Things are Improving

Well, after a morning at nine below zero last week, and multiple mornings under ten degrees... we are back in the Land of the Living here. 

It was 24 this morning when I went out to do chores. 

It's been a rough January, friends. 

I lost my beautiful old boy Buddy, a week ago. 

I knew he was failing... Tuesday, he struggled so, but was still eating. 

I found him in a corner with a hen guarding him on Wednesday morning.

He stayed under the light most of Tuesday. 

I reached to stroke him on Wednesday morning, and I believe I saw him take his last breath. 

He was the best boy, had always been a great rooster and took good care of his flocks. 

I set him in the brooder pen for a few minutes before taking him out. 

I would have buried him, but the ground here is frozen still, and I put him in the pasture. 

The next morning, I went out and got him... I could not bear to have him dragged off. 

I disposed of his body another way. 

Wanda has been sleeping in the big hen house all month.  She has food and a water bowl in there, and had a litter box but I soon realized she was just GOING in the floor litter, so as soon as it is reliably warm, that whole house will be raked out and re-bedded.  She is still sleeping in there... she was playing with Bob, last night, who was on the porch just outside the pophole. 

This Wyandotte hen has been broody for three weeks... there are NO eggs under her.  None. 

I have thought about putting some eggs under her, but.... it has been too cold for one thing, and I do not need any more roosters, for another. 

Because, you see.... I have had to separate the two Indio Gigante roosters now. 

Big Bird and Little Bird were fighting... to the death.  Little Bird, here, is about an inch shorter than his brother.  He has a deformed leg, though, and walks with a hitch.  When he was about 8 weeks old, a black snake encircled him and tried to kill him, but I caught it and pulled it off him.  He has walked with a hitch ever since, but walks and can run lopsidedly.  

I let him out of this pen yesterday, and he marched straight across the yard to fight with his brother through the fenceline. 

He is back in the pen. 

And.... he's enjoying the good life.  He sleeps on the feed room side of the hen house, and has his own warming light. 

You can see he likes it. 

I carry him in and out, ditto, his feed and water.  

Still trying to figure out a long term solution, because, you see, I like him a lot. 

Rocket, the bantam Mille Fleur rooster, is the boss of the big hen house now that Buddy is gone. 

I am waiting to see how he and Little Bird react to each other. 

Buster, the Lavender Orpington rooster, is showing signs of the severe cold we have had. 

His comb and wattles have become frostbitten. 

Most of the snow has begun melting, but now we have The Mud. 

I am still getting eggs. 

I am giving away eggs right and left. 

I have had two heated cat beds connected in the barn all winter.

I didn't think anything had ever used them. 

I thought to put a camera out there the other day, and look what I caught. 

It was not 35 degrees, either... it was under 20. 

That heat lamp over the crate .... Mama the cat has laid under it on the top of the crate (Teeny  is there in the picture) or in the straw in the crate for the last two months. 

The barn has been livable, even through the bitter cold we had this month. 

It came at a cost, my electric bill was over 400.00. 

Oh, yes, after two weeks of bitter cold when no one came out... they're baaaacccckkkk. 

I saw one of the biggest I had ever seen the other night on my porch. 

I never, ever let Chico run out the door with his leash on at dusk. 

I was looking back through old pictures the other day, and found this. 

Those are the raised garden beds Keith built, and our hoop house, which he built in 2012. 

You can see even the home built house made our pepper and tomato plants go crazy, and they were planted in wine barrels, buckets and bins with holes punched in them. 

I had Ben take the rectangular beds out about four years ago, they were hard to mow in between, and hard to maintain, believe it or not. 

However... I am going to garden again this year, after giving it up last year. 

I miss it, and.... things are getting so expensive. 

My neighbors Linda and Garry gifted me some green beans and peppers last year that were just wonderful... so... I am going to have a garden plot tilled and hope to gift others with garden produce. 

I have my seeds ordered and bought already, and will get my seed starting setup operational here in another month. 

It's 41 here right now, and to me, it's like a miracle.  I have done so much slipping and sliding on ice in the last three weeks. 

I am carrying my phone constantly in case I fall. 

 I saw in the long range forecast that we may get some snow next weekend.... but the LONG long range forecast is for dry conditions here, and friends, we need rain. 

