Some Odds and Ends

Tux was due for his last vaccine to be fully vaccinated.  The vet came out to the farm and did it.

Tux (I swear he never leaves his spot on the Ranger)

He also trimmed the dog’s toenails while he was here.  This dog. He’s just a lot.

Sky sniffing Flora

It’s a good thing I adore him.

Sky

At least now if I let Tux out of the garage and he leaves, he’s fully good to go.

But he’s not going to leave. He likes his food and attention.

I am getting a few eggs now.

egg in the nest box

So far they have all been green or white.

That means the only ones laying are some of the old girls.

Easter egg hen

brown leghorn

Mr. Peacock is still using his foot and opening the toes. I just hope he keeps healing.

Mr. Peacock

The cats seem to have fully recovered from their colds.

Herbie

Salem

Man, it was a long week with all of them in the house sneezing.

Miscellany

The feed store switched brands of corn on me. I don’t care as long as they keep it in stock.  But I must say, I do like the new feed bag.  I think I need to turn some of these into tote bags.

Some time last week, I found my first chicken egg in about three months.  The old ladies are not about to lay an egg when the days are short.  They really don’t care.

from a brown leghorn

Although, they do still expect to get treats of mealworm.

one of the brown leghorns

Who am I to argue?

Salem

Now that Bob is gone, I never know who I’m going to have on my lap while I’m knitting in the evening.

Tiger

so helpful

And Herbie doesn’t care if it’s already occupied.  He’s joining the party!

Tiger and Herbie

I’ve decided I’m not sure what’s going on with Mr. Peacock’s foot.  It isn’t frostbite.  It’s not dead.  It’s very much alive.  That means, I think he had a deep bruise on the bottom of his foot from landing on something very hard with the cold weather.  Then he keeps re-bruising it.  I think.

Coming to enjoy some meal worms

However, he didn’t seem to be able to open his toes.  But when I went out on Sunday, they were open and he was gingerly walking on the foot.  I did see his toenails were way to long since he hasn’t hardly used it, so I caught him and trimmed his nails.  Hopefully, he’ll continue to improve and not injure it again.

While I’m on the subject of birds, Ms. Goose found the pool!

Ms. Goose

She even got in for a real bath.  Granted, it was half ice when she was in there, but that has been taken care of.

I’m still working on getting Tux to accept the dog.  I’m pretty sure he’s safe from Sky unless he attacks.

Sky

It’s just that I don’t know how to convince him not to run from or attack the dog.

Tux

I’m not sure I’ll ever be successful, but I’ll keep trying while it’s winter and he’s in the garage.  He really doesn’t seem to mind being left in the garage.

The Cold

We are back to some really cold weather.

I was trying to increase the grain the goats get to help them stay warm.  It doesn’t help that the feed store was out of corn and goat feed again when I stopped on my way home Friday. Luckily,  my nephew hooked me up with enough to get through the weekend.

I also have to have the corn to keep putting weight on Victoria.  She actually doesn’t look bad now.  Of course, she comes in and gets a heaping quart of corn and then about the same amount of llama feed every day.  She prefers the llama feed to the sweet feed.

Victoria

I’m looking at the hay in the barn and trying to see how long the stack in the bottom will last.  I’d love to not have to take any out of the loft, but I’m not sure that’s going to happen.  At least I’m confident I have plenty to get through the winter.

(Tux is in his bed clear on the very top bale)

Thankfully, the cattle tank is working well.  (please keep working)

Heidi

I have been giving the birds some hay for bedding also.  They can snuggle into eat and eat it both.

These weird girls don’t go up to roost.

Mr. Peacock is hanging in there.  I know he’s still going up to roost despite the foot injury.  I do hope he doesn’t lose too much of his toes and he’s able to get around.

Mr. Peacock

With the crazy cold and the freezing injuries I’ve had to birds in the last few years, I’m thinking I might just have to give up having birds.