End of an Era

I had to make a hard, hard farming decision last month. Bully, the Dorking roo I've had since the day after I moved into my farm has long been proven infertile. He was a beautiful bird. BUT, I need to find a way to make some moulah on these chickens. Selling eggs doesn't quite cut it. So, the last batch of chickens I took in to the processor included Bully. I will admit, I shed a tear as I was driving him there. He ended up being about 7 lbs, and he went on to make lots and lots of nourishing chicken broth for me, and thus went into a few batches of soups. It was probably the best soup stock I've made yet. So, at least poor Bully was useful for something in the end.

Bye-bye, Bully. You were a good rooster.

I had 9 dorking roos from the batch I hatched out last fall - they are Bloody Monday's get. I replaced Bully with one of them. I waited three weeks, then put some eggs into the incubator... hopefully I'll get some babies!! The only sucky part is that all my dorking chicks will be related now. Not as much genetic diversity.

Those Naughty Goats!

I took the day off yesterday, and left Heather in charge. (I really, REALLY have to learn to take more days off!!). Anyway, I was at an agility trial, and we got done early. I was home by about 3 pm. Just as I pulled into the driveway, I see Heather, along with 2 of my naughty, naughty goats. I guess they had escaped, and were out on the road, and poor Heather had JUST got them back into the yard as I pulled up. There is a never-used gate at the front of the property that someone had unlatched. The naughty goats had pushed it open and went outside to party.
Trouble and Star were in my garden, munching away happily. The other two Heather had managed to get back into their field. We grabbed some grain, and got them back in. They didn't want to go, though... too much good stuff outside their field. I think I will have to let them out once in a while (before my crops start growing) to help me do some weeding.

BAD goats!!

Greenhouse... Warm!

Exciting news! Last night was the first time we had a sharp frost since my greenhouse went up. I have put a big pile of compost in there for heat, and it must be working. When I got up this morning, it was -3 outside. Inside the house it was just above freezing... which is exactly what I needed!

I've been putting EM on the compost, and the ammonia problem is just about gone now. (thank goodness..the fumes almost killed me). All I need now is to find a used waterbed mattress to use to heat my seeds. This is the most cost effective way I can figure for a seed heating pad. I've got ads all over... SOMEONE has to have an old waterbed clogging up their basement or attic somewhere!! I did find some folding tables for cheap, so those are put in now. Guess I should go take some more pics soon! I am trying to put piles of compost under the tables to see if I can heat the tables that way, but I don't think it has enough umph to do the job. Regardless, I am going to go get some potting mix today, and start as many seeds as I can... spring is on its way!!

Greenhouse.... DONE!!!!

The other day, my greenhouse got finished. It was better than Christmas as a kid... I was jumping up and down as Dom the Handy Mum and I put the last poly on. So super exciting!

I still have to build a seeding table, and do some last minute touch ups (handle on the door, latches, gravel pathway), but the greenhouse is IN USE!

I spent all day Sunday laying cardboard down one side, putting goat manure down, then finding some soil to put on top for a planting bed. I also put a big pile of chicken manure in there to heat up, so it will keep it above freezing at night. Unfortunately, the manure I used was thick with ammonia, and WHEW, does it stink! I poured a bunch of EM on it, hopefully it will counteract the ammonia soon. I have to go down each morning, and open the door for a while to let it vent. Luckily, it has been quite warm, so the seeds I planted will not freeze.

This is how I built my greenhouse:

First, I found a used portable car shelter. This cost $100

The framing is starting to go up... we did a 'foundation' first, with 6x6' posts to anchor

The poly is starting to go up!!! This was an exciting day. Sadly, we couldn't finish it all in one day... ran out of supplies and light.

ALL DONE!!! I've waited over 24 years to have my own greenhouse. This is truly a dream come true!!

When Dom was kneeling down, Little Monkey crawled up on her back. I snugged her into Doms hood... she wanted to help, too!!

So, all in all with supplies and paying someone to help me (because I am just NOT handy!) the greenhouse cost me about $1700. If I was to buy a new, pre-fab greenhouse in the same size, it would have cost between $4000-$5000.

Expecting....!!

We are expecting here on the farm. Expecting lots and lots of babies. I just put the new drake in the breeding pen with four females, so the muscovys should start laying soon. Then, I loaded up the incubator with chicken eggs of all descriptions. A few Dorking eggs (the raven's have been stealing most of them, so that's all I was able to save recently), lots of Easter Eggers, and a few ISA/EE mixes. I also am pretty certain Lily the goat is preggers. She is not huge yet, but is starting to get 'that look' about her. Baby goats!! I can't wait for baby goats! Star is probably preggers as well, but just behind Lily. I guess the littler goat is just a bit more slutty than her bigger sister.
I am also planning a breeding between two of my dogs... Reckless, who is a sportmix, and one of the coolest little dogs ever, and Kybosh, my little Border Collie. I spent the last few months getting health tests done on them, making certain neither carries anything genetic (hips, elbows, hearts, eyes, ears). We now have the all clear, both dogs passed everything with flying colours, and I am just waiting for Ky to go into season. Which can't happen soon enough. These pups should totally ROCK. I have been going through puppy yearning a lot lately, and it's time for a new baby to train up in various sports. By the time this pup comes of age to compete, Reckless will be about 7 years old, and in the veterans class. Time goes by wayyyy too quickly with our babies.
Goat, duck, chicken, and puppies. Should be a busy spring!!!

