Yesterday, I cleaned brooders and moved babies...a lot of babies. It has been hot and humid and I have been worried about the babies in the shed. We have kept the door open and a fan going constantly but they had been getting out and going on the back porch and we were afraid the dogs would get them. We lost a young rooster a few days ago, he decided he wanted to check out the back yard when the dogs were back there. We are pretty sure our dog Bailee killed him. He was dead in the corner of the yard, it had bite marks or so Crew said. There have been several times the chickens have jumped the fence, but this is the first death. I started putting the dogs in the house when it is almost time for Crew to come home from work, they know that he will give them treats and they don't always like to wait...the chickens have started jumping the fence and milling around waiting for Crew to come out and feed them scratch grains...or crack as it is known in the chicken circles.
I let the roosters out of the Rooster Condo and started hauling babies and putting them inside. We moved the Polish Juveniles in with the babies...they are bigger but had been seriously picked on by others...most are bald on most of their head. They seem so more relaxed now and no one is picking on them...and they were enjoying dust bathing. The roosters are spending the night in the big coop tonight, but I didn't get gates built for pens yet again and when I do I will separate roosters out again. My poor hens are looking very bad, at least the ones the roosters favor are...I need to fix that.
A young man that I sold eggs to a few days ago stopped by and bought a few chicks from me, he also bought some duck eggs to eat. The first carton I pulled out and opened up had two eggs that looked really dark in them...I am guessing they had cracks in them that I didn't see and probably went bad. That is rather embarrassing. I try my best to candle everything and make sure it is good when I am washing and putting them in cartons, I am glad my new egg candler arrived. It seems to work pretty well...I washed and candled eggs and took out probably ten that were cracked or questionable. I gather eggs every day, multiple times some days...but I still have hens wanting to have babies and they tend to hoard eggs and move nests, and possibly eggs too...I think they crack them, some do it when they use their beak to tuck the eggs under themselves. Some hens crawl in the nest box and lay eggs on top of them, it gets a little crazy when three hens are in a single nest box.
Last night when I went to put up the poultry, I separated a female duck who was being chased by three males into one of the breeding pens with three others that were in there. This time of year it is bad for the females, it is mating season and the boys are pretty much little horn dogs. They basically gang rape the hens every chance they get. I feel bad for the girls. We are going to attempt to separate the male ducks out and leave them in the duck area today. Duck egg production has dropped way off, but I think they are molting, the drakes feathers are all mottled and ragged looking. I checked on the babies I moved too, it is funny how they pile in a corner to sleep. The Polish were piled in the center of the run, but the juveniles were mostly in one corner, with one or two scattered here and there. I took two of the roosters from the top of the water tote that is hooked up to the big coop and transferred them into the coop, my Blue Splash Andalusian and Speckled Sussex rooster are two of my favorites, I don't want to loose them to the owl that likes to hunt early in the mornings.
Maybe today I can get a few gates built for the breeding pens and separate some roosters and drakes out. If not, tomorrow is another day...
Sunday, June 28, 2015
Saturday, June 27, 2015
Not Getting Any Younger
I guess none of us are getting any younger...but, sometimes I have to remind myself that I am not Wonder Woman. In any given day I do a lot of things, but it takes me longer to do things then it use to. My sense of time has been thrown off somewhat, I don't remember what day it is half the time and if I am really busy...I don't realize how fast the day goes by either. In some ways it is freeing...not having to worry about having to be somewhere at a particular time on a particular day. I don't worry about traffic, or what other people think of me either. I rarely wear makeup any more, I cut my hair shorter because the humidity here can be rather unforgiving...and I have very wavy hair. I did not realize how curly it would get until I stopped blow dying it every day and then sweat combined with drying naturally just makes me look like Shirley Temple some days.
