Kristen’s Chickens and Farming Ventures

[drumstick diva]

I started getting flu shots early because I was caregiver to my parents. After they passed, I continued to get flu shots. I honestly can't remember when I last had the flu. I know I was young because my mom used to mix vanilla ice cream with Sprite for me and I loved it. Many years later I did the same for my son - we called it a Blizzard.

 

[Kris5902]

Hi @townchicks and welcome!very glad to have you here and wow... that’s a whole lot of catchup reading! And explains the couple times I noticed I had 70+ new notifications

Hi ~ & welcome. Vicarious farming by several of us here as we can't do the real thing. You've done well if you've read all the way through! And I'm sure Kris will say so too when she has a moment when she's not scritching cows or chasing cockerels.

You all know me so well here! Today it was cleaning up all the off cuts from around the building site, relocating the Littles outside and general cleaning of the trailer... but yes there was quite a bit of cow scratching going on as well. There are far less cockerels to chase for a little while, as I’m hoping for at least a few more weeks before this batch discovers they can fly out of the tractor at feeding time!

Speaking of flying out of tractors... I didn’t think to get a photo, but last night we had two escapees, one of Mr Eyebrows new lasses decided she wanted back into the old meat tractor, and well you know how I’ve been meaning to fix that tarp? Now it’s a priority. One of Mr Marans new girls also got out, and was perched on the outside rafter of Mr Eyebrows tractor. So after I caught escapee #1, I look over and had to call Andrew out to help with the relocation of escapee #2. Now Mr Marans has 7 Ladies, and Mr Eyebrows has 9... but whatever keeps everyone happy I suppose.

I expect it will be a busy month for me, with Chickens, maybe cows, and the build starting to ramp up, so I may not be on as often as I like, but I’ll try to keep everyone up to date and not fall too far behind on all the other threads... I expect I’m going to have a lot of catchup reading myself, too!

In other news, we had our first Hawk “attack” today. I was taking out the garbage, and all the ladies were in the barn (which was a little odd, I’m thinking either Sammy put them there, or they went in on their own to hide). They heard the door of the trailer and came chasing after me because the thought of “maybe treats?” is too much for any chicken to resist. I was walking towards the burn pile and had just tossed the bag on and turned around to see 4 chickens running straight at me! They went through a flock of little junko birds which exploded into flight, and bam! In swooped a tiny hawk of some sort, a little smaller than Sammy. It proceeded to chase the junkos into a rosebush then flew off into the nearby trees and underbrush. Free ranging was cut very short and I grabbed the girls two at a time and back into the barn they went! Everyone is ok, and I’m more rattled than the chickens, I think. Sammy was the last one to get tossed in, because he was busy mocking Roostie, and I figured of the 6 free range chickens he would have the best shot defending himself.

Then this evening I dropped my phone in the sink while washing dishes I’m not sure if the mic is still working, but the speakers are working again, and the other functions (like my web browser for BYC! I was worried for a bit there) I have to love the bag of rice trick for 5 hours... even though I was going into tech withdrawals, but for saving the phone? it’s worth it! Andrew is off to Saltspring for work tomorrow, then cutting two days here, and back to there for work on Thursday, leaving me to guide the new building Inspector to the site (this will be inspector #4) and deal with any issues that may arise I’m really hoping there are none, because I NEED to get the concrete poured before there’s no way the cement truck can get here in Mud Season.

 

[Ribh]

Hi @townchicks and welcome!very glad to have you here and wow... that’s a whole lot of catchup reading! And explains the couple times I noticed I had 70+ new notifications



You all know me so well here! Today it was cleaning up all the off cuts from around the building site, relocating the Littles outside and general cleaning of the trailer... but yes there was quite a bit of cow scratching going on as well. There are far less cockerels to chase for a little while, as I’m hoping for at least a few more weeks before this batch discovers they can fly out of the tractor at feeding time!

Speaking of flying out of tractors... I didn’t think to get a photo, but last night we had two escapees, one of Mr Eyebrows new lasses decided she wanted back into the old meat tractor, and well you know how I’ve been meaning to fix that tarp? Now it’s a priority. One of Mr Marans new girls also got out, and was perched on the outside rafter of Mr Eyebrows tractor. So after I caught escapee #1, I look over and had to call Andrew out to help with the relocation of escapee #2. Now Mr Marans has 7 Ladies, and Mr Eyebrows has 9... but whatever keeps everyone happy I suppose.

