Good Bye to Hazel

Today in Eastern Michigan we are watching the weather closely.  The edges of hurricane Sandy are going to impact us with high winds.  Its 40 degrees with drizzle and the winds are already strong.  I went out a bit ago to fill a big 20 gallon tub with water in the barn in case the power goes out.  I shut the chickens inside but most of the ducks were still out at the pond.  The turkeys are smart enough to stand inside out of the wind.  I worry that our new tarp roof  over the chicken run is going to come off but there is nothing I can do about it. 

 Last Thursday we finally had our 17 year old dog Hazel put down.  It was a very hard decision for us.  She was still eating well but had wasted to skin and bones.  She could not get up on her own and could only walk a little when we got her up.  She was always wetting her bed and although we knew she tried to get up and out to poop she seldom made it.  We would get up with her several times a night as she cried until we did.  Often she just wanted to be lifted up so she could wander aimlessly around for a few minutes. 

On Thursday it was warm and sunny and while I cleaned up the mess she made inside she managed to get outside through the dog door.  I found her sleeping in the sun so I left her there until just before we got ready to take her to the vet.  I wanted them to come here but one vet didn’t do that and the other local vet wanted more than $100 to do it, which we couldn’t afford.  I had made the appointment on Wednesday after Steve and I discussed it for hours. 

We both felt bad but it wasn’t like if we waited that she would get better.  I felt that it wouldn’t be too long before she passed anyway but I also thought she might linger for many days more.  Maybe it was selfish but Steve and I hadn’t had a good nights sleep in weeks because of getting up with her and it was depressing us too. 

I don’t know what dogs think but I had the feeling she was always feeling guilty or sad after she wet the bed or messed on the floor.  She had always been meticulously housebroken until a couple months ago.  She was always so clean, and now she often was dirty, even though I bathed her every few days. I tried to reassure her and never scolded her but it can’t have been comfortable for her.  I had to cut off the “feathers” on her beautiful tail and clip her hindquarters.  Her hair came out in clumps.

I don’t know if she was in pain but she was often confused about where she was and unhappy and crying when she couldn’t do what she wanted.  Hazel was a dog who lived for strict rules and a set routine and tried to get us to live by them too.  She had no control anymore, even of her own body. She would wander aimlessly until she collapsed from weakness but we couldn’t get her to stop or even go where we wanted her to without upsetting her.  She still knew her name most of the time but didn’t seem interested or appreciative of being petted or sweet talked anymore. 

 Steve cooked her the special homemade chicken soup she loved and we fed her bread which she also loved whenever she seemed restless or hungry.  Yet she constantly lost weight and Thursday she weighed 17 pounds, down from an average weight of 35 pounds.

 Bugsy her true love and constant companion also worried over her.  When we made her clean beds on the floor he would come over and try to lie down beside her although we discouraged it because he often ended up lying partly on top of her, squashing her.  When she cried he barked to make sure we knew she needed help.  His devotion did not include passing up her food, which he always tried to finish up for her.

 I was pretty prepared for Thursday.  I wanted her to go out after a pretty good day, which I think she had outside in the sun.  She didn’t like car rides but she was very passive and only cried a bit.  The worse part of the whole thing was that the vet couldn’t find a good vein because her circulation was so bad and they had to try in both legs several times.  I know it hurt her as she squirmed and wimpered a bit but there was no going back then.  He kept trying to make small talk like Hazel would have been over 90 had she been human.  I have always thought comparing dog years and human years is senseless.

 We buried her under a tree in the yard.  Bugsy spent a lot of time looking for her around the house for a few days but he is adjusting now.  He seems a little depressed and his health isn’t so great either but I think he will be ok for a while.

 She is at peace and comfortable now I hope, chasing after sheep and enjoying strength and beauty.

 

 

rain and shine

It’s a cold dreary light rain falling this morning.  I know we need the rain for the trees and perennials and to fill my pond but that doesn’t make it less miserable.  My old knees can’t take the slipping and sliding out in the mud behind the barn.  Most of the birds were inside this morning because of the rain but the turkey and duck dishes are still outside.  They all ran out to the dishes when they saw me.  I did put some feed down inside and I moved the 2 gallon water container inside.  Eventually it will all have to be moved inside but there are just so many ducks right now and ducks make such a mess with the water.

 More baby ducks hatched Wednesday, 13 of them.  It’s a cloud of fuzz balls with the 8 ducklings from last week and now these.  And of course there are 9 older ducklings which are starting to feather out.  The 2 younger groups keep getting mixed together which their mommas don’t like but the babies just follow whatever group they are close to. 

