The hawk...

I thought I had this picture on the last post, but it didn't show up. I just thought it was neat. That's my grand daughter Kansas.

More birds and bees.

Ok, this hawk is just a little too comfortable here. I was going out to get ready to move the sheep yesterday and saw this. I actually threw a water can at him but didn't hit him. I thought it was hurt, or a baby, but it had a sparrow. It went under the fence here and over to the corner. That's when I saw the little bird. It was still breathing. So we got the hawk away from it and it flew into the maple tree. The sparrow got away.

                   

This is where it stayed for a long time.It finally went back to where the sparrow had been and stayed there for awhile. Then I had to run it off. I went out to the coop and put some fence back up at the top where it was before. I am so glad I did. Because later, after the chickens were in the coop, the hawk had flown over there and was on the roof. 

This morning, the hawk was sleeping on the fence by the garden. I walked out there to see what it was. I could have caught it. It was sleeping and the head was under the back feathers. Anyway, it flew off and we haven't seen it today.

Allan finally came about 8 last night to get that little swarm. It was there all day. We cut off all the little branches and just put the whole thing in the nuc.

Then he went over to check my hives, to see where those bees came from. He lifted the lid on that hive over to the left and those girls were so mad! They were all over him! It took about 10 minutes for him to get them off him.But he did say the top box was full of honey! So when he brings me my extractor back, I will rob the hives! Probably Thursday or Friday.

I stopped on my way home today to check on 4 of the lambs that a friend got from me. She's had them about a month I think. They've been doing really well there. But when I got to the fence, I heard that sound. That raspy weezy sound. So we went in and sure enough, the female, Emmy, had a big ole puffy face.

So went home, grabbed some wormer and red cell and went back over. Got all 4 lambs and gave them all red cell. I did not worm the boys. They looked fine. But she was going to get B complex and I'll go back in the morning and we'll start that.

Geeze, I am SO tired of sick sheep!! That's all I've been doing for 3 months now! All my ewes are finally better. I have been giving them B shots every day for a week now. I think they might make it. But really, I am tired of this! I am not the only one dealing with this apparently. All over the country, it's pretty bad.

So I am going to milk the goat and go to bed. Good night!

Wool, sheep and hawks, oh my!

It's SO hot here right now. It was only 98 yesterday. Just miserable. It's affecting the sheep. They either stay in the barn or under the trees or porch. They have had barber pole worms real bad too, with all the rain then this heat. I think I finally got the worms under control. I am now trying to get their blood built back up. So I am shooting them every day with B complex and giving them red cell. This seems to be working. And I just moved them back over to the front pasture, where it's been rested about a month now and the grass is looking real good.

This is Ella's wool. She's one of the triplets and the one I kept. She's 4 months now and her wool is about 2 inches long. It's really pretty. All the lambs wool is looking really good. I will have SO MUCH wool again next spring!

This is Darla and her boy Sam. I have never kept any of her lambs before. But he is the sweetest boy and he will be staying here awhile. He loves his momma!

This is Annabelle and her baby Goldberry. She had quads and I gave the other 3 to friends up the road. They all look like her.  I have yet to get Goldberry to let me touch her. It actually took about 4 years for me to get near Annabelle. She now lets me pet her and scratch her face and back. Goldberry is going to be like her.

Annabelle's only other daughter, Buttercup, was like this too. Til she had her lambs. Not I can pet her.

This is some yarn I've been spinning for the past few weeks. I started the white wool a few weeks ago. When I went down to S. Ga. for my sister's surgery in Savannah I took my wheel and spun in the waiting room at the hospital. I love seeing people's expressions when they see me spinning! And I am so surprised that most people have never seen someone spin before. Or know anything about sheep or alpacas. So I get to do a little education about the whole process. Also, the older people come over and tell me about growing up on a farm and how this brings back memories for them. That's fun!

SO I finished the white wool there and started the brown alpaca. Finally finished it yesterday and started plying them together. I really like this and it's so soft too. I really love doing this, but I get so sleepy! It's like driving. Or just sitting. I get so bored. I wish I could do something else while I spin. I'm such a multi-tasker, it's just hard to do only one thing!

And we have a resident hawk family here. I did notice last week a hen was missing. I was hoping she might be sitting on a nest of eggs somewhere. But then I saw the hawks. So she may have been breakfast. These hawks are awfully brave too. I see them in the apple trees. And this morning, I was going to the coop and saw one right in the middle stall. I threw the green feeder at it. Darn hawks. I like them, but not right here.

Have a happy Sunday y'all!

Us

Sorry this is turned sideways. But this is my husband. This is when we first met. He was in a motorcycle club called the Rappers. They called him Tiny. I didn't know his real name til almost before we got married. Seriously.

We went to the Sherrill family reunion this past weekend and someone brought this box of pictures from years of the reunion. We got to take some of our families pictures. There were some really funny ones! And some of my girls when they were younger that we had to really look close because they looked like the grand daughters.

                        This is us. The girls are probably 11 and 9 here.So cute and sweet!

                           And this is probably 3 or 4 years later. Teen agers! They grew so fast!

It was really fun looking at all the pictures of everyone who's come to the reunion for all these years. This was my 38th year going. It's changed a lot through the years. So many people not here any more. And so many more new ones coming.

Farm stuff...

I had hooked this feeder onto the stanchion last week and have just left it there. I'm glad I did. And it will stay there too. Olga is a very wasteful goat. When I had both stanchions in here and milking both goats, under her stanchion would be about half her feed. She'll take a huge bite, then lift her head. And when she does that, about half of it falls to the floor. I tried sweeping it up and putting it back in. But no, goats will not touch anything that's been on the floor! So the chickens would get it.So I kept hearing things hitting this feeder and it's the food that would have hit the floor, falling into the feeder! Ha! So when she's done with the feed in the wooden feeder, I just dump what's in the green feeder back in. Solved that waste problem!

This is Sugar. He and Misha are always the last to go anywhere. Well, Sugar is.He is either not paying attention when the sheep move to another place or he is pooping. This is the world's slowest alpaca ever. Seriously, this guy saunters. He's the slowest saunterer in the world too. My sister saunters. She never walks fast, even when she's in a hurry. Or when anyone else is in a hurry. She's always behind everyone else. So is this guy. I have to wait a few minutes for him to go through the gate. And if I'm too close, he won't go through. He's so weird.

And THIS guy. Oh my, I want to kill him! He literally crows ALL DAY! And especially when anyone is outside. He follows me into the milk room where the feed is in the morning, and crows in there. First thing in the morning, I am already pissed and cussing! I hate this rooster!

Anyone else have a rooster that just crows all day long?

Silly goats!

So Olga, on the left, has been gone since Tuesday morning, so I could go down to my sister's. Then we had family reunion yesterday. I just went to get her and this is how they greet each other. And Olga is making the noise that a buck makes. So I think she's in heat. I don't think I've ever noticed it this early before.

The boys

This is Misha and Sugar, my 2 alpaca boys. I have had these guys almost 4 years and they are still weird. I have only touched Sugar a few times. Once when he was sheared here at the farm. And another time, he got all tangled up in the round hay bale twine. He rolls his eyes at me. He's weird. I have pet Misha, when he has his head in the feed bucket. I do love them. They tolerate me. But they love their sheep. When I first got them form my friend Susan, she said I need to give them ivermectin once a month for menengial worm prevention, since they are so susepsusceptible to them. So this is how I do it.