Hen23's Journal~Goodbye

[lorihadams]

They are sooooo cute!

 

[Henrietta23]

My dad couldn't wait to milk when the folks lived with us this past winter. He milked often, and in the worst weather, I would offer to make a pie if he milked. He was always out that door like a shot!

They live about 8 miles from us. Mom takes care of all the other animals if we go away. But she is a little intimidated by the thought of milking. Of course she hasn't met Donki yet. I have a few friends from church who say they're willing to learn and help out too. DS and I take care of their cats and sheep when they're away.
It may be a day or two before I hear back from Paul. That's going to be tough but I'll let you know when I do. In the meantime, the gate needs another latch, the interior wall needs building and a door needs to be added to the exterior of the barn.
The neighbor has his bucket loader going again. DH said it's not a backhoe. What do I know? It's loud and yellow. I wonder if he's going to be taking down more trees?

 

[Henrietta23]

One of our 4 buff orpingtons died during the night. No signs of illness or injury, not egg bound. Everyone else seems to be fine.

 

[kcsunshine]

Oooo, so sorry. I lost a Buff last summer and, of course, she just had to be my favorite.

The goat pics are stunning. I live my life through you all since I can't have goats, cows, or anything other than chickens that need fencing. All our usable land is taken up in market gardens. I want fresh milk!

(Sorry, I got carried away )

 

[Dace]

Sorry to hear about the loss....that is sad. Makes you worry a bit about the others.....I hope no one else turns up sick.

Your pics are great! What beautiful goaties!
It is very cool that you got to meet up with Free

 

[Henrietta23]

Oooo, so sorry. I lost a Buff last summer and, of course, she just had to be my favorite.

The goat pics are stunning. I live my life through you all since I can't have goats, cows, or anything other than chickens that need fencing. All our usable land is taken up in market gardens. I want fresh milk!

(Sorry, I got carried away )

It's okay! I get it!
We've kicked the ducks out of the coop for the summer. They have their own house but they always move in with the chickens in the winter. Since we have the hawk problem we've been keeping everyone penned up which means a horribly muddy pen. So I kicked them out. They keep under cover better than the chickens do. They have access to their house which is full of fresh straw, food and their kiddy pool of fresh water. Tonight we'll have to round them up until their own house. But maybe the chicken pen will dry out!

 

[TanksHill]

Sorry about your hen..

 

[ohiofarmgirl]

oh no! sorry.. nothing sadder than finding that...
:-(

onward and upward. (and check everyone's poop...to make sure there is no illness)

 

[Henrietta23]

oh no! sorry.. nothing sadder than finding that...
:-(

onward and upward. (and check everyone's poop...to make sure there is no illness)

Yeah, fun fun. DH is getting a good look since he's cleaning out the coop to put up the new wall. And everyone is really curious and hanging out watching him. He finally got fed up and let them loose to free range.
Now I'll have to separate ducks and chickens again tonight.
So the neighbor that was taking down trees was only taking down trees so he could get to the big ugly storage trailer that he keeps between his garage and us. He's been taking it apart piece by piece and dragging it into the woods. So that's what we're listening to and smelling all day. Blech. I'll be glad not to look at it anymore except now I can see the big pile of trash that was there. He'll probably dump all that in the woods too. I wonder if he'll find the large pile of Silver Spangled Hamburg eggs I know our Wendy was laying under there when she used to slip under the fence and go broody....

 

[Henrietta23]

Now the neighbor has his family over. They've got a huge bonfire going and the smoke is blowing into our yard, just like the exhaust from the bucket loader was earlier. They're playing country music which is not my favorite but it could be worse so I'm not complaining too much about that. His girls are screeching like they always do, the cousins are running around. They invited DS over to play. There's only one boy over there and he begged! The screeching makes our old dog bark which makes their dogs bark which makes the dogs on the other side bark. Someone's car alarm went off for 10 minutes before it got shut off. My ducks were foraging in the trees next to the fence near their yard and someone decided to throw firecrackers in the fire. I never knew my ducks could move so fast! We sat around our little chimnea watching our oriole pair moving around their nest. A humming bird got to close and got chased off. The chickens and ducks discovered they could go under the barn and into the new goat pen. That's going to have to be fixed. It's blocked inside the chicken pen so they can't get out but when they're free ranging they can go under from the backside and into the goat pen. They're very confused by the new fence! And the framed out walls that have been added to the coop. That will be done tomorrow night. DH extended the post up to the ceiling so I can add chicken wire higher up to keep the chickens out of the goat stall. The wall is 4 feet high.
Oh, found out more about the chicken who died. Seems DH doesn't always count beaks if he hasn't let the birds out of the pen. He locked her out! I think she may have stressed herself out trying to get in.
DH is fighting something. We're all suffering from allergies but now he's losing his voice. We'll be using our neti pots soon.
Man, I wish Paul would email. I'm really getting anxious now.