Friday, May 11, 2007

Scratch the "junior roost"...

Don't need the "junior roost". The Plymouth Barred Rock pullet chicks have discovered they can fly up to the real roost. I also saw one of the White Rocks... dunno if it was cockerel chick or a pullet.

We're progressing on the screen door, having cut the lumber. Hopefully Bev will return home from work this afternoon with the brace/connector plates and other hardware.

This morning was a surprise.

Aljinon, our ram had gone over a short fence to join the two little bummer lambs. I was about to enjoy a peaceful morning coffee watching the hummingbirds and orioles when I heard the lambs making quite a commotion.

I knew they hadn't seen me and were crying for their bottles... must be something different... it was.

Fortunately, he's a pretty placid boy and didn't hurt them. He wanted their hay, the big glutton.

I spent an hour and a half moving sheep by myself as Cindy had left for work and Bev was leaving. I've found when you exercise patience, they'll eventually go where you want them.

To secure the little ones, I had to risk putting "Mama" and her twins into the big pen. This shouldn't be a problem, except that Chiquita (our PolyPay) is a real "bitch". She even keeps the ram in line.

First I managed to get Mama to move with only a short detour in the unfenced area leading to the hay wagon. Luckily, I managed to corral the twins in their original pen. All this time, the bummers were on the loose. They're so tame they were under my feet the whole time. Finally, Mama went to the big pen and with extra hay, the bummers joined the twins.

Game on!

Chiquita chased Mama and tried to nip and butt her for about 20 minutes. After a while with some extra hay, they settled a bit. That was long enough for Mama to want her twins.

Now I had to get creative as their not tame like the bummers. And, I wanted only the twins, not the bummers in the big pen. By quickly constructing a temporary chute from the lamb pen to the big pen, and using Mama's call, the twins got to the big pen safely.

After observing them for an hour or so, it looks like the sheep have settled in and there are no more major territory challenges.

This evening we'll be making adjustments to the fencing... gotta do that at zero cost as this month's funds are dedicated to chicken stuff and greenhouse stuff.

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Posted by Shari Thomas @ 11:53 AM

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