This photo is from yesterday but I wanted to share it. I went to check the nest box for eggs and found Luna asleep in the hay. She stood up for some attention and revealed a nice warm egg underneath her. I guess the chicken was able to get in at some point, and Luna though a warm egg was a lovely place to nap.
Today both of the remaining ducklings disappeared. #3 found one dead with a leg broken in the same way the one had been before. We were unable to find either of the other ducklings. At first Matt seemed to be trying to find them, walking around calling out, but by bedtime she seemed to have given up. She was in the barn with the other birds and calm when the barn got closed up. We still have no idea what happened with the ducklings. When we saw them all the birds seemed to be accepting. Josh (the African gander who guards Matt) accepted the babies, Matt was being a great mom. I know it wasn't our barn cats, they left the last ducklings alone. I know it wasn't Moose because he's trained not to mess with the birds, and I know it wasn't Mazikeen or they'd be very slobbery and chewed on. I still suspect the new feral cat is to blame, since nothing like this happened this spring. Regardless, it's still heartbreaking. I want to just pull all the eggs from the ducks indefinitely and not have any more mom-raised babies. But I know, the hurt will subside, and I'll feel guilty stealing eggs from a broody momma duck, and I'll say "but maybe this time it'll be ok" and I'll do it all again. This photo is from yesterday but I wanted to share it. I went to check the nest box for eggs and found Luna asleep in the hay. She stood up for some attention and revealed a nice warm egg underneath her. I guess the chicken was able to get in at some point, and Luna though a warm egg was a lovely place to nap. Despite having multiple nest boxes in the barn, it seems this is the preferred box. I'm not sure why. I may have to invest in more similar boxes since they don't seem interested in the plastic ones that are mounted to the wall. Just the slat wooden one on the shelf. But not the solid wood one just beside it on the shelf, or the more enclosed carrier to the other side.
Despite rain ruining our plans to build a door, today was a great day on the homestead! As soon as kids left for the bus I gathered two eggs, three tomatoes, and a small bucket of apples. When the kids got home from school I was out feeding the birds when I spotted one of the young hens in a nest box. I asked her if she was laying an egg, and as if to answer, she stood up to reveal two eggs underneath her. Yay!! Our spring chickens have started to lay eggs! And which chicken was it sitting on that nest? None other than "Broke-Toes" the very first of the spring chickens to have been moved outside. This evening as the rain picked up, I decided to put a feed bag over the cage over Matt's nest, since she was refusing to get off the nest today. I thought I was doing a good thing, but it seems instead I scared her off her nest. Tonight she's back in the barn... with her three new ducklings. We didn't have much luck with mom-raised ducklings surviving this spring, and with cold weather soon approaching, I don't hold out much hope for these babies, but here's to hoping for the best. Happy hatch day babies! We planned to have BLT's for dinner, so #3 and #4 went out to the garden in the dark and rain to fetch two more tomatoes. Dinner was delicious. Five and a half more jars of apple butter are in jars, and tomorrow evening I'll start another batch to be cooking over night to help keep the heat up (low of 39 tomorrow night). We haven't had to turn the heater on yet this year (knock on wood).
I've really got to try harder not to skip days with the blog. Yesterday I sanitized all the water bowls from all the rabbit cages. Yay! I'd have done any detachable food containers too, but #3 was feeding bunnies while I was sanitizing, so they were in use. Another day I guess. Today we worked more on the garden. I got stakes pounded in, fencing up, gates up, arbor and shepherd's hook in place, and all four of the permanent plants in the ground. Phew! That was a lot of work! Especially considering it got up to 89-degrees today (and reminder - no air conditioning here). It doesn't look like much, but I love it. Still a lot of work to be done, but that may have to wait until next year. I do plan to put in landscaping fabric over the part we tore the sod out of, and then top it off with a generous heaping of mulch. I also plan to add some spring bulb flowers around the shepherd's hook. I have tulips and hyacinth, but I am considering the crocus, since they can't tolerate jugalone from the black walnut trees and this space is far from the black walnuts. Of course after a couple hours doing indoors chores I came back out to find this... Yup, that's one feather footed hen, on top of the sod in the wheelbarrow inside the new fenced garden space. To be fair this chicken didn't seem to have a clue how it got in and we chased it around the relatively small space for several minutes before it finally figured out where the gate was and made an exit. Hopefully this is not the start of other chickens coming and eating my garden before I even complete it. The Old German tomatoes have suddenly started to turn colors. They've been green for so long, today they were yellow. By evening they were looking almost ready to pick. I do plan on trying one tomorrow. Tonight the barn cats were yowling again. This is unusual for them, they're always quiet and easy keepers, but the last three nights in a row they've been quite vocal. Or so we thought. Tonight I figured, maybe they were hungry. We usually feed them in the morning to keep them from following kids down the driveway at bus time, but on weekends their feed schedule becomes "whenever someone puts it out" instead. So I got a cup of food and called the kitties to the designated feeding place, and when both were there, I still heard the yowling. Investigation time! I grabbed my phone flash light and walked around the yard. I spotted the eyes right away, and after several minutes the kitty came close enough for me to see, but then ran away. It's a buff orange kitty. No collar or tags, and I couldn't tell if it was a boy or a girl. I'm hoping it's a girl and we won't have to deal with unwanted barn kittens. I really need to get the girls spayed. The sooner the better! Anyway, I left the food out and I don't know if the stray kitty will come around to eat or not. Or if our kitties will let him/her. Luna kept hissing at the cat and didn't seem happy it had gotten so close to the house. I really hope my cats don't end up chasing this one to the road and getting hit by a car. We're far enough away that they have lots and lots of space to roam, but if they are chasing, they may not be paying attention to