Meet Ellie.
Ellie is a Black Angus Heifer that has mastered the art of crawling under her owners fence.
I met Ellie about two weeks ago when I got a glimpse of her running along the tree-line on the East side of our property. Now, as you might know, we live just about a quarter of a mile off of Hwy 33; having a cow run out in the open like this can be extremely dangerous to anyone driving down the highway (black cow, dark highway... not a good combo).
Ellie prompted what can only be described as mass hysteria for two days, with all neighbors on the lookout, complete with Gators, horses, and a caravan of no less than five vehicles that were eventually successful in corralling her in two days after her escape.
She proved to be quite the elusive little bugger.
Her downfall seemed to be the green grass in our font yard... it was where the neighborhood eventually got her back into custody.
In other news, the fruit trees are blooming, and we planted another apple, peach and pear last weekend to help with cross-pollination. I ordered some cherry, plum, and persimmon trees to add to the orchard, as well as some blackberries, raspberries, and blueberries will be used as a "blind" on one side of the property. All were sourced from The Arbor Day Foundation and made me feel a little better about all the trees we had to cut down due to severe damage.
Three Easter Eggers and three Barnevelder baby chicks have been ordered from Cackle Hatchery out of Lebanon, MO. I chose the Easter Eggers cause I wanted pretty colored eggs, and the Barnevelder cause I wanted pretty colored chickens. They are also on the list of good beginner chickens. Cackle Hatchery had the two breeds available at the same time, and they were relatively local. They also had a three chick minimum instead of the ten-to-fifteen minimum of most hatcheries. My little coop only holds eight; I didn't want to have to worry about finding homes for the extras.
They are supposed to be here around the third of April.
Now, I just have to worry about keeping them alive (insert teeth chattering emoji here).
Dad let me borrow his brooder setup, and he sends me random tips via email that cause me to second guess EVERYTHING I have researched thus far.
I think he might be sending me odd tid-bits to get me to call him more often.
There was quite the debate over whether I could keep the chicks in the climate controlled side of our large shop until they were old enough to go outside, or if I had to use the non-climate controlled area. In the end, the hubster's reluctantly acquiesced to them being in the climate controlled side (I should note he works from home and this will eventually be his office... so it was quite a win for me). It also led to him concurring that I would probably need my own barn with electrical and water should I decide to get more chickens.
Can you see me smiling like the cat who got the canary? Cause I totally am.
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