I am discovering I don't like some of the changes taking place in my body, not the appearance of it or the feelings I get in certain parts. In July 2008, I had surgery for Ovarian Cancer...well, at the time they just thought I had Hemoragic Cysts...I was not feeling well for over a month and they kept doing tests and keeping an eye on things. I basically found someone who would take my ovaries out for me, I knew something was wrong and I was afraid. I was right to be afraid, my cancer was very early stage...so early that all they did was take out my ovaries and basically scraped my insides because I had endometriosis really bad. When I had twins they sewed my uterus up into my stomach muscles and it caused me a lot of pain for a number of years, I had it removed and a medically necessary tummy tuck performed when I was the ripe old age of 25. Any way it was the start of a medical series of tests and surgeries that lasted several years. When you are diagnosed with cancer, you tend to do what the doctor thinks is best. If I hurt somewhere, it triggered more tests. I had my Gall Bladder out prior to the surgery for my ovaries because of throwing up, and after the surgery for my ovaries I was having a lot of pain in my lower belly, I had a lot of tests done...Upper GI's, Lower GI's, Endoscopies, MRI's, Sonograms, Electrocardiograms, you name it, I probably had it. I was put on a lot of different drugs too...I am sure it was to help me...but, me being afraid I didn't argue about any of it...except when I was giving the choice to have the staging surgery...I didn't want to be filleted like a fish. I had a micro-invasion, that basically means that the cancer cells may have left my ovaries. They were going to cut me from under my arm to my pelvis and take out something like 32 lymph nodes to test for cancer. But my doctor gave me the choice after consulting with MD Anderson Cancer Center, they thought it was early enough that I could just be watched closely for the next five years.
Anyway, I had lots of procedures for a total of six years. My body seemed to start falling apart on me, in all the CT Scans and MRI's I had, it was discovered that I may have broken my hip in High School...I was in a car wreck and had to quit the swim team because of the pain...but I had ex rays and they didn't catch it. I found out I had arthritis and degenerative disk disease in my back from the MRIs, which triggered further tests, some injections in my spine and a stint in pain management boot camp...those MRIs and laying in that machine was very painful, and having to do it every three months did not help. I had a number of polyps removed that I was told are the kind that could also turn into cancer. Recently, I had a Mamogram...I had to have a second Mamogram because of an area of concern...since my Mom and her Sister both had Breast Cancer in the last few years...and I already had Ovarian Cancer, it was a little scary going for that second Mamogram. I am fine...it was just nerve wracking.
I gained a lot of weight from all the drugs I was put on, the back issues I was having and problems with my feet...I went to Pain Management Boot Camp and then ended up going to the Podiatrist after healing from my surgeries for Removal of my Gall Bladder and Cancer...and ended up having surgery on both feet. So I had 4 surgeries in about a year and a half maybe, not to mention all the tests I underwent. I did not heal well those last two surgeries, well even the surgery for the cancer I had healing issues and had to have my incision drained a few times and my belly button cauterized. I could not walk for about 4 weeks after my first foot surgery, I had something called Halus Rigidious (bone spur that keeps your joints from bending), a bunion and arthritis that had screwed up my bones. I had screws and wires put in my bones, bone grafts and bone cut away and repaired by grinding...you talk about painful...I would rather go through childbirth! Anyway, I had it done to both feet only about a month apart...and the first surgery was only about 3 months after the cancer surgery. It seemed like my body was failing me, I gained more weight from being sedentary for a long time...I could not walk, drive or stand up long for months. I slept with a million pillows, which helped with back pain and kept my legs and feet from swelling to horribly. My feet kept turning bright red and hurting for a long time, my Podiatrist did X-Rays and my bones in my feet looked like Swiss Cheese...I had something similar to Osteoporosis and had to go to Rehab and have therapy to help regenerate the bones...good times.
I don't usually talk about all this stuff, but I am feeling things stiffening up on me, I am getting additional bones spurs just below my knees that are rather pointy, I can feel my bones rubbing together in my back at night and can hear the grinding and popping. My hands do not grip well early in the day and I drop things sometimes, along with bone spurs on my thumbs. My hip bothers me a lot and when I get up and walk across the floor I can feel bones rubbing together in my feet. Funny thing is, the more I move and spend time outside the better I feel...provided I rest a lot. My feet hurt pretty badly at times, walking on the sandy soil does that to me...I have to wear pretty stiff shoes to support my feet well, but it is hard to find comfortable shoes with the right support. My feet have swollen so badly a few times that my husband had to cut a pair of boots off of me....that happens when I spend a lot of time on special projects. I found some work boots with a zipper down the outside at an unusual angle that helps to remove them when that happens now. I am talking about this, because I feel better now than when we lived in Dallas, I have lost 75 pounds in two years, gotten off the majority of the drugs they put me on and little by little certain things, like the major swelling in my hands and legs have gone away. I am not on any major pain killers any more, just Aleve when I need it...yes, there are long stretches that I take it...but, I hurt too bad when I skip taking it and actually can't sleep when I overdo it outside sometimes.
