Bettacreek - New home? Plus a pic of some of the ladies here
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- #512
Bettacreek
Almost Self-Reliant
Today is starting out better. Kiska feels better, no longer walking like a drunk. Dedreckovis showed up. I have NO idea where he was hiding. They're both in the house now, wearing "diapers". George wants to buy some poults and raise them, while still keeping an eye out for hens. Poults AND hens seem to be rare right about now.
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- #513
Bettacreek
Almost Self-Reliant
Well, the ducks and cornish cross have started laying. Haven't had any duck eggs in three days though, so not sure what's going on there. The cornish keep wanting to lay on a concrete slab, so many of their eggs have been busted. :/ I've piled up leaves there so that it hopefully cushions the eggs, but I haven't found any eggs yet in two or three days from them either. Two leghorns have started laying again though, so that's nice. I noticed that one of the cornish cross today had egg all over her, so I guess she cracked yet another egg, though I can't find evidence where they have been laying. Not sure if she found another place to lay or what. I fired up the incubator yesterday, and I'm thinking about putting the cornish cross and duck eggs in there at some point today or tomorrow.
We STILL haven't found any replacement hens for the toms. I found one person on the classifieds who has some, but they want $30 a piece! I paid $15 for the standard bronze and $25 for the BBB hens. No way do I want to pay $30 for hens that aren't exactly what I want.
Been getting soap and candle orders in too. Fairly big orders, nonetheless, in the $30-$50 range. That's immensely helpful. I might be able to get George both things I want to get him for xmas (new Harley wallet and a video game), plus round out the rest of the kids gifts. If I'm lucky, I'll still have some left over to have a few bucks left in my pocket too. Ah, now that would be exciting!! The soap for xmas is in the oven gelling, then tomorrow will be out of the molds and the molds will be ready for another batch of soaps. Once I get the one fragrance order in, I'll be cranking out some candles for a special order.
THEN, I am also helping out a friend with a fundraiser for a girl with leukemia. They're putting orders out now, and we're hoping to close it after Thanksgiving so that I can have them made and out to everyone before xmas and the family can have their money.
We STILL haven't found any replacement hens for the toms. I found one person on the classifieds who has some, but they want $30 a piece! I paid $15 for the standard bronze and $25 for the BBB hens. No way do I want to pay $30 for hens that aren't exactly what I want.
Been getting soap and candle orders in too. Fairly big orders, nonetheless, in the $30-$50 range. That's immensely helpful. I might be able to get George both things I want to get him for xmas (new Harley wallet and a video game), plus round out the rest of the kids gifts. If I'm lucky, I'll still have some left over to have a few bucks left in my pocket too. Ah, now that would be exciting!! The soap for xmas is in the oven gelling, then tomorrow will be out of the molds and the molds will be ready for another batch of soaps. Once I get the one fragrance order in, I'll be cranking out some candles for a special order.
THEN, I am also helping out a friend with a fundraiser for a girl with leukemia. They're putting orders out now, and we're hoping to close it after Thanksgiving so that I can have them made and out to everyone before xmas and the family can have their money.
BarredBuff
El Presidente de Pollo
Good deal out the soaps! I plan on getting Mom the Hoeggers soapmaking kit for Christmas, she has been wanting one for a while.
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- #515
Bettacreek
Almost Self-Reliant
Well, we lost our drake the other day, but picked up a new guy today. His voice isn't as manly as the old drake. The old drake sounded more like a scovy, and this guy sounds kinda duckish. Anyways, he's a really nice drake, and lets you pick him up. Hopefully we won't have any infertile eggs to deal with now. The guy who sold the pekin to me lives right by my brother's house, and he hatches, raises and sells a lot of different birds. He said he had several breeds of ducks and geese. I'm going to pick up some scovies from him another day. I just have to figure out how many we should get. They were an August hatch, so not old enough to breed, but big enough that they aren't in the brooding stage, and are already outside. He only wants $5 for them, because they were a late hatch. He couldn't fathom how I had ducks laying this late in the season, so I told him about the light, so he might start doing that now too, lol.
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- #516
Bettacreek
Almost Self-Reliant
Looks like we found our own little haven. I liked the house IMMEDIATELY when we hit the long lane it's on. 4.43 acres, a farm on one side (we're butted against the field), woods in the back and neighbors on the other side, nothing on the other side of the road except woods. The inside suits me just fine (I don't like all of the carpet, but other than that). Yesterday G took a ride to talk to the neighbors to ask if they'd have problems with the birds... He returned and said, "you'll never guess what they have in the back yard" Apparently, they have a GOAT and chickens themselves! So, we're putting in an offer soon and I can't wait. We'll have to build a shed/barn for the chickens, and probably fence in the yard, because I'm sure that they wouldn't be happy with the birds visiting them every day, not when we have so many of them. I told G, "hey, that means that we can get goats or sheep, too, right?!" Of course, that wouldn't be for another year or so though, since we'd have to make accomodations for them as well, and we'll have enough on our plate getting it ready for the birds, especially since I'll be seperating some out into pens.
