Maine

[MustardTiger]

No sooner do I get home from a nice morning of crafts and acquiring more chicks than I get a call from DH saying "dont come up the deck when you get home" I said "why" he said "youll see soon enough, youll probably beat the police here" so I freaked out and he told me what happened; a big vicious white chow was running around and eviscerated one of our partridge rocks before he could grab it.

He dragged it onto the deck and locked it there. He is still there as we sit and wait for animal control poor dog for having horrible owners. No collar no nothing. I ran out to check on the rest and he only got one.

So, no wild predators here. Just dogs with bad owners!! I hope whoever owns it has to pay a huge fine. I have a sneaking feeling it is our back nrighbours whose blood hound killed one of our chickens before. If so I will be very angry and will be asking for reimbursement. Not the point....my chicken's life is gone for nothing, but still... ARGH!

 

[Widget]

That sucks.

Thank goodness he didn't get more than one of your birds. Of all the dog breeds there are the one I do not trust is a Chow. They are so one owner oriented. But I don't blame the dog. It is a breed thing that any owner's need to know before they get one.

No sooner do I get home from a nice morning of crafts and acquiring more chicks than I get a call from DH saying "dont come up the deck when you get home" I said "why" he said "youll see soon enough, youll probably beat the police here" so I freaked out and he told me what happened; a big vicious white chow was running around and eviscerated one of our partridge rocks before he could grab it.

 

[Widget]

The geese have settled in nicely. I let everyone free range on weekends when I am home to monitor. The geese wander the yard and are quick to alert everyone to any perceived threats. The ducks and chickens have already learned to follow the geese's lead. Not that there have been many alerts. The geese are much quieter than I thought they would be.

The horses' are very happy right now. Their fence is now 95% complete and the part that isn't is along the side of their new shelter so I am able to block access to that area. This means they can have access to the entire pasture instead of the round pen they have been stuck in for the past year. Once I finish the fence along the side I can move the round pen to another location in the pasture and use it for training purposes. If all goes well I am going to have a professional trainer come out and work with the mustang and me. My goal is to have Rigel started under saddle by the end of the summer.

Sam the Pyr is holding her own. She has been able to eat with only a few issues. One eye is still partially swollen shut due to the hematoma on top of her head. The drooling has also stopped. She is also much more active. For once I don't scold her too much for counter surfing. The prognosis is still the same but at least she is now more comfortable.

 

[superchemicalgirl]

Broody momma pekin duck hatched some babies today. There's one live duckling and one that got trampled and didn't make it, so far. A few eggs left. Hopefully she'll hatch at least one more baby today or tomorrow.

 

[Widget]

My buff orpington hen has gone broody. She found a spot under one of the rose bushes to sit on her eggs. No idea how long this has been her hiding spot. At one point I thought she had disappeared for good but every so often she would show up for the morning feeding. Now I know. The rooster has been gone for about three weeks so the eggs may or may not be fertile. Guess I will find out if I see some new additions in the yard.

 

[Widget]

Question for those with riding lawn mowers. After mowing most of my lawn today with the non self propelled 21" cheapest lawn mower Home Depot sells I have decided to invest in a riding mower. Granted the push mower has been very reliable for the past two years. Starts every time and gets the job done. However it takes a bit of time to mow the lawn. Time I could be spending doing other chores. It usually takes me a couple days to get it all done especially when it is buggy or hot out. Not sure what to get but I am strongly leaning towards the John Deere L110. Gets great reviews and often comes with the little JD trailer. Now that would really be handy around here to haul animal stuff. Anyone else have one of these mowers?

 

[echosrevenge]

Widget - no input on the John Deere, but we'll be watching everyone else's comments with interest, as we're in the same boat with a cruddy push mower and WAY too much lawn. I keep trying to dig garden beds or plant potato towers to make it smaller, but Patrick won't have it.

In other news, our neighborhood coyote hunter (nice guy, really appreciate what he does for my ability to free range) brought me two of the four kittens one of our neighbors saw someone dump on our road the other day. Hopefully someone finds the other two...poor little things are maybe 7 weeks old, identical marmalade tabby girls. We've been looking halfheartedly for barn cats, so we'll be keeping them. They are happily ensconced in the wood shop that adjoins the chicken coop, eating tuna and dog food and raw milk until I can hit the shops tomorrow for kitten food, flea collars, and dewormwer. Its been so long since I had kittens! (husband is allergic, said "NO CATS IN THE HOUSE!!!!" and promptly brought the house to them with a basket full of cushions & towels, warm milk, and SMOKED SALMON. Yeah. On top of the tuna I'd already given them. Skittish kittens are no longer very skittish.)

 

[ducklucky]

You are so lucky that your Pekin "went all the way." Just do not trust mine after the massacre of a few months back. Yeah, that's a problem, their big old flappers will mush those newborns. Might want to bring the remaining in and put them in the bator. Is she tending to the survivor and the remaining eggs? Personally, I will never trust mine again, they can sit all they want for a while, but as soon as I see restlessness among the flock, I remove the eggs and finish them off in the bator, with pretty decent success. Poor little guys, hate to see dead babies even more than losing something to a predator. Hopefully momma will get it and be more careful, but would not bet my last dollar on it. Maybe see how she does with the other eggs when they pip whether she tends to them or not. As much as they want to do it, they are just plain clumsy mothers, like one of us dropping our kid on its head, unfortunately. Good luck and let us all know how it goes. Still waiting for my pipper to break free, she is chirping and her little beak pops out now and then, should be any minute (hour) now LOL!

 

[lazy gardener]

Have to share my most recent culinary success: Grilled pizza. Had been contemplating it for several years, finally put the idea to the test and it was a resounding success with my critics. The kids have let me know they prefer greasy pizza from the "local" pizza shop to my healthy home made pizza. Grilled pizza cooks in a fraction of the time and yields that crunchy outer crust with soft puff in the middle. VERY EASY!!!! Will now be looking at other home made bread type options to cook on the grill... Flat bread, pita, taco shells ... ???

 

[superchemicalgirl]

You are so lucky that your Pekin "went all the way." Just do not trust mine after the massacre of a few months back. Yeah, that's a problem, their big old flappers will mush those newborns. Might want to bring the remaining in and put them in the bator. Is she tending to the survivor and the remaining eggs? Personally, I will never trust mine again, they can sit all they want for a while, but as soon as I see restlessness among the flock, I remove the eggs and finish them off in the bator, with pretty decent success. Poor little guys, hate to see dead babies even more than losing something to a predator. Hopefully momma will get it and be more careful, but would not bet my last dollar on it. Maybe see how she does with the other eggs when they pip whether she tends to them or not. As much as they want to do it, they are just plain clumsy mothers, like one of us dropping our kid on its head, unfortunately. Good luck and let us all know how it goes. Still waiting for my pipper to break free, she is chirping and her little beak pops out now and then, should be any minute (hour) now LOL!

Thank you for your comment. However, I'm going to leave the babies with her - I do not want ducklings in the house again. I didn't think she'd actually brood all the way through, but she did and I'm proud of her. I hope there's no more deaths. My banty hen does a great job hatching and raising ducklings, too bad she's not broody again. I have a few broody hens that I could probably get to surrogate if I had to. I just got the turkeys and cornish out of my basement this evening, that leaves me with 3 remaining birds in the house. Can't wait to get them out.