Saturday Was a Great Day!
Sept 4, 2017 23:05:50 GMT -5
Shawn, Multi-taskingmom, and 20 more like this
Post by westxgrl13 on Sept 4, 2017 23:05:50 GMT -5
OK, I have to share with you all what happened Saturday!
First, my cousin down the canyon called to say they had a first-calf heifer down and couldn't get up (that's definitely NOT the good part). They thought she probably calved the day before, based on the amount of thrashing the cow had done. At least she had a live calf, but he was pretty hungry, and the cousins knew that we had bottling equipment, etc. So they brought the calf up here while we thawed out Katy Kow colostrum that we saved when Katy Kow calved last September.
I went outside to feed my chickens in the meantime. The dog got into a dust-up with a chicken under a tree, and when I went charging over to break it up, there were TEN LITTLE CHICKS with this little banty hen that has been missing! I thought for sure a varmint had gotten her and packed her off a few weeks ago. Anyway, I got the dog away--not that she was hurting anything, she just wanted to get up close and inspect the little fuzzballs--about the time my cousins drove up with this little bull calf on back of their pickup, so we had a laugh over the sudden increase in our chicken population, then bottled the calf. He didn't drink really well, since he was so starved and weak, but he did get down most of the colostrum, then we put him in "sick bay" in the milking pen stall.
When my cousins went home, my husband and I got the chicks and Momma Banty into a mop bucket and carried them up to the coop, where we could isolate them from the others, and keep them in for a couple of weeks. Momma Banty isn't that old, herself, since I got her and her cohorts from the feed store back in the spring. She and two that look like her lay eggs about quail-size, so we were shocked that she had managed to hatch that many!
Anyway, yesterday (Sunday), when we got home from town/church, when I opened my car door, I thought I heard peeping, but decided I just had chickens "on the brain" and was imagining the noise. I bottled the calf, then when I walked back under the carport, I was positive I heard baby chicks, so I looked into an old open trailer, and there were TWO MORE CHICKS standing in a bunch of busted shells and dud eggs! I hustled them up to the coop and set them down by Momma Banty and the other ten chicks, where the two immediately began to eat chick starter and drink from the waterer right with the rest of them! Aaaahhhh!!! Bliss!!! So this teeny little chicken managed to hatch TWELVE chicks, and is taking great care of them, while the new calf is getting stronger and drinking better every feeding! Here are a couple of pictures of the newest additions to what my Mother calls the "foundling farm"!
(Plus a picture of my 18-month-old grandson, trying to lick a goat at shearing time, just because I think my grandbaby is a cutie!)
First, my cousin down the canyon called to say they had a first-calf heifer down and couldn't get up (that's definitely NOT the good part). They thought she probably calved the day before, based on the amount of thrashing the cow had done. At least she had a live calf, but he was pretty hungry, and the cousins knew that we had bottling equipment, etc. So they brought the calf up here while we thawed out Katy Kow colostrum that we saved when Katy Kow calved last September.
I went outside to feed my chickens in the meantime. The dog got into a dust-up with a chicken under a tree, and when I went charging over to break it up, there were TEN LITTLE CHICKS with this little banty hen that has been missing! I thought for sure a varmint had gotten her and packed her off a few weeks ago. Anyway, I got the dog away--not that she was hurting anything, she just wanted to get up close and inspect the little fuzzballs--about the time my cousins drove up with this little bull calf on back of their pickup, so we had a laugh over the sudden increase in our chicken population, then bottled the calf. He didn't drink really well, since he was so starved and weak, but he did get down most of the colostrum, then we put him in "sick bay" in the milking pen stall.
When my cousins went home, my husband and I got the chicks and Momma Banty into a mop bucket and carried them up to the coop, where we could isolate them from the others, and keep them in for a couple of weeks. Momma Banty isn't that old, herself, since I got her and her cohorts from the feed store back in the spring. She and two that look like her lay eggs about quail-size, so we were shocked that she had managed to hatch that many!
Anyway, yesterday (Sunday), when we got home from town/church, when I opened my car door, I thought I heard peeping, but decided I just had chickens "on the brain" and was imagining the noise. I bottled the calf, then when I walked back under the carport, I was positive I heard baby chicks, so I looked into an old open trailer, and there were TWO MORE CHICKS standing in a bunch of busted shells and dud eggs! I hustled them up to the coop and set them down by Momma Banty and the other ten chicks, where the two immediately began to eat chick starter and drink from the waterer right with the rest of them! Aaaahhhh!!! Bliss!!! So this teeny little chicken managed to hatch TWELVE chicks, and is taking great care of them, while the new calf is getting stronger and drinking better every feeding! Here are a couple of pictures of the newest additions to what my Mother calls the "foundling farm"!
(Plus a picture of my 18-month-old grandson, trying to lick a goat at shearing time, just because I think my grandbaby is a cutie!)