Alice, Donkey Power

It's been a heck of a week.
One of my whacked out knees got even more whacked out and I've been babying it with ice, rest, a knee brace, more ice, anti-inflamatories, more rest.
Finally I see some progress.

Rick has been mostly tending to the donks and clucks, except in the mornings.  I refused to relinquish that lovely time of day; it's my favorite time to commune with the bunch.  Feeding, spraying fly repellent, even cleaning up manure with more than enough help from the chickens.  Its all good.

As a result of all this inaction I must rely on a small story I've wanted to relay for a couple of weeks now.
Dear Alice.

I've mentioned before that she gets soaked beet pulp in the  mornings.  When we first started this routine, and for a few weeks, I had to trek over, interrupt her breakfast of hay,  throw a lead line over her neck and coerce her to come to the shed for her "treat".  Then, it got so I could just call her and after five or six repeats of "Alice, Alice-badallas", she'd saunter over to the shed.

Now, dear Alice, tells me when its time for beet pulp and oh yes, let's me know she's ready.  Sometimes its understated and she'll just hang out in the shed staring at the bowl and sometimes it's a little more vocal reminder.  "Where is it!"  And when she sounds the call, I'm well trained, stop what I'm doing and get her beet pulp.

  Dear little Alice

Losing Golda

We lost little Golda today.

The back story:
I was riding my bike in the "neighborhood" and when I returned noticed the chickens had been locked up in their small outside pen.
That's odd.
When I left they were in the donkey pasture, with the donks.

Then I turned to manure duty.
Rick came out to the gate and explained that while I was gone, he heard the chickens in a ruckus and found Golda back in the corner by the fence.
No idea what predator would have been out in the middle of the afternoon.  It would have had to jump the fence - front gate was blocked off so hens couldn't escape.

I will miss the little girl.  

She was my carry-around while chatting buddy.  

Good-bye sweet Golda.

Cheap Socks = Fly Protection

My intention for this day's blog post was a creative fly protection idea I read of on Facebook.  But, of course, in the meantime I now have other miscellaneous items to report on.

Firstly the flies.

So often Facebook is maligned as a frivolous waste of time.  Au contraire I say.  I belong to several donkey groups on FB and find many of the suggestions quite useful.  This is one of them.
Dollar store children's socks to cover fly-bitten donkey legs.

 Here Luigi shows off his new pair of socks.  I selected the smallest size athletic sock the store had and got two pair for my $1 package.  Cut off the toes and voila.  They do slide down a bit during the day, but absolutely nothing works well.  Not even the made-to-order expensive sets I purchased last year.  The problem with those was the velcro that wrapped around the leg stuck so darn well, I really struggled to get them off.  And I mean struggled. I'm more pleased with these cheapie socks for the moment.

Not to be outdone, Alice shows off her beauties as well.

One of my side stories involves the ever feisty Gabariella.  Today when I called the donkeys off the pasture, Alice and Gabby came in first.  I can only take a wild guess as to what happened, but as Gabs moved off toward the donkey barn, she started bellowing like a house afire.  Not your typical donkey bellow.  Luigi and Fran came running in from the pasture on the fly, so clearly it was a come help me bellow, although I didn't believe she was in distress.  It only lasted a (long) minute or so and then all was quiet.  When I checked on her munching hay in the barn, all appeared OK.  

Lordy.

And then, there is the milkweed.

Not pretty you say.

But, good golly oh so very fragrant.

Ahhh...  

Buffy the Chicken, Computers, and Life

My intention was to update you on Buffy (the hen) and her integration into the flock of four other nutty chickens.  But I need to diverge for just a quick moment.

Technology!

My desktop was out of commission for almost two weeks and I was beside myself with worry.  Of course I hadn't been diligent in backing up photos, documents, music, etc.  (yes, that is now high on the list).  I was so afraid I had lost emails concerning an upcoming BIG trip.  And on it went...  I'm sure you understand.

I'm now back in the 21st century but I'm reflecting on my dependence on this darn computer. Something is just not right with this picture.  I'm mulling.

Back to the topic at hand.  Buffy St. Marie.

This will give you a sense of where we stand with Buffy entering the fold.  Right as rain!

Typical picture of the girls hunkering down for evening sleep (I had to turn on the overhead light which explains why it's so darn bright at dusk).  Five girls cozying up on top of the nesting boxes.

