Archive for Animals

Sick Chickens – Wordless Wednesday

This summer our egg business really took off. We could not keep up with the demand for our eggs, even at $5 and $6 a dozen. We allow our poultry to free range as well as feed them certified organic feed making our eggs a “premium” product. To accommodate the growth in our egg business we bought a couple of batches of 6 month old pullets from two other farms. Bad choice. We knew the risks but wanted our egg business to keep growing and not drop off. Our intentions were good but the result was fatal to our egg business, as well as our entire flock of poultry.

LoonyAcres Broilers 09072013

Our laying flock was healthy. There was nothing wrong with them. Then we started to notice sick chickens. The ones that were sick stopped laying. They showed signs of being lethargic, sleeping a lot, coughing, wheezing and like they had a cold in the eye. The pullets we bought obviously brought an illness to our healthy flock because this illness showed up within two weeks of bringing home the second flock of pullets. :( We were very concerned for the safety of our customers, our broilers and our turkeys. No vets in the area deal with chickens so we had to go to a university veterinary lab. The closest one to us is the University of Wisconsin. Two hours away – one way. We took the vets two live birds to help them make a diagnosis. Live birds allowed for fresh tissue analysis and a more accurate diagnosis. My husband made the trip on a Friday in September.

Within a few days we had our answer. Upper respiratory infection. Sometimes fatal, especially to broilers who have a smaller trachea (or esophagus) than laying hens. Good news? This infection is not harmful to humans. The eggs and meat could still be sold. Bad news? Even when the birds recover from the infection, they remain carriers of the infection and can spread it to any new birds we brought onto our farm. Results? We have to cull (kill) our whole flock of laying hens and turkeys. Even our breeding turkeys. Our turkeys never exhibited any signs of the infection but since they were exposed, they are carriers too.

LoonyAcres Turkeys 082013_

We had sick chickens for about a month. The infection went through our flock quickly and usually lasted a few days. It was basically a “chicken cold”. Who would have thought, right? There was nothing we could do for them….other than separate the ones who were getting picked on. The vet told about an antibiotic but didn’t actually recommend it since the birds were now carriers.

This “chicken cold” has been devastating. Our egg business was to the point of buying all the feed for our animals, except our horse, dog and cats. We are hoping all our customers come back in the spring.

Our plan? We plan to start fresh with baby chicks in December and have eggs available in the spring.

We will buy more turkeys in the spring and choose some to keep for breeding purposes.

We will never, ever buy chickens from unknown farms again. And may this be a lesson for anyone considering purchasing chickens from another farm to add to your current flock…DON’T.


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Kittens, Kittens and More Kittens! – Wordless Wednesday

Ok all you cat and kitty lovers….I couldn’t resist posting an all kitty post after the photo shoot we did for the SHEBA post yesterday. I just kept snapping and snapping hoping to get some good, non-blurry photos of them! They are at such an adorable age. I don’t get to observe them like the children do but I love it when the children come tell me stories of all the antics and things they are up to. Like tonight, my son came to tell me that Badger is sleeping inside one of my husband’s old ratty running shoes! Why wasn’t the old ratty shoe tossed when he got his new ones? Guess they were meant to be here for the kittens! Too bad the garage is so dark or else I would have taken a photo of the kitty in the shoe!

FFR Freckles washing herself
Freckles washing herself.

FFR Sweet Kittens 110513
Sweet little kittens.

FFR Sev and Badger 110513
Severus is our Tom cat and you can see the resemblance between him and Badger, eh? Oh and Sevy is our only male cat now since all his kittens appear to be females!

FFR Badger with tongue out_
Badger licking her lips.

FFR Freckles 110513_
Freckles sitting pretty.

FFR Badger 110513_
Badger sitting pretty too.

FFR Selene 110513_
Selene sitting pretty.

Amazing that I got a shot of each one of them sitting so nicely. Full bellies helped! So remember that as a photography tip! These are their six week old photos.


