Kristen’s Chickens and Farming Ventures

[aart]

All the more we need a break from vegetarian fare and chow down on some quality farm raised meat

This spurred a memory, family story...my older brother, a staunch vegetarian for 50 years used to chant "More Meat, Mom!" as a child at the dinner table.

 

[rjohns39]

Morning Folks

 

[Kris5902]

Morning Bob!

House progress is once again stalled... waiting on Father-in-law to place yet more re-bar in the footings. I did spend some quality time weeding the forms again. Three hours in the morning crawling around hand pulling every single micro green blade of grass. Because with the rebar mostly in place it’s near impossible to hoe effectively. If I don’t have concrete soon I’m buying a propane weeding torch and forget about the burn ban! Andrew helped with the weeding a bit, but mostly finished wiring the rebar together.

We now have 122 Nekkid sheepies running around, much happier for losing their mountain of wool. Skirting and rolling it was much nicer this year thanks to last years bramble pruning, and a second crotch trim that kept the poop to a minimum.

My eggs are due to hatch at the end of the week, candling keeps getting delayed for one reason or another, so it’s either tonight tomorrow night when they go into lockdown. I’m going to need to get my stuff together for brooding. I’m going to start setting up my large totes for starting them in down at the loft where the incubator is plugged in, so I can pop them in there after hatching, once everyone is basically done I’ll move them up by just putting the totes into a car and driving up to the barn brooder.

My cats are almost as happy as I am to be back with me. Of course this means they have basically claimed the couch and our bed. Yesterday was basically a write off for me unfortunately, I had a fairly severe allergic reaction to what I can only assume was a spider bite when opening a gate. I was fine in morning and most of the way down to the farm but by the third gate I felt queasy and dizzy, and shortly after arriving at the farm buildings I was covered in hives, bright pink and shaking all over. Andrew was on his way to the store and was able to rush back with Benadryl. Doing fine now, but yesterday was miserable. Kicker is I can’t find the bite I reacted to, for all the other ones I’ve gotten recently. Bugs love me for some reason.

 

[aart]

We now have 122 Nekkid sheepies running around, much happier for losing their mountain of wool.

That's a lot of sheep......mountain, no doubt!!

 

[Kris5902]

That's a lot of sheep......mountain, no doubt!!

In another month or so it will be the lambs turn... there will be even more then, because most of the ewes usually twin or have triplets... this year there were quite a few more singles than usual... but they were big lambs. We honestly are the slowest part of the shearing process, our shearer is great though and keeps to a pace we can manage... it was about 5 hours to get them all done with two breaks for coffee and snacks.

 

[Ribh]

In another month or so it will be the lambs turn... there will be even more then, because most of the ewes usually twin or have triplets... this year there were quite a few more singles than usual... but they were big lambs. We honestly are the slowest part of the shearing process, our shearer is great though and keeps to a pace we can manage... it was about 5 hours to get them all done with two breaks for coffee and snacks.

Working to a pace you can sustain is key. I can only work with the man if he slows down. It's taken us the best part of 40 years to work that one out!
Glad the house is progressing & excited for your hatch!

 

[aart]

In another month or so it will be the lambs turn... there will be even more then, because most of the ewes usually twin or have triplets... this year there were quite a few more singles than usual... but they were big lambs. We honestly are the slowest part of the shearing process, our shearer is great though and keeps to a pace we can manage... it was about 5 hours to get them all done with two breaks for coffee and snacks.

Is the wool a money maker?
My lamb supplier uses hair breeds, so no shearing....tho they only have a few dozen.

 

[Kris5902]

Is the wool a money maker?
My lamb supplier uses hair breeds, so no shearing....tho they only have a few dozen.

Yes and no... primarily the lamb is the cash crop, but the wool does bring in a little cash, eventually. We actually take it down to our local recycling center, where they have a cardboard Baler, we get it compressed and baled, shrink wrap it, then have to ship half of it clear across the country to Prince Edward Island to be made into blankets and throws, the rest gets shipped to Alberta and returned as socks and yarn.

Blankets are about $300 retail, socks $20/pair... so they aren’t exactly hot sellers. We sell maybe three blankets/throws a year. There’s a fairly significant shipping and processing charge for both, so the overall profit margins aren’t great. Oddly enough, the shipping to nearby Alberta is almost the same as to PEI!

We have two Dorpers and one Barbados Black Belly (looks just like a short haired goat!) for hair sheep, the Dorpers still seem better off when shorn in our climate. The Shetlands have gorgeous fleeces, as do their X’d Offspring, but have a nasty, flighty temperament and a tendency to escape fences. We have an Isle deFrance, a couple Freesians, but most of the flock is Suffolk, Charlais, and Cheviot crosses. There might still be some Arcott in there, but we’ve been breeding it out.

 

[Kris5902]

Some bedtime pics of the big chickens...
Mr. Marans and ladies, when the meat birds go out for processing these roosts are getting an upgrade. They only need 3 or 4 (they have 5) which will improve spacing a bit, and I want to use wider branches.

The prison yard gang as Andrew has dubbed them, our Cockerel pen, down to 3 lucky guys, Mr. Eyebrows and two slate colored Barnvelder boys.

Last night Puffy (right rear) was roosting up with Sammy in the hospital pen, but tonight he’s a little lonely up there. Sometimes Bossy joins him; Hoppy (front) has yet to make the attempt, although she is getting around much better now she still has a pronounced limp, and I’m not sure if she will roost “properly” again.

And I’m so proud of my little psycho boy... Chickie Hawk, he’s always the first to get his girls up for the night now, and has taught them all to roost like real birds. There’s almost no more wanting to sleep in the nest boxes or staying out too late. He may not be people friendly, but he does have some “good Rooster” traits too. Soon to be proud daddy of 30 some chicks

The little white head in the back there is his favorite hen, and I have no clue what is going on with the one on the rights feathers. I think it was a molting issue with poor nutrition, there’s no evidence of mites, lice, or pecking. I was concerned about maybe depluming mites, but apparently that’s uncommon and looks somewhat different. She was like that already when I brought them up.

 

[rjohns39]

Morning Kris