March 8th - Week in Review

Some weeks we don’t have anything out of the ordinary happening, and it’s a quiet week. Other weeks, like this past week, things are a bit harder.

First, we had our vet come out to take a look at little Hava because she had some discharge from her one remaining good eye. He determined it was from a cornea scratch that looked like it was healing, so she’ll get eye drops for the next five days to help her along. She had a tiny bit of nasal discharge too, and our vet told us her breed, Barbados Black Belly, are prone to respiratory issues, so we should just keep an eye on her and it may be a lifetime thing off and on.

Since Barbados Black Belly sheep tend to be a more skittish breed, it isn’t easy to catch them, and they can also jump almost vertically, and quite high. Hava is no exception. While I was trying to corral her I blocked the barn stall opening, thinking she’d have no way to run past me. Well, it’s true she didn’t run past me, but rather she tried to jump OVER me. I’m not a tall woman by any means at just 5’3”, but she was able to jump up at me and reached to just below my neck. Impressive skills, little Hava! She’s a tiny thing so it didn’t hurt thankfully, and I quickly moved out of the way so she wouldn’t attempt that again and hurt herself. We’ll just continue working on getting her comfortable with us so we can avoid any jumping sessions down the road.

Next up we had our vet take a look at our goat Hermie, one of our gentle giants. Hermie’ s legs tend to bow inwards in the front at the ankles mostly, so we felt he should get examined. Our vet said Hermie appeared to have something called a Valgus Deformity. He felt there wasn’t much we can do about it, but there are measures we can take in trimming his hoofs to try and offset the curve. Hermie is more inclined to want to roll his ankles in because of the joints, and doing this affects how his hoofs grow too, so we’ll be creating a higher inner hoof wall so the hoofs want to roll in the opposite direction. 

Moving on to our chicken flock, it was a not so stellar week there. First, one of our hens got scraped somehow (we think on a rogue branch or fence piece) so we took her to the house, bathed her, cleaned her up, and sprayed her with antiseptic spray. She had no visible deep wounds, so it seemed to be superficial bleeding. She’s 100% better now, save for a little blue coloring from the antiseptic spray.

We also lost one of our hens, Hei Hei, this week. She had been acting a bit lethargic for a day but had no other signs of illness. She was eating and drinking fine and no respiratory issues either. I wanted our vet to see her as well, but she passed suddenly the morning of his visit. I was the one who found her and I’m grateful for that because it’s super upsetting for the kids to stumble upon an animal that’s passed when they aren’t expecting it. They already struggle with the sadness that comes in grieving animals that pass, but is just too much of a shock when it’s unexpected. We hope Hei Hei is resting in piece right now, roaming around in a big field of clover with an all you can eat bug buffet. 

If you celebrate St. Patrick’s Day, we hope the luck of the Irish is on your side this Wednesday. A few years ago my kids made a brochure with some fun facts and history of the holiday for a homeschooling project, so if you’d like to check that out, click here.

Have a great week everyone!

“May you have…Enough happiness to keep you sweet, 
Enough trials to keep you strong, 
Enough sorrow to keep you human, 
Enough hope to keep you happy, 
Enough failure to keep you humble, 
Enough success to keep you eager, 
Enough friends to give you comfort, 
Enough faith and courage in yourself to banish sadness, 
Enough wealth to meet your needs,

And one thing more…
Enough determination to make each day 
A more wonderful day than the one before.” - Irish Blessing

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