Animal Feeders

Welcome back! 

I hope you had a nice Thanksgiving! We did. 

Just in case you are wondering, we did not eat our turkeys. They are all still living on the farm.

We also have a crazy chicken living on our farm!
She likes to sleep by the back door every night.
She doesn't like to sleep in the coop where it's warm.
Sometimes she pecks on the back door
because she wants us to let her sleep in the house!

Did you look at the different types of dishes and bowls your family used for Thanksgiving dinner? This week I want to show you what we use to hold the animal feed.

The first thing I do when I get out to the barn is let the chickens out of their coop. Then I fill their feeders.

This hanging feeder is for the mama turkey and her babies, and some of the chickens that like to hang out in front of the barn. It is protected from the weather because the snow or rain will ruin their food.

You've seen this hanging feeder in other pictures. It hangs from the ceiling in the chicken pen on the north side of the barn.

Next I get the food ready for the goats and the cows.

Each goat has her own bucket for grain.
The bucket on the left is for the cows. I dump that food in a bigger feeder outside.
The purple bucket is Clover's bucket.
The white bucket behind the purple bucket is Misty's bucket.
The blue bucket is Annie's bucket.
The green bucket is Sandy's bucket.

I fill everyone's bucket, then I put the buckets in the right spot. Do you have a spot at your kitchen counter? Does each person in your family have their own spot at the table for dinner? Do you have your own desk in the classroom?

The goats each have their own special spot, too!

After I put their buckets in the right spot, I open the stall door and the goats run in right to their special spot!

Do you get upset if someone sits in your spot?

The goats aren't happy when someone else starts to eat their food. They use their head to push the other goat out of the way. Do you get upset if someone starts eating your breakfast or your lunch?

This is where each of the goats eats their breakfast.
The brown one on the left is Clover.
Behind Clover's head is Annie. Annie is on a milk stand.
Sandy is standing to the right of Annie. She is on a milk stand, too.
Misty is the goat near the blue garbage pail.

After all the goats are in their places I take the other bucket of food out to the cows. Stew eats hay in the stall.

The cows line up for breakfast just like this every morning!
They each have their favorite spot at the feeder, too.

After I feed the cows I come back into the barn and milk the goats.

Sometimes I have helpers with me in the morning.
Do they look happy to be in the barn today?

I also fill up the bird feeders every day.
This is what I see from my back door.
Do you see that pretty red bird on the feeder?
I have a good friend who knows a lot about birds,
I'm going to ask him what kind of bird that is.
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This is the new cow shed.
Cows make a mess so I don't want them in the barn. They are hard to clean up after!
They will have their own spot out of the weather where they can't bother the goats.

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Next week I'll show you what we do to keep the animal's water from freezing. Animals need water to drink every day, just like you do. When the temperature drops below 32˚ F we have to do something to keep their water from turning to ice.