Yeppers, Yes sir, You betcha, Dang right, Yes ma'am and Hell yeah - I got moved!
It's true, like a dream come true that I am now completely moved in to my new-to-me house in Wolfe City with 21 acres, all my farm animals, dogs and cats (actually minus 2 cats I'm still trying to catch in Gunter to bring here). Overall, it was a success!
It was a team effort. I in no way did this alone. I'll start with the fact my sister, Sheryl came over and experienced the whole shebang with me and more importantly, alongside me. Every.Step.Of.The.Way. I could not have done this without her. She was my wingman, my emotional support sister, my do-anything-that-needs-to-be-done sis. She did it all with love, curiosity, strength and smarts. She's a master anticipator, and I don't know that she knows that. But that's my new name for her. She knew when to help and assist at every turn. She maneuvered the house movers and barn movers and farm animal movers like she was conducting an orchestra. She was all in. And believe me, it was a circus with more than 3 rings happening at any given time.
And, props to my sweet, sweet friend, Morghan and her family (hubby Jay, son Decklyn and his friend Mason) for bringing a huge horse trailer to my place in Gunter and getting EVERY last one of my farm animals in it! Yes, it's true. If anybody can make farm animal moving magic happen, it's Morghan.
How does one move that many chickens?
This was the most common question I got prior to moving. How are you going to move all those chickens? Up to the day of the move, I still did not know for sure. I had a few ideas, but little did I know it would happen in a way that it did. What I did know for sure is that I would go out to the barn in the wee morning hours of move day (Sunday a week ago to be exact) and close up the barn completely so that no chicken could get out once they woke up. And just for the record, that was Morghan's idea in the first place.
It goes like this. Once upon a time, a brilliant and bright young lady, Morghan offered up her horse trailer to move my donkeys and horses. Great, I said. Let's do that. Fast forward to her driving up with the horse trailer to my Gunter house and she jumps out of the truck and says, "I have an idea!" She wants to put all my chickens in the tack room (front compartment) of the horse trailer. As she opens the door to it, I look in and wonder if they all would fit. But heck, if I could get all the animals over to Wolfe City in one trip, let's try it! Morghan gives me her mischievous smile and we make a plan. The barn is completely closed. One person would man a door at the barn and another person would man the door to the tack room of the trailer. The rest of us would take the chickens from the barn and hand carry them (1 by 1 or 2 by 2 or even 3 by 3) and place them in her trailer. After all, all the chickens are in the barn and can't escape. And I have a net.
And do you know that trip by trip by trip and after all of us taking turns grabbing chickens and netting chickens and chasing chickens, by gaud if we didn't get them all in that tack room of her trailer. Without ANY escaping. God is good.
It was a literal shit show. We all had chicken poo on us and we didn't care. We just kept grabbing and carrying chickens until the last chicken was caught. I was astounded. It actually happened. All the chickens were ready for transport. Deckyln and his friend Mason who are 12 years old, were having the time of their lives chasing and netting my chickens and carrying them to the trailer and hustling back for more. They might need therapy in their life for that one day.
But the chickens had no choice. They were going to be caught. The folks manning the doors of the barn and trailer (we all traded off occasionally) were not about to let any of the chickens out - not a chance. Everyone worked together to make this happen and it was truly a chicken miracle.
What about the others, you ask?
Well, when I had gotten up at the crack of 2:30 am to shut the barn up that fateful morning, was also when I haltered all my horses and donkeys so they would be ready for transport via the horse trailer.
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Poppy is ready! |
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I didn't have to halter her baby Emerald, as where Pippa goes, her baby Emmie goes. |
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Hope could feel the tension. Luckily, Morghan is a horse whisper and got her loaded and settled just fine. Dora was with her too, her BFF. 👯 |
By the way, an important nugget I left out was that Morghan had thought about how to shut up the barn (on her own, by the way) and brought me pallets prior to my move, so that I would use them to block the small entrances in the barn that were open (with no door on them). And it worked like a charm! Great idea, Morghan!
