Our neighbor Brenda has lots of animals...you've seen them before in this blog. In the past I've bought eggs from her or we've traded for them, but this year Brenda said that if we take care of her animals while she goes on vacation we could just have the eggs all year ... we take about a dozen a week from her! Pretty nice deal and we still like to shower her with gifts in exchange (homemade granola,
locally made bulk soap ends, knitted gifts, cross-stitch gifts, etc...). I still think we get the better end of the stick, but you can't argue with Brenda.
First off is the bunny coops. She raises them for eating.
We've got this chore down pat...first check all the waters, next fill the hay slots, then the pellets.
I let Reeve and Kyle do all the work with the bunnies...bunnies are not my thing. Kyle has a gift with the bunnies. He's like the bunny tamer. He can take a squirmy little baby bunny and calm that bunny down until it's in a trance-like state...pretty darned amazing coming from a squirmy little kid like Kyle!
Here's Kyle getting the hay to fill hay slots on the bunny cages.
Meanwhile I climb up into the barn with Stella on my back and feed the kitties then grab a bale of hay (twice a day) to feed the two steers Henry & Ricky (they'll be gone by winter!) and sweet, sweet Fanny (about 3 yrs old) mare.
See the way Ricky looks at me...I don't trust that Ricky. Brenda said to make sure I don't turn my back on him...her animals really don't respect the whole personal space concept. I have to put on my most sternest voice and stand my ground. Fanny is guilty of the same thing, but she's just sweet. Like Stella, she is intrigued by the camera and wants to get VERY close to it.
She loves Stella and follows me around. Stella gets a real kick out of it and squeals with laughter at this huge horse following us around.
Kyle and Fanny...after Kyle did his bit with the rabbits and before he went to gather chicken eggs.
After the hay has been served Kyle and I go into the barn to clean Fanny's stall and the concrete floor in front of the stall and chicken coop. Fanny followed us to get some more petting.
Look at Stella's leg moving! I often think she thinks that I am her horse! She kicks her heels into my side in a way that means "Giddyup Mama". Stella does not like to stand still!
It was a hot and humid day to say the least! We've had a very wet and humid summer for sure!
Reeve came to collect eggs with Kyle, but Kyle is really the only one brave enough and patient enough to get the eggs when the chickens won't move from the nests!
Once, Reeve and I were outside, and Kyle went to gather the eggs. You would have seriously thought that Kyle had gone in there to slaughter a chicken. They were screaming as only chickens can and then Reeve and I saw the Roosters (two of them!) run like mad (they musta been clucking at at least 30mph!) into the hen house. I told Reeve to go in after and make sure Kyle wasn't getting maimed by chickens and roosters. Reeve went in and sure enough the hens were jumping on Kyle, but Kyle didn't mind (he loves eggs that much!). The eggs are in the bag that Kyle is victoriously holding. You can see I hadn't cleaned the concrete floor yet. I should have taken an after picture of my cleaning, but trust me I got it as clean as I could.
That puddle on the floor?? Yup! It was a lovely (not!) smelling mixture of cow pee (I'm guessing Fanny wouldn't be so crude) and rainwater. Um...we don't wear shoes when we go to Brenda's....we wear washable boots! Yuck!
Coolman Kyle collecting his eats
By the end of it we got smart and brought our own egg cartons (much better than the bag idea) to collect the eggs (about 10/day!!!).
