No really that is silver hair not gray (it really is!)

So when I looked out onto the pasture hunting down the new lamb, I had a hard time finding it.  When I did I was quite surprised at how small it was.   I know Annmarie told me it was little, but boy until you see it or better yet hold it, you don’t realize just how small she is.  Annmarie went out with me to help catch the lamb so I could hold it.  She caught it so she got to get cuddles first.  We have decided that since the mother is so crazy we need to take extra time to tame down this baby.

This will bring a smile to your face any day

Of course, every time I see the top of my head I wonder where all my hair has disappeared to?  I personally never see the top of my head.  It amazes me when I see a picture and I am bald.  Other than wearing a hat outdoors (to prevent sunburn) and wearing a hat when I am working around the house (to prevent cuts and scrapes to my scalp) I never miss it.
Here is the side by side comparison with our chicken coop cat.  Luna lives out in the old abandoned original chicken house.  She doesn’t get along with the other cats but comes running whenever we are outside working.  She will follow you around like a dog.

The cat is bigger!!!

future fence posts (corners and gates and water crossings)

Well I spent part of yesterday and today getting railroad ties for the new fence.  I found a place in Hermiston that sells them in bundles of 20 for $8/each.  That is a great buy.  So I borrowed a trailer from a friend and went over and got the first load yesterday evening.  I unloaded it as soon as I got home so it wouldn’t stay in the trailer overnight.  I didn’t think to ask how much they weighed.  They were dramatically different, some of them seemed  light (manageable) and others were so heavy I could hardly get them out of the trailer.  I flipped one end off the trailer then stood them up on end and pushed them into a pile.  It made me sweat.  So I did it again today.  It was a lot harder today.  I cannot wait for the weather to get better so I can get back in shape.  While I was picking up the load today the guy told me that 20 ties weighed 2800 pounds or roughly 140#/each.  So I figure in reality they weigh between 100-200#.  I weigh in at a whopping 155#.  It was brutal today, no way I could have done another 20 without really paying the price.

future gates

I got the stuff to make my own gates, I picked up a 16 foot cow panel, I will cut it down to 12 feet and then sandwich 2×4 pressure treated boards all around the outside and then but in a diagonal cross brace.  I will bolt them all together and hang them with a single supporting cable attached around 10 feet out and to the railroad tie.  This will cost around $45 a gate.  Much cheaper than I could buy the gates.
 I did the childs chores and while inside the chicken coop allowed the sheep to get in our front yard.  Since the lead ewe remembered that she had broken the gate on the yard, she ran right for it again.  I had a heck of a time herding the sheep back in to the barn so I could lock them up for the night.
So like all good farmers I put a temporary (yes I do plan on fixing this) fix on the gate.

Starting picture, the holes are access to the nest boxes for the chickens

Well I finished it today, I even got the shelf above the quail run completed.  I want to get this out in the open first thing, it is for the chicken coop.  Spending as little as possible is the name of the game.  I figure it cost me about $25 to build this with all the hardware included.  I used lots of scraps and all the hinges and latches I buy off of the discount table at the local feed store.  I just buy them whenever they show up, figuring I will need them eventually.  Since it is for the chicken coop, things just have to be close.  I don’t do redos in the chicken coop.  I beat with a hammer, I push and add a couple extra screws.  The only concession I made was I screwed everything together.  I did not use a nail gun.  I probably should have used the staple gun on the wire mesh, but it was raining and I would have had to bring out the compressor.  The chickens did not like me disturbing them, they cluck and fuss the whole time I am working in the coop.  You get used to that and it becomes more relaxing than annoying, until the rooster starts crowing inside the coop!  It is very loud, I finally had to shoo him out of the coop so I could think.

I went to grab the quail and place them in their new home.  All was not well.  One of the quail was laying on its side sleeping and the other quail was laying next to it.  So I grabbed for the sleeping quail.  It wasn’t asleep.  It was cold and dead!

completed quail enclosure with storage above it for chicken feeders and extras

Annmarie had picked up and held one yesterday.  I truly do not believe that the dead one was the one she held yesterday.  I really don’t.  So now we only have one lonely quail left.  I still need to add the chicken wire above the enclosure so the chickens don’t start roosting on it.  It is fairly steep, I think I will hold off and see if the chickens start using it to sleep on.  If they don’t then it will save me some extra work.

 

I had to add a door holder, I ended up using two boards that each pivot.  The first one pivots out to hold the door and the little one pivots down to hold the first one in place.  As you can see I had to use some shims for the door handles.  I had the handles in the shed, leftover from some 50s kitchen remodel.  They never threw anything away.  So now all I need to do is clean out the baby chick enclosure.  I am going to place an order for new baby chicks on Monday at the feed store!  It will take them a week to get the chicks in. I have settled on 12 Brahmas and 6 leghorns.  I may not be able to get the leghorns.  If not I am going to shoot for a white egg layer.  May just get more Polish hens, but they are a smaller breed.  All depends on what I can order.

nifty door opener holder

Well, I almost have the new quail run completed.  I managed to get the roof and sides and wire floor installed today.  Tomorrow I will make some front doors and then move the birds over.  I will still need to finish the closed shelf above the quail and then run chicken wire to the ceiling so the chickens don’t start sitting on top of the nest box at night.  I am confident that I can get it done tomorrow.  I will take some pictures after completion. The best part about finishing it is I can get baby chicks!!!!  Way cool.

I should be in bed.  I was in bed, but then the sheep heard my wife through our open bedroom window and started bawling.  We had forgotten to lock the sheep and chickens up.  Now I have not had a chicken killed in several months so I might have gotten off the hook there, but I still think that the one ewe is pregnant and it is going to get cold tonight.  So I had to crawl out of the warm bed and go outside and lock up the sheep.  One of the babies got lost on the trip to the barn and I had to go back and find her.  Of course the sheep thought I should feed them also.  So they were all bawling when I left because they got no hay.  I did lock the chickens up on my way back to the house.  I will say this the animals force you to keep a routine.  They just don’t do as well if you don’t stick to it, kinda like little kids in that aspect.  Good Night.