Morghan and I work together at the surgery center and she also let me borrow her 13 foot open trailer to load up my portable fencing and corral panels. And when she brought me the trailer, she had already loaded the pallets on the trailer. I was like, what are the pallets for, and of course she informed me of the plan for them. Did I mention Morghan is a problem solver? That's probably apparent by now. This girl. She solves things before we even talk about the things. And she's 100% responsible for the ideas and movement of my farm animals. And after we spent a fair amount of time chasing down the goats who weigh far more than they look, we loaded them up in the back of the trailer with the horses and donkeys like a pinball machine. All I could do was cross my fingers for the hour drive from Gunter to Wolfe City for all the animals. All in the horse trailer. It took all of us to make that happen. Myself, Sheryl, Morghan, Jay, Decklyn and Mason. But we did it!
I'd love to tell you I have more pictures of all these shenanigans during the farm animal move, but quite frankly, I was so busy trying to keep up - that I didn't even think about my phone or pictures during all the moving of the animals. So unfortunately, I’ll rely on you to visualize it. And when you do, play circus music in your head, too because it was a full on 5 ring circus with all the chaos, (good) yelling at one another, and all of us running around like a chicken with our head cut off. No pun intended but it illustrates it well.
The unloading of the animals was much less eventful. Mainly because Sheryl and I had spent a fair amount of time on Saturday setting up the areas where each of the animals would be housed and set free on Sunday. So we were ready for where the chickens would be placed. And when the time would come on Sunday, that's where they would be going.
And sure enough, we all once again, unloaded them in their new barn - exactly the same as we had loaded them up - 1 by 1 or 2 by 2, depending on how many chickens you could hold at one time. Sometimes 3 or 4 at a time. Total chicken count was just over 125 chickens. Mason counted them as we all placed them in their new barn area and then shut them in for their own safety.
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This was the makeshift area whereby the chickens would be in lockdown for the first 24 hours after arrival. |
It was necessary that the chickens be "locked up" for about 24 hours after they were placed in their new barn so they would understand that this is where they live now. And I can happily tell you that the chickens took to their new barn so quickly. I was such a proud chicken mama. Granted, they did have all their same coops and feeders, so it was familiar to them.
As for the donkeys and horses, they would be released in the back pasture with access to the barn as well.
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The best part was there was hay there waiting for them. The prior owners had horses, too and still had alot of hay around. |
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The horses and donkeys settled in well. And they love their new pasture with more room to roam. And run and roam they did. |
I goat this
No I didn't. My great idea about putting the goats with the horses and donkeys in the back pasture didn't go well. The donkeys chased the goats. The goats got out of the pasture and begin living with the livestock guard dogs and spent most of their time around the house area.
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They happily greeted the plumbers and painters, and anyone else who showed up at my house in Wolfe City |
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Coco and Pearl were like dogs. Just hanging around the house, wanting pets. |
This was all good and fine for awhile. But then it wasn't. It became hard to feed the big white dogs because the goats wanted their food. Then the goats kept trying to come in the house. And the workers who were at the house did not understand why there was a goat in their painter's van, knocking things over. I had to do something different.
So I made them their own temporary area, until I can figure something else out.
It's a little janky, but they have their goat houses, water and food, and shelter. This will do until I can get them a more secure (larger) area made. Goats are curious creatures - and since Coco and Pearl are not sure if they are goats or dogs - I'm going to need to get this situation squared away. But this temp area will be fine for now. Rain is coming and I need them safe and warm.
Speaking of dogs....
So how did the big white dogs make their way to the farm in Wolfe City?
Somehow and someway, while I was at the house in Wolfe City getting house movers corralled, Sheryl was in Gunter directing the barn mover who was moving the barn contents (think coops, roosts, tack room things, etc). And while all that was happening, Sheryl got Penny and Dutch loaded up in the back of her van and brought them with her on her next trip to the farm in Wolfe City. Now Penny and Dutch are not easy to manuever, mind you, but Sheryl made that magic happen. Did I mention she's a master anticipator and a do-er of all things.
Levi and Whisper would not be that easy. They would have to come another day.
I'm happy to report that Penny and Dutch acclimated extremely well to the new farm and new location. After all, all their farm animals were there. They instinctively knew what to do and begin watching and guarding them immediately. I really had no issues with either of them, and they seem to be enjoying their new space and their new place.
