Apparently calander waving and foot stomping work!

Odds and Ends on Animals.

5 month anniversary with chickens, 1 month with goats.
 Things I've learned thus far:

•  Only thing more hyper than a baby goat gal is a baby goat gal who's scored a sip of your coffee. 

• Chickens don't lay eggs at eggzactly 5 months- not even   if you wave calendars in their face. 

•  Slippin your cell phone in your sports bra while lecturing roo on his duties may result in random boob dialings & recordings of the above conversation. 

•  baby goats may look like they're on their hind legs to move in for snuggles, but they're probably just positioning themselves to wee wee on your boots.                                                                       

Surviving the Summer!

Blue Mooooon

Besides searching for a spot dark enough to use our telescope, cursing (ever so kindly and without any real rancor) our business neighbor for his security lights, & seemingly single handedly supporting the local hospital/ dr.s/ pharmacies, we've managed to inch forward on our journey.

 As seems common, each step forward seemed to be followed with one or two back. 

On the plus side of the ledger, we got the smoke house down, and it and the dumpster are outta here!!

 
We also got the chicken tractor and run put together.  Yes, the tractor is from a kit.  CConly.com.  So far, so good.  We've repositioned it a handful of times, even once with the chickens inside.  No one warned me how darn cute a mad young rooster could be.

I lost, and they are about 50 feet from the house instead of down in the garden.    No complaints- from them or us, so far.  They have handled the brutal heat well, it seems, and are making new friends.  Here one of the girls is taking a gander at Bam Bam. 



 Judging from the similarity of their coloring, it is time for me to admit the obvious;  those are not my wished for Buff Orpingtons- no way, no how!
Spose they're Rhode Island Red or Red Stars but they are polite and friendly, whatever they are so I'm not too disappointed.

Other entries on the + side of the ledger include power washing and painting the garage.  It needs another coat, but that will wait until we get the door rebuilt.  Picked up the supplies today so.... hopefully it will be sooner rather than later.  We also got the clothesline up.  Will be hard to tell if it saves money/energy, though.  The electric company has estimated the bill for months, and has grossly under guessed, by my guesstimates anyway LOL.  So, they charge whatever they want, I pay whatever I want, and none of the figures have anything to do with reality.  Aint that America these days eh. ;). 

  Another thing keeping us busy was a week "up north" at the cabin.  Lake superior, and we were gifted a tiller!  The do-due list grows exponentially with every task that gets scratched off... but that's life on the Homestead eh!

Meet my Dirty White Boy!

or Tiny 'Tude,  as he's known on the inter nets!

I was tickled to get a starter flock for my birthday!  I had waffled on which breed, what age, where to put them for quite a while, and surprised everyone when I waited so long to deem it "chicken time!"  Hard to believe we've had this place 18 months already, and are just now turning our attention to the live stock.  Include the ten years or so I've been nurturing this life style dream  and  it's been even longer.  So long, in fact, that I'd begun to worry that the
enthusasm had dampened.  Fortunately a sense that the time was right hit me full force, and I was practically wiggling with excitement knowing we'd reached this phase of the plan.  Finally:  CHICKEN TIME!

I first explored buying some one year Easter Eggers from a fella not far away.  The idea was basically they'd be old enough to survive my inexperience.  That didn't work out though, since his birds were a little flightier than I wanted.


So, after poking around I settled on 6 Buff Orpington hens,  2 Easter Eggers, and a Buff Orpington Rooster for my wish list.  I wrote this down in my clearest hand writing on a half dozen pieces of paper, trusting that I'd soon be *surprised*...and to no one's surprise, it worked, and I was.

Orschelns was winding down their chick days sales at this point, and didn't have any males left, so we got just the 8 hens.  I started sourcing that Orpington roo I wanted, but held off buying one thinking there was a decent chance one of my gals would prove to be a dude.  That was four weeks or so ago, and watching the lil one in the pic develop an ever bigger and redder comb has done nothing to disuade me from the idea that I scored that fella I wanted after all.  Now the question is, is s/he really an Orpington?  Heck if I know.  Not sure about any of the breeds, actually.  Time will tell.  I went with the Orps as they're calm, decent layer dual purpose birds, according to their press.  I also wanted the broodiness so I could "work less, profit more."

So far, so good.  Now it's time to decide where the chicken tractor coop- chicken yard starts out.  We've only had one AI case in a five county radius, but I'm still very concerned about staying on top of that potential problem.  I know we have cats, dogs, owls, possum, snakes, rats, cayote and ground hogs.  Also have deer, rabbit and mice, but am guessing that they are of no threat. 

I'd hoped to set the tractor in the garden, and run the chickens through it, and through the pastures after goats had been through.  Now I'm leaning more towards the "you can date when you're 30" err, I mean, keeping them in the laundry room and SAFE indefinitly.

Been told that really isn't an option LOL, so:  any one have opionions on how close is too close when it comes to chicken condos?

Want to compete for warm gooey goodness?

Imaginary brownie points to all who can tell what this picture has captured.  

Even  More to those who can identify it's species.

According to my sources (google) It is probably one of three types that are commonally confused for one another.  Great.  Despite having a self created & self taught course on the critters in my misspent youth (this was b.c. i.e before computers,) I really couldn't I.D. this one.

S/he was found just hanging around- literally- the basement door.  The knob.  That thing you wrap your hand around without thinking.  

I don't want to seem to be a woose.  I knew there would be snakes and mice and spiders and predators and a 100+ other changes.  I was, and am, ready for them...  but wrapped around entry doors?  Spiders scurrying accross the middle of my bed, under my covers, in the short time it took to return from a visit to the powder room?

Somedays it seems someone's got a sense o' humor as twisted as my own!