I did have a little oops. (this is my confession time). I foster quite often for a local rescue group... Paws Without Borders. About a month ago, I got this little chocolate coloured 'chiweenie'. (chihuahua x dachshand). She weighs about 2 or 3 lbs, and is the cutest thing you ever saw. I am supposed to keep her until she finds her 'furever' home, but I'm not certain I can let this little girl go. She just fits in so nicely! I am not a small/frufru dog person, but I may have to make an exception;-)

Little Monkey. Think I may have to keep her.....

Deer Fencing

Before Christmas, I had deer come in and eat pretty much ALL my beautiful kale plants. They ate them to the quick. Up until that point, I had been harvesting and selling them, and they were gorgeous. Damn deer! I have several hundred plants, and they all got cleaned out in one fell swoop.

So, deer fencing has become a top priority. I can't count the amount of times last year that I had a beautiful crop of something, and they would eat it just before I was about to harvest... they seem to have uncanny timing!
Before I put up fence extenders, however, I had to clear a bunch of brambles and brush from along the fenceline. So, I ended up doing something I've never done before... I hired someone to come in and do it for me. Honestly, it would have taken me weeks on my own to get everything cleared. The two guys I hired had everything cleared and the extenders up in two days. It was worth every single penny. I wasn't able to get the whole property done (about 1/3 is now finished), but I got done the most common places for the deer to come in. Not sure if it is helping, as I have nothing left for the damn deer to eat, but it's a start! Between the extenders, I had fishing line put up, with some flagging tape on the top level (about 8' tall now) so the deer can see there is a barrier there. From the research I've done, they shouldn't be bothering to come in now.
I am working slowly putting up extenders around the rest of the property. I hope to have it all done by March, when I start planting crops outside again.
Let's hope that I actually get to harvest some of my own crops this year, and the deer don't take it all!

Chickens, chickens, chickens

The following is a few 'learn from my mistakes' poultry -raising stories. I had all sorts of adventures in chicken farming this year. From ravens eating my eggs, and killing over 16 of my laying hens, to having a couple of disasters in raising meat birds. Sigh. I hate blogging about my mistakes. There just seem to be so many of them! Then again, if I don't put it down, who will learn from my bungles?!

My laying hens were crap this year, as I think I have stated before. I have about 40 hens, and for the last few (several) months, I've been getting anywhere from 0 to 3 eggs a day. Yet I am spending way too much money buying feed for the buggers. Grrrr. Arggg.
This week, things seem to be finally changing. This morning, I got 10 eggs... I seriously don't remember the last time I had ten eggs in one day! Of course, now they will start laying like crazy, and I've lost almost all of my egg customers. Hopefully I will start getting a few more of those again soon. I am ALMOST finished paying off my egg share clients... it has taken me so long to do this. I have three dozen owing right now, and then I'm done with the obligations... so I hope I don't start getting stuck with a zillion eggs all of a sudden!

Meat chickens did pretty well this year, for the most part. I am slowly getting some regular customers for those, plus I give away some (my family all got roasters for Christmas) and some away for barter. I still haven't gotten to the point where I actually make any money on them. My last batch was a bit of a disaster, though. They came in much later than I expected. I had decided to keep them for 10 weeks instead of 8 and see what kind of difference it made to the size of the birds. Yet, somehow, they never really grew and I couldn't understand why. When I took some of them into the processor, I found out. (I have a new processor, and I really like the facility, and she is super knowledgable about the birds). The bottoms of the poor birds feet were burned from ammonia. I always do a deep layer system when raising my birds, so I only have to change the coop once after each batch. This has so far always worked for me, but this time it backfired. Because it was so late in the season, and wet and cooler, the hay heated up, burning the little chickens. So, they decided they didn't want to grow anymore. I feel really bad that I didn't figure this out on my own, but I never thought to look at the bottom of their feet! So, now I am doing a shallow layer system and cleaning out their bedding each week, which is time consuming, but some of the birds have started growing again... yippee! They will be going to the processor very soon in the new year. My freezer is starting to look empty! Then, for this coming year, I will know better!

I also had a couple of turkey disasters. Of which I was a complete dumbass, and didn't learn anything the first time, so had to fail a second time before I figured it out. Dork.

Anyway, what happed was this: the little turkeys arrived, really healthy looking, eating and drinking. After a couple of weeks, they still looked really good. All of a sudden, one would die. No warning, didn't look sick, just... dead. Then, another. The next day, two would die. Then they would be ok for a few days, and I would think whatever was wrong had passed. Then, poof! Another death. This just kept going until I only had a few birds left. Three of them were kind of gimpy, and one of their legs was crooked. Two seemed to be ok. After about 16 weeks, the gimpy ones just gave up and died. So, stupidly, I had fed them this whole time. I was left with only 2 healthy birds.

In typical Kelly fashion, I decided it was a fluke that they all died (after all, I was doing everything the same as last year, and I had been super-successful then....) so I got a second batch to try again. The same thing happened. I tried doing some research online, but didn't find anything then. I also contacted the breeders, and they had never heard of whatever was happening to my birds. I asked some other farmers, and no one knew what I was talking about.

Grrrr! Arrgggg!!!

Anyway, since then I did some major research... I don't want to fail again next year! There are two possibilities. One, a calcium/vitamin D deficiency. Which means the feed I have been getting was changed slightly from last year to this one, and now doesn't have enough vitamins and minerals in it, OR, it is a genetic thing, and I'll have to change suppliers. In the spring, I am going to try one batch from my regular supplier, and put a supplement into their water, see if that works. Otherwise, I will have to change suppliers. I have lost so many turkey sales this year...I had to tell everyone I was sold out. It was such a bummer. This poultry raising thing seems to be taking me a long time to figure out. Am I the only one who learns so slow? Do other people have disasters, too? Or am I the only dumbass out there.... !!!?