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“If people let government decide what foods they eat and what medicines they take, their bodies will soon be in as sorry a state as are the souls of those who live under tyranny.” Thomas Jefferson

Wednesday, July 27, 2011

Chickens are Driving me Nuts!

Yes that is exactly what I said, they are driving me nuts. It wasn't so bad when we had a dozen chickens or so, but the chickens have taken over and I am tired of it. About a year ago our rooster and a few hens decided that they did not want to go into the coop at night...they preferred the goat barn. Ok, that wasn't so terribly bad. They roosted on the gate and their droppings were easily swept up with the other droppings each morning. They were safe so I simply didn't worry too much after several times trying to convince them to go back to the coop. Then I got more hens and now have over 30 chickens. The new hens and some of the old ones have also decided that the chicken coop is no good at night. Only 5 of my chickens go back to the coop at night now, the rest are in the goat barn. This is a problem! They are roosting everywhere and leaving their droppings everywhere and on everything. My poor goats have even woken up with chicken poo on their backs. It is simply too much. Add into the fact that the 30 something flock of chickens has decided that prime free ranging territory is my house. My front porch, my side porch, my driveway, in between the house and garden gate....anywhere and everywhere close to us and where we are. I have even had chickens looking in the sliding glass door. They have 10 acres to roam and eat bugs, yet they choose to spend their days on my porches leaving chicken poo everywhere. I am sick and tired of it. Having lived with livestock all my life I understand that there is a level of "germs" that goes along with the territory, but I DO NOT have to live with chicken poo absolutely everywhere. I DO NOT have to live with chickens walking and pooing on my table on the porch or on the chairs that I would like to be able to use. My goats should not have to suffer the indignity of being pooed on at night! I should not have 30 odd chickens running around my feed room (small by the way) pecking my feet every time I go in there. That is it...I am done! The chickens are getting their own yard where they will be confined with the exception of a couple hours a day for bug patrol. If in those couple of hours in the afternoon they still continue to be a menace then they will never leave the confines of their yard again unless it is to enter my stew pot. I am beginning to understand why my dad use to say that he hated chickens. I can't imagine growing up with over 2000 of them (yes they had that many). If they can't be trusted to free range on their own then they will just have to be confined and I will bring the free range to them with all the grass trimmings and garden trimmings. Stinking chickens are making life around here miserable and boy are they in for a surprise. Just a bunch of juvenile delinquents...that is all they are. So guess what I am doing today. Yep you guessed it...building another fence. My arm is already killing me from cutting saplings yesterday for fence posts, but it absolutely must be done because I am covered up in chickens and their droppings everywhere. Hope you all have a great day! Think about me while I am in the heat building that fence. Blessings, Kat

Tuesday, July 26, 2011

The Great Piggie Adventure

Sorry about being gone for awhile, things have been kind of crazy around here. The computer crashed and it was a couple weeks before I could get it fixed, then the garden is in full swing, chickens are driving me nuts and finally the pigs were doing what pigs do...escaping their pasture. So I thought I would start back with a funny story about one of their escapes. You know they say if you want to find out how good your fence is put a pig in it, they will show you how good it isn't. Well, our three little porkers have done just that, but this particular story is called the great piggie adventure for a reason. The pigs had been escaping into the garden and coming to the garden fence looking for me. We were trying to figure out where they were getting out but simply could not find a way that they were. However, it didn't bother me too much as they didn't go anywhere except the garden gate and when they got there they would squeal for me. I would go and put them back since they would follow me absolutely anywhere. This became a several times a day habit. Then there came the day of the adventure. My husband and I were working out in the yard and happened to hear our neighbor on the far corner yelling at something. We couldn't figure out what he was yelling at for a long time. Well, we thought he might be yelling at the horse since she shot out of the woods like a rocket. Often I imagine that she reaches over the fence to nibble the grass on the other side, which happens to be his yard. You know the grass being greener and all. However, she didn't seem to settle down and we couldn't really see anything since that corner of the pasture is heavily wooded. We still went on about our business since the day was getting hotter and we wanted to finish up before heat stroke claimed either of us. In a bit the horse was getting more anxious and running around the pasture like something was definitely after her. So we stopped what we were doing and walked over to her fence looking intently across the pasture down toward the woods in the direction she was looking when she wasn't running around like a maniac. It was then that I saw them....three little piggies desperately trying to figure out where they were and where "mama" (me) was! How did they get over there! I should have caught the horse then because there was no chance to do it in the 90 seconds that followed. Not only did I see the little piggies, but she did too and in that instant she decided that they were devils that needed elimination. I called the pigs and as they came running she charged....scattering little pigs in every direction. It was a harrowing few minutes as I called pigs, tried to calm the horse as she was trying to stomp them into oblivion and they made the desperate attempt to avoid her hooves and get to me and safety. By the time they did make it through the fence they were terrified and scattered in all directions, still running for their very lives on their very short little legs. After a little while of me talking to them and calling them they came to me and stood at my feet looking up at me as if to say, "Where in the world have you been!?" So off to the other side of the house and through the garden I go to the pig pasture with three little exhausted pigs trotting along behind me...too tired to even squeal. Apparently, what had happened was this. Normally when the pigs got out they turned left and went up through the garden paths to the garden gate next to the goat barn and would squeal for me to come. They did some rooting around the gate while they waited, but nothing too damaging. They were after all quite small little pigs, not having long left their pig mama. However, this particular day for some reason they turned right and found themselves through the garden fence on the opposite side and on the neighbors property where they turned right again. At this point instead of turning around, they simply kept going figuring they would get to their destination eventually. They trotted along the outside of their fence line until they got to where it ended...the road. It was at this point that the little pigs turned again with their fence line and continued trotting alongside it and the very busy road. Unfortunately, they missed the next turn which would have brought them down the driveway and safely back home. Instead, they continued along the road because I am sure the ditch being wet was a great piggie mudhole with lots of rooting opportunities. Along the entire front fenceline and road they went until they found themselves in the opposite neighbor's yard. It was at that point that he saw them and started yelling. And from there you know the rest of their harrowing trip up the hill with a very large critter desperately trying to squash them flat with all four feet. Needless to say the next two days were spent fortifying the piggie enclosure in which we finally discovered where they were getting out...the gate. They could wiggle the gate just enough that they could slip through between the gate and the fence. Needless to say that was heavily fortified so that they gate no longer wiggled. Piggies are safe and now much larger having doubled in sized from that day. But they were three very tired little piggies having been out adventuring goodness knows how long. They flopped down in their mud in the shade of a sweet gum tree and slept the entire afternoon away. Having little piggies is like having a band of two year old toddlers...seems like they are always looking for mischief. Blessings from the farm, Kat