Kristen’s Chickens and Farming Ventures

[Kris5902]

I really don't know what to say besides that I wouldn't be trying to build a house there in the situation that you are in. I feel that they are using you, and in the end they are going to kick you out. I would save my money, because I'd need it later to restart my life over.

Aye... if only we had known before we bought the (non-refundable/returnable) house! I’m teetering on the edge as it is, but we jumped in with both feet, not realizing the pool wasn’t actually full. If I had realized it was going to be so difficult I would have just bout one or two double-wide mobile homes and joined them with a roofed deck!

Hi Kris, what drama. You've had to deal with so much and now this. I have a suggestion that might be feasible. Although I'm not well versed in property laws but it's a thought. Who owns the entire property? If your FIL is not the sole owner, which I'm kind of getting he isn't, then try to come to a legally binding agreement with the majority owner to lease the land you are building on along with right to use a predetermined parcel for your farming activities. What ever the outcome of any of the arbitration, push to get something in writing that protects you and your investment. I'm not sure if this is helpful, but like I said before, it's a thought.

That’s sort of what I was thinking, and plan on asking Andrew’s cousin what kind of actual legally binding assurances we can get. Pretty much all of Andrew’s fathers generation (3/4 of the owners) is uncommunicative, belligerent, hostile, or at best very passive aggressive. But “oh no! We would never kick you off the farm” doesn’t quite cut it for me anymore.

Been there, done that, didn’t speak to my father for a little over three years, a year for each week I spent on the streets before I could secure housing when I moved back to the city with the assurance I could “stay in the basement for a month while I found work and an apartment”. I was kicked out 3 days after I arrived, “so he wouldn’t have to kick me out around Christmas” it was a very cold winter that year and the shelters were all full. once burned...

@Ribh thank you for your prayers and well wishes, I sincerely hope so as well. I’m very stubborn so I plan on sticking this out if there is even a glimmer of hope for a future here. stubborn and a little crazy too I suppose!


Today’s accomplishments include adding hardware cloth to the bottom half of our screen door so we can improve airflow and still keep the indoor cats indoors. It’s good for far more than just chickens! We also stripped the supports for the rebar from the perimeter footings, the wires and wood to float the rebar at the right height and hold it in place until the concrete is poured into the form. Tomorrow morning we will get it off the square interior footings as well. It was almost two hours of work, we started at 5 pm in hopes of a breeze and less blazing sun.
before:

And after:

Exciting.... right??? Lol

Also, here’s my contender for smallest chicken egg from a giant chicken. With a quarter and whatever the 10 Aussie coin is called for size comparison! Just when I didn’t think they could be any smaller than the last two they gave me!

 

[Kris5902]

A link to the August hatch along and my candling pic post. Thanks @BlueBaby for reminding me of it!
August Hatch-A-Long

 

[Aussie-Chookmum]

I am just gobsmacked by all this... I don't get it. It makes for so much unnecessary drama. Prayers, best wishes, love...

However...great to see progress on the house ~ which I hope you actually get to live in & farm from;

Wonderful news about prolapse girl!

Well done on the markets revenue!!!!

And always good to know chickens & eggs are going well.

I agree with everything Ribh said, totally gobsmacked with that behaviour!
More hugs for you .
I can't cope with yelling, it makes me totally shut down. I'm glad you could get out of the way.

Post is way too long... sorry. I have to break it up, so our positives are: Maybe Andrew’s cousin can get the family to behave civilly and will address that we invested our life savings and much work into the property for the past two years, and have just now been told we will never have any legal say on it or control over the businesses? WTH?

The concrete is in for the footings! Finally...

The girl with the prolapse has held it in for three days now, and I’m going to say we are out of the woods there!

We brought in almost $530 in sales at the BBQ Saturday. And I’m totally sold out of chicken.

The chickens are all doing well, and the eggs look good in the incubator. And my meat gals are laying so I might be able to start on that aspect of breeding soon! Pictures will be coming soon.

I'm glad that your own efforts are doing well. Perhaps the older generation is feeling a little threatened with how well your venture is going using your "new-fangled" ideas ?

