First Snow

We got our first snow of the season last night! On my way to bed last night I looked out the window and saw snow flurries like glitter falling outside the window. So pretty.

This morning I went to let the chickens out, usually they're all camped out in front of the door waiting to run outside. This morning the only one out was Jack. Pumpkin must have kicked him out of the coop, poor guy. It's not any colder than it has been, they just really don't like the snow on their feet.

With the bright sun this afternoon they're all outside basking in it. Winter is coming, but it's not here just yet.

What I've been up to?

Sipping cocoa now. It's been so cold and rainy here, and I've been out in it everyday for hours, harvesting and washing vegetables. It seems kind of silly to stand there in the pouring rain with a hose in my hand scrubbing vegetables, but what can you do?


It's been a busy summer. I'm taking over more and more of the farm work. It's almost easier to do all of the harvesting, washing, and bagging of the veggies, than to deal with mom. Luckily the season is almost over. We had our first frost a couple of weeks ago and are looking at our first freeze this weekend. Still a lot of veggies out there, but we are winding down the season.


The chickens are all doing pretty well. Had two outbreaks of a respiratory problem with Ella this summer. I think it's the same thing that Apollo had. There were a few days when I though she might not make it, thankfully she did recover and is back to 100%.


Most of the chickens are molting right now, losing all of their old feathers and growing pretty new ones in preparation for winter. It looks like someone was murdered out there with all the feathers blowing around the yard.


I've reintegrated Pumpkin into Jack's flock. He, Jack and Leif are now co-existing, not really happily, but there is no more bloodshed. The fights were showy but not nearly as violent as they were this spring. This was mostly posturing, very little actual damage done. It was tough to watch them fight it out, but worth it to have the whole flock in the big coop for the winter.


I haven't had time to do almost anything with the little horses this summer. In the time I have spent out there Candy and I have gotten to know each other better. She's such a sweet little girl, she just wants to know you're in charge. If I go out there with the right attitude I don't even need a halter or lead rope, she will follow quietly beside me, stopping and turning when I do. I hope we have a mild October/November so I can spend some more time with her.


Got a chance to do a lot more canning and pickling this summer and I am so glad! Katie and I have been baking too, pies, muffins, and cocktails. We've had some fun evenings!

How did that happen?

It looks worse than it feels.

The weird thing is I don't remember how it happened. Best I can figure it was when I was carrying 7 dozen eggs out to the fridge in the garage. There was stuff piled in front of the door and I had to open it with my elbows and knees, but I don't remember hitting it.

Layers

I started out with 26 pullets (female chicks) in March of 2003. Of those original 26 only 2 are still here. Over the years I've lost 24 of them. When I realized that I was shocked. I remember every girl and what happened.

A few simply fell asleep and never woke. Many more of various genetic factors. One died under anesthesia at the vet while being treated for a large gash in her side.

Most died of reproductive issues and cancer related to laying.

This is not surprising considering chickens, like other birds, were only meant to lay 10-20 eggs a year. The average hen today lays between 200-300 eggs per year.

Hatcheries all over the country raise and sell purebred chicks of hundreds of different breeds. These chicks may be all different breeds, but they have one thing in common, they are produced in massive numbers. Many hatcheries are the equivilent of puppy mills and just like puppy mills their first concern is on producing large numbers of animals for sale. The health and wellbeing of the offspring is of secondary or no concern at all.

The result is tens of thousands of birds with genetic and reproductive issues. This is not a problem for most people. Laying hens are kept for only 1 or 2 years before being slaughtered and replaced. Hybrid meat birds live only 5-7 weeks before being slaughtered. They are literally still chicks, not even into adolecence. With such practices all sorts of problems can be passed from generation to generation without ever surfacing.

It's people like me who deal with them.

There are breeders out there who are breeding for more than just numbers. Dedicated people who are devoted to their particular breed and try to better it through selective breeding. More and more people are breeding for their own needs. Combining different breeds to make a chicken specialized for their location.

I started doing so 2 years after getting my first chicks. Of my first hatch six of the nine I hatched were males. I shuffled them around, trying to keep as many as I could. Two were culled for extreme aggression, I still have a scar above my eye from a rooster named Oliver.

Despite all that it became very difficult for me to give them up. To try to find a home for them where they wouldn't be immediately slaughtered is nearly impossible. And after incubating them, watching them hatch and grow I couldn't stand the thought of sending them off and not knowing if the person doing the slaughtering would be quick and as gentle as possible or...

So I'm back to ordering small numbers of female chicks from smaller hatcheries every few years. I don't like supporting the system, but I'm not principled enough to stop. :/

Zoo Day

Tim, Dave and I spent a day at the Minnesota Zoo last month. Here are some highlights.



