Polecat Paints & Friesians

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Polecat Paints & Friesians

Located in NS, Canada, a farm with Cloud my paint, 2 dogs Storm and Bear and chickens.

26/10/2024

Well the year slipped by and I did not put in any updates. Winter came with a vengeance in Feb with over 85 cm of snow over a weekend. It cost a fortune to get it removed so that I could even walk up to the container for the hay for Cloud.
He was fine by himself and gained all the weight back that he had lost over the preceding months (Nov-Dec 23). The chickens walked around the paths that I made in the snow and kept laying and all was well. Spring came and I got some more hens from the Co-op and my nephew, Noah, started selling them to his customers. Soon I had 16 hens and Doodle. Gold Finger was found dead one morning in the coup and I had to have James Bond unlived as he was beating up Doodle.
On April 29 two miniature donkeys came to stay, they are owned by Heather my friend in ON. These two had lived with Cloud in Rockwood and they soon were bonded again. Cloud does not like them out of his sight!
In May I had pretty flowers in planters and a new chicken coop built. It is not finished, now it needs glass windows and hopefully that takes place soon.
Cloud, Frodo and Kiki enjoyed the summer grass up on the hill and often I would not even know they were there except for the sound of the water pump working as they drank from the water stand.
Summer weather was hot and humid well before Aug, to the point that there was water on the floor of the house! Late summer was lovely, warmer days, and evenings where you could sleep with the windows open and not get too hot.
In late Sept a predator came and killed 5 of my hens and that drastically reduced the egg production to 10-11 a day depending if good old Blackberry lays or not. Noah of New Caledonia Farms takes my eggs and sells them at the market in Dartmouth. He gets between 6-7 doz a week. He used to get 10 doz a week, and I sold some on the side too.
Fall has come now with a few 3 degree nights, so some plants have moved into the house and Cloud is getting his woollies on. The donkeys have not started to grow their winter hair, but they took till almost June before it was all gone.
I got the shed face covered with a big tarp and that really helped with the rain and wind, and last week I got the front of the paddock filled with gravel. In Aug I had a ditch dug, with a drain pipe installed and gravel on top to deal with the winter rains and snow. Now to see if that stops the mud from collecting around the shed and hopefully the equines will have dryer feet.
The well has been a problem and even ran dry in June. I have never had that happen to me, so I was rather panicky about getting water. But there is a local chap who came and saved the day. He filled it every month as it was so low. Certainly not as much rain as last year!
I spent some money on bulbs and then realized that the deer that hang out here will eat the tulips, so now I need to move them. Daffodils will be the replacement I guess. LOL
Last week it got really warm, back up to 21 over the weekend and we had an invasion of the Asian beetles. They look like Lady Bugs, but bite and are very unpleasant. The covered the house and every time I went out side to just enjoy the sun I got hit by them. They don't attack as much as they fly into you. Lots of dead one in the vacuum now as they could come in through the screens.
This weekend is likely the warmest until spring, up to 13, so the plants move into the house now for the winter. The dogs have enjoyed the cooler weather as they too are getting their winter coats.
Some pictures of the year attached.

15/01/2024

The call and response of the now THREE roosters. Doodle sings, and then the other two try to respond.🤣

15/01/2024

January 2024 came with high winds and rain. No surprise there. No snow for Christmas either. So far we have had 3 high wind days and lost power 2 times. The longest was 24 hours a few weeks ago, and the shortest was yesterday for 6 hours.

Cloud got an abscess in one front foot and I called the vet in on Dec 26, and then in the other one a week later. Due to the hard ground and cold days he had to be confined to the run in shed. Maverick went home on Jan 2 as it was not fair for him to stand outside of the shed as the weather was not pleasant.

So far Cloud does not seem to miss him, his feet have both healed and yesterday he went for a walk around the grass area.

Both Storm and Bear are well, Bear loves his sticks and balls to eat and catch and Storm likes to rest on the couch a lot. :)

The chickens have been a hoot. The two that I hatched both started crowing in the last 3 days. Doodle is not impressed, in-fact he came and complained to me about it on Sunday. Today there seemed to be a call and response going on with the boys. First Doodle and then one of the others.

I named the brown one James Bond, and the lighter coloured one Gold Finger. I imagine you can figure out the Gold finger reference as they should have been hens, not roosters. LOL

The hens are laying about 5-6 eggs a day, depending if Blackberry, who is rather elderly, lays. I have been able to get a few customers for the eggs and that helps pay for their feed.