 

[rjohns39]

Good morning Kris I'll throw in a hug too, just because

 

[Kris5902]

Thanks for all the love guys! Keeps me hanging in there when things get really down. As soon as chickiehawks daughters are old enough to breed I’m going to return their mamas to the farm, except for a few special girls like Hoppy, the one with the prolapse, and maybe Croppy, the one going through the really hard molt, and wash my hands of the Farm Chickens completely.

The six new girls they bought started laying and sure enough green eggs... so the farm is trying to set themselves up in direct competition with me for egg sales, because I found a market niche that succeeded. Which is somewhat ironic as they have been making fun of my “pretend” chickens since I hatched them out in October, right up until people started showing up asking for my eggs specifically this last month. They also undercut my pricing by a dollar.

Also today in an extreme act of pettiness, well yesterday while we were working on the forms actually, Andrews father decided for the first time in months to take the cutting debris out to the disposal pit, including the fat I had clearly set aside for rendering. He hasn’t done anything in the slaughterhouse since last fall when he almost got the whole plant shut down for safety infractions. He had a temper tantrum and threw his knife across the room before storming out yelling all the way, in front of the kid and government meat inspector, who was required to report the incident.

So there’s about an hour and a half of sorting through bones and trim for useable fat that was completely wasted. And going to be a disappointed 7 year old... she was so crushed when I told her on Saturday that the fat from the week prior went bad because it took me too long to get it to the trailer, and then I was too bushed to render in the heatwave. That’s why I sorted through the garbage for it on Saturday...

 

[WhoDatChick]

Thanks for all the love guys! Keeps me hanging in there when things get really down. As soon as chickiehawks daughters are old enough to breed I’m going to return their mamas to the farm, except for a few special girls like Hoppy, the one with the prolapse, and maybe Croppy, the one going through the really hard molt, and wash my hands of the Farm Chickens completely.

The six new girls they bought started laying and sure enough green eggs... so the farm is trying to set themselves up in direct competition with me for egg sales, because I found a market niche that succeeded. Which is somewhat ironic as they have been making fun of my “pretend” chickens since I hatched them out in October, right up until people started showing up asking for my eggs specifically this last month. They also undercut my pricing by a dollar.

Also today in an extreme act of pettiness, well yesterday while we were working on the forms actually, Andrews father decided for the first time in months to take the cutting debris out to the disposal pit, including the fat I had clearly set aside for rendering. He hasn’t done anything in the slaughterhouse since last fall when he almost got the whole plant shut down for safety infractions. He had a temper tantrum and threw his knife across the room before storming out yelling all the way, in front of the kid and government meat inspector, who was required to report the incident.

So there’s about an hour and a half of sorting through bones and trim for useable fat that was completely wasted. And going to be a disappointed 7 year old... she was so crushed when I told her on Saturday that the fat from the week prior went bad because it took me too long to get it to the trailer, and then I was too bushed to render in the heatwave. That’s why I sorted through the garbage for it on Saturday...

... he sure is something!
And I don’t know if I’m remembering correctly or not but I thought the new chickens they got were Barred rocks..? ... from the pics... so how green eggs??

 

[Kris5902]

... he sure is something!
And I don’t know if I’m remembering correctly or not but I thought the new chickens they got were Barred rocks..? ... from the pics... so how green eggs??

It’s hard to see on the picture but they have crests. Everyone on the “what breed or gender” forum was saying Crested Cream Legbar x cuckoo Marans... they do look like barred rocks but a little darker and they have greyish legs. Edit to add: I was planning on getting 25 straight run barred rocks...

 

[WhoDatChick]

It’s hard to see on the picture but they have crests. Everyone on the “what breed or gender” forum was saying Crested Cream Legbar x cuckoo Marans... they do look like barred rocks but a little darker and they have greyish legs. Edit to add: I was planning on getting 25 straight run barred rocks...

Ooooohhhh, okay... gotcha...

 

[CrazyChookChookLady]

You know it almost sounds like your FIL has a mental disorder of sorts. Perhaps he is in early stage dementia or even Alzheimer.

He sure seems to have extreme outbursts.

 

[Ribh]

You know it almost sounds like your FIL has a mental disorder of sorts. Perhaps he is in early stage dementia or even Alzheimer.

He sure seems to have extreme outbursts.

I was wondering the same thing.... This is not normal or rational behaviour.