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Keeping Your Cat Healthy – SHEBA

CB Disclosure White Background 400 px wide

Do you have a cat? We have six. We started with two and now have six! Needless to say we go through a lot of cat food! A huge part in keeping your cat healthy is the diet you feed them. We feed our cats a mostly raw diet of fresh Guernsey milk from Miss Moo, chicken, chicken livers and giblets. They will be getting treated with turkey trimmings on Thanksgiving! With winter weather around the corner we want them to have enough to eat so they can maintain proper body temperature to stay warm; that’s why we usually supplement their diet with cat food.

I don’t think we’ve ever fed our cats canned cat food before, until now. We usually buy dry cat food. This time we bought them SHEBA cat food. They LOVED it and gobbled up their SHEBA entrees. You can see from the photos how much they enjoyed their SHEBA meal!

Selene eating SHEBA Cat food by herself#shop_

Selene wouldn’t eat until we served her own portion by herself! Look at her ears…protective of her food…though she did allow her mama to join her. See the video here on Instagram.

Freckles saying yummy SHEBA BRAND #shop_
Freckles is saying yummy SHEBA!

Princess says yummy SHEBA BRAND #shop_
Princess says yummy with her tongue and Badger thought the meal was so good she had to sit on the plate with her SHEBA entree!

Sev waiting for more SHEBA Cat Food #shop_
Severus cleaned his plate and is patiently waiting for more.

Pumkin eating SHEBA cat food #shop_
Pumpkin barely breathes as she devours her portion of SHEBA cat food!

Walmart has a roll-back price on SHEBA right now – just $0.50! Plus SHEBA has a Buy 6, Get 1 FREE coupon on their website: http://www.sheba.com/home

SHEBA BRAND Walmart #shop #cbias

Our cats are barn cats, but not in the traditional sense because they are very people-fied and are our pets, though they do serve a purpose in keeping the rodent population down on the 16 acres of land where we live. Our landlords do not want us keeping any pets in the home we are renting.

FFR Playful Kittens after eating SHEBA BRAND #shop_
After their bellies were full, the kittens were in a very playful mood!

When our female cat, Princess, had kittens over six weeks ago we moved her and her babies to the garage for safety mainly but we also knew they would be extra warm in the garage because our dryer vent releases into the garage. We wanted Princess to feel safe and not be threatened by anything in the barn or by the other cats. This was how we kept Princess and her kittens healthy for the past six weeks. We just started letting her take the kittens outside. She gave a hint by having them all sit at the garage door with begging little faces!

Another part of keeping our cat healthy is worming them. We worm them on a regular basis to keep them free of parasites.

Regular vet visits and vaccinations all play a part in keeping your cat healthy too. Check with your vet on their recommendations. Each vet will be different.


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Miss Moo is…..

FFR Miss Moo 10-18-2013

Miss Moo is….not expecting a calf. :( Sniff. Sniff.

On Monday our vet came out to check to see if Miss Moo bred, but unfortunately the August AI (artificial insemination) did not take. We were disappointed but we are trying again. This time the vet gave Miss Moo a shot to bring on her heat cycle, which should occur any day now. Once we see signs of her heat we will call the vet and he will come out and AI her again and give her another shot, if I am understanding correctly. All of this is new to us so forgive me if I get a few things mixed up! Trying to keep things straight but somehow think it may take another time or two of going through AI before it sticks in this brain of mine.

Now….here’s to hoping for a 2014 fall calf.

The vet was impressed with how much weight Miss Moo had put on since late August – yay for the new pasture and the extra grain portions! We really couldn’t take the credit…but we are very, very happy that he noticed the difference. He said she was in “working condition” and could probably still use another 150-200 lbs, so we will keep her grain portion the same and feed her our hay, which is better quality than the stuff we previously got. She was hardly gaining anything on the old hay but our hay is “gold” ;). Seriously, Miss Moo doesn’t even want to eat the old stuff anymore, that’s saying a lot for a cow because cows usually are not so picky. And she really does prefer our hay.

Unfortunately, our second cutting just got cut last week and was baled on Monday. The weather conditions were not the best so our hay did not dry as it should have, but it’s ok for cows. Our horse does not eat hay due to his teeth. Older horses like him (29+ years) often have poor teeth, if any at all. That’s why we feed him mush. More about older horses in a future post though!


