New Chicken Flock Arrives and Monitor Lizard Escapes.

Our karabao, Gera, eating a flake of alfalfa hay.

Today was an Awesome day at the ranch.  It was sunny and breezy.  Some clouds in the sky but nothing to be concerned about.  The weather was really wonderful today.  

My niece/goddaughter, Arissa, and nephew Michael, and myself did our morning checks.  We adjusted the animals out on leads in the North-side, and brought them water and hay.  Back at the house, Rissa cooked up some hot soup for lunch for us to eat.  
  

Gera knocking over a banana stalk to get to its leaves. 

After lunch, we went to the South-side and worked on the fly pens for the incoming chickens later in the afternoon.  We cannibalized two old fly and scratch pens and used its side panels as doors for the circular fly pens.  We also patched up some holes in one fly pen.  Rissa learned to use a new tool, the Tin Snips.  I showed her how to pull one side up and pull down the opposite side as she started cutting the 1/4" wire cloth to make patches for the holes in the fly pens.  In all, we, Rissa and I, repaired 3 large pens and one small one.  It should be enough for the flock of Rhode Island Reds.

While we were working, Michael was busy playing with toads and turning over water pans.  We sent him back to the house to get us bottled water.  For a short distance, he was gone for quite a long time.  It was hot and we were thirsty.  When he finally returned.  I asked him where he went.  His reply, "I went to go eat".  

After putting on the new doors and patching up the holes.  The three of us jumped into the my truck, the Mud Hopper, and drove to the Santos Ranch to pick-up our new flock of Rhode Island Reds.  While there Mr. Santos was able to catch some birds while he was getting feed, to lure the chickens into a trap.  I started helping out gathering the chicken and putting them in the cage.  Rissa was assigned as door guard to keep the captured chickens in the cage.  Michael was being Michael, asking questions, after questions, and running around.  We were able to catch 20 birds and caged them in the kennel and the extra bird cage that I brought along.  I didn't realize how heavy 20 birds were in one portable kennel.  Until, we started carrying the cage back to the truck.  I need to go back tomorrow to pickup 9 more birds, probably after work.  

Munching on banana leaves. 

Back at the ranch, we started transporting all the chickens back into their pens.  I put all the hens in one large fly pen with a nest box.   While all the roosters were put into one large pen. The breeding roosters were put into two smaller pens.  Michael actually took the free range chicken's feed and put it into the hen's pen.  He was astonished that none of the hens flew out of the pen.  That they stayed in there eating the feed that he brought them.  We both went back to the barn shack to get more feed for the rest of the flock.  It was fun watching him give the additional feed to the hens.  Then he comes over to see the roosters getting fed too. 

After I pick up the stragglers tomorrow.  I'll observe the birds and readjust them into other pens to keep the pecking and feather pulling down to a minimum.  There they'll stay for the next 2 to 3 weeks before we let them free graze around the ranch.  This is to allow them to get accustomed to us as their new stewards.  

After all the chickens were fed and given water, we jumped back into the Mud Hopper and drove to meet Joe about some monitor lizards.  He put the 17" long lizard into my bird cage.  We thought that cage would be able to hold him.  But the lizard squeezed itself between the bars and ran as fast as it could in the bed of my truck yelling, "FFFRRRRREEEEEDDDDOOOOMMMM!!!!".  Then he jumped between the cab to the ground and through the breeze way of a generator room behind the building.  It was a hilarious sight.  The seller was upset because the lizard got away.  I was laughing about the whole scene.  

Since the lizard was put into my cage and the door locked, that constituted a delivery of an exotic livestock.  So I paid Joe to be fair.  I wasn't going to take the incident for granted.  The guy was surprised that I was still paying him for the escaped lizard.  I even sweetened the deal.  I committed to buying a younger and smaller monitor lizard from him.  That surprised him even more.  I'm still laughing about the whole incident, the look on Joe's face when the lizard escaped, the look on his face again when I paid him, and again when I committed to getting the other lizard. 

The highlights of today was observing Rissa teach Michael how to work in the ranch.  Especially how to drive the double wheeled wheelbarrow.   He's learning.  


ESTA

KEEP SMILING :)