I guess I’m very easily entertained. The cannibal coven in our chicken coop ate yet another egg yesterday. Not a very wise move from our feathered friends, I’m not sure if their psyche has connected (1) chickens wearing egg yolk on their beaks are very suddenly removed and don’t reappear and (2) the team are more frequently patrolling the hen house waiting to snaffle the perpetrator or (perpetrators) and kidnap the eggs. A baited egg was carefully placed in a cosy nest box….it’s yolk and albumen had been completely cleaned out by one or more of the egg raiders, I had replaced the creamy yellow yolk with hot English mustard…also yellow, in the hope of “persuading” them that egg eating is NOT a healthy idea! A quick status check last evening indicated that several beaks had investigated the planted mustard egg but it was still intact…not totally but it hadn't totally evaporated into nothing...maybe I've won ???.
Quick update on the mustard egg….they ate it !!! Looks like we are back to plan A ….and I’m going to have to freshen up on “how to cook tough chicken” recipes. DOH !
Newest WOOFER volunteer Rebecca took Charm ( aka beauty with attitude) for a ride this evening. Actually in retrospect I think that it is possibly more accurate to describe her experience as Charm taking her for a ride but on the positive side, they did ( fortunately) return together and Rebecca hasn’t given up on horses ! Quatra saddled Starbuck the big black gelding to give him and potentially her a little much needed exercise. Starbuck clearly has been well trained..we just have to discover which buttons to press and which levers to pull. Lumpy Lady our Shire mare partnered Carla in the rain, a firm bond between the two has been established and Lady's brattish behavior with nervous novice Rebecca was forgotten. Everyone can have a bad day, right ?
Song and Cody the goat kids are clearly not starving despite their almost constant moaning and wailing from the depths of the pasture. After returning to the barn and having inhaled their dinner and anything else that looked even vaguely palatable at super goat speed, the twins went to check out a feed bowl that could potentially contain another crumb of grain and one fat little body after the other fat little body got firmly stuck in the kid creep door. Heads made it, front feet made it but rotund tummies got jammed and despite lots of vocal support and fruitless forward motion from scrabbling back feet, all their struggling couldn’t extricate them from the door. It’s tough being a goat, particularly a very fat goat stuck incongruously in a door !
The new horse stall is becoming more of a reality. Each day the girl team, Quatra Carla and Rebecca get down and very dirty with hammers chisels and saws creating walls and stall doors under Greg’s watchful eye and careful tuition. It’s great to watch the newly learnt skills coming together and I’m happy to report that my previously very profitable swear jar hasn’t earned me a single red cent ( at least not when I’m in earshot !!). A pile of lumber is becoming a stall and an empty space is being filled, I love it when a plan comes together.
Macho the buck is slowly recovering from what we think was an unfortunate misadventure with the cows. Sadly Macho has a lot of love to give and his loving wasn't reciprocated by Daisy, Hol-ley and Molly who had apparently tired of his amorous advances and we think possibly reminded him that he is in fact a goat. Macho "the man" has been recuperating in the back pasture with Romeo Rodney the ram, his recovery has been slow but we are confident that Macho hasn't learnt his lesson and would almost certainly try his luck with the disinterested bovines again, given the opportunity !
Finally, (it's almost time to start the morning shift down at the barn) the ewew's and lambs had a manicure and pedicure yesterday. Carla is a seasoned sheep wrestler and confident with the nail scissors but for Rebecca our new WOOFER Volunteer it was an unnerving first time experience and she emerged from the sheep pen looking a little....um...sheepish ! ( oh, that was BAD !!)
Time to post this, almost 7.30am..take care, keep safe, M
Quick update on the mustard egg….they ate it !!! Looks like we are back to plan A ….and I’m going to have to freshen up on “how to cook tough chicken” recipes. DOH !
Newest WOOFER volunteer Rebecca took Charm ( aka beauty with attitude) for a ride this evening. Actually in retrospect I think that it is possibly more accurate to describe her experience as Charm taking her for a ride but on the positive side, they did ( fortunately) return together and Rebecca hasn’t given up on horses ! Quatra saddled Starbuck the big black gelding to give him and potentially her a little much needed exercise. Starbuck clearly has been well trained..we just have to discover which buttons to press and which levers to pull. Lumpy Lady our Shire mare partnered Carla in the rain, a firm bond between the two has been established and Lady's brattish behavior with nervous novice Rebecca was forgotten. Everyone can have a bad day, right ?
Song and Cody the goat kids are clearly not starving despite their almost constant moaning and wailing from the depths of the pasture. After returning to the barn and having inhaled their dinner and anything else that looked even vaguely palatable at super goat speed, the twins went to check out a feed bowl that could potentially contain another crumb of grain and one fat little body after the other fat little body got firmly stuck in the kid creep door. Heads made it, front feet made it but rotund tummies got jammed and despite lots of vocal support and fruitless forward motion from scrabbling back feet, all their struggling couldn’t extricate them from the door. It’s tough being a goat, particularly a very fat goat stuck incongruously in a door !
The new horse stall is becoming more of a reality. Each day the girl team, Quatra Carla and Rebecca get down and very dirty with hammers chisels and saws creating walls and stall doors under Greg’s watchful eye and careful tuition. It’s great to watch the newly learnt skills coming together and I’m happy to report that my previously very profitable swear jar hasn’t earned me a single red cent ( at least not when I’m in earshot !!). A pile of lumber is becoming a stall and an empty space is being filled, I love it when a plan comes together.
Macho the buck is slowly recovering from what we think was an unfortunate misadventure with the cows. Sadly Macho has a lot of love to give and his loving wasn't reciprocated by Daisy, Hol-ley and Molly who had apparently tired of his amorous advances and we think possibly reminded him that he is in fact a goat. Macho "the man" has been recuperating in the back pasture with Romeo Rodney the ram, his recovery has been slow but we are confident that Macho hasn't learnt his lesson and would almost certainly try his luck with the disinterested bovines again, given the opportunity !
Finally, (it's almost time to start the morning shift down at the barn) the ewew's and lambs had a manicure and pedicure yesterday. Carla is a seasoned sheep wrestler and confident with the nail scissors but for Rebecca our new WOOFER Volunteer it was an unnerving first time experience and she emerged from the sheep pen looking a little....um...sheepish ! ( oh, that was BAD !!)
Time to post this, almost 7.30am..take care, keep safe, M
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