the end of their territory. Yesterday we went to Menards and I picked out the stones and the pattern I wanted for the little walkway in the garden. A moment to discuss the weather. Today it was 89 degrees and so windy that I got dirt in my eyes and ears and my arms looked like I had a tan from all the sand the wind had picked up and deposited on me. Tomorrow the high temperature is supposed to be 64 degrees. Sixty-four degrees. That's the highest expected temperature in the 15 day forecast. Fall is about to start and it's not going to wait. So far all the low numbers in the forecast are still in the low 40's and above. I'm not sure how that will effect the plants that are still growing. I have several rare tomato varieties growing in buckets that are just setting flowers. Yes, I had intended to bring them in when the weather gets too cold and see if I can get tomatoes indoors under lights, but I wonder if the sudden cooler temperatures will slow their growth or if they'll keep on growing. And here is a photo of a goose, because why not? I love my embdens. We have one gander (Ryan Gosling), and two hens (I can't tell them apart visually and have not given them names yet). One of the girls is friendly and the other is standoffish. My husband tries so hard some days to coax them to come over to him and say hello. I think maybe a part of him is jealous because they come up to me every time I sit down and they play with my hair, nibble my jewelry and my pants, and talk to me. Here's to more housework tomorrow. With five kids it really never ends. I may have to get another round of apple butter and some dehydrated apples, and maybe even a loaf of bread baking to keep the house warmer. Oh the joys of autumn. I'm missing growing my own pumpkins and squash this year, but I saw some at the store the other day. Maybe I'll ask Tony to bring home a pumpkin and we can all feel a little more festive as the cold weather sets in.
We've lost three chickens in the past 24 hours. Ralphie and Baby, our two nicest roosters, both died yesterday, and another of the Columbian Wyandotte hens died suddenly today. Since I suspect Merek's may be to blame, and there's nothing that can be done for it, I'm trying to remain positive. Yes, we will lose a lot of chickens, but the ones who survive will be immune or more tolerant of it, and they will produce offspring more likely to survive it as well. It means we will not be able to sell adult chickens, and our chickens cannot go to show. However, Merek's is not transferred to eggs, which means we can still sell hatching eggs, day old chicks, and brooder babies, as long as they have never come in contact with the rest of the flock.
I've got another batch of apple butter in the crock pot tonight. It should be ready to boil off the extra liquid in the morning and ready for canning tomorrow afternoon! I've been working on making more of the crochet dish cloths and hair ties in a variety of colors. Still no sales on those though. Hmmm. I need to work on my marketing skills. Today the kids put all the colony bunnies in the screened porch and played with them while I took updated photos. The 3-week babies are almost the same size as the 6 week babies, and because almost all of them are very similar in color and pattern, I had to carefully compare their photos to the photos I already had to match them up. And I still managed to miss photographing one of the bunnies. Either way, two litters of bunnies got updated photos today. It was a rough day today. One of those days where you really have to laugh to keep from crying and find the beauty in the small successes. Tony and I both got to sleep in (aside from getting kids out the door at bus time), which was a good thing. I went out to work on barn chores and found my favorite rooster had taken ill. He was hunched over and didn't want to walk. He was settled in beside #3's favorite rooster, who likewise was not well. What are the odds that both of the tamest most wonderful birds would get sick simultaneously? Given the way they were acting, I know they'll be dead by tonight or tomorrow. And sure enough, my potato beds have been rummaged through again. Weird coincidence or cause? The test to autopsy is $100, which I cannot afford right now. More on money in a moment. Once Tony finally rolled out of bed, and we got #5 up and moving (yay for days when the at-home kid sleeps in), we started working on pulling up sod for the new garden space. It took a lot longer than I thought it would, and it was hard work. This is just the first half of the garden space. This is to clear the area that will have the 3-in-1 blueberry bush, Imperial White currant bush, two silver mound plants, and the shepherd's hook and hummingbird feeders. I also plan to add some crocus and tulips around that big central pipe to try to blend it in a bit. There will also be a trellis under the window to grow peas and beans until the bushes grow in and block out the sun there. The closer edge (where sod and the wheelbarrow are) will also need to be pulled back to make space for the walkway, and even further beyond that for the herb portion of the garden. We have the shepherd's hook, one of the hummingbird feeders, the two gates, the stakes to hold up the chicken wire, we have chicken wire (not sure if we have enough for the whole project), and we'll be picking up the arbor from my parents' house this weekend. The plants are already purchased and on hand, we have some soil and compost, and leftover bags of mulch. I don't know how many more bags of soil and mulch we will need, but we will also need sand and paver stones for the walkway. These may have to wait until next year. Yesterday while digging out sod, #3 found a large rock. We set it aside and figured we could work it into the garden somehow. Today Moose and Mazikeen found the rock and were playing with it under the apple tree. They took turns pouncing on it, pushing it with their front paws, and eventually Moose picked it up and brought it to me. He dropped it at my feet as he's done with rocks, balls, sticks, and frisbees in the past. The classic "here, throw this for me" maneuver. So I threw it. My husband and I watched in frantic horror as the dog matched the rock stride for stride as it arched across the yard. It came down just ahead of him, missing konking him in the head by inches. He retrieved the rock, and again dropped it at my feet. Now yes, I should have taken that close call as a warning not to throw it again, but Moose loves to play. So I faked throwing it to the right, and he ran - then I threw it off to the left. He turned and went to intercept the rock, coming in from the opposite direction. The rock bounced once and as it was in mid air, Moose caught up to it. He opened him mouth and went to grab it out of midair. The bone shattering noise was audible from 100 feet