Almost the End

How I miss this sight in the morning... the view down the hill 

to the Spehar's ponds.  Mr. Spehar (the elder Mr. Spehar) has returned from 

Croatia, and has put plastic over his greenhouse frame last week, and 

plowed his half acre garden that sat idle last year.  He pumps water 

from the closest pond to the garden during the summer. 

Here's one last picture this morning of my beautiful Ferdinand, he of the 

loveliest of crows.  

While in the cable office the other day trying to straighten out our service, a gentleman heard me 

mention that I had some chickens to re-home. 

He piped up and took my name and number, telling me his son in law kept chickens. 

The upshot was, the son in law and his little two year old, Ms. Josie, came over 

last night to see what we had. 

This morning, I met them there, and they took Ferdie, God Bless them, because I was 

dreading having to give him away in the parking lot of the feed store... 

The beautiful Henrietta, friendliest of girls....

Mama Hen, though she was old, went with him too, because she is 

a good mother to the little chicks and hens. 

And my dear old Polish girl Buffy, seen here with her three now-bereft swains. 

He also took the tiny Speedy, my second-favorite little rooster. 

Fancy and Folly are gone. 

Snowball is gone, because she will set anything and stay on the eggs. 

You see how determined she is. 

And Fleura, the little bantam hen in the middle, is gone too. 

These two, Moe and April, are all that is left on the henspa side. 

April is a porcelain D'Uccle, but she is bonded so tightly to Moe I just could not 

separate them. 

 And Fluffernut... no one has wanted the year old Fluffernut, laying daily... and just the happiest of 

little chickens.  

I think she is still there. 

So three, where there were nearly 40. 

I left them alone, penned in their yard today, to recover from the trauma of their 

friends leaving. 

The man who took them is a very skilled chicken keeper, we had a long talk about 

his "operation".  A short haul truck driver, he and his family live on 6 acres on the west side 

of Tongie.  I knew I recognized his older daughter yesterday... it turns out she is one of the high schoolers that volunteer at the Good Shepherd, so we had a good talk about that, too. 

He has, in past years, raised upwards of 10,000 pullets for resale at 8 weeks... wow. 

I am confident my birds will be treated humanely and with consideration. 

Yes, God has blessed me again in this dispersal, to find loving and caring 

people to give my pets. 

So, what is left? 

The three bantams may come with me here.  I had decided against it, but 

if there are indeed just the three, then the small Orscheln's coop would work. 

It would not take up much space in the yard, and I could still have my birds. 

In the old henhouse are the three Porcelain D'Uccle roosters.  One has a bad leg. 

They are all about two years old, they were from the same hatch. 

I am going to take them next Saturday to the parking lot of the feed store, and give them away. 

Yes, I know they may go to people who will have them for dinner that night, but they are small and pretty, so they may have a chance. 

That leaves only the three elderly roosters, and the little hen with them in the rafters of the old henhouse. 

I am going to give them a while to be able to come down on the floor of the coop, and go out in the sun and have a few weeks of normal chicken life.  Then, when we are finished with all the clean up at the old place, and it is about ready to show, we will make a decision about them. Ideally, if someone were to want the place soon, they would accept the roosters as their new pets.  

Yes, it hurts me. 

If I can catch the hen, she will stay with me. 

I also have an offer from the mother of the goat people that she would take 

any I have left... but not the three old boys, so I have that in hope in the back 

of my mind. 

It has been a long, hard process, and not one I would wish on ANYONE. 

When you have pets... not livestock, pets... you become the steward... and it is up to you to treat your pets humanely and wisely to the end.  I have tried to do that with my flock that rewarded us so richly with eggs for the food kitchen for three years, and for family and friends. 

Here is little Abs this morning, laying in a patch of sunlight when I got home. 

She has an infection in both eyes, which we are now treating with drops three times a day, and she seems calmer already.  How itchy and miserable she must have been, plus the move... she must have been just beyond herself.  I moved the kitchen rug out to the door yesterday for Lilly to step on, as the yard has been muddy... I'll brush it off and put it back today... and...

Keith showed me how to operate this! 

Can you believe I could not figure out how to "bend" it to push it along?  

I'm empowered now! 

The Great Emptiness

Friends, 

It's very hard for me to write the following post.  I could not post yesterday, I felt too wretched. 

It was a beautiful day out today, and I have been trying to see the positive side of things.  I also have been reading your comments two days later... and thank you all for making me see there is a positive side. 

This was the full moon setting yesterday morning, I stepped out on the porch to take this in the western sky. 

