Toomyvara - Bluewrenn's Homesteading Journal

Well, things have been extremely busy on the farm. DH is busy trying to get the house built and the honey bees taken care of for the winter.

I have been busy taking care of a stray momma dog and her seven pups, with baby bunnies, winterizing goats, chickens and rabbits, giving attention to ALL of our cats and dogs, and volunteering at the library. There are rabbit shows to attend, a pesticide applicators class to take, goat shelters to expand, and endless barn and house chores to get through each day.

Here is a pic of Momma and the babies, who we named "One" through "Seven". Also here is a picture of Ralphie, the newest cat, who I found at the library. And a picture of some of the new bunny babies. These are Izzy's babies and there are two blue torts and one black tort.





Here is a picture of Lacey's babies. These are french angoras. (Izzy's are Lionheads.) Lacey's babies look two chestnut agouti and one that is either an opal or a tort.

One of the other angora breeders here in TX had an intruder break into his bunny barn and kill all but a couple of his bunnies...  His kids found the mangled bodies of their pets. How horrible!

Maybe we can take some bunnies down to him.

Well, we had a couple of days of clear weather and now it is raining AGAIN!  It is SO wet here that the fields look like ponds.  And it is starting to get colder.

I need a couple of days of dry weather so I can redig my post holes and set the new posts for the goat shelter expansion in concrete. I would love to do it before the weather gets really nasty, which can't be far away.

Sigh.

Well, since I last posted, we have had days and days of never-ending rain.... Lots of rain. The tank (pond) is now completely full and then some. We had it expanded when the road guy built the road up to the house, as he needed some of the dirt for building up the road base.  Luckily the high side of the tank (where the berm is located) is still a few feet above water, so the bees are safe behind the tank. For now.

The bunnies are doing okay. We lost a few, causes unknown, but it may have something to do with the extreme changes in the temperatures and all the rain. Peppermint, Yucca and Smoke passed away this past week.  We were expecting a number of litters this past weekend also, but no one had any babies. With the change in temperatures, I think the bunnies have been under some stress. And the rain and mud have been relentless.  It's been miserable.

Boudreaux likes the rain though. He and Ralphie are the only ones who do.

FYI - I took Boudreaux in to the vet's a week or two ago. His foot was swollen five times its normal size and the vet said he was bit by a snake.  He's fine now.  Anyhow, while we were there, we weighed Boudreaux.  At six or seven months old, he now weighs 68 lbs and stands as tall as my thighs.  He's taller than any of the other dogs, even Red.  And he's just gotten started growing.   That is a LOT of puppy!

There is a stray dog over at the rent house who apparently has a litter of puppies that she's feeding. She's part German shepherd maybe and God knows what else.   She's so skinny that she's all teats and backbone and not much else, so I've been putting food out for her.  She actually came up and sniffed my hand yesterday, so she is tame, but she's super skittish.  Her puppies seem to be out under one of the nearby houses that is being used for someone's storage building. I'm unofficially calling her "Mama".

Red is getting his hair back - somewhat.  I think that he will never regain most of it back. Poor baby. He is going to be cold this winter.  He's also still on megabucks worth of meds each month, which the vet says will probably be needed for the rest of his life.  Great.  Luckily Red is the most loyal dog I have ever seen, and he is earning his keep.  He's bonded with DH and just adores the ground that DH walks on...

Pretty is depressed with all the rain.  Not sure what is wrong with her, except that she seems to be missing me.  I try to give her lots of attention, but maybe she still feels left out with Boudreax being so pushy, Red being so needy and Lucky being such a scaredy-cat. (Lucky hates rainstorms and we've been getting lots of thunder.)

Well, we got one sunny day after a week of overcast and rainy days, but the rain and clouds are back.  While we NEED the rain, it sure is hard on the mind... everyone is either going stir crazy or is depressed as all get out.  We can't get the road leading up the hill to the house done until the ground dries out some, and since the well guy won't come back to do the well until the road is done - well, we're in a holding pattern for now.

Well, this past week has been nothing but rain, rain and more rain... Everything is waterlogged, "smushy" and damp.  Even inside. Yuck! Since I hang clothes on an indoor line, laundry has been a challenge.  I finally just stopped doing it, waiting for dryer weather. 

Good news - (with crossed fingers) - Now that we have cooler weather, Taffy's babies (Smoke, Ash and Flame) appear to have fully recovered from their heat related illness. That means the bunny barn is all okay now and that I can show bunnies at the next shows.  Luckily it's not for a couple of weeks so there will be a buffer period. Everyone has been treated extensively with antibiotics so I am confident that all are well now.