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Kittens! – Wordless Wednesday

FFR Princess Moonstone

We had three little kittens born four weeks ago this past Sunday to our mama cat, Princess Moonstone (Princess or Prinny). At first they look like little rats, but they are adorable now and worthy of a blog spot. Ha ha! They are so hard to photograph because they wiggle so much! For the photos below I had to tuck them in my arm and have the girls take the photos. When I tried taking the photos with the girls holding them, the girls let the kittens crawl up their arm, their shirt and we were not getting anything but laughing (and frustration) done. ;)


Happy Month Old Birthday!
(taken on Sunday, October 20)

Kittens 4 weeks old_

Kittens 4 weeks old_2_

Kittens 4 weeks old_3_

From left to right the children have named them: Selene, Sir Hiss (actually should be Lady Hiss, doesn’t she look like a badger?) and Tabby or Freckles.


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Dino Dan Review and Giveaway

Faith and Family Reviews received the following product in exchange for writing a review. While we consider it a privilege to receive free products to review, our reviews are our honest opinion and thoughts of the product.

Dino Dan ~ Dino DVD 4 Pack

dino-dan

 

We are pleased to review another WONDERFUL children’s DVD ~ DINO DAN!

DVD synopsis: Follow the adventures of paleontologist-in-training Dan Henderson as he imagines dinosaurs into the real world! Join Dan as he plays a game of chase with his prehistoric pals, races against a T-Rex, and time travels back to the prehistoric era.

Dan uses the scientific method to gather clues and solve mysteries. Enjoy over 4 hours of dino-rific fun!

Dino Pack Includes: 4 DVDs of action packed adventures, including a brand new, never before seen DVD!0084350100474_500X500

 

DVDs feature these Dinosaurs:

Ø      Brachiosaurus

Ø      Compsognathus

Ø      Edmontosaurus

Ø      Tyrannosaurus Rex

Ø      Quetzalcataus

Ø      and more!

Our Review:

ALL of my children loved the DINO DAN DVD’s… yes all of them! There was a little something for everyone (including me) to enjoy in this series!  I have a five year old daughter, a 7 year old son, and a 9 year old daughter…and yes even the girls LOVED DINO DAN! The program is crafted to give information for all levels of learners as Dan goes on his adventures. This was important to us because we could watch the series as a family!

As a mom I loved that all of my children loved the program. I also loved the historical aspects and scientific qualities of the DVD…my children were learning while having fun watching DINO DAN…definitely an added plus!

Do not miss out on DINO DAN!

You can also get a FREE Dino Dan App at DINODAN.com/DVD

Also… for additional Dino Dan fun Visit Dinodan.com for fun interactive activities!

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Find out more about available Dino Dan DVD’s at http://www.ncircleentertainment.com/dino-dan/b136078

DVD is scheduled for release on November 5th, 2013

Dino Dan DVD Giveaway

Enter to win your own Dino Dan DVDs!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

 

 

 

 


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Fencing – Wordless Wednesday

Our version of fencing!

Fencing Oh My 2013

Fencing supplies from Premier One.

Loony Acres Fencing_

Hubby pounding t-posts.

Baby boy helping fence_

Baby boy helping. Sorry the photo is blurry. I was disappointed when I went to download it. :(

Miss Moo and fencing_

End product – fenced in pasture for Miss Moo! And we need to move it again since she has just about sufficiently cut this pasture down. Since she respects the electric fencing, we only needed to put up one strand of fencing compared to three strands or 4-7 strands for escapee horses and goats!


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Farming is Hazardous

This is a featured post.

I have a farmer friend who gets after me each time she comes to our farm. You see, I tend to wear crocs around the farm. Yep, even around our hooved animals who weigh 1200-1500 lbs. Not ideal to say the least but my feet really like to breathe in the summer months and rubber boots or steel toed boots just haven’t seemed necessary or appealing to wear. And no, that’s not my fashion sense speaking, it’s my comfort level doing the talking.

