Musical Shelter and Pens

The goats and cows got new surroundings as well. The goats took over the cow's shelter and Scott even got them some feed dishes after researching and finding out they like to eat food up off the ground (who knew?). Sedona is staying in her pen slightly more often than not, but even when she doesn't, she just follows Scott around like a puppy, even coming into the barn! She will be the easier of the two to milk, that's for sure!
We are working on little miss Mocha though (a.k.a. Kiera for her underbite similarity to Ms. Knightly).

And, since the cows didn't mind too much giving up their shade, but mind a little bit more watching the goats eat hay that they could be eating....they have their own new spacious living quarters...

Don't worry for them though, Scott is working on building them their own (mini-cow size) shelter! And, they are fed aplenty.

Chickenitis

What a weekend!
Saturday started off with some pretty lengthy chicken wrangling, trying to get the chickens, yes, all 11 of them, including Rooster Bob, into the Chicken Palace. You would think they would WANT to be in there, as nice as Scott made it! Scott and I tried for about a half hour in the morning, and then I headed off to my mounted shooting, and left the deed to Scott, Cal & Marcy...and they got the job done! When they went out to start their wrangling later in the morning, 9 of them were already in, so Cal shut the door and Marcy and Scott got to wrangling...they were able to catch the slippery little suckers and get them in. Here they are, and you can also see the renovations Scott & Cal made...
 New windows...

Spacious nesting box accomodations...

And nice airy roosting bars for perching and resting...

Once all the chickens were snuggly in their palace, it was time to move the pullets out to their new humble abode...

Now that everyone is out, we have room to hatch and brood our little egg! Saturday evening to our delight, we saw a new crack in our incubating egg...

So we watched and we watched, and we cheered it on...PECK PECK PECK!!

And then we told it to PUSH PUSH PUSH...and out it came!!

Well, it's certainly not too cute coming out, so we let it stay in the incubator for the recommended 24 hours...and voila...!!

Now that's better!! Scott named HER Stewart...haha....she is still drying but can you imagine...all these pictures were in the span of 24 hours...time really does fly!

What a weekend!

Houdini wannabe

Well our new little dynamic duo (goats) are getting more friendly and comfortable, maybe a little TOO comfortable...! Tom warned us that little Sedona was an escape artist and he wasn't kidding! Scott, Cal and Marcy had to round her up twice after she rolled under the fence. So, out to the cow pasture with them! They are now kicking it with the 3 Amigas (Rosie, Jewel & Ginger). Scott found some real nice 4 way hay and drove into the pasture to put it in the Barn, and Sedona followed him right in, checking out the place! Little does she know, this will be her future milking station, so get used to it!

Speaking of getting more comfortable and friendly...the Spice Girls (the little chickens) now allow us to pet them and hang out on Scott's arm without jumping away. They are almost ready to get out of their little brooding pen and out into the chicken coop, which will be just in time, because if all goes well, our incubating egg should hatch this weekend, and we will need the brooder for the little chick! Any guesses on what it will look like?? White Leghorn (White) / Barred Rock (Black & White striped) cross...

Working Weekend

Well this weekend was HOT, but that didn't stop us from working on the Farm. Joined by Alberto, Nick & Matt, we tackled the daunting task of building a 10' X 10' wood shed...aka "The Chicken Palace"

In the chicken's expansive courtyard around their palace, it became necessary to do some landscaping and fence building to give them a "storage area", so Alberto built a beautiful redwood fence just for that purpose

Since the Palace was such a feat in itself, the gate to the storage facilities will need to be completed by Scott. As you can see, little miss Rhode Island Red is checking out the workmanship (or looking for leftovers)

And to complete the weekend, first we had a fun morning of mounted shooting practice at Raahaugee's in Norco where Champ and I ran patterns and dry fired, learning more and more from our friends with the SoCal CMSA, and taking things slowly (since we tend to rush, it was a good experience for us). Then Tom and Sunni came through again, providing us with 2 female goats for future milking prospects - Mocha and Sedona. Here they are in their new crib...

Bomber and Moxy think they are loads of fun too because they RUN...! Going to have to nip THAT in the bud...This morning it was drizzling, which gave the girls a little shower, which never hurt nobody...

Barn prepping

We have moved the chicks into their own "brooding room" equipped with chairs for us to sit with them...

And we have even cleared out an area to be the designated milking area, with a bench seat, a bucket and a grain bowl...

Joining in the Farming fun

Cal and Marcy are back in town and have joined in on the fun. Farmer Cal is mowing it up getting the front grass trimmed down...

The girls are very appreciative as well of Cal's mowing...they say moooooooorrrreee please!!

Garden Maiden Marcy trimming the trees...

Pole dancing

The Spice Girls are loving the roosting bar Scott made and put in. They are getting bigger, soon they will be ready to get out and play!

They are getting much calmer about being picked up and held too. We are planning on making these tame girls...Oh, and the egg we are incubating looks like its got something growing inside, how exciting! It would be a Barred Rock/White Leghorn cross...what would that be? A Barhorn? Legrock? Hmmm...