Shaking Things Up on Yonder Way

Well I decided after much wrestling with and battling that it is time to move the Pygmy Goats. I love these guys to death but this was a botched experiment. When I first got chickens, the area I had them in kept growing much too fast, faster than the chickens could keep it down, so I had to mow. I already have a huge area to mow anyway so I definitely didn’t want to have to mow there too. So in come the goats. I liked the pygmy goats because they were smaller (later learned is a downfall), cuter, and people really enjoy buying their kids (babies). But being new to the whole farming thing, I didn’t think that if you put goats with chickens that the goats will eat your chicken food. I soon learned that by far, goats have to be the most stubborn animals ever. Persistant, witty, and being so small, I couldn’t keep them from anything by using electric wire so I just let them out to roam on their own.

This seemed great, they were all over the place until they found the barn. Now they were constantly trying to get in the feed room. I then had to set up a barrier to keep them out. But the worst thing was they knew just when I was going to feed the pigs. This was crazy. As soon as I would walk out, they would start creeping up. Then I would pour the food and begin chasing them. I’m all about not stressing animals out but these guys were really stressing me out. Plus, they weren’t ever going to be eaten, they were simply a botched experiment. There are four of them so as soon as I would get one of them out, the others would dart for the food. I mean, they knew I was chasing them and as they passed the food, they would take a bite a head off running again. It looked like a circus. The pigs were oblivious cause now they had their food.

But now, I am at peace with all men and animals. I have moved the four goats back to the original chicken pen. It has chicken wire all the way around so they can’t get out. Yes it was because they couldn’t seem to help themselves when it came to others food but also I think 2 if not 3 of the females are pregnant. They loved being in there with the pigs but my fear now is that if one of them had a kid, the pigs being a pig would eat the poor kid. So now they are back where they belong, eating what they are suppose to eat, weeds, brush, and hay.


New Location

Since I was moving the goats into the chicken pen, I had to move the coop out and relocate the chickens. Now I know your not suppose to move their houses mid day and that you should move it at night when the are inside so that when the leave the house in the morning they will know where it is. Yah, Yah. I like to make things harder on myself sometimes so I knew they would be where the house use to be. Plus this would give me a good chance to actually get some numbers of how many chickens I actually had since I would actually be picking each chicken up. So last night I moved the chickens and placed them in their new roosting spots. Things don’t always go like they should.


Eating Like Good Chickens


Waiting To Get Back In

I let them out and low and behold within an hour, they are back across in their old pen with others trying to figure out to get in. Sometimes I feel like getting rid of all the not so smart ones and only keeping those that make things easier on me. Kinda selfish sounding but man, they just don’t make any sense. Tonight, the round up will commence again. At least I have a whole day to plan.