Catching up for the week

It's been a week since Mother's Day and a few things have happened on my mini homestead.

A predator took two of my younger juvenile chickens overnight one night. I went out to do morning feedings and to milk the goat when I saw piles of feathers around one of the chicken cages. This was one of those I'd been moving around the front yard so they could have fresh green grass every day.

Piles of feathers next to the chick cage

The predator moved the cage almost 4 feet from where it was next to the peach tree

I had to make a decision about the current practice of them being in the yard, so I moved them into where the milking doe lives and placed all three cages a few inches from the fence where Molly Dog lives. That way she can scare off any predators and the chicks will be safe. It's worked out well so far.

We moved the 6 medium age roosters into a large pen where the tom turkey used to live. I sold him so that pen was open. They have lots of room in there, plenty of bedding, and good places to roost at night.

The same day I found the chicks missing, I also discovered my mama hen with the 14 chicks was missing, along with 4 of her brood. Then, that evening at milking time, I heard the free range chickens squawking and screaming. I ran out to where they were ranging in the woods and they came running to me and to the safety of the chicken yard. Another chicken, my black hen, gone missing.

I gathered up the fuzzy chicks that were left from the loss of the mama hen, got them into a safe cage and set it in the chicken coop. I hooked up a light for them, for heat, and gave them a rabbit water bottle for water. They are now doing fine but I had really hoped the mama hen could raise them naturally.

It has rained every day and the ground is soggy everywhere. It's hard to garden, even in raised beds, with so much rain. I got the doe goat pens raked out to get rid of wet hay and manure. Piled all that in a new compost heap for the garden. I'm having to run out between rain showers to get chores done.