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Well, for the past few days, I have been letting the does out to eat the apples that are right next to the barnyard. The apple tree is a crab apple, so its an easy thing for them to snatch up a few. Plus, it keeps them busy instead of getting into the hay. It's much more healthy for them since its a green plant. They love to go out and eat the apples that fall from the tree. What they love even more is to have someone get them the big crab apples from higher up in the tree, the ones that are about 2 inches around. They also love to go out in the field and eat all that yummy grass. Hey, the lawn gets mowed and the goats get fed, and we don't have to buy feed and hay as often. We are working on getting a fence out in the big pasture for them to be out there without someone watching them. Hoping to get that done soon.

I have not taken the bucks out yet. I am hoping to do that soon. They need some of the green grass too. They do eat the tree that is in their side of the barnyard. They love that tree! :D

We are still getting lots of eggs from the chickens. I found a giant egg last night, one of the double ones I mean. It has two yokes in it. I haven't found one of those in quite some time. If we let those hatch, and we had a dozen eggs, we would get 13 chicks. But right now, we aren't letting them hatch. I am hoping we can let some of them hatch by the end of the year. We are still giving our eggs to the little store in town. But since they are currently on vacation, we have a bunch of eggs in the fridge. They usually pay around $1.50 a dozen. Then sell them for  10 cents more. Pretty good for both of us. :)

We have been keeping the roosters in their pen due to the fact that they tear the feathers out of the hens' backs. Some of them are bear, so we only let one or two roosters out a week. Mr. Bennet, Jocelyn's rooster, who is a big Rhode Island Red, is out right now. He is one of the nice ones, although he does chase Isaac and Caleb around sometimes, thus Isaac and Caleb are terrified of him. They won't go outside if one of the roosters are out!

We just got some of our potatoes and onions planted a few days ago. Because we went on vacation the first two weeks of June, (the usual time we become active in the garden) we got nothing done in it. We did get some of them planted. We have three tomato plants growing in Mom's flower garden also. They are thriving! I am thinking of leaving them there so I don't have to walk all the way out to the garden when I want a big juicy tomato to make some salsa or some spaghetti sauce with. But right now, I don't know what kinds they are! :D I will have to wait and see.

I have been mowing more lately. I weedwacked a bunch of the back field. For some reason, the goats don't want to be back there and eat the grass. I guess it's because they can't see the barn, their safety. I've mowed a lot of the front lawns. One thing I've learned about mowing - you get blisters if you mow for more than 30 minutes at a time.

I gave Blondie a bath the other day. She did not want to get in that tub of lukewarm water. She has not liked taking a bath since she was a puppy. I gave her three baths last year I think. But she was smaller then, and was not so heavy, so I didn't have problems getting her into the water and holding her there. But she has gotten big. And strong. And I had to put her back in the water three times before she actually realized I was not going to let her out without getting her wet, shampooed and rinsed off. I used the hose water, and since it had been lying in the sun for a while on, the water wasn't too cold for her. She let me pour water over her (after she had soaked my pants), rub her down with shampoo and then rinse her off with a cup. I am hoping to give her another bath in a couple months.

We got two cats. We have been having trouble with HUGE rats in our barn. They are opening the eggs and eating them. At first we thought it might be a cat, but when the lady who was watching our animals for us while we were on vacation said she saw a rat the size of a small cat run right in front of her, she suggested we get cats. We went down to the feed store, because someone told us they had a ton of cats to get rid of. But they only had kittens. Small ones two. Only 6-7 weeks old. So when we went to the dentists', Jocelyn remembered the guy who sells us hay had a ton of cats, some grown and some kittens. We stopped over there and found the cats. We got two females. Brought them home and put them in the feed bin with the three mice Jocelyn had shut the lid on the morning before. The one cat didn't want to do anything; she just sat there, trying to get out. The other one, however, saw the mice, jumped in and killed at three in a matter of seconds. She was a GREAT killer!

We were on our way down to the barn when all the chickens came fluttering up to see what we had. Well, that scared the cats. Mom had the Killer and I had the Watcher. I got pretty scratched up when she fought to get down. Mom got scratched and had to put Killer down. She ran to the fields. I took Watcher to the barn and put her in the hay room, after showing her to Pem, and having her hiss at him. That's exactly what Mom wanted her to do. I left her in the barn, and went up. Now they are just around the property. Mom has put some food and water on the porch for them. Yesterday morning when I got up, Watcher was on the porch. We found both kitties in the field and gave them some food at the edge of the field. This morning, as I was getting feed for  the goats, Watcher was in the garage. She scared because I saw her out of the corner of my eye. I ran and got some dog food for her, but then Eric opened the door. I didn't see her again. But they are still around!

We are hoping to get a kitten from the feed store in a couple of weeks. There is a rat in the house now. We want one that we will be able to train to be an inside cat. They had some really cute ones down there. :)

Ok, I hope you enjoyed this post. I have exhausted myself writing it. I will write again soon. I hope to be blogging more on here in the near future. Have a wonderful day!

Rachel

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Tuesday, July 15, 2008 - Chickens

Posted by Savannah

Our roosters do the same thing to our hens. We are going to get some new chicks soon because the hens aren't laying well.

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