Rebecka - Computer Geek gone Backwoods Chic

Welcome!!!! I look forward to hearing more stories aobut your every day life and where you call home!!
gina
 
CHICKEN DRAMA! I can't believe it, they are not even a month old and they are fighting. This is not just the cute little posturing, this is bloody injuries! I make it a point to spend time with them daily. I go out and sit in their coup for at least half an hour two or three times a day. Go ahead and laugh at me, but I read to them. I read alot and retain more if I read aloud, so when my family is not interested in what I am reading, I read to the chickens. We are currently reading Seed to Seed. Anyway.. about 2 days ago, I noticed when I went out to read to the chickens they were starting to get more aggressive. Clearly I have never kept chickens before, but I notice the boys are very aggressive and the girls really seem to appreciate the snuggle time. Oh, did I mention there are 114 of them?

I put a web cam out in the coup to see if this is going on when I am not around.. ( laugh again and see the subject line) and it is not. The boys posture at each other but there is no actual fighting when I am not around. I really enjoy reading to the chickens. The girls seem to really enjoy it too. I am afraid I am going to have to figure out separate spaces for about 70 birds!

Tonight one of the injuries was bad enough that I had to bring him into the house and treat. I admit he is currently sound asleep on the belly of my 18 year old cat. Merl ( the cat) was kind enough to lick off all of the antibiotic ointment , give him a head to toe bath and then snuggle him. Sorry I dont have pics. I inadvertently disconnected the web cam on my mac when I replaced the heat sink a few weeks ago. I will correct that once work slows down.

None the less.. CHICKEN DRAMA!!!!
 
That dear Rebecka, is why they call it a "pecking order"! :lol:

You are in the close company of lots of chicken crazies around here! There are chickens that get read to, talked to, snuggled, cussed at and even sang to around these parts. :D

I will give you fair warning however, when you develop this close of a bond with your biddies you are in for long term trouble. Trouble walking in your yard, trouble resting in the shade (especially if you have a cool drink or a snack) and trouble getting any work done on your property.

If my hens are out foraging and I step into the yard I immediately have an entourage whether I like it or not. They have a sworn duty to "help" me, usually really closely, if I ever try to accomplish anything! I mend a fence and they are there with me side by side inspecting my work. I rake the yard and I can barely pull the rake along. I pull a weed and I have assistance.

If you are talking to another person and not talking to them, they nibble at your bare toes or tug on your pant leg worse than any child. When you finally sit for a rest they fly onto your knee. They insist on tasting my drink unless it is in a covered glass and if you dare to read silently ever again they will be reading over your shoulder before you know it!!

Of course they also listen better than any therapist, sing a more relaxing song than any relaxation tape, mind better than the dog and keep me supplied in breakfast food ..... so I can't really complain that much! ;) :D
 
I am starting to think I might have bit off more than I can chew. The main garden is about 1/2 an acre . Then I have beds for the garlic, asparagus , strawberries. There is another section for the stuff we will get more than one harvest out of, beets, carrots , radishes and the like. Its about 1/4 acre. Then containers for the peanuts. There are 114 chickens that are growing an a phenomenal rate. I need to get the boys and girls separated but I have no place yet to do that. The lawn needs mowed. I know that doesn't sound like much, but here, its a full day job. We leave for a work trip in a few days and I am nowhere near ready. Then when we get back, we will have 2 days to get things in order , then go get the bees. There are starlings nesting in my walls. I waited to long to fix the hole by the chimney and now they have babies , and I just dont have the heart to close it up with them in there. I am used to working my job 12-14 hours a day. Doing the day to day things, dishes, cooking , laundry and the like then spending a few hours each night with my spinning wheel. I just noticed.. My spinning wheel has DUST on it ! Dust, on my spinning wheel! I am falling asleep at my keyboard while working, and then when I get up and go to bed, I cant sleep for my head spinning with all the things that need done.

Whew! Thanks for the space to vent.

Okay now all the good...

