We moved our little home-hatched chicks out to their parents’ coop this week. Oh, I was so worried for them. How would those poor little guys fair amidst all those big hens and aggressive roosters? David built them a little house with a solid roof and wide wire walls, a little place that they could get out of but that the older birds couldn’t get into. A safe haven. Still, I worried. It wasn’t built quite like I wanted – no floor, for one thing – and I was afraid that rodents might kill my little chicks in the night. But we did it anyway. Right around the time the big chickens were settling onto their roosts for the night, we put the little ones in. We just tucked them under their roof, said a prayer and closed the door. They were all still alive in the morning. The hens barely even spared them a glance. The day after that, they ventured outside. They haven’t been mauled by roosters or rats. They haven’t been crushed by lounging sheep. In fact, it’s gone so well, I’m ready to set a new clutch in the incubator.
Ellie-The-Cow, who used to be Dixie, has mastitis. We gave her antibiotics on Friday and I’m trying to give her an extra afternoon milking, but it’s not improving. It’s not getting any worse, I don’t think, but it’s not getting better. A friend told me that if mastitis doesn’t respond to antibiotics, it’s probably caused by a staph infection. She also said the antibiotics kill off all the bacteria, good and bad, and she’d do well to start taking probiotics. I’m also feeding her garlic, which is supposed to have antibiotic properties. (Do you know how challenging it is to convince a cow to eat garlic?!) I have a number for a fellow who treats his own cows as much as possible. Sounds like he’ll be a great resource for us. I’ll give him a call tomorrow and see what he says. I think I’ll place another call to the vet, too. Ellie has been nothing but worry for me, but she’s such a sweet cow, gentle and affectionate, I’m not liking the looks of my options for her.
Our other chickens, our Jersey Giants, are doing really well. This week, they were deemed Big Enough To Make The Cat Think Twice and set loose in their pasture with the baby cows. Mostly, they hop through the fence and eat the grass and bugs on our side, but they’ll get too big for that soon enough. In the meantime, they are funny, friendly birds and we don’t mind their wanderings.
Somebody around here is looking forward to winter, when the cows get milked after breakfast and before dinner and the chickens are in bed early. Somebody is tired of running, running, running from 6:30 in the morning to 8:30 at night. She even seriously considered ordering pizza delivery the other night, that’s how desperate she’s feeling. But we won’t name names. Suffice it to say that when the mercury drops into the single digits, she won’t be complaining. It’s a small price to pay for an hour or two of leisure.