I got a bit crazy with my poultry raising, I just have too many and at the ripe old age of 60 I am learning the hard way, I need to cut back...a lot. I would love to think that my body will last and be more like the age of a thirty something girl...but it isn’t. I got sick in December, it lasted for several weeks, I got better...then got sick again right after Christmas. The first time, I think was just a bad cold, but it lingered...probably because I spent so much time outside tending to my multitude of poultry. I didn’t feel too awful, but it just took forever to go away, well...being out in the cold, wind and rain is not exactly good for a cold...especially not for the length of time it takes me to feed, water, muck out coops and spread fresh straw or pine shavings. When I got sick the second time it was awful, if I sat still it was not too bad, but...you cannot do that when you have a farm. Feeling weak and dizzy, chilled to my core, coughing, aching...well you get the picture and it didn’t want to go away. Most of the time I can power through my chores. At least if I put the major stuff off, like mucking large coops...not this time. I actually asked my husband to help, or he volunteered and did it all. But, during that time I realized...I need to downsize majorly.
I have been advertising here and there, trying to reduce the male population first and get rid of the adults that I raised...because everyone wants to know they are getting a male and female on poultry like geese and turkeys. My feed bill has been awful for years and I don’t sell enough eggs, chicks or other poultry to pay for my flock, which was the goal to begin with. I have been donating eggs to the local food pantry, so they wouldn’t go to waste. I cannot keep being in the red every year. So I didn’t have to keep feeding them, last year I gave away 62 roosters and two or three male turkeys. I didn’t hatch as many last year, but yesterday, I gave away 20 adult roosters and a male turkey that decided to try and get me every time I fed the poultry in his area. He did a surprise attack on me when I wasn’t looking and hit me hard in the knee...it was time, before I stabbed him with a pitchfork or something. I still have several more males to get rid of too. I had a guy who said he wanted my male turkeys...but, he never showed up and stopped communication, so I am thinking maybe he just said that so maybe he could get rid of some or something...who knows? Yes, we could eat them...but, I don’t really have time to process them and my husband doesn’t really want to. The plucking would be the worst part. I may end up doing it anyway. I have five extra males...I could probably fill the freezer up with ground turkey meat since the weigh about 35 pounds each.
I have just barely gotten my garden plants started in pots, I still need to do more and till again. But it has been raining too much and Mother Nature has been a bit crazy lately. One day it is almost 80 and the next it drops down in the 20’s! My fruit trees have been trying to bloom since December, but a week ago a few were in full bloom when another freeze hit and it was in the 20’s at night for a few nights in a row....my daffodils croaked, but it appears that maybe all but one peach tree kept their blooms. I guess we will see if they actually produce any fruits. My Almond trees, apples, plums, peaches, pears and blueberries have blooms now...not all of them but the ones big enough to actually produce fruit are blooming pretty profusely now. I am going to have to start mowing already too.
The puppies are growing like weeds, my Labrador retriever Kensie is happy that they are willing to play with her, my Catahoula Bailee thinks she gets to rough and they had a fight, but the Catahoula that outweighs her got the short end of the stick...she got a pretty bad gash on her leg. My Lab likes to try and pull the other dogs legs out from under them and Bailee wasn’t having any of that...so instead of falling over, Bailee stood her ground...and Kensie’s long teeth did a number on her. When Bailee got hurt she gave Kensie a warning bark to leave her alone, but Kensie thought she was playing...next thing I know Bailee has Kensie down on the ground by the neck. Kensie ended up with a puncture wound under her eye. Did I really need five dogs? Not really, but life is better with animals...except when they wake up up at 3:30am...then it is debatable.
