Teresa & Mike CHS - Our journal

[farmerjan]

Or like I did, in my T-shirt/sleeping shirt, in the POURING down rain, on crutches with my still healing ankle ..... after the chicken that was screeching that I couldn't get to in time....

 

[Beekissed]

We have seen that our main chicken predator is a raccoon but it is proving hard to catch. We watched it on camera and thought that it had been caught before based on the way it was going after the bait without going inside. We found out that our neighbor had caught one in a trap and let it loose because he had to go to work.. We will keep after it but we have caught two possums in the last three days. I guess if you live in the woods, you live in the woods.

I can't believe your dogs are letting anything near your coop!

 

[Mike CHS]

I can't believe your dogs are letting anything near your coop!

The coop is on our property line and there is woods on the neighbors side.

 

[Bruce]

Time to move the coop closer to the dogs or at least farther from the property line?

 

[Mike CHS]

The coop has to stay where it is so we will keep working at catching or hunting the critter. Harvey (our neighbor) has a friend that runs hunting dog so we will get it one way or another. The losses are our fault as we got complacent about locking the chickens up at night since it had been so long since we had any problems.

 

[Mike CHS]

We moved the ewe lambs to a holding chute this morning then brought the adult ewes down for a condition and weight check since they will be going in with the ram next week. All except one are back to their normal weight and most are beyond what they were. We have two young ewes that I was considering culling based on their size but they have surpassed the average weight in our flock. I was happy to see that since they are also two of the easiest to handle plus they both had twins. Wild Thang is the only ewe that hasn't gotten back to her ideal weight and is about ten pounds less than her ideal. The smallest of the ewes was 130 pound with most in the 150 pound range. Our solid black ewe weighed in at 178 pounds, She is sold once we are sure she is bred since I can't handle her size.

 

[Mike CHS]

It seems I spend more time grooming Mel's coat than anything else for the last couple of weeks. I keep a 25 gallon trash can by the spot where I groom both of them but I have literally filled it up with the hair coming off of Mel. Maisy is typical of the long haired Pyrenees so I have to do her year round but Mel didn't need anything until about a month ago. He sits there patiently for the longest time but when he has had enough he will walk to the door for me to open it up. Last week I ignored his wish to go outside and then he pouted for the next day and a half to the point that he wouldn't even come in to eat without a lot of coaxing. I've found that as long as I let him out when he asks, he is fine with coming back in for more. He has made it clear that he will tolerate a lengthy grooming session but he wants to make sure that when he says he is finished, he is finished.

 

[CntryBoy777]

....Gabbie does the same, when her "routine" is disrupted she will sulk until we "get to it"....

 

[Baymule]

Our dogs are spoiled rotten. LOL I got a mental picture of Mel pouting and not "talking" to you.

 

[Mike CHS]

Our dogs are spoiled rotten. LOL I got a mental picture of Mel pouting and not "talking" to you.

That is exactly what it was. I yelled at the sheep one day when they were mobbing me and he went off into the far paddock so I quit doing that. That boy is the most loving dog that I have ever seen but he wants things to be regular and no trauma and especially no raised voices.