 On Thursday the newest mom had brought her bunch outside and the slightly older bunch started to follow their mom to the pond and some of the tinier ones were following.  I tried to head them off because I didn’t think they were ready for the long walk down the slope and would get lost or picked off.  I ended up catching all the tiny ones and putting them in a pen but their mom threw a fit and refused to go inside so after the bigger ducks were out of sight I let the little ones out.  They have managed to make it through the last few days of rain and mud and big birds stepping on them just fine.  I sure do hope we sell some soon.

 Tomorrow it’s supposed to be sunny and we are going to finish putting a tarp over the outside chicken run and enclose it for winter.  It won’t be clear plastic this year because that didn’t hold up over the summer for some reason.  I hope the blue tarp holds up to snow.  November is almost here and we need to get a lot of winterizing done yet.  Storm windows need to be put on the house and some weather stripping done.  I just have to get Steve pried away from baseball and football games.

 Sunday- we did get the tarp up over the chicken run.   That was fun.  You know how fun it is to work on a project with your spouse?  That kind of fun.  All that’s left now is to cover the south wall with clear plastic for winter.

 Interesting find was that one of the new young hens has been getting onto the rather deep barn window ledge about 5 feet off the ground and laying her eggs.  When I was on the ladder I spotted the pullet size brown eggs and removed them.   Until we cover the south side of the run she can probably get back up there so I will have to remember to check there.

 

Saturday night it was raining and a good night to catch all the birds roosting in the barn.  Well I didn't want to catch all of them, just some for two people coming on Sunday to get them.  A neighbor wanted my two hen guineas and I was glad to sell them.  Those buggers proved very hard to catch even though they were shut in the hen coop and it was pretty dark.  He also wanted a pretty young Ameraucana rooster I had and that bird had to perch on the highest spot in the back of the barn.  I had to push him off the roost with a broom because I couldn't reach him.

I also caught up some older hens for someone.  Those weren't too hard to catch.  I had both sets of birds in cages overnight in the front part of the barn.  Of course both people were later than they told me they'd come on Sunday.  The woman for the hens was 3 hours late.  They laid eggs in the cage so she could see they were still laying..

That leaves me with 14 hens, some older ones along with the new pullets and we should still have plenty of eggs.  I am picking up 8-9 every day but I think the 2 Jersey Giants haven't started laying yet.  We eat eggs every morning and the cats and dogs get them often too.

The little porclein bantams have started laying- or at least some hen in that group is laying.  There are two tiny hens, breed unknown with the porclein pair.  They don't seem interested in sitting on the eggs, at least not yet.

The mama duck with the youngest babies has been taking then to the pond everyday and keeping them there most of the day.  All 8 are still alive even though one gets left behind at the barn every so often and goes around peeping for awhile.  They always seem to get re-unitied.  But this morning all the baby ducks were at the eddge of the barnyard when I went out to feed with no mama in sight.  They were just sitting in the sun.  I hope she turns up.  I didn't go out to look at the pond but it seemed odd that the babies were all the way up by the barnyard without her.

We still have 9 of the older baby ducks left.  The three I thought might be lilac colored are getting very odd looking.  The underdown seems gray or lilac but the wing feathers look like they are coming in black barred. ( see picture)  I don't know whether I want to try and sell this bunch or save them for eating.  Either way they need to be gone by true winter.  And I still have one duck sitting on eggs.

The mud around the water pan out there is very slippery and I have been trying not to walk in it as I am afraid of falling out there where no one can see me.  The worst part of ducks is the mess they make with water.  I don't want to over winter more than 5-6.

I have an idea.  I will vote for the presidential candidate that has ducks.  Hmmm - which will it be?

a cold bath

It froze here last night, the water containers all had a light layer of ice on them and the hose ran very slowly in back of the barn.  The sun was just coming over the trees and all the turkeys and ducks were trying to find a spot in it up against the fence.  The poor chickens didn’t have any sun yet and were kind of huddled up under the tarp covered section of their outside run waiting for it. 

Another duck hatched her eggs Friday and 8 new little babies are waddling around in the cold.  Yesterday morning she brought them right over to the mud holes that get made when I pour out the big tub of water to change it.  All the young ducks like to play in the mud, they make holes with their beaks rooting in it and when I dump the water tub it runs downhill and into these holes. 

