Scruffy Goat

Spring is definitely here, and summer fast approaching.  In fact, our high temperatures for the days are in the mid-80s this week.

That means all the critters are losing their winter fluff.

Our little goat doe is a cashmere cross.  Funny thing though, it’s only been the last couple of years she’s really had a lot of the cashmere.  Maybe it’s because she was always pregnant for twins during the previous winters, and there weren’t enough nutrients left over to grow a lot of wooly cashmere!

For whatever reason, she has a good bit now, and it’s all shedding out. . .

She looks a little ragged.  If I were a spinner, I’d be out there combing out that nice cashmere.  But I’ve done it in the past and paid with 2 or 3 days of higher pain levels.

So she just stays scruffy until it all combs out on its own, or she rubs against the fence to pull it out.

Goodbye Roosters!

We had a bunch of roosters running around here by the end of last summer.  We’ve been gradually gathering them up and putting them in a pen by themselves.  Our method is to wait until they go to roost at night, then I shine a light in their eyes to kind of blind them while The Farmer sneaks up and grabs them by the legs.

This works if he gets the legs.  It’s not so good if he misses and gets feathers.  We have a couple of bob-tailed roosters running around from the latest round-up. . . all those tail feathers just came off in his hands.

I advertised and had a guy come to pick up the roosters this past Saturday morning.  He wanted 12.  We had more than 12 in the pen.  But then we noticed one of them wasn’t a rooster.  Yikes!  It is not good to be the only hen in a pen full of roosters!

However, in the process of trying to catch her and let her out, one of the roosters darted past us both on his way to freedom.  sigh. . .

Well, there were still 12 roosters left.  When the guy came The Farmer went in the pen and started catching the roosters, handing them to me, and then I chunked them in the cage.  The guy was supposed to slap the lid shut.  The first one he didn’t do fast enough and the rooster flew out.

And now there were 11. . .

We finally got those 11 caught and in the cage.

After admiring our peafowl and other critters, the other farmer headed out with his cage full of 12-1=11 roosters.

I was not sorry to see them go.  They were pretty, but other than being ornamental, they were a nuisance.  Too much testosterone of the farm.

There’s still half a dozen here, so maybe this weekend we’ll do another rooster round-up!

Rooster Take-Off

I looked out this morning to see one of the roosters getting ready to jump from the top of a gate. . .

Usually they run through a hole in the fence, but the roosters like to sit up on the gates to crow.  That means eventually it’s time to jump off!

Guinea Fowl Bird Feeder

The chickens and guineas like to gather under the wild bird feeders because some of the little birds knock a lot of seed out. The house sparrows are especially bad at throwing out a bunch of seed when they’re getting something to eat.

Once in a while both the chickens and guineas are there, but more often they take turns.  Sometimes it’s the chickens. . .

And sometimes it’s the guineas.

And sometimes one of the guineas gets impatient, and wants more seed RIGHT NOW!!!  So he takes matters into his own … wings?  beak?
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If the seed isn’t falling fast enough, I guess you give the feeder a little bump and it spills out quicker.  Seed on demand as it were.

There’s always one smart aleck in the bunch.

Even More Fowl Spring

The wild birds aren’t the only ones looking for a mate. Our peacocks are also strutting their stuff, trying to catch the lady peahens attention.

What a lot of people don’t realize is that this pretty boy doesn’t just show off his plumage.  Nope, he also shakes and rattles his feathers, so they sound a lot like maracas.

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The junior peacock also tries to strut around and impress the ladies, but I’m afraid he just hasn’t got enough plumage yet to really “wow” them.

He’s only a couple of years old, so his feathers don’t match the old dudes.  I’d guess his feathers are only about half as long as the older peacocks.

He’s a cheeky little devil for all that, but the girls still aren’t paying much attention to him.

That’s all right.  His time will come!