Anyway, I am mortal...I have not given up and I enjoy my life these days. Yes, I do talk about my chickens a lot, but they are keeping me moving and loosing the weight I needed to loose...I don't like how my skin kinda sags in spots, but I don't have to look in the mirror if I don't want to...and I don't wear shorts any more anyway. I can move better without the weight and even though after several days of bending and squatting and my knee hurting somewhat, after a couple of days of light duty...it is feeling better and I will get back to construction of a grow out pen. I have company coming too! Lol...I have a new grand daughter and Sara and Mark are bringing her out to see us before she goes back to work. Sara had to deliver Eleanor early by c-section so we were not able to get there in time for the birth, but we have had trouble with our only truck so, we have been sticking close to home anyway. I am excited to get to see her and hold her for the first time! It may be a bit before I write again, I have a lot to get done and it takes me twice as long as it use to...I am not getting any younger!
I am discovering I don't like some of the changes taking place in my body, not the appearance of it or the feelings I get in certain parts. In July 2008, I had surgery for Ovarian Cancer...well, at the time they just thought I had Hemoragic Cysts...I was not feeling well for over a month and they kept doing tests and keeping an eye on things. I basically found someone who would take my ovaries out for me, I knew something was wrong and I was afraid. I was right to be afraid, my cancer was very early stage...so early that all they did was take out my ovaries and basically scraped my insides because I had endometriosis really bad. When I had twins they sewed my uterus up into my stomach muscles and it caused me a lot of pain for a number of years, I had it removed and a medically necessary tummy tuck performed when I was the ripe old age of 25. Any way it was the start of a medical series of tests and surgeries that lasted several years. When you are diagnosed with cancer, you tend to do what the doctor thinks is best. If I hurt somewhere, it triggered more tests. I had my Gall Bladder out prior to the surgery for my ovaries because of throwing up, and after the surgery for my ovaries I was having a lot of pain in my lower belly, I had a lot of tests done...Upper GI's, Lower GI's, Endoscopies, MRI's, Sonograms, Electrocardiograms, you name it, I probably had it. I was put on a lot of different drugs too...I am sure it was to help me...but, me being afraid I didn't argue about any of it...except when I was giving the choice to have the staging surgery...I didn't want to be filleted like a fish. I had a micro-invasion, that basically means that the cancer cells may have left my ovaries. They were going to cut me from under my arm to my pelvis and take out something like 32 lymph nodes to test for cancer. But my doctor gave me the choice after consulting with MD Anderson Cancer Center, they thought it was early enough that I could just be watched closely for the next five years.
Anyway, I had lots of procedures for a total of six years. My body seemed to start falling apart on me, in all the CT Scans and MRI's I had, it was discovered that I may have broken my hip in High School...I was in a car wreck and had to quit the swim team because of the pain...but I had ex rays and they didn't catch it. I found out I had arthritis and degenerative disk disease in my back from the MRIs, which triggered further tests, some injections in my spine and a stint in pain management boot camp...those MRIs and laying in that machine was very painful, and having to do it every three months did not help. I had a number of polyps removed that I was told are the kind that could also turn into cancer. Recently, I had a Mamogram...I had to have a second Mamogram because of an area of concern...since my Mom and her Sister both had Breast Cancer in the last few years...and I already had Ovarian Cancer, it was a little scary going for that second Mamogram. I am fine...it was just nerve wracking.
