So with 2014 right around the corner (eek!), what are your plans or goals for the year? It can be related to chickens or not! And did were you able to check some things off of your 2013 goals and plans list? Here are mine! - Give the coops a fresh coat of paint - Update my website and blog regularly ( I've been slacking! ) - Rebuild my flock and introduce some new breeds for breeding and exhibition ( I had to sell the majority of my stock since I was constantly out of town this year ) - Invest in a quality incubator What are your goals or plans?
2013 I got pretty much all my plans complete. I got my small flock of unrelated Speckled Sussex and their housing/run built (thanks, hubby!), found myself an Ameraucana rooster for my Easter Egger hens, got my rabbits producing and earning their keep finally, and a whole passel of little things done too! Goals for 2014...hmmm... - Expand my goat herd (just by one or two ) - See how well my hubby's Silver Pheasant trio does production-wise - Raise/hatch enough turkeys to provide myself and my family for Thanksgiving and hopefully have a few extras to sell as well - Raise/hatch a few batches of my new Speckled Sussex, and continue with the Easter Egger chickens - Downsize my rabbitry a little - See how well my ducks do production-wise - Freak out because I'm never going to have enough space for all the babies, but will somehow get my hubby to rig something to fit them because I'm addicted and love it too much not to have them all. (Insert hysterical laughter here!) - I just put up a website of my own, so I'm hoping that I don't get too over or under-whelmed with orders. - Build another shed - Build some more fencing - Take more photos. I think it's becoming a bit of a hobby for me now I'm sure I'll make more goals as time goes on, but that's my basic outline for the year.
First on the list is financial recovery from my illness. We need to be debt free except the house again, and have our 3-4 months of expenses in the bank. Other goals---- install hand pump on the well for water supply if/when the power goes out. organize food storage so I can tell what I actually have. Build larger brooder and grow out pen so I can order birds, grow them out and resell them. Start riding my horses again. I can't justify feeding them if I'm not using them. expand the garden area and get a perennial section going, also a better area for root crops. Get the junk we have in the pasture cleared out. get the electrical and sheetrock work done on our office outbuilding so it's usable. assemble bug out bags/get home bags for honey and I. organize my first aid supplies/medications. buying a generator would be nice, but probably not in the cards this year. need to build finances and savings back up first.
