I am sorry I haven't written lately, as usual I have been rather busy. We had some chilly temperatures that prompted me to get my rear in gear and start getting the chicken coops ready for winter. I got some tarps hung before the rain started from Hurricane Patricia and cleaned a few out...but didn't get finished. It has been raining for days now an I have been trying to get more done in the rain. I got two more gates built for my breeding pens and shade cloth hung over them, and then a tarp...but when it started raining the tarps caught so much rain it bent the t-posts and the tarps were so full of water they were almost on the ground...the roosters in the pens were on the sides of the pens and I had to bail the water out to even get the gates to open. I was able to basically put a pole in the center of some sort of the pens to get the rain to drain off...but a few actually broke under the weight of the water. I will have to rethink those pens, they were meant as breeding pens not to house any chickens long term, but they have a lot of roosters in them and a couple of turkeys that were injured.
The rain is causing issues...because the chickens have stripped all of the vegetation out of their yards. We are on something of a hill and a lot of the dirt is washing down the hill and blocking gates, getting deep around the coops and holes are opening up in spots. Not sure what I am going to do, I don't have any way to move it...except one shovel at a time. After all the bailing out of the tarps, I can't do that...I hurt myself and have to wait to try. So I may have to actually take the gates off and rehang them and hope all of the roosters I have penned up in them, don't get out. Why are they locked up? Well, I hatched a lot of eggs this past Spring...I don't know how to sex chicks and the ones I didn't sell got to grow up, there are a lot of them. My male to female ratio in some batches was two or three to one, in a small batch of Polish I hatched one female and 5 males! I have seven of the eight pens full of roosters...there are at least 60 in the pens. If a rooster is overly aggressive towards the hens or participates in basically gang raping a hen...I will snatch them up and separate them from the rest of the flock. At this moment, I have quite a few hens that are bald on their backs because of the roosters. I am trying to get them out any way I can and most of these roosters will be processed and eaten for dinner. I just want to make sure that I save the best of them for breeding purposes. I still have a lot of roosters running around in the yard too.
This city girl gone country should have done more homework and realized how hard it would be to get everything done in a timely matter...that is a big fail for me. I always thought I was pretty tough and could always get things done with very little to work with. That may be true of some things but the country is NOT the city. I cannot get everything I need at the drop of a hat and it is harder for me because we only have one vehicle. Although I sell eggs and chickens, those sales don't bring in much money, some weeks I may not sell anything at all. This past week has been pretty good, but I only sold $55 dollars worth of eggs, since I spent about $175 on feed and parts for gates and feed pans, that is not a good ratio. It takes 50 lbs of feed a day to feed our almost 300 poultry, if it was not for my husbands business doing better the past few weeks I would have a bunch of hungry poultry. They free range during the day, and even though the main part of their yard has no grass left...I fenced a large portion beyond that, that still does have grass. It was looking pretty bad because of the drought, but with the rain we are getting it will green up nicely and give them some more supplemental greens. The fence I used came from a garden area that I made that stays too wet when it rains like it has been. So far we have gotten over 5 - 1/4 inches of rain out of Hurricane Patricia's remnants in a couple of days time. It is still raining too. It has been a fairly steady and gentle rain for the most part, but the temperature dropped yesterday when a cold front came through and the wind picked up and it always worries me when it has rained a lot and the wind gets up over 20 miles an hour...trees start falling.
I can see a lot of roots around the trees in the poultry yard, these are large trees and I am just hoping none of them fall. I positioned the coops under those trees. I am going to have to get some type of winter forage planted for the poultry and to hold the soil in place. The good news is a lot of my poultry is finely venturing out the gate into the larger fenced area with the grass. I guess it helps that I go out there and throw scratch grains out there and they run to me when I go out. They see grasshoppers and such and go after them...so they are finely getting the hang of it.
Monday, October 26, 2015
Wednesday, October 7, 2015
Rooster Roundup Time!
At this moment, I have six pens full of roosters...I think a total of 41 since one escaped a pen, they are pretty good at that. I have a bunch more that need to be separated out and I had one disappear...it was a Salmon Favorelle and I am upset about it being just gone...I had two, and it was the better looking of the two. I am trying to keep at least two of each breed, but a lot of these that need to be rounded up are young, but becoming sexually active so, they have to be penned up.
I need to do an inventory of breeds, I am afraid we may be having someone helping themselves to my chickens. I may be missing a Double Laced Blue Barnevelder and a Blue Splash Maran too, possibly a Buff Orpington and Gold Laced Wyandotte, Speckled Sussex...and Dominiques. I have a list of what I hatched and ordered...the only chickens I sold were mixed breed...none have died either. My husband said he would have told me if he found any. We lock them up at night, but have found doors open, gates open and even part of the fence undone. The trail camera needs to be moved over into the area again. I may need to electrify the fence too. Most of my chickens stay in the fenced area, any that get out run the fence and don't stray far. I have been leaving my dogs out more and letting them into the larger fenced area, they are fairly good at not chasing the poultry. The only one that they may have killed was not eaten, had no bite marks...it flew over the fence to the backyard, they probably chased it and it had a heart attack. They help round them up sometimes and have removed a few feathers in the process, but most of the time I can go out and the dogs will be laying in the yard with chickens and turkeys walking around them.
Anyway, today I need to work on the pens so I can round up more roosters. I have two more built, but need to put shade cloth over the top and have tarps to cover them with too...and build gates. We need to process a bunch of the roosters but we need to set up a processing station to do it. I have felt kind of lazy lately and done more in the house than outside projects. That needs to change, I need to get a lot done before it gets cold and figure out coop winterization. Our geese and a few ducks have decided they like the big chicken coop and have been sleeping in it instead of their house, if they keep it up I may put roosts in it and use their house for chickens! If I can get the pens done by this weekend, I can probably get my hubby to help me round up roosters, he is much better using the net than me.
I need to do an inventory of breeds, I am afraid we may be having someone helping themselves to my chickens. I may be missing a Double Laced Blue Barnevelder and a Blue Splash Maran too, possibly a Buff Orpington and Gold Laced Wyandotte, Speckled Sussex...and Dominiques. I have a list of what I hatched and ordered...the only chickens I sold were mixed breed...none have died either. My husband said he would have told me if he found any. We lock them up at night, but have found doors open, gates open and even part of the fence undone. The trail camera needs to be moved over into the area again. I may need to electrify the fence too. Most of my chickens stay in the fenced area, any that get out run the fence and don't stray far. I have been leaving my dogs out more and letting them into the larger fenced area, they are fairly good at not chasing the poultry. The only one that they may have killed was not eaten, had no bite marks...it flew over the fence to the backyard, they probably chased it and it had a heart attack. They help round them up sometimes and have removed a few feathers in the process, but most of the time I can go out and the dogs will be laying in the yard with chickens and turkeys walking around them.
Anyway, today I need to work on the pens so I can round up more roosters. I have two more built, but need to put shade cloth over the top and have tarps to cover them with too...and build gates. We need to process a bunch of the roosters but we need to set up a processing station to do it. I have felt kind of lazy lately and done more in the house than outside projects. That needs to change, I need to get a lot done before it gets cold and figure out coop winterization. Our geese and a few ducks have decided they like the big chicken coop and have been sleeping in it instead of their house, if they keep it up I may put roosts in it and use their house for chickens! If I can get the pens done by this weekend, I can probably get my hubby to help me round up roosters, he is much better using the net than me.
Monday, October 5, 2015
Took A Day Off - Sort Of
I never really take a full day off...I just don't do as much, or everything I planned on. I had some pain in my back Saturday, so I took it fairly easy for most of the day. I cooked breakfast, unloaded the dish washer, fed the animals, folded clothes...paid some bills. Then sat and chatted on Facebook, tried to answer some questions for fellow chicken lovers. My husband was working so I just semi-rested a bit. I had planned on getting the tools out and finishing dismantling the Lowboy chicken tractor...but decided it could wait. Thought about peeling these 20 or so pounds of pears my husband brought home, but didn't do that either...they were free and we are thinking about making cider with them.
When my husband got home we took the dogs for a walk, discussed how bad we needed to clear some of the trees growing around the lake...I skipped trimming trees for several months and all the work I did last year...well, it is hard to tell this year. The vines and weeds are all grown back, you can still tell I trimmed all of the branches up on the trees around the shooting range, but the piles of dead branches are still laying up there waiting to get burned. We are under a burn ban now...so it won't be happening any time soon. Trees have grown up on the shooting range in the markers, they need to be removed before they get larger, Sycamores and willows grow really fast, trees that were not there last year are ten to twenty feet tall! I need some small trees for roosts anyway, so maybe next week I will get some cut down...I had cut one young Sycamore tree from beside the lake but it was hard to get to and there are a lot of trees around an area there were none. I thinned out some red maples too, the smooth barked trees are easier on poultries feet than rough bark. Some of the younger oaks are smooth too...so a lot of the trees we cut will be used for something...roosts or I may try and make gates out of some of the straighter trees, most of these young trees only have about a two to three inch trunk.
Today I may crack some more pecans...I did it last Sunday too, I got about a half gallon of meats out in about three hours while I was watching football. Crew is smoking a Pork Butt today, it is nice out and cool...he opened all the windows and you can smell the meat pretty good all through the house. We need some sort of press to squeeze the juice out of the pears, I need to think about it some, I have found a few scratters and presses on the internet that look pretty easy to make, if I make a press maybe I can use it for cheese too? I don't know...I saw some on eBay too...a metal one would probably last a lot longer, maybe I can get one on eBay for less than constructing one. I still need to make a top bar beehive too. I would love to have our own honey bees, but that too will be a learning process...I have a lot of wants...dreams I guess, it will all come together eventually. I still need to build another chicken structure too. We have some metal posts and angle iron behind the shed I am thinking about trying to use, I just need to prioritize everything and get to work.
When my husband got home we took the dogs for a walk, discussed how bad we needed to clear some of the trees growing around the lake...I skipped trimming trees for several months and all the work I did last year...well, it is hard to tell this year. The vines and weeds are all grown back, you can still tell I trimmed all of the branches up on the trees around the shooting range, but the piles of dead branches are still laying up there waiting to get burned. We are under a burn ban now...so it won't be happening any time soon. Trees have grown up on the shooting range in the markers, they need to be removed before they get larger, Sycamores and willows grow really fast, trees that were not there last year are ten to twenty feet tall! I need some small trees for roosts anyway, so maybe next week I will get some cut down...I had cut one young Sycamore tree from beside the lake but it was hard to get to and there are a lot of trees around an area there were none. I thinned out some red maples too, the smooth barked trees are easier on poultries feet than rough bark. Some of the younger oaks are smooth too...so a lot of the trees we cut will be used for something...roosts or I may try and make gates out of some of the straighter trees, most of these young trees only have about a two to three inch trunk.
Today I may crack some more pecans...I did it last Sunday too, I got about a half gallon of meats out in about three hours while I was watching football. Crew is smoking a Pork Butt today, it is nice out and cool...he opened all the windows and you can smell the meat pretty good all through the house. We need some sort of press to squeeze the juice out of the pears, I need to think about it some, I have found a few scratters and presses on the internet that look pretty easy to make, if I make a press maybe I can use it for cheese too? I don't know...I saw some on eBay too...a metal one would probably last a lot longer, maybe I can get one on eBay for less than constructing one. I still need to make a top bar beehive too. I would love to have our own honey bees, but that too will be a learning process...I have a lot of wants...dreams I guess, it will all come together eventually. I still need to build another chicken structure too. We have some metal posts and angle iron behind the shed I am thinking about trying to use, I just need to prioritize everything and get to work.
Saturday, October 3, 2015
Cooler Weather At Last!
It has been really nice this past week. The humidity has been low and the temperatures have only been in the eighties for the highs, bright sunshiny days too...lows in the sixties at night. I enjoy spending time outside when it is like this. I did some yard work, mowing, trimming, weeding, watering...loved standing in the sun with all the turkeys following me making their happy noises and gobbling when I talked to them. The chickens come out and investigate when I am watering the trees, all of them follow me down the fence line, chasing bugs and toads through the grass. I still have some tilling to do...I want to get the ground prepared somewhat for planting in the spring. I have been saving cardboard to cover areas to keep the weeds down. The weeds are a constant battle...well, not where the chickens congregate.
