Crazy Friday

For two days I have been building a brooder cage for my broody hens inside the coop. To keep them on their nest with their chicks away from the flock in peace. Sometimes hens hatch 1 chick and abandon the rest of the eggs. I want maximum chicks hatched without me resorting to an incubator. My game hen hatched 2 chicks in winter but abandoned her last 2 sets this spring. Very frustrating to lose eggs and chicks from a flaky hen. The broody cage idea was recommended by the old timers to force the hen to sit on her nest.

This morning as I worked I heard peeping from under one of my barred rock hens. This is her first brood this year as she was born in October of 2010. I knew she would need to be moved into the brooder box ASAP. So I finished and moved her, the chick and the unhatched eggs. Mama hen was pleased and setting in peace. Then I heard squawking and upset hens in the horse pasture. Hens were running all over the place and out pops a red fox with a mouth full of feathers right in front of me and my horses.The horses ignored the fox so I yelled and the fox ran. I grabbed my dog who was asleep to get the fox. Useless, she ran back into the kennel back to sleep. I thought about releasing my other dog, but he would have just gone after my hens too. I was warned the fox will return and kill all my chickens, and the locals were right. Foxes are smart and hungry. This fox only wounded my red hen and got feathers.

This is going to be a busy summer for me and that fox.

Car Nesting

One of the not so wonderful aspects of farm life, mice, rats and voles nesting in our cars. A vole decided to place our car Kleenex in a shredded pile under the trunk by the spare tire. We discovered this as we were needing a tool for the car and found the white pile. We had noticed the Kleenex box look mangled earlier. We did not find the vole but think our cat dispatched it last week seen here wounded in the grass near our cars. And in my vintage Volvo wasps have tried making a nest in my door jam and in our mailbox too. Fun never ends out here in nesting season.

Mg, Ca and Fe, Oh my!

It has been raining here for almost a solid month in the Ozarks. We needed the rain after the dry summer last year. But this had me doing heavy wet chores outside and I got worn out, crampy and partially deaf. I took aspirin and it did nothing. So my husband took me to our small town doctors office. Turns out our well water is high in Ca but low in Mg. I drink only tea and coffee from our well water. Low Mg in the water causes fatigue and cramping. My husband drinks store bought drinks like OJ, milk and soda so he was not affected. I was drinking to city water before this and not used to well water.

Next my blood level was low and I needed a blood count. The Dr said I can't give blood anymore. I need Fe to boost my blood. Low Mg can starve the blood of O2.

Next my loss of hearing was caused by sinus problems. There was scaring and signs of problems in my ear tubes; a vacuum had been created and sounds were not getting through. I was given a steroidal nasal spray to clear my sinus. If that does not work I will have to see a specialist.

So after a trip to the doctor I am feeling better, no more cramps nor migraines. And the sun came out and I can get my muddy chores done without pain. Guess I needed a 10k mile checkup after all.

Mole Teeth

Yesterday my cat and dog we digging up the lawn. I went to see what was so interesting. It was a huge hole with a huge mole fighting both of them. This mole was fast, fat and feisty. We have a mole problem out here so I wanted to see what a big one looked like. The dog and cat pulled out a huge 1/2 lb mole. I put it in a bucket next to a cat food can. The mole was chirping and digging at the bucket. My husband took it outside for a photo session. I included the blurry one to show how fast the mole moved in his glove. It had large teeth which it used on the gloves several times. I now have a new respect for these creatures. We took this one to an unused field away from the house. We watched it dig into the rocky soil faster than I could dig with a spade.

April Showers Bring Snappers

This afternoon I heard my guineas raising a ruckus. I saw this snapper headed for my chicks instead of the pond. The guineas were pecking this turtle very hard on its tail. I threw a bucket over the turtle and my husband came to walk it up to the small pond. It was a female and not happy about being picked up. She was about 7 inches wide across the back shell. We hope she stays in the smaller pond this summer.

Noisy Sunlight

We got about an hour of sunlight in between storms today. Our guineas took advantage of it to hunt for bugs in the foot tall grass. They are the real watch dogs of our farm and never stop talking. I am so glad we only have six.