away, and Tony and I both flinched. Moose stopped. Moose never stops when there's a toy to chase. I knew immediately something was broken. He shook it off and chased the rock to where it had come to rest at the base of a tree. I called him back, and though he was reluctant to leave his newfound toy behind, he begrudgingly came. I could see blood in his mouth as he came toward me. Once I got him to sit, and Tony held Mazikeen off to the side (she wanted whatever attention Moose was getting), I pulled his mouth open. Sure enough, his bottom canine is broken in half and it was bleeding. I called the vet right away and asked what needed to be done. It sounds like he's going to have to go in for an exam before anything can really be assessed, but chances are we are looking at sedating and surgically removing the rest of the tooth so it won't get infected or cause him pain. No idea on the price until they can look at it to get a better idea of how damaged it is. They didn't have any openings today, so I'm supposed to call tomorrow. Unfortunately, Tony works tomorrow (and the next day) and there's no way for me to get Moose to the vet clinic while dealing with a four year old. Guess I'll be calling on Friday. The lady was helpful though. She said Moose could have a plain aspirin for pain in the meantime. No sooner had I gotten off the phone with the vet clinic, Tony's phone rang. It was the school. Our 9-year old had gotten stung on the lip, her face was swelling up, and they needed to know if she was allergic to bee stings. Well, she's never been stung before. The school nurse said she'd keep her there in the office a while to keep an eye on her. Poor kid came home and her upper lip is swollen out as far as the tip of her nose, exposing her top teeth. Her face is so swollen that her cheeks are red and puffing up so much that her eyes look like she's squinting. I offered her an allergy pill and some ibuprofen, but she refused both. Poor #4 looks like she lost a fist fight. We had to make a run to Brainerd today. Cutie bunny Peter Parker (Spider-man) left to his new home, and the rescue bunny was returned to his family as well. We did minimal shopping (a bottle of aspirin for Moose, some new work socks for Tony), stopped for dinner, and headed home. By this evening, Moose is notably low key. He doesn't want to play with Mazikeen as much, he just wants to lay near me. He finally stopped drooling from the side with the broken tooth. He perked up after I gave him aspirin. He's going to have to be on a regular dose until I can get him to the vet clinic. A few lessons learned today. Don't throw rocks. Plan for more time than you anticipate for big projects. And don't complain about how rough things are, because at least your face isn't swollen up from a bee sting.
I'm still not sure how I'm going to afford emergency surgery for Moose. We'll have to make it work somehow. I guess that puts the garden project and getting the barn cats fixed onto the back burner for now. I am so excited tonight to announce that the foster bunny's home has been found and he will be reunited with his family tomorrow! (happy dance) Turns out he's a very spoiled little bunny and has run of the house, and in the summer, run of a big fenced yard too. But Bunny (yes, that's his name) must have decided to go on an adventure and dug out. When he didn't return after a few days they started looking for him. One of their friends found my ad and bridged the contact gap. Tonight I spoke to a very relieved man and set up a meeting to return the bunny tomorrow. Yay for happy endings!! Today I measured out the first half of the new garden. I had my measuring tape out and I marked out with sticks where the two big plants would be, where the edge of the walkway would be, where the arbor will go. Moose then scared a chicken out of the apple tree (ytes, they're now flying up into the apple tree to devour the apples before they can even fall to the ground). A ripe apple fell and I ran for the apple tree to snag the ripe apple before the chickens got it. I took two bites of the apple and turned around and walked back to the new garden space. I was away less than 60 seconds and when I got back Mazikeen had eaten every one of my sticks I had used to mark space. Well, there went my plans for today. I gave up and waited for kids to get home from school to help me peel sod. We got less than halfway done when #3 and I were exhausted and hungry and #4 and #5 were getting antsy to do something else. Tony has tomorrow off, maybe I can make more progress with him helping while kids are in school. I can hope anyway. I think #3 did more work that #4, #5 and I combined. She got the entire first row on the left done and started on the second row, while I just managed to get some done at the front corner. Alas, we have a lot more work to do! But like I told Tony tonight; we don't have to finish the entire project this year. I just need the first half up to the walkway completed this year, as it involves planting four live plants I have sitting in the yard currently. I spoke to my mom tonight as well. She had a garden arbor years ago when she had planned this big elaborate garden, but she later gave up as the grass was too much work and the deer ate everything... So her arbor got moved off to the side of the yard, where it tipped over, and is now being shrouded and reclaimed by the weeds. I asked her if I could have it, or if she was going to use it again. She didn't even know it was there anymore it was so hidden in weeds. I had to give her directions to describe where I'd last seen it while she was on the phone trying to find it in all the weeds at the edge of the forest. Tony can get a new one for $140 or so, but why buy new and spend extra money when used and free is available? Mom asked what my plans were and I described it to her. She said we could take it. Cool! Tony picked up wooden stakes to help put up the chicken wire fence (to keep the birds from eating our plants), and two willow gates. I'm so excited to see this project through! Hopefully we can get to the point tomorrow where we can get an idea for the side of the walkway and he can get a feel for how much paver stones will cost. The ones I want are $1.69 each, but they're pretty big. If my mental picture is right (which it rarely is - numbers aren't my forte), I figure I'd need about 36 of them to bring my vision into reality.
Bonus plus side to this project - we can use the sod we remove to fill in some holes Mazikeen has dug in the yard. Rough day today. Two of our hens are down and lame, and I don't know why. Same symptoms as previous roosters. They just lay down and act like their legs don't work anymore, they looks weak and tired, then die within 24 hours. I expect they'll both be dead in the morning. Are they eating the potato plants? What is the problem?