I gained a lot of weight from all the drugs I was put on, the back issues I was having and problems with my feet...I went to Pain Management Boot Camp and then ended up going to the Podiatrist after healing from my surgeries for Removal of my Gall Bladder and Cancer...and ended up having surgery on both feet. So I had 4 surgeries in about a year and a half maybe, not to mention all the tests I underwent. I did not heal well those last two surgeries, well even the surgery for the cancer I had healing issues and had to have my incision drained a few times and my belly button cauterized. I could not walk for about 4 weeks after my first foot surgery, I had something called Halus Rigidious (bone spur that keeps your joints from bending), a bunion and arthritis that had screwed up my bones. I had screws and wires put in my bones, bone grafts and bone cut away and repaired by grinding...you talk about painful...I would rather go through childbirth! Anyway, I had it done to both feet only about a month apart...and the first surgery was only about 3 months after the cancer surgery. It seemed like my body was failing me, I gained more weight from being sedentary for a long time...I could not walk, drive or stand up long for months. I slept with a million pillows, which helped with back pain and kept my legs and feet from swelling to horribly. My feet kept turning bright red and hurting for a long time, my Podiatrist did X-Rays and my bones in my feet looked like Swiss Cheese...I had something similar to Osteoporosis and had to go to Rehab and have therapy to help regenerate the bones...good times.
I don't usually talk about all this stuff, but I am feeling things stiffening up on me, I am getting additional bones spurs just below my knees that are rather pointy, I can feel my bones rubbing together in my back at night and can hear the grinding and popping. My hands do not grip well early in the day and I drop things sometimes, along with bone spurs on my thumbs. My hip bothers me a lot and when I get up and walk across the floor I can feel bones rubbing together in my feet. Funny thing is, the more I move and spend time outside the better I feel...provided I rest a lot. My feet hurt pretty badly at times, walking on the sandy soil does that to me...I have to wear pretty stiff shoes to support my feet well, but it is hard to find comfortable shoes with the right support. My feet have swollen so badly a few times that my husband had to cut a pair of boots off of me....that happens when I spend a lot of time on special projects. I found some work boots with a zipper down the outside at an unusual angle that helps to remove them when that happens now. I am talking about this, because I feel better now than when we lived in Dallas, I have lost 75 pounds in two years, gotten off the majority of the drugs they put me on and little by little certain things, like the major swelling in my hands and legs have gone away. I am not on any major pain killers any more, just Aleve when I need it...yes, there are long stretches that I take it...but, I hurt too bad when I skip taking it and actually can't sleep when I overdo it outside sometimes.
Anyway, I am mortal...I have not given up and I enjoy my life these days. Yes, I do talk about my chickens a lot, but they are keeping me moving and loosing the weight I needed to loose...I don't like how my skin kinda sags in spots, but I don't have to look in the mirror if I don't want to...and I don't wear shorts any more anyway. I can move better without the weight and even though after several days of bending and squatting and my knee hurting somewhat, after a couple of days of light duty...it is feeling better and I will get back to construction of a grow out pen. I have company coming too! Lol...I have a new grand daughter and Sara and Mark are bringing her out to see us before she goes back to work. Sara had to deliver Eleanor early by c-section so we were not able to get there in time for the birth, but we have had trouble with our only truck so, we have been sticking close to home anyway. I am excited to get to see her and hold her for the first time! It may be a bit before I write again, I have a lot to get done and it takes me twice as long as it use to...I am not getting any younger!
Friday, June 26, 2015
Chicks, Juvies & Full Growns...Ducks, Geese & Turkey's!
I very well may be crazy, I have a problem with chicken math. I am not 100% sure how many chickens I have at the moment. I know I have 30 chicks in the house, I probably have 45 to 50 on the back porch and I have about the same in the swimming pool brooder in the shed. It no longer contains the chicks, I have a baby gate in front of the door and my husband actually found juveniles on the porch this morning! I have older Juveniles in what I call the Sidecar to the big coop. I am guessing about 40 in there. That doesn't include the ones in the "Big Coop", "The Rooster Condo", the "Chicken Tractor" area, the "Lowboy" or the "Kennel"....that is probably about 120 adult chickens. So what is that total? Just over 250 chickens?
