A Journey Through a Different Way - Funny Story Pg. 69

[Zookeeper9000]

Congrats on those babies good luck. I am in babyville as well. I have 5 little sheltie pups that will be 4 weeks old Friday. And I also have 5 little PomChi's (1/2 poms 1/2 chi's) pups that will be 5 weeks old Friday. I just love my job of socializing pups.

 

[ruth]

Congratulations and Thanks are in order and I feel so honored and so humbled. I just saw that my "Journey" thread made the top 50 most visited threads. It was #50 but who's counting? I had no idea it had been so popular. Thank you all who have followed me and supported me and encouraged me on this journey. It has been quite the journey. I feel so blessed. I often look back at all the pictures and I see Ruth and some of the others who are no longer with me and I see how some that were mere babies have grown and are now brooding their own babies and sometimes I laugh at the pics and comments and sometimes I cry. Thank you Lord for placing me on this journey.

 

[Beckie_in_Zambia]

I am one of those people who absolutely love this thread. Thankfully, I found it just a month or so ago so I didn't have to wait for all of the updates like those who read in "real time".

I learned so much from your joys and sorrows. We have 13 laying hens now, eight of those we introduced to our other five just last week. I've come to BYC over and over again as I am learning how to integrate the two groups.

I also applaud the moderators for allowing relationships to develop on this forum. In the past couple of months of reading BYC threads, it has been wonderful to "meet" so many people with various beliefs and lifestyles. I appreciate that this forum is not just a chicken database but a place where people who love and enjoy their chickens can share life stories.

Thank you Monique for taking the time to journal your thoughts and experiences. Thank you moderators for keeping this site an enjoyable place to visit from clear acrossed the ocean in Zambia.

Blessings and joy,
Beckie

 

[Zookeeper9000]

Hey Monique I been wondering where ya been. I figured those little baby goats got ya on the run. Sure hope this finds you and yours all well and good.

I am hatching, I have 45 designer chicks in my 2 hova's and they are working on hatching as I write this. I have 5 out 4 pipping and 36 just waiting in the sauna LOL. For those that do not know I call chicks of mixed breeds designer chicks instead of mutts.

Thanks again Monique for taking the time to share with all of us.


Congrats to being in the top 50 count, that is so great.

Well off to play, in case I didn't get to tell you, I have babies here as well. I socialize pups for different breeders and have 5 Pomchi's and 5 shelties here they are 7 and 8 weeks old and are keeping me up to my eye balls in babies LOL. They will start leaving to their new homes soon, at least I am praying they will LOL. It is always nice to get them and always nice to see them in loving homes.

Thanks again

 

[redchicken]

Quote:
Why don't you wire the top of the run?

 

[swampwander]

Monique - good to see you posting again. My guess is that the beagle is someone's old hunter who either got dumped on you or just got lost. We used to see that a lot during gun season. Interesting that the hens will allow you to work on them like that. Don't even try that on a dog or cat. After my years at an animal hospital, I look for sedation for them.

 

[ruth]

Beckie - thank you so much for your nice post. Many blessings to you and your family as you continue your missionary work in Zambia.

Jean - always good to hear from you. Yes, the goats have had me running. The little buck stays with the little sister and the mama, who no longer pushes him away or shows aggression, but will spend all day standing on the table or milk stand in the tack room where they stay at night and on cold days. She will not let him nurse unless he runs up there and nurses while little sis is nursing. I bottle feed him twice a day. They are so cute and so friendly. They jump and climb all over me. On pretty days, I move them all back with the herd and the babies get to run and play outside. All the other goats seem to like them. Bitsy especially loves to play with the little buck and they play most of the day. It's amazing how fast they grow up because just the other day I saw him mounting his sister (or trying) so I guess it's true they are sexually mature by 8 weeks and need to be separated. These just made three weeks so I'll need to look for a little companion, proably a whether for him.

Redchicken - I've thought about putting some netting over the top but just haven't gotten around to it yet. The only reason I would do that would be to keep a hawk from diving in there and grabbing one during the day but that's a remote chance and Rex watches the skies and chases off any hawks or buzzards he sees flying over. It's a real stretch for me to lock them up at all since everyone else freeranges and I see them staring through the fence at everyone else running around and I feel bad for them. After I've collected a few more dozen eggs, and met and filled my orders for Marans hatching eggs/chicks, I'm going to set them free again and use the pen to breed another breed for awhile, always rotating so no one stays confined too long.

