They never end.  The day the coyote was chasing down the white peacock in our field and the cows were running around, Summer started limping badly on her right rear leg.  She was also partially covered in mud.  So we don’t know if she slipped, got stuck in the mud or got bit.  We moved her and her mother to the donkey pen where she could have shelter, would not have to walk very much and we could watch her more closely.  As of yesterday she was not any better, but today finally she is standing more and walking without a limp.

I have been trying to keep the turkey poults alive in the weasel proof pen with chicken wire  to keep Eliz’s chicks away.  But one day a poult got out of the chicken wire, and Tom found it and moved it back.  But there yesterday another one got out and died.  So obviously this plan is not working.

I moved Eliz’s birds into one of the pens in the barn but just a couple hours later three of them got out and were running around loudly where predators could get them.  So I moved them into a cage while I figured out a plan.  Today I put netting up around this pen to keep them from flying out.

The other three batches of chicks were in the old rabbit hutches with surrogate hen mothers.  They go crazy when I toss bread bits to the loose chickens.

But these spaces are getting tight.  So I had to figure out what to do to keep them happy, healthy and safe.  I ended up moving these two hutches of chicks in with the turkey poults as they are relatively young and are not pecking the turkey poults.  I had Mr. Pink in there recovering from a rooster attack.  He then started pecking on the new chicks.  So I moved him out, worrying that he would get beat up again.  So far he is doing OK, hanging in the outskirts in the alleyway which is relatively predator safe.  I did have to remove the surrogate hens though as they were attacking the poults.  So now these mostly hatchery chicks do not have a protector, but they are safe.

The last hutch of slightly older chicks (which our hens hatched) I moved in with Eliz’s birds in the netted hay pen.  I had to remove that hen too.  There is some pecking between the older and younger chicks, but it is not too bad.  They seem to be working it out.  But there has been a lot of worrying, planning and trying to adapt.

In other farm news, I thought Wally looked cool next to our gargoyle.

We have a garter snake nesting area amongst some overgrown old farm implements near the pig pen.  Tom had mentioned he saw a fat snake there the other day and assumed it was pregnant.  I went to look and found a good size snake that then grabbed a good sized slug.  I know that garters eat slugs which is why I promote their habitat near the garden, but I have never witnessed it.  But this was an epic battle as the slug grabbed a stick and wouldn’t let go.  The snake tried many maneuvers, but finally freed the slug from the stick and disappeared with it.  I had wanted to see if she could actually eat it as it looked bigger than her head.

Yesterday we took a break from the farm and headed south to join my mother for her birthday.  We stopped at my grandmothers grave to place some of my great grandfather’s lilacs there.  Ryeleigh is not looking very regal.

Then we met Mom and Al at Tapatio in Newcastle.  I had the Molcajete, and it was amazing.  I think Mom had a nice birthday.