I have 13 young turkey poults too. I have 17 ducks and 5 geese. Does it sound like I am on my way to a full-fledged poultry farm? I am certainly trying to be! I still have broody hens and decided to give a few fertile duck eggs. I have several broody hens and one is especially nasty. I have been bitten, I have been flogged and just down right attacked several times by her...she is a nasty broody hen! I have a beak mark and a bruise from her on my forearm, it really surprised me how viscous she is when it comes to the eggs she is sitting on. I may have to move her and give her eggs to sit on before she does serious damage to me. I still have several broody hens, but not all of them are as nasty towards me is this little bearded devil. I have three broody Marans and they are pretty docile, my Easter Eggers pecks me when I remove eggs and so does my Silver Laced Wyandotte. The Buff Orpington is starting to peck me too...all of them are getting very thin. I gave a Black Sex-Link a couple of duck eggs, I may give the rest a few to sit on too. I am done incubating in the house, to many disappointments...although my own eggs hatched without problems, I have a lot of barnyard mixes already...so they will be my egg layers if I don't sell them.
The Avian Flu has hit the Northern Tier of the United States really badly, a lot of poultry is being put to death because of it. As far as I know it has not hit Texas yet. There are very few cases of the Avian Flu in backyard flocks, it is mainly hitting major poultry producers that have hundreds of thousands of chickens and turkey's. Prices are skyrocketing at the grocery store for eggs, I am sure prices for anything that contains eggs will go up dramatically too. Eggs are being rationed and businesses like McDonalds are unable to get the quantities they need. I guess it is a good time to have chickens, because I have plenty of eggs...and the Avian Flu has hit turkeys too...so Thanksgiving Turkeys may be out of a lot of people's price range this year. They are saying it may take a couple of years for the big poultry houses to recover. I will not bring in any outside chickens any more, my flock is healthy and I plan for it to stay that way. So get ready if you live in the United States, eggs are going up, chicken and turkey prices are going up too...don't be too surprised if eggs get up to $10 a dozen before it is all said and done. I have only gone up to $3 a dozen so far, that is still cheaper than the price for the cheapest eggs...and I still don't make enough of of sales to feed my chickens yet.
I have 13 young turkey poults too. I have 17 ducks and 5 geese. Does it sound like I am on my way to a full-fledged poultry farm? I am certainly trying to be! I still have broody hens and decided to give a few fertile duck eggs. I have several broody hens and one is especially nasty. I have been bitten, I have been flogged and just down right attacked several times by her...she is a nasty broody hen! I have a beak mark and a bruise from her on my forearm, it really surprised me how viscous she is when it comes to the eggs she is sitting on. I may have to move her and give her eggs to sit on before she does serious damage to me. I still have several broody hens, but not all of them are as nasty towards me is this little bearded devil. I have three broody Marans and they are pretty docile, my Easter Eggers pecks me when I remove eggs and so does my Silver Laced Wyandotte. The Buff Orpington is starting to peck me too...all of them are getting very thin. I gave a Black Sex-Link a couple of duck eggs, I may give the rest a few to sit on too. I am done incubating in the house, to many disappointments...although my own eggs hatched without problems, I have a lot of barnyard mixes already...so they will be my egg layers if I don't sell them.
The Avian Flu has hit the Northern Tier of the United States really badly, a lot of poultry is being put to death because of it. As far as I know it has not hit Texas yet. There are very few cases of the Avian Flu in backyard flocks, it is mainly hitting major poultry producers that have hundreds of thousands of chickens and turkey's. Prices are skyrocketing at the grocery store for eggs, I am sure prices for anything that contains eggs will go up dramatically too. Eggs are being rationed and businesses like McDonalds are unable to get the quantities they need. I guess it is a good time to have chickens, because I have plenty of eggs...and the Avian Flu has hit turkeys too...so Thanksgiving Turkeys may be out of a lot of people's price range this year. They are saying it may take a couple of years for the big poultry houses to recover. I will not bring in any outside chickens any more, my flock is healthy and I plan for it to stay that way. So get ready if you live in the United States, eggs are going up, chicken and turkey prices are going up too...don't be too surprised if eggs get up to $10 a dozen before it is all said and done. I have only gone up to $3 a dozen so far, that is still cheaper than the price for the cheapest eggs...and I still don't make enough of of sales to feed my chickens yet.
