Miller Farm Friday Archives - Page 30 of 48

5 05, 2017

Rooster Exchange

By judythemorgan|2017-05-04T20:58:19-05:00May 5th, 2017|Miller Farm Friday|0 Comments

A blog by Chicken Wrangler Sara

We recently received an update on Tina and Tom, our turkeys who moved away. Their new owner sent a picture to assure us they are doing well.

They seem happy to be with other turkeys and away from the chickens.

Before they left Miller Farm, there was an issue with the roosters. Tom had become a little aggressive to Buffy leaving him vulnerable to attack from Kaboodle – the Polish crested rooster who had never been a problem.

Bull

Buffy

Anyway, we decided to trade Buffy for the Light Brahma rooster we had given to our friend Greta. She’d named him Bull because he tried to run through the sliding glass door to join them in their house.

Since Bull was the only rooster on Greta’s “farm” we thought our Buffy would be safe there. Bull, being a larger rooster, would be able to hold his own against Kaboodle on Miller Farm.

So we made the great Rooster Exchange.

Things are going smoothly so far. Kaboodle and Bull have come to an understanding and Buffy is glad to be apart from the craziness of Miller Farm.

Of course, we do have 20 or so chicks which could be hens or roosters so we may be sorting roosters once again. Oh well, I’ll enjoy the calm while it lasts.

28 04, 2017

The Importance of Eyeglasses

By judythemorgan|2017-04-23T16:52:59-05:00April 28th, 2017|Miller Farm Friday|1 Comment

A blog by Chicken Wrangler Sara

Tucker, our dachshund, got up at 1:30 a.m. the other morning and wanted to go outside.

This is not unusual. I got up and walked with him to the kitchen to let him go out back. I did not put on shoes or my glasses.

I will not make that mistake again.

He started sniffing at the door from the garage to the back yard which was latched open leaving a small space between it and the wall.

I looked and saw what I thought was one of his balls behind the door. It was just out of my reach so I grabbed the mop and used the handle to scoot it forward.

As I reached to pick it up a baby possum hissed at me!

I was very glad I had not grabbed it. I stood for a few minutes trying to decide what to do.

Since I wasn’t wearing shoes, I didn’t want to chase it out in the back yard. Being unable to see without my glasses, I was afraid I would step on something and really hurt myself.

I left it alone and went back to bed. It was gone when I got up the next morning. Hopefully, it was as scared as I was and will not come back.

If so, I will at least be able to see it before I start reaching because I will grab my glasses the next time Tucker decides he has to go out in the middle of the night.

I thought of this eyeglass commercial:

I’m grateful it was Tucker who followed me back into the house.

21 04, 2017

All God’s Critters

By judythemorgan|2017-04-14T22:21:03-05:00April 21st, 2017|Miller Farm Friday|2 Comments

A blog by Chicken Wrangler Sara

I have come to accept the fact that not everyone shares the Miller fascination with all things living.

When people come over for the first time I hold my breath and hope they don’t turn around at the front door when they see the bee hives and hear all the dogs. So agreeing to host an international student is a huge risk.

Bill, the Chinese student currently living on Miller Farm, fits right in. He actually has pet snakes at his home in China. His mom cares for them while he is here. I’m very impressed with her. Wrangling chickens is one thing but snakes…

Anyway, on the way home from school this week, Bill mentioned that there had been a snail hanging out on the window in his bedroom. He said it hadn’t moved in a couple of days – not surprising for a snail.

A little while later he came into the living room with…The snail on his window had three baby snails. He put them back outside on a tree with their mom.

Miller farm has now seen the birth of guinea pigs, lizards, chickens, quail, mice, puppies, and snails. I have a feeling we are not done yet. I just hope we go back to babies with fur or feathers.

