Saturday, August 6, 2011

Quack, Quack, Quack... Quack, Quack


Maddie isn't the only new occupant!

We weren't planning on adding any more poultry but sometimes a deal comes along you can't pass up. We've got 2 boys (Louie & Huey) and 1 gal (Dewy). That's a bad ratio to have with ducks, eventually they are going to start fighting over the girl and with them all being siblings bringing in some outside blood also means we can start our own flock.

I went to pick up the mother duck of these two, funny story, we got her to the car where she decided there was NO way she was going in that little cage... scratching (and Muscovy have BIG nails), flapping and wiggling, she got free. I was SO embarrassed but the kind woman selling me the ducks just shrugged and said "okay take some babies!"


And so, we have two very pretty little ducks!

The big guys already loved them. I was worried they would pick on the new guys, but it was Lenny that took exception to them and our other ducks immediately stepped in to defend the little munchkins! VERY COOL!

These guys were born the 19th of June. We thought our guys were 2 weeks old when we bought them (and therefor 2 weeks older then these guys) not so much...

You should quarantine any new bird for at least 30 days before adding them to your flock to lessen the risk of spreading disease
(we chose not to because the woman we purchased from was a knowledgeable owner of a very healthy looking flock, so we're hedging out bets on the little guys being clean)

Duck, Duck, Goose


Filled with great descriptions and helpful facts about a few different water-fowl, including Muscovy.

Definitely check out the waterfowl keeper's guide! 

Friday, August 5, 2011

Maddie's First Day

WHO IS THAT!?
 Maddie came in late last night so they didn't get to meet right away, actually I'm pretty sure Meg headed to the back of the paddock as soon as she saw the trailer...

Squeal, Stomp!

Smart Maddie is just letting Meg have her space

"Well I like him, but I still get to be princess right??"

These two are going to be best of friends!
Allowing your horse to meet over a fence for a few days is a good idea when introducing a new horse to a herd. I've had Meg for years & years, and introduced her to many horses, so I have a good idea of how she is going to react to any particular new horse. Remember a broken leg from a kick costs a lot more then being overly cautious!

The Squeal Stomp
Perfect reaction by Madaket

Madaket - a match made on COTH

COTH is one of my favourite places to waste time online :). Tons of amazing horse information, lots of entertaining barn drama, and usually a really good discussion or two to weigh in on.

I posted to just a little while back asking where people usually find their "packers". Which would be horses that are very worldly, gentle, and great for beginners, because I wanted to get my husband into riding with me and find a companion for the lovely Meg.

I wasn't quite ready to find another horse, but when someone emailed me with the EXACT horse we had been looking for... well we couldn't pass it up!

1 month later this beautiful gelding pulled into my yard.





You can tell right from meeting him what a gentle soul he really is! I just can't wait for Meg & her new Romeo to meet in the morning, they are going to best of best friends.

And it's a very exciting new undertaking for our family. I love my Meggers, but she's high strung and will never be the horse I throw my kids on. That is a job for the newest member of the barnyard crew!


Welcome Maddie, Welcome home!

Thursday, August 4, 2011

Second Misadventure of the Day!

I don't know WHAT has gotten into Diego today, but it's such a good thing we had to go into the barn to check on our new occupant tonight!!

I get out beside the barn and we can hear a very distinct bleating. When a goat gives their alarm call you KNOW it.

I go running in and he managed to get his head stuck between the slats on the manger and haul the whole thing down off the wall on top of him!!

Thankfully it's not very heavy, he was more stuck because of the awkward way it fell, but he's totally fine. It's also now been fastened far more securely to the wall (nice to have a handy hubby around!) and hopefully someone learned his lesson!

None the worse for wear
and enjoying a little treat
for his misadventure

Meg's First Ride

(out in the field)
...Oh Hi Mom!! Is it breakfast time?? Sure I'll come in with you!!
Oooh, I get a grooming, nice! That feels good :)
One foot, two foot, three foot, four.


Oh hey Dad, whatcha doing?
Hey, where'd Mom go??


TACK!?!?
GMTF out of here!! 


(escape)

Hey Cows! Cows! COOOOWS! LEMME IN THE FIELD!
SHE'S GOT MY TACK!!! AHHHHH!



(caught)

Grump.
Oh grass! Yumm, yum, yum, yum...


Hmmm, the tack is collecting on the ground but Mom looks upset.


(Bit is missing)

Oh, into my stall? Ooookay!
Mmmmm I like my stall, nice and cool in here


Where is my hay?? (whinny, whinny) 
MMMM, I always get what I want! Munch, munch, munch... 


(2 hours of searching/cleaning barn)

Oh hey Mom, What's up?


(Finally find bit, get tack together)

Uh oh, she's up to something again...
But now I'm in my stall... Guess I just have to stay here


Oh hey Mom! Tack!? Yeah! Let's go for a ride


(saddle/pad on, time to tighten girth)

Think fat, think fat, think fat...


(much struggling later... must get her a bigger girth!!)

Okay time to gooo! Fun!


Whoa, What!? No one said anything about coming out of the barn!!
Oookay. Let's just take this slow...


(Over to the rocks to mount up)

La la la la...ZOMG MOM THERES A SNAKE!!!!!!
GAAAAAH!!!!!


What? What do you mean HOSE?
That was a snake, I saw it, well I don't care if you didn't it was there!
What are you doing still on the ground anyway I thought we were going for a ride?


(mount up)

Okay let's go.
Horse eating cat
Just waiting for her chance... 
ZOMG!!! THERE IS A CAT UNDER THAT TRUCK!!
I don't want my cats under trucks!!!



Okay, okay, let's go.
La la la - WHAT!? We have to leave the barnyard!?!? I do NOT want to do that!!!


