First and foremost, Cow Cow is doing great! He has come so far from where he started! He is eating great, gaining weight, and enjoying the pasture. CJ even taught him how to drink his milk from the bucket instead of nursing with the nipple. This makes his milk feeding much faster, he slurps it up in no time! It is kind of funny watching CJ go in. If he has the milk bucket, Cow Cow will almost knock it out of his hands trying to get to it. CJ has to do a little dance and spin around, blocking Cow Cow before he can set it on the ground for him.
I have not been going inside the pasture because, and I cannot stress this enough, dying via cow does not appeal to me. However, my time has come, and I must overcome my fears. CJ has drill this weekend so it is up to me to care for all of the animals. I went in yesterday with CJ to see how Cow Cow reacted to me and he did fine. Of course, he has gotten used to CJ feeding him, so he mainly harassed him (which is fine by me). I went in to feed him his grain at lunch, but I took Lil CJ with me. He stays outside of the fence though. I do not know what I expect Lil CJ to do should Cow Cow come after me, but at least there will be someone there to hear me scream and alert someone of my demise. Lil CJ being outside the fence distracted Cow Cow long enough for me to sneak by like a ninja, dump the feed, and sneak back out. I had to go in again this evening, but he was further down in the pasture and could not see me. I opted to climb through the fence as it was closer to his feeding area and the sound of the gate opening would have alerted him to my presence. So, I climb in, tiptoe over to his shed, dump the feed, then run back to the fence as fast as I can and climb through trying not to fall or get hung up! I may have done a little ”Woohoo” upon my successful, unnoticed, escape. I can do this, even if I must do it ninja-style!
The egg laying chickens seemed to have taken a break in laying eggs. I think the heat is just getting to them. I can hardly blame them! I would not want to give birth daily in this heat either! CJ tried to get the hens to be fed purely on foraging alone, but this did not seem to go well for them. Even though they have a generous area to free range, it may not be enough to sustain them completely. We will continue to give them feed.
We do have a hen that is not feeling well. We are not sure what is wrong with her, only that she is weak. She can stand up but does not move much and when she does move, you can tell she is struggling. She also just falls out of the coop in the morning when coming out instead of going down the ramp or flying out. She can not get back up in the evening. We moved and isolated her in a pen in the barn for a few days with her own food and water close to her. She improved so we put her back in with the other hens. She quickly became weak again. I am thinking that because the other chickens can move faster, they are eating all the food and she is not getting enough. So, we moved her back to the barn. She seems to be doing well there, so we will keep an eye on her for a bit longer and see how she does.
We have two new additions to the farm! A couple of bunnies and one guinea pig for Lil CJ. We had great success with using bunny droppings at the old house to fertilize our garden, so we plan to do the same here on the farm. Lil CJ has wanted a guinea pig since he was little. We found one for free and can’t exactly use the excuse of no room now that we have the farm! He has a nice cage in Lil CJ’s room and Lil CJ has been taking good care of him.
Jasper the donkey seems to have a hurt leg (or hoof). He was limping the other day and I could see nothing visibly wrong. We called a farrier and made an appointment to have him come look at his hooves and deliver any care necessary since we are not experienced in that area. I also really do not want to get donkey-kicked in the face, so I will leave that to the professionals to handle! He does seem to be walking better now so he may have just sprained his leg or had a rock stuck in his hoof that eventually came loose. We will keep an eye on him until the farrier can arrive on Monday.
Things are moving right along here on the farm!