Don't Mind Me

If you're wondering how long it takes for any furry animal to learn that a special cupboard holds treats, it's less than 24 hours. I keep all the treats for the goats, donkeys and cow locked away in a cabinet none of them can get into - well Fiona could if she rammed it, but she won't. Anyhow, all I have to do to get everyone ready for bed is to open that cupboard. All the hooves start rumbling into the barn and all the chickens run out scared they'll be trampled on. 

First, Fiona gets her cattle cubes. This isn't really a treat as she needs that as extra feed, but the donkeys cannot get it, so I hand feed it to Fiona. She even allowed me to pet her some while I fed her. You'll notice from the pics, others were thinking they were missing out during this time. 

Once all the animals were either inside or outside the barn determined by their assigned sleeping places, we closed the gate and I went into the goats stall to give them their treats. I sat down on my chair and soon, I had eight mouths begging for goat treats. I only have five goats. Yep, Fiona and the donkeys came into the stall as well. Oh boy!

It took a bit of prodding, but soon everyone got all their designated treats in all their designated places. I got lots of love and petting time. I'm so happy! 

PS Don't mind me in the pic please. It's hot and the benefit of farm life is not caring how you look!

Spectacular Day!

We spent the cooler hours of the morning just hanging out in the barn letting all the new girls get used to us. Fancy (formerly known as Tulsa), is the biggest sweetheart and loves attention. Patches (formerly Rosebud) is a bit more shy and while she likes to be petted, she's more fond of snuggling Fancy. Fiona loves looking at her beautiful reflection and being told how pretty she is. All my girls are beautiful and I love them so much. 

The biggest news of the day, there is not a furry animal we have that will not eat out of my hand! Fiona was the last holdout, but tonight she finally relented for not only myself, but for Rob. She sure loves those apple treats! 

Welcome Home Fiona & Friends

Through months of looking and dreaming, Rob let me get Fiona, Rosebud and Tulsa. Yes, he let me. These are not for the frugal. Today, they came home to us!

First, meet Fiona. She's a Scottish Highland yearling and an absolute doll. I fell in love with her instantly. She's a little skittish, but I'm sure she'll warm up to me soon. 

Next, is Rosebud. She's a two year old miniature spotted donkey. Apparently, spotted donkeys are highly sought after (which I didn't know), but I was lucky to be chosen as her new mama. She's the most curious of the three, but happily accepts petting and treats. I'm thinking of renaming her Patches from a children's book I remember from my youth that I loved. 

Lastly, Tulsa. She's also a two year old donkey, but considered a micro mini. Just like our little Kenzie dog, Tulsa takes charge and doesn't let her small size matter. She made the other two wait on the food until she had enough. I am not crazy about her name either, but waiting to see her personality more before changing her name. I'm in love!!!

More pics tomorrow once the girls are settled

Rain and Beaus

We finally got rain this week! Two nights in a row, we made it through tumultuous weather with everyone safe and sound. We learned where we have leaks in the roof of the barn and we learned how much mud our pups can track into the RV. I'll take both for the rain any day. 

We've also determined we only have one female quail and four males. We've collected a few quail eggs this week and I'm going to try my hand at incubating them. One little quail egg is not going to provide enough to eat, so we're populating instead. 

For fantastic news, all five of my sweet goats are eating out of my hand now! We've ordered some halters for them, and once they arrive, we'll begin training them to walk on a leash. The more I can teach them, the better it will be for everyone. I love them so much!

Sundae

Milestone Moments

As an animal lover, I enjoy focusing on all their triumphs. Two days ago, we got our first quail egg! Now, I don't know how many females we actually have, but now we know we are least have one. The egg was a little cracked and soft, so we know to give the quails some oyster shell to firm up some. 

Today, I got to take part in S'mores first time eating out of my hand. It's the first thing I teach my girls to do. Cookie Doe is the only one left to learn now, but she's the youngest anyway so that's normal. The second thing I teach them is to accept my petting them. Sundae is a pro at this, and Cocoa and Scotchie tolerate it for now. Soon, I'll start teaching them the third thing: accepting a halter. This will help them learn to be walked; whether to go into the vet's office, to learn new areas of our land, to get their hooves trimmed, etc. I've been fortunate to make a new friend who is well versed in goats and she's a great asset in learning proper training and care. 

Lastly, all the animals are getting the nighttime routine down pretty well. I'm managing four out of five goats coming into their stall without asking and ten out of eleven chickens. One of our baby Plymouth Rocks (probably the one who got in Kenzie's mouth the other day) fights us to go into the aviary nightly. We're hoping she'll learn soon though as she's a tricky one to capture!

Quail egg

Kenzie & The Hen

Each day on the farm, you never know what you're going to get. Our latest adventure, the goats have decided they like the aviary and the chickens like the goats stall. We made a compromise, all the animals have to sleep in their assigned places at night, but they can go wherever they want during the day. One Plymouth Rock decided to test the boundaries yesterday. 

So the chicks aren't full grown yet and currently able to freely go through the gate of the outside pen. This penned area is for the protection of those inside as the dogs and anything else can be outside that gate. That particular bird found herself caught in the mouth of Kenzie, our psychotic Belgian Malinois/Corgi mix. To Kenzie's credit, she only held onto the bird and allowed me to remove her and bring her safely back to the pen. The chicken has a war story to tell all the other chicks now and we're grateful Kenzie didn't hurt or kill the bird. Kenzie is trying desperately to understand life on the farm, but she is much more relaxed playing with Mango in the cool air conditioning of the RV!

Some Progress... Finally

I never know when I'm going to write the blog, so I apologize if it comes in sporadic intervals. This past week was a busy one around the farm which left little time for writing. 

We've managed to get the holding tank for our well done! No more sulfur smell! It took two months and a whole lot of money, but being able to turn on the water without gagging makes it worth it. 

Our house plans have made it to the contractor. Now, we're waiting for him to get all his contractors lined up and then hopefully we'll break ground soon. Some people may enjoy living in an RV full time. I'm not one of those type of people. 

All our animals are doing well. Cookie Doe and S'mores are getting into the hang of things and have integrated with the other girls well. Sundae, Scotchie and Cocoa are fully coming into their individual personalities now which is such a great pleasure to see. 

We're still on an egg a day basis with the chicken our neighbor gave us. Our ten baby chicks should start giving us eggs around Independence Day, but I have a feeling a couple of reds will be sooner than that. They're growing so fast!

I'll close this up so I can do my rain dance. Since we've moved here, we've watched rain fall in every direction around us, but not on us. Maybe today's the day!