Outdoor animal update
As the cooler weather of fall gets rolling around here, the animals are busier than ever. The 43 chickens are still laying 12+ eggs per day, so I am still bringing eggs to campus as often as I can. We expect that will slow down over the next 4 weeks, and they probably will stop altogether this year. So I have warned Montana to make sure she stocks up lest we give/sell them all away!
The goats have yet to be sheared, so they are fluffy and curly and soft. I expect the downstairs neighbors will be working on that pretty soon.
We don’t have any goat projects required before winter hits - they have a closed enough area in their shelter. For the chickens, we are still hoping to redo the chicken run, removing the top net and re-securing the posts, maybe adding a few for goat protection. But even if we do not get around to redoing the posts, we will still remove that net so that it does not become a snow ceiling this year!
Goats and chickens happily cohabitating. In the background you can see how the fallen apples are dragging down our aviary netting since it is no longer secured to the top of the center post.
Walker is always lying next to the chicken run, right in that spot.
Curly tex and I think that is Samson to the right. It is getting ever-harder to tell Sammie and Walker apart!
That is definitely Sammie on the left - he is always the first one to inspect a new item in the field. And poor Tex - it is so windy out, his curly bangs are everywhere! One sneaky little eye poking out of the windblown curls!
Hi Samson!
The goats are constantly casing the joint, studying possible ways to get into that chicken run to get the good food.
This pretty bird always likes to greet me from the top of the food bin.
Sarge the Rooster is looking good!
The little hen next to Sarge is wearing an "apron" - she is Sarge's favorite, so unfortunately she lost too many of her top feathers. So these little aprons snap around the hens wings and give her a little protection. I like the way this one coordinates with the color of her actual feathers.
Samson is such an attention hog.
Walker is slightly curlier than Sammie - here he is getting in a good scratch.
Peekaboo Tex!