Poultry doesn't like tall grass either, they tend to avoid areas that it is over 8 inches or so...unless it is laying over. Most areas that have shade are bare or close to it, they have eaten everything down to the ground in their main areas. There is still a lot of grass in the bigger fenced section of the yard, we still have to mow it, but they love scratching around in the piles of grass looking for bugs afterward. The ducks and geese are constantly eating, if I dump water out they dig a hole...we have a lot of holes in the yard, change out water every day...dump the nasty water, wash the containers and refill them...pools too. I rake up the yard fairly often too...but if I don't remove what I rake...the chickens spread it all over the yard within minutes, if I turn my back on them.
The turkeys are discovering they can fly, they have been flying up into the trees lately, flying on top of my big coop and walking around on the roof...they jump down onto the shade cloth I have hanging up too. They are getting heavy, I am afraid they will break the polycarbonate roof panels over the run. They have been jumping on the tarps too...and tearing them up...the shade cloth is a bit tougher I suppose. I have a feeling it would be cheaper in the long run to use metal roof panels on the coops than to keep buying tarps to replace what is being torn up. Turkeys are large heavy birds, yesterday I was having a hard time getting them all to go into their house to eat...so I caught some and carried them to their house. I didn't get a good hold on one and he got his wings loose and started flapping wildly, dirt started flying everywhere and I was getting beat by his wings. He got me once or twice on the head and face...but I held on. Probably a mistake, but I got him to calm down and got him in the turkey house. It is no wonder I have bruises and scratches on my arms most of the time...most of the time I have a bird fly up and grab my arm trying to get to the feed...I have small round bruises from the chickens toenails on both arms...and now a few new scratches that bled from getting raked with the turkeys toenails.
The turkeys are good about trying to clean me up too. Since I feed fermented feed, I use large five gallon buckets to mix it in. When I go out to feed, I stir the buckets to mix it up well before I give it to my poultry...sometimes it splashes on my jeans. Once I start pouring it, sometimes it will get on the outside of the bucket and they are heavy so it will rub off on me...the buckets weigh 35 to 40 pounds...then a chicken will jump up and in the bucket sometimes. Needless to say, I get covered in food sometimes...I find myself getting pecked at a lot...when the turkeys see the food on me, they feel abliged to get it off and clean me up. I guess the geese do too sometimes, but not as much as the turkeys...I will be somewhat surrounded by them and they will peck any area that has food on it, whether it be the side of my leg, the front of my shirt, or the seat of my pants...my best bet sometimes is just to stand still and let them clean me up. They tend to grab my jeans sometimes trying to get at the food, the geese have goosed me pretty good a few times and getting pecked by a turkey on the butt can be a little painful at times. But when a chicken gets into the feed bucket and I am carrying two of them and surrounded by hundreds of poultry so that I can't see the ground...or set the buckets down...they sometimes hit the food and flap wildly trying to get out. There have been several instances that I get food from the top of my head to my toes! Splattered all over my glasses, my arms...all over my clothes, in my hair...and the grooming starts. I have had my glasses removed from my face, my hair pulled, the geese have actually pulled a shoe off before...so, I recommend if you wear Sloggers to make sure you have them on your feet properly! I tend to use mine more like slides a lot. Quick to slide on and off! I try not to wear my shoes in the house, so I keep them by the back door to slide on when I go feed or have an egg customer drive up.
Anyway, I do enjoy the cooler weather...try and spend more time outside getting things done before the heat comes back. It got down in the mid fifties last night and the high today is suppose to be around eighty. In a few days it will be going back up into the nineties, so I need to get some more building done. I don't mind hard work...good thing too, because I have a lot to get done before it gets cold.
The turkeys are good about trying to clean me up too. Since I feed fermented feed, I use large five gallon buckets to mix it in. When I go out to feed, I stir the buckets to mix it up well before I give it to my poultry...sometimes it splashes on my jeans. Once I start pouring it, sometimes it will get on the outside of the bucket and they are heavy so it will rub off on me...the buckets weigh 35 to 40 pounds...then a chicken will jump up and in the bucket sometimes. Needless to say, I get covered in food sometimes...I find myself getting pecked at a lot...when the turkeys see the food on me, they feel abliged to get it off and clean me up. I guess the geese do too sometimes, but not as much as the turkeys...I will be somewhat surrounded by them and they will peck any area that has food on it, whether it be the side of my leg, the front of my shirt, or the seat of my pants...my best bet sometimes is just to stand still and let them clean me up. They tend to grab my jeans sometimes trying to get at the food, the geese have goosed me pretty good a few times and getting pecked by a turkey on the butt can be a little painful at times. But when a chicken gets into the feed bucket and I am carrying two of them and surrounded by hundreds of poultry so that I can't see the ground...or set the buckets down...they sometimes hit the food and flap wildly trying to get out. There have been several instances that I get food from the top of my head to my toes! Splattered all over my glasses, my arms...all over my clothes, in my hair...and the grooming starts. I have had my glasses removed from my face, my hair pulled, the geese have actually pulled a shoe off before...so, I recommend if you wear Sloggers to make sure you have them on your feet properly! I tend to use mine more like slides a lot. Quick to slide on and off! I try not to wear my shoes in the house, so I keep them by the back door to slide on when I go feed or have an egg customer drive up.
Anyway, I do enjoy the cooler weather...try and spend more time outside getting things done before the heat comes back. It got down in the mid fifties last night and the high today is suppose to be around eighty. In a few days it will be going back up into the nineties, so I need to get some more building done. I don't mind hard work...good thing too, because I have a lot to get done before it gets cold.
Monday, September 21, 2015
Git R Done!
Sometimes I wonder if I will ever really have a day off again...and I don't even have a "job"!
There is an even greater appreciation here, of everyone that has ever worked on a farm or raised farm animals. Maybe it is because I am learning, maybe it is because I love all these birds I have hatched and raised, I work my rear end off and the days fly by for the most part. This past week has been really busy, and I am not finished re-arranging my coop. I dismantled the roosts and re-worked them and my nest boxes, so that I have more places for my chickens to roost...well, kind of anyway. They like roosting high, so even having 52 feet of roosts in my big coop, they only roosted on 1/3 of the roosts...the top bars of my ladder style roosts. Live and learn...I moved nest boxes to one end and removed the waterer from the wall to make room. I redid the roosts down from the door to the far right wall, the stretch from window to window four feet off the ground and 8 feet across. I have two bars running a foot out from the window on both sides...then the roosts are about every 14 inches for eight feet, but they can also sit on the side bars too. So I went from two and a half 8 foot roosts they actually used to seven 8 foot roosts. I have a 10 hole nest box on the wall on the far side of the coop and one 4 hole one that I will put where I took the waterer down from.
I moved a set of three nest boxes mounted on the front of the run by the door to the left side of the run with the 6 hole nest box I took from the inside of the coop. I moved the waterer I took out of the inside, to the front of the run...the rain barrel that feeds it, I moved to the right of the entry door and I put one nipple type PVC waterer on the inside of the run and one on the outside of the run. I took one nest box and moved it to what we call the condo too. I have found eggs in the Condo, so maybe whoever is laying will use it instead of the floor. I also hung a shade sail that I had gotten for the gun range shooting station...but forgot about...on the front of the coop over the rain barrel to give them some shade. The shade cloth is probably at least 8' by 10', much better than the two chairs they were laying under for shade! I am just hoping that the turkeys don't use it as a trampoline like they do the ones over my breeding/rooster pens. Speaking of roosters...my husband and I caught more and I think I have around 43 rooster in those pens now. I still have a lot of roosters running around too! Lots of them are still young and not "active", if you know what I mean..but taking so many out of the coop and yard I hope my poor girls will grow all their feathers back before it gets cold. Around here, it does not usually freeze until late November or early December...maybe they will quit molting too, my hens hatched last Spring look pretty awful, at least the popular girls do. Some of them even have a sunburn on their bald spots. I had chicken saddles on them, but some have gotten torn up and some just got ripped off. I should have separated roosters out sooner, but I just didn't have anywhere to do it until I built the pens...and finished them with doors and tops.
When I build, rearrange, or tear down anything...I still have all my other chores to do. I partially tore apart the "Lowboy" chicken tractor that was damaged from the weight of water on the tarp I covered it with, I partially cleaned my feed room (where I mix up fermented feed and store it), broke down a lot of boxes to use around plants to try and keep weeds down, plus laundry, dishes, vacuuming, cooking, shopping, feeding, watering, cleaning...well, you know...every day chores. My husband has been feeding the poultry in the mornings, so it gives me a bit more time to do some morning chores in the house and he helps in the evenings when I don't get them fed before he gets home from work. I try and feed them around 3:30 or 4:00pm to give them time to eat and digest some before he gets home and gives them scratch grains. I finally got a shade cloth hung over our back patio too...so we can have a shady spot to sit. We sat out and rested between our activities yesterday. My husband replaced some pullies and a spindle on the mower deck and mowed some yesterday, while I was working on the shade cloth and waterers. It was nice yesterday, there was a breeze and even though it was still really warm...it felt pretty good in the shade.
My husband has been working with the dogs, trying to get them so they don't chase the poultry. Yesterday they got to actually go into the large fenced portion of the yard with all of our poultry, it was interesting watching them. Bailee is really the only dog we worry about chasing and possibly killing anything. She is our Catahoula mix, our Hog Dog. We had to keep reinforcing no chasing, be a good dog and praising her when she behaved. She had turkeys and geese, ducks and chickens all around her...my husband was basically playing fetch with Sophie and Kensie was mainly interested in sitting in one of the large water buckets. We have a few turkeys that like to sit in our laps and they decided to do it yesterday...I had a female in my lap at one point and a male decided he wanted up in my lap, she jumped up on my shoulder then tried to get on top of my head! These are not small turkeys, they have good sized claws too. I got her off my head but he stayed laying in my lap and enjoyed having his neck rubbed for awhile longer. You can tell how much they like it...they stretch their neck out and close their eyes when you rub their waddles or the back of their neck. I think the females probably weigh at least ten to twelve pound now and the males fifteen to twenty pounds...no I have not weighed them, I am estimating. They are a it over four mo this old now.
I cleaned cages on the back porch on Friday, I have a bald Silver Wyandotte chicken hen up there and Pop-Eye the Salmon Favorelle and Buddy Chicken the Cream Legbar both of them have eye issues, I brought them on the porch to make sure they were getting enough to eat...they seemed thin. Pop-Eye is completely blind in one eye, she had a bad eye infection when she was hatched. Buddy Chicken has one eyeball that is way back in the socket and flat...like he has no cornea? I think he can see out of it, just not extremely well...he does not run around in circles like Pop-Eye does. We have one rooster my husband has stuck with the name Blind Melon, he appears to have cataracts on both eyes but he gets around well, eats well and is a very good looking rooster he just gets special treatment...my husband will give him food and set him right in front of it or treats to make sure he gets enough to eat. He is blossoming, he is getting out of the coop and interacting more, has grown well and is a good healthy weight.
I need to get busy, I just woke up early and decided to write today. I still have a lot to do, I am trying to get some building and changes made before the time change occurs November 1st. I plan on trying to get some garden chores done too, need to ad a wire mesh to the bottom of my garden so rabbits can't get in and eat everything, and make a new gate...the current gate is actually part of a fence and my chickens keep getting in the garden it doesn't latch well and I have had to wire it shut...we had to chase a lot of chickens out of it yesterday. I have a plan to move blueberry bushes too...
There is an even greater appreciation here, of everyone that has ever worked on a farm or raised farm animals. Maybe it is because I am learning, maybe it is because I love all these birds I have hatched and raised, I work my rear end off and the days fly by for the most part. This past week has been really busy, and I am not finished re-arranging my coop. I dismantled the roosts and re-worked them and my nest boxes, so that I have more places for my chickens to roost...well, kind of anyway. They like roosting high, so even having 52 feet of roosts in my big coop, they only roosted on 1/3 of the roosts...the top bars of my ladder style roosts. Live and learn...I moved nest boxes to one end and removed the waterer from the wall to make room. I redid the roosts down from the door to the far right wall, the stretch from window to window four feet off the ground and 8 feet across. I have two bars running a foot out from the window on both sides...then the roosts are about every 14 inches for eight feet, but they can also sit on the side bars too. So I went from two and a half 8 foot roosts they actually used to seven 8 foot roosts. I have a 10 hole nest box on the wall on the far side of the coop and one 4 hole one that I will put where I took the waterer down from.
