Deterrents, breeding program successes

I spent the majority of the evening getting the electric fence put up along the back fence. Bringing the power from the shop at least eliminated the drop we had been using at the walkthrough gate by the garage. It dies not eliminate the jump over I had to install at the walkthrough gate to the area the new goats are in. Mama will have to be careful not to touch the wire that is above that gate – and on either side of the gate. I used tee posts to get the wire up to about six feet in height but we both still need to be careful when the fence is energized. It does not discriminate what it stings – and it does sting. The last time I had the electric fence energized, Kobe was stung and would not go into the back yard any further than the grass near the house for several days. Hopefully, the charge on the fence is not life threatening to the chickens.

I also worked on the two live traps I could find and set both of them up for service. I put one in the goat barn on top of one of the rabbit cages – where I almost caught a rat by hand last weekend. Mama was terrified at the thought of that. The other, I set up in the coop behind the door on the Banty side. It was the one that held a chicken captive for two days the last time I put in service. Mama and I will have to keep an eye on that trap. I believe we have a third live trap, but I did not know where to locate it last night. It is crowding toward the time of year when I will need to start trapping and killing raccoons. We have seen an increase in the raccoon population over the past few months and sooner or later they will come looking at our chickens.

We got news yesterday that our goats are bred. I asked Mama to schedule a pickup for Thursday night since I will be leaving Monday and traveling home Wednesday. We might be able to go tomorrow but we have so many things that need to get done tomorrow that I am not sure we would have the time to squeeze that in also. We will see. When we do go we are going to buy some Banty hens from Nancy to expand our little flock. Normally, Mama ad I would no buy the chickens, but Rick and Nancy have done so much for us that we felt it was a good way to show some gratitude. Besides, we will get four or five little Bantys that are almost the same age as those we have raised. Integration may be a small issue, but we should be able to get past that in a couple weeks as the pecking order is established. It is disturbing to Mama to see all the little battles that happen as they determine flock rank, but it is unavoidable.

The next couple weeks will be fast and far-flung. Getting through them to Thanksgiving will be an endurance contest for both me and Mama. It’s all good – sort of.