I expect it will be a busy month for me, with Chickens, maybe cows, and the build starting to ramp up, so I may not be on as often as I like, but I’ll try to keep everyone up to date and not fall too far behind on all the other threads... I expect I’m going to have a lot of catchup reading myself, too!

In other news, we had our first Hawk “attack” today. I was taking out the garbage, and all the ladies were in the barn (which was a little odd, I’m thinking either Sammy put them there, or they went in on their own to hide). They heard the door of the trailer and came chasing after me because the thought of “maybe treats?” is too much for any chicken to resist. I was walking towards the burn pile and had just tossed the bag on and turned around to see 4 chickens running straight at me! They went through a flock of little junko birds which exploded into flight, and bam! In swooped a tiny hawk of some sort, a little smaller than Sammy. It proceeded to chase the junkos into a rosebush then flew off into the nearby trees and underbrush. Free ranging was cut very short and I grabbed the girls two at a time and back into the barn they went! Everyone is ok, and I’m more rattled than the chickens, I think. Sammy was the last one to get tossed in, because he was busy mocking Roostie, and I figured of the 6 free range chickens he would have the best shot defending himself.

Then this evening I dropped my phone in the sink while washing dishes I’m not sure if the mic is still working, but the speakers are working again, and the other functions (like my web browser for BYC! I was worried for a bit there) I have to love the bag of rice trick for 5 hours... even though I was going into tech withdrawals, but for saving the phone? it’s worth it! Andrew is off to Saltspring for work tomorrow, then cutting two days here, and back to there for work on Thursday, leaving me to guide the new building Inspector to the site (this will be inspector #4) and deal with any issues that may arise I’m really hoping there are none, because I NEED to get the concrete poured before there’s no way the cement truck can get here in Mud Season.

Fingers crossed for the cement pour.

 

[rjohns39]

Good morning Kris

Here's hoping for a quick sign off so you can get that pour done

 

[Wee Farmer Sarah]

I'm rooting for you Kris!

 

[aart]

leaving me to guide the new building Inspector to the site (this will be inspector #4) and deal with any issues that may arise I’m really hoping there are none, because I NEED to get the concrete poured before there’s no way the cement truck can get here in Mud Season.

#4?!
Best of luck!!

 

[Kris5902]

#4?!
Best of luck!!

Yes... and thanks everyone, we need it!

We started out with #1, this guy who was known for being completely unreasonable. No, we will not install a full sprinkler fire suppression system in our off grid house, as there won’t be enough water to run it. A letter from the fire chief, and a call to the department head (who had worked with the family before) and now he was overseeing our file. That was #2, He retired. His replacement, #3, forgot to look at our Geotechnical report for 9 months, then sprung a legal covenant that took FIL’s lawyer several months to complete, only to have the aunts object to the wording and three more lawyers and another month later we finally got our permit. But, not before FIL had a tantrum in their office (requiring an apology letter for his behavior). This lovely Chap sends vaguely threatening emails about taking our permit away because we haven’t been building fast enough (thanks to Andrew and I knowing squat about concrete, and FIL insisting the foundation be done by us to “save money” because he was a cement mason 30 years ago ). Now he is the department head, so I get to meet #4 “Josh” on Thursday. I am actually quite adept at dealing with bureaucracy and these middle management people, but thanks to a technicality preventing Andrew and I from being the general contractor/“owner builders”, we’re stuck with FIL having complete control of the build and being the one these people are supposed to communicate with.

Note: for anyone planning a build... if DIY to “save money” is the goal, make sure it doesn’t take so long that any savings are completely eaten up by your living expenses during the delays caused by the DIY factor. It’s actually often cheaper to hire a professional. Which was our initial plan before “FIL the ex cement mason” took over thanks to the “owner” requirement of the permit to build your home process.

 

[townchicks]

Ugh. Good luck with the newest building inspector.

 

[Kris5902]

So, here’s a pic of Zeta, my newest rehab lady’s injury. It’s fully scabbed over and looking nice and dry, there’s no oozing or bad smells. I’m a little concerned about how dry the scab is looking for such a large and deep wound. But she seems to be happily going about things like a normal chicken. And no one here is pecking on her over it, unlike her previous flock that were apparently out to murder her...

Spoiler: Zeta’s Wound

 

[townchicks]

Looks like it's healing. When I got my RIR, Nevada, she had woulds all over her back, that looked very similar. I think they were from breeding. The vet said, well, they're healing, don't mess with them. I took about a month for full healing on the worst of them.