The kids caught Luna (one of the barn cats) with a baby bunny in her mouth. Bunny was warm and unharmed, but we can't figure out where the baby came from. Spotty had her litter a couple days ago, no babies since, and her cage has 1/4" mesh so a baby couldn't have gotten out. Thumper has no fur pulled and isn't nesting yet. Snowflake was panting a bit, but no nesting. The kids said they found Luna under Snowflake's cage, so I put the baby in her nest box hoping she'd accept it and pull some fur. A while later, the kids reported that Snowflake has not taken an interest and baby was getting cold. So we warmed it back up and ended up adding it in with the youngest colony litter. They're already growing fur, but it's the only option I had. While in the colony building, the kids found our big buck had died. Kin hadn't been well lately. He started losing patches of fur and he wasn't eating as well as he used to. I figured maybe the ladies were picking on him. Tomorrow I plan on cleaning out the entire building and bringing in fresh bedding. Better safe than sorry. I had been considering replacing him since watching him chase babies in the last two litters. I guess now I don't have a choice. My replacement options are fairly limited. Today I sat down with #3 and consulted her on her thoughts on a new buck. Together we looked at each of our bucks, their genetics and colors, and ruled out using any of our adult bucks. Now we are considering keeping back one of our buck babies. Will it be Skittles, who is absolutely adorable, but comes from a diverse genetic background? Or Peter Parker, who'd be breeding back to his mom and aunts, but would throw a lot more long haired babies? Right now I'm leaning more towards Skittles, just for the color diversity he'd being in. It would also mean having another crack at Bennett's genetics. I do miss Bennett. He was an awesome breeding buck. Still kind of kicking myself for selling him. I only have one of his grand-daughters and one of his grandsons left (Skittles' parents). And to kick the whole day into another level of disappointment and sadness, this evening Hermione was struggling to breathe. I know she'd had a goopy eye yesterday and the day before, but this came on suddenly. She passed away late tonight just before I typed this up. She was just hours short of being three weeks old. Now it's just Harry left, and one of his eyes is a little wet. I'm worried. But our vet won't see babies until they're six weeks old. So we have to get Harry through three more weeks before we could even hope to get him real medical help if he gets sick. We're going to watch him closely and hope for the best. We're madly in love with him. We did have one bit of happiness today. We found Matt, the missing duck. She's built a nest just off the side of the yard in a nice well hidden area. She's sitting on 8-9 eggs (according to my husband who braved to bother her with a flashlight in hand tonight). I don't want to destroy her nest, and I'm not willing to set up the incubator and brooder again, especially this late in the season. I was worried if we moved her, she may abandon the nest. So I took the wire top from a cage and gently set it over her tonight. It doesn't sit even on the ground, it won't stop predators from coming, but it may slow them down, or at least give her that much more time to wake up if she's sleeping. We will have to take it back off in the morning and put it back on at night. I don't even know if she's going to be able to hatch out and raise ducklings now. It may be getting cold by the time they hatch. Let's see, if she went missing yesterday, we can start our egg incubation count from there. That means eggs may be due to hatch around September 24th. That's a really late hatch considering how slowly ducks feather out. I don't see this working out. I have to give her big credit for building such an awesome nest and hiding it so well. I hate to just shoo her off it and take the eggs away. This may need further thought. I may end up just taking her eggs and sending her back to the barn. For her own safety and so we don't get our hopes up for babies that either never come, or die soon after. I continue to have allergy and sinus issues. I wonder what's blooming right now that's setting my allergies off so bad. It's not just me either, because #1 and #2 are also suffering from the sniffles. On Friday the kids and I took the metal detector out for a little while. We didn't find much of interest. One giant square-headed railroad tie, one smaller square metal bolt, a U-nail, what appears to be a toy car axle, and a bunch of rusted metal scrap. While digging, #3 made the realization that "clay soil" literally means it's clay. At that point the detector game was over and she was more interested in digging up some clay to see if she could make something. Since I didn't want her digging up the yard, we found a place out in the front fields near the crab apple trees for her to dig up some clay. I picked up a bunch of crab apples off the ground while she did that. Here's Friday's finds and harvest: I'm not sure how to tell when crab apples are ripe. The big ones in the left container were all on the ground, but on another nearby tree were much smaller apples that hadn't started to fall but were darker red. So I picked a few of them. I do plan on doing more research, but for simplicity sake, if anyone can just shoot me an email, I'd appreciate someone explaining crab apples to me. A good jelly recipe for them would also be greatly appreciated! As of Saturday, both kittens have their eyes open. I am 99% sure that Harry and Hermione are both girls. The kids are split on changing Harry's name. I say we keep