I am so glad that we didn't end up losing the babies like we did their mom, Taffy. (I miss her!) She was one of my few fully pedigreed does and I am definitely going to have to replace her.  These three babies also include the only does left from Taffy's litter and since the barn is buck heavy right now, I need all the does I can keep.  I am hoping to get more does from Six Bell's Farm in Colorado.

 My niece is in the Air Force and is going overseas to the war today. Wow! My mind is blown.

My friend Terry and her daughter invited me to go with them to the Duncan show this past weekend. It was fun and we had a great time, even though I'd left all my bunnies home. I felt it was the only responsible thing to do since Taffy was sick.  It was the right decision, although it was very unnerving  to not have bunnies to show.

I did pick up a couple of new bunnies and they are over in isolation with Sterling at the house.  She is enjoying the company.  I'll move them over in a couple of weeks, after we take care of the last remaining sick bunnies. The new bunnies are all lionheads - a REW buck named Yukon Jack, a REW doe named Mimsy, and a hybrid chinchilla buck named Johnny Rocket.

Tim's REW doe won BOB on Friday evening. A tort doe from MN won BOB on Saturday morning and Shannon's black doe won BOB on Saturday afternoon.  Terry's blue Lionhead buck won BOS at all three shows this weekend.

The Southern States Lionhead Rabbit Club voted for its first officers. I ran for the office of reporter (doing the newsletter) and tied the other fellow. We'll probably share the position for now.

Well, Opal finally passed on.  She had splayed legs and up until a few days ago, wasn't in too much pain but lately she's not been feeling well. I'd already made the decision to take her up to see the vet on Tuesday and asked everyone to say their goodbyes.  She passed away in her sleep that night.  At least she is out of pain now.

Also passing over the rainbow was Taffy, my beautiful and sweet little fawn doe from Colorado.  Unfortunately, she'd gotten sick from the heat this summer and she just never fully recovered.  We'd been treating her for 3-4 weeks.  Our brief spell of cooler weather helped her some, but the return of the heat was just too much.  She'd been nursing babies all summer.   I don't hold out much hope for her three sick babies. The other two bucks are doing well, and Ember is fine at Maureen's, but the three runts of the litter are not doing much better than Taffy.  I may be taking them in to see the vet soon. 

Luckily one of the bucks that is doing well is a nice clean fawn and he'll replace Monty.  If Flame (the only fawn doe baby) doesn't get better, I won't have a doe to replace Taffy from her litter, but there's always Marigold.  She's almost ready to breed and she's a pretty clean fawn doe. I plan to breed fawn to fawn and only keep the clean ones.

Well, this week was a tough one. Someone (and we aren't naming names, Lucky) got into and killed the remaining chicks, all 29 of them, both Welsummers and Banties. 

I am so disappointed.  It was a big loss, expense-wise, and a huge loss emotionally, as I have spent the better part of the past month or two caring for the little guys and I was starting to get attached to them.  A big mistake, but they were awfully cute. I'd even named one or two of them.

Needless to say, Lucky is on my %#&! list this week.

Luckily one of the adult hens is setting on a nest full of eggs. Maybe we'll get some chicks out of her.

Another good thing to report - Cooler weather has finally arrived!!!!

Well, we lost some of the Welsummers - about half of them got out of the cage one evening and ended up being kitty or puppy chow.  There's a dozen left and they are getting big. They are also a bit ferocious too. Don't stick your fingers near the cages. Right now they look like very small velociraptors. 

The banties are still small although growing steadily and they are really cute. More like small canaries or love birds.  They are very alert and smart too. 

Sad news this week...

We have lost some of the farm residents this past week.  Chickie Baby, Heather, Flame (one of Taffy's babies) and now Monty, the big fawn buck.  May you all rest in peace beneath the big pecan trees.

Monty was my very first angora and he was one of my favorites.

Now for some good news -

Taffy appears to be better and her other babies are all active and hopping around today. The medication we have been dosing the entire bunny barn with seems to be working. I probably still won't take any bunnies to the Duncan show in September, but I don't think we will lose any more. Hopefully all will be well by the State Fair.

Unfortunately I wish I could take a couple of the new LH babies to Duncan.  Izzy's babies are really cleaning up nicely (on their own, I might add) and have the most wonderful natural breaks in the wool between the mane and back. The blue doe is especially nice. I just hope they don't continue to clean off completely before I get a chance to show them.  They are only four months old and three of the four have almost completely clean saddles.  It would be a shame if I never got a chance to show them before they lose all their long hair.

The house floor has been stained and they are working on the adjacent building's floor now.  That's the honey processing building.