New momma duck protected the first couple holes yesterday from the other older babies and let her babies play in them.  It sure looked cold to me.   But this morning she had them all in the barn and when they all started outside in their little troop one duckling broke off and ran toward the mud holes.  Momma stopped him with a sharp quack and he ran back.  She took them to the fountain waterer, where they can’t get in the water.   Then they all sat in the sun near it.  Now that is an example that animals have some reasoning ability.  She knew it was just too cold this morning for bathing.

 The oldest bunch of baby ducks are starting to get feathers and I am waiting to see if I have some lavender colored ones in there.  Three of them look very gray in the down color and their beaks are gray.  But it looks like the wing and tail tips are coming in black.  We’ll see what happens.

I had to put a dish of starter feed under a milk crate in the frizzle pen so the baby chicks could get something to eat the bigger chicks didn’t hog down.  The little chicks can go through the handle holes easily.  There is still another hen sitting in that pen that should hatch later this week-or early next week.  But there will be no more frizzles this season after that.

 Inside the house my canary hen threw out the eggs she laid and set on that didn’t hatch and built a new nest.  She is now sitting again at a time when most canaries are molting and done with nests for the year.  I haven’t checked to see if she has eggs again.  It would be nice to actually get a few baby canaries but I won’t hold my breath.

 Took a walk at lunch time around my property.  I scared up a nice buck hiding from hunters up by the pond fence; under an autumn olive where it was obvious deer had been browsing the plants for the berries.  In some ways it’s nice to be a safe haven but other times I think about inviting someone to hunt on the property.  There are just too many deer.

 The grass has improved so nicely throughout the pasture and I know it’s a funny way of looking at things but I just keep thinking what a waste it is that nothing is eating it, like horses or steers.  That thinking must come from my farming ancestors.  I try to funnel my thinking into planting more trees out there, turning pasture into woodland.  Nature is trying to do that, I found a red and a white pine growing that I hadn’t seen before.   I was looking at pictures yesterday from 20 years ago when we bought the property and so many of the big trees we have now weren’t there.  We planted hundreds of trees at first.  I wish we had planted a more diverse range of species.   It was mostly red and white pines, some spruce and a few maples at first.  I did add some other things later but wish I had added more odd things earlier.

 

 

Bye Bye Birdies

I sold some turkeys and ducklings today, enough to buy feed for a couple weeks, which is good because keeping all these birds is an expensive hobby.  Our feed bill runs about $100 a month, which is too much.  Selling birds also means fewer mouths to eat feed.  I sold 2 of the older young turkeys and the little one and 6 ducklings.  Last night I tricked the two older turkeys into the barn with bread and shut them in.  I didn’t think I could catch the little one because it wouldn’t go inside but this morning I was able to corner it outside when I fed.  It had never been caught before and wasn’t too experienced in ducking me. 

 The ladies that came to buy the turkeys wanted to look at the ducks and decided to buy some.  Their little boy wanted a black and white one but they picked out the rest of them that were lighter colored- because they don’t like dark pinfeathers in their meat.  The momma ducks were not very happy and neither were the momma turkeys.   It’s kind of sad but you sure can’t keep them all. 

 We kept the white turkey for our Thanksgiving meal.  The women were getting the turkeys for eating this winter and I admire the fact that they choose to pay for free range heritage turkeys instead of broad breasted turkeys.  I hope we can raise more turkeys next year.  People are recognizing the value of them.

 The hen turkeys are just coming out of molt and I hope they don’t nest again this year.  I am ready to be done with babies for a while.  We still have two duck clutches to hatch and one more clutch of frizzle chicks.  The tiny frizzle chicks we have are getting out of the pen and yesterday I was lucky to save one from the cats.  They were a little unsure about catching it - I think they recognized it as a chicken but that tiny thing whizzing around was too much to resist. 

 Baby chicks shrill peeping when they are unhappy bothers me as much as it does the hens.  The little chicks can’t get in and out the coop door well yet and that makes them unhappy when mom goes outside.  Some get out; some are left behind and start peeping.  Mom comes back because they are peeping and the outside chicks have trouble getting back in and they start peeping.  And I go nuts from the peeping.  Good thing I don’t have to be around all the time.

 The cats have been catching frogs lately.  I think they are getting them down around the pond.  It’s so dried up I hate to look at it.  At least we have a little water left in it.  But if we have a cold winter it may freeze solid which means any fish that are there will be gone.   I don’t like snow but I guess we need it this winter- or at least rain.  Our wettest month is supposed to be September but we sure didn’t get much rain.