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

[Denim Deb]

I finished the goat/chicken house, but not the fencing. And, I didn't get to the garden. I was supposed to play the piano for my dad tomorrow. He called up and said I don't have to. So, I'm going to come home from church and finish the goat/chicken area. Then, I'm going to work in the garden B4 heading to the farm. I will be bringing home my chickens tomorrow!

This week, I'm finally going to have a lesson weather permitting. But, since I don't have my truck, and don't really like to ride in the riding arena at the farm, I'll be doing something a bit different. I'll be riding one of EH's horses, English! I've only ridden in an English saddle a couple of times, and never for long. So, this will be a bit of a challenge for me.

 

[Denim Deb]

Well, it's almost done. But even though the fence isn't 100% how I want it, that can wait. So, after I got the horses and chickens done down back, I grabbed the 5 I had up front. They are now in their new area! The goats can sleep in their new area tonight if they want to. I need to get some straw in there. Once I have the straw in, I'll be destroying their old house.

And, it snowed today! They were not calling for that-until this morning. I was not happy to see it. I'm not going to be able to get done everything I wanted to do tomorrow, but I can at least get started.

 

[Mini Horses]

We BOTH got surprise snow!

Sounds like you have gotten most of your projects completed. Good job!! Always nice to cross something off our lists.

 

[Denim Deb]

I would have like to have gotten more done, but it is what it is. I may have some friends coming out to the farm on the 30th. If the weather forecast is right, then I'd have them help me w/my fence and my RP.

They've also now changed the forecast for the weekend. We may get 6" of snow!

 

[Denim Deb]

What a day! First off, it got much colder overnight than they were calling for. So, the ground was frozen by the time I got up. I had hoped to do some work that involved digging. That didn't happen. But, I did get my living room pretty much cleaned up, and got most of a basket of clothes ironed.

I had to take water to the animals this morning. I opened the door for the chickens, but they didn't want to come out. Can't say I blame them. I didn't want to go out either! I had nothing to take for lunch, so I called KN. She had off today, so we decided to go out for lunch. Got to the farm, got everyone fed and watered, then cleaned out my run-in. It took several trips w/the bucket, and what I cleaned out got dumped in the pit.

W/that done, I started on LF's I got some of it done when KN called wanting to know when I was going to be ready. She had been over talking to RU, but was now sitting in her car getting cold. So, I decided to feed Stormy early then head over to the diner. While he was eating, I worked more on cleaning the run-in. I got more done, but still have a ways to go.

After lunch, we sat and talked for awhile, then headed back to the farm. When I got there and started down the lane, RU's truck was in the parking area. I needed to talk to her, so I stopped for a few minutes B4 heading down back. I get down there and remember that I forgot to tell her one thing-I have a whole bunch of trash-mostly baling twine that I've pulled out-sitting behind LF's shed. I have no way to get it home since I don't have my truck. So I walked down and told her. She's going to get it later. Get Stormy fed, get hay out for everyone, give the chickens more water then leave.

Get home, and get the fire going. I was going to finish ironing the clothes and do some dishes when hubby called. I was on the phone w/him when I looked out the kitchen window towards the chickens and realized that 1 of the hens was on the wrong side of the fence. I thought she flew out, so I get off the phone and go out to see if I can get her rounded up. I get back there and realize that there's 3 out! The other hen and the rooster are next to the gate trying to figure out how to join their friends. I was able to get them in the house, and closed the door. Then I went for the 3 hens. 1 of them flew towards all the houses on the east side. There's a fence there, so I wasn't worried. The other 2 ran down the fence line towards the back. I thought I'd be able to catch them in a corner.

They get down to the corner, and 1 goes thru the fence! I didn't have the welded wire over far enough, so there was a gap big enough for them to get out. The other flew over the fence and landed between our yard and the woods. So that meant I had to go chase after her.

I walk all the way around the fence and start walking towards her trying to figure out how I can get her w/out having her go into the neighbor's yard or the woods. Because of shrubs growing there, it's very difficult for a person to get thru, but not a chicken. Fortunately, she ran along the fence towards the front yard.

When she was running on the outside, the other hen was running on the inside. She got to where the cattle panels joined up w/the garden fence and I learned that the goats had damaged the garden fence. So she got out into the garden and I didn't have that gate closed! The hen that I was chasing flew over the fence and into the garden.

Of course by the time I got all the way around the fence and back to the garden, they had both gotten out of the garden. I opened up the gate for the chicken pen and tried to herd them in there. It took awhile, but I was finally able to get them in. It took a bit more and I was finally able to get them in the chicken house.

Now I needed to find the 3rd hen. Problem being, she's white and there's a light coating of snow on the ground. I looked all over and couldn't find her. It doesn't help that there's a ton of junk in my backyard. The neighbors 2 doors down also have chickens. I saw someone coming out and heading back to take care of them, so I decided to walk down there and see if she had tried to join that flock. No luck. I walk back home, take another look around the yard, no sign of her. So, I went in the house.

