Drama in the barnyard...........and other Saturday stuff

We've had some traumatizing events concerning dead chickens and little boys finding them the past few days....Not good.

I ran some numbers and put together a spread sheet, and over the past 1 1/2 years, we have had 34 chickens !  15 are living - 19 are dead.  8 of them have died in the past week :(

Of the 19 dead, the causes have been vultures, racoons, skunks, dogs, winter kill, mean chickens, and some we've had to "take care of".

Tonight Roger D. set a live trap.  Hopefully this will help, and we won't find any more bodies in the morning.  

Today was especially sad because Treyson's duck, Dark Vegan, had been killed.  He wasn't hanging out with the other duck and turkeys as he usually does, so I sent the boys around to the other side of the barn to see if he might be there.  He was, and it WAS. NOT. A. PRETTY. SIGHT.  

A few days ago -  Dark Vegan in front, with his mate, Cyclops of Darkness in the rear.  So sad.  I guess we won't be getting baby ducklings anytime soon :(

Zac and Tagg bringing the tractor over from the property to pick up the plows.  Tagg loves to drive the tractor.

Making sure the goat doesn't get out the gate !

Miss Piggy is getting quite tame.
She is a sweet little BIG pig.  

Thatcher loves the trampoline, just like his brothers :)

Treyson was helping me and Grandpa Roger get the bird's nests from the little red shed.  

We put up a plywood ceiling, to keep the pesky birds out.  They were making SUCH a big mess.

We finally have water in the HOLE !!  Yea !! We can start watering our lawn.  Grandpa is doing his HAPPY dance.

Thatcher loves to kick the soccer ball around 

I tried to get Thatch to close his eyes and take a nap.

I was pretty close..........but no cigar :)

We found a hole in the barnyard full of feathers and a chicken leg.  SOMETHING is living here and killing our chickens.  We worked to cover up the den.

Tagg is NOT happy about the dead chicken situation !

We cleaned up and headed to Garret Durrant's wedding reception.

While there - they had this nifty little photo booth
Of course we had to get a few shots !

Back to the barnyard - time to bury our friend 

Tagg got a little big GAGGY

But then he manned up and put Grandpa's glove on, and grabbed a leg and dropped her in the hole.  Treyson was content to stand back and watch :)

Dark Vegan's funeral - the boys gave the eulogy. 

They were so sweet :)

Thatcher is getting pretty brave around the goats, especially little BRICK.  We love our little barnyard menagerie and all that goes along with it, even the sad things.

Life is Good/Great/AWESOME !!