Joining us on this journey are some amazing critters. I’ll summarize them here.
| Critter | Count | Recent Change Note |
|---|---|---|
| Dogs | 2 | Cooper and Lydia Died: Jackson 8/7/2024 |
| Cats | 1 Domestic 5 Feral Barn | Departed: Donald 5/1/2024 Lola 6/20/2024 Don Jr. 10/1/2024 Births: 7 new kitties 6/21/2024 6 new kitties 7/1/2024 (all departed 8/7) 5 more (feral) kitties born guessing mid-October. 4 were given away leaving Stella as a new addition. |
| Chickens | 22 | Arrivals: New group of 9 hens. Timothy and Phillip 11/15/2024 Departed: Nita 11/1/2024 Gekko/Elmer/Lenny 9/30/2024 Sister EM 6/28/2024 Bob 6/27/2024 Cordelia 5/10/2024 Ruthie 5/3/2024 |
| Other |
Dogs (2)
Jackson (the Ranch Boss) moved down here with us. A Border Collie/Husky mix born around 2007 (estimated since he was a rescue).
Sadly, Jackson died on 8/7 after losing use of his rear legs. The rest of him was fine but the loss of mobility (or to do really anything) depressed him to the point he gave up and stopped eating and drinking.
Cooper Curtis was brought home as a new puppy on Sep 12, 2022. He might be the best behaved and mannered dog we’ve ever known. His recent painful trials with the idiot veterinarian (see Oct ’23 posts under “Critters”) really tested his limits but we spent a solid week watching him very closely, including sleeping on the floor with him! But he got through it like a champ. Cooper is quite the trooper!
Lydia (“Lyddie”) was welcomed as a new puppy on Sep 11, 2023. She and her brother were abandoned on a rural road and an elderly couple brought them to town where Sherry was volunteering. She snatched up this prize and an Amish neighbor took the boy. Although still a puppy with much to learn, she has the look of many Livestock Guardian Dog breeds (LGDs), which would be ideal.
Update 8/8/2024: I should add that now grown, Lyddie greatly missed our projection of her size. She is quite a smallish dog, a little smaller than Cooper, but that doesn’t hold her back at all and she’ll tussle with him all day long.
Cats (?)
Lola and Luther moved here with us from Lakeville. They always wanted to be outdoor cats and finally have their wish with acres to roam and plenty of mice to hunt. They don’t associate with “the ferals” but have merely accepted and tolerate their presence – to the point where they’ll let them eat out of their dish.
Sadly, Lola left us on 6/20/2024 unexpectedly. More on his passing here.
In addition, we had 6 feral cats that were born in our barn early in the spring of last year. This was actually the 2nd litter. The first litter was dropped in the barn the very day we moved in. Feral mama was spooked by us and abandoned them and they all died before we could return with the 2nd load of our stuff. So, feral mama gave us another chance. Unfortunately, she died soon after and is the first critter planted in our pet cemetery.
The kitties are thriving however. We think their numbers have recently dropped to 4 remaining. The one at the top of this pic soon vanished leaving Donald (the orange one) and the other 3 splotchy colored mommas (Lillith, Half & Half and Mrs. Fatty Pants) that continually kick out litters of new kitties – thanks to their brother Donald. We haven’t Donald for a number of weeks so hoping he is gone for good.
Update 8/8: The 3 on the bottom right in the pic above are now our resident feral mamas, who have produced 2 litters so far.
Chickens (13)
The initial flock of 12 chicks (acquired Mar 2023 from our neighbor) resulted in only 4 hens and 8 roosters (too many). 4 roosters have been “processed” (to the freezer – I had to learn it but didn’t enjoy it), 1 died unexpectedly and 3 others were sold at the auction.
the “Bobs” hanging out in the barnyard.
Of the 6 Bobs, only 2 remain.
And the NEW GIRLS. To increase egg production, we’ve recently (Nov 10, 2023) added another flock of 10 additional hens. With the new hens, we are now getting over 50 eggs a week (14 yesterday!) with careful plans to add more.
The next species to be added will probably be 2 or 3 Nigerian Dwarf goats. I am somewhat hesitant because all goats seem to live by trying their best to DIE! I’ve read horror stories of others (with astronomical vet bills) dealing with their issues. In the meantime, Sherry is helping a local farmer with HER herd, and is learning the ropes along the way so we’ll be ready when the time comes.
