About Me

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I am a 42 year old woman that is about as happy and content as one person can be. My husband of 21 years and our 15 year old daughter live on five and a half acres out in the country. We moved from the city four years ago and never looked back. I homeschool our daughter. We also love our animals. Our daughter has a miniature horse and two rabbits. We also have a border collie, two cats (again), two pot belly pigs, four peafowl, three emus, 2 llamas and an undetermined number of chickens, lets just say ohhh about 200. I have many breeds, from layers to fancy chickens. I love poultry shows, I love fowl in general as I have come to find out through having more than just chickens. Chickens will always be my first love though. I do show some of my birds occasionally.

Saturday, December 29, 2007

Lima Beans For Breakfast and Petes Missing Feathers

I STILL had lima beans left from Christmas dinner. I thought the ladies and gents out in the yard might like the leftovers so I spilled them out onto the ground and everyone came running and went to town on those beans.

You may be asking yourself why some of them look a bit ratty and I will go ahead and tell you that this time of year is molting season. You would think that it would make more sense to shed old feathers in the summer, but nope, its always in late Fall and into the first part of winter all the while freezing their hineys off. You may also see where some feathers are missing off the back, well, that is because a few of the girls are Hanks ummm....favorites. If you know what I mean. Their feathers will grow back so don't worry. Hank is not that darn quick so if they really WANTED to get away, they could.

You see Pete at the end of the video? Let me tell you, he had a close call day before yesterday.

I think I know what happened. Nobody alerted me. I was scolding the guineas asking them where were they when all this was going on? Any other time they are raising holy heck over a leaf blowing by.

A couple of days before this incident I am going to tell you about I was outside working around the yard and heard a dog bark.

What the heck was that? I asked myself.

I went around the front of the garage and there stood a Jack Russell Terrier barking at the guineas..and the guineas raising cain back at him from the safety of the fence.

I clapped my hands together and told him to GIT FROM HERE.

He scooted off tail tucked.

I THOUGHT this dog belonged to the neighbors next door. I was wrong. I will tell you how I found this out later.

Linda came by to get some eggs day before yesterday and when I walked out with her I saw down feathers...I saw them on the walkway...then in the flowerbed...then out on the other side of the driveway..piles. I found sickle feathers...from a tail...the tail of PETE.

I was immediately freaking out. I LOVE Pete so much. I started fretting and looking around. Linda was helping me to look for him. I went in the side gate and there he was...thank goodness. He was safe minus a LOT of feathers.

Now Pete weighs about ten pounds. That dog had to be the one that did this. Tearing out the feathers like that in chunks. That is a dog thing. He had no flesh wounds thank goodness. Had it been a cat it might have been worse.

Pete had no business being out of the fence, but with that said my girls and boys still stay right up by the garage and the front of the house, so they ARE on my property. Tip does her best to keep them in the fence when I see them out and let her go push them back in the fence, but I cant watch every single minute of the day.

So I hopped in the truck and went around to the house next to us, thinking that dog was their dog. Nope. She said it was THEIR dog, and pointed next door to them. SHEEEESH. I should have known. These are the people that had their dog they had at the time running loose and leading a pack of about five other dogs for about the first year we were living here. They let that dog have the run of the area. One day it disappeared. I imagine someone got tired of it and MADE it disappear. Was fine by me. You didnt see me shed a tear.

So now I am going to deal with their dog, again. Another dog. Cause that is what they needed was another dog, because they kept their other one in check so well. Back then we didnt have the fence so the dog could make a B line straight for our house, and the pens. Now THIS dog has to go all the way down the side of the fence, which backs up to not only the next door neighbors property, but their property. The little dog has to go A WAYS to get over here.

I am glad Pete is okay, and maybe this will teach him to keep his big self in the safety of the fence. It is still not okay for this dog to come over here, at all. Going to have to see about this, yep I am. Got to take care of my stock.

ANYWAY! Here is this mornings video..hope you enjoy it!

 

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

those are some good looking, healthy birds you have there.  I love how they all sound clucking and crowing!
have a wonderful day!
tina

Anonymous said...

Kelly I loved your video it was great seeing and hearing your chickens enjoying those lima beans ~ Glad Pete is OK ~ Ally x

Anonymous said...

Those sound like a happy flock. Poor Pete losing his tail feathers. If that Jack Russell had of got a good hold on him he would have been a goner for sure. Helen

Anonymous said...

Time to load a few shots of rice in the old shotgun.  ;o)  -  Barbara

Anonymous said...

Kelly I enjoyed your video of the chickens eating their limas.  I'm glad Pete is okay.  I don't blame you about the dog.

Hollie

Anonymous said...

Funny what you wrote about Hank. Paula

Anonymous said...

Poor Pete, maybe you should pepper that dogs butt with some pellet!  Bubba sure is nice looking!  Linda

Anonymous said...

I loved watching them & hearing them as well.  Oh poor Pete without his tail feathers...I would be livid about that as well.  People should be held responsible for their dogs ~ the dog doesn't know any better but the darn well the people should!!!!  I am glad he didn't hurt Pete.  They really liked those lima beans, I'll have to tell my mom to put some in for ours if she has any leftover.  Cool video!
xoxo
Lisa

Anonymous said...

Yes the dog sure had no business letting their dog run like that.  Mine try that once in a while but I"m out there within 5 min to search them up.  Most of the time they are in the house unless were out there with them.  Sure hope his tail grows back quickly lol it does look a little amusing tho.

Anonymous said...

The chickens are all beautiful.  I wish we could have some now but my neighbors would have a cow with all the clucking and crowing.  As soon as we move in the middle of no where I want to get some chickens, ducks and turkeys.  (they are never to be food) I loved the little white ones.  What are they called?  I've seen most of those breeds before but I don't recall seeing the white ones.  (used to work at a rescue and we always had chickens coming in)  If you call the humane society in your area (or animal control) the owners will get a notice the first time that if they don't keep the dog in their yard, he'll be taken away.  Good luck.
Jamie

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