Whoa Big Fella

Sneaky cold mornings

whinnyL — Fri, 13 Jan 2012 06:14:54 +0000

It has been so warm that I put away the miles of electrical cords & unplugged the horses water buckets. Well this morning it was well below freezing! Quickly plugged in chicken water heaters, sheep trough & horse buckets. Stocked up on extra buckets of water. It’s tough work hauling buckets from the house because the hose is frozen. I’m ready…it can now warm up again!

To darn smart

whinnyL — Fri, 23 Dec 2011 12:58:04 +0000

Centara did it again. Figured out how to open her stall door. It appears she had a great time wandering the barn and causing mayhem in the chicken feed, dumped over their water and moved on to the sheep area. Of course she sampled grain here and there but settled down to spending the larger part of the day to grazing outside the barn. The stall latch is complicated but now I’ve added a hasp latch with clip. It looks like Fort Knox, while feeding in the morning she was sure testing it when her grain was gone. What a naughty horse.

Frozen hose

whinnyL — Mon, 21 Nov 2011 04:50:56 +0000

Today was the first time of the season to do morning chores and the hoses ere frozen. I already have one chicken water plugged in so it won’t freeze but had not counted on temps going low enough to freeze the hose. The day was sunny so that went the right way. Tonight the reports are for rain so I hope it was a freak drop in temps.

Dark Mornings

whinnyL — Fri, 23 Sep 2011 13:59:46 +0000

It will only get darker.. the time of year I really don’t care for. Dark out when I am up and feeding. Heck, my chickens are not even up when I go out to the barn. Just a few weeks ago they were up and waiting for me in the early morning daylight. I sure hope there is a time change that will set something to rights even if it only for a few more weeks.

Oregon State Fair

whinnyL — Fri, 26 Aug 2011 04:11:21 +0000

It’s fair time again… State Fair to the South in Oregon. The Katahdins show on Monday. We were not able to work that much time off into the schedule so we are not there but many friends are. If you get the chance go to the fair and feed that inner child an elephant ear and corn on the cob!

Summer is warming up and winding down

whinnyL — Thu, 25 Aug 2011 03:51:08 +0000

Well this past week or so has finally been hot and sunny. Usually cooler in the mornings the clouds have been burning off for a very sunny and warm afternoon. Last Sat was I believe the hottest day so far. We ventured along the Columbia River to Skamokawa to take in their county fair. Very small and home spun, its always very enjoyable to take in the crafts, hobbies and the livestock. The lambs are now getting to that age where its time to wean them from their mamma and offer them to new homes.

Katahdin Lamb

Baby lambs, baby chicks… it’s spring!

whinnyL — Thu, 24 Mar 2011 03:07:41 +0000

It’s been a busy week! Two of the ewes have lambed so we have 3 adorable young kids running and playing. A joy to watch. The newest lamb was born on St. Patrick’s so she’s been named Guinness going into the weekend it was day 21 for he eggs in the incubator. Started hatching and we have 8 that hatched. The largest number from one group to hatch were my foreigners eggs shipped from San Diego. LF Lemon Blue Cochin’s. Next up will be Blue Laced Red Wyandottes from Idaho. They should arrive in time to set by the weekend.

Incubating shipped chicken eggs

whinnyL — Sat, 26 Feb 2011 05:51:32 +0000

The latest project is incubating shipped chicken eggs. This batch of 14 are Cochin from San Diego. Just set them in the Brinsea 20 ECO. Letting it come back up to temp. Along with the shipped eggs I added Cream Brabanter from the home flock as well as volunteer American X & Cuckoo Maran X (sexlink) eggs.

Brinsea 20 ECO warming up

Swabbing chickens

whinnyL — Mon, 14 Feb 2011 14:02:56 +0000

Signed up to participate in the Wa State program that monitors chickens for avian influenza. Good to know there has not been a positive case in domestic chickens. It was very enlightening to see how you get a chicken to say aaaahhhh and get it’s mouth swabbed. The program is free. If your interested in signing up contact the State Avian Health office in Olympa, WA.

Turned around and there they were!

whinnyL — Tue, 01 Feb 2011 15:18:52 +0000

I was so surprised and delighted to see the bulbs peeking out of the ground! Spring is here! It has been so cold, wet & soggy for so long that just seeing these daffodils working hard to show that its the time of renewal and brighter days to come… and I do mean brighter, I am so tired of darkness morning and night.