The past several days have been free of Other People’s Cattle, a blessed state which ended abruptly yesterday morning. Before going to town I had to dismount Ian’s big propane tank and load it into the trailer, and this time of year it’s rather a struggle to get the trailer through the wash because the sand is too deep and loose. It gets harder still when you round a corner to meet a herd of cattle being driven right toward you. Here we go again.
The timing was fortunate, really, because I didn’t have the boys with me which meant they were safely locked in the cabin while a herd of delicious-looking cattle went by followed by a couple of delicious-looking horses. So that was good. But it does mean that once again Landlady’s corner is inundated with ugly, stupid cattle…
I went out fairly early this morning because I wanted to relocate Selma to the Big Chickenhouse with the Brahmas.
I drove her there really slowly, but a trailer ride can’t possibly be pleasant for a chicken. By the time we arrived she was pretty much in a “kill me now and get it over with” state. But she perked right up after we stopped.
I like to think I’m at least theoretically capable of learning from past mistakes. So this time she’ll be spending a couple of days in her cage. First thing she got to meet her old (and extremely abusive) coopmate Agnes. Agnes got a much ruder introduction to the Brahmas last year, and while the resulting donnybrook was entertaining as hell to watch it really wasn’t the right way to go about things. She has mellowed out amazingly since finally being accepted into the Brahma flock.
Of course Mayor Quimby considers himself deserving of a veto over this whole plan. We’ll see how it goes. Like Agnes, Selma probably still has a year or two of usefulness left in her. Tempting as it is to just use the hatchet on troublesome hens, a dead bird lays no eggs. So sometimes I have to make accommodations. Agnes barely escaped the hatchet herself last year, and now she’s doing fine.
