BUGS

My grandson Owen has a great dislike of insects and his powerful child's eyesight can spot the tiniest of them. His normal response is to holler out "BUG" which is the signal for us grandparents to search it out with our failing aged eyesight. When we can't spot it, we say "where I don't see a bug"  to which he replies, "There it is.!!!"

Fern ate it !!!

Clean-up on isle 9.  "Gramma Fern needs a wipe" !!!!



Shhhh.....They can't see us in here...FERN leave my hat alone!!!

Peaches and the back 40.

The girls new pen. Made from mostly recycled materials including a very large doghouse and some fencing from my son's old dog pen. 

........Fern sees a bug....

,,,,,,it's Owen.!!  Checking out the lavish space inside the dog er... GOAT house.  Plenty of room for both girls to sleep in.

Bugs.  That was Owen's response to his first introduction to newborn quail. And the name has stuck, Wifey and I now commonly refer to them as "the bugs" to quickly identify the difference from the other chicks we are brooding on the back porch.  We have not lost a single "bug" since my last post and the cats have had to resort to eating only cat food.

Silkies.

A mixed batch of chicks from our hen's eggs.  Ten of which have already found a new home when I sold them to a neighbor.  Life on the farm is good.  Lots of fun....especially with Owen's BUG games.

THE END



A Guinea Kind of Father's Day

Those of you that have these crazy critters will know of what I speak.

I purchased these 2 males and one female last year and have had them penned up all winter and finally this spring let them loose hoping that they would return to the coop at night.  Well it worked out better than I expected.  The female even sat on a clutch of about 20 eggs which hatched out 4 chicks and she excepted 2 more from the incubator.  So now I have one very protective hen with a group of unruly keets. Both males try their best to help teach the young, but they cannot seem to get them to understand how to get back into the coop. 

They get a good start at it but then the keets just go crazy,  jumping off the ramp or running underneath it.  If the parents go inside, the little buggers squeeze through the chicken wire and escape the confines of the pen.  This really drives the adults nuts. (The chickens gather to watch the festivities and get a chance to see the babies close up.) They will attack anything that gets close to the fence, which makes herding the babies back in a dangerous venture for them and me.  I have felt mom's wrath 3 times already for being a good samaritan and bare the scratches and bite marks to prove it on my hands, face and head.

The males get vocal and make feint charges but stop short of attacking, (we have gotten pretty close over the last month) and look at her like she's crazy after her attacks.  They even squawk at her as if to warn her not to bite the hand that feeds her, and can't she see I am only helping.

After the reunion all is right with the world....until next time or when it is time to get them in for the night!

My daughter Angie was sick, but Eric brought Aden & Ethan over.

They also brought over Eric's prototype of his recumbent bike for two.  He made the rear pedals adjustable so Aden could ride too.

Aden wanted to show off her steering abilities so her and dad switched places.  Eric was a little uncomfortable in back but managed to pedal them around.

Ethan wanted to show off his first missing tooth.  He pulled it out all by himself.

We let the goat girls out  to browse in the orchard...

Fern noticed the kindling bin and dedided to climb it to try to reach some leaves.

Peaches had to join the fun. 

Finally the day was ending and it was time to bed the animals down and go in for a much deserved rest.....

But WAIT..........

what was that????????????

For ME ???  

No Abbey,  these are going to the farmers market for sale.  36 of the 40 eggs from my hens hatched in the incubator.  I made an improvised brooder and added a heat lamp.  But the peeping noise on the porch was driving the cats and dogs crazy, everyone wanted to see the cute chicks.  My geriatric cat even left the back steps to sleep next to them.   Even though I didn't condone her actions then, I hope that she had pleasant dreams from her younger, bird nest raiding days. 

Say goodnight Gracie....

Owen's Car?

Firewood

Have you ever tried to get anything done around free ranging chickens?

While attempting to pick up some wood that was stacked to dry, my hens followed me to see if they could find some treats.  As soon as I started loading it on the truck they dove in.  While some attacked the wood pile, Goldie jumped on the tailgate, to be closest to me, and made a nuisance of herself.

Of course she wasn't alone.

When I finally got to the bottom of the pile the feasting really began.

On our days off from babysitting, and sometimes after babysitting, we have been kept busy cutting firewood for the winter.

My son built this trailer for me. A friend of his entered a demolition derby where they had boats on trailers towed behind their cars and my son got what was left of the boat trailer. He cut down the frame and added a different axle and tires, then built the box on it. As an added bonus it was an old tip trailer, so the box will dump.  This has come in very handy especially when it is loaded with manure.  As you can see in the photo, we loaded the trailer with wood and the truck with brush.

And he made this hydraulic log splitter for his tractor.  It has been a real back saver and makes short work of a stack of wood. And since he doesn't heat with wood, I guess you could say he built it for our use.  Thank you son.

He bought the hydralic cylinder and attached it to an I-beam from an old mobile home frame.

He fabricated the splitting wedge, slide and stop.

We temporarily set it up on blocks but he has plans of making it a tow behind assembly.

This is some of the downed trees we have yet to cut up.

And here is part of my ever growing brush pile.

This photo shows how late we normally work cutting, splitting and stacking wood. This was our last load of the day to be stacked.  Then it was on to feeding the animals, and finally ourselves.

I know you can't see much in the photo, so I lightened it up for better viewing.

These photos were taken about 2 weeks ago, The following were taken today after 2 days of thawing weather following our first major snow of the winter with near 0 temps and high winds.

Most of our dwindling wood supply.  We have been burning it for a couple of months already.

The chickens were very happy to get out of the coop again.

Goldie and friend, staying close and finding the large bare spot to forage.

Some venturing further away but under protection.

And finally of course, our grandson Owen.

Now that winter is here hopefully I will find more time for blogging.