We had another death at the farm. So let's review the body count shall we...? A bit morbid I know, but seriously, this has been the worst weekend/week ever...
Arrived on the property almost a year ago. July 31st I officially was able to take possession of my new home. Toward the end of August, I was allowed by my husband to get three chickens, and I added 6 guinea fowl.
Then we moved up here officially around the end of November. But, it was in the beginning of November that we started to have a bear problem. Then about a week or two later, having been informed that we needed to "take care of our own problems," DH did shoot at the bear one night, and we hadn't seen it since.
So, officially as of December 1st, we had 3 bantams, 6 guineas, 3 cats and 2 humans living up on the property.
Then, in mid-April, the rooster and a bantam hen disappeared, and while I was out of town my DH took care of the "problem" when it went after the guineas.
Then, one by one, the bantams started to disappear. DH missed the new "problem" when it came stalking around, but not before it killed one of the female guineas. So, new count:
Then this Massacre Week happened... and last night while I was at work a new "problem" came around and killed the final female guinea. DH was surprised by the noise in the barn and didn't carry his firearm with him (which, by the way he's been keeping close given recent events) and the feline predator escaped, but not before we'd had another loss.
We're not sure if we'll get goats again, but I think perhaps during the next several months we'll reinforce and redo all of the fences, bring Boots back along with a new companion, maybe having one or both bred and start over. Maybe a llama?
Hopefully Benny will do his part and add to the population. We may need to reconsider what to do with the guineas since there's two males and at least the female one laid eggs.
And, I think I mentioned that we were looking at a new canine member to the family... now if we can only decide which one...
Life ends, life begins anew...
it's all a part of this new experience which I think is only just beginning...
but for all those that have been lost, you won't be forgotten
Suddenly within just 3 months we had our own little herd.
Life on the farm was pretty pleasant until Friday night...
We left for an evening out and came home to find all of the goats missing.
This is completely unusual because the goats are always by the barn. If they make it through the fence, they always manage to end up back at the barn.
But, that night, no goats. No goats anywhere.
Betty wears a bell so we called out and listened... nothing.
The next morning we spent three hours searching around the borders of our 25 acres.
We visited bordering neighbors. Even called the police department in case the goats
made it onto the road and into someone's yard. What we couldn't understand is how all four of them just disappeared. Josie always was the "alpha" goat, so we knew Betty would follow. Of course, the kids would come right behind. It was all so very strange.
Finally, around noon we heard goats calling from the front 5 acres. I called, they called, and my DH hiked up the trail and found them. But, only 3 of them. Jazz the baby was missing. We listened for her call, but Betty's milk sack was pretty full, so we knew it had been several hours since she'd last fed.
The goats had no markings on them. They didn't seem especially skittish. They came right up to my DH and he led them to me, and we led them up the driveway back to the barn. We kept them locked in while we went out, and then we let them out in the pasture for a bit in the evening.
They didn't move away from the house, it was business as usual.
DH put them up in the barn for the night and that was that...
Until this morning...
DH went out to the barn to let the goats and chickens out of the barn and noticed a large pile of bear scat in the yard. The back door of the barn was wide open, and the goats were missing.
DH went to the back and around the side and found Boots just standing there. She came right up to him which is unusual because she's usually very timid. But no sign of the other two goats.
DH came back into the house, and off we went again in search of the goats. He hiked back up to the spot where he'd found them on the day prior and found Josie's body in the brush. No sign of Betty. No sound of her calling, and no sound of her bell. Josie was a lot bigger, and she always stood up to a fight, so I had some hopes that maybe Betty, who was always a little wild might have made it.
We haven't found her yet, and I don't think that we will.
It's heartbreaking to be in the back yard and hear Boots calling out for her momma, or for any of the other goats. She and Jazz always played around the garden, trying to sneak into it, and jumping off of anything that stood still.
We talked to the breeder, and she will be taking her there for safe-keeping. I don't know if we'll ever bring her back. This is too hard. I love my rural life, but I don't know if I can handle having to deal with the Wild Kingdom that we're surrounded by. Sure, it was hard to lose our chickens to the bobcat, but the chickens don't get into your heart the way a goat does.
At least our goats. Our spoiled, overfed, driving us crazy goats that would have become BBQ if they'd ever managed to escape and climb up on the car (not really, I would have forgiven them). Just like I forgave them for eating my rose bushes, my jasmine, the tops of my tulips...
We gave them a great life and only asked that they munch down the briars in return. But, they did much more than that. They made my heart happy and some days that was all that kept me going when the shifts were long, when I was tired of the state of remodel our house is in, or when I just needed a break from the world. There were the goats, serene, comforting, annoyingly perfect...
I'm really going to miss them... and, even though they drove my DH crazy having to wire the entire yard with electric fencing, I'm sure somewhere deep inside, he's going to miss them too...
So now officially it's us against the bear. I think a few posts back, I mentioned that we were starting to have a bear problem. Probably just one bear breaking into my bird feeders, then breaking into the barn to get the chicken feed and breaking my storage containers. Then last night it actually broke into the barn, tore down some wire fencing we'd put up and broke into the coop with the chickens and guinea fowl tearing down the suspended feeder and eating all the food. Why it didn't eat or kill the poultry, we don't know. But, luckily it didn't.
Today I called the local game warden who told us to adjust to having a bear around or find ways to "take care of the problem." My mom had thought perhaps they would live trap the bear and "relocate" it to a more rural habitat; however, it seems that's a last resort by Fish and Game. Now, when I mentioned our bear problem with some of my coworkers, I had several offers to help "take care of the problem." Hmm...
Hubby's sitting up at the house with a 12 gauge, and my co-workers are finding out when game permits are going to be sold.
Is this what I have to look forward to with country living? Don't get me wrong, I love our semi-rural property, but I don't like the idea of having to "take care of" animal problems. Especially a large furry problem. We'll have to see how the drama unfolds...
So we have a bear problem. It started about a week ago when the contractor staying at our house told us he'd seen a bear in the "front acre" on the side of the house. Then, a couple of days later I went up to the house to find this...
My wonderful, nee expensive, feed container was completely destroyed. Since then we've been finding bear tracks close to the house and scat behind the barn. So, we spent all of today "bear proofing" the hen house. We closed off the barn, nailed hog wire all over, and made a door to help further secure our small flock of chickens. I think the next step will be getting shot for our 12 gauge, but we're attempting non-violent means to start.
My guineas just turned 6 weeks old and our little bantams laid their first eggs today, and I think a bear skin rug might become de rigueur if anything happened to them.