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They have their same dog beds, this time placed on my front porch. With all their chew bones that they love around so it will all be familiar to them. |
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Mia and Penny are playing as usual at their new home. |
I would love to tell you that Levi and Whisper were an easy catch. But it actually took days after I moved to get them. And when I did, the vet had given me anxiety medication to give them so I could get them in the truck. (I felt like I needed it as much as them, but I did end up giving it to them 😉) And the anxiety meds worked, but Levi had to be force-pulled into the truck. He and I almost went 10 rounds with it, but we got it done. Whisper hopped in the truck pretty good. And off we went!
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Levi on the left and Whisper on the right. Over all, it was a success to get them to the new farm. |
And they too, did well at the new farm, esp because Penny and Dutch were there, and had acclimated already. So everyone settled in well.
Except.....
Let's talk about Kitty. Kitty is about 10 years old and is not a fan of the move.
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She did well on the way there, and then settled nicely into the barn with her bed, food and water. |
Until she went up a tree. And then higher up the tree.
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I tried to get her down. I tried and I tried, but she was too high. |
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I finally gave up. I called the fire dept. |
After all, for 3 days she was in that tree. Her meows were weak. She's old. I needed to help her.
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The Wolfe City Volunteer Fire Dept were all very nice about it. |
The firemen came and went in a flash. They got her down and told me next time, to leave her there and she'll come down on her own because they have never seen a cat skeleton in a tree. I was a little taken aback with that comment, but at the same time, you can't argue with that. I haven't seen a cat skeleton in a tree either.
Kitty is fine now. She's not been back up that tree again.
Unfortunately, another dilemma as occurred. Whisper went missing the other night. She did not show up for breakfast, which is not unusual. But it's been a few days now and I'm very worried - and I've asked neighbors, I've driven around, and I've looked for her in neighboring pastures. She does have a collar with her name on it and my phone number and I'm hoping someone will call me soon to say they found her. I'm beyond heartbroken. I keep looking and looking for her. Please keep her in your thoughts and prayers.
I knew that this move would be hard on the animals as that was my greatest concern about moving. And I was able to get everyone moved, here and settled. Yet, I knew things could go sideways and wasn't sure who that would impact the most. And I'm surprised it was Whisper, but then again, I didn't know who would be impacted the most because all my animals have only every know my farm for so long now. But I keep replaying why her? Where is she? Why is someone not calling to say they found her. I'm holding out hope she's okay and I'll get her back soon. It's just been hard to not have her here, while Levi, Penny and Dutch are.
And it makes me extra cautious for all the dogs now. The Littles are all doing well. Mia is adjusting, and staying close too, but then again, she's inside with The Littles - and outside too as she enjoys playing with Penny. Sheryl's husband, Gene put in a screen door (thank you, Gene!) that has a doggie door in it and Sheryl and I made a makeshift backyard for them to be safe in when I'm gone.
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I think you can see the fenced backyard that Sheryl and I put up from here. Also, the ducks are loving their new place. They have 2 ponds now to swim in, but still come to the barn for chicken food. |
As I close out this blog post for now, I'll continue to cover more moving things next time - like the actual house move. I’m extremely happy that the farm animal move was successful overall. And I did put my own move of my own things on dim, as I was hyper-focused on getting all my animals moved, safe and happy. But there was a whole nother universe of moving my own things into my house, and projects I had going on at the same time that were spinning and happening in contrast to the animal move. That's for next time.....
I'm blessed that we all made the move to the new farm, except for my other 2 cats, June Bug and July who I'm trying to fanagle getting here. But I'm working on that. I have until Feb 23rd before I have to be completely out of my house in Gunter. I'll get them, it's going to take some special planning, but I'll get them.
I want to give a huge shout out to my sis, Sheryl for spending days with me, helping me with my move and for always being there. I could not have done it without you and would not have wanted to do it without you. Your the bestest 🥰 your sacrifice of time away from your own family was appreciated more than words can speak.
And to Morghan, and her tribe, I’ll never be able to repay you for the gift you gave me of moving all my farm animals. Only you could do that - and you sure did!
It’s been something, this moving thing. I have been so supported and loved through it all. And I’m proud to say I didn't let the hard days win, and grateful for it 😊
Blessed beyond words,
Cyndi
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Me when things would get hard to handle |