Our little silkie/ameraucana pullet gave her first egg yesterday. We have a tray half filled in the incubator with cornish cross eggs, pekins, leghorn and seramas. I have some coturnix coming in the mail (shipped yesterday), plus swapped for some paint silkies and some OEGB, then hopefully sebastopol eggs in the spring. I'll be hoping for turkey eggs as well, come spring. That incubator probably won't get a rest until summer. I'm hatching now to raise pekins that I can sell as pullets for $20 each, and drakes for $10 each or for butcher. I might keep some cornish cross from this batch, but they're covered by leghorns and now Ameraucanas, so I might not keep them, maybe just butcher them out. I'm still waiting on my cornish cross roo to get the testosterone flowing and start crowing and breeding. The hennies have been laying for about a month now, and he still has no interest. It's funny, because I just now got the first egg from the Ameraucana hatch, and those boys started breeding a few days ago, so it seems like the roos are ready "faster" than the hennies, while in cornish cross, it's the total opposite.
Here's a pic of one of the BBW turkey hens and a cornish cross hen, hiding from the rain.
Please excuse the mud in front of their room! The gutter thing is right beside the room, so it can get pretty yucky right there!
Our little silkie/ameraucana pullet gave her first egg yesterday. We have a tray half filled in the incubator with cornish cross eggs, pekins, leghorn and seramas. I have some coturnix coming in the mail (shipped yesterday), plus swapped for some paint silkies and some OEGB, then hopefully sebastopol eggs in the spring. I'll be hoping for turkey eggs as well, come spring. That incubator probably won't get a rest until summer. I'm hatching now to raise pekins that I can sell as pullets for $20 each, and drakes for $10 each or for butcher. I might keep some cornish cross from this batch, but they're covered by leghorns and now Ameraucanas, so I might not keep them, maybe just butcher them out. I'm still waiting on my cornish cross roo to get the testosterone flowing and start crowing and breeding. The hennies have been laying for about a month now, and he still has no interest. It's funny, because I just now got the first egg from the Ameraucana hatch, and those boys started breeding a few days ago, so it seems like the roos are ready "faster" than the hennies, while in cornish cross, it's the total opposite.
Here's a pic of one of the BBW turkey hens and a cornish cross hen, hiding from the rain.
Please excuse the mud in front of their room! The gutter thing is right beside the room, so it can get pretty yucky right there!
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- #517
Bettacreek
Almost Self-Reliant
Well, mail carrier decided not to stop at our house to pick up some packages, so after waiting for them to show up and missing out on going for a brewery grain run, I went to take the packages in and hit the feed mill. Besides the mash, I also picked up a jar of local honey from the feed mill (honey actually comes from the farm right next to us) for $7. It's 2lbs of honey, so that's a pretty darned good price for it. I haven't tried it yet to make sure that I can actually eat it, but the boys will definitely eat it without a problem, so it's not a waste even if I can't eat it. If I can eat it, I'll have to stop by the actual farm here soon to grab a few more jars for the winter, before they close up.
I'm hoping that next year, I can get some good sales on birds. I have approximately 20 pekin eggs that are developing in the incubator, some cornish cross project birds and some leghorns, as well as two EE eggs. I'll also be cooking some tuxedo button quail eggs whenever they arrive, along with some OEGB (silver duckwing), paint show quality silkies, the seramas and coturnix. I'm planning on using the coturnix mostly for meat (for the kitters as well), but if I can sell a few once in awhile, I'll be happy. I tried to stick with smaller birds, so they could be penned (more birds per cost of pen) to keep them pure and be able to sell the eggs and chicks later. I'm also hoping to get some muscovy ducks for meat and again, sales. I just hope that they can pay for themselves! I'm sure the meat birds won't bring back the money in cash, but at least they'll keep us fed, so that will keep them here. Everyone else, we'll have to play it by ear... If a pen of birds isn't fulfilling their duty, then they'll have to go.
I'm hoping that next year, I can get some good sales on birds. I have approximately 20 pekin eggs that are developing in the incubator, some cornish cross project birds and some leghorns, as well as two EE eggs. I'll also be cooking some tuxedo button quail eggs whenever they arrive, along with some OEGB (silver duckwing), paint show quality silkies, the seramas and coturnix. I'm planning on using the coturnix mostly for meat (for the kitters as well), but if I can sell a few once in awhile, I'll be happy. I tried to stick with smaller birds, so they could be penned (more birds per cost of pen) to keep them pure and be able to sell the eggs and chicks later. I'm also hoping to get some muscovy ducks for meat and again, sales. I just hope that they can pay for themselves! I'm sure the meat birds won't bring back the money in cash, but at least they'll keep us fed, so that will keep them here. Everyone else, we'll have to play it by ear... If a pen of birds isn't fulfilling their duty, then they'll have to go.
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- #518
Bettacreek
Almost Self-Reliant
We put an offer in on Saturday and last night we got the text accepting the offer on our new home! So now we're making plans for a house for the birds and researching peach trees and planning for apple trees. I also have raspberry starts coming in spring. Most important though is the bird house since we can't move them without a new home. I'm hoping that my dad still has his old dog kennel from when he bred huskies. That would help give them outdoor space for awhile until they got used to the new home.
Denim Deb
More Precious than Rubies
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Congrats. What part of the state is it in?
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- #520
Bettacreek
Almost Self-Reliant
It's only about fifteen minutes from here. We still had to stay somewhat close to prison. But it's a nice area and perfect for us. The neighbors are even good neighbors. Not really much more we could ask for and certainly much more than one could expect for the price!