I moved a set of three nest boxes mounted on the front of the run by the door to the left side of the run with the 6 hole nest box I took from the inside of the coop. I moved the waterer I took out of the inside, to the front of the run...the rain barrel that feeds it, I moved to the right of the entry door and I put one nipple type PVC waterer on the inside of the run and one on the outside of the run. I took one nest box and moved it to what we call the condo too. I have found eggs in the Condo, so maybe whoever is laying will use it instead of the floor. I also hung a shade sail that I had gotten for the gun range shooting station...but forgot about...on the front of the coop over the rain barrel to give them some shade. The shade cloth is probably at least 8' by 10', much better than the two chairs they were laying under for shade! I am just hoping that the turkeys don't use it as a trampoline like they do the ones over my breeding/rooster pens. Speaking of roosters...my husband and I caught more and I think I have around 43 rooster in those pens now. I still have a lot of roosters running around too! Lots of them are still young and not "active", if you know what I mean..but taking so many out of the coop and yard I hope my poor girls will grow all their feathers back before it gets cold. Around here, it does not usually freeze until late November or early December...maybe they will quit molting too, my hens hatched last Spring look pretty awful, at least the popular girls do. Some of them even have a sunburn on their bald spots. I had chicken saddles on them, but some have gotten torn up and some just got ripped off. I should have separated roosters out sooner, but I just didn't have anywhere to do it until I built the pens...and finished them with doors and tops.
When I build, rearrange, or tear down anything...I still have all my other chores to do. I partially tore apart the "Lowboy" chicken tractor that was damaged from the weight of water on the tarp I covered it with, I partially cleaned my feed room (where I mix up fermented feed and store it), broke down a lot of boxes to use around plants to try and keep weeds down, plus laundry, dishes, vacuuming, cooking, shopping, feeding, watering, cleaning...well, you know...every day chores. My husband has been feeding the poultry in the mornings, so it gives me a bit more time to do some morning chores in the house and he helps in the evenings when I don't get them fed before he gets home from work. I try and feed them around 3:30 or 4:00pm to give them time to eat and digest some before he gets home and gives them scratch grains. I finally got a shade cloth hung over our back patio too...so we can have a shady spot to sit. We sat out and rested between our activities yesterday. My husband replaced some pullies and a spindle on the mower deck and mowed some yesterday, while I was working on the shade cloth and waterers. It was nice yesterday, there was a breeze and even though it was still really warm...it felt pretty good in the shade.
My husband has been working with the dogs, trying to get them so they don't chase the poultry. Yesterday they got to actually go into the large fenced portion of the yard with all of our poultry, it was interesting watching them. Bailee is really the only dog we worry about chasing and possibly killing anything. She is our Catahoula mix, our Hog Dog. We had to keep reinforcing no chasing, be a good dog and praising her when she behaved. She had turkeys and geese, ducks and chickens all around her...my husband was basically playing fetch with Sophie and Kensie was mainly interested in sitting in one of the large water buckets. We have a few turkeys that like to sit in our laps and they decided to do it yesterday...I had a female in my lap at one point and a male decided he wanted up in my lap, she jumped up on my shoulder then tried to get on top of my head! These are not small turkeys, they have good sized claws too. I got her off my head but he stayed laying in my lap and enjoyed having his neck rubbed for awhile longer. You can tell how much they like it...they stretch their neck out and close their eyes when you rub their waddles or the back of their neck. I think the females probably weigh at least ten to twelve pound now and the males fifteen to twenty pounds...no I have not weighed them, I am estimating. They are a it over four mo this old now.
I cleaned cages on the back porch on Friday, I have a bald Silver Wyandotte chicken hen up there and Pop-Eye the Salmon Favorelle and Buddy Chicken the Cream Legbar both of them have eye issues, I brought them on the porch to make sure they were getting enough to eat...they seemed thin. Pop-Eye is completely blind in one eye, she had a bad eye infection when she was hatched. Buddy Chicken has one eyeball that is way back in the socket and flat...like he has no cornea? I think he can see out of it, just not extremely well...he does not run around in circles like Pop-Eye does. We have one rooster my husband has stuck with the name Blind Melon, he appears to have cataracts on both eyes but he gets around well, eats well and is a very good looking rooster he just gets special treatment...my husband will give him food and set him right in front of it or treats to make sure he gets enough to eat. He is blossoming, he is getting out of the coop and interacting more, has grown well and is a good healthy weight.
I need to get busy, I just woke up early and decided to write today. I still have a lot to do, I am trying to get some building and changes made before the time change occurs November 1st. I plan on trying to get some garden chores done too, need to ad a wire mesh to the bottom of my garden so rabbits can't get in and eat everything, and make a new gate...the current gate is actually part of a fence and my chickens keep getting in the garden it doesn't latch well and I have had to wire it shut...we had to chase a lot of chickens out of it yesterday. I have a plan to move blueberry bushes too...
Wednesday, September 16, 2015
Playing Catch Up
It is very easy to get behind on chores and duties here on our little farm. I am playing catch up, I always get behind on chores when I build things or it rains a lot. I take care of live animals first and foremost...so, sometimes other things slide, like folding laundry and putting it away, or scrubbing toilets, maybe dusting...well, I don't like doing that stuff anyway...but, I do it. I am behind on a lot...but, I try and prioritize things and get some stuff done while the weather is decent. I weeded the garden I planted...I had to, you could not see anything but weeds...but there is corn planted in there...was green beans, asparagus, carrots, cantaloupe, watermelon...it was covered up with weeds. I had to hand pull weeds that were 4 feet tall, it took awhile...I was trying not to pull up my vegetables with them. I think the only reason there were any left was because of the weeds...the gate became unlatched and the chickens and turkeys decided they needed to check out the garden...I got lucky, they ate mostly the weeds.
I worked on watering today, our lawn tractor is broken again...parts are on order...so instead of filling up my pump sprayer, I had to drag hoses and water by hand. My fruit trees needed it and so did all my potted plants, that took awhile, I transplanted plum trees last year and am trying to keep them alive, my apple trees, pears and grapevines needed it bad too. I pulled up a bunch of weeds in a flower bed too, trying to find these red Spider Lily things that are blooming in other peoples yards...we had them bloom last year, but I think they may have been mowed over this year...oh well. One of these days I will do up the flower beds right to keep that from happening...out here I have already gotten poison ivy really bad trying to clean this flower bed.
I decided I needed to work on the chicken coop. Winter is coming and I need to increase roost space inside my big coop and move chickens around. I am trying to figure out how to get more roosts the same height with more capacity...but still be able to clean easily. I moved a 10 hole nest box inside the coop, I will probably remove the smaller ones and use them in the run or another coop. But I had to clean the walls and didn't get it finished, I had to reinstall a roost tonight in the coop...the second one I put in the run and the chickens started perching on it and it is not attached to anything. I was worried that they would be confused and not find a place to sleep, but they did good. I just hope when I finish the modifications more of them will go into that coop! I am thinking about moving the rain barrel that supplies water to the big coop too, the chickens will stand on the grate underneath the PVC pipe and play with the watering nipples and flood the floor and stand in the water. They make a big mess and I am trying to think of ways to keep that from happening and make sure they have clean water available all the times. Right now it takes a long time to fill all of the waterers I have and to clean them out. But the PVC waterers will explode if they freeze. Ask me how I know this?!
I worked on watering today, our lawn tractor is broken again...parts are on order...so instead of filling up my pump sprayer, I had to drag hoses and water by hand. My fruit trees needed it and so did all my potted plants, that took awhile, I transplanted plum trees last year and am trying to keep them alive, my apple trees, pears and grapevines needed it bad too. I pulled up a bunch of weeds in a flower bed too, trying to find these red Spider Lily things that are blooming in other peoples yards...we had them bloom last year, but I think they may have been mowed over this year...oh well. One of these days I will do up the flower beds right to keep that from happening...out here I have already gotten poison ivy really bad trying to clean this flower bed.
I decided I needed to work on the chicken coop. Winter is coming and I need to increase roost space inside my big coop and move chickens around. I am trying to figure out how to get more roosts the same height with more capacity...but still be able to clean easily. I moved a 10 hole nest box inside the coop, I will probably remove the smaller ones and use them in the run or another coop. But I had to clean the walls and didn't get it finished, I had to reinstall a roost tonight in the coop...the second one I put in the run and the chickens started perching on it and it is not attached to anything. I was worried that they would be confused and not find a place to sleep, but they did good. I just hope when I finish the modifications more of them will go into that coop! I am thinking about moving the rain barrel that supplies water to the big coop too, the chickens will stand on the grate underneath the PVC pipe and play with the watering nipples and flood the floor and stand in the water. They make a big mess and I am trying to think of ways to keep that from happening and make sure they have clean water available all the times. Right now it takes a long time to fill all of the waterers I have and to clean them out. But the PVC waterers will explode if they freeze. Ask me how I know this?!
Sunday, September 13, 2015
Small Taste of Piggies
There is nothing like being thrown into a situation that you have no idea how to deal with, but I think we did a pretty good job of taking care of the pigs that came wandering into my yard. Today was the 9th day...after I had a conversation with a neighbor down the street who works at a local feed store I found out who they might belong to...today was the first time my husband saw that someone was home and he went over to talk to the neighbor. They were hers, she described them to a T, they had been missing since the day before they came wandering into my yard. My neighbor thought they were in someone's freezer by now, she heard several shots and figured since they escaped someone probably shot them. We told her we took good care of them but went through the Sheriff's Office and she would have to call them because we needed to be reimbursed for feed and care...she agreed to pay me back for the feed, she was just happy to get them back safe and sound. My neighbor and her daughter came over with a small bucket of food...dog food. I showed her the pigs and she was so happy to see them alive and well. We talked a bit, she moved here from Dallas too! She too is new to raising farm animals but has three pigs and a few chickens.
She had to repair her pen before she got her pigs and I told her that was fine, they had already been fed and it would probably be easier if she came and got them when they were hungry, that we had been feeding them around five or so. I was not ready when she came by to get them. All of my poultry was out and after she put a rope on one and it went crazy and started bucking like a bronco to get the rope off...I figured I should put up my birds. I really didn't want them getting hurt while she was trying to retrieve her pigs. The pigs were not huge but an 80 pound pig could do so major damage to a five pound chicken or a 15 pound goose or turkey. My husband tried to help her while I was doing a mass poultry roundup. It did not go well. I was busy rounding up chickens, ducks, geese and turkeys and I would look over and she would be getting dragged around the pen. At one point she was on the ground rubbed down the male...my husband said it was having a panic attack or something.
We tried different tactics, she left and came back with a heavy duty cage, one of her friends showed up and they tried getting one pig in the cage, they got the big one in the cage but the side door was not latched well and it popped open and she escaped. She tried to get one to follow her home with food...but it came running back to my house. I went and got the bucket of food I had ready and we both tried to get her to follow us to her house, we got almost to the driveway and a car drove by and the pig hi-tailed it back to my yard. It ran up and down the fence driving my dogs nuts. Then it took off down the side of my fenced area and around the back of my poultry area trying to get back to the pen with it's buddy. I figured it would be better to be inside the fenced area and I was able to coax it back into the larger area, but then it started flopping down in the mud and running up and down the backyard fence driving the dogs crazy again...and then I found out pigs like to eat rose bushes. The guys finally got the male pig into the cage and loaded onto the cart, up the hill and I was able to get the big gate opened and they moved the cage next to the SUV...all four of us lifted the cage into the back of the SUV but the little pigs foot went through the bottom of the cage and the weight of it hurt him and he squealed something awful...I noticed his foot and our neighbor was able to work the foot back into the cage while we held it up. Boy was I glad when they drove away with him...one down, one to go!
I went and put the dogs into the house since the pig was running the fence and driving them nuts. It was easier to get it to come to me and I kept scratching it's back and it really enjoyed that so it stayed close...lol, it stretched way out like a dog does when you scratch them on the back almost to the tail...it was pretty funny, but it sure made it easier to keep it from running the yard. It found a wet spot and enjoyed rubbing in the mud...so it was pretty much covered and her owner ended up pretty much covered in mud too. Miss Piggy decided to run once again when she saw the cage, my husband suggested marshmallows to coax her into the cage so I ran and got some...my neighbor tried to get her into the cage using them, but that pig knew not to go into it...that it was a trap. Our neighbor said she wished she had beef jerky...because the pig loved it. I just happened to have some beef jerky...between it and the giant marshmallows Miss Piggy finally went into the cage, ok, it took more than one piece of jerky...the pig and the owner had a bit of a tug of war with the first one. We repeated the loading process using the piano dolly...she was heavier and at least she didn't have any parts going through the bars on the cage...the only one that got hurt was my husband getting his hand somewhat smashed during loading. He is fine, nothing too bad..but I will tell you this, it will be awhile before we are ready for pigs.
