tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31061554951162920002024-03-12T17:15:04.089-07:00Amy's Farm DiaryAmy Bhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10902594300072091444noreply@blogger.comBlogger16125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3106155495116292000.post-82200601969624268032009-10-05T09:11:00.001-07:002009-10-05T09:15:39.715-07:00Cat SketchLast night I was "home alone," so to speak, so I picked up my sketch pad for the first time in a really long time. My cat was drowsing on the back of the couch, so I took the opportunity to draw her. Not perfect--she kept moving her head--but I think I got her eyes right.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_Im5AG5BfoQE/Ssoa2wyoKfI/AAAAAAAAAFg/zEaBTAjH118/s1600-h/pickle.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 395px; height: 250px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_Im5AG5BfoQE/Ssoa2wyoKfI/AAAAAAAAAFg/zEaBTAjH118/s400/pickle.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5389149432214727154" border="0" /></a>Amy Bhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10902594300072091444noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3106155495116292000.post-16232608308579766382009-10-02T10:32:00.000-07:002009-10-02T10:48:09.529-07:00First Eggs!In May, we got some new baby chicks. Yesterday, we had one 2.4 oz brown egg, from one of the Turkens, and a lovely little green egg, from one of the Araucanas. The Turken laid it on the floor (not surprising, since 2.4 oz is <strong>really big</strong> for a first egg--it probably caught her by surprise), but the green egg was in the nest box. This morning, all three eggs were in the nest box--two more greens and a pinkish brown that could be Araucana or could be Turken.<br /><div> </div><br /><div>Here's a pic:</div><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_Im5AG5BfoQE/SsY8QqK9XtI/AAAAAAAAAFY/y6gqwibjNTs/s1600-h/first_eggs.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 275px; height: 267px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_Im5AG5BfoQE/SsY8QqK9XtI/AAAAAAAAAFY/y6gqwibjNTs/s400/first_eggs.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5388060261091204818" border="0" /></a><div> </div>Amy Bhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10902594300072091444noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3106155495116292000.post-11283536624999353592009-05-05T20:56:00.000-07:002009-05-05T21:07:21.135-07:00New Baby ChicksYesterday, we had 28 baby chicks arrive, mostly Araucanas, but also some Turkens, Black Minorcas, and a "mystery chick" that I'm pretty sure is a Dark Brahma.--probably a rooster. <a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_Im5AG5BfoQE/SgEK35VcG_I/AAAAAAAAAFA/8FWWwQVqMbA/s1600-h/chicks_day2.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5332555389183204338" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 300px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 171px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_Im5AG5BfoQE/SgEK35VcG_I/AAAAAAAAAFA/8FWWwQVqMbA/s400/chicks_day2.jpg" border="0" /></a> We made it through the first night without any losses, and I haven't seen any sign of pasty butt. I think that no losses is due to not just dipping their beaks into water and food, but watching them and making sure any that just stood around looking sleepy really did start drinking and eating. I think possibly the lack of pasty butts is due to already starting to feed them greens--broccoli sprouts and spinach.Amy Bhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10902594300072091444noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3106155495116292000.post-18578224317336094492009-02-24T16:02:00.000-08:002009-02-24T16:16:59.122-08:00Weaning MariaI had about 2 weeks of going out and milking 4 times a day for 6 oz. of milk a day if I was lucky. So I decided it was time to wean Maria. But how? With three goats, it's impossible to separate mother from baby without having a screming goat somewhere. <br /><br />So I decided I would have to find a way to control when Maria nursed. The most obvious and convenient way I could think of was to tape the ends of her teats so that Maria couldn't get at the milk. I had some "Coach" sports tape from when one of the dogs had a wound that needed to have gauze pads taped over it. This tape is very soft and breatheable and tends not to stick to hair or skin as badly as other tapes. So, what the heck I said. And that's where my experiment with taping teats as a kid weaning technique began.<br /><br />I started out on a schedule of milking at 7 am and 4 pm and taping the teats at 12:30 pm and 9:30 pm. This gave Maria the hours of 7 am to 12:30 and 4 pm to 9:30 to nurse, or a total of 11 hours. To start out with, this gave me about 12 oz. of milk a day. I'm gradually moving the times together, so that Darcy spends more and more time taped, and Maria is slowly getting less and less milk. Right now, I milk at 7:45 and 5:30, and I try to tape at 11:45 and 9, though that doesn't always work out. I got 3 1/2 cups of milk today--almost a quart.