Worst Farmer Ever

When I was a kid, I dreamt of becoming a veterinarian. I found an injured bunny when I was 10 and tried my very hardest to nurse it back to health. I put the little guy in a crate and watched it slowly die. I was devastated. That was my first experience death.

Since we began our journey through the country life, I have had a significant increase of these experiences. The first chicken we lost was a barred rock named Dolly. She was attacked by a dog and we had to put her down. Others followed suit through tragic or unexpected events and I felt myself handling death better.. When rhonda (our very first chicken) died last summer in my arms, I felt myself taking a step back in my progress.

Again, I healed and again, we lost another pet. Sophie the goose was one of a kind. This time I was vengeful and just wanted to kill the coyotes that took her. Then just as I begin to heal from her, I lose my first puddy tat.

He was so beautiful. He had the markings of a tiger and a coat so soft.

From the moment he arrived, he took a liking to me. He would 'knead' me and cuddle into my neck. I welcomed his affection, even though he would cause my skin to break out in hives.

He was so curious.

And he was always seeking contact with his humans.

Just a few days ago I was playing with him in the field. Today, I am without him. My heart physically hurts. We buried him yesterday. He didn't even look like himself. He didn't even feel like him. Is that strange?

Why do we allow ourselves to love someone so freely, when the pain of losing them is difficult? I think it's because the time we have with them is so worth the pain we feel when they are no longer with us.

So, here is to my boy Henry. I love you and I miss you. I may be the worst farmer ever, but I dont think I would want it any other way.

Cats In Awe and a RIP

Why are these cats on the table? We don't eat cats so there must be a reason for this behavior.

It must be something good if I am able to photograph up close, these two typically photo shy boys.

Is it a beautiful young female cat?

Or a nice ball of yarn?

Perhaps a bunch of squeaky little mice!

Nope. Just a bug in the light fixture making all sorts of noise.

Silly cats!

This evening we found Henry laying in some grass next to our dirt road. He had been hit by a car. He died there. We buried him amongst the tall field grasses that he loved to hide in so much. He will be missed. He was The Halpern Homestead's first cat, and a great one he was. He caught mice, he chased chickens and squirrels and other birds, and he really loved his momma!

The Tragic Story of Sophie the Goose Part 1

A baby picture of Sophie, and a blog post from the first day we brought her home can be found here.

I am very late on this post. Sometimes it takes a while to talk about something that affects you so negatively. So here we go: 

On May 9th, 9:50pm. I go out to close the coop and let the dogs out to go potty. I notice our large male goose Sophie is missing from the coop. This had become a usual thing. Since the sun has been setting later each day, the geese and ducks seem to think it's ok to stay out later than dark! They are usually very good about going in on time, away from danger prowling at night.

I went inside to grab a flashlight and Kelsi to help me look for Sophie. Pierre has been laying eggs so we figured maybe Sophie was in the bushes guarding a nest. We searched unsuccessfully for a few minutes. We then heard Juliette barking a long way off in the distance, up the mountain a bit, and much farther than she usually goes late at night in the dark.

In the photo above Kelsi and I were standing at the "feathers" label and we heard Juliette barking up at "ridge 1". This is a great distance from where we were standing. The photos shown do not do a great job of depicting the distances from where we are standing to the top. It is actually really far up there! 

We started running up the road on the right side of the photo above, still following Juliette's barking. This road is 100 or so yards long and very steep. It took us a few minutes to get to the top. When we reached label 'road-2' our lights were shining into the valley between 'ridge-1' and 'ridge-2' and all we could see were multiple sets of eyes that were reflecting from our flashlights, circling the valley with Juliette barking somewhere in the mix of it all. We heard multiple yelps from the coyotes while running up the road on our search for Julies. This was the most intense few moments of my adult life. Hearing the coyotes, hearing Julies barking in the mix of all those eyes. Worried that they were killing our dog! Pitch black out. Very scary stuff.

When we finally reached 'Road-3' we found Juliette at this spot! We sat down to rest for a moment. Still vigilant, shining our lights around, looking for coyotes. While still at 'road-3' we saw eyes reflecting at us from 'eyes-2'. I had my handgun on me but I have little experience shooting at night and I didn't feel confident shooting at eyes of an unknown animal reflecting at me from the flashlight. Just then we heard a yelp from the coyotes and the eyes disappeared. 

We retreated down the hill cautiously. Looking for any signs of Sophie. 

On the way down the hill we found these. Obviously this photo was taken the next day.

More feathers

The death was confirmed by the discovery of Sophie's wing. We were devastated when we found this.

The last photo or video of taken of Sophie was from the day before. 

Kelsi was taking photos of Pierre who had made this wonderful nest out of sticks. Pierre started yelling at Kelsi to go away. When this happened.

 

Sophie was always so good to Pierre. 

Now Pierre lays here in her igloo nest. All alone. To hear how this change has affected Poor Pierre, tune in tomorrow for a long post full of cute pics and a nice video. It will be a lot less depressing than todays post.

Thanks for reading

Our dog, Juliette, is very ill.

