Last week, twenty-six of the sheep had an appointment with the sheep shearer for a haircut. They are very happy to have lost all that wool now that the temps have been getting into the upper eighties and nineties. Even the black-faced great-grandma ewe got sheared...first time in a couple of years at least.
One of the Black Spanish turkeys was sitting on a nest of eggs in a remote corner of one of the barns, and became the proud mother of nine babies at the end of May. While they were a few days old, we kept the mom and her babies in a large cage for about a week with food and water to protect them from predators and assure they had food and water. As they got a little bigger, we let mom and the babies out to roam the fenced front barnyard. Mom was very protective, chasing after any sheep, chicken, duck, or human that got anywhere near them. At night she kept them huddled under here wings. Sad news is that one morning three babies were missing and then a few mornings later three more, and now she only has one baby left! We kept that one baby in a cage overnight hoping to save it. We really need to build a secure area for young turkey families. Currently we have none that would keep them contained in a tightly woven mesh fence. I'm glad I got a picture or two of the turkey family before their demise.
