Totally bummed

I totally intended to post this last weekend, and even have a half-finished post on the garden... But, I'm totally bummed and not motivated due to a couple critter deaths and some missing over the last week.

We had to put Betty barred rock down. She was the sole survivor of the Henry Massacre last year. A good hen that layed well and never got out. Opened the nest box this weekend to see a prolapsed bottom facing me. I think she'd been like that for a few days. Would never have seen it if she hadn't had her butt facing me. When standing, it couldn't be seen. In any case, I'm not going to go into gross detail. I'll just say that it wasn't something we could fix.

Then, Monday afternoon, we realized we were missing guinea girl. We looked everywhere and found no sign that she'd been attacked/eaten/dragged off. Then I looked in the coop and found her dead on the floor. Don't know what happened. She was a little scuffed up, but that may have just been from being kicked around by the chickens jumping down from perches. I don't get it. She was alert and fine the night before when I closed the coop, staring down at me from a perch. Maybe something grabbed her and she got away mortally wounded... maybe one of the chickens landed on her just right when jumping down from the perch and broke her neck?  No idea.

To top it off, we realized today that the wyandotte and both the marans are missing... Miss wyandotte was last seen day before yesterday when I caught her and put her back in the chicken yard (she's been escaping a LOT lately).  Neither of us can remember when we last saw either of the marans... perhaps last weekend?  Dunno.  I think the coyote is back. 

Goal this weekend: move the chicken yard, make sure the fence is supported to where there are no low spots (where the ladies jump over), and electrify it for a while.  The blackberries and weeds have grown INTO the fence along the side furthest from the house... we need to remedy that problem so that Dunder can see problems coming and warn the gals.  As for me... I've got the rifle loaded, and I'll hang out on the porch tomorrow morning.  I can watch some netflix on the iphone and keep and eye out for that damn coyote.  We'll see how it goes, eh? Wish me luck!

Anyhow, I'll have another go at an update on farm progress this coming weekend. Just not up to it right now, ya know?

Quick update... Birds, bees, and busy

Still crazy around here! Between my off-farm job, chores, post wedding stuff (almost done with thank you notes!), and general summer stuff, I just haven't had the time to blog. So, a quick update, and I'm determined to get some real posts (with pics no less) done this weekend. Maybe by actually posting an intended deadline, I'll actually do it? We'll see.

This year's chicks are getting huge, yet are still able to squeeze through the fence, and they have discovered the blueberries and huckleberries. $@%#!

Both Jeffrey and MiniMeatGoose developed angel wing, and I fixed them! Woot!

We caught a bee swarm. It was in a tree at a coworker's house. I have a friend that really wants one (her bees bailed this spring), but in my rush to run LJ his bee stuff, I left my phone at home. With time running short to go grab them and get them installed, the decision was made to get them home. Sorry Paula! :( I don't know if there's enough time left this season for them to build up for winter. From what I've read, "a swarm in July isn't worth a fly". We'll see. They've started drawing out two frames already, but I don't know enough yet about bees to hazard a guess at survival. More on the swarm in a future post.

Busy busy... Moved 3 project cars from old house to new (come-along, a tilt trailer, and a 49 4dr... Not fun), moving bird yards, the garden of weeds, prepping the old house to go on the market, my new piano, double whammy dead AC (in the house AND my car!), and more. I need a nap. :)

Our rooster is an @$&@#%!, but my turkey toms are MY HEROES!!!

Ok, no posting for a while then bam bam, two in a row! Was out throwing scratch to the ladies, and was hand feeding a couple of our toms. Out of nowhere, Dunderhead jumps in and spurs me through the fence. $&@%!! Well, the toms didn't take too kindly to Dunder attacking me, and two of them cornered and WHALLOPED him! Atta boys! I laughed til I cried, then gave the toms a bit more scratch and went in to scrub my new battle scars.

Recently married, and back soon

Been super busy around here! Got lots done around the house and farm in prep for family in town for the wedding, and we're getting SOME stuff done during our "rest" week after Sunday's wedding (especially weeding the garden... On day 3... SCARY!!). Be back very soon, and looking forward to getting caught up on everyone's blogs!

Coyote casing the chicken yard

Saw a coyote about 10 feet from the chicken yard this morning before work. Guineas, rooster, and the crows that live in the nearby trees were flipping out and the hens were running for the coop. By the time I grabbed my rifle and loaded it, coyote was gone. Looks like we'll be putting up game cams and watching closely in the mornings. Hopefully we'll get him before he gets any of our birds (or Gus, who isn't a huge dog). That coyote was HUGE. Biggest coyote I've ever seen.

Happy Birthday Henry!

My sweet boy turned 5 yesterday! I think we'll take him with us to the drive up coffee booth. He sure does love rooroorooing at the gals for cookies. :) Spoiled rotten!

Chinese goose... Last new farm baby

So, of the three goose eggs in the incubator, only one made it. It's been alone this past week. I tried to foster it off on the geese, but it didn't work. The adult geese were interested and happy to include the baby into the family, but the juveniles attacked the baby mercilessly, and it came running to me each time they did, screaming to be picked up. *sigh* So, I went by Wilco to see if they had any waterfowl left. They're done ordering for this season, so I didn't have super high hopes. They had two. A huge male pekin duckling, and a male white chinese gosling. Of course, remembering how very very messy ducks are, I forked over a whopping 16 bucks for the goose. He's awfully sweet, loves to be held, and doesn't pick on mini-goose. I've decided to name him Jeffrey, because he reminds me of the gosling in Charlotte's Web (haven't heard him oink yet, though). I think we'll keep him, and he can live with Jiminy and the ducks. We may have a taker for mini-goose... One of LJ's coworkers. Fingers crossed!

Gonna be MIA for a bit. Work is crazy right now, and planning the wedding (only a month away!) is stressing me out something awful. Anyhoo, when I get back I'll have critter updates and hopefully a post on butchering the Cornish X icky chickies (what we did last weekend).

Have a nice June, everyone!