The dogs killed Chickie Baby, my favorite chicken, this morning. It seems silly to mourn a chicken but I am sad and will miss her. She and Ralph, the new kitten, are best friends and he seems lost this morning.  DH caught me yelling at the dog, saying "Bad dog, she was my friend!" like a little girl and while it was embarrassing, it was the truth.  How pathetic.  Friends with a bird.  Oh well, I guess I need to get out more often!  Lucky acts like he is sorry and I think the tears upset him far more than the yelling. He's been hiding from me all day today.

We got a new kitten, another dumped animal, the other day. Ralph, named after the mess he left for DH that first night, is a few months old but still in the kitten stage. He's very sweet and apparently was dumped with his two siblings at the library.  I haven't seen the other two kittens, but hopefully one of the teenagers took them home.  Anyhow, the others don't seem to mind Ralph much and like I'd said earlier, he and Chickie Baby were best buddies. They'd formed a weird friendship - play stalking each other around the yard and then, when tired, sharing the shade and just "hanging out." It was cute, and no weirder than my friendship with her, I guess.

The heat is finally taking a toll on the bunnies. We have at least three in the barn that are sick with respiratory issues, most likely the precursor to pneumonia... and Heather, the little lilac english angora doe, died yesterday from a nasty case of a stomach ailment. Nothing I did helped and it was a sad, frustrating couple of days trying to get her better.  We are treating the entire rabbitry this time with a  tetracycline regimen and hoping that we can keep everyone going until the weather cools down in September/early October.

I did get some new bunnies - one of which is here and one which has not yet been delivered.  The french angora buck kit is a broken chocolate and he has pale brown eyes with a ruby tint, which gives him a himilayan look. But he's really a broken.  I think his name is Yucca and he came from Maureen's.  Maureen's taking Ember in trade, and she's isolated right now to keep her healthy.

The other bunny is still at Terry Jo's. Mallorca is a lionhead and she is the mother of my Praline and Miche, Terry Jo's main buck.  Miche is the father of Duncan, my little black buck out of Molly, and so I have two of Mallorca's grandkids here - Praline's baby Bonnie and then Duncan.  Mallorca is a very solid sable point and should be a great asset to the LH breeding program.  I am looking forward to seeing what she produces out of Gambler and Yoshi, both Siamese Sable bucks.

First of all, news about the house building process...

The Honey House building is done. It looks really nice.  We did the same metal building that we did for the barns, just a bit smaller.  It has the same colors in metal (brown walls, green roof).  The floor inside will be stained a parchment color.

The concrete floor for the main house was also stained and is in the process of being sealed today, I think. We picked a terra cotta color for the floor as it is almost identical in color to the dirt outside.  The front entryway's concrete was stamped with a compass design and I helped paint the stain on that design... We used a bunch of colors on it - too many to mention - but it looks nice.

Next steps - getting the well dug, the framers scheduled and the SIP panels cut and built.

Next, in the animal news...

I drove down last week to pick up 50 baby chicks - 25 Welsummers and 25 assorted bantams. The Welsummers are nice and healthy and sturdy little birds and we haven't lost a one of those, but we have been steadily losing the bantam chicks... The bantams are cuter but apparently more delicate.  Some were lost to a very heavy rainstorm which flooded their cage, some drowned in their water bowls, others just died for no apparent reason.  We are down to only 16 or 17 now.  But I think that I have stablized the banties somewhat and hope not to lose any more.  They are REALLY cute.

Again, pics are coming. I need to recharge the camera first.

I was late getting to the farm this morning because I was picking up more grain at the feed store and when I got there, I let the goats out to graze while I put the feed away, thinking that I could easily watch them from the barns.  The goats were good and stayed close, eating on the oak trees within sight of the barn, and slowly made their way over to where I was parked.  Apparently goats can read the feed sacks and they figured out that I was unloading their food!

I wish I'd had my camera when the goats were trying to get into my SUV to get to the feed sacks. They also followed me into the rabbit barn (where we store all the feed) and tried to "help" me unload the bags into their feed bins... It was quite funny watching them all come running!

Luckily DH was nearby to distract the goats and lead them back to the pasture.  We later found a straggler (Gabby) hiding behind some tropical plants outside the barn, apparently after having lost the rest of the herd.

After I'd finished unloading everything, we took feed up to their pens and it only took a couple of shakes of the feed buckets for the goats to come running. Apparently they also have great hearing as they were able to hear the feed being shaken in their hot pink feed buckets from more than  500 yards away!

The building will be done today. When I visited it this morning, they were almost done with it - had almost three walls up and then need to do the roof. It has two small doors, one on each end, and is 20 x 30 feet.  It looks a lot bigger built than it did from just the foundation slab.

