ELeVan ~ Honaker Farm Journal

[elevan]

Oh, I forgot to update about Skeeter! I tried one more time to brace her leg...didn't work - she picked at it so much she was causing her leg to bleed. So off came the brace. But I have left her in her cage for about a week. She's still in the coop and can interact with the other chickens through the bars but they can't knock her over or trample her. The really good news? She's starting to be able to stand and balance herself on both of her feet!!! I was so excited the first time I saw her standing. She's only doing it when she's eating and she still can't walk on both feet but it seems like great progress. Now, I'm kind of glad that I wasn't able to rehome her and that I can see her making progress...it makes the guilt I feel kind of ease away.

 

[elevan]

I just came back from the fair...it was way too HOT. I'll go back later this evening when it cools down. Ugh! It's been so hot this week that they've had 2 chickens and 1 rabbit die at the fair. The rabbit was normally kept in an air conditioned basement and then brought to the fair in 90* + heat...it's no wonder it died. The 2 chickens were broilers...again, wasn't any big surprise. The broilers just disgust me to look at them...Frakenchickens.

Shortly after I got there I was "ran down" by dog food goat guy read the link if you don't remember this story. He told me that "unfortunately" he didn't have the kid (that was on the mama) anymore but the other does were still available along with the twin doe kids that I had looked at too...wants $100 each for all of them. Of course he doesn't have the kid anymore...I'd already guessed that she was dead before didn't I? He wanted to know if I was still interested...I didn't want to get thrown out of the fair for a confrontation so I just told him I still had his number...DH didn't "clue" into who the guy was until he started to look away AND then I had to grab hold of DH to keep him from going after the guy!!

 

[Sunny & the 5 egg layers]

Hows Goldie doing?

 

[elevan]

Hows Goldie doing?

No kids yet...I swear if she doesn't kid I'm penning her with the buck for the whole winter! I can feel some mammary tissue but she's not bagged up. She's not kidded on my farm yet so I don't know what to expect from her. But she's very vocal when in heat and she never came back in. 9/2 was day 150...so that puts us on day 151 if we're gonna kid. I've tried to palpitate but she's not an easy doe to work with...lovable as heck if you're scratching ears or rubbing her neck...but touch any other part of her body and she bolts or struggles like you're gonna kill her.

I'm kind of ignoring the situation....while I do take a couple of minutes each evening to follow her around and observe her...keep your fingers crossed

I don't blood test or ultrasound to verify pregnancy - I just observe breeding and watch for following heats.

 

[elevan]

ATTACK OF THE CHICKEN!!!

I have a mole on the back of my knee on my right leg...can you guess where this is going?

About a month ago one of my Sicilian Buttercups took a peck at it with no damage done. BUT TODAY...one of the Buff Brahmas took a peck and RIPPED IT HALF OFF!!!! OUCH!! Never thought a mole would bleed so much...I had to get out of there QUICK - I was attracting too much attention between my cursing and the blood

I think it's time to make an appointment with the doctor to have that mole removed...and until then I'll only be wearing pants while out with the chickens or else they might perform the surgery for me

 

[Sunny & the 5 egg layers]

Hows Goldie doing?

No kids yet...I swear if she doesn't kid I'm penning her with the buck for the whole winter! I can feel some mammary tissue but she's not bagged up. She's not kidded on my farm yet so I don't know what to expect from her. But she's very vocal when in heat and she never came back in. 9/2 was day 150...so that puts us on day 151 if we're gonna kid. I've tried to palpitate but she's not an easy doe to work with...lovable as heck if you're scratching ears or rubbing her neck...but touch any other part of her body and she bolts or struggles like you're gonna kill her.

I'm kind of ignoring the situation....while I do take a couple of minutes each evening to follow her around and observe her...keep your fingers crossed

I don't blood test or ultrasound to verify pregnancy - I just observe breeding and watch for following heats.

Fingers Crossed

 

[Sunny & the 5 egg layers]

ATTACK OF THE CHICKEN!!!

I have a mole on the back of my knee on my right leg...can you guess where this is going?

About a month ago one of my Sicilian Buttercups took a peck at it with no damage done. BUT TODAY...one of the Buff Brahmas took a peck and RIPPED IT HALF OFF!!!! OUCH!! Never thought a mole would bleed so much...I had to get out of there QUICK - I was attracting too much attention between my cursing and the blood

I think it's time to make an appointment with the doctor to have that mole removed...and until then I'll only be wearing pants while out with the chickens or else they might perform the surgery for me

Ouch! Sounds like that hurt!
I quickly learned not to wear sandals while visiting the chickens! They were all pecking me thinking my toes were worms!

 

[Ms. Research]

ATTACK OF THE CHICKEN!!!

I have a mole on the back of my knee on my right leg...can you guess where this is going?

About a month ago one of my Sicilian Buttercups took a peck at it with no damage done. BUT TODAY...one of the Buff Brahmas took a peck and RIPPED IT HALF OFF!!!! OUCH!! Never thought a mole would bleed so much...I had to get out of there QUICK - I was attracting too much attention between my cursing and the blood

I think it's time to make an appointment with the doctor to have that mole removed...and until then I'll only be wearing pants while out with the chickens or else they might perform the surgery for me

See chickens trying to make sure no bugs on you and you still complain. Unfortunately chickens don't understand moles. Please go get that removed. Moles are nasty and get chickens in trouble for caring but seriously could turn ugly. Better safe than sorry.

 

[JusticeFamilyFarm]

I learned that lesson, too- no more shorts in with the chickens (although I still do it occasionally... it's HOT here!). They've pecked at freckles, scabs, toes, my rings- and, yes, it hurts when they get you good!

 

[elevan]

Well the back of my knee still hurts...darn chicken I've wanted to get that mole removed for a while but I guess now I have a good excuse for it

We had quite the lightning show last night. I was out driving at 1am (had to go get DH) and could barely drive with the sky lighting up so psychedelically that it made it hard to see. And then got hit with a quick burst of hail followed by a downpour. What a crazy drive!

The lightning show turned into some good rain which did a magnificent job of cooling down the environment. We went from 95* yesterday to 77* today...my kind of temp!

Goldie is still holding out on me. I'll go check on her again in a little while but so far she has not shown any signs that she's gonna kid soon.

Skeeter is making leaps and bounds every day. She's able to stand for longer periods of time. I'm quite pleased with her progress.

Miss Flufferbottom accidentally cracked one of the eggs that she was setting and tossed it out of the nest. So she's down to 11 eggs.