Summertime!

I can't say this summer hasn't been interesting so far.Last post I talked about our predator problem.I started setting a trap and have caught 2 raccoons so far.One was full grown,the other was just a little guy but I'm sure if he could have got to my dog like he wanted to he would have torn her up. I wasn't sure what to do with the first one when I found it. My husband had left for work so I had no car to take it anywhere.If I owned a gun I might have shot it,but as it wasn't my trap and I didn't have a gun ,that was out. I did think about drowning it in the duck barrel but couldn't do it even though we had lost 3 chicks,3 ducks and a turkey to these little monsters.I decided to wait until my husband came home and then we could release it at the nearby national forest.I will keep setting the traps every night until our new puppy gets big enough to take them on.

 

Raccoon #1
We had thought about getting a guard dog and when the coons started showing up I started looking. The best LGD breeds around here are the Kuvasz,Great Pyrenees and the Anatolian Shepherd. To get a dog that is already trained in livestock or a good puppy raised with LGD parents is expensive,anywhere  from $100-300,not in our budget.We ended up finding a beautiful little female Shepard/Pere mix.We named her Fallyn(Irish for "in charge"),she already shows signs of being a good livestock dog.

This is going to be  BIG DOG!
Besides Fallyn we have added 2 Pekin ducklings and 4 Copper Maran chicks,hope to have 3 more ducklings hatch today.These ducklings are the last fertile eggs from our big male Pekin the the damn raccoons killed.I had some hens wanting to set so I put the eggs under them and hoped for the best,so far so good!

Still on the agenda for the summer is to clear the land where the garden will be next year,redo the girls room and craft room,paint the walls and decoupage the floors.We will see if it all gets done.
What are your summer plans this year?





Blessed Be!