Luna likes to help move the sheep from one field to another. She only has a bit of an idea what to do, so sometimes things don't go as planned, and we end up with a face-off, with neither sheep nor Luna going anywhere.
After the animals are all dealt with, we take the dogs for a walk down the trails in our back bush. The border collies are always ready to head to the next thing, but we have to wait for Calli, who has her own agenda
Here she comes, wandering through the scrub, nose to the ground
Jake finds a stick, hoping we'll throw it for him, but Luna steals it. Jake knows if he waits, she will probably abandon it and it will be his again. Check out Luna's ears, just look like little devil horns, and a devil she is sometimes:) (To see the picture full size, just click on it)
Then the collies run down in to the hayfield, where Jake finds a better toy, and Luna has a rousing game of soccer. It was lovely to see the sun come out for a few minutes.
On a good note, the hen grabbed by the coyote last week has improved a bit. Last night and this morning, she was able to push herself into an upright position to eat and drink. She is not moving around yet, but looks better. You can see that the feathers are rather sparse on her backside.
Unfortunately this evening something grabbed another hen in the south field. Same as last time, headless body laid in the field. It isn't a coyote, they grab the chickens and run with them. Must be a mink or something like that. Next to impossible to keep a mink out of the field.Frustrating:(
We will have to be more diligent at pushing the hens in around dark. They tend to hang around outside the door, or at least some of them do, until it is really dark, even though there is a light on in the coop. It's not always convenient to be there at the right time though.
A family birthday was celebrated today. Happy Birthday Larry!
But to end on a sad note, Larry's aunt, the last surviving sibling of his almost 100 year old (only 42 more days to go) mother, passed away last night.
Rest in Peace, Margaret
I am sorry to hear about Margaret -- so few days short of 100. Although maybe that big a birthday would make one feel old...
ReplyDeleteThe headless hen story makes me think it's a mink. Check out some of my Trauma Farm experiences from October. Same scenario, and that's exactly what it was.
Just to clarify, Larry's mother Elizabeth, is the one that is coming up to 100, and his Aunt Margaret was 85 (I think) when she passed away.
ReplyDeleteA mink was our first guess, but reading that list of predators made us thing a raccoon was a better fit. Mink quite often kill more than one at a time. The first body we found, we left in the field overnight, and by morning had been dragged some distance, and more was eaten.