When we were out feeding the poultry I noticed the rope and the leash were left behind...so I imagine I will see the neighbor lady again before too long...especially if she didn't get her pen fixed good enough, I think the pigs were very happy here on their mini-vacation...they had about a 36'x65' garden area to root around in...ate well and got a lot of attention..they may be back, but at least I know where they belong now.
She had to repair her pen before she got her pigs and I told her that was fine, they had already been fed and it would probably be easier if she came and got them when they were hungry, that we had been feeding them around five or so. I was not ready when she came by to get them. All of my poultry was out and after she put a rope on one and it went crazy and started bucking like a bronco to get the rope off...I figured I should put up my birds. I really didn't want them getting hurt while she was trying to retrieve her pigs. The pigs were not huge but an 80 pound pig could do so major damage to a five pound chicken or a 15 pound goose or turkey. My husband tried to help her while I was doing a mass poultry roundup. It did not go well. I was busy rounding up chickens, ducks, geese and turkeys and I would look over and she would be getting dragged around the pen. At one point she was on the ground rubbed down the male...my husband said it was having a panic attack or something.
We tried different tactics, she left and came back with a heavy duty cage, one of her friends showed up and they tried getting one pig in the cage, they got the big one in the cage but the side door was not latched well and it popped open and she escaped. She tried to get one to follow her home with food...but it came running back to my house. I went and got the bucket of food I had ready and we both tried to get her to follow us to her house, we got almost to the driveway and a car drove by and the pig hi-tailed it back to my yard. It ran up and down the fence driving my dogs nuts. Then it took off down the side of my fenced area and around the back of my poultry area trying to get back to the pen with it's buddy. I figured it would be better to be inside the fenced area and I was able to coax it back into the larger area, but then it started flopping down in the mud and running up and down the backyard fence driving the dogs crazy again...and then I found out pigs like to eat rose bushes. The guys finally got the male pig into the cage and loaded onto the cart, up the hill and I was able to get the big gate opened and they moved the cage next to the SUV...all four of us lifted the cage into the back of the SUV but the little pigs foot went through the bottom of the cage and the weight of it hurt him and he squealed something awful...I noticed his foot and our neighbor was able to work the foot back into the cage while we held it up. Boy was I glad when they drove away with him...one down, one to go!
I went and put the dogs into the house since the pig was running the fence and driving them nuts. It was easier to get it to come to me and I kept scratching it's back and it really enjoyed that so it stayed close...lol, it stretched way out like a dog does when you scratch them on the back almost to the tail...it was pretty funny, but it sure made it easier to keep it from running the yard. It found a wet spot and enjoyed rubbing in the mud...so it was pretty much covered and her owner ended up pretty much covered in mud too. Miss Piggy decided to run once again when she saw the cage, my husband suggested marshmallows to coax her into the cage so I ran and got some...my neighbor tried to get her into the cage using them, but that pig knew not to go into it...that it was a trap. Our neighbor said she wished she had beef jerky...because the pig loved it. I just happened to have some beef jerky...between it and the giant marshmallows Miss Piggy finally went into the cage, ok, it took more than one piece of jerky...the pig and the owner had a bit of a tug of war with the first one. We repeated the loading process using the piano dolly...she was heavier and at least she didn't have any parts going through the bars on the cage...the only one that got hurt was my husband getting his hand somewhat smashed during loading. He is fine, nothing too bad..but I will tell you this, it will be awhile before we are ready for pigs.
When we were out feeding the poultry I noticed the rope and the leash were left behind...so I imagine I will see the neighbor lady again before too long...especially if she didn't get her pen fixed good enough, I think the pigs were very happy here on their mini-vacation...they had about a 36'x65' garden area to root around in...ate well and got a lot of attention..they may be back, but at least I know where they belong now.
Monday, September 7, 2015
Oh My, Pigs Are Messy!
Pigs like to wallow in mud, but I didn't know they would create their own mud by dumping every container of water we put into the enclosure. We moved the pigs from the backyard because they kept rubbing up against the fence, the house and anything else they could. They dug pits to lay in too, and rooted up around the slab on the house and out at the patio.
We currently have them in a garden area, it is overgrown with weeds...but they can root around all they want out there. It is just 2"x4" field fence though. They escaped the first time we got them in the garden, the gate was very flimsy. I made a sturdy gate and got it hung up and so far it is holding. I think as long as they have food and mud, and shade they will stay in the garden. They will follow you if you have food, but I got my foot stepped on and got pretty muddy yesterday trying to get it set up for them...and I put their food in dog dishes...kinda silly, but easier to carry. So far they like dog food pretty well, I put corn and oats with it and most of those were left on the ground. I guess we have picky eaters.
I thought they had escaped yesterday, I couldn't see them...the pool was overturned and so was the 20 gallon barrel...I went in the enclosure and next thing you know these empty containers started moving...and the two pigs came out. They were well camouflaged with thick mud. I went and got some dog food and cracked corn for them and ended up getting my foot stepped on and mud rubbed all over me. After I put down the food I tried getting the containers flipped back over and refilled. I got an old tarp and we strung it up to give them some shade. It was in bad shape and was sort of falling apart, but it worked until today...they pulled it and it tore more, so I put a new tarp up over the rooster pens, and took the smaller tarps down and used one of them for shade for the pigs...I picked one that was also not in the best shape, but if they can reach it...I didn't want to waste a new tarp finding out.
I think both of the containers they dumped totaled about 75 gallons, maybe more...they made a couple of good sized mud pits after the water softened up the ground and they rooted up all the grass. The pits are deep enough that it is hard to tell anything is wallowing in the mud, until they move. We took the 20 gallon container out and replaced it with the bigger Rubbermaid trough we had in the goose area...I think it holds 55 gallons and is large enough for one of the pigs to lay in. So far they have not flipped it over. My husband got the hose and refilled their mud holes today, squirted them down a little too...they really enjoy that. I can't really blame them wanting in the mud, since they have been here, these great big huge horse flies have been getting on them. I thought about spraying some bug repellent on the poor things, but I am not sure if it would hurt them. So for now, mud is their best protection.
Oh, and I remember the stench of the pig farm that use to be off of Highway 30 and Beach Street when I was a kid, so far it doesn't smell that bad...but pig poop does stink. I am sure it will be smelling pretty gross if they are here much longer. If they clean up the weeds out in the garden and turn the soil well, it is soft enough and the area is big enough for the two of them it shouldn't get too awful. Once the weeds are gone, I can rake the area easier anyway. In our heat here in Texas, things usually dry up fast and break down pretty quickly...but in the mean time my garden plot is getting fertilized and aerated pretty well. If we end up being pig owners I will have to build a shelter in the shade for them a bit further away from the house and the chicken yard. Maybe down by the creek someplace so I don't have to supply as much mud water for them...lol, we shall see what happens. I still wonder if someone dropped them off because they couldn't feed them any more? Who knows, in the mean time they are safe and sound...they won't get hit by a logging truck going 60 miles an hour and I feel better knowing a coyote won't be eating them for dinner.
We currently have them in a garden area, it is overgrown with weeds...but they can root around all they want out there. It is just 2"x4" field fence though. They escaped the first time we got them in the garden, the gate was very flimsy. I made a sturdy gate and got it hung up and so far it is holding. I think as long as they have food and mud, and shade they will stay in the garden. They will follow you if you have food, but I got my foot stepped on and got pretty muddy yesterday trying to get it set up for them...and I put their food in dog dishes...kinda silly, but easier to carry. So far they like dog food pretty well, I put corn and oats with it and most of those were left on the ground. I guess we have picky eaters.
I thought they had escaped yesterday, I couldn't see them...the pool was overturned and so was the 20 gallon barrel...I went in the enclosure and next thing you know these empty containers started moving...and the two pigs came out. They were well camouflaged with thick mud. I went and got some dog food and cracked corn for them and ended up getting my foot stepped on and mud rubbed all over me. After I put down the food I tried getting the containers flipped back over and refilled. I got an old tarp and we strung it up to give them some shade. It was in bad shape and was sort of falling apart, but it worked until today...they pulled it and it tore more, so I put a new tarp up over the rooster pens, and took the smaller tarps down and used one of them for shade for the pigs...I picked one that was also not in the best shape, but if they can reach it...I didn't want to waste a new tarp finding out.
I think both of the containers they dumped totaled about 75 gallons, maybe more...they made a couple of good sized mud pits after the water softened up the ground and they rooted up all the grass. The pits are deep enough that it is hard to tell anything is wallowing in the mud, until they move. We took the 20 gallon container out and replaced it with the bigger Rubbermaid trough we had in the goose area...I think it holds 55 gallons and is large enough for one of the pigs to lay in. So far they have not flipped it over. My husband got the hose and refilled their mud holes today, squirted them down a little too...they really enjoy that. I can't really blame them wanting in the mud, since they have been here, these great big huge horse flies have been getting on them. I thought about spraying some bug repellent on the poor things, but I am not sure if it would hurt them. So for now, mud is their best protection.
Oh, and I remember the stench of the pig farm that use to be off of Highway 30 and Beach Street when I was a kid, so far it doesn't smell that bad...but pig poop does stink. I am sure it will be smelling pretty gross if they are here much longer. If they clean up the weeds out in the garden and turn the soil well, it is soft enough and the area is big enough for the two of them it shouldn't get too awful. Once the weeds are gone, I can rake the area easier anyway. In our heat here in Texas, things usually dry up fast and break down pretty quickly...but in the mean time my garden plot is getting fertilized and aerated pretty well. If we end up being pig owners I will have to build a shelter in the shade for them a bit further away from the house and the chicken yard. Maybe down by the creek someplace so I don't have to supply as much mud water for them...lol, we shall see what happens. I still wonder if someone dropped them off because they couldn't feed them any more? Who knows, in the mean time they are safe and sound...they won't get hit by a logging truck going 60 miles an hour and I feel better knowing a coyote won't be eating them for dinner.
Saturday, September 5, 2015
Well...They Didn't Escape
I woke up this morning thinking maybe the pigs I have in my fenced backyard may have escaped...they did not. They did root around a bit, one section of my fence line won't have to be weeded for awhile. We gave them some more dog food for breakfast this morning and scratch grains, I don't happen to have any pig feed handy and they didn't care for the chicken feed I gave them yesterday. One of my Facebook friends said they need five to eight pounds of food a day each...I guess it is a good thing I just got a 55 pound bag of dog food. My husband went and talked to more neighbors to see if anyone was missing any pigs...so far we have not found the owners.
They are friendly pigs, they like getting squirted with the water hose, like being scratched on their ears. My dogs got out in the backyard for a minute with them, Sophie barked at them, Kensie wagged her tail, and Bailee has the shock collar on and didn't approach them or bark at them...she is my hog dog, and a hunter...I thought it was necessary. I wouldn't mind keeping them if we had a proper place to do it, we have discussed other farm animals but we need the money to feed them too. I am not sure how big these will get, but from what my Facebook friends said, they are between 3 and 4 months old. One of my neighbors has a pig at least 5 feet long...they are not his pigs and he told us good luck feeding them!
I am not real sure what we will do with them, but I don't want to keep them in my backyard forever. If we kept them they would need a pen of some sort, that is a bit more sturdy than our current fencing. They probably would need a house too, it does get cold here...but I am not real sure how hardy pigs are. I guess I should read up on them and find out. My husband went to work...I wonder if he will come home with pig food?
I have chores to get done, but it is already hot outside. I wet down an area in the yard with some shade and hosed them down already. I may post a found add on the Trading Post and on some local Facebook sites. We have gotten no calls from the Deputy, no neighbors are missing and pigs.
I built a sturdy gate for my lower garden area, after much running around we finely got the pigs moved, have pool setup in the garden and a half barrel full of water. Hopefully they won't escape tonight either. I am hoping they will eat the weeds in there, I gave them more dog food but I will buy some pig chow as soon as I can get to town. I keep wondering if pigs are suppose to be tagged or tattooed or something for identification purposes, I have not found any markings or tattoos, but I have not examined them really closely but I am still a little afraid of them. They can flip 25 gallon containers of water over easily and I imagine it would hurt pretty badly if they ran into me or stepped on my foot. I will hang some shade cloth so they have shade all day out there and if no one claims them I may put up a structure for them to get out of the weather...I can use the parts from my old duck house that I just took apart.
I wonder if pigs like carrots? I need to make friends with them...it would probably be easier to bribe them to get them to follow me, I guess I will learn about pigs next. I thought my first bigger animal might be a goat, but...I don't know anything about pigs or goats yet.
