3-12-13

·         Holly is ready to give birth.  Here she is lying inside her box.  Usually, she comes running when anyone comes out.  This will be Holly’s 4th litter, so she is likely to only have one more before retiring her.  At this point, we have not ruled out a 6th, but that would absolutely be the last.  It will depend on her health and our vet’s opinion.  She has been a great mother, and has produced some of the best puppies! 

·         We will certainly keep at least 1, maybe 2 females from her final litter(s) to keep her bloodline going.

·         The heavy rains after the snow melt off produced the inevitable flooding, but not as bad as it could have been.  Thankfully, none of the stalls were affected.  The water puddled inside the back door of the barn, but stalls were dry.

·         Rose’s puppies are now moved down a stall, to give Holly the birthing stall.  Rose made it through a successful night last night without her puppies!  This is good, because that is always our goal at 5 weeks.  The pups are now fully on “4-Health” puppy food, and are drinking plenty of water as they should.  They are ready to receive their final dose of worm meds, and will have their vet appointment soon.  After that we give them their shots.

·         As I was letting the dogs out, I noticed the bottom hinge of one of the stall doors was broken.  Good thing I discovered this because it wouldn’t have taken the dogs very long to find it.  Luckily Holly, escape artist-in-chief, was in another stall.

·         Have I ever mentioned that having free range chickens is like having an Easter egg hunt every day?