31 03, 2017

Too Many Boys

By judythemorgan|2017-03-30T11:23:03-05:00March 31st, 2017|Miller Farm Friday|0 Comments

A guest blog by Chicken Wrangler Sara

We recently discovered that the number of males determines the maximum number of birds we can have at Miller Farm. We have experienced the crowing contests among the roosters but this situation was a little more serious.

Our two resident roosters, Buffy and Kaboodle, managed to work out their place in the chicken yard. Buffy is the largest and Kaboodle respects that.

Then along came Tom, the turkey. Tom and his mate, Tina, have provided much entertainment, and pain in our lives as humans – Chicken Wrangler Sara’s fractured ankle, nightly hide and seek for Tom, cleaning and bandaging Tina’s wound. However, we had to draw the line when Tom attacked Buffy. Apparently, Tom needed to prove that he is the strongest even though he is clearly the largest. The injured Buffy became an easy target for Kaboodle causing much ruckus in the chicken yard.

Buffy was moved to “intensive care” where he could recover in peace.

We then began the search for a new home for Tom and Tina. Clearly, Miller farm was not big enough for Buffy, Kaboodle, and Tom.

Fortunately, a fellow bird lover was willing to adopt Tom and Tina.

Now Buffy is back with the hens and Kaboodle is undergoing an attitude adjustment in isolation.

Things are much quieter on Miller farm – for the moment. There are 72 eggs in the incubator in Rachel’s closet…

24 03, 2017

Chicken Connection

By judythemorgan|2017-03-22T21:59:24-05:00March 24th, 2017|Miller Farm Friday|0 Comments

A blog by Chicken Wrangler Sara

I spent the week of Spring Break in Nicaragua. I went to work with Word of Life, Nicaragua. We went into the mountains near Honduras and walked house to house telling people about Jesus. It was quite an experience.

I was nervous about leaving my family (and my chickens.) As is true of all worrying, this was wasted energy. Everywhere we went in Nicaragua there were chickens. In fact, I started taking more pictures of chickens than of people. I had to remind myself why I was there.

The chickens were a part of what I did, though. I was able to talk to the people about their chickens and show them pictures of mine. It gave me a connection the other team members didn’t have. I imagine long after I’m gone, they will remember the Chicken Wrangler who came to tell them about Jesus.

This handsome couple was in a pottery shop in Managua.

Here’s a mother and her chicks in La Camaira.More chickens in La Camaira including a Frizzle rooster.

3 03, 2017

Miller Farm Color Project Update

By judythemorgan|2017-03-02T21:13:43-06:00March 3rd, 2017|Miller Farm Friday|2 Comments

A blog by Chicken Wrangler Sara

Rachel’s Bantam Color Project is going quite splendidly. Her latest flock of bantam chicks is very interesting and most were sold almost immediately.

Richard and Isabella

She has a couple of partridge frizzles from Richard and Isabella.

Right now they are in the ugly stage but eventually, they will have feathers that stick out all over like their father.

We plan to keep these two. If she gets more, Rachel has several people who would buy them.

I was having a hard time remembering the names of the breeds and colors of bantams so Rachel labeled the runs for me.She even laminated the labels so they will hold up in the rain. We found out this week that the light from the neighbor’s house reflects off the label and looks like there is a fire. That was an interesting discovery.

It may seem like a lot of trouble for chickens but it is really fun to see the different chicks when they hatch.

Right now Rachel has duck eggs in the incubator. We cannot keep the ducks. She just wants to see what it is like to hatch them. We already have a new home for them. I just have to keep from getting too attached.

24 02, 2017

More Chicken Gifts

By judythemorgan|2017-02-19T20:36:38-06:00February 24th, 2017|Miller Farm Friday|1 Comment

A Blog by Chicken Wrangler Sara

So far, I am having a really great year. I continue to receive gifts in honor of the Year of the Rooster.

One Friday there was a chicken in my mailbox at school.

Since there was no note attached I walked around holding up my pencil and asking “Did you put a chicken in my box?”

