Gosh, so many different conversations going on......
Krista, sorry about your chickens. I sure hope you get that hot wire up soon. I've had it for years on my horse fence. It IS funny when a dog hits the wire, like mine did, she would not go over there anymore. In fact the first and only time my first dog hit it, she would not leave the deck for the whole day!
That's a really nice olive egg! Very unique!
Talk about pests, I put up a pen, and then saw some roof panel laying next to the coop and thought I would put it on top of the pen. Well......I moved it and 2 big rats came running out!!!!! But I have such a goody bag for them. I just love snapping their heads of with those super traps that I have.
I penned in the underneath of a little coop and cut a hole in the floor with a ramp so my silkies can let themselves out. Of course silkies aren't much smarter than dustrags, but I love them. I had to "drop" a few of them through the hole on to the ramp so they would "get" it.
So that's my chicken life. At the barn, I have this friend who is always pointing out health or muscular problems of other horses to me, ( she hasn't made a whole lot of friends doing this). She recently pointed out this horse that toes out in front that this woman bought, and how she would never buy a horse like that, well MY horse toes out. That's just one of the comments, the rest are like that.
Anyway, this young girl was riding my friend's horse. It's funny how all the problems this horse has seem to disappear when someone else rides her horse. So the girl is riding around the barn, nice, easy, relaxed, and my friend had to go give her a few "pointers". I said to her , "Mary, leave her , she's having fun and your horse is enjoying it, and the girl has won all kinds of ribbons, so she's fine".
Well my friend Mary called me that night and tried to make it sound humourous but it didn't, about how what gives someone the right to tell her what she can and cannot do with her horse.
There's things I could have said, but didn't. She really is a very nice person, but like everyone here, I love my chickens' company more!
I got a .22 today. I realize more and more that this whole farming thing is a major lifestyle adjustment and sometimes we have to do things we never imaginged we could like culling, trapping or shooting live animals etc. BTW here is the website for the farm mom and I are buying... if anyone is interested. I am so excited I could just PUKE! 
