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Muddy Valley Farm

~ Life on a tiny west coast hobby farm

Muddy Valley Farm

Monthly Archives: August 2017

Eye Candy

30 Wednesday Aug 2017

Posted by Jodi in Chickens

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Some chickens are noble models of their heritage breeds. Some chickens are designed to lay at peak efficiency, with no care given to their scrawny looks. Some chickens lay colourful eggs. Some chickens excel at raising young. And some chickens are just pure eye candy.

Lawn ornaments, as B would say.

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This little pullet is Vorwerk x Turken x Silkie. Dark purple to black skin, a svelte naked neck, iridescent earlobes, and buff with black points, she just started laying medium sized creamy white eggs. Ain’t she purdy?

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The Great Donkey Escape

21 Monday Aug 2017

Posted by Jodi in Equines, Farm Life

≈ 2 Comments

TL;DR Gate left open, smart donkeys take advantage, but not too much advantage…

Roxy and Maria always do the sideways hustle as I walk through their paddock, positioning their bodies hopefully. They usually get the scratch they’re asking for; I find it pays to keep the donkeys on my side. Maria curls her neck around my legs and gives me a hug while I scratch ❤️, Roxy just stands and enjoys. They like grooming each other too; a donkey is happiest when they have a donkey companion.

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Smart and curious, donkeys investigate whenever they see something new. Not like horses, whose first instinct is to shy away, flashing a stink eye and dancing off. Donkeys are real thinkers, and like all domestic animals, very food motivated.

Our grazing land is fenced into five tiny fields, mostly wood, but some temporary wire electric fence too. The fencing helps us rotate use and keep overgrazing down. The donkeys know the routine, and where they should be grazing at any given time. More than once,  we have caught the little brats “guerrilla grazing” in a forbidden field. When they see us coming, they just nip under the fence wire back to where they belong and look all innocent.

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That’s another big difference between George and the donkeys. George would just keep eating till I haltered him and put him away,  but the crafty donks try to cover up their misdeeds.

This morning, as the dogs and I headed out to do the morning feed, we surprised the donks in the winter field, where no equines have been allowed for weeks. Uh oh, I’d screwed up and left their paddock gate open last night. Sometime in the night, they’d left, wandered through Babe’s field and along behind the barn, ducked under the wire and sashayed right into the winter field, where the grazing was still sweeeeeet. George was charging around his paddock having a fit, securely penned and jealous.

I walked through the wide open bridge gate, stayed the dogs (Liza was itching to herd them back where they belonged) and asked the donks what the heck they were doing. They just tossed their heads and headed out through the barn gate, dipped under the electric fence, trotted around behind the barn and back into their night paddock.

All three winter field gates had been wide open all night. The donkeys could have left at any time, plundered our gardens and wandered the neighbourhood. But why bother causing all that trouble? Smart donkeys know where they have it good.

They spent most of today sleeping off their night’s wander and good feed, and even spurned their breakfast hay! That’s gotta be a first.

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Mink in the Barnyard!

14 Monday Aug 2017

Posted by Jodi in Chance, Chickens, Wildlife

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TL;DR Mink chases chickens, dogs chase mink, no one catches anyone.

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Sunny Saturday morning. Sipping my coffee and hanging around the barnyard, chickens breakfasting and softly conversing amongst themselves, when an ungodly yowling and snarling shatters our peace. What the heck?!?

In reply to my unasked question, a bolt of dark chocolate lightning erupts from under the Silkies’ coop and shoots towards the creek, triggering a wave of explosive chicken panic as it flashes down the line of coops.

Mink!!! Must have got pinched by the wire as it tried to force his way up into the Silkie pen.

I yell for dogs and K sends Liza. Then she runs for the big house, to get Chance. We all like to laugh at poor inept Chance, he usually just can’t compete. But there is one thing he is way better at than Liza, and that is rooting out little furry critters. It’s his proud ratter dog heritage.

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Over the next half hour, stealth alternates with panic as the cursed mink tries again; not once, not twice, but THREE MORE TIMES. We spend each few quiet minutes hunting, me in observation mode, piggybacking on Chance’s senses as he reconnoiters. He dashes here and there, sampling the breeze with his quivery nose, and then stopping stock still and listening so intently that his hunting flag of a tail gets forgotten and slowly subsides down.

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Every time he catches a fresh whiff or hears a minky slither his tail snaps back up, signalling both its direction and his progress.

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In these intervals Liza loses interest quickly, preferring to stand and stare hypnotically at the Silkies while Chance terriers up and down the creekside, busy at his work.

Then we catch another glimpse of manic furry plushness, twitching and flipping under a ledge, around a corner, through a pallet, behind the feed cans; feverish red eyes searching for a way in; so desperate to sink sharp fangs into hot, tasty chicken that it keeps coming back, even with human and dog defenders right there!

At each sighting Chance and Liza hurl themselves after the mink; growling, barking, furious hell hounds at first, simmering down to stereotypical bumblers as they get blocked by dense bush; outsmarted again by this crafty wild thing throwing them effortlessly off its trail.

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After a tumultuous half hour that leaves the flocks terrified but intact, and me weak-kneed and needing more coffee, the mink finally gives up and departs, perhaps to try its luck at the next coop on down the valley. As its scent fades away, Chance relaxes with satisfaction.

Everyone has their special talent, and loves the chance to excel, right Chance? Good job ratter dog!!!

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Mocha in the Barnyard

09 Wednesday Aug 2017

Posted by Jodi in Chance, Chickens, Farm Life

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We are puppy sitting this week while C and R are away at his sister’s wedding. So what better time to get young Mocha used to chickens?!

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If I can desensitize her now, it might save us some heart ache later. So we go hang out in the barnyard in the evenings. Mocha isn’t too interested in the birds but she does whine and shake when the barn cat stalks by.

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Chance spends his time stealing watermelon from the chickens.

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They try to steal it back, with no luck. Chance does love his watermelon.

Sweet Silkies!

08 Tuesday Aug 2017

Posted by Jodi in Chickens

≈ 1 Comment

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My white Silkie breeding group produced lots of quality chicks over the 2017 season, and I hatched a couple more colours this year to add some diversity to the flock.

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I am growing out three partridge and three blue/black, one of them a frizzle. They are not sexed yet, but the plan is to keep one male and most of the females.

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boy, girl, girl???

With their distinctive curly feathers, Frizzles look frazzled. They are excellent foragers and broodies, but a bit fussy to keep, because their feathers don’t protect them from the elements. Next year, if all goes well, we will produce sizzle (Silkie x frizzle) chicks.

Gentle little souls, Silkies seem to do best with silkies or other calm breeds. Mine don’t like to free range, and if they can be persuaded out of their homey pen, never stray more than a few feet away. They make good lap chickens too. Some people put diapers on them and keep them indoors. House chickens aren’t for me, they produce a lot of dust and dander and I don’t want that all through the house. Maybe I will keep a house chicken when I am an old, eccentric, crazy chicken lady.

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Tiny Rhode Island Reds

04 Friday Aug 2017

Posted by Jodi in Chickens

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A dozen bantam Rhode Island Red eggs arrived from Quebec last spring, and I grew out three pullets from my seven hatchlings. Gentle little birds, they are starting to lay now and if they are anything like their standard sized cousins, they will be high volume egg machines.

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I love their shiny dark burgundy feathering. K says that one day she will have a whole coop full of bantam poultry, tiny chickens in a tiny coop on a tiny farm, with tiny sheep, and tiny cows, and tiny ponies and donkeys. Sounds like a tiny home owner all right.

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