This garnered me some strange looks. It turned out to be the same friend who found the chicken sweater for me.

I love her!

Then Beekeeper Brian went to a Psychology convention and brought back this for me:

One of the vendors was giving them away. I call it a “ducken.” It sits on my piano and entertains my students. It also makes me smile.

I can’t wait to see what March brings.

10 02, 2017

Lost and Found

By judythemorgan|2017-02-07T20:58:14-06:00February 10th, 2017|Miller Farm Friday|1 Comment

A Blog by Chicken Wrangler Sara

We interrupt our regularly scheduled chicken blog to report a totally random “feel good” story.

Sunday morning I was playing keys on the Praise Team at church. That’s the new way of saying I was playing the piano. It was going to be a challenge because I was also singing into a microphone which I do not usually do.

Then I had to transpose one of the songs. For non-music people, this means I was not playing what was written on the page. This meant I had to concentrate extra hard.

To complicate things even more, as I sat down at the keyboard, I looked down and discovered my engagement ring was missing the stone.

Not only had the center diamond disappeared, but the whole setting was gone.

It took all my self-control not to scream.

I took a deep breath and concentrated on playing the right notes and singing the right words.

As soon as we were done, I began retracing my steps all the way back to my truck. I talked to the worship leader who announced at the end of the service that there may be a diamond lying around somewhere and if anyone found it to please give it to me.

I called Beekeeper Brian, who was on his way to a conference in Dallas. He was not too disturbed and suggested perhaps it had gotten caught on something.

This made more sense to me than thinking I had hit my hand hard enough to knock the setting off and not realized it.

I looked in the truck. There was no diamond.

I remembered getting a business card out of my purse right before I went up on stage so I decided to look in my purse and sure enough, there was my diamond!

I was thrilled.

Fortunately, I have a plain gold band I can wear until we can get the ring fixed. I’m just glad we are not replacing a diamond.

3 02, 2017

The Return of the Hawk

By judythemorgan|2017-02-02T20:37:53-06:00February 3rd, 2017|Miller Farm Friday|0 Comments

A Blog by Chicken Wrangler Sara

The latest flock of chicks moved outside a couple of weeks ago. Being small and unaccustomed to the outside world, they were perfect prey for the hawk.

Rachel soon found the hawk in the chick yard helping itself to an unsuspecting chick. She chased it off, but it returned to kill one more chick and carry another away.

This did not set well with Rachel. She set up sentry watch outside for several hours to keep the hawk away. She realized this was not a permanent solution as she was unwilling to sleep out in the yard.

She put the word out on the backyard chicken forum. Crazy chicken ladies tend to stick together. She was soon offered poultry netting which she quickly retrieved and installed. The chicks are now safe. Of course filling the feeder and waterer is a little more complicated. Fortunately, the netting is very flexible so I only have to duck a little, but it does mess up my hair.

Yet another reason I get dressed after letting the chickens out.

27 01, 2017

Not on My List

By judythemorgan|2017-01-25T16:25:19-06:00January 27th, 2017|Miller Farm Friday|2 Comments

A Blog by Chicken Wrangler Sara

I am a list maker. In fact, I am one of those people who write things I have already done on my list so I can cross them off.

Today’s list included: laundry, Sam’s, take recyclables, meeting at 12:30, meeting at 3:00, change sheets, etc. Most of the time my list is an accurate representation of what happens in my day.

Today, however, was different.

During my normal chicken care routine, which is not on my list but done every day anyway, I noticed that Tina, the female turkey, seemed to have blood on her right side. I tried to catch her to examine further but she was too fast for me.

Rachel, being younger and faster than me, was able to catch Tina. I held the turkey while Rachel checked for wounds.

Sure enough, under her right wing was a significant sore. As with any injury, the first course of action was to clean the wound. This meant bringing Tina inside and giving her a bath.

Then Rachel bandaged the sore.

So today I gave a turkey a bath. That was definitely not on my to do list.