Frustratedearthmother's Journaling Journey

[Mini Horses]

saw one of my nekkid neck hens with a big ol' clutch of peepers! Must be about 10 of 'em.

Sneaky old gal!! Wonder where she's been hiding? Well, good job, anyway. Hope they all make it for you. What's a few more? Besides you know there are several that will be roos and freezer camp candidates. The new ones will add some outside bloodlines. Plus, you like NNs....are some of the chicks that??


I found a "deal" on a small flock of old style RIRs late summer. One hen had 4 chicks with her, 2 roos/2 pullets. These chickens are calm, lovely, large...not best layers I've seen! Eggs are smaller than I'd expected. BUT thinking back, they did not lay & did not molt once I got them home. He said they were young and laying. Obviously some were as they hatched chicks. Maybe this is first lay for some, just started this month. I'm stumped. However -- they are large birds. These roos are HUGE. Need to weigh them. Grabbed one the other day and he had to be 10-12# @6 mos. Not mean...I see a baking day for him & his bro.

Chickens are fun, mostly.

 

[frustratedearthmother]

I have about 4 or 5 chickens that live in the pasture. They didn't get locked up with all the others that previously lived in the small barn because out in the pasture they are no problem for me. They hang out in the hoop house that the bucks used to be in before it got too wet. The chickens don't stir up the mud so they're fine in there. There's even a small dog crate in there and that's where she set up her nest. I only walked out there today after seeing the chicks...and there are eggs everywhere! I need to toss the old ones and start actually collecting eggs from there. I don't even feed these chickens so hopefully there's nothing to attract rodents. Hmmmm, so today I fed them. Maybe I should make sure I only feed in the mornings so there is nothing to entice rats to come out at night. I hate rats!

I'm going to keep a close watch on them and if any of the chicks disappear I'll catch her and pen her and her cuties someplace safe.

I'm sitting here looking at electric fence netting and trying to figure it out. It would/should work for hens and chicks if I get a small enough mesh....I think.

 

[sumi]

What a wonderful surprise and a full dozen of them

 

[Lazy Gardener]

I have about 4 or 5 chickens that live in the pasture. They didn't get locked up with all the others that previously lived in the small barn because out in the pasture they are no problem for me. They hang out in the hoop house that the bucks used to be in before it got too wet. The chickens don't stir up the mud so they're fine in there. There's even a small dog crate in there and that's where she set up her nest. I only walked out there today after seeing the chicks...and there are eggs everywhere! I need to toss the old ones and start actually collecting eggs from there. I don't even feed these chickens so hopefully there's nothing to attract rodents. Hmmmm, so today I fed them. Maybe I should make sure I only feed in the mornings so there is nothing to entice rats to come out at night. I hate rats!

I'm going to keep a close watch on them and if any of the chicks disappear I'll catch her and pen her and her cuties someplace safe.

I'm sitting here looking at electric fence netting and trying to figure it out. It would/should work for hens and chicks if I get a small enough mesh....I think.

What kind are you looking at? I've used Premier 1. And NO WAY will it keep the littles in. It doesn't work with them until they are at least 8 weeks old. They just squirt through. But, if you used electronet WITH deer netting, that would work.

 

[frustratedearthmother]

Ha - I got sidetracked away from the netting - I'll get back to it at some point.

YAYAYAYAYAYAY! Just sold 4 goats! The Nigi doe (PIA) with her kids and the other Nigi doe. Four less mouths to feed and a freed up space - oh and some money too. Really nice lady and her daughter works at the college. Small world.

I've just about decided to eat the younger nigi/kinder buck(ling) He's about 9 months old so he oughta be tender and tasty - but he's not gonna make much....I figure he's probably less than 50 lbs on the hoof so might get 10-15 lbs of meat? Maybe? I dunno… Not sure the weather is going to be agreeable enough to butcher this weekend - but if so - it'll get done. Need to do chickens too...and more pigs... ARGH! I'm never going to get caught up...sigh.

 

[NH Homesteader]

Yaaaayyy for selling goats!

 

[frustratedearthmother]

Heck yea! And, now I've gotta find some more to sell!

DH IS RETIRING! April 30th is his last day! He hasn't informed his people yet - and he won't until after his eye surgery - but that's the plan. As soon as the eye surgery is done he'll give them a month's notice...

I've gotta say I'm a tiny bit jealous, lol. Mostly I'm relieved that I won't have to worry about him so much. But - the reduction in income - GULP! He wanted to call the financial planner and start taking a bunch of disbursements. I nixed that idea real quickly. I think we need to spend a few months adjusting to the new income before we start depleting our investments. There have been times when we existed on my income for several months. With my income and his SS it might not be so awful. However - I think I'm gonna take away his AMEX!! (for all the good it would do because he has the number memorized) If I can't keep him from online shopping I might have to cut h is fingers off!

Gonna try to get some pictures this weekend and get a couple more goats listed. One is a mini-nub and the other is a kinder-ish. I'm not sure if either of them are bred but the mini-nub doesn't really fit my breeding plans and the other gal I'm just not that fond of. She's not friendly at all and I'm tired of needing to chase her down every time I want to get ahold of her - and when she acts squirrelly the rest of them wonder what's going on and act squirrelly too. Sooooo - they're outta here. I hope!

The broody that had 12 babies a couple days ago - only had 3 tonight. She's now in a crate in the trailer. Hope that works...

 

[NH Homesteader]

Yay! Congrats to DH! That will be a huge relief in all ways except financially, lol.

Sounds good, moving along hard to handle goats . Who needs 'em.

Bummer about the chicks everything likes to eat chicken after all.

 

[tortoise]

Report your card stolen, get a new number.

Actually a gas only card or a gift card can solve all sorts of marital budget conflicts. I didn't discover gas only cards until after getting divorced, but I bet one of those would have saved my first marriage. (not that it was worth saving, but just saying)

 

[frustratedearthmother]

Report your card stolen, get a new number.

That's a great idea!