Frustratedearthmother's Journaling Journey

[Wannabefree]

Hope DH gets better soon!!! I got the mess too thanks to crazy Fall/Summer/Fall weather...it can't make up it's mind and it murders my sinuses and chest!!!

 

[frustratedearthmother]

Thanks WBF... he is better but this is the kinda stuff that just hangs on until the weather decides what season it wants to be...ugh!

Barn roof is finished! I'm glad to get that done. That little ol' barn is easily 20+ years old and this is the first full re-roof. We patched it after hurricane Ike, and it's been limping along. Only started leaking a couple months ago and I didn't want it to deteriorate -so now it's done. Next chore will be replacing the wood at the bottom that's starting to get flaky... the framework is treated lumber but the siding we put on has absorbed moisture at the bottom and is slowly deteriorating. I think we can just cut the bottom foot or so off and replace it with new siding and, voila, good as new!

Quail are growing like crazy! I think I'm gonna try to move them to the outside brooders this weekend. Hopefully by then they'll be too big to squeeze outta the wires. The brooder pens are made of 1inch square material so... maybe...hopefully... they won't be able to escape. If so, another week in da house...ugh. They're in plastic totes right now and I have to clean 'em twice a day. I'm gonna investigate some different bedding options, cuz I'm only using paper towels right now and they get stinky and nasty real quick.

Oops, break is over needa get to work.

Later!

 

[frustratedearthmother]

Question for you WBF, Pink, and other quail breeders. I recently hatched Jumbo Brown Coturnix eggs from two different sources and have a white bird in each batch. How common is that? Just wondering...

 

[frustratedearthmother]

slow day today.... found this great link to pumpkin recipes!

http://www.ourbestbites.com/2012/10/chocolate-chip-pumpkin-bread/

It's not just the pumpkin bread - but the ones on the side also.

 

[Wannabefree]

I have had a few white stragglers in mine as well. I think it's a genetic mutation...seems I was told that or read it or something somewhere... The A&M's are all white birds, and from the coturnix as well. I'm not a birdie geneticist though, and do not claim to know. Just throwing stuff out there I have had as many as 3 or 4 per 100 birds hatched. I dunno what causes it truly. The white ones seem to always be smaller when grown out IME, so I generally cull them before they are of breeding age. You'd think doing that eventually they'd disappear, but I still get some here and there. Every Jumbo Brown flock I have had has been that way, but I have only had 2 and have only raised them for a year or so total.

 

[frustratedearthmother]

Thanks, I had a feeling it was summpin' like that. So far, they seem to be pretty equal size wise, but time will tell. I'm bound and determined to get the little stinkers outside this weekend.

 

[frustratedearthmother]

Well, today did not go exactly as planned. Yesterday I noticed the sheep hiding off by herself so I brought her in and put her in a small pen last night. Day before I saw one of the mini horses grab her by the wool on her back and pick her back feet up off the ground. Her front feet never left the ground and right afterwards she went around stealing feed from all the goarts so I thought she was fine. When I brought her in last night she seemed a little gimpy in the rear end, but she ate, and other than seeming a little down, I thought she'd be fine.

This morning she was not fine. She was standing up, but not doing anything else... no interest in her feed at all - and that is totally unlike her - she's a true chow hound. I thought she might be a bit bloated so I treated her for bloat and she seemed to perk up a bit, even getting up and walking around. Hubby got all excited but I told him maybe she was just picking a different place to die - don't you hate it when you're right about things like that?

A little while later I was checking on her and it was apparent that she was not gonna get better... she was exhibiting agonal breathing and was moaning so we put her down and butchered her out. She had some bruising along her spine and it pretty much wiped out the back half of one of the tenderloins, but other than that she didn't look bad on the inside... Maybe it was bloat... I dunno.

Worked a little in the garden. Everything is growing well - and I mean everything, dang weeds.

Gotta get back to work tomorrow- I missed Thursday and Friday with a sinus infection. As much as I hate to take pills, I'm loving these antibiotics - I feel almost human again.

 

[frustratedearthmother]

OMG - as much as I feel bad about having to put down Dora the sheep.... she is a very good sheep! I love that sheep, lol. We had tenderloin last night and it was soooo good. DH is even saying that we need to get more sheep. He's crazy - if he want's 'em - he can keep 'em. I don't know nuttin' about no sheep - evidenced by her demise after only a month or so on my place. But, they sure do taste good.

Quail are growing so fast. I donated my first one to the great outdoors last night. It got out - oops! I could hear it this morning when I went out, but the place it escaped to is kind of in a corner of about 4 different pens and it can run from one to the other through the fence....which means that by the time I get into one pen, its already in a different pen... stupid quail... I guess it'll either make it or not.

God decided to keep me humble and remind me that I'm only human this morning whilst I was running around outside in the dark. I literally took a nose dive, lol. I tripped over an ant hill of all things. I was out feeding in the pitch dark this morning, moving fast because I was running late. All I can say is that it was a good thing the ground was dew covered because when I hit - I slid! It was surprising but totally laughable... and the only thing that is even the slightest bit sore is my left... ummmm... you know... up top, padded area! Might be hard to explain a bruise there though!

Happy Wednesday folks - it's huuuuuuuuuuump day!

 

[Denim Deb]

And you didn't get a video?

 

[frustratedearthmother]

All I can say is that it's a good thing that chicken and goats don't come armed with video cameras! They would find a way to use that against me, for sure, lol!