Hay! It's Egg-strordinary! We've gone to the dogs!

I don't even know where to begin! In the last two weeks the kittens have doubled in size! They all have homes to go to when they are old enough. We got some of our hay delivered, the chickens started laying eggs and we got a dog. Whew!

The kittens are next to impossible to photograph with my point and shoot camera because they are NEVER still! They're maniacs I tell ya!  At seven weeks old, they run, jump and climb with no fear. They'll climb to the top of the draperies, then cry pitifully for help because they can't get down on their own. 

Fuzzy picture of kittens swinging from the curtains.

There are four girl kittens and one boy. 

The boy is going to be a house cat. His new people have named him Buckaroo. We used a white thread as a sort of collar to identify him.

We are keeping two of the girls for our barn and the other two girls are going to live in my farrier's barn. All of the kittens go to the barn with me every day. They play in the stalls while I work.

When I'm out working on projects around the place, I pack the kittens up and take them out with me. It's a lot like taking a human baby someplace. The carrier with the baby, the bag of supplies for the baby, the playpen for the baby....

Here's my cart loaded with tools, materials, kittens in their carrier and all of the kitten supplies. We're going to work in the chicken coop.

I set up their playpen beside the coop. My project was installing a couple of nest boxes.

Three days ago, I discovered two eggs on the floor of the chicken coop! Surprise! I didn't think the girls would be old enough to lay until September! I didn't have the nest boxes up yet.

I'm trying a couple of types of nest boxes. The two I quickly installed are repurposed cat litter containers. 

The shelf-type nest boxes are what was already in the coop. I'm using them as the base for the nest boxes I want to use.

 Here are the two kitty litter containers. I used one screw through the back of them to secure them to the wall.

 To keep the chickens from sitting on top of the nest boxes and pooping all over them, I've leaned some scraps of plywood on them. The slope is too steep to allow them up there. 

 I'm using pine shavings in the boxes. 

I'm going to use a couple of plastic milk crates for nest boxes and also maybe some 5-gal buckets or storage totes, too. It's kind of an experiment to see what the girls prefer. I'll see which box type has the eggs in it most often. Then I can convert and use that type for all of the nests.

Then we got three tons of hay delivered. Our supplier is Hay Now Colorado. Kirk and Karina are also our farriers. We love them!  They have a skidsteer which makes unloading a breeze!

This is the first of several hay deliveries for us. We ordered twelve tons which will be enough for the next year or so. 

But the really big, exciting, wonderful news is that we got a dog! 

I'd like to introduce you to Makarov

Mak is a Great Pyrenees/St. Bernard mix. At 94 pounds, he's not quite big enough to saddle and ride, but I'll bet he could pull a cart.  He comes up to my hip!  He's a Livestock Guardian Dog and believe me, he knows his business!  He's not aggressive, but he is territorial. I've seen him in action when he spotted two red tail fox heading toward the chicken coop. All it took for Mak to deter the fox was a deep, rumbling growl. Those fox beat feet in a big, big hurry. Yay, Mak!

Some friends of ours gave Mak to us. We are so happy to have him! I'd been praying for a good guardian dog to protect my chickens.

On Sunday, we are having a contractor install underground, radio fence around seven of our acres for Mak. He'll have the freedom to run around both pastures, the barns, plus the house and yard.  

Every day seems to bring a new adventure for us!  No such thing as a boring day at Crossed Sabers Ranch!