The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly

Woof!  This has been quite a morning.  I was a little late getting down to the barn, and as soon as I opened the first door, I heard a noise I hadn't quite (yet) expected.  Peeking over the half-wall, I saw that Sheila had just dropped her first kid!  Threw some feed for Lucy and let Cindy, Esther, and Inga out to graze.  Rushed around and let Poppy and Ruth out, and threw some grass hay in for Tessie and #19.  Picked up the baby and found we had a little doeling, Uma!  (First picture.)  She still had part of the sac around her...got her cleaned up and hand-dried while Sheila was busy trying to pass her second baby (second picture is of the bulging sac and, although they can't be seen, front two feet of baby #2).  Got a shot of Uma before the second baby, a little buckling, #21, was born.  Sheila had a relatively easy time with this birth, and I caught the little guy before he hit the ground.  Not being totally prepared for this "blessed event," all I could do was whip off my shirt to dry him and clean his nostrils and mouth.  Put Tessie and #19 out into the field.  Got Sheila and the babies settled into a stall and ran around the barn to get the first milker in...business as usual.  Got all the milkers done, the nonmilkers fed, and was crazy to get back in to see the babies and make sure mama was okay.  The last photos are of Sheila resting, cleaning up #21, and Uma waiting for mama to stand up and make breakfast available.   

I came back up to the house to process the milk and get a bucket of warm molasses water for Sheila (does lose a lot of body heat during delivery) and process the milk.  I had no sooner put down the milk bucket when Bessie told me something was wrong outside.  This is where the bad starts.  Ran outside to find my neighbor's dog mauling my chickens (again!!).  Roaring like a mad thing, I chased it down the hill, came inside, and, shaking like a leaf in a high wind, called Animal Control.  At the end of February when I found one of their dogs on the deck, I had called the family as a courtesy to let them know that their dogs were on the loose...silly me...thinking they would take care of the problem.  Obviously I was wrong. 

And this is where it's going to get ugly.  Last year, after their dogs had come on my property many times and chased the chickens, and I had made multitudinous phone calls to make them aware there was a situation brewing, finally the dogs started killing...and I involved Animal Control...several times.  The letter I received from the family was unbelievable..I was accused of being a "bad neighbor...not willing to work with them...no sympathy...someone to beware of and guarded against."  It was my chickens being killed...and I was the bad guy.  I can imagine that this will not have a happy ending.  But it's better than me shooting their dogs, which I am legally (and attitudinally) able.  These are not bad dogs...for them, it's instinct and pack behavior.  I do not blame the dogs.  I have piles of feathers from one of the Barred Rocks and one of the red hens...I finally got brave enough to go looking for bodies...so far, so good.  A bald hen is a live hen.  I'm just hoping they're scared and will come out at sundown. 

It's been a dramatic day at Farview Farm.