The Painted Post: Pink Eye

Conjunctivitis is funny, really funny --on somebody else. Apparently, animals get it too. They don't have to spend $100 and two hours at the doc's office to cure it. Billy the Goat, Elsie, and SeaBiscuit trot on down to the local feed and grain store to pick up a BLUE bottle of PINK Eye Spray. They find it right next to the Thrush-Buster and just down from where they keep the half gallon "baby bottles."

I was just at the Durand Feed Store to pick up some supplies: Purina Goat Chow, some Layena Crumbles for my Chickens (get it...LAYena--the name still "cracks" me up) and some more bulk birdseed--damn those squirrels.

Prior to embracing a farm life, I had only been in city pet shops, each with a doggie in the window, a few toys and treats, and maybe a fish tank. Back then I used to get all fired up about going to the Office Supply Store. Well let me tell you, the Feed Store and the Hardware Store do it for me now. Where else can you find mole traps when you need them?

The Feed Store doesn't have a lot of fancy signs or displays. You are supposed to know what you want. You are supposed to know to drive around to the back barn's drive-thru to get your big bags loaded. Once you know these things, you feel like you belong. If you want to know something, you just ask. I like that. Most are family operations. I like that.

The Feed Store's colorful shelves and shiny metal objects caught my attention today and I focused on the offerings. Got Krud? Spray on a little Cowboy Magic's "Krudbuster" and no one will know. Bleeding profusely? Apply some Blood Stop Powder...a little dab will do ya. Stacked tall on wooden pallets are giant bags of pig chow, goat chow, horse chow, dog chow, and rabbit chow. Did you know rabbits chowed? I thought they nibbled.

You can buy cattle panel, electric fencing, heat elements for water buckets, water buckets you can bathe in, and every kind of latch, clip, brush or feeder. The whole place was a mystery to me when my farming roots began to grow. The names of things make me smile. How about a bag of Nicker Maker Horse Treats...isn't that cute?

Blood Stop is great to use if you clip a dog's nail bed too far.

I'm not sure, but I think there are many useful uses for KrudBuster.

Stuff for Horsies!

Most elevators have a vintage scale either on display or still in service.

The best part about going to the Feed Store is ordering your baby chicks for the coming spring.

Day old baby chicks are shipped from growers to the Post Office or to the Feed Store via bulk orders. If you order chicks online, the minimum order is 25 and you pick them up at the Post Office. If you order from the Feed Store, you can order as many or as few as you like. Usually I will place an order for a dozen and when I open the box, I find a baker has been counting.

Ordering from the Feed Store is nice because you can mix and match the breeds. Collecting chickens is serious business. There are big ones, friendly ones, small ones, white ones, mean ones, red ones, speckled hens, ones that wear "hats" and at least three egg colors to choose from including "Easter egg color".

Then, one day in the spring, when you are at the Meijer Store with a cart full of groceries and your to-do list includes 42 more things, you get THE CALL. The Chicks are in! The speaker says you must come and get your chicks NOW. They chirp a lot.

EGGcellent!

Another chance to go back to the Feed Store.