As this thread began - I try to raise them as close to natural as possible. So far, no hawk has gotten so much as a tiny chick that's running around here or out in the open pasture. We did have the bobcat that got about 6 hens and a roo over a two week period. It just learned to wait at edge of woods where our "yard" began and wait for the dogs to be somewhere else and would run up and grab one or wait for them to wander into the woods. Bobcat seems to have moved on after we kept everyone confined for a week or two and it's hunting season here. With freeranging there will be loses but the rewards are so great - getting to watch them be chickens in the truest sense of the term, running everywhere around the farm amongst our four dogs and two cats, and 6 peacocks, and 20 ducks, and 7 goats - it's a wonderful place to live and watch God's creatures co-exist in harmony. The goats even have their own pet chicken. There's a RIR hen that lives in the stables with the goats and eats out of their pan when they eat and sleeps in the feed trough in their stall. They've learned to jump up on the feed trough to look out the window without landing on her. It's quite funny and I need to get a picture of my goats and their pet chicken.

The good news is we've recently hired a "hired-hand" that can help me get the place in order. He's clearing brush from fences and repairing fences and gates and pressure washing and painting - my list (his list) is endless of things I need help with and I feel so blessed and encouraged to finally have someone to help me.

 

[ruth]

Quote:
I forgot to update on the beagle - he went to a good home, well as good a home as hunting dogs get around here. The husband of our office employee had two hunting dogs and wanted a third so he took him and says he is working out well and is a good hunting dog. Yes, everyone around here just laughs and shakes their head when you tell them a hunting dog/beagle showed up. The first question is "Did it have a tag?" Seems the "norm" is at end of season, you take the tags off the dogs you don't want to keep and turn them loose, that would include the ones that didn't perform well, or were old/sick, or you just don't want to feed them till next hunting season. Any hunting dog worth his salt or of value to the owner, wears tags and you call the hunter when you find their dog and they come and get it.

DH said a place where he used to go hunting had kennels set up along the road and if you found a hunting dog, you just put it in one of the kennels and men would go there and either just take one (presumably their own), or leave one.

In any event, I hope the beagle does have a good home.

 

[speckledhen]

I'm happy to hear that you have some hired help, Monique. Sometimes, even around here, I wish I had some extra $$ to hire someone. The porch roof has leaked for over 7 years because some dimwit put it on wrong and used shingles, though the roof only has a 1 in 12 rise on it. It's a flat roof and I wish someone could just tear it off and build it properly, but hey, it'll have to wait. So much to do here, too, though this place is nowhere near the all-consuming place that yours is. And I cant do anything right now, which is very frustrating. Must be a relief to have help!

 

[ruth]

Quote:
Having help now is an answer to prayers. I've hired office help and farm help. I just couldn't keep doing it all by myself. Can I afford it? Not really. But without the help, things were just going undone and snow balling. Every year I would have to try and enter an entire year's worth of receipts and records at one time to get to our accountant so he could do the taxes - now I've hired part-time office help who can not only keep QuickBooks up to date but can help with filing and data entry and marketing which will bring in extra money - all things that were piling up left undone. The hired hand is willing to do anything I need done and that list is endless. I've got fences that are falling over and I hold my breath every time I try and open and close some of the gates to the different runs and areas because the posts are rotted and the gates fall off in my hand. Parts of the barn and carriage house and log cabin are rotting because sheet metal is missing from the roof and the water has been pouring in for 30 years. So it's one of those things - spend the money now or spend a lot more later and probably lose a lot of the historical parts of the farm.

How are you feeling these days? Has the pain let up? Can you get up and move around at all or use crutches? I thought about you yesterday. John is in Covington at our home there packing up some things and both my office help and hired hand had medical issues and weren't here so I was here all alone. It had been raining and it was freezing cold. So I was trying to consolidate trips back and forth to the coop to refill waterers and tried stacking and carrying two large waterers at the same time. I was doing alright till I tried to step over the hedge that borders the brick walkway going into the coop. The brick was slippery with chicken poop and rain and when I stepped over my foot slid out from under me. I'm not sure what caught me or how I didn't fall (thank God) but in that instant when my foot was sliding out from under me and I felt myself going down and my hands were useless being full with two heavy waterers, the thought that ran through my head was wondering whether or not I would be knocked out when my head hit the brick and if so how long before anyone found the body and if not, would I be able to crawl back inside to call someone, oh yeah, the phones are still out because a tree dropped on the lines.

And I thought about you and what would happen if I were laid up in bed with a broken ankle. I thank the Lord that He caught me. It's amazing how much can flash through your mind in that brief moment it takes to have an accident.