<br /><br />This doesn't sound like much, but I'm very happy with this production considering Darcy almost died after the babies were born. Also, she <strong>does</strong> have more milk. It's just Maria is drinking it. If we get too much more than a quart a day, we'll have to start making cheese and yogurt. Shame :-).Amy Bhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10902594300072091444noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3106155495116292000.post-69376955351375686492009-01-13T15:25:00.000-08:002009-02-03T13:07:36.856-08:00First milkWith Darcy's having triplets and then getting sick, she hasn't had any extra milk. Now that she's down to one kid and recovering, we've been "attempting" to milk her for several days. Up until yesterday, the pickings were so slim that we fed the dribble or two to the dogs. But yesterday, we finally got enough to make it worth while to filter it. I had that nearly 4 oz. of fresh, unpasteurized goat's milk on my oatmeal. Totally delicious!Amy Bhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10902594300072091444noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3106155495116292000.post-10365960467295827532008-12-26T11:47:00.001-08:002008-12-26T11:59:40.418-08:00New pasture opened<div><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_Im5AG5BfoQE/SVU1JSMRIII/AAAAAAAAAEE/qqEQU6--XmY/s1600-h/newPasture1.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5284188171407532162" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 350px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 139px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_Im5AG5BfoQE/SVU1JSMRIII/AAAAAAAAAEE/qqEQU6--XmY/s400/newPasture1.jpg" border="0" /></a><br />Darcy has been really ill the past couple of weeks, so I've been pretty tied up with that, but I wanted to post about the new pasture we've opened up. Our tenant Shon is pretty good with fencing, so we've hired him to fix our existing fence and fence in some of the woods behind the pasture. Last week, we officially opened the gate to the new pasture area.<br /><br /><div><div><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_Im5AG5BfoQE/SVU1JGm7-hI/AAAAAAAAAD8/mE5Ude8Mryo/s1600-h/newPasture2.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5284188168298166802" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 300px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 254px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_Im5AG5BfoQE/SVU1JGm7-hI/AAAAAAAAAD8/mE5Ude8Mryo/s400/newPasture2.jpg" border="0" /></a><br />This wouldn't be pasture for a lot of species, since it is packed full of ligustrum and wild blackberries, but these are favorite foods of goats, so they're just pleased as punch. One advantage of having woody browse available for goats is that woody shrubs are full of tannins, which act as natural wormers.</div><div> </div><div>I'm just tickled pink, because the rye grass finally came up and the goats have all the browse they can eat in the new part of the pasture. The fence line has also been straightened out, which results in probably 1/4 more area in the old part of the pasture. Steve and I basically just drove in a bunch of "T" posts the first time and sort of hung the fence off of it...not the best fencing job known to man.<br /><br /><div><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5284188494689232274" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 374px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 400px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_Im5AG5BfoQE/SVU1cGgoZZI/AAAAAAAAAEM/TQDoam2TcZk/s400/DarcysBoys.jpg" border="0" /></div></div></div></div><br /><p>On another note, I've managed to sell Symbol's babies already (they leave next week), but I haven't even advertised Darcy's babies yet. Because she had so much trouble with her health, I was afraid they wouldn't grow as well as Symbol's babies. I supplemented them with cows' milk and gave them preventive coccidistat, and I think they're likely to be weaned before Symbol's--should have advertised them first!</p>Amy Bhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10902594300072091444noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3106155495116292000.post-30401353569928446882008-12-16T18:51:00.000-08:002008-12-16T19:08:17.043-08:00Banding ThoughtsSunday, my friend <a href="http://2-gfarm.com/">Janet Cooper</a> came over and showed me how to band the 4 male kids that were born 4 weeks ago. I've always dreaded doing this. I've had dogs and been a member of the dog community since I was 14 or so. From time to time, you hear rumors of people who dock tails or crop ears on puppies by using a rubber band, and this is portrayed as a completely inhumane and irresponsible practice, with horror stories of infection and gangrene.<br /><br />But with livestock, this is looked at another way entirely. With dairy goats, male kids are sort of an unfortunate side effect of the biological processes needed to stimulate milk production. With meat kids, an intact male that lives any length of time will be too gamey for any but the most hardened taste buds. At the same time, there is no way that farmers could charge enough for these kids to make it financially viable to have them put under by a vet and castrated in the way we do with dogs.<br /><br />So I was resolved to the necessity, but I was dreading the effects. And indeed the first 24 hours or so were pretty sad. It was clear the babies were uncomfortable--they walked stiff legged and spent a lot of time lying down or getting up and lying down and getting up. And they didn't do their normal climbing and jumping.