I'd say it was about the three-week mark where Buffy started really following the routine, including me calling the girls for treats and to come in off the donkey pasture.  Until then, it was a pain in the royal derriere to try to gather her in.  Now she's johnny-on-the-spot AND loves the morning banana treat.  She had previously turned up her nose and asked why the other four were turning cartwheels over the stuff.

So, all is right with the world, at least for this precious moment.    

Summer Unfolds at SASHA Farm

This week's visit to SASHA Farm Sanctuary was unusually pleasant.  "Well, isn't that interesting", you murmur and add "pray tell, why would that be?".

Allow me to set the scene.

It has been an unusually warm week for May in Michigan.  So, yes, doing chores at the farm was more perspiration-laden than normal.  BUT, two high school interns were on the scene assisting, which meant we had more time to wipe our brows and sweet-talk our favorite babies.

The indirect bonus of more time = photos!

no caption really needed

 

sure wish I knew this cutie's name

As gorgeous as this donkey face is and as much as I'd love to give him some hugs, he does not like to be handled.  So we must admire from afar.

 I think we all feel like this from time to time

In the midst of cleaning out the geese pools, I snuck a shot

If you look closely, the co-mingling of goats and geese comes into focus

Last, but most certainly not least, there is Tod.  Apparently he jumped the fence between the cows and pigs and felt more comfortable with the latter.  And that is where we found him - blocking the pig pasture gate.  Every week I find someone new to fall in love with and Tod won me over on this visit.

A nice profile shot is always handy for the portfolio. 

Buffy St. Marie, aka our new chicken

Yes, we're up to five now.  Chickens that is.

Doug, the local bread bakery owner, lost two of his girls to we-don't-know-what-but-it-might-have-been-a-hawk-or-a-fox within a week and didn't want to keep the third girl locked up, miserable but safe.  So, he asked if I wanted another hen.  OK, I said.

Never having introduced a stranger to the flock, I consulted with my chicken mentor and she suggested placing the newbie in a cage within the coop.  The regulars could see her, smell her, talk to her, but not get into any tussles.  Aha!  I'm acquainted with that technique with equines, so it all made sense. Rick said, why not the dog kennel we're not using -- brilliant! -- nice and big.

Buffy arrived Saturday afternoon and stayed in the dog kennel until this morning, Monday.  As I opened the kennel door to get her food and water bowls (now on the top of the cage), she escaped. She wanted no part of that darn kennel anymore.

(I thought Sweet Pea was my linebacker, but Buffy now gets the title, She's a big-un.)

Anyway, when she escaped the kennel and ran out into the donkey yard, where the rest of the girls were, Golda charged her a few times but then seemed to settle.  I chastised Golda each time, and I know you won't believe me, but she stopped.

The hens was confined to the coop and pen until this afternoon when everyone was released for free-range time,
Ruby and Buffy fraternized for a bit.














However, when I went out later to pull the donks in from the pasture and gather the girls back into the chicken pen, Buffy was in the coop on top of the dog kennel.  I guess that's her safe spot for the time being.  So we don't have integration yet, but I'm hoping in a couple of days, she'll get the lay of the land and feel more comfortable.

By-the-by, she was already named Buffy and we decided her full name as Buffy St. Marie fit better with Ruby Dee and Emmy Lou than Buffy the Vampire Killer.  Don't you agree...  

Donkeys Oh So Eager for The Spring Pasture

A couple of days ago I sat with four donkey nuts on the driveway so they could get their fix of green grass.  When I first started doing this  a few years ago, I had to string a rope across the driveway to ensure there were no escapees (a few times they did escape and it was no easy feat getting them to leave the across-the-street neighbor's lawn).  But now they seem to know and respect the rules.  I take a chair, a short whip and a book, and keep an eye out while reading.

 It's just a tad too early to let them out on the pasture.  Looks nice and green from a distance.

But when you get up close... a different story.

Weedy and not so lush.

 We've worked so hard on the pasture and never seem to get ahead.  Yes, we threw seed in the sparse patches in March, but don't see much reward for the labor and money spent.

As I strolled around the pasture, everyone was on high alert.  Donks and chickens alike.

l-r:  Ruby Dee, Sweet Pea, Emmy Lou, Golda

And here's the whole gang

 Just keep your shorts on little donkeys, only another week or two...