The barnyard goats have been looking a little weedy, despite their daily turnout into rich grass, so this weekend I decided to worm them all come Monday—today! Usually this is a task I have saved to do with the help of our apprenticeship families—catching, securing, measuring out the doses, inserting them down the goats, and recording the information in our barn book is all so much easier to accomplish with multiple hands.
The process was made somewhat easier this time as the herd is used to being let out each day. I left the outer gate to the barn open (for those of you who haven’t been here in a while, we enclosed the whole roofed area with some of our metal fencing panels to keep the goats from tearing things up when they are loose). Then one by one I let a goat out of the inner barnyard gate, snapped on a leash as it came through the opening, slipped the handle end over the post of the milking stand, and administered the wormer (both Prohibit and Cydectin) before unsnapping the leash and letting the goat loose to graze.
The insides of their mouths all looked on the pale side, so I was glad I had decided to go ahead with worming. Without getting fecal tests done, it is hard to know just when to do it. In order to avoid developing resistant strains of parasites, our vet recommends just worming as needed, instead of on a schedule as heretofore.
Gabby didn’t bite down on the syringe (yay!) so I didn’t go through multiple syringes as has been the case sometimes in the past. Jillian and Isabelle were the last to go (after originally fighting to be some of the first out, LOL) and I had to pretend to be busy about other things before they would venture through the gate. At least I didn’t have to play the chase-a-goat-around-and-around-the-hay-feeder game! I had to syringe about 3 doses to get one down Isabelle, she was very good at not swallowing and letting the liquid to spill from the sides of her mouth. I am going to have to start spending some serious one-on-one time with her; we miss having all the children here to help with goat cuddling!
The hens in the pen have not been taking advantage of their remodeled nesting box, but instead have decided to form a nest on the ground in the back corner of the coop. Meanwhile, the remaining hardware cloth/2nd story “floor” is still there, collecting a fresh round of poo. Our little granddaughter, who normally is excited about egg-hunting, started to gather some but stopped as she got near the corner. She’ll wait until it’s cleaned out. Can’t blame her! I was wondering if one of the hens would decide to go broody and sit on the nest (10 eggs now!) but so far they aren’t showing interest.
This evening after I shut the barnyard goats back in, I’ll plan to worm the boy goats as well, letting them out their gate one at a time.
Tuesday, April 7
DID get the boys wormed last night. Every time I work with Ezekiel, our three-quarter sized goat, I’m reminded of why we transitioned to miniatures. He is not being bad, it’s just harder to hold him in position. Also, to get the correct dosage with the syringe I was using, I had to refill it several times.
Today while grazing, he rediscovered the little peach tree in the middle section in front of the house, near the elevated garden boxes. It had finally recovered from the depredations of the goats in past years. I’ll need to protect it with a couple of fence panels tomorrow before we dare let the boys out again.
Every time she comes to the barn with me now, our little granddaughter wants to see the “boo eg’s”. Annually, usually multiple times during the warm months, we have a bluebird family which nests in the birdhouse near the electric fence charger. The top pivots up so we can see down into the birdhouse and check on progress. This spring there have been 5 beautiful little blue eggs. Once, the mama was sitting on them when we looked in. Today, three had hatched out into almost naked squirmy little babies. Our granddaughter was amazed!
Thursday, April 9
Got two 16 foot panels fastened around the peach tree, but Ezekiel promptly started eating the branches he could still reach. Guess we’ll need to add another panel. I may need to borrow one off the pallet and panel pen which currently isn’t being used. Better yet, when we can come up with a few more panels, we can enclose the whole circle within the driveway loop, protecting the garden boxes, the peach tree, the lilac we replanted, and the other trees or shrubs I would like to add. I have been looking at possibilities online. On the outside of the front fence, I want to plant some elderberry and some more lilacs. Back in the pasture near where we’ve been meeting for horse club, I’d like to plant some apple trees zoned for Alabama, or maybe one of the 3-in-1 trees with several varieties grafted on, like we got years ago for Grandad Vern. Of course they will need to be protected from the goats. I was thinking of dwarf trees, but actually for the pasture maybe full size would be good, they could provide some shade and also treats for the horses.
Still just three little bluebirds in the nest near the barn, although not quite as naked as a few days ago. The mama and daddy usually take turns keeping an eye on them while perched on the electric wires along our neighbor’s fence. Our little granddaughter helped show them to her daddy yesterday. Probably graduates of the same bluebird house in the past, the parents don’t seem to get upset about us checking their nest.
I am wondering if the other two little blue eggs in the nest may be lost causes.
It looks like a couple of our chickens may be starting to set on the nest they’ve formed in the doghouse. It’s hard to tell sometimes if they are just lingering over egg-laying, or becoming focused on hatching out eggs. The doghouse location didn’t work well last year. I wonder if they would keep setting the nest if we transferred the whole kit and caboodle to the coop? I could surround the coop with our play fence, and they would be safe from predators within the electrified poultry netting pen.
This morning, our daughter was frustrated to find only three eggs left in the carton when she went to fry eggs for her family’s breakfast. Her two-year-old daughter went out with me to the coop. The hens are still rebelling against the actual nesting box. With some coaxing, our little granddaughter reached eggs one by one until we had five to take, still leaving a clutch of eight to entice an ambitious mama hen.
I drove to Dollar General this afternoon with a short list. Scored a pack of toilet paper and a loaf of bread for our neighbors, but no extra eggs for coloring. The lady said they had been out for two weeks.
Our little granddaughter is wanting to ride each day now, eagerly donning her cousin’s pink bicycle helmet (we don’t have an actual riding helmet small enough) and picking which horse. Yesterday she rode Shorty. He is shedding so badly that even though I cleared off a bunch of hair before lifting her up, she still got hair all over her pink pants. First thing this morning, as we walked to the barn (she loves to come over to help with chores) she brought up riding again. “Not yet,” I told her. “I still need to get breakfast. We can do it later.” Then, busy with various items on my to-do list, I forgot all about it until this evening as we walked back to the barnyard again, this time to shut in the horses. Until we can complete the perimeter fence, I don’t dare leave the horses out overnight in case they might break out of the electric fence and take off for parts unknown.
Fortunately for my promise-keeping, there was just enough light left for a quick ride on Jaz. As in, I haltered Jaz, snapped on the toddler’s helmet, lifted her up on Jaz’s back (much higher than riding the pony the day before!), took a firm grip on a wad of her shirt and the back of her diaper with my right hand, and with my left urged Jaz to take a few steps forward. Jaz was a good sport, ambling up and down the little lane between their current grazing area and the barn. Afterward, even though there is no light in the barn until we get out a ladder to replace the bulb, our granddaughter did not want to leave the barn. Maybe one of her uncles will give her a longer ride this weekend.
Before the shutdowns set in, I got some extra bags of feed to help carry us through, so we have been storing a bit more grain than normal. With the blessing of clover-filled pastures, we have been able to stretch out their usage. Even our remaining bunny, Vanilla Marshmallow, has been filling up on clover and using up his hay, feed and even water much more slowly than normal. What a blessing! However, yesterday I found a rip in the paper sack of scratch feed, with the grain spilling out. I had noticed a little spilled scratch feed over the last couple of days and just thought our granddaughter was being careless. However, we may be dealing with a rodent. I was able to pour the feed into a couple of empty storage buckets to secure the rest of it, but now I’m concerned. Angel-Grey Fluff-Spare Cat barn kitty, you need to get to work!