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Time for an update since there have been some changes.
CHICKENS: Sadly, we recently lost Ruthie unexpectedly. It was in the morning after being let out of the coop to the run. Soon after she was down on the ground but remained upright moving her head and the 2 roos kept “hitting on her”. I’d nudge them off but then we noticed something wasn’t right with Ruthie and she wasn’t trying to flee their advances as the hens usually do. Sherry picked her up and she was visibly in distress by this time and vomiting. She died within minutes. We are suspecting a heart attack but have no way to know for sure. We’ve kept close watch on the others and the rest all seem fine.
Luckily, she was able to have a Viking funeral. Maybe not a real boat but I had a huge brush pile built up with all of the tree work I had been doing and planned to burn it off now that everything has greened up. I added some good sized logs to arrange around her (in the shape of a boat) and set it off. It burned hot and heavy for a good hour and by the time it was all done in the evening, it was simply a small pile of ashes out in our field. I know I should have “processed” her but just didn’t have the bandwidth at the time. She would have been a tasty treat for the dogs and cats (or me) though.
It’s too bad. She was certainly our prettiest hen and a consistent egg producer.
Good bye Ruthie. Thank you for your service.
CATS: BOTH of the feral runts that were abandoned died within days so the mamas know what they are doing. Of the other new kitties (6 remaining), they were ready for new homes as they were much more developed and grown than the runts were and were likely delivered (somewhere hidden) a few weeks before we discovered them, when they all returned for a free meal. We aren’t sure whose is whose as there are at least 2 and maybe 3 mothers – which leaves Donald as the only daddy.
Seeing them eating up their kitty-kibble and nursing less, we decided to gather them all up in a box and Sherry and Luke headed to a busy store parking lot in town. It was amazingly quick and simple and they had given them away within 20 minutes. 5 of them went to a single young family who were delighted with them and the 6th was claimed by Luke. He brought her (I think) back and bonded with her in the camper while he was here. When he returned to MN, he left the kitty behind so she was returned to the feral sister-wife mothers in the barn who immediately took her in and cleaned her up and took turns watching over her. Luke will be taking her home for good when he returns in June.
And now today, Sherry discovered another kitty, hidden in the wall of the barn. This one belongs to the feral we call “Half ‘n Half”. She’d been hanging out in the barn with the chickens, rather than with the rest of the ferals in the store room so we suspected she might have some treasures hidden somewhere. This now confirms that of the 4 remaining feral teenagers we have, 3 are mamas and the 4th (Donald) is the daddy/uncle of many of the newcomers. He is your typical red cat and a majority (but not all) of the kitties shared his look. Obviously, we can’t let this inbreeding continue but at least we now only have 2 kitties to deal with and it is feasible to get the 3 mamas fixed (or we could “lose” Donald but we’d still be vulnerable to other strays impregnating them).
And now sadly, we’ve also lost Cordelia (one of the younger 10 hens from the auction). She just stopped eating for some unknown reason, weakened and died as a result. We also recently hit the auction to purchase 4 more hens (3 more cinnamon queens and an unknown white variety). They are the first occupants of the new middle coop/run. These were introduced to Elmer after a few days, who was the extra rooster with the newer girls in the back coop. We intended to let Lenny (xtra in front coop) have them but Elmer jumped the line and crashed the gate to claim them before Lenny could. Well, of THOSE 4 new birds, only the cinnamons remain. The white one was never right from the get go and died within 4 days of their arrival. So, as of today we are at 4 roosters and 15 hens.
Egg production is down currently (only 5 yesterday) but hearing that’s happening everywhere right now and could be related to the upcoming molt.
The next chicken to depart us was the original “Bob”. He was the flagship of the original 6 “Bobs” we got as young chicks last spring. Of the 6, 1 was “processed” and 3 were sold at auction. Bob was the worlds best flock master. He cared for (too many) 12 cinnamon queen hens we bought at the auction and took great care of them. Always protecting them from the other roosters and continually making sure they all got the good stuff to eat before he allowed himself to have any.
His comb turned dark lately (such a barometer for these creatures) and suddenly got lethargic and stopped eating a drinking. He died overnight and is now being incinerated in the fire pit. That leaves only Gekko remaining of the 6 Bobs.
Gekko is blinded in one eye and not a candidate for mixing with the others so he hangs out just fine with the feral cats. We’ll certainly miss Bob though. He was a gem!
R.I.P. Bob