They are friendly pigs, they like getting squirted with the water hose, like being scratched on their ears. My dogs got out in the backyard for a minute with them, Sophie barked at them, Kensie wagged her tail, and Bailee has the shock collar on and didn't approach them or bark at them...she is my hog dog, and a hunter...I thought it was necessary. I wouldn't mind keeping them if we had a proper place to do it, we have discussed other farm animals but we need the money to feed them too. I am not sure how big these will get, but from what my Facebook friends said, they are between 3 and 4 months old. One of my neighbors has a pig at least 5 feet long...they are not his pigs and he told us good luck feeding them!
I am not real sure what we will do with them, but I don't want to keep them in my backyard forever. If we kept them they would need a pen of some sort, that is a bit more sturdy than our current fencing. They probably would need a house too, it does get cold here...but I am not real sure how hardy pigs are. I guess I should read up on them and find out. My husband went to work...I wonder if he will come home with pig food?
I have chores to get done, but it is already hot outside. I wet down an area in the yard with some shade and hosed them down already. I may post a found add on the Trading Post and on some local Facebook sites. We have gotten no calls from the Deputy, no neighbors are missing and pigs.
I built a sturdy gate for my lower garden area, after much running around we finely got the pigs moved, have pool setup in the garden and a half barrel full of water. Hopefully they won't escape tonight either. I am hoping they will eat the weeds in there, I gave them more dog food but I will buy some pig chow as soon as I can get to town. I keep wondering if pigs are suppose to be tagged or tattooed or something for identification purposes, I have not found any markings or tattoos, but I have not examined them really closely but I am still a little afraid of them. They can flip 25 gallon containers of water over easily and I imagine it would hurt pretty badly if they ran into me or stepped on my foot. I will hang some shade cloth so they have shade all day out there and if no one claims them I may put up a structure for them to get out of the weather...I can use the parts from my old duck house that I just took apart.
I wonder if pigs like carrots? I need to make friends with them...it would probably be easier to bribe them to get them to follow me, I guess I will learn about pigs next. I thought my first bigger animal might be a goat, but...I don't know anything about pigs or goats yet.
Some Days Are Very Interesting...
Today started off normal, but certainly didn't end that way.
I went out and did some normal chores, filling up waterers, making sure the animals are all doing well, picking up things...let the turkeys out because hubby forgot, checked on the baby ducks...things like that. I decided to dismantle the "Lowboy" that was damaged, went and got keys to the shed and collected tools to start to work on it. Sometimes it seems bad to build things well, especially if you want to reuse parts...the Lowboy was basically made from 2"x2" and 2"x4" pressure treated pine, the sides just had chicken wire stapled to them, the top was already torn hardware cloth. You would think since it was put together with screws and chicken wire it would be quick and easy to take apart. It was not. It is not...I got sidetracked and helped by turkeys, it is not completely apart.
I went to get some ice water, today was kind of hot. The UPS guy stopped and made a delivery. I went and got the packages and opened them, new light bulbs for the heat lamps and shade cloth came today, I have to finish pens to separate more roosters...shade cloth is for over the last two pens. I sold 14 chickens to get the money to do it...and help feed the poultry. Anyway, while I was up at the house I saw something run across the street. I thought it was deer and walked over to see if I could see them behind the shed...when all the sudden two pigs came out from behind the shed.
They were decent size pigs and I was thinking, we have not had any wild pig signs out here...they bee-lined it to my grapevines and I thought they would tear them up. I yelled at them and they came towards me, but swerved when they saw the kiddie pool out by the tree...they jumped in the pool! I know nothing about pigs, I ran and got my camera...I figured my husband wouldn't believe me unless I had proof. Then I went out and took a few pictures, and called him. Since we already had a cow loose on our property, he believed me when I told him about the pigs. He had to go before I was able to ask him any questions...he was at work and a customer came in.
Anyway, I decided to try and get them into the backyard. We have logging trucks that drive by at 60 miles an hour on our street and didn't want them to get hurt. I also figured someone would probably come looking for them, they did when we had a cow loose on our land. I got some dog food and poured some on the ground, they gobbled it up. I went and got more and shook the container and called them and they came running. I dumped it out in my back yard. I am a member of a few groups on Social Media and asked what to do...I called the Sheriffs Office since we live out in an unincorporated area in the boonies. They had a Deputy call me back.
I heard a commotion outside and went to investigate. They had dumped out the dogs waterer, the bottle part was on the ground and wetting the porch...along with my feed barrel that was about a quarter full of scratch grains...the scratch grains were all over the porch and both pigs were munching it down. I opened the security door and retrieved the big container and lid. At this point I was unsure of how friendly they were or if they were feral hogs or domestic. I thought they were domestic, I have seen wild hogs before and they didn't look like them. But I consulted with the group and got some answers, I have never dealt with pigs before and it was kind of scary to me...I have heard they can eat people, I gave them more food...I am not ready to take care of pigs, not sure I should start off with any this big. I am guessing the weight of the larger one at 120 pounds, the smaller one at around 80 pounds...female is larger, the male...well I saw pictures of males posted on the Facebook group, he has either been fixed, or is very young still.
I hosed them down and they enjoyed it, they never rushed me or anything so they are pretty friendly, they flopped down in the water as I was wetting them down. The members of the group told me they can sunburn easy. I even was able to scratch their ears. They seem like they are people friendly.
I went out and did some normal chores, filling up waterers, making sure the animals are all doing well, picking up things...let the turkeys out because hubby forgot, checked on the baby ducks...things like that. I decided to dismantle the "Lowboy" that was damaged, went and got keys to the shed and collected tools to start to work on it. Sometimes it seems bad to build things well, especially if you want to reuse parts...the Lowboy was basically made from 2"x2" and 2"x4" pressure treated pine, the sides just had chicken wire stapled to them, the top was already torn hardware cloth. You would think since it was put together with screws and chicken wire it would be quick and easy to take apart. It was not. It is not...I got sidetracked and helped by turkeys, it is not completely apart.
I went to get some ice water, today was kind of hot. The UPS guy stopped and made a delivery. I went and got the packages and opened them, new light bulbs for the heat lamps and shade cloth came today, I have to finish pens to separate more roosters...shade cloth is for over the last two pens. I sold 14 chickens to get the money to do it...and help feed the poultry. Anyway, while I was up at the house I saw something run across the street. I thought it was deer and walked over to see if I could see them behind the shed...when all the sudden two pigs came out from behind the shed.
They were decent size pigs and I was thinking, we have not had any wild pig signs out here...they bee-lined it to my grapevines and I thought they would tear them up. I yelled at them and they came towards me, but swerved when they saw the kiddie pool out by the tree...they jumped in the pool! I know nothing about pigs, I ran and got my camera...I figured my husband wouldn't believe me unless I had proof. Then I went out and took a few pictures, and called him. Since we already had a cow loose on our property, he believed me when I told him about the pigs. He had to go before I was able to ask him any questions...he was at work and a customer came in.
Anyway, I decided to try and get them into the backyard. We have logging trucks that drive by at 60 miles an hour on our street and didn't want them to get hurt. I also figured someone would probably come looking for them, they did when we had a cow loose on our land. I got some dog food and poured some on the ground, they gobbled it up. I went and got more and shook the container and called them and they came running. I dumped it out in my back yard. I am a member of a few groups on Social Media and asked what to do...I called the Sheriffs Office since we live out in an unincorporated area in the boonies. They had a Deputy call me back.
I heard a commotion outside and went to investigate. They had dumped out the dogs waterer, the bottle part was on the ground and wetting the porch...along with my feed barrel that was about a quarter full of scratch grains...the scratch grains were all over the porch and both pigs were munching it down. I opened the security door and retrieved the big container and lid. At this point I was unsure of how friendly they were or if they were feral hogs or domestic. I thought they were domestic, I have seen wild hogs before and they didn't look like them. But I consulted with the group and got some answers, I have never dealt with pigs before and it was kind of scary to me...I have heard they can eat people, I gave them more food...I am not ready to take care of pigs, not sure I should start off with any this big. I am guessing the weight of the larger one at 120 pounds, the smaller one at around 80 pounds...female is larger, the male...well I saw pictures of males posted on the Facebook group, he has either been fixed, or is very young still.
I hosed them down and they enjoyed it, they never rushed me or anything so they are pretty friendly, they flopped down in the water as I was wetting them down. The members of the group told me they can sunburn easy. I even was able to scratch their ears. They seem like they are people friendly.
Sunday, August 30, 2015
Hair Cutting Time
I recently decided to give myself a haircut. I have been cutting my own hair since I was about 13 years old so it is nothing really new, except the reasons are different to keep it relatively short now.
It has been hot and humid, my hair has a lot of natural curl to it and the older I get the more coarse it becomes and I guess you could say frizzy. I have been working outside a lot and it is hard to wear a hat a lot of the time, they blow off or a turkey may grab one off my head. I tried wearing a bandana over my hair to try and keep pine needles and cedar stuff out, but they come off too. I found myself spending a lot of time in the shower picking things out of my hair, cedar fronds, pine shavings and needles and no telling what else. I cut it pretty short, my husband doesn't like it...he didn't say that, but reserving judgement until I fix it...well that doesn't sound promising.
I didn't intend for it to be as short as it is, but sometimes when you cut your own hair it is difficult to get the back of your hair looking right and I had some issues with it being short in the middle and long on the sides, or shorter on one side than the other. It grows pretty fast though, it will be OK, I don't mind it being this short. I use to wear it short when I was on the swim team in High School or when I was working a ton of hours, I have pretty thick hair and cutting it short is a time saver...it would take 30 to 45 minutes to blow dry it and style it. Lol, not that I do either very often any more. I use to color it too, don't do that or wear makeup much any more either. Very few people see me now and I don't inspect myself in the mirror very often either. I guess I should pay a bit more attention to what I look like at times, since I am afraid I may scare customers off...but, as long as I am clean and my teeth are brushed I don't bother with makeup or hair gel and such.
I am thinking about cutting my husbands hair today. He tried to get a haircut a few times in town before, there are a few places in Atlanta that are suppose to cut hair. Finding one that is open when you want a haircut is the trick...we went in one shop, the lights were on but nobody was there. We waited for awhile, we thought maybe they were using the restroom or something. No one ever came out from the back or responded to our hello, anyone here? We went to another place and they were closed. In this place, it seems like people don't really have much competition like in Dallas...it seems like they don't care most of the time. The sign may say what hours they are open for business, but I think a lot of places just don't care and come in for work when they have nothing better to do sometimes. I don't think my husband has gotten a haircut out her from anyone but me...just trying to get it done before getting busy doing other things is tricky.
I always have a lot to do...I got busy, he got busy...and it didn't happen today. Oh, and I tried Walmarts salon before...that probably won't happen again.
I always have a lot to do...I got busy, he got busy...and it didn't happen today. Oh, and I tried Walmarts salon before...that probably won't happen again.
Friday, August 28, 2015
Easter Egg Hunt Every Day
I believe I started raising chickens in July or August 2013? In the beginning I only had two roosters and four hens...it was pretty easy to start. I raised them in a chicken tractor we built. It was really heavy, still is...but we use to move it around every few days. It has been stationary for awhile now, it sunk into the ground in soft sand and I can't move it by myself, it will take a tractor and a couple of people to get it out the wheels on it have sunk into the ground about six inches at least. My chicken tractor was fine for the six, but because we only got one or two eggs a day the first winter...we got four more chickens to add to our flock...it has kind of snowballed since then but I built an extension to the tractor that I could drag around to fresh ground that gave my chickens additional space. There are four nest boxes in my chicken tractor...they stayed enclosed so no real hunting was involved for eggs, although they did lay eggs in the run sometimes. My husband got the bright idea to use a golf ball retriever to get the ones in the run, great job honey!
Anyway, after my hens started going broody and we let them sit and hatch chicks, we decided to build a big coop to house them all. In the mean time we got some baby ducks! After brooding the ducks I needed a place to put the ducks while they were growing. I built a grow out pen. The grow out pen I made so that it could be moved fairly easily, four panels with rings that I could drop metal rods down into...it was a bit heavy to move each panel, but it was possible. I actually had the ducks set up in the backyard, at the time it was the only area that was fenced. This grow out pen was later used to make my "Rooster Condo"...it has all been a learning process. I also found geese at a feed store and those soon were added.
Oh gosh, getting off track...but, my poultry yard and area has expanded a lot. In the beginning I just fenced around the chicken tractor. I then fenced around my garden area next to that area, then after we built the big chicken coop, we fenced off an area for the ducks, then around the coop and another couple of garden areas and added a large gate to be able to mow the area. I added dividers inside the area so that I could separate roosters or different ages of chickens too. Then after hatching a lot of chicks this year, adding more ducks, more geese and turkeys...I fenced an even larger area and this is the area we have started having to hunt for eggs.
