In between (and in the middle) of rain showers this weekend, we managed to get a lot done!
Old house- I packed up a ton of stuff for the thrift store, we moved a bunch of fencing, and brought our glass top stove back to the new house. It's sitting in the garage right now, but at least it is closer to being inside!
Gravel- With the most awesome tractor, we spread gravel in the driveway, outside the back door, and down to the chicken coop so we aren't ankle deep in mud every time we go out there.
Pigs- The pig fence is complete! Woohoo! We've got all the insulators up too, and just need to get another set of grounding rods, run the wire, and install the charger. We even got a roof on the pig hut (pig palace A-frame that's big enough for a small horse). Hoping to get the porkers within a week or so... Fingers crossed!
Geese- Our mini goose (seriously, so tiny I don't think she's a Toulouse) has developed an unfortunate habit of chewing on the African. I put some ping pong balls in the brooder, and they seem to distract her a little bit. Regardless, I've had to take the African out a couple times and towel her dry. As listed earlier, we added a little boy to the mix, and he is quickly becoming my favorite. LJ and I lock the pups up each evening and each take two goslings to hold for a half hour or so. They like to snuggle up under our chins and sleep. They don't have super great control over their necks/heads just yet, and fall asleep with their little heads backwards, sideways, lolling over each other. Really very sweet. I'm going to be a little sad when they are big enough to go outside. Only a little sad, because no matter how often we clean out their tub, they are stinky. Noisy little buggers too. If we're in the room, they're a-screeching, trying to get our attention.
Chickens- The baby chicks are only about a week and a half old, and we think we might have a little boy in the batch. One of the Ameraucanas, the cutest one of course, is a crazy little bugger. It puts its little head down, wings slightly out, and scratches. Then it launches itself across the brooder, often at other chicks. When we pick it up, it doesn't really struggle, just fixes a beady little ewok eye at us and glares. Ugh. The rest are still a bit scaredy, and it worries LJ, because our Golden Girls are so sweet. I remind him that the buffs weren't really very friendly until about 2.5-3 weeks old. We'll see how they do.
We are down to 11 Golden Girls. Live and learn. On Saturday, we left the coop door open so they could explore the run for an hour or two while we ran into town. Well, when we came home, there was half a chicken wedged between the wire and the board at the base of the fence. Apparently our cat, previously uninterested in the chickens, snagged a sleeping girl through the wire. Skid ate a leg, a breast, and the head was MIA. Ugh, at least she ate most of it instead of just killing it and leaving it like a dog will. Don't know why that makes me feel better, but it does. Well, the loss prompted us to get the hotwire up (which we had been planning to do that afternoon anyway), and we also ran a second row of smaller chicken wire around the inside of the coop. It attaches to the inside of the 4x4 that serves as the run fence base, and secures to the main fence about 2' up. This keeps the girls farther away from the fence, and out of reach of the cat. As for the hotwire, Cammi has already gotten a taste of it when she sniffed too close to the girls, and we're waiting for the yowl that will tell us Skid has learned about it too. Other than the loss, the girls are enjoying the run, scratching in the dirt, and testing their wings. We put a couple half-rotten logs in there, both for shade and for fun, and they've been scratching and pecking away at them. Happy girls!
All in all, a decent weekend work-wise. Maybe we'll get some sunshine this week, and I'll be able to get some plants in the ground!
