Donkey Hole #2 -- You've Got To Be Kidding

Please read previous post.
Then view this photo.  No smirking or laughing or tee-heeing allowed.  Not even a little bit.

Yes, hole number two.  
Mistake number one -- leave town for the weekend.

Upon our return Sunday we find this doozy.  About one week after hole #1.

All donkey barn sides have now been covered in fencing.

No pardners, there'd better be no more chewing in this town.  Or Rick'll have yer hides.

Alice Through the Donkey Hole

A couple of days ago I went out for the morning donkey and chicken ritual (which has gotten a lot more complicated by the way with the arrival of sweet Alice) and what did I see.

A nice big hole in the back of the donkey shed.  I do think I stood there transfixed for a few minutes, not quite processing this sight.

The view from the back side

And a nice big fat close-up.

What in the world!  Never before have I encountered this with the donks.  I returned to the house and told carpenter Rick about it. I postulated either the donkeys had done some heavy partying in the shed overnight (with adult beverages), a non-donkey critter had gotten in and they had gone after it or there had been a major dispute and someone had taken out their displeasure on the wall.  After he had viewed the hole with a professional eye, Rick said, no, that hole was eaten.  EATEN!

Let me repeat, in the six years I've had the donks this has never occurred.

On the morning of Day 2 I reported to Rick that the hole was now yet bigger.
That afternoon it was repaired.

Oh yes, with fencing covering it this time.
I do need to add that before the hole was repaired, the chickens were delighting in hopping through on their daily walkabout.

Now, the really funny part was Alice's reaction to the repair.  (And, yes, I think we may have found the vandal.)  I found her standing in the shed just staring at the patch.  Next I saw her outside staring at the patch, then she walked back in.  Luigi joined her and perhaps they were conferencing about this new development.  I didn't stay long enough to check it out.

I took advantage of one of the many Facebook donkey groups to inquire if others had experienced the same thing.  Whoa, you betcha!  There were a few solid suggestions involving supplements, covering the shed with metal, and providing tree branches for chewing.

We may eventually try them all.

One final note.  We now have a blue shed, yellow coop door and big green patch.  Definitely a kaleidoscope of colors.

Helpful Chickens

A few days ago it was time to clean out the chicken coop.  Remove soiled shavings and replace with clean, pine scented ones.

Silly me.

Did I scoot the chickens into the outside pen and lock them out of the coop?  No.  They were allowed outside privileges into the donkey yard and pasture.  Ignoring their freedom, they were instead fascinated with my duties and preferred to stay underfoot the entire time.

Each pitchfork full of dirty shavings was examined as was the bare coop floor.
Then came time to replenish the shavings.
Helpful hens again...

I did manage to get the clean shavings in place, in spite of my helpers.
However, the allure of the hay aisle where I also happen to keep the shavings bags was pretty powerful.  It called liked a siren's song to all four.

Such silly clucks.  They are a source of my daily amusement.

Meds, meds and more meds when a girl founders

Over the past 24 years I've never had a horse or donkey founder.  So when Alice arrived at our home, pretty stiff-legged, and I called the vet, wasn't sure what to expect.

His diagnosis was that she had foundered, many times, in the recent past.And so began the meds.

This was our box of goodies on the kitchen counter for over a week.

Banamine, isoxsuprine tablets to be dissolved in a little water and put into one of the syringes, and DMSO in the other syringe.

After about 10 days on this routine I saw a little improvement, but not enough to feel good about her status.  Back out came the vet. He thought she had improved 60-70%.  Really?  But you know how hard it is to measure progress when you see your beasts every day.  We were able to ditch the banamine and the DMSO but she's currently on the isoxsuprine once a day (down from 2x daily).

I have to give the girl a pat on the back.  It seemed we were shoving meds into her every time we saw her and she never balked.  Our other three would not have been quite so accommodating, I dare say.

The donkey rescue had said she was an even tempered sweetie and boy were they right.
Doesn't she have a little of that woe-begone look that everyone loves on Luigi?

Keep your fingers crossed that she keeps a steady improvement.

Alice Joins the Donkey Herd

Rescue donkey, Alice, has been with us for just over a week.  And I'm fascinated with progress in her acclimation and her integration into our little herd.  Just fascinated.

 



When she arrived, the gang carefully checked her out.  Luigi was particularly fascinated with one anatomical area.

Early on, while the girls were either ignoring her or threatening her with alienation, Luigi was chaperoning her out to the pasture.  And over the next couple of days if she didn't immediately come out into the pasture, he would call to her, there'd be a short conversation and she'd wander out.

Now she seems to be buddying up to Fran.  One minute Fran is kicking out at her to cut her out of the carrot action and the next minute they're sharing a hay pile.  Girls, girls, girls.

She's a little bigger than our three.  Look at those giant ears.

But a sweet face indeed.

This afternoon, Alice wasn't posing well for her photo shoot.  On the other hand, Luigi was more than cooperative.

Preventing Chicken Escapes

Recently I did a little bragging on Facebook that my husband could build just about anything and fix just about anything (well, no, I don't let him near my Nikon...)  And the proof is in the pudding.

You may remember that our high-tech chicken escape mechanism was two sheets draped over the fence.  If the wind blew the sheets a little to one side, or worse yet completely off, chickens could easily scoot under the fence and have full access to the great outdoors.  Not advisable with two dogs running in the same area.

Here is the chicken blockade Rick came up with that works wonderfully well.  You can see it propped against the fence off to the left

When slid into place, little independent hens can't slither under the gate -- and yes, I have seen them do it.

Isn't it nifty?

Alice, Sweet Alice -- A New Long-Ear

Regular readers (and I love you all dearly) will remember the tale of two BLM burros who were to join our critterdom.

Without all the details of the whys and why nots, it was not a good fit.  Instead Crossroads Donkey Rescue adopted "my" BLM burros and I'm adopting their Alice.

In August we arranged a meet and greet and I drove a couple of hours north to see the girl.

What a sweetie.















If things go according to plan, she'll be joining the crew soon.
I've spoken to the three troublemakers about this impending change to their domicile, but haven't gotten much feedback. The two girls will just have to share Luigi.

More story and photos will be shared when she arrives.