These Crazy Animals! Part 4: Miniature Schnauzer

     Our miniature schnauzer, Fritz, has always been a friendly dog.  We got him as a pup from animal control soon after Caleb was born.  We would take a daily walk around the neighborhood with Fritz tiring out about half way and crawling under the stroller for a ride, then he would hop out fully charged when we got to the park.  Soon he would escape our house and go to the park by himself every chance he got. Fritz soon made friends with the 5:00 dog group whose owners brought them to the park to let their dogs run.

Fritz with his "schnauzer" hair cut.
Silly little pup begging for a biscuit.

     Our backyard was a pass through that the neighborhood kids used to get home from, and they often left the gate open.  After we had to retrieve him from a shelter, we attached a tag with our street address and phone number.  We met quite a few strangers at our door bringing Fritz back from the park.  Eventually park regulars got to know him enough that they would just put in back in our yard and secure the fence.

"Squeeka! Squeeka! Squeeka!"

     Fast forward to our new home, with plenty of room for a little dog to run.  I shouldn't be surprised to find out that he had made new friends with the neighbors before we did!

     Gail and David were the first neighbors who we met at our new home.   They are awesome and have an adorable little pug named Pugsly.  We found out that every morning when Fritz was let out, he would head across the ditch and wait at their back door for them to let Pugsly out to play.  He would also get a daily dog biscuit from them.  Eventually Gail and David got a new dog - a pit named Scrappy who loves to be chased by Fritz.  When Gail and David put up a fence to keep Scrappy in, they made sure to leave a 8" gap so that Fritz can continue his morning visitation.

"Pugsly"

     We met Christie and her mom, Jenny, not too long after.  Christie had moved in a couple months after we did.  Fritz would visit her family in the evenings.  He would bark at the back door, then snooze under her dining room table.  Once on a cold wet night, he even had a nice beef stew dinner before coming home.  When we met Christie, we had Fritz with us, and her greeting to us was, "Oh, he belongs to you? We hoped he was a stray.  I even told my mom that I thought we might have a new dog."  She was so disappointed.

In need of a haircut - I guess he does kind of look like a stray...

     We have now lived here for almost three years and Fritz continues his daily neighborhood rounds.  One day Rebecca was looking for Fritz's leash.  When asked why she needed it, Rebecca said, "I'm going to take Fritz to the park." 

    "NO!" I said, "Absolutely not.  Fritz is never to find out there is a park near by!"  

"The end"

These Crazy Animals! Part 3, Guinea Fowl

GUINEAS!

     Guinea fowl sounded like a great idea when we were packing to move to Pungo almost 3 years ago.  The land was covered with ticks, and we were buying enough space, and they are just comical when they run, their feet moving frantically under the skirt of feathers.  So when Malbon's Feed & Seed offered guinea keets for $6 each, I bought 6 and took them home in a cardboard box.  "Guess what I have!" I said, opening the box for Rebecca and Dan to see.  Rebecca said I had lost my mind.

     I raised them from tiny babies, bought a chicken coop kit to keep them in, and let them free range.  The guineas refused to voluntarily go in at night, but would sit on the fence waiting for me and our dog, Fritz, to chase them all over the yard, then finally trap them and herd them in.

Guineas on the fence waiting to go in for the night.

     One night I was getting my shoes on for our nightly routine and heard a commotion.  I ran outside in time to see guineas flying everywhere.  Two were in the pool, one was in the front yard, two were hiding in the corner, and one was missing.  I rounded them up, spent forever chasing them around the pool, and was not only soaking wet, but heartbroken - an owl had apparently swooped down and snatched one right off the fence.  I was down to 5.

     The thing about guineas that I still had to learn is that guineas are suicidal.  They will get themselves killed every chance they get.  So by the following year, 2 had flown into neighbors' yards and gotten eaten by dogs and 1 more had been hit by a car.  

     After the owl incident, the guineas started roosting on the back steps' handrail.  The steps quickly became covered in disgusting poo.  They also tore up the screen on the back porch, and a week after we had it fixed, they did it again.  They would consistently get stuck in the fence behind our house and scream loudly into the night until I came to save them, then they would run, fight, and scratch me during the "rescue."  So when I saw an ad on Facebook for guinea keets, I proved that Rebecca was right when she said that I had lost my mind, and bought 6 more.