it. Harry could be short for Harriett, right? Today was Sunday. I laid down early last night, not feeling well, and fell asleep before Tony got home. Thankfully the older kids are more than capable of watching the littler ones. Built in babysitters are a blessing! I woke up this morning feeling achy and sore. It took me all morning and into the afternoon to finally drag myself out of bed. Hot pack, ibuprofen, and the need to pee fueled my eventual rise. Even so, my knees hurt. What a weird thing, when the ibuprofen took away all the back, tummy, sinus, and throat aches, but made my knees hurt? Needless to say, I didn't get much done today. I snapped a few photos of the spitz pair. They are gorgeous birds, but I don't think I'll be able to do them justice as a pair. I have no way to keep them separate from the rest of the flock to keep their genetics pure. If I did, I'd keep them in a heartbeat. Unfortunately, the coop available locally that could fit two birds is $250 and with no heat and no way to move the open-bottom cage in the winter to prevent build up when it's too frozen to clean it out regularly... It's an expensive and risky investment. Above and below are photos of Rockadoodle, our Golden Spangled Appenzeller Spitzhauben rooster. What threw me off for a long time is that he doesn't have a large comb or waddles. Someone else posted a photo of their golden spitz roo and he had prominent waddles, so I started to doubt myself about this guy. His giveaway though is that he has saddle feathers and one of his two rooster tail feathers has started to grow in. Even though he hasn't crowed yet, this one is definitely a rooster! He's also a good deal bigger than the other one, and walks more upright. There's also a strange color contrast between these two. Rockadoodle had developed more of a black with gold flashes appearance, while his girlfriend is clearly more golden with black flecks. I don't know if this is normal or not, but I've been told this breed is not color sexed, so I suppose it's not common. Above and below are photos of Goldie, our Golden Spangled Appenzeller Spitzhauben hen. She's much smaller than Rockadoodle and walks normally like the other chickens (not the weird upright way he does). You can see on her face that she has no comb and only the tiniest smidge of waddled. Her face is also pink, while his is red. She does appear to have noticable hackle feathers. I'm not sure what to make of that On her back side, she has no saddle feathers, which would further indicate she's a hen. The one thing that's throwing me right now is that she does have one longer tail feather. It's not as narrow and pointed as a rooster feather, but a hen shouldn't have any longer feathers like this. Bonus points to anyone who caught the throwback to a 1991 children's cartoon movie called Rockadoodle (main character is named Chanticleer and he gets a girlfriend named Goldie). Anyway, since a Chantecler is a breed of chicken, I went with Rockadoodle for the rooster's name instead.
I am so glad I stayed up to write this blog! As I was writing I head Josh (our African gander) outside hollering, and a duck frantically quacking. This is not normal behavior. So I put the dogs out and ran for the barn. One lonely duck was outside the barn, desperately trying to get through the fence to get in the barn as it started to downpour. I got the duck in the barn, wrangled the dogs back in the house, and now that I'm done blogging, I do believe it's time for bed. The French Cuckoo Marans rooster I'd brought into the house died yesterday. He lasted longer than I expected. I had food and water in there with him, but he never made an attempt to eat or drink. Yesterday one of the bunnies from the superhero litter left to his new home. This morning two from Kaelyn's litter and one from the candy litter (Cookies-N-Cream) went to their new home. I've got two more meetings scheduled next week to send five more babies off to new homes. Mail delivery today was exciting. I got the fabric squares I had ordered to make a quilt. Which would be really awesome if I hadn't realized last week that my sewing machine no longer has the pedal and plug in. Another victim of the basement flood last year. Guess that project will just have to be put on hold for now. I also got a skein of yarn I ordered, the little circle things I had hoped to make earrings from (not sure if they'll work or not), and one of the Christmas gifts I had ordered. I do love getting packages in the mail, even if I have to buy stuff to get stuff in the mail. Yesterday I picked our first viable ripe tomato. We've had two that had blossom end rot so bad they weren't edible. This is "Bush Goliath" that we bought at Costco. It's still in the bucket it came in; all I've done is protect it from the birds and watered it. I did throw in a handful of the good soil after the two BER tomatoes and it seems to have corrected itself. I'm almost done with the bag project for #2. The bag itself is made, complete with front pocket, top flap, support straps, a cross body carrying strap, and an additional smaller drawstring dice pouch. All that's left? I need to sew on the "button" that will hold the drawstring bag. But instead of a button I went for re-purposing an old die. I drilled out the (one) pip and glued in a tiny eye hook. It should be dried by tomorrow so I can sew it in and be done.
I also threw together a bread mix into the machine with blueberries and set it to be ready about 6:30am. Blueberry bread, fresh eggs, and fried zucchini for breakfast tomorrow! It's hot today. High 80's, but we didn't quite get to 90. It's too hot to do much. At least today we had a nice strong breeze all day. That helps.
