I just can't.
So Shachah still comes in for his daily nap. He just wants to be part of the family too. He looks deceptively small in this photo because Ozzie's on the top step. The good thing is Shachah can't stand to stay in the house very long.
He here is on duty this morning.
I put Greyson in with the other rams. Granite was chasing him so I tight penned the whole bunch of them overnight. Look at how little Greyson is compared to them! (The only panel I could find for the end of the catch pen was a cut away creep feeder panel.) I let them out this morning after taking this photo, but they are still confined in the lean-to which is 8 x 16 feet. I'm going to run out and check on them now. I sure wouldn't want anything to happen to Greyson, but I don't want to run three pens of sheep if I can avoid it.
Last week we lost a Barred Rock hen, of course it had to be one of the Barred Rocks, it couldn't have been one of the old girls I need to cull. I'm pretty sure a young fox got her. I found tracks and feathers in the snow. Usually a fox doesn't leave much of mess, just a few feathers. But there were about three small clumps of grey feathers in this case so I figured it was one of the young foxes that mother fox raised out by the pond last summer -- you may remember that I found the kits chasing my sheep in the pasture one hot summer day. The foxes bug Shachah at night too. He's penned with the ewes so he can't go chasing after them or protect the chicken pen, but he barks and they call back to him.
We had been gone and didn't get home until after dark. Stan fed the sheep for me and closed up the chicken pen not realizing that FIVE hens were not inside. I'm not sure what exactly happened, the chickens always come in before dusk. I found a Salmon Faverolle hen huddled in the snow the next morning and two Barred Rocks and a red sex-link hen in the rams hoop house. The red hen was missing her tail feathers, which I later found in the snow too. Now my remaining 13 hens and the Shetland geese are locked up in a covered pen 24/7.
The Shetland geese seem plenty big to me. Here they are this morning.
Yeah...we just had a ram go down in the big pen. Luckily my mom was right there and saw it all, so she was able to get him out in time. He was pretty shook up, but nonetheless alive. Likei is no longer top dog :(
ReplyDeleteOh Becky the geese are just gorgeous! I just HAVE to get some next spring! Was it Holderreads you got them from?
ReplyDeleteYes Juliann, I got them from Holderreads. I'd like to arrange a visit to their Waterfowl Preservation Center when we're out at Black Sheep Gathering next June. The BSG is so close to Corvallis, OR. Are you going? It's NASSA's AGM too, as I'm sure you know, but all the more reason to get our butts out there. ;-)
ReplyDeleteRayna, your mom is a real gem! Good thing she got Likei out of harm's way. Greyson was limping a little bit and Granite was still hell bent on chasing him when I went out to check on them. So Granite is separated again. I'll probably just call Braham Food Locker and see when they can work Granite in. I've got 5 of his daughters already and I used him on two ewes this fall.
Great pictures today! Your geese are lovely. I only have the one goose - a Sebastopol - and I don't even know if it's male or female. So far I have not seen it lay an egg so I guess it might be male.
ReplyDeleteHope you find a way to keep the fox from getting anymore of your chickens! We used to have Toulouse geese. They were alot of fun and beautiful. Had to sell them due to the fact they liked to hang off of the back of my 3 year old :-)
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