     In my defense, I had a plan this time.  I was going to raise these babies right alongside the chickens, so they would be more docile, sleep in the large coop with the chickens, and only leave the area to clear the property of ticks like normal guineas should.  Instead I got crazy guineas, all male, who attacked and molested the chickens mercilessly, ate all the chickens' food, and didn't leave the run to hunt for ticks.  

Guineas on top of the chicken coop.

     I took out an ad offering guineas for $10 each.  Then hens were afraid to leave the coop and cowered in the corner.  I lowered the price to $5 each, and locked the guineas out of the coop.  Those horrible randy guineas flew into the neighbor's chicken run and molested their chickens.  I lowered the price to free, and was relieved to get an answer.  We immediately boxed them up and drove them a few miles away to drop them off at their new home.  The lady's son met us in the yard and offered us $10 each to take them back home with us  - NO DEAL!

     At the beginning of this season, I still had the two of the originals.  I called them "The Sisters" and watched them run around comically as they combed the yard for ticks and left eggs in strange places.  One evening I noticed only one of The Sisters was roosting on the handrail.  "Sister"now  walks around the yard by herself now and occasionally hollers out into the woods looking for her sibling.  

"Sister," our last guinea hen

     The other day as Rebecca and I stood on the destroyed porch, Sister crossed the yard heading for her lonely roost.  Rebecca said, "She looks so sad.  We should get more guineas."  She has lost her friggin' mind!

   

These Crazy Animals! Part 2; My new Chickens

     As I have said before: Chickens are addicting.  This week after my latest fix, my husband uttered the 5 dreaded words no addict wants to hear; "You have too many chickens."

     More than a year ago, I had been Googling Polish chickens when I found out that there is such a thing as a frizzled Polish.  Last week the opportunity came for me to to actually own my own!  Dan and I drove 1 1/2 hours away to the home of a nice breeder who was selling off her Polish - two show quality tolbunt Polish chickens and two roosters - one of the roosters being frizzled!  

Captain Jack, my holy grail of chickens.
Admit it - you want one, too.

     The frizzled has feet issues - when he was young, his feel went through the wire cage bottom when traveling to a show and broke his toes.  She was unsure how well he would get around and unsure if he could mate. However, it turns out he gets around fine.  Although with his hilarious crest blocking his vision and his slight limp, to the amusement of all, he walks like a drunken sailor!  Hence his name: Captain Jack

     I tried pulling his top feathers up out of his eyes, and it worked fairly well, but he hates it.  The tie only lasts an hour or so before he manages to scratch it off, taking off a couple feathers each time, too.

Jack with his crest pulled up in a ponytail.

     The boys had a brief spat to decide the dominant rooster, and although Jack lost (it was close!) I have seen him make more than a few attempts at dancing with the hens.  Here is his rival, Will Turner, who currently catches the ladies' attention:

Will Turner and the ladies.

     As far as I can tell, none of the newbies had ever seen grass or been on a roost before.  Every night I have to round them up and set them on the roost.  Last night I covered them in wood ash from my neighbor's fire pit before setting them in because I believe they may have mites.  I also added DE (diatomaceous earth) to the communal dust bath areas, but those silly noobies don't even know what a dust bath is.

     Will, especially, had the hardest time learning how to roost, and would lose his balance, but clung on with the determination only a rooster can have.  When I checked on them the first morning, he was still on the roost.  Then when I checked around 10:30 am, there he was - still on the roost.  It turns out he didn't know how to get down. 

   

These Crazy Animals - Part One, Horses

     This afternoon, we had a very nice visit with my neighbor, Jinny, and her family -  which inspired me to write another blog.  Jinny came with a visitor from out of town; "I brought my sister over to see your animals - I hope you don't mind!"  So they followed me around the farm as I took care of some chores and introduced them to the menagerie.  

     I apologized for the condition of our tack room before reaching it.  Last night Rebecca forgot to dead bolt the door, and Sinatra, one of our horses, knows how to open doorknobs. This morning while having a cup of coffee on the porch with my husband, we heard a clanging noise.  Sinatra had opened the door, helped himself to the chicken feed, and was trying to open the can containing the horse chow.  There were remnants of a pile still on the floor and the feed cans were noticeably dented in.  Horses are a lot bigger when they are inside.