I put the laundry out on the line and it was nearly horizontal, and dry in a remarkably short time. I got the old tarp out of the barn and hosed off so we can use it while bringing bunnies to various meetings in the near future. The first of the meetings is tomorrow. One of the June colony babies is heading home. He's such a cutie too. He's the white one with black spots and the lionhead tuft between his ears. They said they were naming him Jon Snow. I love it! Our albino bristle nose pleco (whom we've since identified as female) is named Jon Snow. Then we have a meeting we're still working on for Wednesday to send three more babies off to a new home to a lady who bought Ulrich (Ulysses' brother) a few months ago. More meetings to follow next week to meet two more people and move five more bunnies to new homes. Tony doesn't have a single day off this week or next. We're squeezing meetings in during other appointments that he's worked into his schedule. We will be running - constantly - for the next two weeks. He is scheduled for 70 hours this week, and 70 hours next week. At least the paychecks will be nice. He has promised to use a few of his vacation days coming up to have some down time with the family after this crazy work month. Maybe he can help us get caught up on homesteading stuff too since he'll be home. Today I found one of our French Cuckoo Marans (FCM) roosters down in the barn. He didn't look good and wasn't moving. I picked him up off the floor so the other birds wouldn't trample him, and gave him a handful of food just to himself. When I came back the other birds had eaten all his food and our two older roosters (Big Red the Rhode Island Red and Phil the Bantam Cochin) were taking turns mounting him. So I took him outside and set him in the shade of the bee tree. A favorite resting place for the birds. A few minutes later I caught Phil and Big Red attacking him again. I moved him up near the door, figuring since he isn't moving around, and the roosters might be discouraged from coming up to the house, he might be safe. Nope. Caught them bothering him again. This poor bird is bedraggled. I don't know what's wrong with him. He won't eat, he only drank one beak dip, and he won't walk more than a few steps before he lays down again. This will be the second FCM rooster this week to exhibit these symptoms and then die. The other one I didn't realize may have been harassed by the older roosters. Aside from the fact that they are the same color and of similar size to our old hen (Henrietta, Barred Rock), I'm not sure why the roosters would take a sudden sexual interest in these boys. They're not crowing, they aren't attempting to steal any ladies from the older roosters, and they're not aggressive at all. Why is this happening?? At this rate we won't have any roosters to butcher because Big Red and Phil will harrass them to death. Keeping in mind these roosters are as big as Big Red, and bigger than Phil. Might be time for Big Red to hit the crock pot. So, long story short, the FCM rooster is now in the house in a storage tote with some grass for bedding. If he's going to die, he should have at least the dignity not to be raped to death by our jerk roosters. And you know what? Husband didn't even bat an eye at the box in the kitchen. He asked if Mazikeen had bothered him, and I said no, I don't think she even realizes there's a bird in there. Better that way I think. I full anticipate having to take a dead bird out tomorrow morning. Poor guy. The kids found Bufflehead in the barn this afternoon, passed away. My heart is broken. I adored Buffle. He was one of my three favorite birds on the farm. I loved him so much I was in the middle of securing him a new home where he might be safer, for fear of the bald eagles circling here daily now. Just yesterday while out feeding everyone, I caught one of the lady geese stepping on Buffle. One giant goose foot on his back, and another on his neck and head, pinning him to the barn floor under her immense weight. I had to push her off of him. Buffle seemed too dimwitted to get out of the way. I suspect that's how he died. The kids found him near the food bins, which the geese test the lids on. My poor Buffle. I will miss him terribly.
I don't think we will have another like Buffle, unless we end up with another surprise box. I knew his breed wasn't good for free-ranging, so I won't be going and getting another one. We made a run to Brainerd today and forgot half of what we went to buy (one of those days I guess). Then we stopped by the CSA pick up at the farmer's market on our way home. Oh the goodies! Tomatoes, peppers, green beans, corn, squash, cucumbers, and more. It's a welcome package considering my garden was a flop this year. So glad our local farmers are there to fill in for the meantime. Today has been an interesting one. This morning my husband woke me up on his way out the door to tell me we had fresh Zombabies in the bathroom and that Zombie was not cleaning them off or chewing umbilical cords. I shot out of bed and grabbed some supplies on my way into the bathroom. We have three new babies, and all three appear to be in good health so far. They're a little sneezy but I suspect that's from her not cleaning them off. By the time I got down there, Mabel (our dominant queen) had taken over and cleaned them up and set them in a clean spot, so I just had to cut cords. Introducing, Harry, Ron, and Hermione. They all appear to be long haired. Harry and Ron are both a gorgeous silver grey (blue), and Hermione is white with blue patches. Zombie was a terrible mom with her first litter - a single kitten clearly born with some kind of defect (I can't explain what was wrong with it, it just wasn't "right" and it died shortly after it was born). Zom never cared for it at all. Wanting to be proactive, Tony stopped by the feed store and bought a baby bottle on his way to work, and was planning to stop for a can of goats milk on his way home. Fortunately, it seems Zom has figured out she is expected to feed her minions. Now if I could keep Sage from rough-housing and Mabel from trying to steal them... I realized while finishing adding all the updated photos to the rabbits page, that the older colony litter is already 11 weeks old. Yikes! Time for brother Skor to move out! So I swapped Skor (who'd been living with his four sisters), and Dianna Prince (a doe from the month younger colony litter who'd been housed with her six brothers). So now Diana is with the candy-named litter, and Skor is with the hero-named litter, and everyone is split; bucks in one pen, does in the other. While out and about, we had a bit of an incident. The birds were hungry so they followed me down to the little field behind the barn. I had been hoping to have such an opportunity to show them the field and the lake access from it that they hadn't discovered yet on their own. While down there, a couple of the birds stopped by the edge of the lake to drink, and that's when Mazikeep decided it would be fun to scare the chickens and chase one out into the lake. Well, she only gave chase until she was about ankle deep in water, but the chicken was already out in deeper water by then. He (it was a cockerel) managed to flap through the duckweed to get to a bog about eight feet out. Unfortunately, that bog had no ground connection to the yard and the reeds around it were so close together, he couldn't go anywhere. With a little courage, #3 and #4 decided to go on a rescue mission. You can watch the video HERE. The cockerel was safely recovered and brought back to land and was at the food bowl this evening. Still a little wet, but otherwise he seemed no worse for the wear. Hopefully he leaves the swimming to the ducks and geese from here on out. I am a huge believer in environmental enrichment for caged pets... But it occurred to me, the joy should be for all animals. Today we gathered duckweed from the lake and deposited it in the pool when I went to refill it. The ducks loved it! I went back to the lake to get more after I took this photo, and the girls stood in the pool to hose off after rescuing the chicken, so by the end of the day there was plenty of duckweed to go around. Even the chickens seemed intrigued by their new tasty water salad option. Not sure what I'm planning for tomorrow. I'm still up in the air about a couple people who want to meet for rabbits. I'm hoping to get a bunch moved out into new homes this month before school starts next month.
