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Hooey Food Shopping at TSC

Had to run some errands this morning and took Hooey along for the ride (which she always appreciates).

Decided to take her into the local Tractor Supply store with me to pick up a bunch of rabbit, chicken and dog food.

I tried to get her to pick her own food … but I think her brain got overloaded with all the options available. Sort of like me walking into a well stocked gun store. DOAH!

By default, we just went with her ‘usual’ (Taste of the Wild: Wetlands with Roasted Fowl).

She doesn’t get off property very much, and I like to get her around other people. A little old lady came up and asked if she could pet Hunter, and I said “ummm, sure, just move real slow and keep eye contact with her.” Hooey did well, but you should have seen the look on her face! I know the look … intensely defensive of yours truly. If someone was to assault me, she would rip them a new ass … no doubt in my mind. Kind of freaks me out sometimes, how alert she can be. Sweet dog, but VERY protective.

 

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Hooey the Empath …

Tough day yesterday, for a number of reasons, not the least of which was news that Zoe (Hunter’s GSD ‘sister’) had to be rushed to the emergency vet. Given Zoe’s advanced DM disease, I feared the worse.

Decided the best thing to do was lay down and take a nap.

Hooey isn’t a big fan of jumping up in bed with me, preferring instead to lay on the floor somewhere … where she can keep an eye on the outside world.

However, if she knows I’m upset (and she does, because she’s a empath and acutely attuned to everything I do and feel) she’ll jump up with me and do her empath thing.

Everybody should have a “best friend” like this. 😉

P.S.  Zoe seems to be okay.  Not great, but not … terminal.  Looks to have a nasty UTI that Ann is treating with heavy duty antibiotics.  Could have been a LOT worse.

 

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Poor Hunter Needs a Hockey Helmet!

We went out to spend some quality time with the badonkadonks.

I noticed the chicken flock was following us around, so I decided to chuck a carrot stick to see who was willing to fight for it. Chickens went in first, then Luna chased them off, but when she turned her back, Hooey snuck in and stole the carrot.

You might think … YAY for Hooey! … but anybody that has spent any time around Luna, especially in the evening, knows that she’s in PUNK MODE then and looking for anything, ANYTHING to @#$%^& with.

In the second segment of the video, Luna runs up, lines up her crosshairs very carefully (watch her eyes shift from forward to backward, which is synonymous with a USAF A-10 ‘Warthog’ pilot switching to their 30mm cannon), and kicks Hooey right in the chops!

So, what does Hunter do? She chases Luna … which is EXACTLY what Luna wanted … because while being chased, she can throw kicks that Bruce Lee would envy.

Poor Hooey’s prey drive ‘buttons’ are well known to Looney Luna, and she plays Hunter like a damn fiddle.

Need to start a GoFundMe project to buy Hunter a hockey helmet before she looses all her teeth to Luna’s world-class upper cuts.

 

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Product Endorsement: Canine Allergy Med (Apoquel)

As described in this video Hunter (aka Hooey) suffered for years with nasty yeast infections in her ears, and on her stomach (skin). Last year, a new medication called Apoquel came out on the market, and our Vet (Animal Hospital of Mebane) suggested we give it a try.

The results have been utterly amazing. No more infections. No more vet bills. Now, that said, the medication costs about $85 for a month’s supply, but in the long run, I think it’s cheaper … and her quality of life is SO much better.

Back when the vet suggested we try it, the option was to have her tested for allergies, and he said that whatever allergy she has the was causing all the fungal infections will ultimately be traced to something on the property (e.g. weeds, grass, pollen) that aren’t going away. So, the Apoquel essentially masks that allergy and keeps her infection free.

As stated in the video, her blood chemistry is monitored every few months to make sure the med isn’t causing any sort of organ damage. So far, so good!

 

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Busy Morning … Monkey Meat Slingin’ and Pasture Grass Over-Seeding

Got up, did all the ‘animal chores’  (feed, water, clean) … then fed Hooey a monkey meat & kibble breakfast …

Next, over-seeded the big pasture with about 10 pounds of grass seed (rye, timothy, fescue x 2), covered it with two trailer loads of green mulch from mowing the ‘park’ yesterday, then raked it in with the drag harrow.  Got it done before 11A and before the temp got up to 85F (will be over 90F today).

