Snake Charming

This summer has been the year of the snake. This is black rat snake #2 and last week was #3 for the summer. They have been eating eggs and chicks and this one killed my best hen. Normally these are great for keeping mice and rats at bay. But we have barn cats for that and so the snakes avail themselves to the eggs and chicks.

This one was over 6 feet long and attacked me from behind my feed bins.

The third snake waited for my company to visit to eat some chicks.  It was pulled out by hand from the nest box and dispatched. So far, no more snakes. My eggs productions is still off so there may be another snake around. Ah the challenges of farm life.

Cowboys Up

We had some family and friends over this past week to visit our farm. They were shown how to tack up a horse and go for a ride on our Fox Trotters. Tack carried down to the pasture by Ethan.

Cowboys got to trail ride two green 4 year old horses, Bean and Maple and the white alpha mare, Luna. We always wear helmets no matter what. We have several sizes just in case. Everyone brought along good boots - no sneakers allowed when working with horses.

Later that day my husbands sister rode out on Bean. Bean was a bit spooky but she kept her seat.

Headed out to the road. 

Fun week for all on our Ozark farm.

Teacup Gremlins

Here is my foster kitten pile. All are about 6 weeks old and almost all eating solid food. I was asked to raise some 4 week old ragdoll kittens who are larger than my older kittens.

Here is the smallest of my foster kittens. She can fit in your hand and weights less than a roll of toilet paper. We call them the teacup gremlins. They are feisty tiny kittens who did not get colostrum. In spite of that they are thriving and growing , slowly.