Yeah, I can't believe I just said that. School starts next month! We're already there... To that school shopping season again. The end of warm weather and gardening and playing outside, the end of barefoot walking through the yard, the end of t-shirts and open windows to feel the breeze. I'm never ready for the cold weather to hit again. But hey, I should have enough indoor and craft projects to keep me busy this winter. Crocheting new things, making earrings, maybe even learning something new (soap making, candle making, get better at sewing?). Lots more garden plans, and once January and February roll around, it'll be back into winter sowing season again. This will be my last school year with a kid at home. I'm seriously considering home schooling #5 just so I don't have empty nest syndrome on winter week days while kids are at school. I've been a full time mom for nearly 17 years now, so it's foreign to think about spending days all by myself. Good golly, I'd have all the time in the world to wash laundry and dishes and do crafts... But alas, the thought scares me. The house will be too quiet without kids. I'm not ready yet. Good thing I'm a full year out from that. I took updated photos of most of the baby bunnies today. I missed Gretchen's litter and the newest colony babies, but I think I covered everyone else. I'm working on getting updated photos posted to the rabbits page, but didn't get done with it all today. Hopefully I can finish getting everything updated tomorrow. Here's a photo of Cinnabun, just because she's adorable. Today I was able to re-plant the strawberry bed. Since none of the strawberries actually came up, I decided to plant tomatoes, peppers, watermelon, and an eggplant. These were seedlings that never got transplanted, and weren't going to do anything this year anyway. So if they can make food in the short amount of time left this year, great. And if they don't, at least I tried. Some of the plants really don't look very happy right now, but I'm hoping tomorrow will have them perking back up. I've noticed lately that Bufflehead keeps coming right up to me, and I feel his head feathers tickle my ankles as he cocks his head back and forth trying to see through his headdress. This morning #3 and I attempted to give him a pony tail so he could see the world. I have to say, we weren't the only ones thinking he looked a little funny. The geese stopped chattering to stare and cock their heads as he strutted by, and even the other chickens stared at him. I wonder what they were thinking. It didn't take long before he managed to shake the loose ponytail out and revert to his normal rock star hair. I really adore this bird. Won't someone please adopt him so he will have better predator protection and a heated coop? He is such a character, and so friendly. I adore Bufflehead.
House chores are almost completely caught up. I just need to mop the bathroom floor and ... oh wait, I have kids... By the time I get the bathroom mopped tomorrow I'll have more dishes and laundry and have to pick up the living room again. Ah well, better a home lived in than a house on display, right? I'm sure there will be years in the future when my kids have all gone on to their adult lives where I will miss the constant cycles of daily cleaning. I suspect "empty nest syndrome" is probably a lot harder for people who've spent a lot more time parenting. Considering #1 is 12 years older than #5, by the time all five kids are old enough to move out and start college or get an apartment and a job, I'll have been parenting for over 30 years. We've only had one more bird death since the bad run earlier this week. This one was just a fluke accident. Mazikeen (our Saint Bernard puppy) is the biggest klutz. She trips over her own feet, walks into things, and randomly falls over sometimes when she turns too fast. We suspect she managed to knock the gate over going into the barn while out for a potty break. The kids found one of the black sex link cockerels dead under the knocked over gate this afternoon. The gate has only fallen over three times I can remember in the past year, and one of those times it only got knocked cockeyed. Either way, I'm not sure what else I can do to secure the gate when it's open to prevent it from happening again. Today #5 and I made bread in the bread machine. I modified the recipe to include vegan butter instead of normal, and almond milk instead of regular so I could eat it without taking dairy pills and risking getting sick. Then we added in several individual packets of sunflower seeds that we had in the cupboard, the honey that was in the bottom of the container, a dash of onion powder, and a cup of finely chopped yellow squash (I'm not sure if it is zucchini or some other kind of summer squash). Then I decreased the water to 1/2 cup (it calls for just shy of 1-1/2 cups, but the honey and squash add moisture). I looked at it as it was mixing and added a splash more, but it looked good in the machine. I hope it turns out good. The loaf looks good, albeit slightly lop sided and a little dark around the edges. It's too hot to eat this evening. I'll cut it up tomorrow. Today I wandered over to the black raspberry plants along the black walnut row. There were a small handful of berries ripe for the picking. I only got a few before #5 spotted me and asked for some (I gave him the rest), but they were pretty tasty. Some weren't as sweet as prior years at the old house, but I suspect that may be due to the change of location. Today I also managed to snap a good photo of Happy Feet. She is gorgeous! Her mom (Dashi) is a purebred Rouen and her dad (Helvegan) is supposed to be a rouen cross (I suspect with Khaki Campbell). She didn't get any of Helvegan's silver coloring, but she's not nearly as drab and plain brown as Dashi either. Her feathers are each outlined and she is just pretty to look at. She also has cute feet. Her legs and toes are pale orange but her webbing between her toes is black. I'm pretty sure Happy Feet is a girl based on her voice. We won't know for 100% until she lays an egg (or gets a tail curl). The flower seeds we planted over the winter losses grave site are now flowering. One of the cosmos is this absolutely gorgeous white and pink flower (that is being visited by a tiny bee). I really hope this one drops seeds and grows even more next year! I took a bunch of photos today of the birds. The hope is that I can go through them and try to identify more of the chickens and see if any more are starting to show saddle feathers (indicating they're boys). The photo below is one of them, but I love this photo for a few reasons. At first glance this photo looks like a dirty mud puddle in the yard. I had dumped the pool out on the cement there to refill it with clean water, and it was raining before and right after this photo was taken, so the rest of the yard is also wet and muddy. The birds, of course, are drawn to any water source I put in the yard, including dumping the dirty pool water. A closer