I am so grateful my well did not freeze up... and I have regular furnace and air conditioning maintenance and I had no problems during the cold snap... and Mid States Propane delivered on one of the coldest days of the year!  I'm just grateful to have gotten through the cold blast in one piece. 

Another picture from years ago... my beautiful Ranger boy laying at the front door with Winny and Windy the goats playing near him.  What wonderful times those were, before Keith got so very sick. 

I can look back on them and smile, though. 

Happy little faces looking in the window. 

It saddens me to think that those wonderful little goats are long gone... this was taken 12 years ago. 

I have sure had a good life here, though... and it makes me glad to think back on all of it. 

Stay warm and safe and healthy. 

 

The Cold January

Paths of ice through the snow.  We had just enough melting for several days, and they refroze and about killed me. 

This one, especially. 

The badly-sited brooder house that I bought last year lays behind the old garage on the property... the original house was on this south end... and next to the barn, because it was cheapest to run the electricity from here.  It is dangerous in bad weather... everything you are looking at is a layer of ice. I spread cat litter on it to try to get some grip.  The back door (where the red bucket is sitting) froze in the worst of the storm last week, and I had to brace the door shut with a fence pole. 

We'll come back to this. 

My guardians have been coming daily. 

Yesterday and today, though, in the bitter cold, they have stayed in their aerie, which I think is down on the treeline near Tonganoxie. 

The starlings finally found my feeders on Saturday. 

They have only been here in small numbers today.  Oddly, I was kind of glad to see them so they could clean up the sunflower seed on the ground. 

It is nine degrees out there right now, and the wind has been blowing all day.  It's awful to be out. 

My girls in the barn are getting through it, thank God. 

That's Mama and Cleo.  

Teeny still sleeps in the straw filled wood stove, even though 

there are two heated cat houses in there. 

I have a heated dog bowl for water. 

This morning, for the first time, I lifted the water fount in the old henhouse, and the lid felt frozen onto it.  Last winter I had fewer birds in there, and I have a deep dog bowl to use if I have to... but... they get so full of debris. 

I have heater bases under all the metal founts. 

We have two more days of this terrible cold to get through, then back to the thirties and forties. 

I'm seeing lots of crows, too. 

I would say about 60% of the snow has melted, but... now we are below freezing for another two days at least.  At least I am not going through 16 inch drifts. 

This happy little dog, Mr. Floofy Ears, aka Chico... has been here exactly one year today.  He was brought here last year on a snowy day with cold temps. 

He has been a blessing to me, even though we keep having to get up and go out at night here lately. 

Bob is still here but wearing on my patience lately. 

(you see the driveway has melted quite a bit) 

My dear old rooster Buddy, in the background standing in the sun here, 

put himself into the little hen house a week ago, and then stayed in there.  He normally was king of the Big Hen House.  He is having trouble walking and getting up the stairs, his feet are missing many toes. Buster, the younger rooster in the foreground, left him alone. 

This morning, he was huddled under the warming light with a couple of older hens in back in the big hen house.  I'm going to drop it down a few inches when I do evening chores. 

Wanda was so glad to get out on Thursday, Friday and Saturday, but she was 

glad to go back in last night.  I think it may be Wednesday, maybe Tuesday, until it's warm enough for everyone to come out again.  

They hate the snow. 

These beautiful birds in the Brooder House, Igor the rooster and the two La Fleche hens, the two Putih Ayam Cemani (white) hens, and the two Bielefelder hens have gone to live with a friend from Fort Leavenworth. 

Negotiating the frozen walkway between the garage and the hen house was increasingly hard, and I took my life in my hands every time I did it in the last two weeks.  I carried my phone religiously, but if I had fallen it might have been hours before I was missed.  I finally realized I was really taking too many chances, and I mentioned to my friend that I had some birds to rehome, and he was interested.  He came Friday to pick them up, and I gave them to him gladly, knowing they would have a good home. 

I miss them dreadfully, remember, I raised them from day old chicks... but it has been a blessing not to have to walk back there.  Igor was one of the best roosters I have ever raised. 

I have some plans for the brooder house, but for now, it sits empty, it's water empty, it's food dish removed, and the lights out... waiting for spring. 

Everyone take care in this weather that is hitting our nation on all sides.