Nancy and Yoda

Nancy had a little billy on Thursday. The kids named him Yoda because of his small head and large ears. They were taken and penned in the barn because of our little coyote problems. I watched them extra carefully since Maisey let her baby die. Nancy seems to be a real good momma. Yoda is growing real good and is always busy jumping around and exploring.

Other news, our little bantam hen just hatched out 10 biddies. One died ,I think it hatched before the others and for some reason she kicked it out the nest. If my hens will hatch their eggs I let them. I prefer they take care of the biddies and not me. I do still have some in the incubator from the big hens. They haven't tried to sit on their eggs yet. Yesterday I had one quail hatch out, about 3 days early. Nothing else has hatched I'm not sure why this one did. I have him in the house in a box with a light waiting on the others.

Two of our beagles are missing.  They went hunting rabbits on Wednesday and haven't been home. Not sure if they just got lost, caught by coyotes, or shot. We miss them very much.

What is happening to the chickens?

 The day before yesterday I found feathers in the yard. Now chickens lose feathers all the time especially when they are, but to have that many in one place usually means something happened.  I counted and one was missing so either something happened, or she went to sitting, but with all those feather I am betting on the first.  It has been a couple of days and she is still missing. It is kinda strange because if she was got at night then the feathers are usually under the tree she roost in but the feathers were between the house and the garden. Plus we have four dogs, they don't usually let anything in the yard.  It could have been a hawk.

Yesterday evening my husband brought home some turkey eggs.  While cutting hay he ran over a nest and the hen was killed.  We usually either hatch the eggs in an incubator or under a hen.  I had one hen sitting that had lost 2 other nest but was trying for number 3.  We were going to put the eggs under her this morning because both her eggs and the turkeys were about at the same point in development. I went out this morning and she is gone. Her nest is destroyed and feathers everywhere.  Still the dogs didn't bark. This time I know it wasn't a hawk. I am beginning to think it is one of our dogs. I am going to set up one of those game cameras to find out.  We now have only 3 laying hens.

Getting to work

Yesterday I was out planting corn when my husband called. His daddy and him came across some good tin they could have. The only problem was they had to tear it off. My husband was stuck at work leaving his daddy to do it by himself. He said get the hammers and crow bars, pick up the kids, and get out there to help.

When I got there he was well on his way removing and stacking the tin. The kids and I jumped right in. By the time my husband got there, his daddy and I, had removed all of the tin. I stayed with my husband while his daddy took the tin to the house and brought back the trailer to load the boards.

My oldest son is at that age where motivation is hard to come by, but he was dragging tin and stacking it. He really was working hard every time my hammer was quiet for a second he had it tearing off to. He also stayed behind to help tear the boards apart so we could load them on the trailer. Then the owner of the property noticed him and sent someone over to tell us he had to stop and get off the boards. I was very disappointed. Finally you get a kid wanting to work and someone says they can't. Oh well I am going to pay him a few bucks anyway for the effort.

I picked up something easy for supper. Hot dogs, mac 'n' cheese , and corn on the cob. Not the best of meals but it will have to do every once in a while. Then we took showers and went to the bed. I bet everyone slept good last night.

This morning I have been trying to catch up here at the house. Clothes to wash and hang out, animals to tend to, and lots of other things.Here is my compost bin busy helping me make vegetables. I made a barrel composting bin out of a plastic barrel. I didn't put a crank on it like some people do. I made the opening off center so that it would always end up on the top. Well this one is full and composting so I am going to make another one but this time I am going to make it centered with a crank because while it is full I cannot turn it.

This is Little Girl a rabbit/armadillo dog. Although walkers are traditionally raised as coon dogs, this one decided she was a beagle instead. Don't worry about the rabbits though, they turn left and her long legs just keep her going straight.

This is Sonny and Jenny aka the rabbit patrol. They are making their daily rounds. They always let me know if something is not right. They patrol form dawn to dust. You very rarely get a glimpse of them.