Our old rhode Island red rooster Charlie has been down for a couple of weeks.  We believe that he broke his foot by catching his toe in the chicken wire.  He lost the nail and the foot/ toe has been swollen for all this time.  We think that it has been fighting infection as well, but with no open sores.  Even the toenail area had closed over by the time we saw he was down. 

Anyway we have been trying various remedies to help "Grandpa Charlie" as we call him now.  Once the proud and to be feared head of all of the fowl in the yard, he is now humble and meek.

We have lost another one of our favorite hens Silver.  She seemed to die of old age / sleeping sickness.  She just couldn't move more than a few minutes without tiring and laying down, then finally just sleeping all day and one day not waking at all.

If she had no pain, I guess it would be the preferred way to go.  She was five or six.  I am not sure if that is old in chicken years.

Now my big RIR rooster Charlie  is down and I don't know if he will make it.  He can't put weight on one of his feet.  We thought he had an infected foot as he seemed to have lost a toenail and his toe was swollen and his foot really hot.  He wouldn't allow drenching but I have been soaking his foot which he tolerated perfectly.   He ate really well yesterday compared to the 2-3 days before.  He also is older than Silver was by a year or so.  He also has no energy and is not wanting to move much, very lethargic.  Neither of his feet look perfect rather I wonder if his bad diet (mostly grain) some of the time hasn't finally come to show. I can't free range him like I do many of the other chickens though I do throw extra stuff in with him and his few hens.   Charlie is an icon on our little backyard farm.  I hate the thought of losing him, though there have been times I wondered what to do with him.  He has always been a beautiful and perfect specimen of a rooster bent to protect his flock and rule the roost.  Now he has no spunk at all and I am thankful if he manages a crow or two when I stand him up.

I haven't heard him crow this morning.  It is way past time to get to work.

Take care,
Michele

I will try to post pictures of the kids and kitties today . 

Someone (?) graciously gave a link to

http://www.learnbirdsongs.com

and we have been enjoying this today.  Here is what is funny ....

Listen to the sounds of the mallard duck - we couldn't keep ourselves from laughing.

http://www.learnbirdsongs.com/birdsong.php?id=27

Me to post on this blog ...

Last night our cat had her kittens:  4 black and white and one black

She seemed to do well, although she had one problem.  She had one of her kittens in the litter box.  It is still alive and we hope it will be okay.  It is back with mom and we are watching it. 

Having any kind of baby animals, or just watching them, is ALWAYS educational,  for all.

Take care,

Michele

Update:  We still have our two remaining cats after faithfully searching for them and putting them inside every evening. 

Not sure what to do with all these roosters as all three silkies are roosters, and two of the other hatchlings from last year are also roosters.  Just what we didn't need.  We gained three hens and an I don't know yet.

Since the weather has been so cold at night, we have been carting the 'bird' in every night and back out.  I wish you could hear how loud he is when he hears us come home from an outing.

We had a day of worry for our mare, Sunny, as she was off her feet and acting strange, but with prayer and lots of walking and some feed restriction, she was okay, thankfully.   Kiera made her a large hard circle treat which we hung by some twine from the overhanging tree in her pen.  I didn't get to see her enjoy it.

We have been finding dead bees all over our property.  This is not very encouraging.

We still see the occasional monarch butterfly. 

Talk soon,
Michele

Check out my homestead blog for more ramblings on such things.

One night, all three cats, loved by our whole family, gone....

Coyotes?  Lion ? Poison ? Trap ?    We don't know ... but we sure miss them.

We now have only two cats:  Jack, our gray, and Mongous, our black and white

We are sad... they have been gone for a week.  Searched everywhere, checked the shelter,  will check again next week.

I have considered for many months now the costs of keeping our animals (mostly pets) and how to minimize the impact to our budget.  My first thought was of course, to reduce the number of animals we support.  Then it was to increase their access to their natural food supply.

Now, after reading several informational articles, but mostly after contemplating so many times on the subject as related to our circumstances, I have the idea to offer 'farm sitting' to obtain extra income to offset our extra expenses.

I have talked to dh about this and he is not against it.  He is very concerned about our animals' lack of contribution to our family's sustainability.  I have not prayed alot about this yet.  Nor have I discussed the many details. However, I will do that this week in an attempt to perhaps have some interest for the two major holidays this year.   I hope to post more about this as I go on.

I have been concerned for along time now, and most especially since our last trip to Montana 2 1/2 years ago, that I am unable to travel due to the animal care required at my home.  I considered a pet sitter but it had not become a possibility due to our family's other circumstances, mainly financial.  Then recently, it dawned on me that perhaps if we offered 'farm sitting', we may in fact, meet another individual or family willing to offer the same to us.  This makes this plan very enticing to me. 

However, I do know that there is still a possibility that we may have to move in a hurry (this is a rental) and not have a place for our animals.  This would not be a situation ameliorated by this plan.  I will not worry about that scenario in advance though, and just pray for the best and that is the Lord's will in our family circumstances.

Take care and keep your eyes on Jesus,

Michele

We will be going to the Monarch site down in Grover Beach tomorrow with our hs coop to see the butterflies and hear the docent tour.  We will have lunch here first.

Today all of the chickens are out.  I usually put them out only the last hour or so, but they snuck out when the wind blew the door open so I left them out. 

I hope to have more pictures for you soon.

I had them all in this past weekend but didn't get them finished before company came....

Talk soon,

Michele

We have been working with Rosie with positive reinforcement from coming when called.  She had gotten very bad at this in a variety of ways.  Positive reinforcement works WONDERS! 

