Genevieve and the Chicken Farm

 Poor ol' Jenn just can't resist these chickens in the garden - I wonder whether we will ever be able to let her off leash while the chickens are "free ranging"?

Not quite there yet...

Our very first little chicken eggs have hatched and the poor dog is fixated with them, drooling over these delicious creatures with intense focus on her face. Quite mini feathery snacks...

 

 Meet Ping... :)
One of the little ones unfortunately didn't make it :( despite efforts to revive it. I put it in the oven (No, not for eating), but the poor little critter was all cold and not strong enough, it was so sad - was such a beautiful little fluffball. Hunny will have to adjust the coop somewhat so that it doesn't get wet inside the nest anymore. After I finally decided to throw the little corps in the dirt bin I couldn't help myself but to have a look every few minutes to see whether Lazarus perhaps miraculously revived, but alas. I must have peeked into the bin about 5 times throughout the afternoon and once in the evening :(

... and Pong <3

Chicken and herb.

 

No, it's not what u'r thinking... I'm referring to our "free range" pet chickens. I eventually found a new young Pekin hen advertised and rushed over to get the last one. She's a little red mix and looks like a "boshoender". She will be fondly known as Katrientjie ;)

 

So Friday, just after Katrien's arrival, the "in-laws" came to visit and I proudly picked up our older little black Pekin hen to show of her soft, fluffy feathers. 5 Min later my skin was crawling with the speedy migration of a few hundred minute little lice - yuck!! When I checked in on our new arrival and after a hilarious little chicken chase around the coop and imminent escape to the outside, I checked on Hettie to see if I can see the lice on her. Boy! Could I see them - her whole face and body was teeming with these little buggers! It was actually disgusting how I have neglected her needs.

 

So, Saturday morning at the crack of dawn, I jumped out of bed to search for organic remedies for these little pests: Consulted my chicken book and all I could find was the conventional wisdom of lice powder (which will surely not be organic) and a few other ideas but no solutions. I decided that I will do a proper scrub down of the entire coop with a strong herbal spray (yet-to-be-determined), put a few drops Apple Cider Vinegar (organic and unfiltered) in the drinking water and provide a suitable sand-pit for dust baths plus some oyster shell grit. I will possibly also have to reconsider what I feed her because I see she doesn't eat all her food and I don't like wasting! I made up my own mix before, but will have to figure out what is best to feed the 2 of them, especially since Katrientjie is a little younger and probably needs more protein.

 

Pride, resistance and imperfection

So, it's 10:30pm and I'm standing in the kitchen, making puppy stew ;) with pork mince and goulash - what a spoiled poopy. It's a lot of extra effort I guess, but I just love doing it! And our puppy made me so proud today - twice! First of all she was doing great at the show training classes - didn't growl or act silly once and she did everything the way she should PLUS she stood like a PRO! While we prepared for the show pose a hadeda shouted in the distance. Jenni's ears picked up and then I said "where's the bird?" BIRD!!? She was looking straight in front of her, poised, ready to run, but frozen like a hunting dog - PERFECTION!! Everyone who knew anything about showing was VERY impressed :) Ahhh :) so Proud of our baby!

The second even more proud moment was when Hunny's nieces came to visit and our little hooligan at some stage realised they were small and stood dead quiet for a hug and kiss from the 2 girls - it was SO precious. She just stood there, all frozen,submissive - totally CALM...?? How did this happen?? She was a star and the kids stroked her for several minutes! I have very rarely seen her standing still for such a long time. It was just too sweet!

 

160 Snails

This dog that doesn't want to eat her food is driving me up the wall! :P She's a happy, healthy and playful 8 month old pup, but even though she's getting a super meal with specially cooked chicken mince and very nice looking Woolworths pets mince (plus rice, lentils, little veg etc) twice a day, she still doesn't really want to eat it!?? Not even if I put milk on top?! I really have no more ideas regarding her food preferences. And sometimes she'll eat it later in the day, so it's not something she deems inedible... ??? I weighed her at the vet's the other day and she's already 27 kg, now probably even more. I thought the breed (Irish Red setter) only weighs in at about 28 kg as an adult bitch? But clearly I must be wrong... this means that I have actually been feeding her slightly too little. She often doesn't eat all her food though, so feeding more wouldn't have done any better. The amount of Royal Canin pellets she should get is calculated according to her expected adult weight... the breeders haven't got back to me about how much her mom weighs, so I can get a better estimate. I had one last plan in mind for puppy stew, which I cooked last night, and if that doesn't work she's just gonna get straight pellets every day.

This morning while doing my round in the garden I came across the aftermath of Tuesday night's massacre. I wanted to serve the freshest peas for dinner that night and so, headed out with my raincoat and torch in hand to discover a gazillion snails all over our wonderlawn, then all over the cabbage, the stairs, the walls - basically everywhere! The snails were out having a feast on all my hard work and so I decided to squash all of them. I lost count at around 160 snails and I am quite sure that there will still be more of them. With so many snails in our garden I am VERY surprised that there's anything edible left in our garden!! Clearly the other tricks/gimmicks (beer traps, copper steel-wool, egg shells... etc.) don't quite work. Yesterday I saw the most cutetest little chicks ever! I so almost bought them, I'm sure they'll be very entertained by the fine dining on my snails;) I had specially gone out to buy Organic snail bait yesterday but now I might not need it ;) I think I'll put the bait around my next lettuce and cabbage beds, those seem to be the biggest target for our slimy friends. But WOW! I was really dumbfounded by the amount of snails out in the drizzle! Definitely the easiest way to get rid of those buggers.

To pea or not to pea

I do declare - my life is running away from under me. I think I have just too many interests and things I am trying to get done before I hit 30... happening next year :o


I don't know why I suddenly feel compelled to try everything I've always wanted to do in one shot? Possibly because I now sort of have the means to... or do I?


All I do know is that Jenni is growing up so quickly and keeping me VERY busy. At times I am convinced that she is even more taxing than raising a child - but I suspect I stand to be corrected and that one day I will return to my philosophy that it would be easier raising 5 dogs than one child. I suppose I make her more effort than she has to be: I insist on cooking her puppy stew to supplement her already balanced meal of Royal Canin pellets, but it makes me happy. It always takes be back to my "Oumagrootjie's" (great grandmother's) kitchen when she cooked stew for her dogs (in the days before Epol). But anyway, while Jenni is chewing up more of my plants I have been dreaming up another plan to try and satisfy my desire to have my own farm... :)

After realising that a proper, big farm that is 2 hours away form home would not fit into our current lifestyle and would most likely jeopardise our relationship a lot I devised a new solution: leasing farm land close to town and setting up a small farm business with an organic vegetable patch, horses, chickens, peas etc. Besides the financial strain and demands on our time from a proper farm there is a lot of uncertainty about land ownership and demanding labour laws in our country, so a long-term lease will most likely be the best solution and would decrease our financial commitment substantially. Or so I hope! At least a smaller enterprise closer to the city would be a less risky trial of my determination and capabilities to run my own small farm. I am also not ignorant of my weaknesses and I realise that the biggest risk is perhaps my fluctuating interest in things I start doing, so this business would at least hold better prospects for resale should I later realise that I am not farm-girl material.