This is the last day of June, the last sleep of the month. It's been a bit and humid month at that.
I've started working on getting my house ready for my hip replacement surgery that is happening in September. I found a couple of groups on FB, for people that have the same hip condition that I've lived with for most of my life now. I cannot express just how wonderful it was to finally talk to others that have had to deal with it the same way I have.
What I have is a joint disorder called Slipped Capital Femoral Epiphysis. It happens to children between the ages of 10 and 15 for the most part, as they are growing their growth plate starts slipping, until the hip joints look like a melting ice cream cone. The first initial pains felt are in the groin area, and most parents just think the kid is having growing pains, well you all can Google it if you really want to know any more. But needless to say, I'm going to feel like an entirely new person. I think the thing I'm the most excited about, other than having a lot less pain, is being able to the my shoe again. I've not been able to the my left shoe for the last 10 years.
I've lost 75 pounds, and still have 35 more to go before I make my big goal of 110. I'm hoping to take off another 15-20 pounds before my surgery. That will put me at 165-170 pounds. Yes, right now I weigh 185 pounds. I'm not ashamed to say it, because when I started this train, I was 260 pounds. I was about to have to buy the next size up in Jeans, which would have put me in a size 24, I was squeezing into my jeans, and I can't lie, they were quite painful.
Now, onto farm stuff!!! It looks like most of what hatched out, that I'm raising up are Rhode Island Red\Buff Orpington mixed, 3 pure buffs, and a Black Australorp \Orpington mix. I think the Australorp mix is a female!!! It's really neat looking, and if it is a she, I'm going to have to keep it.
Frank and I decided to keep the male Orpington. I realized that if something happens to Wesley, I don't have an Orpington rooster to take his place until I quickly hatch whatever eggs my Orp girls lay within a couple of days. So basically, I would be without a rooster to replace him. I've already started calling him Junior, because he seriously takes after his father!!! If his mom is the biggest Orpington hen, this guy may end up bigger than his dad.
The ducks are 13 weeks old already. They have slowed in their growth majorly. I don't know if they will grow any more or not. I'm assuming they probably will, because at just 4 months old they are rather big, and will probably grow a little more. As you all know, this is our first go with ducks. So we are learning as we go. We still have no clue how many are what gender yet. I'm going to have a really hard time when butcher time comes for the excess boys. I'm not going to lie. I actually love these ducks more than chickens. They are the happiest animals I have ever come in contact with.
Well, there really is nothing more for me to ramble on about tonight. I'll close this up, and hope you all have a happy and safe 4th of July
Friday, June 30, 2017
Monday, June 19, 2017
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!!!
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!!!
Wednesday, May 24, 2017
Rain Rain
Well, it's calling for rain all week long. It looks like I won't be moving chicks outside this week. I really wish Frank's work schedule wasn't so packed. We haven't been able to get anything built, or anything. We have a house for the Orpington pen, that still also hasn't been out up, and the list goes on.
I've noticed this trend in some of the facebook groups that have to do with farming, or chickens. Someone has these more expensive chicken breeds, and a dog gets in and kills them all. So they do the big sob story and ask if anyone could sell them some replacements for free or cheap because they can't afford to spend a lot now. So someone falls for it, and then a few weeks later I see these same birds on another site for sale for full price by the person who lost them to begin with. I'm pointing this out because if you raise and sell chickens, I don't want you to get suckered in.
My peach trees are full of fruit, I'm really hoping they make it to maturity. I want to can some this year. I bought some from Walmart last year to try and can, however they had no flavour and were hard. So I put them in a dark place and thought I'd let them sit overnight and see if they got ripe. Wouldn't you know, I checked them the next morning, and they were all rotten on the bottom that fast. I should have went to the fruit stand and bought a case. It probably would have worked out better for me.
I've noticed this trend in some of the facebook groups that have to do with farming, or chickens. Someone has these more expensive chicken breeds, and a dog gets in and kills them all. So they do the big sob story and ask if anyone could sell them some replacements for free or cheap because they can't afford to spend a lot now. So someone falls for it, and then a few weeks later I see these same birds on another site for sale for full price by the person who lost them to begin with. I'm pointing this out because if you raise and sell chickens, I don't want you to get suckered in.
My peach trees are full of fruit, I'm really hoping they make it to maturity. I want to can some this year. I bought some from Walmart last year to try and can, however they had no flavour and were hard. So I put them in a dark place and thought I'd let them sit overnight and see if they got ripe. Wouldn't you know, I checked them the next morning, and they were all rotten on the bottom that fast. I should have went to the fruit stand and bought a case. It probably would have worked out better for me.
Tuesday, May 23, 2017
Moving along
It's raining pretty good out there tonight. It drizzled most of the day, but after 8, it let loose. At least I was able to get all of my animal chores done.
Tomorrow I hope to finish getting my grow out pin ready. My chicks that came in from Ideal are ready to go out. It looks like one of my Delaware chicks may possibly be a little boy. I'm not upset about the possibility though, because we eventually planned on getting a Delaware rooster and breeding our own replacements for the sex link breeding we are planning on.
I have to replace my 3 gallon water container I had in my big chicken run. I had a 3 gallon and a 5 gallon. Well I went out there the other evening, and the entire side had split open. Sometimes I get lucky, and it's the cheap stuff that has to be replaced.
Those crazy ducks are still growing quickly!!! They are eating a lot as well. We're still playing the guessing game with their genders. Right now we are guessing we have 4 or 5 females looking at the shapes of their tales.
Tomorrow I hope to finish getting my grow out pin ready. My chicks that came in from Ideal are ready to go out. It looks like one of my Delaware chicks may possibly be a little boy. I'm not upset about the possibility though, because we eventually planned on getting a Delaware rooster and breeding our own replacements for the sex link breeding we are planning on.
I have to replace my 3 gallon water container I had in my big chicken run. I had a 3 gallon and a 5 gallon. Well I went out there the other evening, and the entire side had split open. Sometimes I get lucky, and it's the cheap stuff that has to be replaced.
Those crazy ducks are still growing quickly!!! They are eating a lot as well. We're still playing the guessing game with their genders. Right now we are guessing we have 4 or 5 females looking at the shapes of their tales.
Monday, May 15, 2017
And finally baby ducks!
Sunday, May 14, 2017
picture test
testing
So, I have my kindle, and this is a test post to see how easy it's going to be to use. I'm debating on purchasing the app, but haven't decided yet. I plan on taking some puct with this later on today to see if I can start loading them again. Right now this is like a fun new toy!!!
oh!!! Happy Mothers Day out there to everyone!!!
oh!!! Happy Mothers Day out there to everyone!!!
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