<br /><br />But 48 hours later, it's clear that they're pretty much back to their normal spirits and activity level. So it wasn't as bad as I thought.Amy Bhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10902594300072091444noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3106155495116292000.post-13396036939834854182008-11-26T07:12:00.000-08:002008-11-26T07:17:17.236-08:00Baby feeding woesSo Darcy's been being a butt-head about not wanting to feed her babies enough (Symbol's been a champ). I bottle fed them for a couple of days, before calling out the cavalry, <a href="http://2-gfarm.com/">Janet Cooper</a>, aka Darcy's breeder. Janet showed me how to hold her still so the babies can get what they <em>really</em> need, Mom's milk. I hate to do it to her, but I hate to have starving babies even more.Amy Bhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10902594300072091444noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3106155495116292000.post-73210468514992949712008-11-19T19:32:00.001-08:002008-11-20T05:36:13.610-08:00New arrivalsWe've had an eventful few days around here, but I guess I should start at the beginning. This summer, we bought a Nubian buck, Jesus.<br /><div><div><div><div><div><br /><div><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5270577842936160114" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 250px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 284px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_Im5AG5BfoQE/SSTan5lBH3I/AAAAAAAAABU/T6XB44ktqZ4/s320/Jesus.jpg" border="0" /> We sold him recently, since I didn't want him around to taint the milk, but Jesus left us some little blessings, kids who were born this Sunday and Monday.<br /><br /><div>Darcy, our 3/4 Nubian, had her babies Saturday night or Sunday morning. Anyway, we went out Sunday morning and there they were. I learned my lesson from that and checked Symbol all through Sunday night. Here are some pics of Darcy and her kids.<br /></div><br /><div></div><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5270579426873127122" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 200px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 198px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_Im5AG5BfoQE/SSTcEGNBMNI/AAAAAAAAABc/xZOtEHsC7IE/s320/too_cool.jpg" border="0" />They seemed reluctant to waste their first day sleeping, but they had a really hard time staying awake. I've named the girl (left) Maria, and the boy on the right Pedro. Does Maria remind you of anyone?</div><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5270580163600441106" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 200px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 150px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_Im5AG5BfoQE/SSTcu-uf3xI/AAAAAAAAABk/AlZpm1b4kmI/s320/juan.jpg" border="0" /> The third kid I named Pedro. <img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5270581471375104866" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 200px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 137px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_Im5AG5BfoQE/SSTd7GkRm2I/AAAAAAAAAB8/3jOCrtiJ_dU/s320/Darcy_kids.jpg" border="0" />This is Darcy and her babies this morning.<br /><br /><br /><div>Monday morning, Symbol obligingly went into labor when I was outside checking her the first time after it got light. Monday morning was <strong>cold</strong>. Regardless, I managed to get some good photos of the births in progress.<br /><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5270583052545634914" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 200px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 238px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_Im5AG5BfoQE/SSTfXI4tMmI/AAAAAAAAACE/9uM2uuQnTiI/s320/birth1.jpg" border="0" /></div></div></div></div></div></div><br /><div>This is kid #1's front feet. I haven't named Symbol's kids, because I feel like they're less likely to become pet wethers than Darcy's kids. She kept trying to clean Darcy's kids throughout the process.</div><br /><br /><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5270584282328703922" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 225px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 225px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_Im5AG5BfoQE/SSTgeuL1o7I/AAAAAAAAACc/a-vXcqoMyfU/s320/cleaning.jpg" border="0" /><br /><br /><p>Symbol cleaning kid #1. I had to keep dragging her back over to him from where she was trying to mother Darcy's kids.<br /><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5270585069698300738" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 225px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 185px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_Im5AG5BfoQE/SSThMjXYO0I/AAAAAAAAACk/H5VXqnd-eWc/s320/breech.jpg" border="0" /></p><p>While kid #1 was reaching for his first meal, kid#2 was already on the way. He was breech, but he came out much more quickly than his brother.