Coyote Foiler

How do you foil a lamb-eating coyote?  There are two ways:

#1 A Really Excellent Barn Door

#2 A Donkey

While we have had no lamb-eating coyote problems yet - thank goodness - you can never be too careful.  Ian made us an absolutely beautiful door for our barn so we can lock our sheep in safe and sound at night time.  He is so incredibly handy and talented.

I am working on the donkey front - stayed turned...there may be a donkey in our future.

All Flights Have Been Grounded...Indefinitely

Since we cannot monitor Emily's antics 100% of the time, we have gone on a wing feather clipping bonanza.  This morning everyone of the avian variety got a wing cut to curb all unauthorized flights out of the coop.  Hopefully this will eliminate any future Emily-chicken mishaps.

So many feathers we could stuff a pillow!

 Our sick hen, who has been named Rebecca, is still in sick bay.  She is sitting up on her own and is awake and alert.  All good signs.  We will continue to monitor how her wounds heal over the next few days.

Man Down

Actually "hen" down is more accurate.  It has not been a good afternoon.  After finishing work I came down to play with Liam and Charlotte and found myself wondering where Emily was.  Emily is always looking to be the center of attention so to find her missing in action is never a good sign.

A quick look out the window into the back yard confirmed my fears.  One of our new brown hens had flown the coop and I could see Emily towering over her.  I hefted Liam on to one hip and went charging out into the yard but, alas, I was too late, the damage had been done.

A sad sight: hen feathers littering our yard.

Now we know what Emily will do if she is able to catch a chicken.  As horrible as it is, she will eat it alive.  It is not a pretty sight.  I scooped up the injured bird and carried her in one arm with Liam in the other back to the house.  It is a terrible feeling knowing one of your animals has been badly injured and you were not able to protect them.

I then had to decided what to do with her.  Ian was busy in an important work meeting and I had no idea what would be the most humane course of action - so I made an executive decision. I disinfected her wounds, sterilized a needle and thread and stitched her back together.  I then slathered on the Polysporin and put her to rest in a crate in the mudroom.

I have no idea if she will live.  I think she might be in shock and understandably so.  I guess we will reassess in the morning.  I do not know if I did the right thing.  I am not sure how resilient chickens are but I figured we would never cull a human if all they needed was some stitches so maybe a bird just needs the same chance to bounce back?  I don't know.  Like I said, it was a bad afternoon.

Hop(s) To It

There are four mandatory ingredients to the delicious beverage we know as beer: water, barley, yeast and hops.

Here on Gael Glen Farm we grow two types of hops that Ian uses to home brew beer: Cascade hops and Centennial hops.

The hops vines get cut back in the fall during harvest time and the blossoms are removed, dried and vacuum packed for use in future brewing.  In the spring, new buds sprout from the plant's roots and before we know it, the hops vines are growing like crazy.  If not properly managed these wild velcro-like vines get all tangled together in an unruly heap.

Before

Our solution is to provide the hops vines with ropes to climb up.  The ropes are attached to the top of our clothesline posts and work perfectly to guide the hops up, up and away!

After

After

You need to look hard to see the guide ropes in the after photos but they are there!

An Ovine Recovery Mission

We are the proud (well...I am very, very proud; Ian has yet to be convinced) owners of three beautiful Shetland sheep.

Thrilled - can you tell?

Not convinced - can you tell?

Yesterday Dad and I went over to Wolfe Island near Kingston to purchase my very first hobby farm-sized flock - a mama sheep (called an ewe) and her two three-week old baby lambs, one ewe lamb and one ram lamb.  We are still debating on names so I will introduce our new additions properly once a decision has been reached.

Shetland sheep are technically dual purpose animals (wool and meat); however, if you know me at all, you will know that these lovely beasts have found their forever home.  There will be no lamb chops here!

Lots of lamb.  No chops.

They survived the two hour car ride home like troopers.  I can imagine that it is not particularly fun being stuffed in a dog crate (on loan from my brother) lined with straw inside a UHaul trailer bumping up and down on the 401 highway.

Grandma, Liam and our Shetlands.

We stopped to check on them at the halfway point when we turned onto the 416 highway and you should have seen the stink eye the ewe gave us.  She was not impressed!

Yikes!  That is quite the look!

Upon our arrival we attached a dog collar and leash (on loan from Charlotte - their necks are the same circumference) to our ewe to "lead" her gently down to the barn.  Yeah, right.  She was having none of it.  Dad had to pick her up - all 70 lbs of her - and carry her like a huge baby from the trailer to the barn.

Ian and I had no trouble carrying the lambs.

Though there was a lot of "baaa-ing" - I am not sure we want to know what they were saying!

The sheep did not stay in the barn long at all.  Lickity split they were out in the paddock munching grass and exploring their new surroundings.  It was funny to watch:  step, step, munch, chew, swallow...step, step, munch, munch, chew, swallow....step, munch, chew, chew, chew, swallow....and repeat.

As expected the lambs stayed close to their mother and at dusk they all voluntarily put themselves to bed in the barn.  What more can you ask for?  I have the best sheep ever.

I am a shepherdess - how cool is that?!  Ovines are devine!

A Floral Explosion

While we work on recovering from our jet lag, we are busy appreciating spring time on the farm.  To Ian's dismay and the honey bees delight, the dandelions are out in full force.

Similarly, the majority of our spring flowers are in bloom and they are gorgeous.  Our front gardens look like a cross between a botanical garden and a country meadow (because of all the weeds).  haha - only so many hours in a day!

Note the coexistence of tulips and dandelions - not intentional, I assure you.

A Blooming Good Time

Our newly pruned apple trees are in full bloom.  Beautiful isn't it?

Our un-pruned pear tree.  I thought this tree was male and so have never pruned it.  After some research, I do not think there is actually such a thing as a male pear tree - they are all bisexual.  Who knew?!