Thanks to a post here, we got grapes. They are doing wonderfully. I am amazed at how fast they are growing. The garden is kicking butt. I expect to be able to harvest spinach in a week or so. The bee yard is shaping up nicely. The hydrogen chamber in the truck is producing well above expectations and the conversion for the oven and water heater in the house is nearly done as well. All that canning I have done is paying off. We are dead on our feet most nights and its just wonderful to be able to pop the tops on 2 or 3 jars and heat up dinner. While this is not something I talk openly about, I have some pretty exciting news. I have a bone disease. Its a super yucky one and I have been on injections for 15 years to keep it at bay. My doc got me involved in a drug study that could make my injections go from 56 , directly in the joints to 1 in my backside. While I have had to come off my injections to get my system cleared, there has been significant pain. However, if this single injection works, it will be well worth it. This is an effectiveness study, so they already know all the side effects and the like. Nothing I can't handle for sure! Anyway.. I would appreciate any prayers, candle lighting, chanting around bonfires, whatever , that this stuff will replace my old injections and actually improve my condition like they are saying it will !
 
Here's :fl and :hugs coming your way along with prayers that your new treatment works. I have a BIL with a bone cancer and I've seen first hand what he has to go through.
 
The first signs of autumn are showing. Cool nights , lovely days. This is typically my favorite time of year. This year seems to produced a whole new flurry of activity. This will be my first winter with livestock and it suddenly hit me how ill prepared we are. The chicken coop, up until now has been more than sufficient. however now I see it will need some insulation, more roosting space, and likely more nesting boxes. We are of course still working on the rabbit enclosures, shelter for the turkeys, and a winter house for all the small birds.

On top of all of this we have all of our autumn planting yet to do. With a broken tractor it's looking like we may have to hand plow for the wheat, garlic and winter onions. There is also the task of getting the wood stove brought in and installed not to mention Lots of wood that still needs to be split.


I've been a canning fiend. My father-in-law recently asked if we had enough food to get us through winter. My sweet husband responded with "she's canned enough food to get us through to this time next year" but I fear in all my focusing on canning I've neglected other important projects. Sure I have enough food to make sure my family is happily fed, but I continually forget to get back up dog food, cat food, chicken food, rabbit food and turkey food. There is also figuring out where I'm going to store all. We have commercial farmers on three sides who are now harvesting. Those mice are going to go somewhere :-( while I have cats to take care of the indoors, I can't store three month supply of feed for all the animals in the house. We've picked up these big metal barrels that I think will be mouse proof. However I don't expect they will be airtight and I don't want my critter food to degrade. I was considering maybe a wax seal.


My father-in-law tells me that it's not uncommon to be snowed in for a month or two and be without power for weeks at a time. I actually like being snowed in and I think I can deal without power as well. So there's a part of me that actually looking forward to it. since we moved here last February I've learned so very much. Each new season brings a whole new set of learning experiences. Though much of it has been fun, interesting, entertaining and sometimes laughable. There's also been a lot of worry, frustration, fear and pain. I think I'm mostly worried for my animals. Many of them I've raised from babies and become quite attached. I think at this moment I might be particularly sensitive since the combination of our first frost and finding a hen dead in the nesting box this morning. I'm really looking forward to the rest that winter will supposedly bring. I'm also looking forward to knocking the dust off my spinning wheel, time for weaving, sewing, and crocheting. Though I expect it's going to be much like all the other seasons, wrought with unexpected activities :-)
 
You write beautifully! Very interesting. Without power for weeks? I would not like that at all, cus of my internet time and the need for lights. But we did buy a used generator this past winter, and actually used it once so far. Just gotta make sure we have the gasoline (diesel??) for it.

How did the experimental injection do for you?
 
Good to her from you again!!

Sounds like your garden did well. With all the canning you have done do you have a root cellar? Just wondering if the house had one when you got there.

So what is the average snow fall for where you live?? How cold does it get?

gina
 
Thanks! And thanks for reminding me about the generator! We've bought a used one that should run the freezer and my computer equipment but we've not yet tested it. That's suddenly made its way to the top of list :-)

I couldn't really guess how much snow we actually get. We live in a fairly flat area with lots of wind so we get a good bit of gusting. It doesn't take long to cover the roads and then cover them again with the winds off the fields. As far as temperatures go and believe for the most part it stays above zero during the day but can get below zero at night.

My new injection is actually going well above expectations. I've shown progress before we were actually expecting to see progress! And the best part, it's just one injection.

The garden was huge! While it didn't do as well as we hoped and kind of glad now. Mostly I learned a lot this year when he came to the garden. Things that get me laughed at by the neighbors like planting tomatoes too close to the corn so they don't get the evening sun. The upside is that I've already started plotting how the garden will be laid out next year. What will be planted first, what can be planted later and rotating multiple plantings.

I'm really looking forward to getting the wood stove moved into the house. Bee posted a thread about how much she loves hers and I find myself suddenly missing the sight of fire and the smell of smoke :-)
 
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