So much

Hello there!!! June is moving right along, and before we know it, July will be here. This has been a full year so far, which is one of the reasons I've not been blogging much. However, I miss writing this blog, and am going to try to set aside more time for it. I've learned a lot more about chickens, because truly I don't believe we ever stop learning. I'm still learning about ducks, and rabbits. I have also started reading up on Turkeys, and quail. Frank wants quail, because apparently those tiny little eggs are wonderful. I want to raise a couple of turkeys a year, 1 for holidays, and one to part out for the freezer. We are still wanting to get involved with bees, and hogs, and milk goats.  I think we are going to end up needing more property!!!

So, to report on all the creatures and people currently in our lives, there is some fun stuff to report on.

Back in May, I set over 80 eggs to hatch. That was 1 rooster with more than 60 hens. I had 15 hatch out. Most of what I had set weren't fertile. However, I did expect that. Only 2 from what I can tell are pure Buff Orpington, 1 boy and 1 girl. I may have 1 or 2 more girls that are pure, however I can't tell because everyone hands out in the shade of the little coop and run that they are in. Next month we will be butchering the boys, they will be part of our winter meat stock. Plus, as we all know you want to get the boys before they get too chewy.

The chicks that we ordered from Ideal Poultry that came in about a week before the hatch are all doing and growing well. We ordered 5 Rhode Island Red Roosters, 5 Buff Orpington Pullets, and 25 Delaware pullets. I had no clue I was going to fall so in love with the Delaware breed like I have. They are so laid back, and they never went through the ugly teenage stage that most chickens do.  I cannot wait until they are fully grown!!!

We have been working on buying kennel panels on a regular basis so we can work on everyone's separate runs.  We are also going to have several different grow out sections for raising started pullets. For starters, we plan on red sex links, Rhode Island Reds, Buff Orpington, and Tetra Tints. We eventually plan on breeding Delaware, White Leghorn, Dark Brahma, Light Brahma, and Marans of some sort. I really want to raise Black Australorp, however we will have to wait and see how all of the expansions go first. We will be adding the other breeds over a course of a few years. We are going to have all the housing going around what used to be out back yard garden. That way, we will have a yard that we can let them out into one breed at a time. It will let them free range a bit safely.

We have decided that we are going to faze out our Easter Egg hens. They are not the best layers in the world, and unfortunately seeing as I cannot sex a chick the way they do in the standard hatchery, we can't sell them as chicks because nobody wants to buy them as straight run. Then it takes so long to grow them out to tell the girls from the boys that nobody wants to pay what it cost to raise them up to that size. I unfortunately live in an area where people are cheap, so selling a 4-6 month old Easter Egg hen  for $15-$20 just doesn't always happen. Really, that's not that expensive when you see what they sell for in other places. Anyhow!! Moving on!!!

The ducks are good!!! I've changed their feed from starter grower, to the finisher. I'm feeding them Dumore from Tractor Supply. Generally, I feed all of my animals feed from the co-op, however, they don't sell unmediated feed there, and even though different people say you can give them medicated feed now because the formula has changed, I just don't care to risk it. I still don't know the genders yet, but I do know, they are still the happiest creatures here, as well as the messiest. I should be able to tell in hopefully the next 2 months.  Just waiting on those drake feathers to curl.

Not much to say on th rabbits. We haven't done any breeding this year. Frank's work schedule has been really insane thanks to all of the overtime he's had to work.  Fingers crossed they get help soon.

As I've talked about before, my Father in law has cancerous tumors that are inoperable. He's been getting a once a month shot for over a year now. The shot is doing great, and is keeping everything right where it needs to be. His bloodwork last month came back great!!! I'm really happy to be able to report such great news. His hearing however, has gotten a lot worse. His hearing aids help very little, but he doesn't let it slow him down.

I went back to the UVA (University of Virginia) this past week. I'm waiting on the Surgical Coordinator to call me. I will be getting a new left hip at the end of August!!! I am super ready for this to happen. However, I'm starting to get rather frustrated with this guy, because getting a call from him, is kind of like waiting for Christmas. He seems to take a good amount of time off or something. I have the one nurses number, and if he doesn't call me back by the end of this week, I'm going to call her and see what the problem is. From what I'm told, they don't normally actually take this long to call back to schedule things.

So... Now you are all caught up!!! Sorry if I got a little wordy, but I'm rather good at going on about stuff!!!
Until my next blog, keep cool!!!