It seems to be a mild winter so far, it snowed a bit overnight but we are getting more rain in the next few days. Back to mud and more mud. I am trying to get an excavator company to come out and remove the top layer of mud from the run in area and possibly lay down a better foundation. And also get some mats to put into the run-in itself.

My other construction idea is to have a large part of the front of the run-in covered with a partial wall. In Ontario, most of the wind came from the north and I asked the builders to put up the run-in here with the back to the north. But.....here the wind seems to come from the SE and of course it drives it right into the shed. Which really defeats the purpose of a shed for the horses.

And I want water up at the feed room for me to use year round. Now I have rain barrels filled, but they freeze up and need re-filling when the hose is frozen. Another job for the plumber and electrician to work together on.

These were all things I had at my former barn, water year round was a necessity as I soften the hay cubes for the horses meals in the winter. In the summer they get pasture and only a bit of hay, but now, with no grass available, hay and alfalfa cubes are a must.

On the advice of a very knowledgeable friend, I have started Cloud on Mad Barn's Three Amigo product. That should help with his top line and his feet, especially with the wet ground we seem to have here.

Overall, I hope the weather in 2024 is not as wet as 2023 and possibly we even get some nice sunny days for more than 4 days in a row. I have been looking at seeds for flowers and other fun things like that as I wait for spring to arrive.

15/11/2023

Another month of rain, with a bit of sunshine has gone by since I last updated this page!

Sad news with Ruby, unfortunately she died of sour croup therefore she did not hatch her eggs. I ended up borrowing an incubator and hatching them myself as Ruby passed away about a week before they were ready to hatch. All this occurred during Hurricane Lee and I lost power for 55 hours. It was a rather harrowing hatching and I had to ask my friend to take them until I got power back. I should add, it was also my first hatching experience and I really have no idea of what I am doing. Thank goodness for a friend up the road who gave me the eggs and then lent me the incubator!!!

From the 4 eggs, 2 hatched. Both lived in difference size containers and for about 4 weeks they lived in a dog crate, in my bedroom. I am glad only 2 hatched, 4 would have been my end. LOL

At 7 weeks I moved them out doors in the same dog crate, well covered up, and in the big chicken run. They little monsters tried to get to the big ones and "join the family". Finally last weekend I put them in with the big guys. Still a lot of fighting going on and I wonder if they wished they were still by themselves.
They are lovely looking birds and at this point I don't know if they are hens or roosters but they sure are pretty.

I also picked up 4 brown hens from the co-op a few weeks ago, and they have mixed in well with the existing flock. Mind you, one of the new girls, who I call the "spice girls", came into the house and was sitting on the table when I came home from work. I put her into the coup and hopefully she likes that better than the house. :)

There is a young porcupine living in the field next to mine, and yes, both dogs have had quills in their noses in the last week. I just pull them out and I hope that the dogs figure out that that cute little fat critter can hurt!!!

My mom celebrated her 100th birthday on Nov 6 and for that occasion I flew to BC for a family gathering. About 45 relatives came and we all had a lovely time catching up, and celebrating a big milestone.

The anniversary of Boomers passing was Nov 3 and I miss him still and I know that Cloud also does. Maverick the loaner horse is still here, he bosses Cloud around but he is a companion to him I have tried for months to get a boarder and no one has shown any interest. In Rockwood I had people asking to board with me, and here, no one even answers the ads on Kijji or on FB. It is very frustrating as I see a lot of horses by themselves in a field.

Soon it will be the season of snow, ice and unsafe roads. Everyone reading this be safe and healthy.

04/09/2023

Exciting times just keep happening. I was very fortunate to add to my chicken flock with 2 pullets and a rooster. All are younger, 5-6 months old. The rooster is Doodle, Gretchen my sister named him, Luna is one of the new hens, named by Karla, my other sister. I named the black girl Eclipse.

They were in a big dog crate for a week and on Saturday night I let them out to be with Wilma, Blackberry and Ruby. After about 20 minutes of pure chaos, they settled on the roost bars and I left. Ruby was also given 4 fertilized eggs to sit on as she became broody earlier that week.

