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- #1,351
frustratedearthmother
Sustainability Master
Good weekend so far. Had the 'guys' out yesterday and got a lot of work done. Typical teenagers that want their friends around so I ended up paying 3 of them $10 an hour. But - I can honestly say that they are the best workers I've EVER had around here. We had two post hole diggers - so while two of the guys were digging - the other kept asking me for more to do. They just won't stand still. And, even though I paid three times as much money - I got three times the work done so I'm not complaining. I feed 'em a simple lunch while they are here and I totally forgot how much three teenage boys can eat, lol. An entire loaf of bread, three packages of ham, all the chips in the house and about half a package of chocolate chip cookies. And, the three of 'em could raise the stock values of Gatorade! Good kids though and I'd rather be giving them honest work to do than leave all that strength and talent just sitting around playing video games all day.
Lost two of the meaties the first night - have no idea why... But, I got them safely tucked into the chicken tractor yesterday. They've got two lights so they're plenty warm for now. Gotta pay attention to the upcoming weather though - supposed to get cold again tomorrow I think. I'm still kickin around the idea of a chicken plucker. I found a reasonably priced one, but while browsing around Youtube I saw some of the ones you mount on a drill. They look like they do a fairly good job and are sooo much cheaper. I might give one a try before I invest hundreds in a bigger model. I like cheap - but I want it to work.
We had quail for dinner last night. Yummy... I cooked six - I ate two and DH polished the rest of 'em off. guess that's proof positive that they are pretty tasty lil critters!
I'm on my very last round bale and the critters are eatin' it up fast. I've still got square bales in the barn, so I'm good for now. Grass is startin' to come in. I notice the critters spending more time out in the pasture than just lazin around the hay bale....but...I really would like to be able to stop feeding hay. Next step is to rake up the dropped stuff and get it into the garden for mulch. That's a huge job but needs to be done. Really helps with the weeds and adds so much good stuff to the soil. Speaking of gardens and soil - I saw that some okra had popped up already. I didn't plant it - it comes up every year from pods that got dropped on the ground and kicked around by the chickens. Now if I could only get it to self-sow in nice tidy straight rows.
I hear critters out there hollerin' for their breakfast - but they're gonna just have to wait til I finish this cup of coffee.
Happy Sunday ya'll!
Lost two of the meaties the first night - have no idea why... But, I got them safely tucked into the chicken tractor yesterday. They've got two lights so they're plenty warm for now. Gotta pay attention to the upcoming weather though - supposed to get cold again tomorrow I think. I'm still kickin around the idea of a chicken plucker. I found a reasonably priced one, but while browsing around Youtube I saw some of the ones you mount on a drill. They look like they do a fairly good job and are sooo much cheaper. I might give one a try before I invest hundreds in a bigger model. I like cheap - but I want it to work.
We had quail for dinner last night. Yummy... I cooked six - I ate two and DH polished the rest of 'em off. guess that's proof positive that they are pretty tasty lil critters!
I'm on my very last round bale and the critters are eatin' it up fast. I've still got square bales in the barn, so I'm good for now. Grass is startin' to come in. I notice the critters spending more time out in the pasture than just lazin around the hay bale....but...I really would like to be able to stop feeding hay. Next step is to rake up the dropped stuff and get it into the garden for mulch. That's a huge job but needs to be done. Really helps with the weeds and adds so much good stuff to the soil. Speaking of gardens and soil - I saw that some okra had popped up already. I didn't plant it - it comes up every year from pods that got dropped on the ground and kicked around by the chickens. Now if I could only get it to self-sow in nice tidy straight rows.
I hear critters out there hollerin' for their breakfast - but they're gonna just have to wait til I finish this cup of coffee.
Happy Sunday ya'll!