I decided I was going to work on the dishes since I could look out the window in the hope of seeing her. I got the dishes done, it was getting darker, and still no sign of her. So, I went out to feed the goats and Thumper.

Just as I was giving Thumper water, I noticed the hen. She was eyeing up the deck to find a place to roost. So, I went after her. By then, she was on the deck. Of course, I couldn't sneak up on her. She flew off the deck and onto the roof of the shed.

Now I had a problem. She was quite happy w/being on the shed. She settles down all set to go to sleep. I didn't want her up there, but couldn't figure out how to get her down w/out getting a ladder. Attached to the shed is a lean-to where I park my motorcycle and hubby has the lawn mower. This roof isn't as high. I was able to step on something and from there, step on the shelf I was using during the summer for plants B4 getting them in the garden, then onto the roof of the lean-to, then onto the roof of the shed. I was able to get almost all the way up to her when she flew off the roof and onto the roof of the camper.

I almost couldn't get off the roof of the lean-to. I thought I was going to have to call hubby, but was finally able to get down. Then I picked up one of my cedar poles, went back on the deck and was able to get her to fly off of the camper and onto the ground. From the ground, I started chasing her all over the backyard. Of course, w/all the junk in the yard, it wasn't easy. At one point in time she went between the fence and my greenhouse. I thought I had it blocked on the end so she couldn't get back out and went the other way around to try and catch her. She got around what I had as a block.

Finally, after I don't know how much time, she went in the lean-to and under my motorcycle. I guess she thought I couldn't get her there. I was able to walk up to her and grab her. She's now shut up w/everyone else.

Tomorrow, I am not going to let them out until I get home, and then only if I'm working in the yard so I can keep an eye on them. I hate to leave them lock in, but don't want to chase them all over again. Once I know that they're not going to go AWOL, I'll let them out again.

 

[frustratedearthmother]

Call me heartless, I guess - BUT - that chicken coulda just slept outside tonight!!

 

[Denim Deb]

Since I just brought them home yesterday, I was afraid that if I didn't get her back in where she belonged, I'd lose her. And I figured if I didn't, it wouldn't be any easier tomorrow to catch her.

 

[Denim Deb]

Probably won't be on much for the next few days. We could get a bad storm over the weekend. So I'm going to be getting done as much as I can both inside and out B4 then. I need to go shopping, so I'll do that after I give Stormy his lunch. Hopefully I'm going early enough to avoid all the crazies that think we're going to be snowed in for days. I need milk. I'm hoping it hasn't all been bought up.

 

[Denim Deb]

Got a lot done today. B4 I left for the farm today, I got my kitchen clean, then gave the animals water and fed the chickens and Thumper.

Got to the farm and got everyone fed-including the chickens-and made sure everyone had water. Then I got started on moving stuff. When I took everything out of the feed stall up front, I put it in an old shed down back. It has to be moved since it's where my shed has to go. So, I moved a few bales of hay, then took out all the pieces of wood I had in there, and stuck it in the hay stall. The rest of the stuff needs to be sorted thru and it got stuck in the feed stall. If I don't get to it right away, it's not a problem. Once I was done that, I gave Stormy his lunch, then went to the store.

Got almost everything on my list. They had blueberries on sale, but were out of them. So, no blueberries. They had a good sale on beef, so I got some ground beef, a pot roast (dinner on Sunday!), and some London broil. I'll use that for stew cubes and stir fry.

Got to the farm a bit early, but Stormy wanted to eat, so I went ahead and fed him, got hay out for everyone, took care of the chickens, then went home. I got the groceries put away, got the fire going, then went and worked on wood. I made quite a dent in the pile we have out there! I'm hoping it starts snowing later rather than early on Friday. I'd love to have the whole pile done as well as some that I already had, but didn't get to.

By then, it was starting to get dark, so I got animals fed. In spite of having a roost for the chickens, they've been roosting on and in the nesting boxes. So, when I checked for eggs, I put all of the chickens on the roost. I'm going to do that every night I'm hoping they'll catch on. It will make less work for me.

Once I got in the house, I did dishes. I'm finally caught up again!

I'm hoping I can get a lot done tomorrow and Friday. I am going to work for a few hours tomorrow, but am not planning on working more than 3 hours. RU and I are supposed to go and get some straw. I'll be putting it in my trailer, then taking it home a bale at a time. I want to get some in the new goat house tomorrow, then put a board over the doorway to the old house. W/the storm moving in, I think they'll be warmer and more comfortable in the new house.

 

[Mini Horses]

AhhhHA! Storm preps for animals, so much fun. I'm in same mode. Picked up a couple bags of something I was low on at feed store and it snowed on it before I got home!! Will get a few more bales of bedding straw Fri early. Working all day tomorrow at my PT job...today & yesterday also! But knowing the work was coming, I had gotten almost everything in last week. I hate snow ---actually, it's the cold, slipping and extra work it brings to feed/water/etc.

Hoping my goats don't kid during this mess. Two are looking closer than I'd like for the storm.