The next morning they came out to the new run that I built on Saturday after work with the help of a friend. The run is now 50 feet bigger than it was before. :) The chickens are happy, Doodle sings the song of his people every morning and Ruby sits on her new eggs. Such a simple life and so entertaining for me. LOL

On a sad note, my last kitty, one that I fostered out a few years ago, passed on. Hania was 17 and he had a wonderful life, the most recent with Kelli and Barry. I missed him from the day I fostered him, and will always have wonderful memories of Hania, Wesa and Tala, the three "S**t heads". All orange kitties and so much fun!!

24/08/2023

Today the horses went into the new pasture. A BIG EVENT!!!!

I had a local contractor put in the fence for me on Monday/Tuesday and on Wed I cleared all the sticks away from the fence and put tape on the lines. Today as I had all the lines cleared up I invited the boys into it. :) Both ran around for awhile and then settled in nicely. They have to leave that field to get water and to be in the run-in shed, and so far I have seen them come back to the run-in shed 3 times. They know how to get there and back. The fence is "live" and I will leave it on for a few days and then not worry about them. I will not let them stay in it overnight for awhile though. That is a good way to manage the grass and keep it in good condition. Pictures attached from this morning.

I am still trying to get a boarder so that Maverick can go back to his barn. But no luck in getting one. A number of people have written and wondered about the farm, but no one has committed. It seems to be a waiting game.

We are expecting another massive rain dump, 30-40 mm of rain on Saturday/Sunday and Tue. Flooding could occur again. Such a wet year!!!! :(

On another note, Ruby, my remaining pullet (who has not laid an egg yet) is brooding. She won't leave the nest so she has been put into Chicken Jail for the last 3 days. Today I took her out and gave her a cool bath, in hopes of cooling down her body temp. We will see if that works.

If not, maybe I can get some fertilized eggs. Or some more hens to distract her. Or even a rooster. Crazy how they will try to hatch a golf ball, even when she has never laid an egg.

09/08/2023

Here is a video of the new area, with Wilma and sisters.

09/08/2023

Well, rain storm number 3. I hope the flooding is non existent.
Last week I had the lower area excavated and a group of alders removed. This will enlarge the pasture, likely next year. First it has to be cleared of rocks and branches and grass seeded.

The top part of the side pasture has been mowed and I have a contractor in mind to fence it for me.

I will attach a few pictures and then a video of the area will follow in a separate post. It looks like about 18 evergreens were "rescued" from the alders!!! They likely are in shock with all the space around them. :)

When I took the video Wilma and her flock followed me into the near area, I tried to get that on video too. Either way, enjoy.

25/07/2023

Video of Bear swimming in the lake.

25/07/2023

Video of Bear swimming in the lake yesterday.

25/07/2023

We had a historic amount of rain last weekend which has caused the death of 1 person, and missing 3 more. This rain fall dropped over 250 mm of rain in a very short time period and then continued to fall for another day. The thunder was non stop, which caused the dogs a lot of concern.

I am fortunate in that I am on a hill, so I was spared the flooding. My nephew Noah, was not as lucky. His farm was flooded overnight Friday. By Saturday late afternoon most of the water had been absorbed.

I was cut off from the house as a lot of roads had been eroded or were water ways, so it took me a long time to finally find a route that was clear. But I made it!

So far, the fields are full of water, but we have had 2 days now of high heat and they will dry out. The forecast for the week does not look promising, as more rain is coming, along with 30 -35 degree weather.

I have attached a few pictures of the farm underwater, the roads and the lake. In a separate posting I will post a video I took of Bear swimming in the lake yesterday.

19/07/2023

Apparently you can post a video and pictures, so all the pictures I had, are gone. Here they are again.

