Saturday, August 28, 2010
More pictures of the dogs,
Teddy, still my handsome boy, I love that lighter color of the eyes
Teddy is the only one of he youngsters who really loves it when I toss him a toy for him to retrieve, he comes back with it too, though he doesn't bring it to me, just comes close enough for me to give him a treat and then I toss the toy again. I usually do it 4 to 5 times and then stop while he is still having fun.
he has 3 or 4 toys that I can toss pretty far, he loves it when those kong throw toys bounce all over the place.
this one is a favorite
Enya, she likes being outside and I often find her outside sitting in a shady and grassy area even when it is hot outside and everybody else hangs out inside. The flies don't seem to bother her.
My "Zwetschgen" (German plum), are almost ripe, the birds have been pecking for the last few weeks. I have been eating some here and there but they are not ripe enough yet to really taste good.
Teddy running, he has actually grown out nicely and is a lot faster and agile than I expected him to be, as a pup he was rather clumsy and couldn't keep up. Today I saw him racing from one end to the other and it looked so effortless and he was so fast and I was thinking he could cover a lot more ground without much effort.
Two curly tails, Teddy to the right and Enya on the left.
Cici in front of one of the new dog houses we got recently, this one I got for free on Freecycle. the previous owners were moving and didn't have room to take it with them. I hope the dogs will use it, when it gets colder I will put some blankets inside, or maybe I use straw or hay, not sure yet, I am also not sure how this will hold up to rain especially if it the wind blows the rain against the sides. This "log cabin" is actually rather flimsy built, it'snot near as sturdy as it looks. If the dogs like it but it isn't rain proof I might have to make some improvements to it.
Nanuk and the girls, everybody else has relaxed, Nanuk is the only one still looking at whatever got them upset somewhere in the distance
Nanuk is still looking to the far corner to make sure whatever got his attention stays away
The girls, Cici on he left, Leydi in the middle and Ayla to the right
the following pictures are all of Cici, she still gets along with everybody and annoys her momma by always getting right in her face then she rolls on her back and paws at Leydi until Leydi decides she had enough and either turns away or leaves
This is Leydi sprinting towards the fence
Ayla turned 5 years old on Wednesday. She hasn't changed much, she is always the star with visitors. She is very good in letting somebody know what she wants. I had a new lady this week to help me clean and she said when I left the room for a while Ayla kept going to the counter where the hot dogs were and sat pretty and looked at the hot dogs. She said it was very clear what Ayla wanted. Ayla does well in the heat and is a good guardian for the chickens and goats.
Nanuk is a bit over 9 years old and this picture was taken about a week or so ago before he blew his coat. We had a bit of a cooler wind today and I brushed him out, he looks half the size now.
Ayla all grown up
Teddy, still my handsome boy, I love that lighter color of the eyes
Teddy is the only one of he youngsters who really loves it when I toss him a toy for him to retrieve, he comes back with it too, though he doesn't bring it to me, just comes close enough for me to give him a treat and then I toss the toy again. I usually do it 4 to 5 times and then stop while he is still having fun.
he has 3 or 4 toys that I can toss pretty far, he loves it when those kong throw toys bounce all over the place.
this one is a favorite
Enya, she likes being outside and I often find her outside sitting in a shady and grassy area even when it is hot outside and everybody else hangs out inside. The flies don't seem to bother her.
My "Zwetschgen" (German plum), are almost ripe, the birds have been pecking for the last few weeks. I have been eating some here and there but they are not ripe enough yet to really taste good.
Teddy running, he has actually grown out nicely and is a lot faster and agile than I expected him to be, as a pup he was rather clumsy and couldn't keep up. Today I saw him racing from one end to the other and it looked so effortless and he was so fast and I was thinking he could cover a lot more ground without much effort.
Two curly tails, Teddy to the right and Enya on the left.
Cici in front of one of the new dog houses we got recently, this one I got for free on Freecycle. the previous owners were moving and didn't have room to take it with them. I hope the dogs will use it, when it gets colder I will put some blankets inside, or maybe I use straw or hay, not sure yet, I am also not sure how this will hold up to rain especially if it the wind blows the rain against the sides. This "log cabin" is actually rather flimsy built, it'snot near as sturdy as it looks. If the dogs like it but it isn't rain proof I might have to make some improvements to it.
