Miller Farm Friday Archives - Page 34 of 48

5 02, 2016

Chickens Don’t Do Change

By judythemorgan|2016-02-04T10:09:59-06:00February 5th, 2016|Miller Farm Friday|0 Comments

A blog by Chicken Wrangler Sara

Rachel has decided to do what she calls a “color project” with her bantam chickens. She has built six separate runs and has put specific roosters with specific hens to try to get certain colors of birds.

This would make a great 4H or FFA project however, we have never participated in any farming organization. I believe Rachel would have excelled at it.The weather here has been unseasonably warm and Rachel was able to spend one afternoon building the runs. It took longer than she had anticipated but she is pleased with the results.

The chickens, on the other hand, are less than impressed. After chasing them around and gathering the predetermined groups, Rachel went inside to shower. The chickens then began escaping from their new homes.

One rooster flew up to the fence. I guess he was checking out the other runs to see if he had the best accommodations.

The oldest bantams left their run altogether and have returned to their old coop. They even laid their eggs under it. Apparently some things are not meant to change.

The weather turned cold again so Rachel left well enough alone. This weekend, however, she and Beekeeper Brian will try to reinforce the runs and convince the chickens that change is good.

I’ll let you know how that goes.

29 01, 2016

Colors

By judythemorgan|2016-01-27T21:26:39-06:00January 29th, 2016|Miller Farm Friday|0 Comments

A Blog by Chicken Wrangler Sara

Winter can be a dreary time – particularly in Texas. We don’t get the pretty white scenes, at least where we live.

Everything just turns brown.

The closest thing we have to snowy white is Rachel’s new frizzle. He makes a stark contrast to all the brown.

It makes me smile.

In my quest to find beauty amidst all the brown, I made a pleasant discovery.

The partridge-colored silky bantams have blue ears.

So now when others are enjoying beautiful snow with contrasting cardinals or other wonderful scenery, I can enjoy our blue-eared chickens.

As I always say, there is beauty all around. You just have to look for it.

22 01, 2016

Feeling Old

By judythemorgan|2016-01-21T19:17:05-06:00January 22nd, 2016|Miller Farm Friday|3 Comments

A Blog by Chicken Wrangler Sara

My parents bought me the coolest sweater when I was in high school. It has music symbols on it and in all my travels as a music teacher I have never seen another one like it.

I wear it as my main coat every winter since in Texas it is never really cold. I don’t think much about it unless someone mentions it.

For instance, the checker at Walmart last week said, “I like your sweater.”

I told her thank you and mentioned that I’ve had it a long time.

She then said, “I really like vintage clothing.” I wasn’t sure whether to be offended. Then she went on to say, “I love going into my grandmother’s closet. It is like a thrift store.”

I had no response.

This morning one of my first grade students walked up to me and said, “Why is your hair white right there?” and pointed to my streak of gray hair.

I told her I had earned those white hairs by growing older. It must have sounded appealing because she then turned around and said, “I have white hair back here.”

I love children. They keep me young – or make me feel old as the case may be.

15 01, 2016

Chew Toys

By judythemorgan|2016-01-14T10:14:57-06:00January 15th, 2016|Miller Farm Friday|4 Comments

Blog by Chicken Wrangler Sara

It has been 8 years since we have had a puppy on Miller Farm and now we have two.

One major issue I had forgotten was the chewing. They chew on everything. Rachel has provided them with multiple acceptable chew toys, but Max and Penny seem to prefer non-chew toys. These include but are not limited to:

Newspapers

towels

shoes – especially when on feet

I devised a new dance – the “puppy shuffle” which involves moving my feet in such a way as to avoid stepping on a puppy or having them grab my shoe.

I finally surrendered and gave them my socks. I figured it was better for them to chew on my socks when they were not on my feet.

It kept them occupied for quite a while. If only it would work until they outgrow the chewing – in about 6 months.

8 01, 2016

Tucker’s Disappearing Ball

By judythemorgan|2016-01-06T20:26:37-06:00January 8th, 2016|Miller Farm Friday|0 Comments

A blog by Chicken Wrangler Sara

With the arrival of two dachshund puppies on Miller Farm came the arrival of 14,000 puppy toys. Well, maybe not that many but it seemed like that to Tucker, who was not allowed to chew up or play with any of them. In fact, Rachel put them all in her room behind a gate where Tucker could see them but not get to them. This was very distressing to Tucker. He was, after all, the first dachshund on Miller Farm and the father to the puppies.

Rachel bought Tucker his own toys including a spikey ball that squeaked. At least it squeaked until Coco chewed holes in it. Off to the pet store went Rachel once again. This time she bought a package of 3 spikey balls that squeaked. This gave us two BUBs (back-up balls).

Tucker’s favorite way to play with his ball is to have someone throw it so he can run and retrieve it so it can be thrown so he can run and retrieve it and so on and so on. This continues as long as the arm of the thrower holds out. This particular morning, I was the thrower.

I must confess, I was multi-tasking. I threw the ball as I was feeding the chickens so I wasn’t really paying close attention to where it went. It didn’t matter. Tucker would find it and bring it back to me.

One time I threw it behind me and I never heard it hit the ground. Tucker ran all around the yard and came back empty. I didn’t see it either so I looked in the neighbor’s yard. No ball. I looked between the fences (ours is chain link and the neighbor’s is wooden). Still no ball. I finally gave up and went inside. Rachel got out a BUB (back-up ball) and all was well.

Later that afternoon Beekeeper Brian called me into the kitchen where he was sitting at the table. “Sit down, look out the window and tell me what you see,” he said.