19/07/2023

Here we are, mid July and another rainy week with high humidity. We have had so much rain here in NS that the plants are not growing as they should. I am worried about hay getting cut as there have been only a few sunny days in a row. This is never a worry a horse owner wants to have!
Dogs are fine, walking in the rain with them is funny as they run around for a bit, and then head to the house! I was in the upper pasture one day and it came down in buckets. First the dogs streaked past me, and then the horses. I was left in the field by myself. LOL
I will post some photo's of the garden, which is slow to developing. Peas and lettuce are great. The strawberry and black berry bushes came from ON, and did well in the spring. Now only a few strawberries have ripened. No raspberry or blackberries this year I guess. The spinach came up, and said the heck with it, and laid back down. :( Swiss chard is doing well. Tomatoes and cucumbers, well, flowers are developing so that is good :)
Maverick the free lease is still pushing Cloud around and Cloud lost weight. For those that know him, will know that this is not a bad thing as he was overweight (in-fact I often wondered if he had ribs). He is not ribby, but you can see a rib outline which is a new look for him. The two of them have the upper pasture plus hay and if it ever stops raining, I will be able to put in fencing on the side pasture and let horses in there.
I have been actively looking for a boarder so that Maverick can go home, and so far no success. Possibly in the fall if all goes well. If I don't get a boarder I will likely board him out, which will kill me not to see him every day and to chat with him like I do now.
The children that helped with the pastures worked for awhile, but once school was out they got their summer jobs. There is no help to be found here, what do young people do for money now? So the upper field is still full of rocks, piled together at least, and lots of sticks and old roots. Not my favourite pasture and the w**ds, my goodness. Due to the rain I can not even get my car up the hill to harrow the field, and the rider would break a blade in a minute to mow it.
If you have spare sunshine, please send it our way. LOL
Pictures attached. Cloud was looking like he needed hay so I relented, and if you see the video you will see that Maverick had a net on the hill that he would not share. He picks up his hind let and Cloud moves for him.

17/06/2023

Here we are and it is almost the first day of summer!!! We had some really hot days and then cold nights. Up and down in one week. Now we are steady.
The separated horse fields worked for a few weeks, and then one of the two critters took down the night time closure. So now they are all over the fields. I am still needing help getting the rocks and sticks off the field, although a few young people from up the road did some great work a few months.
Today I got the old mower working and I cut down some very tall grass and I was also able to w**d wack around the vegi garden with the new w**d eater. My brother-in-law put it together for me, designed by a man, and needed a man to put it together. I am strong, but wow.
Now things are looking nice, not like a gardener was here, but nice! LOL My arms will be sore tomorrow.
The dogs still enjoy the water, and we have had a number of trips to my nephews farm so they can swim, and while there, I help Noah with his greenhouse and the tunnel plants, by watering if needed, or opening the tunnels. He sells at a local market in Dartmouth and has a CSA business as well. New Caledonia Farm is the name, and if you wish to take part in it let me know.
I am still looking for a boarder and put an ad on Kijiji in hopes that someone will want to board here. Maverick is a free lease and it is expensive to pay for his care when he is not mine. He does keep Cloud company, which is why he is here, but a boarder will bring in some money, and keep Cloud company.
Unfortunately two of my pullets passed, without giving me any eggs. Both were too young to do so. The life of a chicken can be short. I think that is where chicken math comes from. You always want to have spare chickens and they are so much fun to watch.
Wilma, my older hen loves to follow me around, and will come into the house and clean up the crumbs on the floor.

02/05/2023

May 2 and we had enough rain yesterday to raise the brooks and streams to overflowing levels. A beaver dam has broken it's area and almost covers the road now. The lake that is close to me has grown by 1/2 again. Still cold today, 6 C only. Last week it went up to 15 a few days.
To keep the horses off the fields I put a fence near the run in shed, and the horses spent all day, in the rain, looking at it. I am unsure what they hoped would happen, except possibly the power of their mind would cause the fence to disappear. LOL. It didn't, and they are still off the field.!!
Chickens appear happy, although I lost one of my pullets last week which is very sad. Now down to 4. Only Blackberry still lays.
I take the dogs to my nephews farm and Bear enjoys swimming and Storm is actually getting his feet wet now. He fell in once, and was able to swim and I was happy that I did not have to go into the brook.
Attached are some photo's of the farm and critters.
I am waiting for May flowers. :)😀😍🤓

01/03/2023

Another month gone, and we are now closer to Spring, on the calendar at least. Another big snow fall expected tonight to Friday. We have had a few since last reported, including one with -30 weather that feels like -40.

3 new pullets that I got in January have been named. Heather is the black one, Ruby is the orange one, and Asil (Lisa backwards) is the silver one. Two of them were named by my grand nieces. Wilma and Blackberry are still eating and laying, Well Blackberry is. Wilma is on strike still. She did give me two fairy eggs, but that was it. The three new girls might start laying in spring.

The horses survived the storm, I put a winter blanket one them as it was so cold and I braved the weather putting out bales of loose hay. The wind was 70 plus km/hr and the hay flew everywhere.

After work last Friday, at 6:30 in another snow storm, in the dark, I fell feeding the horses. Yesterday I got the news that I had a Radial Styloid Fracture. I have to see an Orthopedic Surgeon next week to see if he wants to cast it or not. The colours on my wrist have been like a really bad sunset. Purple, green, yellow and the swelling was equally bad. Now it hurts when I turn my wrist and colour and swelling are decreasing.