No Place To Go!
Well, I have juvenile chickens coming out of my ears and no place to put them really. I built a cattle panel house and the turkeys are now in it...and I have started on a second one for a grow out pen for the juvenile chickens, but I felt yucky for several days and have not completed it. I let my hens hatch some chicks and I sold 50 of them, but I probably have fifty more that I need to sell. They are barnyard mixes and people want full blooded chickens! Since they wanted full-bloods, I bought the hatching eggs and tried to hatch a bunch of chicks. My hatch is finishing up...it was not good. I set about 120 eggs total and ended up with 27 chicks. Most of them are Marans, I did get a few Blue Laced Red Wyandottes, 1 Speckled Sussex and 1 Jubilee Orpington. It was not a total failure, but I am disappointed about the Jubilee Orpingtons the most.
I am trying to integrate some roosters back into my main flock so I can use the rooster coop for young chickens. It has not gone very well, only two are out of it and they have been busy. I have far too many roosters and need to get rid of some, it would be nice if I could sell some...but, we may just be having a lot of chicken and dumplings this winter! Our Polish chickens are getting picked on so badly that they need their own area too, a lot of them are boys...I have learned my lesson...no more straight run chickens! I believe that is how hatcheries get rid of their males. When you hatch eggs it is a pretty even split on getting males to females...I got 1 female and 4 male Polish from a hatchery, even with hatching eggs, I got two females to 4 males! I have just had to high of a ratio for males! I need females so I just hatch more eggs and end up with a few females...but even more males. They can be rather mean and I will call it aggressive towards the females. A whole lot of my poor hens are bald from being over mated. Even though I made chicken saddles for them, the males have torn a lot of those up. I need to remedy that and lock a bunch of them up and process a bunch for the freezer.
I did not plant a big garden this year, all the rain we have had and all the chicks I hatched pretty much kept that from happening. I have very little planted this year and have gotten very little out of my garden, except some strawberries and blueberries. Those plants are not that big yet. This years fruit off the trees was pretty much a bust too...what fruit there was, was eaten by bugs and birds. I still have grapes on the vine, but they aren't ripe yet. I will have to invest in bird netting next year...my only apple that formed was eaten by birds and they got the few plums off of my new plum tree too. I am waiting on peaches, but a lot of those shriveled up and look like prunes. I think all the rain we had damaged them. I have no tomatoes yet and even if I had green beans...it would be hard to tell with all the weeds in that garden. My corn has not flowered yet...I see no silks. I have some onions...little ones...that is about it. I just don't have the energy some days to get everything done I want to do.
I will work on the grow out pen today, I think. I need to get my babies out of the shed...it is getting far to hot for them in there.
I am trying to integrate some roosters back into my main flock so I can use the rooster coop for young chickens. It has not gone very well, only two are out of it and they have been busy. I have far too many roosters and need to get rid of some, it would be nice if I could sell some...but, we may just be having a lot of chicken and dumplings this winter! Our Polish chickens are getting picked on so badly that they need their own area too, a lot of them are boys...I have learned my lesson...no more straight run chickens! I believe that is how hatcheries get rid of their males. When you hatch eggs it is a pretty even split on getting males to females...I got 1 female and 4 male Polish from a hatchery, even with hatching eggs, I got two females to 4 males! I have just had to high of a ratio for males! I need females so I just hatch more eggs and end up with a few females...but even more males. They can be rather mean and I will call it aggressive towards the females. A whole lot of my poor hens are bald from being over mated. Even though I made chicken saddles for them, the males have torn a lot of those up. I need to remedy that and lock a bunch of them up and process a bunch for the freezer.
I did not plant a big garden this year, all the rain we have had and all the chicks I hatched pretty much kept that from happening. I have very little planted this year and have gotten very little out of my garden, except some strawberries and blueberries. Those plants are not that big yet. This years fruit off the trees was pretty much a bust too...what fruit there was, was eaten by bugs and birds. I still have grapes on the vine, but they aren't ripe yet. I will have to invest in bird netting next year...my only apple that formed was eaten by birds and they got the few plums off of my new plum tree too. I am waiting on peaches, but a lot of those shriveled up and look like prunes. I think all the rain we had damaged them. I have no tomatoes yet and even if I had green beans...it would be hard to tell with all the weeds in that garden. My corn has not flowered yet...I see no silks. I have some onions...little ones...that is about it. I just don't have the energy some days to get everything done I want to do.
