Not Smart

 It has come to my attention that Junior, the rooster isn’t too smart. Ronnie let the dogs out in the backyard. That’s where they go when we are home. All of our chickens and roosters are free range. Junior decided he would get in the background with the dogs. The dogs aren’t too found of birds and we were still training them to stay away from the chickens. Well, Daisy protects the yard. She attacked Junior. I was not here thank goodness. Ronnie saw what was happening and got Daisy off of Junior. Ronnie said he had no idea how, but Junior got up and Ronnie got him out of the dog yard. Junior went over and sat in a bush for awhile. When I got home, Junior was with the rest of the chickens and seemed fine. This morning he was singing his morning wake up call. He seems fine today. I don’t think Daisy will mess with them anymore. She was in a bit of trouble. Poor Junior, but he is fine also and probably will stay out of the backyard now. 

Smart Chickens

 The night we got here to Texas, or morning I should say since it was 2 am, Ronnie opened up the shop and there sat 2 chickens. I knew the lady we bought the house from was leaving me some chickens but I didn’t know how many or any of that. Not that it mattered but I didn’t know where to look for them. I knew there were more than 2 because Ronnie had been here and said there were more. At this point, there were only 2 I saw and they were in the shop. I was too tired to look for the rest. The next morning I saw the rest. s the days go on, these 2 chickens continue to sleep in the shop. We have 10 chickens and 2 roosters, but those two are the only smart ones. There is a small opening at the back of the shop where they can get in and out. It’s been really cold out, but they are still the only two that sleep in there. The other ones roost in the shelter they have. It’s open on one side away from the north wind. I guess they like it out there. So

, every morning and every evening I get to see Edith and Maude, the two smart ones. They crack me up. They just stare at me. Tonight Maude was being sneaky and trying to eat the pellets from the other animals that we have stored in there. She got caught twice and just looked at me like, what?? They truly are funny like creatures. I am interested to know why those are the only two that sleep in there. 

These Days

 These days are not so different than when I lived in Arkansas. I’m back to working in the medical field which I really did miss. The days can be long and trying but I’m enjoying it. It is different with covid around us and that’s no fun. I will say the weather here is different. I have never been anywhere in my life where the wind blows so hard except maybe when a tornado passes. Good grief the wind blows out here. It does make me concerned about the animals. The chickens have their own spot and it’s out of the way of the north wind, so they should be fine. The donkey and goats gave up on the lean to and have taken up residence in the barn, so last night we made them a cozy spot to sleep in out there. The barn needs some work and there are not too many places in there they can go, but they managed to find a spot that is enclosed enough to stay warm and we put stuff out there for bedding they can crawl into. The pigs have enough shelter to stay out of the wind and if the one area isn’t warm enough, they can all fit into the other one if they would stop fighting for a night. We have put so much straw out there that they can all literally get covered up in it. I still worry though. It’s so cold. I want them to stay warm out there and I know all of them group together to stay warm. I might be worrying for nothing but I took them in to care for them and want to make sure they are cared for. The dogs and cats sleep inside so they are all good. We are getting some shop cats but the shop is enclosed and they will have a spot to curl up in also. 

Update on Romeo

 I am sure most of you know I have had a very sick goat. To be honest with you, I’m not sure how he is still alive. As bad as that sounds, he has been miserable. I do believe in the power of prayer and have been praying for him. This poor goat. I had a vet out before we left Arkansas and was told to just worm him. I had just done that so we thought he was just getting rid of the worms. However, I never

ever saw any worms at all but I know he has problems with them. Back home, I started giving him a power punch for his diarrhea. I was also giving him a probiotic and electrolytes. When we got here, he was still sick. I talked to someone back home who had goats. I gave her the symptoms and said it had been going on a month. She couldn’t believe he was still alive either. Poor Romeo. The other night, Ronnie and I talked some about what we were going to do. I will spare you the details because no one wants to think about it. I sure don’t. Ronnie went and got some stuff for him. We used a different wormer, more power punch, electrolytes, probiotics, a goat French and B 12. Through all of this, Romeo had not stopped eating or drinking. He has now put some weight back on. He is out of the shelter and eating well. He is still skinny and seems to still have some issues, but I think he is on the mend. Finally. The others protect him fiercely. He sure is loved here, so keep up those prayers!! 

Scars

 Do you ever look at someone and think, they have really had it rough? When you see this, do you ever ask them if there is something they need?? Send them a smile or something?? I see scars on people, maybe not physical ones but you can tell if someone has had some emotional trauma, especially if you have been there yourself. Every one of these animals, maybe not all of the chickens, but the rest of them have scars. Emotional and now physical. I know they all haven’t had the best life, some have had good lives, but others haven’t. I went out this weekend and BB (Bacon Bit, I now call BB) had this big white spot on her. I went over to investigate and saw it was a big scar from her and one of the other pigs fighting. I started looking at all of them. Most of them have at least one scar from the introductions before and during moving. It really breaks my heart to have put them through all of that. Then I think, it would have been much worse if I had made a commitment to keep them and then didn’t. I just hate that they now have physical scars on them but I know it could have been much worse if I had not brought them with me. If you see someone hurting, let them know you care. This world is full of people who have no one and just knowing you care really does help. 

Pig’s rooting

 If you keep up with this blog, I stated in an earlier post that there is about an acre or so where we would love for the pigs to graze and roam. At this time, the fencing needs to be fixed and we are still trying to settle in. It will happen but it may be spring or so when the days get longer. At this moment they are in a pen, but it is bigger than what they had. There were some pens already set up closer to the house but there was no grass there so we put them somewhere that had some grass. Looking back on it, that probably was a little silly since it literally took them 3 days to root up every bit of grass there was in that pen. They are rooting up all kinds of stuff that was buried in there. They sure are funny little things. It definitely keeps them busy and occupied. There is no mud out there which I am grateful for. It is soft dirt. I go out every morning and night and every time I do they have rooted out another pig wallow. They crack me up for sure. I never knew having a pig...or nine would be so entertaining. 

The House

 A couple of people have asked about what we ended up buying here in Texas. Ronnie and I looked for months and months for a place. We had 2 contracts that fell through during this process. I am sure they fell through because it just wasn’t the right place. I really didn’t care what the house looked like as long as there was space for all the animals. I happened to stumble on a place that was not even in the area where I was looking. Well, that was the place. I will spare you all the details, but a contract had to fall through on the house before we could see it. That obviously did happen since we ended up buying it. So, we bought an old farmhouse we 47 acres. I could not be more happy. The house needs some updating and cosmetic stuff but it’s really cute. The barn needs work but there is a barn. There is also a smaller lean to for some animals. The woman we bought the place from left me roosters and chickens and they have their own spot. There is also a shop for Ronnie. This place is going to be so amazing when we get finished. I’m excited. It’s very homey and we are happy here. Now to get more animals. Hahaha!!!