Bear and Storm like to go to my nephew, Noah's farm. He is just down the road and has a nice stream running through it. Bear likes to swim and he does nor care if it is -14 and Storm just likes to run around. Both get a lot of exercise there as Noah has 60 plus acres and it is all flat, unlike here with 6.5 acres and all hilly. Noah has an organic vegetable farm, with three very large hoop house and a greenhouse on the property.

Happy Spring and I hope everyone is in good health.
From the farm to you!

15/01/2023

The joys of freezing rain. All the clips for the hay nets were frozen, so gloves off, and I give the clips a good warming with my warm hands. The warm hands soon became cold hands! 8 nets off and more hung for today. Maverick the leased horse is not always in the mood to share the run-in (or water) with Cloud. So most of the nets were hung outside. I did put two in the shed and hope they share the space.
I had a bit of a scare last night with Blackberry. She was not in the nesting box, or anywhere that I could see when I went to close them up. I walked all over the area close to the hen house and my house to see if I could find her. I though she might have gone into the container where there is hay. So this am, when I opened the coop, there she was. She must have been hiding on me. Exercise is always good I keep saying LOL.
It has been raining since last night at 11, and look at the forecast for the rest of today. Tomorrow is another rain day with 20 mm, but the temps are going up to 10 again. Up and down temperatures. Very strange weather.

24/12/2022

Happy holidays from the farm and critters to all of you. Nice and sunny here and 5 degrees, after 89 km an hour winds overnight with a load of rain. The portable garage got torn to pieces and this was the last ditch effort to keep it in one piece. It had already turned around in a wind storm from a few weeks ago. The car will have to live outside all winter I guess.
We have not had snow here yet, but I think a bit is expected next week, alone with -4 temps.
On Thursday I got 106 bales of hay which should do me for about 6 weeks.
Horses got moved from the muddy area by the run-in to the side of the walk up to the pasture. Less mud and I expect they appreciate it. I was concerned about a power failure so filled the water trough again. Good thing, there was one. :)
Today I walked the fence line to make sure no branches or trees had fallen over the fence and was greeted by Cloud and Maverick who were enjoying the windy weather and grass.
I hope 2023 is a good year to all of you, best wishes from Polecat Paints & Friesians to you.
Chris

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Here is a video of the new area, with Wilma and sisters.

Bear swimming

Video of Bear swimming in the lake.

Video of Bear swimming in the lake yesterday.

Cloud

Here we are, mid July and another rainy week with high humidity. We have had so much rain here in NS that the plants are not growing as they should. I am worried about hay getting cut as there have been only a few sunny days in a row. This is never a worry a horse owner wants to have! Dogs are fine, walking in the rain with them is funny as they run around for a bit, and then head to the house! I was in the upper pasture one day and it came down in buckets. First the dogs streaked past me, and then the horses. I was left in the field by myself. LOL I will post some photo's of the garden, which is slow to developing. Peas and lettuce are great. The strawberry and black berry bushes came from ON, and did well in the spring. Now only a few strawberries have ripened. No raspberry or blackberries this year I guess. The spinach came up, and said the heck with it, and laid back down. :( Swiss chard is doing well. Tomatoes and cucumbers, well, flowers are developing so that is good :) Maverick the free lease is still pushing Cloud around and Cloud lost weight. For those that know him, will know that this is not a bad thing as he was overweight (in-fact I often wondered if he had ribs). He is not ribby, but you can see a rib outline which is a new look for him. The two of them have the upper pasture plus hay and if it ever stops raining, I will be able to put in fencing on the side pasture and let horses in there. I have been actively looking for a boarder so that Maverick can go home, and so far no success. Possibly in the fall if all goes well. If I don't get a boarder I will likely board him out, which will kill me not to see him every day and to chat with him like I do now. The children that helped with the pastures worked for awhile, but once school was out they got their summer jobs. There is no help to be found here, what do young people do for money now? So the upper field is still full of rocks, piled together at least, and lots of sticks and o

New friends

Today Cloud got company, a 19 year old Arab named Maverick came to stay. You would think thy had been friends for years. He is here for as long as he wants to stay and I expect that will be a long time. The owner is leasing him to me and I am responsible for feet and teeth LOL. I expect the two will be fast friends if this afternoon was any indication.

Joy and Boomer enjoying his dinner

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