INCUBATING w/FRIENDS! w/Sally Sunshine Shipped Eggs No problem!

[Pensmaster]

So my husband was mowing by the cockerel cages and we had 33 mix breed cockerels in there separated by chicken wire and there are 2 separate coops. While he was going past one spooked and jumped through the wires and the he's 5 weeks the others are 4 months, so at least 1/2 the size and he doesn't know how it got through but it did and we think between the wire and the dozen young roosters jumped on him and scalped him... We had to cull him I'm really upset because we have a small homestead and it's not like we have to cull many chicks and this was so preventable... And grotesque and sad. I feel kinda sick about it, farming is hard and I hate this part of things. I haven't been on in a while because I've been so busy but I thought y'all might be able to tell me that these things do happen and that I just need to come to terms with that. Clearly I can tell myself but that doesn't really cement it. Also my young rooster had a band on (I don't band the boys cause big legs) and when we thought we should take off the bands his was cutting his leg a bit, it was a day of injury but his leg is so swollen... Feeling like a bad homsteader today... Will the swelling just go down, I've been keeping it clean and treating with non pain relief neosporine.... Oh and I left chicks in the bator for about 30 hours and one got messed with and I think it's got a cross beak, they're olive eggers and some of the shells were a little too round I think, maybe and being messed with while they were hatching plus having Easter egger genes... I've had some I assisted hatch get cross beak and I'm sad because I think it might be two of them actually... Sad what a cruddy week for homesteading/ chicken keeping

Yes cruddy weeks happens. I don't free range anymore due to losses.

Also I tried to at least be self sufficient for a week here. All I can say it my hats off to all the farmers out there without them I wouldn't have a head to put that hat on.

 

[BantyChooks]

Yes cruddy weeks happens. I don't free range anymore due to losses.

Also I tried to at least be self sufficient for a week here. All I can say it my hats off to all the farmers out there without them I wouldn't have a head to put that hat on.

X2..... I'd be on a diet of zuchinni, tomatoes, green beans, and eggs.

No beef, cause I buy it all from a friend who raises her own... No bread, cause GF flour requires a whole mess of different stuff....

 

[BantyChooks]

Oh! I forgot. I could have apples, rhubarb, and strawberries as well.

 

[Pensmaster]

X2..... I'd be on a diet of zuchinni, tomatoes, green beans, and eggs.

No beef, cause I buy it all from a friend who raises her own... No bread, cause GF flour requires a whole mess of different stuff....

Yes and even the chickens and eggs came from feed that I bought with money earned elsewhere so they don't count either. I tried raising oats so I could have bread. Got them growing and when they were about half an inch high a hailstorm crushed them all. Maybe 10 plants survived so I chose to use them as seed for next years crop. Meanwhile you starve waiting for next year. Argh!!!

Couldn't even barter as I had nothing to barter with. Maybe labor.

 

[BantyChooks]

Yes and even the chickens and eggs came from feed that I bought with money earned elsewhere so they don't count either. I tried raising oats so I could have bread. Got them growing and when they were about half an inch high a hailstorm crushed them all. Maybe 10 plants survived so I chose to use them as seed for next years crop. Meanwhile you starve waiting for next year. Argh!!!

Couldn't even barter as I had nothing to barter with. Maybe labor.

That is true.... And even the seeds were ordered online..... Anyone up for a grass salad?

 

[BunnynChicks]

Quote: I like grass.

 

[Pensmaster]

That is true.... And even the seeds were ordered online..... Anyone up for a grass salad?

Or Acorn mash. Must say I've tasted acorns and I'd starve even with an ample supply. Guess I didn't know how to process them

Might find dandelion for that salad.

 

[BusyBearMama]

I am soo sorry.  I had one of my chicks eaten by my dog so I know its hard.

Yes cruddy weeks happens. I don't free range anymore due to losses.

Also I tried to at least be self sufficient for a week here. All I can say it my hats off to all the farmers out there without them I wouldn't have a head to put that hat on.

Thanks everybody <3 we've never had an animal so hurt it had to be put down. I'm going to have to decide now what to do with the cross beak and the maybe cross beak... I've never had any survive ... Of the 3 we've ever had but I feel wretched about it... Same reason I've assisted some hatches; I would love them all to live at least to where they have had a good life and they can maybe even be a benifit. Sigh. We try we still hit up the grocery and other farms but we hope someday that we can be very sustainable. At the moment we are going for meat, eggs, produce, wood & pest control it's a def work in progress but every year it just seems like we make great strides... Super hate these negative and sad things...

 

[Pensmaster]

Thanks everybody <3 we've never had an animal so hurt it had to be put down. I'm going to have to decide now what to do with the cross beak and the maybe cross beak... I've never had any survive ... Of the 3 we've ever had but I feel wretched about it... Same reason I've assisted some hatches; I would love them all to live at least to where they have had a good life and they can maybe even be a benifit. Sigh. We try we still hit up the grocery and other farms but we hope someday that we can be very sustainable. At the moment we are going for meat, eggs, produce, wood & pest control it's a def work in progress but every year it just seems like we make great strides... Super hate these negative and sad things...

Good luck in your quest for sustainable living. It's a fun project that I won't be succeeded in here due to the terrain but I still try. Knowing I have half way made a meal out of things around here will have to do for now.

 

[Pensmaster]

So from 10:00 am till 3:00pm 8-10 vultures complete stripped an adult racoon to just a piece of skin and skeleton remains, before I interrupted their dinner trying to get pictures of them.