Chicken Tales

10-29-18

 Yes- they continue...<winks>

 As you remember, my favorite breed of chicken is the Lavender Orpington. They are friendly, lay huge light brown eggs consistently and are a lovely light lavender color. They come across to a non-chicken person as a smokey grey, but when the sunlight hits them 'just right', one can see the lavender shading on them.

I found some Ummm, teenager aged Lavenders for sale and bought 7 of them.  They were kept in one of the stalls in the barn because I was tired of finding my hens destroyed or just gone thanks to fox, mink and other nasty little critters.       ( good grief- there's SO much forest and open fields around here, I'd think they'd find easier food, but nooooooooooo)  Understanding completely that they too must eat, I didn't want my chickens to become a feast for anything from the woods or fields. And so it goes- and so they grew! Below is "SamIam'' checking out the water leaking from a hose...

I'd let them wander about the barn and outside if they wanted, but they were not that brave. A gal who helped out here, tempted them outside by dropping cracked corn on the asphalt for them. That worked great and it wasn't long before they'd go outside the barn. Not very far though... I would call them and they'd all come 'a-running'- just not far from the barn. Eventually, they got brave enough to go out around the horse trailer and areas there. They loved eating the grass, looking for bugs and worms like the other hens always have.

Ending up with FOUR roosters and three hens, it wasn't long before I had to find homes for three of the roosters as that was too many! At any rate, they were all getting along fine having been raised together, so there wasn't a huge rush to sell the three. Luckily I sold one hen and one rooster to a friend.  That left me with 6. Three hens and three roosters.

In the meantime, the little flock of lavender chickens was brave enough to travel on the sides of the barn and met the older hens. The older girls really had not much to do with the young studs wandering about crowing their darned heads off. Basically, they ignored them and went about their chicken lives. When it was time to bring them back inside the safety of the barn they chose to not want to. Heck, so many worms n' bugs outside, comparing the barn w/ just boring old chicken food- well it was a simple choice. We shall be OUTSIDE chickens!
 (at least that's how it came across to me, the chicken herder.) They are around 5-6 months old now and more independent.

One late morning a few days ago, they all came running down the aisle like the devil itself was after them. If you've ever seen chickens run, you'll understand when I type that they remind me of a bunch of little old grey men running as fast as they can, with their hands in their pockets. I stood there chuckling at them all. Convincing 7 semi-adult chickens to now go into their stall for the rest of the day isn't an easy thing. It consists of much arm flapping, walking behind, singing the "chicken song" to keep them all moving forward and towards the open door. Every once in awhile, there will be a maverick. She/ He will turn around and quick as a fox run the other way. "Divide and Conquer"? Towards the front of the barn, or even into an empty stall, hoping the 'chicken herder' didn't notice. Ummmmmm, yeah, I noticed. The rest of them hopped into their stall and hoping that they would remain in there, I herded the maverick back to her/his stall. Most of the time it works really well.

However. When I did a chicken head count, there were just 5. Hmmmmmmm........  Just as I thought I'd better begin trekking about the barn, I heard a distant crow. There were no neighbors with chickens any longer, so I knew where the one maverick had gone. He was wayyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy across one of the pastures, yep, crowing his fool head off. Ok- so I admit that basically, they are 'eraser brains' but, come on. Why was he so far away from his friends? I guess we'll never know as he sure wasn't talking much.  Crowing, sure, but no good reason as to the ''why'' of his walkabout.

Ever try to herd one fast rooster any place that he didn't want to go? Oh, it's great fun.  Here n' there, scooting under one fence, into another pasture, then back again. Up n' down the hills, under fencing, over to the big mares and FINALLY towards the barn. Ha- I didn't have to do my walk that day; I'd already done it!

Once 'SamIam' saw the barn, he began walking towards it and down the aisle.
 (whew) Then and I saw that little eraser brain thinking " oh no- I didn't want to come here. I shall turn around and run".   I caught him under the lawn rake I had, picked him up and carried him down the aisle to his "chicken house''.  < sigh >  I hope he was embarrassed at being delivered to the others in such an un-manly fashion, but it didn't seem to phase him much. He hasn't gone exploring much since. Thank goodness!

These are my hens-" Princess, Micah and Tillie's'' butt.  One of their many excursions down the barn aisle.

Evie's Dream

When Evie was just a youngster- around 2 years old, she had her own ideas on how life was going to be for her.  Evie was my filly that was born here in Pennsylvania.  There had been other foals but they had all been born in Maryland.  Evie ( if you like- go back and see the stories about her on this blog) was to be something spectacular and I had high hopes for her. She was born on a cold windy April morning and I missed seeing her born. Her mama, Katie, kept it a secret so learning Evie was finally here was a great way to begin my day!

She was smart, funny and so incredibly brave.  I loved her with every part of me, even when she stepped on my little toe one day. Evie was my hard luck filly though. Something was forever going wrong with her. First, she was so tall at birth, it was hard for her to get up alone. For three days, I helped her by giving her butt a boost up. It worked and soon she was doing it all by herself.

Later on, as she grew taller and taller, she suffered from OCD.

( https://www.acvs.org/large-animal/osteochondritis-dissecans-horses)  This caused her a LOT of discomfort in her stifles especially. I am sure later on in her life she'd have developed arthritis in her stifles, but I was never to find out. Evie was 18 hands tall as a three-year-old- all arms n' legs, as they say.  Slowly she learned how to handle her great height and became

so elegant in the way she moved.

