Hey :)

Sorry about that... with the nice weather, and well, lots of other excuses, I haven't made time for blogging :)

But, we have the ducks out!!! Yesterday we spent almost the whole day working on the hut, getting it ready!!! And, we did it! :)

We have had 197 eggs so far this month! YEA! We've given away more than half of them, but we found some people that really want to buy them. Without advertising, we could sell them all, no problem. So we've ordered some more to make up for our losses. (I actually finally got the order in last night--so May 19th is the expected date!) This is crazy, as it will be our third set of chickens in the past 12 months.

The goats are so approachable, now, and are unsure of the ducks. The broilers will be out of the way in plenty of time for the new chicks, so do you know what that means??? OUR HOME IS NO LONGER (OR EVER AGAIN GOING TO BE) A BROODER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! WHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! so that's cool.

This picture is from, well not today or yesterday... see, the chicks are in a kennel in with the adult chickens as of sometime earlier this week. If you'll look closely, you'll see that one of our Khaki Campbells decided it wanted the chick's food. Must be one of Eric's :)

Ducks... out!

We just, and I mean just got the ducks out of here. With Eric's schedule, they've been here about a week longer than I would have liked.

We took the hog hut next to the goat's and fixed it up. While at The Family Center, Eric got to chatting with some of the guys there, and told them about how we keep losing chickens. One of the guys told Eric he'd had the same problem, until he put his chickens down by his goats. Hmmm. So we're trying it with the ducks, then the plan is to put the chickens in the other 2/3, and have the guineas in the current coop. Our next batch of chicks should get here the week of May 12th. We need to decide if we'd like the guineas this year or not soon, and their arrival would be the end of June.

Sorry this isn't longer or more detailed, but I'm exhausted, and we're off for Panora tomorrow...

The broilers are outta here!

I should wait until tomorrow, so I can have some pictures for you, but I was so excited (and finally had half a second... and then Ben came in :)

Anyway, Eric and I finished up the coop--we put flashing in where there were gaps (okay, where something made entrance holes, and in anticipation of where they might try to again), he cut the exit holes bigger. I have the dividers secured, we put in the DE (diatomaceous earth) and hay. The hens are happy, and went outside on their own today (we've re-enclosed an area for them). Five eggs today! The broilers are all on the east side of the coop. They look so tiny!!! Oh, and the best of the best, Eric wired the coop! (I helped a little yesterday, but it was too cold by the time we started wiring, and today, Ben is sick, so Eric finished it up.) So, now we have a light switch, and outlets! :)

The seven from the living room are in the broilers old kennel, and just look confused--they can see out the sides!!! The ducks have to share their light, so I had to put the kennels close together, and they are currently pecking at each other. The chicks are huddling close to the ducks, and the ducks are checking them out. Lizzie, our big Khaki Campbell doesn't seem to like them, but Hercules, our biggest Pekin doesn't seem to mind. Oh, and we've named them.

The Cochin is Penguin ('cause it looks like one) the Polish Crested are Amelia, Bernice, and Travis. (Amelia would fly out a lot. Bernice just looks like a Bernice, and Travis is, well, you'll have to talk to Tory about that one.) The Silkies are still all Mommies (except Chirpy-Chirpy-Chirps-A-Lot that is the most vocal). The Pekins are (biggest, bigger, big) Hercules, Pegasus, and Meg. The Cayugas are Avatar, Katara, Sokka, and Jet (he's the loner one). The Khaki Campbell's are Lizzie (the biggest one) Gus (the blond-beaked one), Juanita (the one that sleeps with it's one leg extended) Gretchen, and Trout. The first set are from Hercules, the next from Avatar (Ben named these) and the last set if from The Boyfriend School (I say this instead of Don't Tell Her It's Me, because Juanita is in the book, and not the movie, and it's Gretchen-not Emily.) And the only one that will understand is my Laura. Who doesn't read this. :) Ah, well, it's a good book, and a good movie. Now I'm a-waitin' for Eric's laundry to get done. A very busy weekend on the farm.

And another one bites the dust...

Today, in view of yesterday's festivities... we stayed with the chickens almost all day---I made lunch, and they were fine. (~20 minutes) I stepped inside to grab some tools, (less than 2 minutes) and came out to Kodiak running off with Lacey. Screams, flails, growling (all from me) I ended up in the middle of a bunch of downed branches wondering how I was going to get out. Something used this as an opportunity for something else to run off with our Cochin.

So, what did we do with ourselves the whole time we were outside... here, you have before you , the less glamorous side of farm life. It was oh, so satisfying, though! AND, Ben came over, about half way through, and asked if he could help, and he did!!! Now, before you chuck your ideas of raising animals, know this: 'they' said to not keep adding hay---'they' said that a few bales would last the chickens the whole winter. I, however 'knew' better :) So, I put in bale after bale--I thought it was starting to smell, so I'd go get another bale. It was nothing compared to the work to get it all out... it's funny, Ben's most recent Click (magazine) had stories about how scientists look at things and learn from them--as I went through the various layers, I remember the past year with startling clarity; when we put some sand it, pine shavings, the different stages of how to get them their grit and oyster shell, all unearthed today. :)


Oh, and guess what? I was so wrong--apparently the Arcana's are laying brown eggs--for we had 9 hens this morning, and 9 eggs were laid and collected today--I don't know about you, but I only see 1 green egg!!!

Overall a good day. Oh, and for those of you that are new to us, Eric and I used this song to walk to at our wedding :) it was very awesome, since it has that long intro--we were halfway down the aisle before dun-na-nun-dun-dun, another one bites the dust. :) Almost everyone was laughing, as soon as the intro started. It was great. Thanks, Matt!!!