</p><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5270585933724833426" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 200px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 232px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_Im5AG5BfoQE/SSTh-2HW1pI/AAAAAAAAACs/Qlf1wuO175c/s320/cleaning_2.jpg" border="0" /><br /><p>Symbol cleaning kid #2. She got him about that clean, then I grabbed a towel while she tried to clean Darcy's day-old kids.</p><p><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5270588454510991682" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 225px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 181px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_Im5AG5BfoQE/SSTkRkxnGUI/AAAAAAAAAC8/kuQo58tgixc/s320/first_meal.jpg" border="0" /></p><p>Reaching for their first meal.</p><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5270587745371376834" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 152px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_Im5AG5BfoQE/SSTjoTBjTMI/AAAAAAAAAC0/Rt1hnmyjV8M/s320/2days.jpg" border="0" /><br />Symbol's kids, 2 days old.<br /><br /><p></p>Amy Bhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10902594300072091444noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3106155495116292000.post-61203465698833109722008-05-31T12:00:00.001-07:002008-12-12T23:37:12.673-08:00Spring Sprang but now it's Summer<div>It's hot, hot, hot. I find myself getting out of bed at the crack of dawn to escape the heat. The blueberries are covered in unripe fruit and the elderberries are blooming everywhere.</div><br /><div></div><br /><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_Im5AG5BfoQE/SEGhGGQPVcI/AAAAAAAAAAc/b6sSZpeoe_w/s1600-h/mimosa.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5206619770347017666" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_Im5AG5BfoQE/SEGhGGQPVcI/AAAAAAAAAAc/b6sSZpeoe_w/s400/mimosa.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><div>Steve is in love with the Mimosa between our house and the woods. It is completely covered in pink powder puff blooms, and it looks like something from a fairy tale or a Japanese wood cut.</div>Amy Bhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10902594300072091444noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3106155495116292000.post-26415384173341678362008-01-30T06:38:00.000-08:002008-01-30T06:43:36.093-08:00Goodbye, Little TigMy last post, I mentioned that I hadn't seen Lil Tig. He continued to be missing, and I just figured he'd gone off after a cat in heat. This morning, my dog, Con, came running up with something in his mouth. It was Tig's tail. Con showed me where he'd found it. We'll be burying what is left of Tig today.<br /><br />Goodbye, Tig. I am sorry you had such a short life. Hopefully your time with us was happy.Amy Bhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10902594300072091444noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3106155495116292000.post-82376724028934723132008-01-14T14:58:00.000-08:002008-01-14T14:59:59.773-08:00More rodent controlI've been proudly blogging about the cat I've encouraged to hang around to keep the rodent population down. I haven't seen him today, but I did just see two of my hens dismembering a mouse. Good work, girls!Amy Bhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10902594300072091444noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3106155495116292000.post-26214162580534589362008-01-13T07:40:00.000-08:002008-01-13T08:51:51.750-08:00Taming of the Tig 3I know I'm not the most prolific blogger, so just a reminder that in <a href="http://amysfarm.blogspot.com/2007/12/taming-of-tig.html">Part 1</a>, I was feeding Little Tig and rubbing his head when he stuck it out of the hole by the back door. In <a href="http://amysfarm.blogspot.com/2007/12/taming-of-tig-2.html">Part 2</a>, I described how Tux, my indoor cat, ventured outside to help demonstrate to Tig that the life of a lap cat is very nice.<br /><br />I started moving Tig's bowl far enough from the hole that he had to come all the way outside of it to eat. I was amazed what happened at that point. He initially flinched when I moved my hand toward him, but once my hand made contact, he burst out in nonstop purring and arched his back. He stopped eating to rub back and forth under my hand. It seems that Tig was a very affectionate kitty, he had just been afraid to let us close enough for him to show it!<br /><br />He was much skinnier than he looked under all that fur, so I started feeding him twice a day. I also think he's younger than we at first thought--maybe 8-10 months.<br /><br />Even with all the progress, Tig would run away if I tried to pet him anywhere other than by our back door, even if he was clearly begging to be petted (rubbing against corners, arching his back, kneading his paws on the ground, that sort of thing). That's where Tux came in. He continued his little forays outside to show off hoe happy he was being petted. He also would go outside just to talk to Tig. I don't know what they said, but eventually Tig has gotten where, if he begs for attention, I can stop and let <em>him</em> approach <em>me</em>. When that happens, he will let me pet him anywhere in the yard.