Frustratedearthmother's Journaling Journey

At least ya'll can get alfalfa hay in your part of the country! While we can get it here, unless you're ready to buy a truckload it's hard to come by at an affordable price. Last year when I really needed some for a couple mama goats I paid almost $20 a bale.... I promise you I only bought a couple bales at that price.

AND - BONUS.... my hay guy called me last night and told me he had some bales of prairie hay that he just baled to get his settings right on the baler....Sooooo, he says "come and get em!" I'll be heading back over there in just a few minutes to pick up about a dozen bales of FREEEEEE hay!

I'm on a mission today to move the deer/chicken feeder to a place that is more accessible to more chickens. After that I'm going to get my silkies moved out of the chicken tractor and into a new pen...and after that I'm gonna put a trio of Buff Orpingtons into another pen. My Buff Orp roo "BO" is really, really old so I'm gonna stick him with some girls and see if he's got anything left. I'll leave em together for at least 3 weeks (right about the time we get back from Canada) before I start gathering eggs and see if I can get some babies.

Need to get going and get that hay before it gets any hotter. Gonna hit 99 today and 100 tomorrow.... geeze!

Free hay is always nice.

WAHOO on the hay!! That's terrific!!
I need to check with DB and see if she knows what's up with the field on our property that they just cut again.... We were told we'd get some, but I'm not sure what the plan is. Need to get a spike made for this year as well. That sure would be MUCH easier than wrestling with the forks on round bales!

The new tractor we have has the forks.... hope I can figger out how to use 'em. DH said he's done it before so we'll see how well that works out!

Got the deer/chicken feeder filled up last night and watched again to be sure it's going off when it's supposed to. It did it's 7pm feeding last night and the 7am feeding this morning - so I guess all is well. It's funny to think that chickens can tell time, but I guarantee you at 7a this morning they were standing there looking at their watches and tapping their toes - just waiting on the thing to sling feed for 'em.

My horses can also tell time.

Had to adjust the chicken feeder - it was slinging out so much feed they couldn't eat it all. Can't have that - no room for wasted feed around here.... just can't have it!

Had to adjust the chicken feeder again! I think we've got it now. I really think this is going to be such a labor saving device that I'll use it even when I'm NOT on vacay. I think I'll move it a little bit though and then I'm gonna call it darn near perfect.

My egg customers are draining me every single week, so I had the bright idea to put in an order for some chicks. I wanted some green egg layers and some rhode island reds and rhode island whites. You can cross those two and end up with a gold sex link which sounded cool. BUT - I decided against it. Why spend a chunk of money on buying something when you can produce a reasonable facsimile thereof without spending a dime? So, I'll be collecting eggs from my own girls and hatching them out. Only problem is that I don't have my breeds separated right now - they're all just running together so I'll get a bunch of mutts - but I've got nothing against mutts. In fact, I've got some mutts out there right now that are turning into some really interesting looking birds. I've got two babies that are a cross between a light sussex and a faverolle. They have the white coloring with dark feathers at the neck and tail like a sussex - but they have the little poofy face feathers and feathers on their legs. They are so darn cute!

My broody hens hatched more than a dozen chicks for me, but I'm down to about 8 of those and I hatched 6 silkies in the incubator and am down to 4 of those. Sometimes it's hard to be a baby chicken at my house... I can't quite sex them yet, but I'm pretty sure they aren't all pullets, lol.

I'm so glad Monday is a holiday...we need that day to finish up some preps. We're moving right along, and only have a few last minute things, but we'll get there.

Finally got that silly goat mama to nurse her doeling again. After a really tight udder for about a week, she's allowing baby to keep up with it. I'll be tossing those two out in the pasture real soon now.

Lil Bit continues with her cycle of bottle jaw and pale membranes despite clean fecals. I've got her back on iron and b12 injections, a probiotic and red cell orally, and I've sent off a blood sample to a lab to check for CAE and Johnes. Don't really think it's either one of those, but it's a good place to start. She's never been a fat goat, but she's super thin now. Her appetite is pretty low also and she's always been an aggressive eater. We overnighted the sample yesterday and if they get it by friday morning I might know by that afternoon or early next week. If she ends up positive I'll have to consider putting her down before we leave for vacation.... ugh. Hopefully, that will NOT happen! Positive thoughts, positive thoughts, positive thoughts...

Hope you're able to figure out what's up w/her and that she'll be OK.

Cool on the chicken feeder.
Good luck with the goatie! I hope you get it figured out soon!

OMG - is the universe trying to tell me something or what? First it was Lil Bit with her pale membranes and so lethargic. Next it's Spooky and her cut foot. Yesterday evening I was feeding and noticed that Sparkle's baby was diving into the feed trough, but I didn't see Sparkle anywhere. Oh crap! I start thinking about it and decide that it's been a while since I've seen her. That's not always a problem, some of 'em just don't come up every day. I haven't been doling out grain every day so it's not like they're always just standing around waiting on me. Some of 'em are smart enough to stay out grazing/browsing.

The goats have 4+ acres that they roam. Most of it is open, but there are a couple of sections that are pretty heavily wooded and of course the goats like those parts best. So, after deciding that she truly is NOT visible anywhere I headed out on a hunting expedition.

I found her with her head stuck in a fence. All of my goats are disbudded - but she had a big scur and was totally stuck. That poor goat! It was obvious that she'd been there for a while...the ground was totally torn up and she was covered in mud. Actually, it's probably a good thing that it has rained a little for the last couple days. Her head was stuck kinda high on the fence, so she couldn't even lay down. I got her head out pretty easily but she wasn't strong enough to walk all the way back up so I went and got a cart and brought her up. She was soooo thirsty, but I wouldn't let her have her fill all at once. I gave her a good drink and then tied her up away from the trough for awhile. About 45 minutes later I let her have more. I gave her some probiotics and soaked some alfalfa pellets for her. She nibbled on them, but didn't dive into them like I thought she might. I wouldn't have let her eat too much anyway though. Don't want to overwhelm her system. She's not in good shape. I feel awful .. Maybe I oughta take the hint that if I have so many goats that I can't notice one missing then I've probably got too many...