 

 

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Sweet Mystery of Life

Headed out to rotary plow a garden extension, and saw something out of the corner of my eye. Somehow, one of the new rabbit kits from the Dome 1 colony mysteriously ended up about 120 feet outside the dome!

In hindsight, but bun was sort of ‘damp’ head to toe, so I’m thinking somehow it got out of the dome, Hunter found it, and she carried it in her mouth to the area I was working in.

While she’s treated to rabbit “parts” when we harvest meat from the colonies … she also smart enough to know that baby bunnies, when alive, are not food, but family members to be protected.

THANK GOD the bunny is pure white and not grey, or Hooey would probably have mistaken it for a mouse and just munched it, as she’s currently dispatching about a dozen mice a day from the barn as we trap them.

Might have name this bunny ‘Lucky.’ 😉

 

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GSD Mouse Disposal

Not entirely sure why, but we’ve experienced a serious mouse overpopulation problem in the barn this spring. A few mice, I don’t mind, but they are everywhere. I planned to stuff as many 5+ foot black snakes as I could find on the property into all the dark recesses of the barn, but I haven’t found any snakes (yet!) this season.

Soooo, I did a little research. Some people swear by the high(er) technology electronic traps that zap and immediately dispatch the mice, so I found a higher rated model on Amazon and ordered two at about $40 a pop. Just for grins, I also bought one of those “walk the plank” traps.

After about 2 days of evaluation, I pulled the two electronic traps out of the barn and put them in the basement. If they catch one mouse each per month, I’ll be happy. As demonstrated in this video, I don’t really like their design, and will be writing a critical product review on Amazon soon.

 

Now, the WTP trap is simply amazing in terms of effectiveness. The single plank trap in the barn caught 16 mice in one day! I think poor Hunter is getting tired of dispatching mice. That might be a good thing, because she’s been hunting mice in and around the barn all day, every day, for about 2 months now. Drives me nuts. She’s constantly under foot … chasing some prick mouse. Knocked me off my feet once. Tripped over her twice. THAT’s why the mice have to GO!

We’re dispatching the mice in the same general spot, and the local hawks, ravens, and turkey vultures have seemingly locked in a GPS waypoint, because they’re cleaning up all the mice out of the field.

I call that a win-win-win-win-win. Everybody (chickens, Hunter, me, local birds of prey, …) wins, except the mice. But, that’s what they get for being such vermin. 😉

2018.05.08 UPDATE …

See … I try to give the mice a sporting chance to survive.

 

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Chicken Tractor Dome –> Donkey Dome

I read online the other day that donkeys don’t like getting wet, because their fur doesn’t repel water like a horse’s does.

So, I decided to convert the chicken tractor dome prototype into a new donkey shelter dome.  Simple enough.  First, I screwed two big auger anchors into the ground on opposite sides of the dome and bolted the dome to the anchors, so the dome can’t be moved by anything less than a Cat-5 hurricane.

Then, I removed a few struts to create a donkey door.

Lastly, I covered about 60-70% of the dome with a high-end (heavy duty) tarp, and used rubber straps and tarred twine to lash it down, so it won’t flap around (which apparently drives the donks nuts).

I watched the girls from afar for an hour or so, and they showed interest in the dome, but wouldn’t go inside.  So, Hooey and I posted in the dome with a bag of peanuts and handful of carrots … and voila … instant donkey-in-a-dome.  Got sort of crowded in there as the chicken flock opted to join us.

I also decided to hang a few donkey toys from an existing ridge line strung between two pasture trees, but Hooey destroyed the first toy in about 3 minutes flat … so I gave up.

 

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Local Deer & Hooey’s Response …

Our local deer herd has between 12 and 15 head, and they’re constantly zig-zagging around the property, teasing Hooey until she chases them off prop.

Saw a few of them hanging out in the park/pasture as we got home in the truck.

… and Hooey gave ’em an ear full, yelling (in German) “stinky deer” … “vile venison!”