Nanuk and the girls, everybody else has relaxed, Nanuk is the only one still looking at whatever got them upset somewhere in the distance
Nanuk is still looking to the far corner to make sure whatever got his attention stays away
The girls, Cici on he left, Leydi in the middle and Ayla to the right
the following pictures are all of Cici, she still gets along with everybody and annoys her momma by always getting right in her face then she rolls on her back and paws at Leydi until Leydi decides she had enough and either turns away or leaves
This is Leydi sprinting towards the fence
Ayla turned 5 years old on Wednesday. She hasn't changed much, she is always the star with visitors. She is very good in letting somebody know what she wants. I had a new lady this week to help me clean and she said when I left the room for a while Ayla kept going to the counter where the hot dogs were and sat pretty and looked at the hot dogs. She said it was very clear what Ayla wanted. Ayla does well in the heat and is a good guardian for the chickens and goats.
Nanuk is a bit over 9 years old and this picture was taken about a week or so ago before he blew his coat. We had a bit of a cooler wind today and I brushed him out, he looks half the size now.
Ayla all grown up
Ayla is not very big, just about 85 lbs, but she is fast and agile and pretty laid back
Thursday, August 12, 2010
Summer on the Farm,
Here is Barbie, she is my young Delaware hen, same as Pearl below, Barbie is huge and being only 6 months old her feathers are just brilliant white
This was Barbie in June, same hen as above, note how small and pale the comb was
my two younger Buff Orpington hens
another group of hens resting in the shade, July was a very hot months with temps over 110 degrees for several weeks and at night it often didn't go below 85, the last few nights have been in the 50s and this morning I put on a jacket because it was a bit chilly, of course it warmed up and in the afternoon it was blazing hot again and I had to turn on he misters for the chickens
hens taking a break under a tree
this is what the plum tree looked like before I took down all the plums, these are Santa Rosa plums but they were very small, this was the first year this tree has produced any fruit worth talking about, so I am not sure if the size is due to the tree being so young or if there were too many plums and not enough nutrients and water for them.
the apples, one tree I have harvested a couple weeks ago, I waited a bit too long and the apples were rather sweet, the chickens really liked them
Pearl my 3 1/2 year old Delaware hen, she is the top hen around here, she has been going very strong ever since her illness last year, and she continues to give me about 2 eggs a week, sometimes 3, her comb and wattles have grown rather large, she is pretty heat tolerant.
One of my Buckeye pullets, she laid her first little brown shiny egg today
I got lots of plums this year, most of them went into the freezer, I was glad I only have one tree, I picked a bucket full on several days until the tree was empty and only a little left for the birds
Here comes Ayla, she is 5 years old this month
She is moving towards Nanuk here and I caught a nice sequence of male and female interaction
so here is Nanuk, he is 9 years old now, he greets Ayla who likes him a lot
they both make happy faces, tails are relaxed
Nanuk thinks he can get a bit frisky
but Ayla didn't think so, note Nanuk's corner of the mouth and the ears, very submissive body language, and Nanuk has the habit to act playful if a female gets a bit "bitchy", that works every time
look at his mouth and their tails, both are on friendly terms, he is still trying to win her over
still trying, now Ayla gets her little look of "don't you dare"
here he is getting the cold shoulder treatment, he hasn't given up yet
Cici on the left and her momma Leydi on the right
Prince at 2 1/2 years old, he was 119 lbs and just under 33 inches tall
Prince recently got his hips certified with OFA and got an excellent rating, he also had his thyroidfunction checked which is normal and a local orthopedic vet reviewed his elbows, wrists and knees and found everything okay, so yay, I am very happy to know that all his joints are in good working order and that the strange movements I am seeing from the accident and surgery he had as a pup have not affected his joints.
Hackles up, keeping an eye on the happenings in the neighborhood
here he was peeing while keeping an eye on whatever it was that had his attention,
and off he goes again
Prince looking at the situation standing in the cool grass and shade of the tree, this was a 110 degree day, so he wasn't too thrilled having to deal with some neighborhood issue
these pictures were taken in June and I don't remember what had Prince so upset that day
Prince at 2 1/2 years old
here comes Sam
This must be the first nice picture of Samantha standing with her head up
the flighty little Silver Spangled Hamburg pullet. She is so small compared to the others, but such a pretty little thing, I knew this was a small breed, but I didn't realize they are as small as they are
I have the gates to the goat pen propped open so the chickens can squeeze through, but not the goats. This allows the chickens to go everywhere. This year has been a lot better with the flies, the fly predators didn't work for us, my guess is because of too many neighbors with livestock and also I had a lot of the fly traps up which have a fly attractant in them. So this year, no fly traps, I have put a metered sprayer in my barn and some insecticide strips in the smaller shelters so if flies go in there they should get killed. Additionally I keep the goat area swept once or twice a week and what I do is I have 3 little heaps of dropped hay and manure and the goats mostly go to those areas to pee and oftentimes poop there too. The dry ground doesn't attract the flies too much and the chickens keep those manure piles turned over and checked for fly maggots. And it has not rained for a long time, my guess is that if it would start raining the flies would multiply quickly. So I am hoping it won't rain.