Rebecca mucking out the tack room the first time this happened.
We bought a dead bolt soon after.

     After visiting the chickens, we sat and watched the kids in the pool while drinking a couple glasses of wine (it is national wine day in case you don't know) and fresh cold mojitos.  The back porch overlooks the pool, but also the horse pasture and the chicken yard, which is just an awesome view.

Early morning view from my porch.
There are horses in my backyard!

     As we watched, Sinatra backed up to a small 15' tree and rubbed his butt vigorously.   

     I said, "I think might push that tree over," and, sure enough, he backed even more pushing against the tree.  The tree bent incredibly under his weight, then bent even more until it was at a 90 degree angle.  Then he backed completely over it, dragging the tree between his back legs, backing more and more until the tree was finally released from between his front legs giving him the ultimate tummy scratch.  The tree popped up, and that is when I noticed that all the trees in our pasture have a very similar tilt.

    We all stared, no one saying a word, until Jinny's sister spoke up: "You should write a blog about these crazy animals.  I would follow it!"

Sinatra, our Appaloosa mix, and Rebecca

Chasing bullfrogs

My family went to dinner at Creeds Cafe tonight.  Creeds is a small family style restaurant with a friendly waitstaff who recognizes us when we come in.  Although with two rambunctious boys and a pretty teenage daughter, it is no wonder they remember us.   It is warm today and even though the forecast calls for rain, the night is mild and calm.  We came outside to be greeted with a beautiful sunset set off by a large pecan tree across the parking area.

The sky somehow seems bigger out here in Pungo.  There was just enough light for Caleb to chase bullfrogs in the tiny pond beside Creeds before we had to go home.  There were probably 10 or so giant bullfrogs that splashed in as he made his way around.  Last year we were successful at raising common frog tadpoles in a kiddie pool on our porch.

It is amazing watching them lose their tales
and grow legs, then finally become this cutie.

Seeing the bullfrogs makes me want to come back to gather the giant tadpoles in a few weeks.  However, our kiddie pool has other uses since I brought home 3 ducklings from last month's chicken swap.  They may even be cuter than bullfrogs.

After this long cold winter when I thought the grass could never be green again, I am thankful for the spring and all it's life!  We have seen frogs, snakes, butterflies, ladybugs, and the boys have even spotted a few lightning bugs in the evening.  Have I mentioned I love it out here?

One ladybug wasn't ready to be set free quite yet!

Trying out raised bed gardening with a brown thumb

Although I am pretty good with animals, I can't pretend to have any skill with gardening.  Over the winter, my two 4 year old fig trees died in the cold - I know I should have surrounded them in straw, but it somehow slipped my mind.  I planted 6 raspberry bushes, and the 3 remaining bushes look like this:

Embarrassed to say, but this is the best
looking of the 3

So the idea of having a vegetable garden is a bit daunting.  You would think that, living on over nine acres, we would have a garden at least an acre in size.  The best I dare take on at this time is two raised beds, 4ft x 8ft.  If all goes well, we will have zucchini, strawberries, sugar peas, and tomatoes.

I've already made some mistakes.  We built the raised beds and did not even think of the type of lumber - we used treated lumber, which can leach chemicals into the bed.  With the help of my procrastination tendencies, we let them sit out in the elements for 2 years, and I'm told they should now be safe for "above ground" vegetables (but never root veggies).  

I hoed the bottom that was deeply overgrown, then put down year old horse manure covered with 4" of garden soil.  Now I found out that I should have pulled all the grass and weeds that were growing, as they will probably make their way to the surface.  Did I mention I am no good at this gardening stuff?

Anyway, look what popped up this weekend!  Sugar snap peas!  I am so excited!

Can you see them? They are still tiny, but they
are GROWING!

I know that these sugar snap peas need something to grow on, so my father-in-law, my son, Caleb, and I went into the woods and cut swamp grass bamboo and built this:

Grow, dang it!

It is sturdier than it looks, and after clipping the top to prevent the wind from catching, my engineer husband says it should work!  Woo hoo!  I even said a little prayer over the pea sprouts.  I will let you know how they turn out.