When she was a little more than three years old, she made a mistake and upon rolling in some dirt, she rolled over- right into that horrid high tensile fencing. We had plans to replace the next spring. She ripped heavy-duty staples from the posts and cracked three of the posts in getting free. Her left hock in front was a disaster. She was stall bound for almost 3 months and in a protective wrap for another two or so. But- she healed and did such a good job that her scar was barely able to be seen. Evie was perfect whenever a veterinarian or myself had to re-do her bandage. She stood still as she could. 

What an incredible mare she was becoming, if she could only stop having problems!

Sadly we never got to go to a show as one day when she was just 7, she got sick. Taking no chances, I called my equine veterinarian to let her know Evie had a bit of a colic, and that I would let her know if it got bad enough for her to come out. The next morning, Evie was just "off"... not really wanting to eat, and well, just not happy. I called my vet. again, asking her to come out. After checking vital signs, etc, she decided to check Evie rectally. Perhaps something would tell us how to treat her. Evie was tranquilized and checked out. 

I was told that she had an ''Anterior Enteritis''. I wasn't sure what that was and my vet wanted to have us take Eve to a horse hospital. She tubed my mare and there was a good bit of fluid return from Evie. I said that I had to discuss it all with my husband, and would let her know soon.

That afternoon I did a lot of reading and learning about Evie's problem and found that with big Percheron mares, the chances of survival were not good, even at an equine hospital and proper care. The chances of her developing Laminitis was huge and most likely would have to have a careful diet for the rest of her life. IF she even made it. I couldn't do that to my wonderful mare. I loved her enough to let her go so she could dance in the meadows of heaven.  The next morning, my love was gone.  It was a heartbreaking morning and one I never hope to face again.

Later on that day, I remembered a dream a dear friend of mine told me that Evie had told her. 

That ''one day, Evie and I would go to horse shows and win all kinds of big fancy ribbons. That Evie's "mom" (me) would put a red harness with diamonds on her. I would then hitch her to a bright red cart with sparkles on it. I'd wear red gloves covered in 'diamonds' and we'd win the biggest ribbon Ever at that show!!!"

Sadly, she never got to have that dream come to fruition, but I still get a chuckle when I think of it and "Herself".

Having Fun !

I found this blog in my travels online and thought I'd share it with you all  :

https://annablakeblog.com/2018/10/05/finding-your-horses-sense-of-humor/

This gal has it to a perfection-  finding your horses' sense of humor.  They all have one, believe it or not.  I don't know how many times I have fallen for my horses' jokes. Now, jokes from a horse sure aren't like our jokes. If you really pay attention, you'll get to witness a few.

Imagine the younger horse playing with cones set up in a ring for driving... I had a Percheron colt who would find fun in pushing mine onto icy patches, then watching me attempt to retrieve them. I swear I could hear him laughing. He was also the one who would pick those cones up with his mouth, and innocently wait until the flighty Thoroughbred mare would wander by.  Wham! Across that fence that cone would fly, usually landing very close to her. Of course, she'd flip out, thinking that it was raining driving cones. I loved seeing that colt's very amused face as he watched her antics.

I've been told and read that a horse never 'lies'. HA! I have had a few who did. My Percheron mare, Lynna, would Big time. If she didn't care for my choice in hay for her, she'd push and shove it into a big pile underneath her feed tub. Then I'd hear her soft nickers to me that Lynn didn't get her hay that morning. I knew darn well I'd given her hay. ''No, I hadn't- I have none at all"... from Lynn.  Finally, after trying to ignore her pleas of starvation, I'd give her some. There was the original hay pile that she didn't think was quite good enough, stuffed up under her feed tub! The same hay and she'd happily be eating it. < sigh >

There was an old Appaloosa mare here who wouldn't go out if she thought it was too hot or cold out. I always let her out loose in the barn area so she could graze in peace. She'd walk to the aisle doorway, look both ways, testing the weather and if it wasn't to her liking, she would turn around and head back to her stall. This dear soul would whinny loudly when she was done eating also.  She and her old friend, Chance, would be down at the gate nearest the house at dinner time- no matter what. She would sometimes whinny loudly for us to know it was time for dinner at the barn.  There were times when those two were early- around 1 or two in the afternoon. She'd be calling and calling until I came out of the door. Well, she'd try to convince me it really was late afternoon and time for a little something to eat.  Chance would stand there all but chuckling...

There have been horses in my life that were hat thieves... especially the ponies. Shoelace un-tiers  ( haha- is that even a word??). There have been some who liked to get a hold of belt loops on jeans and move their humans. Some loved to unbuckle Farriers' leather aprons oh so innocently...

So you see, horses can have a wonderful sense of humor, so long as their people don't put them down for having one. For ages, I've enjoyed watching horses play jokes and remember getting a soaking from an equine mouth holding a hose that was supposed to be filling up a water tub outside or to check outside at night and find that someone with very mobile lips has turned the lights on in the barn AGAIN. Pay attention to your horse or the horses around you-you will find they are quite funny.

 Don't try to fool them by putting on a happy face when you're in an awful mood too. They know sometimes before you'll get in the barn and word spreads so fast. Life with the equine mind can be wonderfully interesting!