Denim Deb Hay, hay, hay. Thank the Lord!

[savingdogs]

Your chicken-chasing story is so funny because that is exactly what I do around here all the time!

I found the best thing is to get them to adore BOSS and then I throw it down where I want them to go. Either that, or I use my "herding sticks" which are just two long walking-stick size branches and I use them to extend my arms and make then six or seven feet on either side. Then I herd them into a corner. My 14-year-old showed me this trick and I was pretty proud of him.

 

[Denim Deb]

You sweet potato slips should root just fine. I start mine by suspending a whole organic potato between toothpicks in a jar half in the water. The sweet potato does have a right side up and that is usually more pointy. If you don't get leaves started in a couple of weeks I turn it over ... just in case.

If you are collecting the manure from the pasture to haul for you I think GREAT idea, but for RU's pasture rather than go to all of that extra work you just need to drag a harrow and spread the piles around.

I have seen people make their own pasture harrows from a hunk of old chain link fencing a heavy metal fence post and some old T-posts. You spread the fence and wire it firmly to the heavy post which is attached to the drag vehicle. The extra T-posts are wired on the "top side" of the fencing for extra weight and as a trail at the end of the setup.

You just drive and let it drag and it knocks down all of those piles and makes the pasture more fertile. No shoveling required!

If the pasture was larger, that's what I'd do. But w/the size of it, there's just too much to drag it. And, NJ is starting to implement regulations on manure if you have more than 1 animal unit (1000 lbs) in an acre. I may just put an ad on Craig's List for free horse manure.

 

[Farmfresh]

That makes sense then. Heck with FREE horse manure - if you are going to scoop it anyway - place an ad on Craigslist and SELL that stuff by the truckload or even delivered!

There is gold in them thar "hills"!

 

[Denim Deb]

That makes sense then. Heck with FREE horse manure - if you are going to scoop it anyway - place an ad on Craigslist and SELL that stuff by the truckload or even delivered!

There is gold in them thar "hills"!

Too many people give it away for me to be able to sell it. You'll be driving down the road and see signs saying, free horse manure. Otherwise, I'd sell it!

 

[BarredBuff]

Hello Miz Deb! Hows your week been a goin?

 

[Denim Deb]

Back to rooster wrangling. (Maybe we could make that a new rodeo sport?)

Once again, the rooster went out onto the lawn. There are several dogs there just waiting to get their paws on the rooster. And, he doesn't seem to be smart enough not to go into their territory. Once again, I'm yelling NO! at the dogs. And once again, the rooster goes thru the cattle panel. So, I have to go all the way around the pool again. I get to the other side-no rooster. KN had gone to get a big fishing net to try and catch him if we got close enough, so she didn't see where he went.

I went back around the pool. Still no rooster. The pool is an above ground pool that's halfway in the ground. And, there's a fence around the deck. It goes almost, but not quite all the way down to the ground. I figure he's under there. There's one place where I can fit thru, so I go under. I'm now crawling around the pool looking for a rooster. Have you ever crawled on top of the seed pods from a chestnut tree? If not, it's not something I recommend. I get all the way around the front, no rooster. So now I have to crawl all the way around again, over the chestnut pods and back to the hole. (You can't go all the way around. Near the house, it's not high enough.)

Once out, we start looking for the rooster. No sign of him. We look in the trees, don't see him. Now I'm really puzzled. I look at the dogs. Not one of them has a rooster in their mouth. I had seen no evidence of a UFO, so he probably wasn't abducted by aliens. I had heard no cars stop, so he wasn't snatched for someone's stew pot. And, he wasn't dead in the road. I went, got a manure fork, and started getting up a few piles.

I hadn't been doing this long when I heard him. I stopped and listened. He WAS in a tree, I just hadn't seen him b4. So, I dropped everything, climbed the fence, then climbed the tree-a white pine. I had hoped to be able to sneak up on him from below, and grab his legs. But I wasn't quite sneaky enough. He managed to see me. (Maybe I should have been wearing camouflage.) And, just as I was ready to grab him, he moved to another spot in the tree. So, I climbed down, and went up at a different spot. This time, I didn't even get as close. He jumped to a different tree. I go to get down. That's when I realized that the bottom branches were dead. I don't know how I was able to get up w/out them breaking. So, I did my Tarzan imitation, and hung from one branch w/one hand, found a branch I could grab, put my foot on the dead branch, and was able to get to the lower branch. From there, I was able to drop to the ground.

By this time, Mr. Rooster had moved down a few trees. And, he was much higher. At this point in time, I gave up. I had pine branches in my hair, and my hands were covered w/sap! And, I had to leave in just a few to go home, get changed and go play the piano at church. I went back to my cleaning.

Once Mr. Rooster saw that I was occupied, he came down from the tree and managed to sneak back over to the chicken pen. I don't know how she did it, but KN was able to get him into the pen. I heard a big squawk and a bunch of fluttering. So, I went over to help. He couldn't get out of there, we were able to get him into a corner, and when he tried to run past KN, she was able to grab him. So, Mr. Rooster was put into the cage w/his wife, I went home got cleaned up, and went to church. I was tired!

 

[savingdogs]

If it is any consulaton, it makes a cute story, Deb!

That is a chicken for you! I must say, you have a lot of perserverence. You are like me when you are "in charge" of an animal....you don't give up easily when one is entrusted to you!

 

[FarmerJamie]

Morning, Deb! Thanks for sharing the stories.

If you keep it up, we may have to ask the mods to change your title to "Dances with Chickens".

Hope you have a great day!

 

[savingdogs]

Dances with Chickens! Too cute.

Heh, you still have "member" down under your name, Deb, I thought you were dreaming up something to put there? Dances is chickens is so cute, I wish I had picked it.

 

[Denim Deb]

I'm still leaning towards more precious than rubies. I went to the hay auction yesterday. I was sitting on a stack of hay, and someone just joking around told me that if continued to sit there, they'd auction me off w/the hay. I told them if they did, no one would be able to buy the hay cuz I was more precious than rubies. When I got a puzzled look from him, I quoted Proverbs 31:10. Who then can find a virtuous woman for her price if far above rubies.