This year, so far at least...it has been a mild winter. We have had numerous days that were in the mid sixties to mid Seventies, quite a few weeks it was cloudy and rainy so kind of nasty out in that regard but fairly nice temperature wise. After being sick for a month I have been rather busy playing catch up...I have a lot more to catch up on though.
I did finally get the outer portion of the walls on the chicken run done on my breeding pens I started over the summer. I put quite a few roosters in it, but still need to get dividers done and separate four breeds in it to get some pure breed chicks one of these days. I need to start on another set too. I finally did a head count on my female chickens, if I counted decently I currently have about 175 hens. I am going to guess about 80 roosters, but that is just an estimate. I culled three roosters the past few weeks, they were mixed breed roosters that had been beat up pretty bad and with injuries I didn't want to take the time to doctor them again. Yes, I said again...I healed them up and put them back out and they got ganged up on, smashed into the mud and the one I did yesterday could barely stand up, it was his second stint on the porch...he was given the opportunity, but even though he was treated for worms and I could not see anything wrong with him, he was very thin. After another month on the porch, he kept loosing weight, his comb yesterday was practically white along with his waddles. He had zero meat on his bones! It is hard to tell on chickens unless you pick them up...all the feathers give the illusion of weight. The rooster that was in with him gained weight and looked good...so I put him and three other out in a pen with a turkey that keeps getting picked on back in the yard.
My porch chickens are generally checked on several times a day (doctored on, if needed) for usually a month or more, some just need a break because of a small injury, or things like an eye infection or a mouth canker, sometimes because they feel too light weight to me...so, I feed them well and get their strength up. I have six females and one male out there now. One Marans hen was stepped on by a big male turkey and was holding her leg up, another was being over mated and ganged up on by roosters...not bald on her back...but gonna be there soon if I didn't help her, my little hen Crooked toe had been over mated but her feathers are all back now, she was mostly put into a brooder as company to a Salmon Favorelle hen who is blind in one eye, she gets picked on too...runs around in circles and others peck her on the head to try and make her stop. Two other Salmon Favorelles are now in with her...enjoying a break from the boys. I need to make a small coop for them and fence an area, just for them.
I have been trying to clean pens the past few days, which basically is a maintenance thing. Scraping poop out, turning dirt and evening it up, washing water dishes and refilling them. It is an ongoing thing, but when I was sick I got behind on it. So basically a lot more poop than normal, I can only do a few pens a day with all the other chores. I need to muck out my largest coop, the duck house and breeding pens today and spread fresh straw and pine shavings. It doesn't take long for the duck house to get nasty with 30 ducks sleeping in it at night...if I have time I need to get the chicken tractor cleaned out too...I may do it first. I need to change out the pine shavings in nest boxes too...I don't like dirty eggs and when it rains feet get muddy around here. I bought some nest box pads and those may need cleaning too...my experiment using rubber door mats was unsuccessful...I cut them in two and lined the bottom of the nest box with them...none of my hens would go into the nest boxes. I put pine shavings on top...still only a few will use them. I may order some more of the washable nest box pads...at least they can't kick those out!
I have been baking a lot of cookies and pies lately, I never should have started! Lol...it doesn't take long for them to disappear...and my jeans have gotten tight. I need to start getting outside an working more, out of site, out of mind? It is either that or my husband needs to take them all to work with him. I made several Custard Pies, two Lemon Chess Pies and dozens and dozens of Oatmeal, pecan/or walnut and raisin cookies and bars. Who doesn't like cookies for breakfast? Hey, at least they had some good stuff in them!
I have also been working on improving my soil in my front garden, gotta do something with all that chicken poop and spent bedding. Hopefully my garden will be really good this year. I need to start seeds soon too. I got a bit larger pots to start plants in this year, the small seed starter pots don't really allow for much growth and when we get a lot of rain or a late snow, I can't put the plants in the ground when they are ready. I still need to make a greenhouse too. I have a popup greenhouse in storage...I am not sure I can get it out by myself, but I may try.
Well, that is all I have for now. I have at least one goose laying now and got my first turkey egg yesterday...I may try and clean up incubators and set eggs soon too. But, I need to get my chickens off the porch and clean it well before I do too. I have people calling me already wanting chicks, ducks and geese.