I will work on the grow out pen today, I think. I need to get my babies out of the shed...it is getting far to hot for them in there.
Monday, June 15, 2015
Incubation Failure
You take a gamble when you purchase hatching eggs, when eggs come through the mail they can be handled so roughly that none hatch. This is my third try for Jubilee Orpingtons only a few show development. But, even worse after receiving Goose eggs twice, none are developing. A goose egg takes 28 days to hatch I candled on day ten...I see no sign of life. On chicken eggs you can see veins by day 3 most of the time, they only take 21 days to hatch. I tried to candle the Marans eggs too...with the dark brown shell it is hard to see anything inside the eggs with my candler. I probably removed 45 eggs from the incubator that showed no sign of life at day 10, about half the eggs. But There is only one Salmon Favorelle egg left. Salmon Favorelles are on the critically endangered list.
Did I tell you about my little chick Popeye? I name my chicks when they have something special about them. Popeye is a Salmon Favorelle, that hatched a few weeks ago. He was hatched with an eye infection. His eyeball was so swollen I thought it may burst, after doctoring on him for two weeks he is doing a lot better. The swelling has gone down and even though he is more than likely blind in the eye, he is otherwise healthy now. Several of the Salmon Favorelle chicks I hatched have issues. Many have toes stuck together, Salmon Favorelles have 5 toes to begin with...the pinky toe is attached to the middle toe on some I hatched. They seem to be walking OK though. The batch of eggs I got this time was very small eggs, I am wondering if they are very young laying hens they came out of. A hen should have been laying for about three to six months before you hatch the eggs. Small egg size means small chicks...which have a much harder time making it in the world. I think with this batch of eggs, I will be done hatching for the year. I am tired, I have a lot to do and building housing for all the chicks is high on my priority list. I need to do several things, like finish up my breeding pens. Make gates for them, cut down on my rooster population by processing some, make the goose house, because I used the one I made for turkey's...which are doing great by the way.
I have not really planted my garden yet. Yeah, I am way late...but maybe I will get it done in time for a Fall garden. I am glad my garden was so successful last year, we are still eating the stuff I canned this year. The birds have eaten all the plums this year, ate my only apple too...I still have pears and peaches, strawberries and blueberries to harvest...but small amounts. My plants are still rather small this year. Maybe next year will be better...and I may have to invest in bird netting to get a harvest. I only have two grapevines putting out grapes this year. None of my seedless varieties have grapes on them though. With the rain coming this week...I am not sure what I will get done. But, like I said, I am tired...maybe this is Mother Natures way of making me take a breather...we are suppose to get upwards of ten inches of rain this week. I have not gone up to the lake to look at the level of it, but if we get that much rain I am pretty sure my lower garden will flood again.
Did I tell you about my little chick Popeye? I name my chicks when they have something special about them. Popeye is a Salmon Favorelle, that hatched a few weeks ago. He was hatched with an eye infection. His eyeball was so swollen I thought it may burst, after doctoring on him for two weeks he is doing a lot better. The swelling has gone down and even though he is more than likely blind in the eye, he is otherwise healthy now. Several of the Salmon Favorelle chicks I hatched have issues. Many have toes stuck together, Salmon Favorelles have 5 toes to begin with...the pinky toe is attached to the middle toe on some I hatched. They seem to be walking OK though. The batch of eggs I got this time was very small eggs, I am wondering if they are very young laying hens they came out of. A hen should have been laying for about three to six months before you hatch the eggs. Small egg size means small chicks...which have a much harder time making it in the world. I think with this batch of eggs, I will be done hatching for the year. I am tired, I have a lot to do and building housing for all the chicks is high on my priority list. I need to do several things, like finish up my breeding pens. Make gates for them, cut down on my rooster population by processing some, make the goose house, because I used the one I made for turkey's...which are doing great by the way.