Raising chicks - Part 2, the brooder

I don't plan on only writing about a chickens, but since this was my first real farm animal for our small farm, and because backyard chickens are becoming the norm in many places, I thought blogging about chickens is a good way to start.  This is part 2 of my chicken discussion, where I discuss the brooder.

Splash Marans chick, 2 days old

A brooder is an area where you keep your new chicks.  Chicks can also be hatched and raised by a broody hen, which is much easier, but the chickens tend to be a bit less friendly than those hand raised. (And broody hens are less common these days when we want our chickens to lay the eggs and leave them for us!)

The basic necessities for a brooder box are:

1) Brooder box with shavings

My first brooder box was a box - a cardboard box that I kept in the bathroom with 6 baby chicks straight from the hatchery.  It stunk, was difficult to keep clean, and it seems the chicks were  always knocking over their water, making a huge mess.  You can raise chicks in a cardboard box, but I wouldn't recommend it.

Most places use a bin style brooder, such as a water trough.  It seems to work well, but can be difficult to clean.  Our last couple batches were brooded in a dog crate with a heavy blanket covering sitting up high enough to make cleaning easy.  We put cling wrap around the bottom to keep from losing shavings, and developed a special formula for keeping it dry - trash bag on the bottom, followed by pellet bedding followed by a thin layer of polyester (like a sheet or, in my case, scrap quilt batting) followed by shavings.  Any wetness flows through and is absorbed by the pellets, keeping the shavings dry. Chicks must stay dry - especially in the first couple weeks.  A wet chick will die very quickly, so if a chick gets wet dry it well with a hair dryer until it is fluffy and warm (you can tell by the temperature of the feet).

The chicks seem to stay tiny forever, then around 3-4 weeks, they are suddenly huge. Be sure that your brooder either is big enough to accommodate growth or that you have a larger area set up for when they grow.



Polish chicks - time for a larger brooder!

2) Heat lamp

Chicks must be kept warm.  The first week 90-95 degrees, the second week 85-90 degrees, and decrease by 5 degrees until they 5-6 weeks old.  You can tell if you have the right temperature if they are neither huddled together under the light (too cold) or against the wall away from the light (too hot) - they should be milling around looking for trouble.

The heat lamps can be found at most feed stores.  You can use a red bulb made for the brooder, which is very warm, or use a normal 100 watt lightbulb that you will need to keep closer to the chicks.  The red coloring of the bulb serves a practical purpose - when a chick is injured and has a blood spot, all the other chicks instinctively will peck at it, and may even peck the chick to death before you realize it.  The red brooder light helps mask any injuries to protect the chicks.

3) Feeder and feed

I recommend a medium size feeder for the brooder - it looks enormous initially, but will be useful and big enough to use as the chicks grow.  There are two types of chick feed: medicated and non-medicated.  The medicated feed protects against coccidiosis, a disease which can be fatal to young chicks.  Initially medicated feed sounds seems like a good idea.  However, the coccidia which causes coccidiosis is present in chicken poop, and some people feel that if the chicks are given medicated feed, they don't build up an immunity to it, and are more susceptible to becoming ill when switched to regular feed.  We chose non-medicated feed, and had no problems.

4) Waterer

Again, I would recommend a medium size waterer.  Initially it will go right on top of the shavings so the peeps can easily reach the water, but you will need to raise it up as they grow to prevent shavings from getting in.  Once the waterer is filled with shavings, not only does it prevent access to water, but the shavings pull the water out and siphon it onto the floor, causing wet chicks!

5) Additives

If your chicks are being mailed, use Save-A-Chick electolight packets (or other vitamin and probiotic powders) in the water for the first week or so to help give them a boost.  We also used a "drench" to add extra vitamins the first couple weeks, and it seems to help strengthen the little ones.  If your chicks are getting "pasty butt" (poop clogging the anus), you will need to keep the are clean and dry, but also add Save-A-Chick probiotics or give mix some yogurt in with their food (very messy).  As they get older, buy some dried meal worm treats to teach them to come when you call.

Give me MORE mealworms!

That's about it for today.  I will soon be writing about the big girl hen house and <shudder> predators.