Here is Barbie, she is my young Delaware hen, same as Pearl below, Barbie is huge and being only 6 months old her feathers are just brilliant white
This was Barbie in June, same hen as above, note how small and pale the comb was
my two younger Buff Orpington hens
another group of hens resting in the shade, July was a very hot months with temps over 110 degrees for several weeks and at night it often didn't go below 85, the last few nights have been in the 50s and this morning I put on a jacket because it was a bit chilly, of course it warmed up and in the afternoon it was blazing hot again and I had to turn on he misters for the chickens
hens taking a break under a tree
this is what the plum tree looked like before I took down all the plums, these are Santa Rosa plums but they were very small, this was the first year this tree has produced any fruit worth talking about, so I am not sure if the size is due to the tree being so young or if there were too many plums and not enough nutrients and water for them.
the apples, one tree I have harvested a couple weeks ago, I waited a bit too long and the apples were rather sweet, the chickens really liked them
Pearl my 3 1/2 year old Delaware hen, she is the top hen around here, she has been going very strong ever since her illness last year, and she continues to give me about 2 eggs a week, sometimes 3, her comb and wattles have grown rather large, she is pretty heat tolerant.
One of my Buckeye pullets, she laid her first little brown shiny egg today
I got lots of plums this year, most of them went into the freezer, I was glad I only have one tree, I picked a bucket full on several days until the tree was empty and only a little left for the birds
Here comes Ayla, she is 5 years old this month
She is moving towards Nanuk here and I caught a nice sequence of male and female interaction
so here is Nanuk, he is 9 years old now, he greets Ayla who likes him a lot
they both make happy faces, tails are relaxed
Nanuk thinks he can get a bit frisky
but Ayla didn't think so, note Nanuk's corner of the mouth and the ears, very submissive body language, and Nanuk has the habit to act playful if a female gets a bit "bitchy", that works every time
look at his mouth and their tails, both are on friendly terms, he is still trying to win her over
still trying, now Ayla gets her little look of "don't you dare"
here he is getting the cold shoulder treatment, he hasn't given up yet
Cici on the left and her momma Leydi on the right
Prince at 2 1/2 years old, he was 119 lbs and just under 33 inches tall
Prince recently got his hips certified with OFA and got an excellent rating, he also had his thyroidfunction checked which is normal and a local orthopedic vet reviewed his elbows, wrists and knees and found everything okay, so yay, I am very happy to know that all his joints are in good working order and that the strange movements I am seeing from the accident and surgery he had as a pup have not affected his joints. 
Hackles up, keeping an eye on the happenings in the neighborhood
here he was peeing while keeping an eye on whatever it was that had his attention,
and off he goes again
Prince looking at the situation standing in the cool grass and shade of the tree, this was a 110 degree day, so he wasn't too thrilled having to deal with some neighborhood issue
these pictures were taken in June and I don't remember what had Prince so upset that day
Prince at 2 1/2 years old
here comes Sam
This must be the first nice picture of Samantha standing with her head up
the flighty little Silver Spangled Hamburg pullet. She is so small compared to the others, but such a pretty little thing, I knew this was a small breed, but I didn't realize they are as small as they are
I have the gates to the goat pen propped open so the chickens can squeeze through, but not the goats. This allows the chickens to go everywhere. This year has been a lot better with the flies, the fly predators didn't work for us, my guess is because of too many neighbors with livestock and also I had a lot of the fly traps up which have a fly attractant in them. So this year, no fly traps, I have put a metered sprayer in my barn and some insecticide strips in the smaller shelters so if flies go in there they should get killed. Additionally I keep the goat area swept once or twice a week and what I do is I have 3 little heaps of dropped hay and manure and the goats mostly go to those areas to pee and oftentimes poop there too. The dry ground doesn't attract the flies too much and the chickens keep those manure piles turned over and checked for fly maggots. And it has not rained for a long time, my guess is that if it would start raining the flies would multiply quickly. So I am hoping it won't rain.