Tag Archives: homesteading in Mexico

April 10, 2023 · 7:27 am

Staying Alive Bear-ly

So wouldn’t you know it, but Bear got sick. Of course, it was the weekend, and by the time Monday rolled around, he wasn’t able to keep any food down. Off to the town vet, we went.

Turns out he was running a fever because he had a parasite, respiratory, and eye infections all at once, poor guy. Although he may have picked up the infections on our walks, after all, coyotes, skunks, foxes, and other stray dogs wander about freely, it’s more likely he had these infections since we got him, and they just got worse because I didn’t know he had them.

Bear wasn’t feeling well enough to grumble at the moto ride to town, the examination, the shots, or the waiting, although he was alert. The vet had a few signs for pets in adoption hanging up, some kittens, some chihuahuas, and two African albino hedgehogs.

Every day for a solid week, Bear got a trip to town. During this period, Fuzz stopped eating for whatever reason, so he got a space capsule ride and an anti-parasite pill, just in case. The vet’s daughter made a fuss over him, which he loved, and he took the pill and swallowed it just for her. Whew!

By the following Monday, Bear was feeling better. He fussed a bit at the getting ready to go to town process, and while we waited, a googly-eyed pug stuck out his tongue at Bear, who barked back as if to say, “How rude.”

He got his first set of puppy vaccines and his own record book. The vet estimated he was about 5 months old.

Then George fell out of the second-floor window of my son’s house, and another round pet care began.

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Enjoy the ongoing animal adventures of one family when they move to central Mexico and try to figure it all out in the Animal Antics South of the Border series!

Big Mama Steps Up

Big Mama, despite her enormous girth, only gave birth to a singleton. Interestingly, the little guy looked EXACTLY like Brown Mama’s boy twin. (The girl has a white “toupee.”) Big Mama is extremely overprotective of him. Cocoa, who barks at everything, has made himself a mortal enemy here. How DARE he bark at her lamb???

Things were going well for about a week when suddenly Brown Mama died. The small flock was out foraging just on the other road and left unattended for about 15 minutes tops. When my son when to check on everyone, he found Brown Mama keeled over and swollen to twice her normal size. We think it was bloat that killed her. She might have eaten a poisonous plant, or the kid visiting with his parents on a nearby lot might have given her a handful of corn, or even the few kernels my husband doles out to everyone in the morning might have caused it.

So then we had two orphans that weren’t old enough to get all their nutrients by foraging. They refused to be bottle-fed by Papa Chivo (my husband), and we despaired of their future.

Thankfully, Big Mama decided to adopt the twins about three days after their mama’s demise. She’s a hefty sheep and seemed to have more than enough milk for her own and the two twins. The urgency has passed now that everyone can forage, although we are keeping a close eye on everyone since the rash of poisonings. It wouldn’t do for the lambs to lick something that could kill them.

Other cloven-hoofed news: Fuzzy Mama still hasn’t given birth, nor has Jolina, although both are mighty uncomfortably pregnant. The other nameless goat miscarried, and my husband sold her.

Then the Questgiver has been sent along to another realm to carry on his important tasks, whatever they may be. My husband didn’t like the way his testicles hung. Something about how that trait would be passed on to daughters and their udders would be uneven. I’m not sure that’s true, but I have no say on which animals stay and which go.

I’d really like for him to stop with the animals. They aren’t getting the care they need here anymore, and the outdoor area is riddled with fleas making everyone miserable. Be that as it may…

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More Mexican homesteading stories can be found in the Animal Antics South of the Border Series. Now available on Amazon!

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Filed under Animal Husbandry

Tagged as homesteading, homesteading in Mexico, raising goats, raising sheep

January 18, 2022 · 7:02 am

Roosters on the Roof

We have oodles of roosters currently. Six of the seven chicklets were gallos. Then somehow or other we had TWO quiquiriquis machos, that I called Alpha and Beta. Additionally, we had a regular-sized rooster who avoids the quiquiriquis like the plague, well mostly Alpha because he is a badass.

Anyway, the three grown roosters have decided in turn that my rooftop garden was a good place to hang out and poop. I am not pleased with this situation and take every opportunity to squirt them with the hose and flap my arms at them to get them to fly off.

Then we need to talk about the noise factor. Contrary to popular opinions, roosters do not just crow at dawn. Rather, they start a call-and-return musical rendition whenever they feel like it. It could be 3 am or 3 pm. Not only do we have 9 roosters on our property competing for song dominance, but the two closest neighbors also have chickens who want to be the earliest songbird in town, which riles up ours and so it goes on and on.

Not all of the roosters have perfected a harmonious crow as of yet. Their off-key singing more often than not riles up the dogs. Fred starts with some howling. George comes in with the bass. And finally, Cocoa is the soprano of the group. This lasts for several minutes. Not to be outdone, the roosters start up again as soon as the dogs start. Over and over again, multiple times throughout the day.

Last-minute update: Finally, three buyers later and our crooners are down to a manageable number. We still have one chicklet and the normal-sized rooster who is DEEE-LIGHTED to be the biggest cock in the compound. He reves up with a manly flapping of wings and let’s loose, now assured that no little quiquiriqui bully will clothesline him mid-crow.