Wild Bunny

This evening our barn cat, Poppy, brought us a large "gift" in his mouth a baby cottontail rabbit. The baby was mostly unharmed and still alive. A storm was raining on all of us so I brought the baby rabbit inside. It's in a cage with shavings and greens away from us and the cats. We will release away from our farm if it is strong enough to run. Rabbits never show signs of pain as they are prey and it could have internal injuries I can't see. We have a lot of wild rabbits on our farm and they are a pest if unchecked. But we will give it a chance and set it free to join its rabbit pals in the morning. I checked and it is a boy rabbit.

Driveway Rivers

With all the heavy rain we have had in the last 2 weeks we have had new rivers in our gravel drive. The rivers flow under our deck and down the hill to the field below. Our grass is a foot tall and the bugs are water logged. The chickens are feasting on it all. And this morning we had a medium sized snapping turtle blocking the driveway. Alan tossed him into the shallow pond. We could use a break from all this rain.

Tractor Tree Guard

Our tractor needed a tree guard added for protection for bush hogging. We hired our craftsman friend Jeff to custom weld a tractor guard for us. He fitted the guard and welded an S for Savoy at my request which he fabricated by hand. He also painted the S to match our tractor. The paint is still wet in these shots. Will post a better shot when the rain stops. Now we can impress all the cows and horses around the Ozarks with our styling guard. This guard is very heavy 1/8 inch steel plating primed and painted and bolted to our tractor. We are very pleased with the quality of materials and full welds (no spot welding). This guard will outlast our tractor.

On Guard

Here is Osa, our German shepherd watching me garden. She looks after me and the chickens. If a storm comes up she tries to block me from walking away from the house. She also herds the chickens around the farm. So far she has kept the fox away from anymore free meals. No more chickens have been lost. The two chickens the the above shot are our first farm born chickens and not store bought.

Gelding Birthday

Our colt had become" stallion-y" and we needed him gelded ASAP to prevent any unwanted babies in our herd. Even as young as 8 months he can cover a mare and get her pregnant. The only day open for our vet was today, my husbands 37th birthday. This time of the year vets are on call for calving season and it is hard to get an appointment. So this afternoon we got to watch our vet geld our colt in the field. The colt had 2 shots and he went down gently in the grass. Our vet covered our colts eyes to prevent them from drying out during the procedure. Our colts leg was tied to expose his testes. Our vet was quick and both testes were fully removed. No more stallion in our new gelding Mr. Bean. The wound was left open to heal on its own. Bean woke up after about 30 minutes as if nothing happened. He rejoined our herd to munch on some hay happy as can be.

Snakes and foxes

Today, I needed to clean up the coop. Take out the empty feed sacks from winter and pick up strings. As I entered the coop I almost stepped on a fat fast moving small 18 inch rat snake. It has just eaten an egg and was headed out the coop. I grabbed a pail and put him in it to show to my husband. Eggs had gone missing for the last 2 weeks and I suspected a snake. After showing my husband I drove the snake to a field away from our place and set it free. Turns out snakes will eat an egg then wrap around a tree to crush the egg. If they eat a glass egg or a wooden one they will die. I have 2 wooden eggs that are missing from the coop. There have been a lot of snakes this year.

We also have a fox that has been getting our daytime free range hens. We had 21 now we only have 18 hens. We now have to photograph our hens to see who is missing. The locals tell us a fox will eat all the chickens until all are gone.This is very frustrating. We have let our shepherd lose to watch over the flock. So far we have not lost anymore hens. The good news is that in 2 weeks we should have baby chicks hatching again.

Why I care?

Everyone has heard about the protestors in PA fighting against natural gas drilling or fracking. If you watch the documentary GASLAND, you will know why they are upset. Everyone in America should care about their water no matter where you live. You can't wash out 500 cancer chemical out of your water, ever. And it is all legal for these gas companies to do whatever they want thanks to OUR GOVERNMENT. Watch the dvd GASLAND, get educated and get public. Lets stop the gas companies from keeping us all quiet. Silence is death to you, your kids and your future.

Maybe the cure for cancer is to stop fracking and poisoning our water.

So why do I care? I have friends right in the zone of water poisoning. And they think they are safe and the trust our government would never hurt them.

I can only educate and pass the along the truth until it is too late.