My herd sire, I haven't registered him but both of his parents were. I am so glad that other scur of his doesn't seem to be growing back. I haven't had to cut them off yet. About the time I get the nerve and the money together to call the vet he gets annoyed by them and manages to break them off. It is a bloody mess when he does.

For now I better get busy, yes, pictures of my flock are forth coming. I just need to get some work done first.

Until next time....

 

[Mike CHS]

I saw my first swallows of the year last month when I was cutting the pasture.

I also have some huge hawks so I'm curious to see what kind of chicken issues we have trying to free range but we are hoping having an LGD in the adjoining paddock will keep them away.

 

[ldawntaylor]

Looking back over the things I've posted. I do enjoy birds of all kinds. It is just that I am only now realizing how much. Maybe I shouldn't be surprised. My grandmother is an avid bird watcher. Or at least she was, she doesn't get much opportunity now.

When I think of birds there are two things that come to mind.

One visit to a zoo. I don't remember which zoo it was. But I do remember as we walked by the ostrich enclosure one tried to eat the flowers on my grandmother's dress. She, of course, was enchanted. I like ostriches, I'm just not sure I like them that close when they don't have a keeper/wrangler close by. He, I suspect, was huge! Simply stretching slightly to reach over the fence. The walkway itself was a raised wooden one like a very winding bridge. Had the path been at ground level he wouldn't have been able to reach.

The other is the many happy hours spent in my "play house". That play house used to be a hen house. The nest boxes provided beds for my dolls. Only two years at that place but they were memorable ones in so many ways. Now I see where people have turned a child's play house into a hen house for 1 or 2 birds....

In fact, the rag doll on the shelf behind the bird in this picture was one of those dolls. The others have arrived since that time. The cross-stitch of the parrot is my work. The chick in this picture is a 2 1/2 week old red sex link (at least I believe that's what it is). She is also shown in the next picture with another just like her. I thought the mirror image effect was interesting.

The next is of a black 'torp (I never can remember how to spell the rest of that word). It is the same age as the red sex links.



All three of these chicks are "replacement chicks". The local co-op gave them to me when one or more of the Cherry Eggers pullets they sold me proved to actually be a cockeral. With these pictures I had to use the selfie feature on my phone otherwise I wouldn't have had a chance of getting the pictures. The pictures are below.

Yes, between the birds and my fence edges not being finished I get scratched a lot and my shirt has snaged in more than one place. The one above I believe to be a cockeral. The one pictured below acts like a cockeral but has a lighter comb and lighter wattles. It might prove to be a hen after all...but, if so it has the dominant traits that I really don't care for in a hen.

This third proved very difficult to catch. This one's wattles and comb are more of a peach color in all lighting conditions. So, it may be a hen.... pictured in the next post.