My older chickens still lay in nest boxes for the most part. I had some issues when I had so many broody hens, but I added more nest boxes to fix that. Now the chicks that hatched in February are starting to lay, they lay in the bushes, clumps of grass, next to the wood pile, in flower pots, under the nest boxes, in the turkey pen, in the chicken coops run, under the roosts, behind rain barrels, the ducks and geese lay in dewberry patches or sometimes under a tree that has some bushes around it and vines. Some days I will be out filling pools and waterers and all the sudden I will turn around and there will be an egg practically laying at my feet. I even found one on top of my patio table just laying there suddenly. The ducks have laid in their pools before, and if I disturb an area they like to lay by putting straw or soft grass or something down over the dirt, they will move to another area sometimes...so, it is a constant hunt, my husband calls it an Easter Egg hunt, but the poultry are the ones hiding the eggs!
I am going to make a couple of large ground nest boxes big enough for the geese, ducks or turkeys to lay in...hopefully they will figure out what they are for. I have one made that the frame is made from 1"x6" wood but I put cage wire as the bottom and raised it up off the ground a touch so the nest will stay dry. Time will tell if they will use it.
Wednesday, August 26, 2015
Supervisory Help Makes Things Tough
I really have to be flexible in my planning and yesterday was one of those days, it looked like it was going to rain and he first half of the day. I after selling eggs to my customer I went and said hello to the geese at my gate...I had a hen outside the fence, she ran right through the cattle panel gate when I chased her. I decided I needed to get some smaller wire over the cattle panel to keep them from escaping so easily. I have been meaning to do it, it has just been so hot most of the time the poultry doesn't come over to that section of the yard because there is no shade...today was different.
I debated what type of wire to use on the cattle panel, it is four feet tall so I thought about just using the 2"x4" opening fencing that I fenced the chicken yard with...but it is hard to move 100 foot roll by myself and rabbits can still run through it. I have some cage wire, but it is a lot more expensive than hardware cloth and I have two hundred foot rolls to ad to the bottom of the garden areas...so I decided to use it. I used my safety wire pliers and galvanized steel wire to attach the hardware cloth to the cattle panel.
If you don't know anything about turkeys...they are very curious creatures, not afraid of anything either...they have been exploring a lot, I have had to get them off of the solar panels in the backyard, round them up and chase them out of the back yard so the dogs can go out...and catch them and get them back in the fenced area when they fly over. It seems like they realize were the food is and wait for me to come out with some, it is pretty much what I do to get them out of the yard. I get a scoop of food, shake it they come running and so do the chickens that fly over the backyard fence.
They have to check out everything I am doing, no matter what it is...and they peck everything that shines. Well, today I was work with tools and wire...they had to check it out and they pecked at my hands a lot while I was trying to get the wire through the cattle panel and grabbed with the safety wire pliers for twisting. I have twelve turkeys and they would reach through the fence and try and grab tools or wire, they pecked at my hand as I reached through the fence and tried to get the wire in the right spot to twist. Then the geese came over after the turkeys showed interest in what I was doing and as I was sitting on the ground they reached through areas and groomed me...which basically means they grabbed my shoes, they grabbed my jeans leg and nibbled on my ankle as I was sitting there working...sometimes they grabbed my sock and pulled on it. If I got to close to the fence the turkeys would pull my hair. I am sure anyone that drove by were curious to find out why I had so many critters lined up at the fence, I do sometimes cuss up a storm if they hurt me or pull a tool through the fence to the other side. I had to make sure they couldn't reach through the fence and pick up the bits of wire that I cut off too, they pretty much test everything to see if it is edible. It was pretty funny with all of them right there watching me...even some of the babies were curious and came to check out what I was doing.
I feel sorry for the young chickens, they sometimes get under the geese trying to pick up scratch grains when we throw them out to the mob and get stepped on. The geese honk loudly wanting scratch grains out of the scoop and all five will try and stick their heads into it to get some and the Ducks will stand up and crane their necks trying to get at them too. My husband has created monsters, it seems their sole purpose is to get to the scoop and eat out of it now. Yesterday I had a chicken fly to it land on the edge while I was walking with it and start eating scratch grains directly out of it. I do up a special mix for the turkeys and carry a five gallon bucket out to their house to feed them, it is dry food...they eat the fermented feed if they can get to it, but when they see me with the big bucket most of them come running and follow me to their house. I throw a few handfuls to the other poultry to keep them occupied while I round up the turkeys. There are usually a couple of stragglers that have to be picked up and hand carried to the door. If I don't throw enough feed out to the chickens, ducks and geese...they will attempt to go into the turkey house to get their food too. Many a young chicken have spent the night with the turkeys, they hide in the milk crates I have the food and water sitting on top of. The milk crates were modified so that the could be used as nest boxes and have an opening on one side.
Tuesday, August 25, 2015
Achy Bones & Laziness
I didn't do much of anything over this past weekend, we had the rain for brief periods but most of the time that doesn't stop me from doing things. I have a lot I need to get done but took it easier than normal yesterday too. I had a weird thing happen on Sunday morning, I guess it may be called a Thunderclap Headache that was a bit scary. Intense pain at the base of my skull suddenly, the bad pain only lasted minutes but it made my neck hurt and my left eye and ear would get sharp sudden pains. I am thinking it is related to my degenerative disk disease. For some strange reason, I ache in other parts of my body, nothing bad...but almost like I worked out and am sore. I waited until after 4:30PM to work outside yesterday, then I just fed and watered and cleaned my coop called the "Condo". I had to, the poop was getting bad so I scraped it all out, leveled the ground and spread some straw for my babies...they are getting big though.
Today I need to tackle cleaning my big coop, I don't like to clean it if there is a chance it will rain...because it won't stay clean long. My chickens will spend the day in the coop if it rains much and it doesn't take very long to get nasty when they don't free range. It is cloudy out and I think we have a 30% chance of rain today, I may just clean the nest boxes out and put fresh pine shavings in them and turn the liter today. I want to shovel the liter out, wash the walls and roosts but...if it does rain, they will be in the coop and I can't do it with a bunch of chickens mobbing me. Maybe I will go look for small trees to use for new roosts...I need more roost space for them, the reason I have to clean the nest boxes is because they are roosting on the bars on the front of them. I have more roost space in the coop itself, but they like sleeping in the run in the summer, it is covered by Polybarbonate panels so they are protected from rain somewhat, but the walls are just hardware cloth and they catch any breezes there are. The top roost is the most popular in the coop, it is the same height as the windows. I may change the roosts in the coop and make more at the same level as the windows. I change my mind a lot and re-engineer things based on how my poultry behaves sometimes.
I need to get more roosters out of my coop too, I am thinking about moving the younger chickens in with the hens to the big coop and using the Condo and the grow out pen to house the ones I want for breeding purposes. Some of the young hens will be laying age before long and I have no nest boxes in either the Condo or Grow Out pen. Lots to think about and I am procrastinating today.
I am also kind of sad, one of my best egg customers is moving away, she is a sweet lady and came by with her neighbor today to buy eggs. She asked if she could come visit when she was in town again and asked if she could just sit and watch my chickens sometime. Oh...that reminds me, I need to put some wire over the cattle panel we are using as a gate! Lol, my chickens have discovered they can walk through the holes on it, maybe I will do that first, there is a cat that comes and visits sometimes and it would probably help to keep it out and the chickens in...while my customers were here, I walked to the fence and noticed I had a chicken out in the non-fenced area that ran back through the holes when I went over to the gate, rabbits tend to run through the 2"x4" fence holes too...I don't have enough hardware cloth to keep them out, maybe just my upper garden though...they ate all my green bean plants so I will have to do something if I want any veggies.
Today I need to tackle cleaning my big coop, I don't like to clean it if there is a chance it will rain...because it won't stay clean long. My chickens will spend the day in the coop if it rains much and it doesn't take very long to get nasty when they don't free range. It is cloudy out and I think we have a 30% chance of rain today, I may just clean the nest boxes out and put fresh pine shavings in them and turn the liter today. I want to shovel the liter out, wash the walls and roosts but...if it does rain, they will be in the coop and I can't do it with a bunch of chickens mobbing me. Maybe I will go look for small trees to use for new roosts...I need more roost space for them, the reason I have to clean the nest boxes is because they are roosting on the bars on the front of them. I have more roost space in the coop itself, but they like sleeping in the run in the summer, it is covered by Polybarbonate panels so they are protected from rain somewhat, but the walls are just hardware cloth and they catch any breezes there are. The top roost is the most popular in the coop, it is the same height as the windows. I may change the roosts in the coop and make more at the same level as the windows. I change my mind a lot and re-engineer things based on how my poultry behaves sometimes.
I need to get more roosters out of my coop too, I am thinking about moving the younger chickens in with the hens to the big coop and using the Condo and the grow out pen to house the ones I want for breeding purposes. Some of the young hens will be laying age before long and I have no nest boxes in either the Condo or Grow Out pen. Lots to think about and I am procrastinating today.
I am also kind of sad, one of my best egg customers is moving away, she is a sweet lady and came by with her neighbor today to buy eggs. She asked if she could come visit when she was in town again and asked if she could just sit and watch my chickens sometime. Oh...that reminds me, I need to put some wire over the cattle panel we are using as a gate! Lol, my chickens have discovered they can walk through the holes on it, maybe I will do that first, there is a cat that comes and visits sometimes and it would probably help to keep it out and the chickens in...while my customers were here, I walked to the fence and noticed I had a chicken out in the non-fenced area that ran back through the holes when I went over to the gate, rabbits tend to run through the 2"x4" fence holes too...I don't have enough hardware cloth to keep them out, maybe just my upper garden though...they ate all my green bean plants so I will have to do something if I want any veggies.
Monday, August 24, 2015
Raining in August?!
August in Texas is generally the driest month of the year. It had been dry for a few weeks in my little corner of the world, and even though it made the heat more bareable because the humidity was low, we needed rain very badly. I have been having to water my fruit trees every few days to keep them alive, they are fairly new and if I don't water leaves start browning and falling off.
Well, we did get rain...after a few days of clouds and not a drop...we had a few downpours in two days time we received 3-1/4 inches. The thing is, it is extremely humid now and every time I walk out the door, a few minutes later I am soaking wet. I am working when that happens, and it is from sweat. It also made the poultry area rather nasty and stinky. I am ready for Fall, cooler temperatures and changing leaves, it is much easier to work outside in the Fall in Texas. Yes, it is usually still pretty warm out during the day, but 80's is better than 100's. I still have not finished my Goose house...and I need to get it done. I have to make another house for what is currently my chicken tractor area, I have been using what I call my Lowboy for roosters...when we got all the rain it collapsed the top of it from the weight of the water. It actually tore the metal hardware cloth and broke the wood too. So I will have to make a new structure for that area. I started putting younger roosters into pens now, some have figured out how to escape though, so I will have to fix that area.
I still have far too many roosters running around with my hens, it is getting better...I think I have about 35 in separated into the pens now, but the two in the Lowboy are out now until that gets replaced. I have some young roosters coming of age that are not being very nice to young hens that I need to catch and separate. I really need to construct more roosts for my big coop too, if I do that, I will be able to move more into it. I have to start thinking about winterizing too.
I need to try and set up an area to process chickens too. Lots to think about, only about seven of the roosters I have separated will be kept for breeding purposes. So I have at least 25 chicken dinners coming.
Saturday, August 15, 2015
Hard Decisions
I am a softy, I will admit...I try and save any of my poultry who have been injured, born with a deformity, or get sick. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't and sometimes it is just an impossible task to keep going for long.
I have had a few chickens with minor foot injuries, a case of Bumblefoot and a torn comb and waddle. There was no option but to remove the rest of the comb, I couldn't do it...my husband did while I held the injured rooster named Napoleon. I was able to perform the Bumblefoot surgery on my own on my hen Brown Racer, but I found out it was not that easy to get all of the infection out with the tools I had to use...I ordered a few items so maybe the next time it will be easier.
I even tried to save eggs that had embryos growing in them...some were born nice and healthy, others were not...one of my ducks that hatched under a broody hen had leg issues and did not grow, it's legs twisted in such a way that it scooted around the brooder, it stayed small and the others picked on it. We kept it in a separate brooder for weeks, it just got worse. My husband would take it out and hold it, watched TV with it and carried it around in his pocket. It started developing sores on it's hocks, it could not swim...yet we tried to help it anyway. I gave it extra vitamins, mixed up a special mixture of food for it, cooked it boiled eggs and oats for days.