We call her and when she comes, she gets a treat and lots of petting and love.  Next time, she comes quicker.  More of the same.  Etc. Etc. Now you have her attention for other training as well.  She is pretty hard headed so we need to use as many tools for training as we can.

We also started using a nose collar which allows Kiera to take her out of the yard for walks.

We have had a new guest in the house (k/c bedroom) for about 9 days.  A baby field mouse, rescued from the cat, who was batting it up in the air like a toy.  We (mostly K) have been regularly feeding it milk until today when she put in a capful of water and some seeds which seemed to make the little mouse SO happy.  He is tiny and very cute.  I will put up the pictures if I can get the computer to quit stalling when I try to upload them (or do anything useful).

Another one of our hens died recently.  Similar symptoms to one of the others that survived but died of another malady.  I suspect aflatoxin, lack of enough protein?  I am soaking the grains now.  Added in wild bird seed and am letting the chickens out of the coop for the last half to one hour at dusk when I can.  

My kitty, beautiful black with white whiskers and white feet and nose, was in my radiator when I started my car : {  She is OKAY, but suffered a bruised  and cut eye, and according to the vet probably no broken bones or internal injuries.  I could not afford xrays or other tests.  I hope she will be okay.  Just the visit and meds cost about $200.00.  The vet annoyed me by first thing asking how old she was and if she was spayed (before telling me if she was going to be okay) and that if not, she needed to be ... I said I would like to know if my cat was going to survive.... A bit pushy ??!

The vet's visits are always so expensive.  I am still paying for Rosie.

Another one of my silkies is a rooster.  I need to find a home, I hope.  But then I need homes for a few of them.

I have to go get some sleep.  Better stories next time. My sister found a red tailed hawk in her yard in Florida.  The animal rescue came to get it.  It was awesome she said.  Her tortoise died.  She loves turtles and tortoises.

Bye for now

Michele

A little update:

My favorite rooster was very sick and died a while ago.  Yesterday Blackie (a bantam hen) died, she had something different wrong, but similar to what the rooster had last year.

I think another one of my silkies IS  a rooster.  One is already. There are only 3 .....

The kittens are cats.  Stop letting me forget to call for fix'em appointments.  And schedule that fundraiser : )

BTW it rained on Saturday.  Better start getting the animals' stuff ready in case it happens again ....

Oh, and Boo peed on my boots last night (in the house).  He stinks!

Take care,

Michele

http://animals.nationalgeographic.com/animals/mammals/bobcat.html

This is a neat picture, also check out the lynx.  We saw  a small one of either of these in our field at our last home.  Kiera and Dad saw a big cat and got a photo a couple of years ago on a hike near the lake.

Tip: Open the link in a new tab by right clicking on the link...

She is now back to her beautiful and tremendously furry self (but currently needing a good brush and bath).  She is full of vitality and stubborness and playfulness (with Boo). 

The other day I was in the horse pen with Kiera so she could show me how to put the halter on Sunny.  I heard this strange sounding cat sound, low and deep.  I got concerned because I had just seen our cat Jack out in the yard, but the sound came from the neighbors yard.  Then after several minutes another more strangled and frightened or angry cat yell. 

I could hardly concentrate on what we were doing as the goats were all looking over into the neighbors yard, but I couldn't see anything.   So I said a prayer, we finished up and went up to the house and told Coleman.  Then we all went out looking and calling for Jack.  We called and called for a long time and finally gave up.  We were all praying.  I had given him up for lost after losing my female just several weeks ago. 

But then just around dark, guess who showed up?  Jack!!  We were so happy and thanking the Lord.

God is good : )

This one is with another hen.  It is so much bigger than the last one because it is 3/4 aracauna.  It looks like one too.  The hen is sitting on another hatching egg with 4-5 more eggs in the nest.  Henry's chick is still tiny.  I am still sad about the two that died.  They were so tiny and cute.  Oh, I don't do death well.  Kiera takes things better than I.  At least as far as I can tell anyway. 

So right now we have four baby chicks.  What a great learning experience having baby animals is! 

Our hen(s) were broody and one (whale) has two new chicks about 5 days old and the other (henry) has three so far and is not off the nest yet. 

We are watching and waiting and hoping that the two sets get along as we have not had them have their chicks in the coop before.

Well, let's see ....

Our beautiful fawn and white runner ducks which Kiera had hatched from eggs became food for either a large cat (bobcat or cougar) or coyote, we think.  We had four; three disappeared in a pile of feathers in the strawberry rows one day, leaving a scent trail Boo followed to the neighbors natural oak area.  The other Boo grabbed when we first brought him home from the shelter and he was chasing everything.  It sustained an injury but recovered, then died a few weeks later.   We were sad - we really liked our ducks alot.  This happened last year at Pomeroy Road house.

We lost one of our little golden hens before we moved to this house. One day her sister came screaming around the corner onto the patio and hid in the bushes.  We never saw her again.  I think they roamed under the fence near the strawberry rows.  There also at that time had been three large hawks roosting in the eucalyptus trees in the neighbors property but near the fence line. Her sister we lost just after we moved in here.  I was letting her range with our pet rooster the few days we had been here and caging them at night; one night i went out too late and she was gone.  We think a raccoon as K/C found feathers and parts on the lawn. Sad.

Why am I talking about these events, and have more to tell? I guess it helps with processing the learning and feeling bad. 

I started this post the night before I lost my lovely kitty.  She wasn't that old.  Maybe it wasn't such a good idea.  But since then it has helped to talk about it a bit.  Don't make fun of me please : {

Lost a silkie chicken, to that hawk I think.  I was in a hurry for a meeting and forgot to pen them.  She wasn't with them when we finally found them hiding in the foliage under a tree.  Sad week for losing one's animal friends.