We saw wolverines humping- how cool is that?!





Otters are always adorable!



While we were looking at the gibbons they started singing. After their song I overheard a mother say to her son, "Can you believe something that little could be so loud?"

I can. I heard her kids screaming just a few minutes before...and after.




From children to something a little more pleasant- the zoo's Komodo dragon!

This little guy was only born yesterday, but was already cruising around at top speed.



The lynx was relaxing in the shade, undoubtedly dreaming of snacking on one of those screaming kids.

Giraffe are unbelievably beautiful. This guy was begging for food.

I wanted to ride the takin, but Tim said no. Then for undisclosed reasons having nothing to do with me jumping in the tiger enclosure and rounding them up to make an unholy army of the night we had to leave.

So that was our day at the zoo!

Oscar DeLaMew

Oscar was born just down the road. His mother and another female gave birth within a few weeks of each other. He grew up in a garage with nine other kittens to play with and both females looking after him.

Once they were old enough the kittens were offered for free to anyone coming by. Gradually all were gone but him and another tiny orange kitten who was still too little to be away from mom. On Wednesday June 3 we stopped by looking for a black and white spotted kitten Katie had seen the week before. The spotted kitten was gone, but Oscar was there hiding under a car.

I remember how shy he was, running back under the car the second anyone moved. But after we were there for a few minutes he relaxed and started playing around. He moved with such a swagger for a little kitten and I remember him walking in front of Tim and flopping on his side. I knew then that he was going to be a fun little kitten.

The problem was Tim was so disappointed about the spotted kitten that he didn't want Oscar, so we left. I went to do some errends all the while texting Tim and trying to convince him that Oscar needed us. Finally I wore him down so he said yes. I picked him up on the way home. He rode home on my shoulders, which is still his favorite place when he's scared.

Oscar is a spunky fun little guy with boundless energy and curiosity. He is all over everything and is into whatever is happening. But come bedtime he's all snuggles and wants nothing more than to curl up by your head and only stops purring when he falls asleep.

He's already completely charmed everyone in the family.



Who knows what mysteries he ponders while he sleeps?


How could you not love that face?

Stampede!!

I woke up this morning to my uncle yelling, "You have three horses loose!" And I was thinking, why did he say three? Do I have more than three?


When I woke up sufficiently to decide, yes I do want to put my jeans on and contacts in. I went out to the barn grabbed some grain, halters, and lead ropes, and mom and I started walking around the property looking for them.

At this point I'm not worried at all. The horses have escaped before but never went further than the front yard. They usually find a good patch of grass and just start grazing. That's all they want anyway. So it was very weird to walk around the whole farm and not see them anywhere.


Now I'm a little worried thinking where on earth did they go?? They don't know where any other horses live which is where they would naturally go.

So we hop in the car and head down the road. After talking to Pat the neighbor we went down to Horseplay Ranch to see if they found their way down there. We talked to a girl there who said she'd call the owner and go out to check the back pastures.


We headed home to pick up the other car so we could cover more ground. We split up, I went south and mom went east. Now I'm wondering how far will they go. If they followed Willow Dr. they could end up at Hwy. 55. I tried not to think about it.

Five minutes later mom called me and said she found them at the end of a dead end grazing in someones front yard. WHEW!


By the time I pulled up, mom had halters on Ben and Skylar but Candy was giving me that look like she was going to be a problem. She has issues with getting her halter on. She's a baby doll once you get it on her but she just has a block about getting it on, it's a holdover from her breeder days.

As I'm walking toward her a van pulls up and a woman and 2 girls hop out. They're from Horseplay Ranch come out to help us find the horses. The girls are really excited about helping out so one of them takes Ben and Skylar the other tries to grab Candy. Candy was super twitchy but finally I got a lead rope around her neck and she calmed right down.


After getting halters and leads on them we take a minute to let them settle down and graze some. Chatting with the lady we find out that Mary is the owner of Horseplay. A really nice lady, we swap stories of escaped horses and talk about all sorts of horsey things. She said if I ever needed anything she can hook me up. Very cool.

So the whole time we're chatting with Mary all I can think is oh my gosh the horses are dirty (it rained last night so they rolled in the mud) they still have some of their scruffy winter coats-especially Ben- and they need their hooves trimmed! I know she understands, it's not like they're in bad shape, it's just like going out without your makeup and running into someone you like.

They're home and safe now, locked in the corral until we can fix the electric fence. I still don't know what happend to make them flip out and run away.



The culprits.