We had some extremely hot weather and I lost a Salmon Favorelle young hen and my Rhode Island Red hen, Red Racer...I found her laying on the floor of the coop and she was stiff, yet she opened her eyes when I picked her up. I took her and tried to cool her down by laying her in cool water in the shade, I tried to get her to drink but she couldn't stand up. She died during the night. I also found a chick that succumbed to what I thought was heat, but it ended up have a severe case of wry/limber neck. I worked on the chick and hand fed it, for days...every two hours or so, I gave it droppers full of a Nutridrench, vitamins and a product called DYNE. The chick did not get better, it's neck twisted so badly that it could barely swallow, it's crop filled and did not empty the mixture I had given the chick ran out of its mouth when it was picked up...you could see the poor things bones through its skin.
This is where the hard decisions come in, if one of my special poultry does not get better fairly quickly, I have to decide if I want to keep up treatment or not. When my husband suggested culling the duck and the chick with wry neck, I was heart broken...but agreed that neither of them would live without extraordinary measures for the rest of their life. I was spending far to much time, feeding and caring for the special needs poultry and not paying enough attention to the healthy ones...I think that is why I lost the two to heat.
I agreed to his suggestion, it pains me greatly to have to put one down...even if my husband is actually the one who does it.
I have had a few chickens with minor foot injuries, a case of Bumblefoot and a torn comb and waddle. There was no option but to remove the rest of the comb, I couldn't do it...my husband did while I held the injured rooster named Napoleon. I was able to perform the Bumblefoot surgery on my own on my hen Brown Racer, but I found out it was not that easy to get all of the infection out with the tools I had to use...I ordered a few items so maybe the next time it will be easier.
I even tried to save eggs that had embryos growing in them...some were born nice and healthy, others were not...one of my ducks that hatched under a broody hen had leg issues and did not grow, it's legs twisted in such a way that it scooted around the brooder, it stayed small and the others picked on it. We kept it in a separate brooder for weeks, it just got worse. My husband would take it out and hold it, watched TV with it and carried it around in his pocket. It started developing sores on it's hocks, it could not swim...yet we tried to help it anyway. I gave it extra vitamins, mixed up a special mixture of food for it, cooked it boiled eggs and oats for days.
We had some extremely hot weather and I lost a Salmon Favorelle young hen and my Rhode Island Red hen, Red Racer...I found her laying on the floor of the coop and she was stiff, yet she opened her eyes when I picked her up. I took her and tried to cool her down by laying her in cool water in the shade, I tried to get her to drink but she couldn't stand up. She died during the night. I also found a chick that succumbed to what I thought was heat, but it ended up have a severe case of wry/limber neck. I worked on the chick and hand fed it, for days...every two hours or so, I gave it droppers full of a Nutridrench, vitamins and a product called DYNE. The chick did not get better, it's neck twisted so badly that it could barely swallow, it's crop filled and did not empty the mixture I had given the chick ran out of its mouth when it was picked up...you could see the poor things bones through its skin.
This is where the hard decisions come in, if one of my special poultry does not get better fairly quickly, I have to decide if I want to keep up treatment or not. When my husband suggested culling the duck and the chick with wry neck, I was heart broken...but agreed that neither of them would live without extraordinary measures for the rest of their life. I was spending far to much time, feeding and caring for the special needs poultry and not paying enough attention to the healthy ones...I think that is why I lost the two to heat.
I agreed to his suggestion, it pains me greatly to have to put one down...even if my husband is actually the one who does it.
Tuesday, August 4, 2015
Rooster Wrangling 101
I still have not completed my goose and duck house, I was going out to work on it but decided to check on all my chickens. It takes me quite awhile to fill up waterers and clean waterers, but yesterday I did clean and refill a couple of pools too. Then I decided to clean the Condo. The coop we call the Condo...
I generally make several trips from the house were we store feed back out to the poultry yard, yesterday was no exception. Here lately the roosters have been very active and amorous towards the ladies, the ladies decide to jump the fence and go outside of the penned area. I have been having to chase several of them down and put them back over the fence, it is not exactly safe for them jumping the fence...we have predators. If they are hungry or think I have treats for them they get impatient sometimes too. Yesterday one of my Barnevelder hens decided to jump the fence into the backyard with the three dogs. It is not good when a chicken jumps into the backyard...my dog Bailee, at least here lately has decided to try and catch them. She has killed a chicken before, one of my many roosters...apparently it got into the back yard while I had gone to town. Bailee believes it is her job to chase chickens and if she catches them, she will hold them down and I think possibly they have a heart attack. She didn't eat the last one, it was found dead by the corner of the fence. Most of the time, the geese can stick their heads through the fence and pick at the grass and the dogs don't bother them. Yesterday, I heard a commotion when I was getting feed and knew a chick had flown over the fence.
Bailee, is fast and she goes into chase mode when a chicken flies over the fence. Then I have to kick it into high gear to get to it before she does, she doesn't listen very well when she is busy running after and trying to stop the chicken. I scream at her NO, Bailee...and it is like she doesn't hear me...she runs from one end of the yard to the other with the chicken running for it's life...and it is. I was in hot pursuit yesterday, trying to get the Barnvelder hen so Bailee would not harm it. Bailee caught it several times and held it down but it would flap it's wings and get away. Chickens actually have pretty powerful wings, they hurt when they hit you in the face too. Anyway, I continued to try and get the chicken, running around like a banshee, screaming at the dogs to leave my chicken alone and at one point tackled Bailee, it just kind of happened, Kensie and Sophie gained interest but they listen a bit better than Bailee. I was actually on the ground with my arms wrapped around Bailee and the other two started after the chicken.
I hurt hitting the ground...so I was limping a bit. I got Bailee on the porch and started yelling at the other dogs to leave the chicken alone, it is MY chicken! Bailee was sitting on the porch, Kensie and Sophie were close to the chicken and I kept having to tell Bailee to stay because she kept getting up like she was going to join me for the chase. I finally got the gate opened and the Barnevelder out of the backyard. I decided to grab food for the chicks in the grow out pen and check on them. I kept seeing roosters attacking my hens...so, I decided to do a rooster round up.
It is not easy catching chickens. I am fifty six years old, not a spring chicken myself any more...and here I am chasing chickens in the heat of the day. My knee is aching from hitting the ground when I tackled Bailee...Bailee is my Catahoula Mix dog, they are called Hog Dogs...because they are generally trained to catch and take down wild hogs. She is a stout, muscular dog, very strong and can be stubborn as an Ox. We have been filling up the pens I built for breeding, with roosters. Yesterday, I observed several that were less than gentlemanly towards the ladies and proceeded to run after them, wrangle if you will...and catch them one by one and put them in pens. If the other roosters attacked them too badly, I let them out and tried another pen.
One pen is full of Sex-linked roosters, one pen has one Polish we call Pompadour and a few others that are mixes my husband calls the Bros, we caught a lot of young Cream Legbars over the weekend and a few of the Dorking roosters and they are in a pen together, and some of the roosters we took out of the Rooster Condo to begin with are in another pen, and I ran around and caught some more Polish roosters and put them in yet another pen...a couple of those are part of the Shady Hill gang. All in all my breeding pens now have about 30 roosters in them and I still have more to catch. I have three empty pens left, but I will have to make more gates to be able to use them.
Oh, and the easiest way to catch a rooster...wait until they jump a hen to try and mate them, you only have a few seconds to grab them...but it is a whole lot easier than chasing them everywhere. That, or trapping them in a coop or run, although that is never easy and you can bang your head on roost bars or nest boxes.
I generally make several trips from the house were we store feed back out to the poultry yard, yesterday was no exception. Here lately the roosters have been very active and amorous towards the ladies, the ladies decide to jump the fence and go outside of the penned area. I have been having to chase several of them down and put them back over the fence, it is not exactly safe for them jumping the fence...we have predators. If they are hungry or think I have treats for them they get impatient sometimes too. Yesterday one of my Barnevelder hens decided to jump the fence into the backyard with the three dogs. It is not good when a chicken jumps into the backyard...my dog Bailee, at least here lately has decided to try and catch them. She has killed a chicken before, one of my many roosters...apparently it got into the back yard while I had gone to town. Bailee believes it is her job to chase chickens and if she catches them, she will hold them down and I think possibly they have a heart attack. She didn't eat the last one, it was found dead by the corner of the fence. Most of the time, the geese can stick their heads through the fence and pick at the grass and the dogs don't bother them. Yesterday, I heard a commotion when I was getting feed and knew a chick had flown over the fence.
Bailee, is fast and she goes into chase mode when a chicken flies over the fence. Then I have to kick it into high gear to get to it before she does, she doesn't listen very well when she is busy running after and trying to stop the chicken. I scream at her NO, Bailee...and it is like she doesn't hear me...she runs from one end of the yard to the other with the chicken running for it's life...and it is. I was in hot pursuit yesterday, trying to get the Barnvelder hen so Bailee would not harm it. Bailee caught it several times and held it down but it would flap it's wings and get away. Chickens actually have pretty powerful wings, they hurt when they hit you in the face too. Anyway, I continued to try and get the chicken, running around like a banshee, screaming at the dogs to leave my chicken alone and at one point tackled Bailee, it just kind of happened, Kensie and Sophie gained interest but they listen a bit better than Bailee. I was actually on the ground with my arms wrapped around Bailee and the other two started after the chicken.
I hurt hitting the ground...so I was limping a bit. I got Bailee on the porch and started yelling at the other dogs to leave the chicken alone, it is MY chicken! Bailee was sitting on the porch, Kensie and Sophie were close to the chicken and I kept having to tell Bailee to stay because she kept getting up like she was going to join me for the chase. I finally got the gate opened and the Barnevelder out of the backyard. I decided to grab food for the chicks in the grow out pen and check on them. I kept seeing roosters attacking my hens...so, I decided to do a rooster round up.
It is not easy catching chickens. I am fifty six years old, not a spring chicken myself any more...and here I am chasing chickens in the heat of the day. My knee is aching from hitting the ground when I tackled Bailee...Bailee is my Catahoula Mix dog, they are called Hog Dogs...because they are generally trained to catch and take down wild hogs. She is a stout, muscular dog, very strong and can be stubborn as an Ox. We have been filling up the pens I built for breeding, with roosters. Yesterday, I observed several that were less than gentlemanly towards the ladies and proceeded to run after them, wrangle if you will...and catch them one by one and put them in pens. If the other roosters attacked them too badly, I let them out and tried another pen.
One pen is full of Sex-linked roosters, one pen has one Polish we call Pompadour and a few others that are mixes my husband calls the Bros, we caught a lot of young Cream Legbars over the weekend and a few of the Dorking roosters and they are in a pen together, and some of the roosters we took out of the Rooster Condo to begin with are in another pen, and I ran around and caught some more Polish roosters and put them in yet another pen...a couple of those are part of the Shady Hill gang. All in all my breeding pens now have about 30 roosters in them and I still have more to catch. I have three empty pens left, but I will have to make more gates to be able to use them.
Oh, and the easiest way to catch a rooster...wait until they jump a hen to try and mate them, you only have a few seconds to grab them...but it is a whole lot easier than chasing them everywhere. That, or trapping them in a coop or run, although that is never easy and you can bang your head on roost bars or nest boxes.
Saturday, August 1, 2015
Construction Time
I have finally started construction of the Goose and Duck house! My husband found a Cattle Panel Greenhouse that he thought would work for Our poultry houses. I watched the video on construction of one on YouTube, but the ones I have been building are modified and heavier construction than those used for greenhouses. I have to have mine strong enough to keep predators out of it and need hardware cloth attached to it. The ones I am building are about 8 feet by 8 feet at the base and tall enough in the center for me to stand up in.
After making the one we are using for the turkey house, I modified the design a bit more and made the wall panel sections out on the back porch, then put them together in place to basically make the foundation part of the house. I used 4 - 2"x6" pieces of pressure treated wood for the bottom and then cut 13 - pieces 21 inches tall to use on the walls. I used 4 - 2"x4" for the top rail and attached the 21 inch pieces at the ends and center of 3 of the walls, the front I used 4 pieces, because of the doorway. I then carried out the panels and attached them together using angled steel pieces. I also ran long screws through for extra strength along the edge pieces. I left the front panel off until I got the cattle panels placed inside then attached it too. I used large fence staples and lifted up the cattle panels about 3 or 4 inches off the ground and hammered the staples in to hold them in place. The panels overlap, so I used wire and safety wire pliers and wired the pieces together. I also put long pieces of 2"x4" wood to make a doorframe to hang the door on, I also stapled the cattle panel onto the door frame too.
