Monday, April 23, 2012

Alpaca Hair Cuts - Professionals Required !!! OMG

WHAT AN INCREDIBLE DAY! Rob Long at www.osagealpacas.info came today to give my Alpaca critters their annual trim and he is awesome. (I call him the Alpaca Whisperer.) Check out the photos below for the visuals on this amazing process where Alpacas are shorn. This is done once a year and does not hurt the animal. I will update next week with the 'after' shots but the pictures below are too cool. Each Alpaca is put next to a 'table' and strapped in before the table is flipped to what looks like a normal table position. Then the Alpaca is trimmed on one side, and flipped to the other side to finish the trim. It is really a site to behold!

Dogs are Man's Best Friend but not always Each Other's

Even though dogs are 'fixed', females can sometimes act like they are in heat. This happened about 10 days ago and turned into a scary situation (all is well now). My tiniest rescue is Delila who is so little that I actually put her on a tie-out in the back yard since she can fit through one of the gates. Well, my cavalier Daisy started playing around with Sampson and Delila, and then got an attitude with Delila. Daisy began getting rough with Delila who happened to be on a chain and could not get away. Then Dutchess (mastiff mix) wanted to join in and I had to pull Delila to safety. She (Delila) was shaking and bitten but not hurt too badly. It was hard to watch but unfortunately these things can and do happen. The good news is that everyone is okay and getting along now. Maybe it's the weather??? I wish people could recover from their fights so easily!

Chickens On the Move

Well, I think the Grey Lady is now a ghost lady as there was a fox visitor which most likely had her for breakfast. She was always in the literal 'dog house' and would lay on eggs all day and night which made her a sitting chicken so to speak. She would have been a great brooding hen, ie laying on eggs until they hatched, and I hate that she is gone. Some say, and it is sad but true, that when you have livestock you have deadstock. I still cry over lost critters. On a happier and preventive note, I have moved all the chicken nesting boxes, dog house, and coop as close to the house as it can be without being in my living room! My first round of chicks for this year are happily (and safely) in a coop outside and are growing fast. Due to the wonderful (not) weather, I have had to run heat lamps a few nights to keep them cozy but they are doing great. That only leaves me with 10 still inside! Hopefully the 'caunas' can move outside in a couple of weeks into the coop that the first round won't need anymore. I will update with pics next time, but this round of updates is about the taller 4 legged critters:)

Tuesday, April 3, 2012

Alpaca Girls and My Girl Chillin'

I am not sure what happened to spring but when the mercury hits above 85, the Alpacas love to be hosed down. They actually need it. My youngest daughter Colleen was more than happy to help cool the girls down. Miranda, the brown and white (largest as well) girl, is the biggest hose hog. She insists on being in front and whether we are trying to fill the water tub or cool her off, she will put her face in the hose and then her legs. She does the face in the hose bit and then sneezes, go figure. When we aim the hose lower, like toward her underbelly or legs, she will raise her legs up to (I guess) meet the hose half-way? Lola (the all-white girl) will usually be next in line and try to twirl around to make sure we get her front and back legs. I call her twirlygirl. And then she will 'kush' or kneel down when she is wet enough. Titania, the dark brown girl, will try to get her turn but Miranda usually tries to block her shots! It is pretty funny to watch them but I also have to be careful in terms of where the water hits them. It may sound strange, but getting the tops of their fur (upper back) wet can be more harmful than helpful. This is especially true when they haven't been shorn and the humidity is high. Luckily the humidity wasn't high and there has been a breeze to keep both boys and girls cool. I just really enjoyed watching Colleen hose the girls down as they all had fun and I felt like such a proud Momma!
Fun fact (not really for the electric bill): I have the fans on standby as when the weather gets too warm and humidity too high, I put a fan for each Alpaca and they love laying in front of them. Even though I have one per Alpaca, Miranda is a hose AND fan hog, and Versace is the male equivalent!

Daisy and Delila, the Cavalier and the Chihuahua

The two 'little girl' dogs are Daisy (featured at the top of the blog) and Delila, who is a chihuahua mix I rescued from an area vet's office. New pics of both are at the bottom of the blog and speaking of bottoms, the picture of Daisy's bottom half is actually a picture I took on purpose. After a conversation with a woman at my church who was asking why sometimes dogs lay like upside down frogs with their legs splayed backwards and tail in between, I remembered a conversation I had with Daisy's breeder. She (the breeder) told me and it was confirmed by Google and other sources, that the best way to tell if a dog's hips and knees are in good shape is if they are able to lay this way. It also allows maximum skin exposure to cool the dogs body since most tend to do it on kitchen or bathroom (tile or concrete) surfaces when the temps outside get too warm. Mo, my male cavalier, is a little too fat to do it anymore but he could at one time:)
Delila is my other little girl and she was too cute to pass up. When I got back from a trip to Iowa where my oldest daughter was married, I stopped at my vet's office to pick up my dogs (took two trips in my little car). On the first trip, I picked up Daisy and Mo, my cavaliers, and couldn't help but notice that there was a very cute dog in a crate in the middle of the reception area. My curiosity and heartstrings were inspired. After taking my cavaliers home and returning for my two rescues (Dutchess, the mastiff mix and Sampson, a chihuahua mix), I kept thinking how cute that little doggie in the crate was.
When I got back to the vet's office, I didn't see the crate but asked about the dog. The vet's wife told me that the dog was still there and in one of the kennels in the back. They were trying to do a 'show and tell' to get people interested in adopting or spreading the word about dogs that needed homes. Well it worked! I told her that if my big mastiff mix got along with the 'show and tell dog' who is now mine and named Delila, I would take her. Guess how that turned out?! I did warn the vet's wife to not 'do that' to me again but it is a great idea that has resulted in several adoptions. I love her and wouldn't change a thing. She looks so tiny in the picture below and in person but she has the heart and attitude of a lion. Since she was literally picked up on the street, they can only guess her age to be about 1-2 years old but I will love her and keep her forever. Of course I had her 'fixed'!
Please recommend to your vet or shelter to try a similar 'show and tell' approach as it is free advertising and works for suckers like me! :) :) :)

Good news about the warm weather; 7 chicks are now outside!

This wacky weather has a few upsides. My first 7 chicks from this year are now living outside but confined to a chicken coop to protect them from the older chickens. So far the new kids are adjusting well but I am having to do a little premature Easter Egg hunt. (The chicken coop has a couple of nesting boxes inside and with the little ones closed inside, the older girls are on the outside looking in and have to find new places to lay!) Now I only have 14 in the house. No, I am not a hoarder but rather a protecter of the babies. Four Black Link Pullets are in one cage and can probably go outside in the next couple of weeks, weather permitting, and ten "Rainbow Layers" aka 'caunas' are in a separate cage and will probably have to remain inside (in a cage) for a month or so as they are so tiny still:) If I can get them to pose, I will pose more pics next week. They are too cute but messy so I can't wait to relocate them outdoors...