Okay, but I'm not going over that cut grass! THAT IS SCARY!!!

OMG Now there is a laneway!?!?
Okay I guess that's not so bad...
BUT THERE IS GRAVEL!?!?! 
Oh... only a little...
Hmmm.... okay


Hey, this isn't so bad!
La, lalala, la la, LA - what's that? oh nothing
La, la la la, lalala, la la, - what's that over there!? oh nothing too,
Okay, la la la lal al a...


(end of the laneway)

Lalalala, BARE DIRT? NO one said ANYTHING about BARE DIRT!! I can NOT walk on that, it's going to eat me Mom, it's going to EAT me mom!!! Oh. Okay maybe not, but I still don't want to be over here, let's hurry up!!!


Walkin' back to the barn, walking back to the barn' la la la la, this is nice! It's sunny, la la la, oh birdies! 


(top of the laneway again)

Alright! What!? We're going AGAIN!? Okay...
Lalalala...


(end of the laneway)

OMG THE DIRT AGAIN!!! Oh right, NOT going to eat me... well you should tell me that more often...
lalalalalala


Oh back to the barnyard, great! NO NOT walking on the cut grass that's scary! SCAAAARRRY!!!
Maybe not...


ZOMG THE GOAT!!! Oh that's just the goat... right...


(untack, got to grab the hose)

La lalalal, mmm grass....

OMFG!!!! THAT SNAKE IS SPITTING WATER AND IT'S IN YOUR HANDS!?!?!?!? MOM IT'S GOING TO EAT US!!!!!! RUN AWAY!!!!!!!

(drop hose, grab Megs)

Hmmmm, I want grass but I don't want that snake to get me!!! NO I'll stand here, I am NOT walking forward, NO NOWAY NOSIREYBOB! What's Zig-zag? Damn... I didn't plan for zig zags....

OMG MOM IT'S GOING TO EAT YOU !!!!



"It's okay megs, it's alright..."

NO GOING TO EAT ME!! Dance away, GOING TO EAT ME!!! Dance away...


ZOOOOOMGGGGGG!!!! Oh... it's water!!!!? WHY DIDN'T YOU JUST SAY THAT!?!? That's not scary! It's just water silly human ... 

Munch... munch... I like grass.



Time to go back in the... THIS is NOT THE BARN I CAME OUT OF!!!!

Oh wait it is... okay back to my stall...


(untack grab treats)

"Meg, you were such a good and brave girl today!"

Yes I was!! More treats please!!! :)

Running to the corner store...

Just when you think you've got all the holes plugged up... they find new ones!!!



On my way out to the corner store to grab a coffee and there is Diego on my front lawn!! 


Just glad I spotted him before I got too far down the road, and that we have extra wire kicking around.

This would have be slightly more helpful BEFORE hubby cut the grass on the weekend...

GOATS ARE TROUBLE!!!!

Yesh, you'we twouble awn't you!?
Awn't you!?
Little cuties! 

Wednesday, August 3, 2011

Weed control, FAIL!

Seemed like a good idea!
I quick run of poly-tape
so the goats/lamb would eat the
weeds down the side of the barn.
Harry Houdini at it again...
Apparently I didn't connect the fence
properly and we were off
on another goat-chase very quickly!

At least they stuck around
where they were supposed
to be as long as I watched
them!
I don't know how this came about, but putting a big pile of rocks right beside your barn is NOT a good idea. It's a great way to house rodents right against your barn though...

There is a big pile under all this vegetation and we'll be moving them a few feet to make a really nice garden wall.

The dog pen needs to go too
 The goats did a great job stripping all the "wild lettuce" that was in there, so I don't have to go weed in there again until we're ready to take the fence down!

He's Dead Jim.

Okay this one was my own stupid fault. The chicks have been drinking & eating a LOT (since that is pretty much all they do, eat, drink & sleep). So I thought I'd put in a small dish of water, only 2" so they could stand in it if they did actually fall in, and no one would drown and they'd have extra water.

Nope. So we're down to 50.

Proper waterers


The rest of the chicks now have a date of September 12th to be processed.

Tuesday, August 2, 2011

Finally they have names!!

I'm pleased to introduce...

Harry
Who is far too busy eating
to look at the camera
 Harry (Houdini) is the little s# of the bunch! Always the first to lead the charge to escape the paddock, he gets through the smallest spaces, and heads straight for the garden. Hence, the name...

He's very friendly but a bit of a bully with the other animals, always pushing Billy around (which is not a bad thing, considering the weaponry Billy is growing!). I think that may partially be because of the lack of horn on Harry's head. Harry is very affectionate with people, and he's usually the first to 'Maaaaaaa' at me if Billy hasn't spotted me first!


This is D...

Di...!!!

Diego would you PLEASE back up?? 

Diego!
The biggest of the crew, he's the biggest softy and just loves all over yah. Comes running every morning for his scratches and always checking in your pockets to see whats going on. He's usually last out of the field if they are escaping, and stays very happily contained as long as there is food around.

They are doing an amazing job controlling the weeds out in the field & because I don't have any lettuce right now (too hot) I've been letting them into the garden supervised, because they eat the weeds in between my tomato plants! Still have to watch them though, because they love to eat the grape vine.

Monday, August 1, 2011

A look in the Coop

Dinner Time
"Squak" "Quack" "Buck, Buck"

Dewie is having some wing problems
not sure yet if it's a growth spurt
or they are actually growing funny

Turkeys are just starting to gobble :) 
Huey & Lewie are getting HUGE!
Should be somewhere around
6/7 weeks old now


Monday Giggle

The Idea of Order

Very funny horse cartoons!

Could have been written FOR Meg