We had a decimation occur here. Eric said 'massacre' was too graphic. Yesterday, the dogs brought one hen up to the house, and one disappeared. Today, there were 5 dead around the yard, and one missing. I am soooo glad that we did all the things we did to get them through this winter. Both of the roosters are dead. We are down to 4 RIRs, the Cochin, and 4 Arcanas. This sucks. No babies for next spring. I hate my dogs. I held Genie in their faces, and if they twitched towards her, I yelled NO! and then held her some more, hoping to get some of the rage to go away, but it didn't really help. I tromped over to the machine shed, specifically to get the BB gun, to shoot them a little. But they followed me, stopped and sat when I stopped. I couldn't. And you know what gets me?? They didn't eat them. They didn't even try to eat them. The chickens were very beautiful--no blood. You know, when I butchered, I had a nice montage of their life, and it was very moving. As I carried Cricket to his final resting place, I had a montage, but this time, it was just done. No stew for him. Not even a fair death. I'm just... drained. I called Laura. I told Eric, and now I'm putting it here.

Our little teenagers...

I can't believe the feathers coming in on the babies already!--the broilers are almost completely feathered, and the smaller ones are doing really well, too!!! The ducks are just adorable--they swim in their water dish, and make a spectacular mess, everyday, so I am double-excited about getting them outside!!!!!

We lost 2 chickens yesterday--only found 1. Miss Peeps is dead. And another of the Aracunas. It was really a bummer---but that's life. Now we have 2 roosters, and 13 hens--8brown layers and 5 green layers. This morning, there were 12 eggs. TWELVE!!! 4 green, and 8 brown. Alright, now i have to find a place to put these eggs... (These are today's eggs!!) The top left green one, and the bottom right green one were still warm when I took this picture.)

V I C T O R Y ! ! !

Today, I drug the wee one out with me to do chores. We gave the goats their corn by hand, out in the field (we're trying to keep them on their toes *shiftily look around* you never know what'll happen next!) so, if they wanted their corn (they always want their corn :) they'd have to put up with me looking at their hooves. The snow? or something has softened them!!! To the house! Collect; Cutco Scissors :), toothbrush, and in my pocket already was some needle nosed pliers. I'm not sure what I'd need them for, but I already had them in my pocket :). To the barn! They came, and I caught Slash, held her up to the barn, and cleaned out and trimmed all 4 hooves. *HUGE grin* YES!

These guys are almost a year old, and have never had their hooves trimmed. I've been waiting for... some guts, I suppose.

Today, we had all 12 ducks dive under!!! Which may or may not have been partly due to the broccoli we put in the water. The past 2 days, we've put in lettuce (it floats), so they kind of had to dive a bit to get all the broccoli. :) Ducks (ours, at least) LOVE broccoli (chopped up, of course!).

Oh my gosh, I forgot, I took out the 7 chickens that will make it past May this year last night--they are in a tub, in my living room, which is also our bedrooms and Ben's play area. They are doing fine. They are quiet, subdued little ones, but hopefully they'll perk up. The bonus for us is that we do not have another heat lamp, so they are as close to the heater as possible, and it's turned up a bit--I think it's probably close to 70 in there!!! (warmer as you get closer to the heater :)

What a difference a week makes!!

The new baby ducks are here!!! The 3 are but a week older. Crazy!!! We dipped their beaks, took a picture, put them back in their box, and covered the bedding with paper towels! The new ones would eat the bedding instead of their food---kind of funny what you can forget in a week, too, huh? :) The little black ones are the Cayuga. The older Khaki took to the babies right away, I am amazed at how well they all get along already!!!

Why do they have to grow up so fast??

The chicks are already feathering! They have quite a few of their wing feathers already!!! The broilers are getting HUGE! I hope it gets nice out sooner than later!!! I need to take out the non-broilers--they are noticeably smaller, and are the last to eat and drink... and they get to live through the summer. (I'll put them out with the other chickens as soon as it warms up, in a kennel, until everyone gets to know each other a little better.)

We were advised to put in something for the ducks to be able to hide in---see how much they like it?? I am starting to get a little concerned about 10 more ducks...

I find this amusing--I am taking these pictures from my chair in front of the computer. :) See, you can raise poultry, even in small spaces! We originally had the ducks on top of the chicks, but they make such a mess, so, this works, too. Just for fun, the picture below is my immediate right :) Office/basement/laundry/brooder :) You just have to use your imagination. "Heaven, too, is our creation, all that's required is imagination!"

Firsts are always fun!!!

On to the good stuff. We let the ducks into some water today. It was AWESOME! First of all, it was 55 degrees outside (really warm! :) so, after being outside until we were soaked, and a little chilled, I threw Ben into the tub. Then, in the pre-warmed tub (I drained his water!) I put the heater nearby, and water into a cat-litter pan. I had the great idea of filling a container with water, but it still floated, so I put our generic mouth-wash on, to hold it down (you have to make it so they can get out!) I then took a rolled-up towel for the outside, and in the upcoming days, I'll put a rolled-up towel on the inside, too! Ramps. They're always fun! They seemed a little hesitant, but then again, they really don't seem to have warmed up to us much, yet. The Khaki LOVED it! The bathtub is naturally at a slope, and she quickly realized she can touch the bottom at the back---she also dove under water, twice! to the chagrin of the other two---it splashed, you know. :) It was probably less than 5 minutes, I did not time it, but we were pretty enthralled a their 'first swimming lesson' as Ben kept saying. :) I dried them off, and Ben took them right back to be under their heat lamp. They are all asleep as I type. :) And we, at 29 and 5, were able to experience something new together!!! IT WAS AWESOME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!