“I see the chickens, the chicken coop, the fence…”

“Look higher.”

There in the tree was Tucker’s ball. I could not have thrown it there if I tried. We got it down and now Tucker has two balls. At least until one of them disappears again.

18 12, 2015

Caroling Chickens

By judythemorgan|2015-12-17T20:42:12-06:00December 18th, 2015|Miller Farm Friday|1 Comment

A holiday blog from Chicken Wrangler Sara and her chickens

4 12, 2015

Two Weeks…

By judythemorgan|2015-12-02T15:48:29-06:00December 4th, 2015|Miller Farm Friday|1 Comment

A blog by Chicken Wrangler Sara

That is exactly how long it took Max to worm his way into the Miller household permanently. I should have known there was trouble the day Max was returned to Beekeeper Brian and spent the day at work with him. Brian sent this picture:Max would not stop whining so Brian held him in his shirt. From that point on they have been inseparable.

Max sleeps as close as possible – even if that means sleeping on Brian’s shoes:

He has given the term “facetime” a new meaning:

The other dogs have accepted him and Penny, his sister, is particularly glad to have someone her size to play with.

So now Miller Farm has 30 or so chickens and 6 long haired miniature dachshunds. I would say we are full up at the Inn but I’m not sure it would make any difference. :)

20 11, 2015

New Addition(s)

By judythemorgan|2015-11-19T20:38:45-06:00November 20th, 2015|Miller Farm Friday|0 Comments

By Chicken Wrangler Sara

Tucker had a girlfriend come visit this summer. Her name is Olivia and she is an English cream long-haired dachshund.

It was a productive visit and 8 puppies were born on October 4.

This is a very large number of puppies for a dachshund.Unfortunately two of the puppies were very small and died within 24 hours.

That left 6 healthy puppies – 3 boys and 3 girls. We were promised pick of the litter as payment for Tucker’s services. It was not an easy decision.

We settled on a female named Penelope – Penny for short.One of Brian’s coworkers wanted a male and chose Max. The puppies were in another town so when Rachel went to get Penny, she also brought Max home so Brian could deliver him to work. Having two puppies in the house was fun for a couple of days, but Rachel was glad to see Max go as he is much more energetic and vocal than Penny.

Max’s new family owns three other dogs. Unfortunately, they did not check with these dogs before bringing Max home and one of the dogs was particularly unfriendly to Max.

So Max has come back to our house and we are looking for a good home for him. He does have an eye condition which will require minor surgery. The droopy eye just makes him look a little sad to me.

I’m trying not to get too attached. I’m afraid Max’s new home may be further than next door.

Know anyone who wants a long-haired mini dachshund?

6 11, 2015

New Bantams

By judythemorgan|2015-11-03T19:40:22-06:00November 6th, 2015|Miller Farm Friday|1 Comment

A blog by Chicken Wrangler Sara

After a decline in our bantam population, Rachel decided to buy some replacement chicks. She chose frizzles, partridge silkies, and birchen cochins. It was all the same to me until they started getting their adult feathers. Now I understand Rachel’s fascination with these particular breeds.

They are adorable! I also understand more about their names. Partridge and Birchen refer to the coloring. Cochin means they have feathered feet and frizzles have feathers that stick out everywhere.

We already have Frizz and Frizz 2, the black frizzles. Now we have blonde frizzles:I just hope they have the same sassy personality as Frizz.

Then we have the Partridge Silkies who look like they have fur rather than feathers:They also have the Dr. Seuss tuft on top of their heads.

Then we have the Birchen Cochin bantams:
They are all in the long cage on saw horses for now. We want to make sure all the critters living under the shed are gone. Then we will put the chicks in the bantam side of the coop.

Eventually Rachel wants to build breeding runs and breed the silky to the frizzle to get sizzles. I’ll make sure to post those pictures.

30 10, 2015

A Plethora of Cats

By judythemorgan|2015-10-29T17:53:57-05:00October 30th, 2015|Miller Farm Friday|2 Comments

By Chicken Wrangler Sara

We caught another cat last week.

We set both live traps expecting another possum. We got a cat.

It chose the smaller of the two live traps and so was quite crowded. Not only that but it rained that night so the cat looked like a drowned rat. Rachel discovered it and moved it into the garage.

When I finished my Friday morning routine (early meeting, homeroom class, food pantry and piano lesson) I went outside to check on the cat. It looked very pitiful. I felt sorry for it.

I set up the extra dog kennel and proceeded to extract the cat from the very small live trap and put it in a dry, large kennel. It was not happy with the move. In fact it scratched me repeatedly. Then it jumped down and ran out into the back yard.

I wasn’t about to let it get back under the shed so I went after it and caught it trying to get through the chain link fence. More scratching and hissing ensued. I tossed it into the kennel and quickly shut the door.

Rachel took it to the animal shelter and told the whole story. Then she called me. It turns out that a person who is scratched by a stray cat, i.e. me, is at risk of contracting rabies.

The cat is put into quarantine for 10 days and I wait to hear from the animal control officer as to whether the cat lives or dies. If it dies, I must get a rabies vaccine. I will hear something early next week. It has been quite a learning experience.

Here is the lesson:
• If you catch a stray cat in a small live trap, do not move it to a larger kennel no matter how pitiful it looks.
• If you move it, it may scratch you.
• If it scratches you and draws blood, you will have to report to an animal control person. The animal control person will fill out paperwork and put the cat into quarantine for 10 days.
• If the cat dies, you will have to get a rabies vaccine.
• If the cat lives all is well

Unless the cat returns to your house then you may be tempted to strangle the cat which would probably result in more paperwork.