Sunday, March 2, 2008

Spring Fever

Winter has turned the corner, here in the Pacific Northwest, and spring is on the way. I can hear it in the trees. Birds singing and chirping everywhere. The grass is starting to grow and I swear I heard a lawnmower today. It is time for a little spring cleaning. We cleaned out the boys' pen and spread all that good stuff on the field. It will turn into lush grass before you know it. All the goats got wormed, a good brushing and their feet trimmed. That is always a back breaker and the older I get the more breaks in between goats I take. The tin snips gone hoof trimmers made the job a lot easier.
Koo got his nails trimmed and a thorough brushing in preparation for meeting his new friend, Penne, next Saturday. Yes, if all goes well Penne will be in my pasture by Saturday afternoon. I hope this works out. Little does Koo know that his spring will become much more interesting, to say the least.
I tried to coax "The Ladies" into the new hen house but those chickens are smarter than we give them credit for. I decided to put them in there because I have yet to find any young laying hens and "The Ladies" are hiding their eggs from me. I will just try again in the morning when they are good and hungry.
Now I am just waiting for the forsythia to bloom, then spring will truly be here.

9 comments:

Laughing Orca Ranch said...

Oh, your post was a breate of Spring for me!

We, too had beautiful warm days last weekend, but sadly it was all a big tease. Today it snowed and we ae expecting 5-8 inches by tomorrow! Wah!!

How does Koo do for nail trims? Do you use a chute?

I'll keep reading your psots for updates on Koo and Penne...and for the the beautiful breaths of Spring.

goatgirl said...

Yes, we use a chute. Fortunately the man we got him from made one and gave it to us. We put Koo in and then I use a horse cinch to keep him from laying down. He wasn't handled much before we got him so the chute is nessesary for anything we do to him.
I tortured him by brushing his head...ooooh he hates that. But he has to make a good first impression:)
Think Spring!

Danni said...

Oh, it was indeed beautiful this weekend. We were outside as much of the time as possible...even with all the work there is to do around here, it was a delight just to be outside doing it!
I'm glad that Koo is paying some attention to his appearance and personal hygiene - these things are important for making impressions on the new gal!
Boy, you guys were busy ...it sounds almost like you were running an animal spa, of sorts...well, except for the worming part. :-D

farm mama said...

The best way to move your chickens is to move them at night. Wait until they are settled on their roost, then pick them up and move them to their new quarters. Love your blog!

goatgirl said...

farmgirl, It is just like an animal spa here. That reminds me...have you read The Good Pig by Sy Montgomery? Great book for anyone that loves animals. They had pig spa, thats what they called grooming sessions.

farm mama, That would work but they are roasting in our very very tall fir trees, about 100ft up. So I have to resort to bribery.

Danni said...

Hi goatgirl - I have not read The Good Pig yet. But I just now added it to my reading list! Thanks for the recommendation!

deconstructingVenus said...

Yea, i had to lock my chickens in their coop/run for a week before the got the idea to lay eggs in the designated nest boxes. but now they're great about it! the other day dustin forgot to open their little door and i went in the coop for something about 11 and noticed and opened it and in flooded like 6 chickens who RAN to the boxes and lined up and immediately sat down. They were like ITS COMING NOW!!! he he.

goatgirl said...

That's funny that they would hold it. You know how after a hen has laid an egg she kind of crows. Well I am hearing the girls doing that over in the neighbor's woods. I think my breakfast is over there.

Anonymous said...

We are trying to catch our guineas to pen up mainly because the last few years they haven't manage to do well on raising their babies. Well, I can tell you it certainly is a challenge to catch a guinea. We have 1 out of 7 caught in 3 days.
I like the idea of tin snips for hoof trimmers.