Gander Management

The males of the species are all "hormoned-up" this Spring.  Ganders in the chicken house are fighting one another for the lone female.  She has started laying eggs in her hiding place and the guys have made some sort of pact to maintain the peace.  Out at the pond, Honky guards his old Wifey from Baby Huey -- who is wary and makes wide circles around them.

The two roosters have gone at one another even though there are plenty of hens to share.  The first batch of white leghorn chicks have graduated to a coop in the chicken house.  My home incubated chicks are sharing the big brooder with 24 new hatchery chicks.  All seem to be doing fine.

The goats are without a buck until the Fall, when I will acquire one to breed them.  My neighbor and I will go back into the goat business when he retires from his off the farm job in the Spring.  I've been cleaning and fixing in the nursery barns as I have the time now and won't necessarily want to do it in the hot late Summer and freezing Winter months.  I'm using up all the piles of old metal roofing material by lining the walls of the newest maternity barn to cut down on drafts. 

The goose house now has a nifty metal floor made of old sign material and the back is now covered with metal siding.  This has kept rats and other small vermin at bay.  Similarly I've patched up holes in the chicken house to improve the rat- and snake-proofing.

The beautiful red bull has learned to get over fences and electric wires to go pretty much where he wants to go.  It is becoming a problem, as the cows observe and learn from him.  My neighbor owns him but we have combined herds on my land for grazing.  He took the bull across the road to his place in the trailer and put him in a chain link fenced enclosure last night.  We talked at the road for about ten minutes, when I noticed that he was out.  This morning, he was again up at my place.  I'm not sure what the solution will be for him, but am at least hoping to see some of his red haired children among the calf crop this Fall.  I hope they do not inherit his intellectual abilities.

There'll be no peaches, apricots, or pears this year.  The late frost wiped them out.  Apples survived.

The hay is up high but we need the rain to stop for a few days in order to cut it.  That's the normal report for May.

Keep your socks dry.