Yes, the small metal building that will eventually be DH's "pub" is being built today. as I write this.  (And yes, it is going up before the house! Gotta have priorities, right? Just kidding. It's a different type building and just happens to be ready now.)  Anyhow, it's an exciting day.

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NOTE: I have been told that the building will actually serve as the "Honey House" where DH will extract the honey from his bee hives, process it and bottle it.

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On the flip side, the dogs are killing the chickens.  First it was Lucky and now Pretty. I know that Red and Boudreaux will be next as they do everything that Pretty and Lucky do.  I am so disappointed in them!  They are picking them off one by one but it's one nearly every day.  I'm really pissed.  Short of getting rid of the dogs, does anyone have any suggestions?  My dilemma - I have 50 new chicks coming Thursday... and while they will be caged, I don't want to lose the others either.

Well, there is a lot going on at the farm...

We've gotten our septic system inspected and it passed with flying colors.  (Okay, not a great visual, but hey!)  Next on the list is the well guys...

We have the small building (next to the house, which will be DH's clubhouse) bought and it should be here soon.   It's a small metal building that we will finish out and make look like the exterior of the main house when all is said and done.

I ordered some chicks from Ideal Poultry in Cameron, TX and will be driving down to pick up them next week.  I got some welsummers and some misc bantams.  If they have some, I may pick up a goosling or two.  I'm also going to pick up an order for one of the neighbors.

Well, my goats  have been stuck in a large goat pen (actually three goat pens that connect to one another) for the past year.  We have not gotten our pastures fenced in yet with goat fence, but I finally just got tired of waiting and decided to give the goats access to the grass. So for the past week, every morning the goats get 90 minutes or so of supervised pasture time...

YES, I AM NOW A GOAT HERDER!

I am totally enjoying this! It's been over 100 degrees out but the goats stay mostly in the shade and I carry a small camping chair to sit on when the goats are staying still in one place. And I carry water with me.  Boudreaux, the puppy, who is not so little anymore, follows us around and when I sit down, he crawls under the chair to sit in the shade or he chews on my fingers or on the curve of my shepherd's crook...

It has been a blast and the goats are so excited and happy now.  They love to see me in the morning and are being so sweet now.  It's also hilarious watching them play in the field.

I will try to get DH to take some pics of us in the fields.

Well, we have been busy lately on the farm...

We have new chicks born yesterday... a total of 14 so far (to 3 hens) and at least one more hen is setting still.  Of the original chicks born earlier this spring, we are down to only 3 or 4, but they are doing well so far.  Nearly grown.  The lone Wyandotte chick (named "Chickie") is also growing into a fine hen.  Now if we can only keep her safe from the cats and Lucky. She likes to hang out with the rabbits and with me, when I am feeding the rabbits and cleaning cages. And likes to help catch bugs.  Very sweet.

I wish I'd gotten DH to take a picture of her sleeping with me on the hammock the other day.

We're in the middle of shearing still - five more to go... the rest are shorn but still need some attention to the little stuff...

The goats and bunnies are surviving the heat (it's been over 100 degrees for days and days) but it has been tough.  We're using a combination of methods to try to keep them cool.

Boudreaux is growing up nicely and is turning out to be a fine dog.  We are no longer certain that he has any anatolian blood in him.  He will be a big dog though.

The house construction is moving along. We have the septic scheduled for next week and the well coming soon.  After that is done, we're actually moving forward on the actual house itself.

I recently went to the rabbit show in Duncan, OK.

In the lionheads, Mackie (Tristan and Gambler's daughter) won Best of Breed on the first night against a full complement of  LH bunnies.  More than a dozen or so... It was great!  A couple of the others won BOV in their variety.

On the second day there were two shows. Mackie won BOV but not BOB at those shows. Too much competition (from folks who hadn't made it to the Friday night show.)  Again, some of the other does won BOV, but no one won anything major.

With the angoras there were only four bunnies and three competitors, so everyone won something... The first night, Sterling won 1st in fur but lost to Cloud, one of Floppy and Marshmallow's babies (owned by Maureen & Elizabeth).  Peppermint won BOS (Best Opposite Sex) but he was the only buck. At the third show, it was just Sterling and Peppermint, and so Sterling won Best of Breed, Peppermint another BOS.

It was a pretty uneventful show overall but I had fun. Sterling got sick from the heat, so she'll be staying in the house for a bit until she recovers.

We acquired a few new bunnies - a lilac ENGLISH angora doe baby that we have named Heather, a black LH buck baby named Duncan, and a black doe LH named Polly.