We had a surprise brood appear this month. One of our kikirikis (miniature chicken) had taken herself off to the fenced-in area under the chayote, not that we noticed with the other clucky-clucks around. Then suddenly, she popped out with 7–yes 7–chicks in tow. She’s a cautious mom. She only took the little’uns to the other side of the fence when she was sure Fred and George wouldn’t bother them. They didn’t. She doesn’t have the panic-inducing sense of adventure the last mama hen had when she would round everybody up and “go on an adventure” like The Magic Schoolbus series. So far, so good!
Remember, some years ago, we had Chat, the chicken cat? Well, now we also have become the home of 2 chogs (chicken dogs). These speckled beasts not only lie down with the dogs (I’m sure waking up with fleas) but also come when my son calls Fred and George for dinner. And not just to hang back a modest distance either. They are front and center waiting for a plate of dog food. My son has to shoo them away, they are that aggressive.
If you remember, the story of Chat, the chicken cat, didn’t have a happy ending. It remains to be seen how Chog 1 and Chog 2 will do.
In the past month, we’ve had a bit of goat drama in the soap opera that is our life.
First, there was Lil’ Blackie. He picked up a mesquite thorn in his hoof, which was removed promptly, however maybe a piece got embedded deeper because over the next few days he went from limping to listless to unable to walk. We started an antibiotic treatment which seemed to help some of the swelling, but after a week, he was just getting worse. After a night of little goat crying and what seemed to be lockjaw paralysis, and talking to Azul the vet, we decided the best course of action was to end his misery.
Stinky Chivo has been the leading actor in our drama life lately. With his ladies in heat, he’s become mighty aggressive. On several occasions, my husband has had to wrestle him into submission to tie him and come in smelling to high heaven.
Stinky then decided to take the show on the road. The other day, when he was supposed to be grazing, he took offense at the shoveling actions of some workers on the other road. They tried to scare him off by throwing buckets of water on his head. That just enraged him more. My son and one of the workers manhandled the beast and retied the raging goat. As soon as he saw he couldn’t butt heads anymore, he went back to grazing peacefully.
Usually, when our macho goat gets this aggressive, we trade or sell him. This year we’ve run into some difficulties since the normal animal market in Puruandiro has been suspended. Furthermore, the young heir apparent, the next oldest macho in the herd, is still too young to assume the throne. So we’ll just have to restrict Stinky’s movement until the estrus cycle is over.
We’ve also been inundated with coyotes in La Yacata. They are always present, but their nightly howls have become direwolf in nature. It freaks Cocoa out (and me too if I’m honest). This morning, my husband reported that a coyote had nearly made off with one of our babies. Coyotes being wiley and all, Cocoa didn’t even notice it until it had already lunged. Fortunately, the goat-napping was averted although the little one lost her tail, but it served to remind us that the goat herder needs to keep a close eye on his charges.
Despite having limited outside options because of the rain, our little ranchito is growing by leaps and bounds. We’ve had two new sets of kids. The first set was another Biggie Small pair. The solid black male was literally twice the size of his black and white sister. The other set were both girls. All of the wee ones are doing fine and enjoyed their first foray to greener pastures yesterday with the herd.
Mama and babies with the Puppers looking on
The quiquiriqui (little hen) hatched some eggs this week too. Three little chicks the size of your thumb were born. One seemed to have been born malformed. There was something wrong with its leg and it died later that day. However, the other two little pinguinos (penguins) are doing fine. My son is a nervous wreck over them. He gets panicked when mama hen leads them out on an adventure. He’s concerned the Puppers might scare them and that Cocoa might chase them. Cocoa isn’t allowed outside unsupervised right now for that reason. He’d cause too much pandemonium.
My husband decided to sell Rojo, which sort of surprised me. It’s true we don’t have enough space for a young stallion, however since Rojo was born on my husband’s birthday, he’s had a special fondness for him that I thought might cause him to want to keep him. We still have Lady and it seems as if she has just begun her first heat cycle–so removing Rojo from the premises was a good move.
Rojo hasn’t gone far. He’s moved up the hill with Azul the vet. And my husband still sees him on the caminatas (group horse rides), which have now become a weekly event. Although with Lady in heat, I’m questioning his decision to participate this week.
Lady has moved into Rojo’s stall, which is more sheltered from the rain than the back pen. The Puppers have moved into Lady’s pen to keep out of the wet. We’ve had torrential rains most of the week and some flooding in the backyard.
My husband also sold the truck, which we affectionately named Butch, to another neighbor. He and I still have our motorcycles and my son has his bike, so we aren’t stranded by any means. My husband is looking for a replacement vehicle, but nothing has appeared on the horizon just yet.
We’ve also discovered that Fuzz Lightyear is blind or partially blind in one eye. He has had no eye injuries or infections since we took him in, but he’s always been a bit of a clutz. Now that we know, it’s obvious that limited vision in one eye would make him less than graceful. His impairment has become more pronounced in the last few weeks. Honestly, the vet in town isn’t skilled enough to do much to help Fuzz, so we’ll just manage his condition the best that we can.
And the construction project on the new lot is coming along, slowly but surely. The idea is to have a small front room with a cooking area and the rest of the lot dedicated to plants, plants, and more plants. My husband has already moved a few of our smaller fruit trees over and planted some corn, beans, and squash to take advantage of the new dirt fill.
Surviving Mexico 