Today I will try and get the door made and get the wire attached to the top section and connect it to the cattle panel, I will need to add a couple more long pieces of wood at the back to staple the hardware cloth to and help with stability. I guess I should get out there while there is a slight break in the heat and get busy. One of these days I will add pictures...I just write on my iPad and have not figured out how to upload pictures from it on the Google Blogger site.
Today I will try and get the door made and get the wire attached to the top section and connect it to the cattle panel, I will need to add a couple more long pieces of wood at the back to staple the hardware cloth to and help with stability. I guess I should get out there while there is a slight break in the heat and get busy. One of these days I will add pictures...I just write on my iPad and have not figured out how to upload pictures from it on the Google Blogger site.
Friday, July 31, 2015
By The Light Of The Moon
It is amazing sometimes how dark it can be outside...we have a street light up close to the driveway at the street and we have a very bright light on the shed that throws light 100 feet around it...that is close to the house but shines out to the drive to the shooting range, the lake and the half of our property up front with the fruit trees and our big red Tuff Shed. But beyond that, unless the moon is shining, it is very dark.
In the summer when it doesn't get dark until almost nine at night, we leave the poultry out and they pretty much put themselves up...with the exception of the turkey's. I won't make that mistake again...they put themselves up in the tree. We always feed them in the morning when they get let out and a few hours before dark in the summer. That way they go to bed with full bellies. It makes for happier chickens in the mornings sometimes too...they tend to wake up hungry...who am I kidding?...the act like they are starving to death every time I go out there. They will come running, and it is like that scene of little dinasaurs in Jurasic Park (the movie) where they all run and start chasing the man and end up eating him! Ok, maybe not that bad...but they will fly up and land on an arm or swarm around you so bad that you can't take a step without stepping on one. Anyway, they will jump on the feed bucket sometimes too, if several of them do it it gets to heavy to carry...but there is wall to wall (ok fence to fence?) chickens so most of the time I have to scoot them out of the way with my foot. We use goat feed troughs to feed them and shallow pans...I ferment my feed these days, so it is wet and about the consistency of oatmeal.
Anyway, we feed several buckets of fermented feed a day. They love it and it makes the food more bioavailable...meaning it is easier for them to draw nutrients out of it. It can be a pain to mix at times, and each bucket probably weighs 40 pounds or so...I usually feed two buckets at a time when I feed them. They don't normally eat it all...but, I don't want anyone going hungry. They have the ability to free range all day, but a lot of them just hang out under trees or sitting on the side or ramp of the big cattle tank. I am guess the breeze over the water helps cool them. We have had a couple of chickens fall into the water, but none of them died...chickens can fly, so as long as they don't get waterlogged they can flap and get out. We did have one rooster that had to be rescued, he kept his head above water and my husband fished him out.
I got off track a little bit, but it is what happens at the farm. Anyway, back to the darkness...most nights when it is my turn to put everyone up, I use a head lamp like you may see on a miner. We installed a few solar lights here and there on the coops, but they really don't give off much light and we have no electricity out there yet. Some of the group of chickens we call "The Shady Hill Gang" can hide pretty well and I search, woodpiles and rolls of wiring, under bushes, on the patio furniture, in the garden, in the windows of the coop, on the backs and under chairs in the yard...sometimes I go out just before dark and don't wear my headlamp, but when the moon is full and the fireflies are flitting about, making those chicken, duck and geese roundups is kind of nice. We get to see the fireflies in the darkness and by the light of the moon.
In the summer when it doesn't get dark until almost nine at night, we leave the poultry out and they pretty much put themselves up...with the exception of the turkey's. I won't make that mistake again...they put themselves up in the tree. We always feed them in the morning when they get let out and a few hours before dark in the summer. That way they go to bed with full bellies. It makes for happier chickens in the mornings sometimes too...they tend to wake up hungry...who am I kidding?...the act like they are starving to death every time I go out there. They will come running, and it is like that scene of little dinasaurs in Jurasic Park (the movie) where they all run and start chasing the man and end up eating him! Ok, maybe not that bad...but they will fly up and land on an arm or swarm around you so bad that you can't take a step without stepping on one. Anyway, they will jump on the feed bucket sometimes too, if several of them do it it gets to heavy to carry...but there is wall to wall (ok fence to fence?) chickens so most of the time I have to scoot them out of the way with my foot. We use goat feed troughs to feed them and shallow pans...I ferment my feed these days, so it is wet and about the consistency of oatmeal.
Anyway, we feed several buckets of fermented feed a day. They love it and it makes the food more bioavailable...meaning it is easier for them to draw nutrients out of it. It can be a pain to mix at times, and each bucket probably weighs 40 pounds or so...I usually feed two buckets at a time when I feed them. They don't normally eat it all...but, I don't want anyone going hungry. They have the ability to free range all day, but a lot of them just hang out under trees or sitting on the side or ramp of the big cattle tank. I am guess the breeze over the water helps cool them. We have had a couple of chickens fall into the water, but none of them died...chickens can fly, so as long as they don't get waterlogged they can flap and get out. We did have one rooster that had to be rescued, he kept his head above water and my husband fished him out.
I got off track a little bit, but it is what happens at the farm. Anyway, back to the darkness...most nights when it is my turn to put everyone up, I use a head lamp like you may see on a miner. We installed a few solar lights here and there on the coops, but they really don't give off much light and we have no electricity out there yet. Some of the group of chickens we call "The Shady Hill Gang" can hide pretty well and I search, woodpiles and rolls of wiring, under bushes, on the patio furniture, in the garden, in the windows of the coop, on the backs and under chairs in the yard...sometimes I go out just before dark and don't wear my headlamp, but when the moon is full and the fireflies are flitting about, making those chicken, duck and geese roundups is kind of nice. We get to see the fireflies in the darkness and by the light of the moon.
Wednesday, July 29, 2015
Death Comes Again
It has been a hard few days...first I noticed one of my little Salmon Favorelles was all poofed out wings hanging, head hanging down. I brought it up on the porch and put it in a bin with food and water. It perked up a little, but by this morning I knew it would not be alive by the end of the day. I made it a boiled egg and mashed it up with some uncooked oats, it didn't touch the food. I could not get it to drink or eat, at first I thought it may be Coccidiosis...now I am not so sure. I examined it closely before it died, it was very thin, I could not tell just looking at it how thin it was...it looked dehydrated too. I brought it into the house, but even the cooler temperature didn't make any difference. It was probably being bullied and not getting enough to eat, it is hard to tell sometimes when you have a lot of chickens that look exactly alike. I went outside to make sure all the critters were Ok in this heat wave, gave everyone fresh water to drink and filled up swimming pools and pans with cool fresh water. By the time I went back in the house to check on the Salmon Favorelle it was dead.
This is definitely a learning process, I also learned last night that I need to make sure the turkeys are put up about an hour if not more before it gets dark. Why you ask? I went outside at dusk and instead of going into their house to roost, the majority of them were up in a tree above their house. You would be surprised how well turkeys can fly. We had cut the branches up to about ten feet off the ground. I am guessing they got on top of the rooster condo, which the shortest part of it is seven feet tall. They may have flown up from it. Needless to say, they didn't come down from the tree,it was getting too dark. Most birds can't see well in the dark, that is why they normally roost before dark.
One of our baby ducks is having issues too...it is very small, it was fine when it was born but it is having problems with it's feet and is walking on it's hocks...that is kinda like your knee. I have added vitamins to their water and been feeding boiled egg and oats. It is doing pretty good this morning, I am not sure if genetics are playing a role in this problem, a lot of the time it is an indication of a vitamin deficiency, so I am hoping the extra vitamins help. Niacin is important for ducks and as long as it drinks it is getting some. I may add some additional A and E too. The other two baby ducks are thriving and running around like little banshees.
I found a dead Black Copper Marans chick yesterday too, I am treating the chicks in my outdoor brooder for Coccidiosis once again, I will be glad to have them grown and off the porch. I am tired of finding dead babies from Coccidiosis. No other chicks appear to have symptoms, so hopefully it will be the only one. I guess only the strongest survive. I will treat them for several days and keep them on medicated feed until they go out to the grow out pen.
I am going to have to perform a rooster roundup, I have far to many and they have started going after my females with a vengeance. They are also fighting amongst themselves and late yesterday my rooster Napoleon had his comb half ripped off. I knew it had to be removed in a procedure called dubbing, but I have never performed it before. After watching a YouTube video it did not look difficult, but I could not do it. My husband and I did get it done last night. We wore surgical gloves and he sharpened kitchen shears to use, I wrapped Napoleon in a towel to hold him still. We had gauze ready and corn starch to stop the flow of blood. My husband cut his comb away and Nepoleon was a champ, he jerked a little bit when the cut was made, but I think he knew we were trying to help him. Dubbing is a common practice in game birds and Napoleon is an Andalusian rooster and a breed that is on the watch list for being low in numbers. I have mainly heritage and rare breeds and do my best to keep them healthy and strong. He is doing well this morning, his wound has scabbed over and he started crowing bright and early.
Last night, I did get all of the turkey's in their house early enough so they didn't roost in the tree last night. We have better luck just letting all the chickens roost on their own at dusk and going out with headlamps on and rounding up any stragglers. We have a group we call the Shady Hill Gang that like a tree by the back patio and several of them like to sit on the patio table instead of going into the coop. We have to hand carry them to the roost a lot of the time. Sometimes another one will sit on the back of a chair outside the coop, he is a Barred Rock. We have another chicken we call Window Chicken, she is a young Cream Legbar hen...she flies up to a window ledge on the outside of the coop to sleep.
This is definitely a learning process, I also learned last night that I need to make sure the turkeys are put up about an hour if not more before it gets dark. Why you ask? I went outside at dusk and instead of going into their house to roost, the majority of them were up in a tree above their house. You would be surprised how well turkeys can fly. We had cut the branches up to about ten feet off the ground. I am guessing they got on top of the rooster condo, which the shortest part of it is seven feet tall. They may have flown up from it. Needless to say, they didn't come down from the tree,it was getting too dark. Most birds can't see well in the dark, that is why they normally roost before dark.
One of our baby ducks is having issues too...it is very small, it was fine when it was born but it is having problems with it's feet and is walking on it's hocks...that is kinda like your knee. I have added vitamins to their water and been feeding boiled egg and oats. It is doing pretty good this morning, I am not sure if genetics are playing a role in this problem, a lot of the time it is an indication of a vitamin deficiency, so I am hoping the extra vitamins help. Niacin is important for ducks and as long as it drinks it is getting some. I may add some additional A and E too. The other two baby ducks are thriving and running around like little banshees.
I found a dead Black Copper Marans chick yesterday too, I am treating the chicks in my outdoor brooder for Coccidiosis once again, I will be glad to have them grown and off the porch. I am tired of finding dead babies from Coccidiosis. No other chicks appear to have symptoms, so hopefully it will be the only one. I guess only the strongest survive. I will treat them for several days and keep them on medicated feed until they go out to the grow out pen.
I am going to have to perform a rooster roundup, I have far to many and they have started going after my females with a vengeance. They are also fighting amongst themselves and late yesterday my rooster Napoleon had his comb half ripped off. I knew it had to be removed in a procedure called dubbing, but I have never performed it before. After watching a YouTube video it did not look difficult, but I could not do it. My husband and I did get it done last night. We wore surgical gloves and he sharpened kitchen shears to use, I wrapped Napoleon in a towel to hold him still. We had gauze ready and corn starch to stop the flow of blood. My husband cut his comb away and Nepoleon was a champ, he jerked a little bit when the cut was made, but I think he knew we were trying to help him. Dubbing is a common practice in game birds and Napoleon is an Andalusian rooster and a breed that is on the watch list for being low in numbers. I have mainly heritage and rare breeds and do my best to keep them healthy and strong. He is doing well this morning, his wound has scabbed over and he started crowing bright and early.
Last night, I did get all of the turkey's in their house early enough so they didn't roost in the tree last night. We have better luck just letting all the chickens roost on their own at dusk and going out with headlamps on and rounding up any stragglers. We have a group we call the Shady Hill Gang that like a tree by the back patio and several of them like to sit on the patio table instead of going into the coop. We have to hand carry them to the roost a lot of the time. Sometimes another one will sit on the back of a chair outside the coop, he is a Barred Rock. We have another chicken we call Window Chicken, she is a young Cream Legbar hen...she flies up to a window ledge on the outside of the coop to sleep.
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