Finally, a work day snow day! We had perfectly picturesqe snow on Christmas day, but I already had the day off so it hardly counts. The perfect snow day is an unexpected day off, right?
Especially if you have a collection of fuzzies to keep you company. Sienna puppy is growing so fast, but I predict she will not be as large as Wendigo. I've been reminded that I thought Wendigo was a challenge when she was Sienna's age too, but now Wendigo seems a perfect angel compared to Sienna.
Sienna chases, chews, and pounces but it's so good to have a dog that will do all my chores with me again. Wendigo limits her exhertions to protect her bad knees, but Sienna sticks with me no matter how many trips I make to take to visit the goats.
We begin our mornings chores with a visit to the donkeys on our way to the mobile chicken coop. Good morning Ernest - what a big yawn!
The mobile chicken coop has been moved into the small fenced paddock next to the donkeys. This gives the chickens their own space to eat and assemble at the coop without being harrassed by Sienna. The chickens can get out of the fence through gaps, but they tend to stick to the tree lines and back fields to avoid the dog. I miss seeing them near the house, but it's nice that they keep their mess to the back of the farm now.
With only ten hens, a rooster, and two guinea fowl, there's plenty of roost space in the mobile coop, yet five of the hens are roosting in the cedar trees at night. They are taking a risk that a racoon will nab them while they sleep, but they roost so high in the tangled branches I can't fish them down and re-train them to the coop. Cross you fingers that Sienna and Wendigo take their guard dog duties serisously.
I moved the chicken food to a lidded barrel near the coop, and I have water buckets near the fence that I can fill from the hose. I secure the coop door open in the morning, spread chicken pellets on the ground, and bust the ice from the water bucket. Sienna waits with the donkeys while I tend the chickens. On this snow day, instead of the normal excided exodus when I open the door, all the tree roosting chickins quickly hopped inside instead. I don't blame them for wanting their feet out of the snow.
Look! Eggs in the nest box!
After a winter break, my hold hens started laying again when the days began to get longer. The giant white eggs are from the little white hens, and the smallest tan egg is from the giant red meat hen.
Good morning, Rufus! Are you anxious for your breakfast hay? I break the ice on the donkey water and give them a couple flakes of hay. I've been told that mini donkeys can live on a single flake of hay per day, and a flake is approximatley four pounds of hay. Rufus and Ernest love to eat, so I give them each a flake in the morning and each another at night. They would eat even more if I gave it to them, but Ernest is supposed to be on a diet. I've been cutting little maple saplings from the tree lines and pitching them in the fence. They eat all the little twigs and peel off the bark! I think they get bored without something to chew on. Especially Ernest, who nibbles on the wood gate.
I need to weigh a flake, because I may be giving them way more than they need, and Brandon is worried I won't make it through until spring with the hay we have stored. I can easily use a bale each day, and we won't make more bales until the end of May. I do have one last giant round bale from the year before, so maybe we'll squeak by.
The goats are living in the fence in the woods behind the zip line field. Can you see the little shed in the photo? It's a bit of a walk from the hay barn or the water spicket, so I get plenty of steps during my chores - even some wieght lifting as I carry hay and water.
My nephew and I walked to visit the goats when we had our camp fire thanksgiving pie celebration, and he mentioned that all these animals seem like a lot of trouble. Tell me about it - Ha! I told him that I spend about a half hour on chores in the morning, and another in the evening, so I get an hour of outside excersize every day, rain or shine, because if I skip it my animals will suffer or die. Talk about motivation! He said he spends an hour outside playing basketball every morning since he can't go to school. Why didn't I think of that!
Unlike the sheep, who rarely need their hay basket filled as they spend all their time grazing grass, the goats are voracious hay eaters, and hay wasters. Can you see how much hay has built up inside their fence?
The goats are standing on nearly two feet of hay they drop from their basket, and once it hits the ground they don't eat it. It's good for them to have clean hay bedding, and all that organic matter heats up as it composts and makes a nice warm bed for them. Brandon found a big wooden crate dismanlted in the dumpster at school. He brought it home, reassembed it, nailed some tin on for a water proof roof, and cut a little door way into it. The goats think this goat house is the perfect place to cozy up out of the weather, and I laugh when I see them all come squeezing out of that little hole like clowns from a clown car. How do they fit?
The last chore is to feed the wolves dogs.
Wendigo thinks it's rude to take photos of her with her mouth full.
Seinna looks ferocious when she chews!
