April 2018
Cows
I go up to the barn to feed the cows only to discover that they’ve managed to get into the barn and are happily laying in the hay ruminating contentedly. There are cow pies all over the barn as they’ve likely been in the barn all night or at least since the wee hours of the morning. Hay bales have been knocked around and are partially munched on their sides. Hay has also been pulled out of the loose stack.
I approach Sangria and, although she usually gets up immediately when I approach, instead she just looks at me. I clip a leash to her collar and tug, nothing. I push on her rump and she ignores me.
I approach Allie and she happily chews her cud and stays laying down.
I open the gate and Allie gets up but doesn’t move toward it. So, I get some range cubes (Allie loves these) and she starts moving but stands in the barn doorway not moving out any further. I toss them in the trough and she starts eating out the back side. I click a leash to her and eventually get her out of the barn and tie her to a post. As soon as she gets out of sight, Sangria lurches to her feet and trots out of the barn to join Allie.
I close the gate into the barn, firmly latch the door they must have come in previously, and finish picking up all the cow piles and chucking them out the barn door.
Main hay barn on left side with milking parlor to the right
Barn cat also in the background.
Sangria, red. Allie, black.
Chickens
We’ve always wondered about our chicken coop: thick walls, well insulated. Why did they build such an elaborate coop. Perhaps in addition to a dairy (the barn has a milking parlor and all), they ran a large chicken operation (the coop is large enough to house 50-100 chickens—approximately 10’ x 20’). On his last visit, my dad proposed that perhaps it was originally an icehouse. It is located near the smoke house, both of which are set below the barn.
Our coop has a large and thick door for us to enter, windows along the front, and two pop doors for the chickens that open into two separate runs we’ve created.
The coop and root cellar
Mopsy, aka fluff-ball, & Cotton Tail, aka Silkie, in the background
Our two newest chickens are adept flyers. They are very small and lightweight bantams. Harriet, named for Harriet Tubman as she had escaped her cage at the animal swap, flew from one run into the other. I opened the second coop door so she could get back to the other side. All the other chickens rushed out to the other side and so I left the door open. After dark I went out through the rain to collect the eggs and close the doors. I go in and count…4-5 chickens on the roost. Sure enough, the door blew shut, leaving the remaining chickens outside…in the rain. I went to find them and one by one in the darkness located them with my flashlight and carried wet chickens one by one to the coop, shoving them in through the door. About half were in a ‘chicken pile’ in a corner by the fence and garage. The other half were roosting on a maple tree we cut down two years ago.
The joys of farm life!
Farm adventures!
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