Loony Acres Fencing_

When my friend was here to help with fencing over a month ago a t-post nearly fell on my foot. :( Not a good thing. A couple of years ago while working on another farm I had a t-post go through the bottom of my croc giving me a pretty good cut all because I tried to put the t-post into the ground with my foot, seriously of all things to do, but I did it as an automatic reaction. Farming is hazardous if you are not careful. A lot can go wrong on a farm. Thankfully we do not own any heavy equipment yet, but the large animals pose a risk because you never know what they can or will do. It’s not like we have medical insurance or life insurance that covers accidents, for that matter. We don’t even have a retirement fund come to think of it. It’s not like we view these things as unimportant, we just haven’t had the budget for them in the past five years, not with two lay offs under our belt. However, it is a goal of ours to get these things in place as soon as our income increases to the point of making it possible.

We do have farm insurance, which is helpful and provides some kind of coverage. Nevertheless, it’s a tad bit worrisome at times thinking of all the things that can go wrong when we lack other insurance coverage or funds to cover extra expenses that could occur.

Do you have life insurance? What about medical insurance in light of Obamacare? Are you preparing for retirement?


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Homing Pigeon – Wordless Wednesday

A couple weeks ago we had a visitor land on our car. It was a homing pigeon. It has a tag on his leg that one of my daughters looked up and determined it was a racing pigeon from Nebraska. It is very friendly and allows the children to handle it. It has taken up residence with our broilers, which concerns me because it is eating 18% grower feed. What if it gains so much weight it cannot fly? Is that even possible? If it’s too heavy, how will it fly back home to its owner? And why has it decided to “vacation” here? Lots of questions. The children are loving “their” new pet though.

Homing Pigeon_

What is a Homing Pigeon?

When I googled homing pigeon images not many of them were the color of “ours”.

According to HomingPigeon.com a homing pigeon is:

Homing Pigeon – Aves Columbiformes Columbidae Columba Livia

Sixteen ounces of muscle and feather, at times on the wing for twelve hours, flying at sustained speeds of 30 to 60 miles per hour.
Why?
To return home where a special relationship exists between man and bird.

Wikipedia states the sport of homing pigeons was established 3000 years ago. The American Racing Pigeon Union says that in the late 1800’s homing pigeons were imported from Europe. More information about American racing pigeons can be found on www.pigeon.org

I don’t claim to be a homing pigeon expert but I hope that wets your appetite to discover more about these charming birds.


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A May Baby?! – Wordless Wednesday

Nope, it isn’t me that’s having a baby. It’s little Miss Moo! Well, hopefully. We had the vet (Dr. M) out on Saturday for a meet and greet. Kind of ridiculous but we have three vets, one for the horse, one for the cow and one for the cow and dog. Anyways, we’ll figure that all out later and hopefully narrow it down to one eventually! I wanted this vet to look at Miss Moo because we’ve been having a hard time putting weight on her. She came to us thin and while she’s gained some, she still isn’t where she should be and we’ve had a friend telling us she’s too thin and of course people driving by call Animal Control. So now I can say we’ve had her looked at by two vets who say while she’s a bit thin, she’s fine or she’s healthy and happy. Whew! That’s a load off my plate. Not only do I have children to worry about but now I have our animals! Oy, oy, oy!

Miss Moo 1-81813 FFR

A May Baby

This week the calendar indicated Miss Moo’s heat was due. We were kind of disappointed to find out that it takes a week to get bull semen straws for AI (artificial insemination). Then as “fate” would have it I get into a conversation on Facebook with Miss Moo’s second owner, who shared that she still had a straw left in Dr. M’s tank (they freeze bull semen and keep it in a freezer tank that he carries around) from the last time Miss Moo was bred and would I like to buy it!? I said sure, of course.

So when our daughter “B” told me yesterday that Miss Moo was showing signs of her heat cycle I put in a call to Dr. M. He came out yesterday afternoon checked her and confirmed she was in heat, he AI’d her with “Grumpy” a Guernsey bull that two of our cow friends have recommended.

If the AI “sticks” we will have a May baby calf! We are kind of hoping for a heifer calf (female) as Dr. M suggested thinking about replacing Miss Moo since it takes a couple of years. Miss Moo is such a sweet cow we’d love to have one of her heifers so that’s what we are praying for! We want to try raising beef sometime in the future too but have to finish our fencing, which is a whole ‘nother blog topic or two!

For now, I told my husband if I’m not having any more babies I’m going to be excited and plan for farm babies! ;) He just kind of looked at me like I had horns growing out of my head. Nah, just kidding! He likes Miss Moo too. :)


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