And turned around to take this in the eastern. 

But the day actually dawned gray and dreary. 

Things went on as normal in the goatyard. 

But the chickens knew something was up. 

I did not let them out. 

It wasn't until 4 PM that my friends from northwest Missouri came to get them. 

I had to go outside, I could not watch the catching and carrying across the yard to the cages. 

I was getting sicker and sicker. 

They took from the old and the new henhouses.  

They took three of the ducks, Aflac, Donald and Cinnamon, and would have taken the other two girls if there had been room on the truck or in a cage. 

I was having a VERY bad time, so I was glad to see them pull out of the driveway for their one hundred mile drive back in the open back of the stacked truck. 

I didn't sleep. 

Stupid, I know. 

I tried to take pictures of the goats this morning... but I had treats and you see it wasn't working. 

Yesterday's eggs. (and five more were laid in the cages on the ride home to Northwest Missouri) 

Abby and I found a duck nest covered with straw in the 4 x 4 pen in the old henyard. 

I'll put these eggs down in the pasture tonight for the wildings. 

Fawni and Spicey had a treat tonight... and for some reason, they are not using their swimming pool... maybe because Donald is gone now. 

However... more about them in a minute. 

At one PM, the Tates and the Langfords pulled up. 

Friends, I want to tell you... I couldn't have picked kinder people to take my beloved goats. 

And granddaughter Hailey Grace is truly the chicken whisperer... they took another ten chickens, and 3 roosters, for which I am eternally grateful.  They took the Mille Fleurs, and Hailey was able to catch almost all of them without my netting them. 

This weekend, when I go to get my big vari kennel (because Delilah was in theirs, behind these two you see above)... I am going to take Fawni and Spicey to live with them.  

The little girls and Kelly and Mama Delilah were confused and bewildered by the fact that they had to wait in their kennels while we caught the chickens.... and I have to admit to you that their crying and screaming to me as they went down the road tore my heart up. 

Here are Moe and April, so very bonded, with Moe outside the fence.  I finally let everyone (left) loose this afternoon. 

Three minutes later, literally. 

Seven minutes later, after I had dragged the Attacker into the house, and had run back out to pick up the dead rooster. 

As if I haven't had enough to worry about these last two days. 

Today's egg count. 

That's a duck egg, and a bantam egg, the only banties left are two old girls, 

and the two porcelain girls... and Fluffernut. a year old cute little girl that I can't believe no one wanted. 

There are only two big egg layers left... Henrietta and Buffy, the Polish girl. 

There is one little tiny white bantam, a blacktail Japanese in the old henhouse, that 

I have not seen in two days, she and the three old roosters are hiding in the ceiling, where we can't see them. 

The events of the last two days have upset everyone. 

I need to rehome the porcelain older rooster and hen, she is still laying, so I am hoping to move them as a pair.  We have probably six roosters that will have to be put down when we do get moved, unless I can find (beg) someone to take them. 

I am so used to the goats calling to me when I come out on the porch... it seems so odd not to hear them. 

I am going to take the duck eggs and the game camera down to the bottom of the pasture and leave them for the wildings, and see if we catch anything on camera. 

Tomorrow, Nathan and Chris and Chris's girlfriend Haleigh are going to come from Garnett to 

help move boxes on Friday, as we get ever closer to the move.  They are the first of family seeing the new house, so we will take some pictures while they are carrying boxes.  We hope to move quite a few during the day, and I'll run them back down on Saturday. 

Thanks again, friends, for all your kind comments.  It's been a hard week for me. 

Winter Returns for a Day

Thank heavens only for a day. 

It reminded me of what November to February was like... 

Ugh. 

It was only a dusting, but at 29 degrees with the wind blowing hard... it felt like 12 inches as I did chores. 

Yesterday, a family came here to look at chickens. 

Mother, father, daughter, who thought she wanted baby chicks, but was 

willing to look at older chickens. 

It was 71 degrees out, and I took them into the new henspa yard. 

She loved the D'Uccle's, both porcelain and Mille Fleur. 

She wants this one. 

April, who is never separate from Moe anymore.  It hurts me. 

However... see these guys? 

I did NOT pay attention when the parents were here with the ten year old.  I went over and let the goats out. 

They proceeded to run to the strange people to check them out, and began nibbling at their clothing.  The people backed up, clearly afraid, and I realized I had made a huge error.  

One of them either nipped at or stepped on the gentleman's foot... and then I realized they had FLIP FLOPS ON. 