<br /><br />He also was a bit skittish when I had Steve hang around at feeding time. It turns out that when Steve fed him alone, he was just as affectionate with him as he is with me. I think that he's just worried that two of us might have evil designs that a lone person wouldn't. Or something. Who can figure out what a cat thinks?Amy Bhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10902594300072091444noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3106155495116292000.post-48324076817994810372007-12-19T09:06:00.000-08:002008-12-12T23:37:12.839-08:00Taming of the Tig 2In <a href="http://amysfarm.blogspot.com/2007/12/taming-of-tig.html">Part 1</a>, I described how Tig has been making the transition from fraidy cat to lap cat. I wanted to take a moment to mention my little ambassador in this negotiation.<br /><br /><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_Im5AG5BfoQE/R3LA_QgUr0I/AAAAAAAAAAU/liBOUd00cTI/s1600-h/Speck_Tux.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5148389517032730434" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_Im5AG5BfoQE/R3LA_QgUr0I/AAAAAAAAAAU/liBOUd00cTI/s400/Speck_Tux.jpg" border="0" /></a>Tux is a cat I have had for nearly ten years now. Early last year, we finally had to put down our older cat, Jake, who was the only cat Tux had known since he left his mother as a kitten. So when we adopted Speck from the humane society a month or two after Jake's death, Tux had no idea how to deal with her. And when Blackberry (not pictured) wandered up a few weeks after that, poor Tux felt like he was being bombarded with strange cats. But in the months since the kittens arrived, Tux has been the happiest I've ever seen him.<br /><br />Even though Tux, Berry, and Speck are all indoor cats, Tux likes to go out occasionally for a sniff around. So when Tig showed up, I wasn't sure if Tux would see him as friend or threat. I didn't need to worry, because Tux immediately sized up the situation and set out to prove to Tig that getting hugs from people was about the best thing ever. When Tux was outside, all I had to do was walk up to him and he'd writhe on the ground, white tummy in the air, just begging for a tummy rub.Amy Bhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10902594300072091444noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3106155495116292000.post-78340122223505398442007-12-18T14:59:00.000-08:002008-12-12T23:37:12.952-08:00Taming of the TigAlmost two years ago, I ordered 25 chicks. I actually got 28 chicks, 27 of which survived to adulthood. About 6 months ago, I decided to let the chickens have most of the day free ranging, so now I have around 20 chickens or so. One of the problems with having livestock is that you almost inevitably wind up with mice and/or rats. Mice I can deal with, but when I realized about 3 months ago there was a rat living in the henhouse, I was <em>not</em> a happy camper.<br /><br /><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_Im5AG5BfoQE/R2h3qggUrzI/AAAAAAAAAAM/J_x-0tZLfLo/s1600-h/Tig.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5145494146434510642" style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; CURSOR: hand CLEAR:both" alt="picture of Little Tig" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_Im5AG5BfoQE/R2h3qggUrzI/AAAAAAAAAAM/J_x-0tZLfLo/s400/Tig.jpg" ></a>So when an orange and white cat showed up about two months ago and started hanging around like he lives here or something, I felt a bit more hospitable than I might have ordinarily. I admit it, I started feeding him, just enough to persuade him to stick around. I deliberately underfed him, to encourage him to make up the difference in rodents. Steve wasn't that happy, since he thinks we already have too many animals. I'm happy, though, since the rat has since decamped. I'm not sure if it is eau de cat that convinced him to leave, or if Little Tig, as I have come to call him, has indeed reinvented the rat as dinner. Steve said it wouldn't be so bad if we could actually pet him, but he can't see the point of feeding a cat you can't get near.<br />This is because Little Tig is quite wary of people--at first he wouldn't let us get within 20 feet of him. But when he got to the point that I could get 10 feet or so, something interesting happened. He started rubbing himself against nearby objects as if begging to be petted. So I resolved to try to convince Tig that I could get close to him without eating him even once.<br /><br />I feed Tig through an opening that lets the air conditioning pipes go through into the crawl space. This lets him eat without the chickens stealing his food or the dogs stealing him. So my first step was to put the food a bit outside the hole and make him stick his head out before I'd feed him. This slowly progressed to letting me rub between his ears. Then I put the bowl farther away from the hole, so he had to come out completely.<br /><br />Next time I post, I'll tell you the rest of the story.Amy Bhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10902594300072091444noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3106155495116292000.post-27185243206138045062007-12-18T12:55:00.000-08:002007-12-18T12:57:46.705-08:00Hello, WorldI've been wanting to start a blog for some time that is more personal than my <a href="http://flexdiary.blogspot.com/">Flex blog</a>. So I'm starting this blog about my life, mainly at my hobby farm in Saucier, MS, but there may be other random topics, so be forewarned!Amy Bhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10902594300072091444noreply@blogger.com0