We have had Juliette for nearly 4 years now. She just turned 4 on the 9th of March. We have known that Juliette has kidney disease since she was very young. We were told she may live for "several years". Juliette has recently taken a turn for the worst.  She started out not eating a few days ago which was ok for her, since somedays she just doesn't want to eat. Then she became very fatigued and tired. Yesterday she developed a cough so we decided it was time to get to the vet. When we got there she was running a high fever so they ran some blood tests and discovered her kidneys are failing because her kidney enzymes are very high, her blood cells are low which causes fatigue, and she has developed leukopenia (fancy term for: her immune system is weakened and she can't fight infections as well). The doctor starter her on IV fluids and we rushed her over to the pet emergency clinic with the IV running.

The emergency clinic held her all night, kept the fluids running and gave her antibiotics. Her temperature was up and down all night and into today. She appeared more lively this morning when Kelsi picked her up from the Pet ER. Then Kelsi had to take Juliette to the regular vet for her daytime fluids and monitoring.

I visited her this afternoon after my nursing school clinicals. We went on a short walk and she appeared to be more like herself. More smiles and wags. Just not quite herself yet. This afternoon the vet ran her blood work again and she is still abnormal in the same areas but, she has improved somewhat. They said we could take her home for the night.

She was happy to see us but, still very tired. She just laid around while we got our discharge instructions. We were allowed to continue the IV therapy at home because of my work and school training. So now Julies is resting on the couch while her IV infuses.

I think she is happy to be home. She is very sleepy still and we are hoping for the best. It has not been "several years" in my opinion and I am not ready to lose my best friend. I really hope that she pulls through. She is the best dog a small homestead could ever hope for. She protects her chickens, she protects her little sister, she eats all the leftover vegetables, and helps the cat hunt mice in the field. What more could you want in a dog?

Thanks for reading

 It hasn't been several years

An Injured Rooster

We have a rooster who appears to have gone lame on the left side. The foot appears flaccid, like he had a stroke. Right side seems intact. He can stand on his right foot for a small amount of time. Now we shouldn't be too upset because this young man is one of the terrorist rooster's shown responsible for attacks here and here. Still though, animal suffering is not something we like around here. 

I have been able to feed him and give him some water. I have some pictures here. Any ideas what has caused it? Any thoughts would be appreciated. We hatched this guy here a few months ago. He has had no vaccines or medicated feed, but the rest of the flock has been ok without medicated feed or vaccines. 

Lame foot?

Compare the two? The left has no muscle tension, just totally limp 

Just hangs down when I picked him up.

The only wound I could find on this guy was on his comb. Didn't look very bad though, maybe picked on because he was laying on the ground. I'm struggling with the decision to put him down, or to wait it out and hope for the best. He really cant walk at this point.

Thanks! Any thoughts would be appreciated.

Injured Chicken Update #2

Despite my best efforts, the chicken with no name has passed away sometime in the night. She was looking pretty good last night too. Had one eye nearly open. Thanks for all of the comments.

Injured Chicken Update.

The hen that was injured yesterday is doing fair today. I got her to drink about 1/4 cup of water. I also removed the scabs covering both of her eyes. I washed the exterior of both and when I opened her eye lids, both eyes contained a large amount of pus and debris. I cleaned them out as best I could with all of the swelling. It looks like her left eye will be ok. The eye lid is open slightly and will help the infection get out. Her right eye is still too swollen for the lid to open and stay open. Ill have to check it and clear out the infection until she can open it again. Poor thing.

A sad past few days on The Halpern Homestead.(Graphic Content)

We have had some real trouble inside the coop over the last four days. Kelsi and I tried again to mix some young chicks in with the flock. One-Eyed Jack, who was hurt a couple weeks ago, was hurt again a few days ago. She really is one-eyed now. Her good eye is gone and now all she has left is her bad eye. This Delaware hen below was hurt pretty bad today. When I got home from work I found her hiding in a corner shaking.

She had been pecked pretty good and her eyes are swollen shut.

She is also missing most of her facial feathers. 

I put her in the bath and washed all of her wounds as best I could. She looks so miserable. 

She is now inside a big tote in the office underneath a heat lamp. I think she will be ok once the swelling goes down. Her swelling has increased a great deal in just a few hours.

She has been drinking water which is a good sign.

We have also isolated a couple of young roosters whom I believe are responsible for the attack. They are available on CL if anyone wants some organic chickens.

We also need a name for this young lady. I figure a name for a sick chicken is good luck. Any suggestions?

Thanks for reading

Rescuing Baby Quail

Today on facebook, I saw that an old high school friend had found some baby quail who's momma had abandoned them. He stated that he didnt know how to care for them and I offered to take them and try to nurse them back to health, since we already had all the materials to care for chicks. When he arrived, one had already passed away on the way over. So, I carefully placed them in the brooder with some chick feed and water.

When Mike checked on them a few hours later, we were down three more. That meant we had 6.

I arrived home from work and found three more had died. I am beginning to get frustrated! I want to save these little guys so badly. These remaining three seem to be doing alright, but I guess the last three appeared to be ok too.

Does anyone who has experience with raising quail have any advice? I feeling so sad and helpless that I cant save them.