On a farm. 

They had gone into the henhouse like that. 

Ugh. 

I should have warned them. 

The upshot was that the man went and sat in the car the rest of the time... and even though they said they would be back to get four chickens after their spring break trip... I doubt if I will see them. 

I'm not doing very well in the rehoming area. 

Spring has, indeed, sprung. 

And tulips are coming up everywhere, finally!

Geese are going back...

and forth. 

Abby had been helping me with chores yesterday, and it was 72 degrees out.  She had a nice, long drink of cold well water as I filled the duck's pool. 

While Lil laid in the shade of the car. 

This is a naughty Winnie, who got out of the pen and came up to the house with Abby and me. She likes to butt the dogs, so I wanted to get Abs in so she wouldn't get hurt.  She had a look and smell at the taco bar on the counter, I had had to eat before running out to do chores.  

You mean I can't stay in here where it's WARM????

No, Winnie, you can't! 

(She got lots of crackers). 

And here it is, folks, the first look at our new house... out in the county, but in a bona fide "neighborhood" of 

houses, all on one to two acre lots, on a farm that was cut up about 15 years ago into 

these large lots.  The house is fourteen years old.... needs some updating... and was never fenced, so 

we are taking care of the fencing first, before moving Abby and Lilly. 

We anticipate moving on the 29th. 

However, I will still be coming here daily to clean, paint, etc. etc. and care for 

any (all) of the animals left. 

I have to get busy and rehome. 

It's hard, that's all I can say. 

Everyone stay warm! 

More Random Notes on Friday

This hen, Libby... tricked me yesterday.  She made a huge production of flying up into the rabbit hutch and rooting around in the straw of the nest box (behind the towel)  I checked out there two hours later, and no egg. 

I got TWO eggs from the big henhouse yesterday.  Truly, most of the younger girls are now gone. 

Two days ago, I posted a picture of the remnants of our Japanese bantam flock. 

The same day, I took this picture of Buddy, and two of the red hens.  See the red hen with her head up, and the "white" tail?  I noticed as I was filling the duck pond that day that she was standing very still, with her eyes closed. 

In my mind I did an "Uh oh". 

That evening, I put the third porcelain in the henhouse next to his brother... and found her dead, under the roost she had fallen from.  We have had this happen maybe five times in the last few years... a bird, reaching the end of it's days... literally falling dead off the roost. 

RIP, Little Red Hen. 

On the good news side.... the porcelain roosters here: 

took exactly two days to learn that they no longer live in the little red henhouse, but sleep in the big henhouse with the other birds.  That's what losing Rambo has done... it has re-organized the flock... but, oh, how I miss him and his reassuring presence. 

Tomorrow night, we'll move the 3 month old chicks to the henspa, and close up the little white house. 

Our boys wore their red, white and blue uniforms last night... and you can see the homeplate logo was remade in red, white and blue.  We beat the Sioux Falls Canaries (yes, really) and the T Bones played GREAT.  There were several trades made in the last week that brought some former major-leaguers to us, and man, did it ever make a difference! 

Here's Devin Goodwin about to go to bat. 

Former Royals great Frank White is the T Bones' first base coach; that's he in the corner of the dugout in this picture, hand on his hat.   There is a grass roots movement to get him elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame HERE and Keith and I will be adding to the list of those wishing him admittance. 

We didn't think he would stay a second season, but here he is, passing on his knowledge to the younger players.  We had quite the crowd, 8800 in our stadium, and a wonderful fireworks display afterwards. 

We have tickets for tonight, too, and are looking forward to watching our new players again. 

We live only 15 minutes from the park, and there is no parking fee... it's just a wonderful evening when we go, made better by the new players! 

Do NOT feed your goats like this! 

Poor Kody and Kaycee had to put up with the sniffing dogs as Keith brought them up on the porch to feed them.  Yes, they are still getting a little milk, and as you can see, they were pretty glad to get it, enough to ignore the dogs for a minute.  

And then someone had to come in for a minute to see what the other side looked like! 

Here's Rooster Moe this morning.  He is almost a year old now, as are the other two small roosters in the henspa. 

They take good care of the little hens in the henspa... and I'm hoping they won't beat up too badly on the new cockerel when he comes over tomorrow night.  The best time to move and introduce birds is at night... we'll move them in, put them down... and in the morning, they'll all wake up together and theoretically, accept each other.  I'll get up early Sunday morning and go out and make sure no one is killing the other. 

Sometimes it's hard....

To take pictures of the goats! 

It won't be long now!