Double Trouble

 If you haven’t seen my post about the missing eggs, here is another one. As I’m sure you have seen I thought the chickens had stopped laying eggs because of the weather or they had hidden them so well I couldn’t find them. It’s definitely that they hid them. I had not been able to find them and then I started missing chickens, 2 of them, Edith and Suzie Q. Ronnie found Suzie Q and Edith a few days ago. Now, Suzie Q is laying on about 2 dozen eggs. Apparently, when she isn’t laying on them, Edith is. They are the double trouble. I just keep thinking with the week I had, I will leave all of them alone because I might lose that battle. I’ve had enough of that this week. I’m also thinking, what the heck am I going to do with 2 more dozen chickens?? I already have 2 dozen chicken roaming the property. That would be crazy. I guess we will see what happens. They have never sat on their eggs like this before so I am assuming they are hatching them out. This should be interesting. 

Jelly

 It’s been a week and a day with a rough encounter and lots of hiding for Jelly. He has not really want to interact and has stayed hidden most of the time. I walked out to the shop a few minutes ago and was saying hello to Peanut Butter who always runs out to greet me. The next thing I know, Jelly is running out of hiding toward me to get petted on. That made my day right there. He didn’t leave my side while I was out there. I knew he just needed time to adjust. I’m so happy he now knows I’m not out to hurt him and he has a home here. 

Rough Encounter

 If things were not bad enough this week… Jelly did find his way out of the shop. However, I was not sure he knew how to get back in. I new I couldn’t find him in the shop. Then Ronnie sent me a pic of him outside. I came out and he was hiding in some tall weeds and they just happened to have thorns on them. I pick him up and start to take him through the gate to get him back in the shop and give him some food. What I didn’t think about were the dogs on the other side of the gate. When Jelly realized there were dogs around him, he freaked out more than I have ever seen in my life. I was holding him and then I felt claws in my arm as he jumped out of my arms and onto my head and then jumped off my head and jumped across 4 dogs and ran to the porch with the dogs chasing him. This cat scaled the wall, no lie and no exaggeration. The dogs were trying to get to him. I’m not sure if he bit me or not since everything happened so fast, but as Ronnie was yelling at the dogs, I grabbed a very scared cat and carried him quickly back to the shop. He jumped down and hid as soon as we got back into the shop. Now, I am not upset with Jelly. Jelly was in survival mode and with him not adjusting well to this home anyway I knew he was only doing what he could. I was bleeding everywhere, my hands, my face, my arms. It seemed bad. Of course once I got everything cleaned up, I thought I would be fine. I wrapped my arm up since it was still bleeding some and went to work. My face just had a few small stops on it. No big deal. Well, a few hours later, I knew that I needed to see a doctor after showing some nurses my wounds. I was swelling and there was a lot of redness. I also started having some pain and having difficulty using my hand due to swelling. Here was the problem, I had not been established with a doctor here yet. I was able to get into the walk in clinic which I didn’t know we had. Thank goodness we do. By 12:30 when I got to the doctor, I was still having a bit of bleeding. You should have seen the looks I got. I know I don’t think things through sometimes and that morning with Jelly was one of those times. Anyway, I got me a tetanus shot and some heavy antibiotics. I am going to be fine. It is looking better everyday. Poor Jelly, when I got home, he was hiding, the next morning he was still in the same spot. He did interact with me yesterday when I got home and it was almost like he was saying I’m sorry. Poor guy. He will be just fine here. I just feel it. He will adjust, it’s just taking more time than Peanut Butter. Again, I am going to say, it was just Jelly in survival mode. He is not a mean cat and it was not his intention to hurt me. I am not looking to get rid of him. This will be his last home. That’s why I adopted him. Not everything is supposed to be easy. Everything you do in life, you learn from. I may have learned the hard way that Jelly didn’t need me to step in and he would have found his way back into the shop. He was almost there anyway. 

Free Range Chickens

 This week I have been missing two chickens. I looked for them for several days and could not find them. They could have been anywhere. I even went out to check on their roosting spot at night and had to realize that having free range chickens means that they go anywhere and if there is a predator out there, they are at risk. I could not find them and they were not roosting in their spot so I had to come to the realization they were gone. I was sad. A couple days later, Edith and Susie Q were hanging out with the other chickens. I couldn’t believe it. Now, where have they been?? Remember the lost eggs that couldn’t be found?? Apparently these chickens are sitting on top of I’m not really sure how many but a bunch. I am not going to mess with those eggs. I’m not sure how long they have been there and normally the chickens lay them and leave them, but not this time, so we will see what happens there. It’s never a dull moment around here. 

Injured chicken update

 My injured chicken has been hiding in the small goat pen to heal. She was there for several days and only got out to eat a little, drink some water and go back in there. Poor girl. She has been limping and not looking good. I knew to leave her alone and just let her do her thing. Well, I went to check on her late the other night and she is feeling good enough to go back to her chicken herd. She was roosting with them like normal. Looks like she is back to her old self. It’s things like this that make me happy. I’m so glad she is doing okay. I hate when any of these guys aren’t feeling well. 

PB&J update

 An update on the recently adopted cats. First off, I love them. Earl seems to be accepting them well and the hissing between them has stopped. Earl roams the property but I have kept Peanut Butter and Jelly in the shop so they know where they live at this time. Once they figure out how to get out, which they can at anytime and how to get back, which they can at any time, they can stay in the shop or roam around. I want them to be able to be comfortable with where they are before I let them loose. Which I won’t do, but I know cats like to roam. Peanut Butter seems happy in the shop. There is plenty of food and water and fans keeps it cool in there. He is opening up and loving the attention when I go sit out there with them. He has a bed he has decided is his and hangs out there. He roams the shop when he wants to but he is adjusting really well. Jelly is not adjusting well. He hides all of the time and seems uncomfortable with human interaction. He does fine with the cats. When I come into the shop, he just hides. I know there is an adjustment period and he is scared. I’m trying to give him space but I also try to make sure he is eating and drinking. He is really skinny but he was a small cat anyway. I’m hoping he comes out of his fear soon. I know it takes time. 

Kicked

 So, this week has been a rough one. I am posting these stories to show that having all of these animals is not always easy. At the end of the day, they are still animals and have a mind of their own.  I think it was Monday evening. Ronnie wasn’t home yet when I got home so I went out to start feeding. I knew Jeb, the horse had started to get food aggressive for some reason since he had been in a small pen for a few days after his last vet visit. I brought out the food and somehow got in between Jeb and Noma. Apparently Jeb had accepted Noma and Cracker Jack into his herd. He is good aggressive toward us humans to make sure they get food. I have never seen that. Anyway, I was pouring out the food and Jeb was on my right, Noma and Cracker Jack walked up onto my Left. I was leaving the area, but not fast enough. Jeb didn’t want me in between him and Noma. I saw his food coming up but I couldn’t get out of the way fast enough and got kicked. Since I knew it was coming I was able to angle my body to where I got kicked right in the rear end. I knew another one was coming if I didn’t get out of the way so I ran out of there. I am okay. There is a nice bruise on my backside but I will refrain from showing you that. I was so shocked about what had just happened. He doesn’t want much to do with me right now. I’m not mad at him, I knew to be careful. At least I got out of the way. We have a new way of feeding so that doesn’t happen again. Yes, he is getting fixed, the vet checks him often to see if he is old enough to be able to be fixed. We are waiting.