look reveals some interesting tidbits. At the top left is a group of three birds. In the center of that group is Ralphie, our Golden Duckwing Phoenix rooster. I adore him. Beside him is one of the Golden Spangled Appenzeller Spitzhauben birds (I believe the hen). On the other side is another bird (a Rhode Island Red hen perhaps?). At the top right of the pool is a Light Brahma hen, looking at her own reflection in the pool. Standing beside her is a Rhode Island Red hen wondering what in the world the Light Brahma hen is so interested in. The three ducks at the bottom of the pool are some of the last ducklings to hatch from the incubator. The two closer to the pool are nearly feathered out, but still have the baby feathers around the backs of their heads, making them oddly resemble the stereotypical monk in a Robin Hood film. The third duck, closer to the puddle is a strange color. Considering the two drakes that could be the father are a Khaki Campbell/Rouen and a purebred Fawn and White Indian Runner, and the three hens that could be the mother are a purebred Indian Runner (brown and white), a purebred rouen, or a rouen cross. How in the world did this duck get such an interesting muted silver and grey color? I'll be interested to see how this one grows out. The black chicken right in the center of everything, I'm not sure if she is a Black Jersey Giant or a Black Australorp, but she has striking white toenails for such an otherwise solidly black bird. On the bottom right of the photo you will see a brown duck (Happy Feet) and a white and brown duck (Indian Runner - possibly a cross - one of the younger ducklings). But in the far bottom right corner is a striped bird. This one hatched from the eggs we bought from #1's friend. This bird looks like a Black Sex Link cockerel, but it has a tuft on the top of it's head because it's a Polish cross of some kind. It also has a weird comb and I'm left waiting to see if saddle feathers come in since comb-sexing isn't an option. A lot going on, but it's all captured in one photo. No new babies in the colony yet, but they've been digging so I think we may have some more soon. We did lose the littlest kit from the colony litter. The one that survived the ant attack that took out the rest of it's litter. The little one I was calling Tiny Tort. Poor baby was in the dirt outside this morning in the rain. S/he was still warm, but was already dead by the time we saw him/her. Sad. I was so impressed at the tenacity of this tiny bunny keeping up with the much bigger adopted siblings. No idea what happened. They had food in the bin and water in their bowl, and bunny wasn't overly wet, so it had to have been inside when it was raining this morning and gone out after the rain had stopped.
Today was one of "those" days. Anyone who suffers chronic pain or depression or mood swings will probably be aware of what I'm talking about. A day where, despite having tons of stuff to do, you can't find the energy to stay upright. The days were the thought of making dinner is exhausting. A day you struggle to concentrate long enough to follow along on a tv episode on Netflix. You aren't necessarily tired in a sleepy way. More like you physically feel like you've run a marathon and your body is exhausted. And of course spending your day doing nothing causes anxiety and depression at the end of the day because you've wasted an entire day. You think of all the stuff you should have gotten done... The stack of dishes on the counter, the load of laundry in the basket by the washer, picking up the living room, finishing half-done projects, and all of the daily chores. It really sucks to have one of these days in the middle of winter when kids are at school, and I have nobody to fall back on to watch the youngest child or make him lunch or do barn chores. Fortunately today #3 and #4 took on barn chores, #1 cleared the table for dinner, and after much delay, I did manage to throw together a meal that the kids actually ate. I have found that to get through these slump days, it seems to help clear the fog if I can force myself to do just one productive thing. It doesn't even have to be a big thing, just one thing that I can hold on to as "hey, I accomplished this today." And the neatest thing about this is that it often leads to other accomplishments. Today I made dinner. And you know what? I cleared the table and washed dishes too. And I plan to take a shower once I post this blog. That's a lot to accomplish for one of "those" days. I'm hoping it doesn't leave me exhausted tomorrow too because I really do have a lot of stuff I need to do. I need to get updated photos of the baby bunnies. I need to finish tearing out the carpet upstairs. I need to have a nail-trim party in the barn for all the bunnies (some could use a brushing too). I still have more plants in the entry way windows and in the front fenced area that need to go in the ground. We need to buy a mower and mow. I need to get the new grow-out cage mounted in the barn, the cage below it moved, and the new nest boxes mounted and stuffed before my hens start laying eggs. I need to reorganize my bookshelf as the kids never put the books back right and now they're all tipped and piled all willy-nilly. I still have that one box in the living room from moving in that we still haven't dealt with. I need to clean my basement. I need to add a level to one of the potato towers. I need to call the vet clinic and get Mazikeen in for shots, and Sage in for another exam and more antibiotics for that bad eye (and shots too). I think Moose is due as well.
Next week Tony has his out of state training. It's required for managers, and I know it's coming up. I've made arrangements to be able to get to my appointments without him, but it's still causing anxiety. The seminar is two days long, plus travel time. I try to keep in mind that some people have jobs that keep them away from home for longer times on a regular basis, so I shouldn't complain. But on the other hand, my husband calls on his lunch break to check in on how things are going, and as soon as he's off work to let me know he's on his way home and ask how my day was, and if I need anything on his way home. Two days in another state is a big deal for me. I'm sure everything will be fine, but I'm a worry wart. And here as I wrap up my blog, I smell the lovely (gag) country fresh scent of skunk wafting into the living room through the fan in the window. Just another perk of living with nature. I met our resident skunk down in the field by the fruit trees several weeks ago. He put his tail up and warned me, I called the dog away from him, and he wandered off. We have a mutual respect for one another. But he owns the night here. After all, he lived on the property before we did. Besides, skunks eat bugs, so if he wants to live here, we're happy to have him, so long as we give each other proper space and respect. |
Amanda's BlogAmanda's blog about everything, important and trivial. Archives
April 2024
Categories
All
|