I have not really planted my garden yet. Yeah, I am way late...but maybe I will get it done in time for a Fall garden. I am glad my garden was so successful last year, we are still eating the stuff I canned this year. The birds have eaten all the plums this year, ate my only apple too...I still have pears and peaches, strawberries and blueberries to harvest...but small amounts. My plants are still rather small this year. Maybe next year will be better...and I may have to invest in bird netting to get a harvest. I only have two grapevines putting out grapes this year. None of my seedless varieties have grapes on them though. With the rain coming this week...I am not sure what I will get done. But, like I said, I am tired...maybe this is Mother Natures way of making me take a breather...we are suppose to get upwards of ten inches of rain this week. I have not gone up to the lake to look at the level of it, but if we get that much rain I am pretty sure my lower garden will flood again.
Sunday, June 7, 2015
Sold My First Chicks!
With broody hens you eventually get chicks...since I had fourteen broody hens...I have a lot of chicks. I let them go broody so that I could sell the chicks, bad thing was...people want full blooded chicks not barn yard mixes. I ended up selling 50 chicks for $100. I had more chicks hatching every day, still do actually. I still have three hens sitting on eggs. I have four hens in the "Broody House" sharing 12 or 13 chicks too, one of them is sitting on eggs that I had in the incubator for awhile. I went on eBay and purchased more hatching eggs...I got Black Copper and Blue Marans eggs, Jubilee Orpington, Speckled Sussex, Salmon Favorelle from a different line, and Blue Laced Red Wyandottes...and I got some African Geese eggs. I have them all in the incubator now, except the first batch of goose eggs was smashed to bits and the man sent me another batch wrapped much better the second time...they go into the incubator today.
I will have to move the turkeys out to their pen soon...it is actually the pen I am using for the Broody House. They grow quickly, kind of like the ducks and geese. I had several turkeys that had leg issues, spraddle leg is what it is called. One turkey had it and I tried to fix it, worked on him for a few weeks...it steadily got worse. The poor little things leg joint swoll to three times normal, it's foot turned backwards and its hips were not aligned properly, it could not walk any more. We noticed all the other turkeys using him as a pillow, he wasn't eating much either and we discussed putting him down. I got mad at the other turkeys because of them laying on top of him...I say him because of the size and his little tail would fan out like the big boys...he would sing to me when I picked him up. I felt so bad for him, I brought him in the house and bathed him to get all the poop off of him and set him up in a brooder by himself. Crew was going to put him down, I told him nature has its ways...if he survived I would be in shock...but would have taken care of him the way he was. He died during the night, but at least he was in the house, not covered in poop and being abused by the other turkeys. I love all my animals and it hurts me when any are in a bad way, I do the best I can to try and take care of any issues that crop up. At the moment I have a hen with possible Bumblefoot or a bite on her foot that is on the back porch, 3 female ducks that have started limping and have one swollen foot each...probably from running from the boys trying to mate them and one female duck that has an issue with her neck from the boys grabbing her. I am going to have to separate them or get rid of some males...I have 9 females and 8 male ducks...it is a problem for the girls. I do have the 4 girls separated and getting a rest from the males, we are going to inspect them and try to determine how to help them better today, two of them have cuts on the same foot...we need to figure out what it is from.
I will probably be playing musical chicks today, moving the young chick brooder to the back porch, taking the chicks from the broody hens and moving them to that brooder, moving the turkey's to their house, try to integrate the chicks in the swimming pool brooder into the grow out pen. Try to get a roof on some of the breeding pens and put additional small 1/2 inch hardware cloth on one...for another grow out pen. I may not have time for it all...but I will do what I can today. I need to start on the duck and goose pen too...since I am using the one I originally built for them as a turkey house. And since I have goose eggs in the incubator...I am gonna need a bigger house for them.
In the mean time, I got a few things planted...but not near what I need to get planted. The rain made it impossible to use my large gardens, and now I will have to till again because the weeds are taking over. I am going to have to get some large black plastic sheets or something...that way I can cook the weeds, the geese, ducks and chickens are suppose to eat that stuff...but it grows way to fast for them to keep up.
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