Barnyard Buddies

When I took a stroll outside to take some pictures of my animals for this post, everyone was laying around in the sunshine. They are as glad as I am to see the weather finally warm up. All the chickens and some of the goats came over to me to see what I was doing. They try to beg treats off me all the time. The other day it was some thawed strawberries that had been in the freezer too long, and the days it was raining, I had been giving the chickens worms I found.I mowed some grass today and threw it in the pasture for the goats and horses, so they were happy. The lawn sweeper picked up a lot of the corn stalks that washed into the yard with the flood, so they got some of that, too. The baby goats are in a dog kennel in the front yard that's on wheels, so when they eat all the grass, I move them along. They are busy cleaning up weeds and grass in my garden for me while also fertilizing. It's a win-win situation!

A bunch of the goats keep escaping the barn through some fencing they tore down, so they have been keeping weeds and grass down in the back near the barn. They don't go very far and always come back on the run when they see me coming. They don't want to miss out on grain! I store my livestock feed in a Rubbermaid garbage can, but they started figuring out how to get the lid off and were helping themselves, so I had to also bungee-strap the lid down.

The other day I found some kittens in the barn. The mother had forgotten she had them and left them laying all over the place out in the open. Two didn't make it, two were very hungry, and the other one was near death. He was cold and couldn't move much. I took them and the mama cat and locked them up in the camper and she started feeding them. The one that was cold couldn't nurse- he was too weak, so I took him in the house and warmed him and gave him some baby formula. That livened him up enough that I could take him back to his mama. She took him back and has been taking care of them ever since.

They are now starting to open their eyes. They are very cute and I'm glad that so far they are doing well. I love calico kittens the best! The calico cat in the picture at the top of this post isn't the mama, she's just one of my favorites. The mama to these guys is a tortoiseshell and the dad, Sheila, is striped and white.

For the time being, I am keeping the mama cat and her kittens in the same camper as my baby chicks. I have been feeding the mama very well so she won't mess with the chicks. I don't think she will- she moved her kittens as far from them as she could. So this is working for now. I guess I've got more baby animals than I know what to do with!

To share with other farm girls and to learn about the Farm Girl way of life visit: http://www.maryjanesfarm.org/