Polecat Paints & Friesians (2025)

09/07/2025

Happy July 1, Canada Day 2025! It is amazing to sit here and enjoy the cool temp in the house vs the 26C degrees outside with humidity feeling like 30. I keep the windows open at night and that does a great job of cooling the house down. I do the same with the chickens. All their windows are open, and I don’t “put them to bed” until after 8:00. We have not had a lot of rain here, although other parts of NS are flooding and I have had to have the well filled already.
Cloud and the two mini donkeys are well, everyone is shedding out and wanting scratches. During the heat of the day they hang out in the run-in shed and then wander over the acres behind the shed for meals. Cloud turned 25 this year and is as healthy as he was many years ago.
The chickens have now increased. Yes, chicken math is a real issue!!! My rooster Doodle passed last week after a long illness that I tried to cure. The 1.25 year old (purchased April 2024 from the co-op) are doing well after losing some due to a predator. I had another coop built and then this year on May 13, I got 4 more brown laying hens from the co-op who were 19 weeks old and not laying yet. Because I only had 1 blue laying hen, and chicken math was nattering at me, I picked up 4 more pullets from a local breeder on May 26. We thought they were all hens until one started crowing. That was unexpected and the left over 3 pullets are just starting to “talk” vs chirp. So they are probably another month out from laying. I hope for a different colour of egg! The new little rooster is learning his job, finding food for the girls and has started to dance for them. He is smaller than all the others, I think he has silkie in him as he has 5 toes and feathers on his legs. Blackberry, who is at least 8 still lays an egg every 2-3 days. She has trouble walking and can’t scratch anymore so today I cut her toe nails for her.
The garden is doing very well, I planted garlic last year when I could still bend well and I got all the scapes off them last week. I chopped them up and froze them for meals and soup. Tomatoes are planted and I had my first one yesterday! The strawberries that I brought from Ontario were amazing this year and I had big bowls full daily, and the blackberry bush is also showing lots of berries. I bought raspberry canes and asked a friend to help plant them, as I can’t do that anymore. I started some small variety of coloured peppers from the seeds and they are growing very well!!
Outside on the deck I have all my flower planters in full colour and every plant that wintered in the house is now outside. Gretchen gave me a rex begonia and it flowered too, plus my first ever black/dark purple lily plants. Last year I had some lovely ones but I did not take them out of the pots and they did not make it.
I finally got to see an orthopaedic surgeon in June, he was recommended by my physio and the surgeon said I would have the hip replacement surgery in 3-6 months. I asked to be on the cancellation list and hopefully I have it before winter. The right side was done in Sept 2020 and I was back to work in a month.
Speaking of work, I RETIRED MAY 24/25 from Canada Post after 11 years!!! I should explain, I retired due to my hip, not because I was ready to. But I just could not drive to work 30 minutes twice a day and work for 3 -6 hours a day. I still work for the University of Guelph with their online Equine Business Management course and facilitate a few zoom training sessions for organizations.
I am glad I can still walk, abet slowly and take care of the farm. I take Tylenol for arthritis along with CBD gummies as needed. I take the dogs for a run at Noah’s farm just down the road and Bear enjoys the swimming. I also go to the lake close by and again, Bear swims and Storm just wants to go home. LOL.
The pain level is worse when I do too much and then I suffer mostly overnight. I have not slept in my bed for months and the recliner is all I can use. I expect I will be doing the recovery on my own as Ceci does not live with me anymore. She really helped a lot with the last hip. I have to get some helpers for the farm animals as I won’t be able to take care of them for at least a few weeks while I heal. The physio is about 25 minutes away, but as it is my left leg I should be able to drive there on my own.
It is hard moving to a new province where you have no friends and where your sister is 45 minutes away. Luckily my Ontario friends and I get together via Zoom once a month and catch up on each other’s lives. I read a lot now due to my hip and not working, but I still get outside to do the farm chores and enjoy the fruits of my garden’s labours. I have had a few visitors as well, Susan and Sherrill and husbands came last year, along with Karla and her friend. This year Pat came out for 5 days and we travelled around on day trips and ate a lot of seafood. 
I will add some photo's to this post for your viewing pleasure.

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.

Polecat Paints & Friesians

09/07/2025

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15/11/2023

04/09/2023

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