Friday, February 11, 2011

What's New in Poultry!

I am trying very hard to teach myself a valuable lesson. The lesson is this: If you have a good plan, STICK TO IT. Don't be a dumbass, panic, and move away from the plan!
I had my awesome chicken/poultry plan this year. I had arranged to get all my chicks and poults in at the same time, so I would only have to brood once. Smart, eh? It would be, if I stuck to it!
Lately my eggs have been selling like hotcakes. I've had to tell people no. I hate telling people no!! So, I panicked and got Amanda to put 20 eggs into the incubator for me. THEN, I realized... DUH, they won't all be hens! So I upped it to 40. At least they are dual purpose...
So, in about 2 weeks, I will have 40 chicks coming. It is too cold out, so I will have to start brooding them inside. Ugh, smelly! Then, I realized I still need to build my new coop out in the pasture, so I can move my other laying hens out there, and let the one coop regrow and recover before I put new chickens into it. I've got my work cut out for me!

About a week and a half ago I moved a bunch of my Dorking hens into the coop with my 2 new roosters, so they can start fertilizing eggs. I plan on putting a bunch of them into my new-for-me incubator and hatching a bunch. I will hopefully sell a few, and keep some for myself.
A couple of days ago, the roosters started trying to kill each other. I actually thought one had died yesterday, but he was just playing dead until the other left him alone. So, I put the poor loser into the duck pen, so he could recover. I went to a heritage turkey meeting yesterday, and they said that 3 males was the magic number. 2 would kill each other, but if you had a third, it would be enough of a distraction, that the fights wouldn't get so out of hand. When I have enough males, I will try it. I would really love to get some fertile eggs happening!

My muscovy ducks are starting to lay already! I've had over a dozen eggs now. I will have enough to start selling the odd dozen soon, then I will start harvesting them and put them into the incubator. I am hoping to get a lot of use out of this incubator! I can't wait to use it!!

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Flooded Driveway

Flooded Driveway
Too much RAIN!