"Louisiana "La-yers" Peeps"

[kuntrygirl]

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Beautiful birds!

 

[kuntrygirl]

Good morning Everyone!! I hope that everyone had a great weekend. I spent the weekend cleaning and disinfecting coops, chicken houses, nesting boxes, roosts, back walls, brooders, waters and feeders. Replaced the hay in all of the nesting boxes with new hay. I am sooo tired.

But I love to see and smell a clean chicken yard and living area. I bought some of those hanging vanilla air fresheners and placed in a few coops. I know that people swear by them as far as keeping mosquitoes away. I was supposed to stay up to go out later that night to see if there were any mosquitoes out in the coops, but I fell asleep.

I will try to stay up tonight to see if these things really work. If nothing else, it sure had the chicken yard smelling nice and clean.

Pic of one of my open/air raised coops. I use hay as bedding to catch the poop. When it's time to clean, I pick up the hay, spray bleach and water and put new hay in.

I have 8 broody hens right now. I'm trying to control the number of eggs that hatch this year, so I'm not letting them hatch out too many. I had waaaaaaayyyyyy to many new babies last year and more than half of them were roosters. They hatched out 65 roosters last year. I was NOT a happy camper.

This year is looking about the same. Out of all of the chicks that have hatched this year half of them are roosters.

So far, I only have 18 new babies. The broody hens are probably sitting on about 50 eggs total. 15 of those eggs are guinea eggs. I'm really really excited about the guinea eggs hatching. I hope no other girls go broody because this is my limit for the year. Roosters are too hard to re-home and they take too much time to process. Although I am down to my last rooster in the freezer.

Here is a pic of one of my girls in her brooder apartment.

So far this year, the geese have hatched 3 gosling. Two of them were hatched last week. Long story about how and where I found them. Needless to say, they are inside and I am raising them. Here is a pic of them from the weekend. I have 4 geese sitting on eggs. Two geese are on the same nest, which usually turns into a disaster. I'm not sure how that will turn out. If none of the eggs hatch, I will not be disappointed. I already have too many of them.

Newest Baby Gosling

Older Gosling. He is almost the size of the adult geese. I had to ban him today because I am almost not able to tell the difference between him and his parents.

Setting Goose

Only 6 turkeys so far and that is also enough. I am ready for them to hit the ground and take care of themselves.

This group is 7 - 8 weeks old. All born a few days apart.

This group is 4 weeks old. They are still getting their feathers. They won't hit the ground for a couple more months.

The muscovys are hatching and setting. As you can see, Dad sits as body guard every day.

These babies were born a couple weeks ago.

The only animals that have not had babies this year are the rabbits and peas. The peas are too young right now. I think I will place the rabbits together to breed. I really love rabbit meat.

Does anyone else eat rabbit? I must say that I do raise my rabbits for meat. The 7 adults are not for meat. Just the babies that I raise. It just taste so good. I DO NOT do the deed. I can't bring myself to processing rabbits. Someone comes over and takes care of it. It's sad but it's putting meat in the freezer.

My garden is growing. I can't wait to eat fresh veggies.

Well, I think that's all of my updates. I will surely need a vacation after all of this. I will post pics of my babies as they are hatched.

Have a great day everyone!

 

[amylou22]

My garden is doing well. More cucumbers than I could ever eat, I have made 2 batches of pickles already, more this week. Tomatoes are full and green. My husband eats salsa like it's going out of style, so I plan to do a LOT of canning next month. I made jalapeno jelly for the first time yesterday and boy, it is GOOD! I have to stop snacking.

New birds are getting settled. The less I go out there, the better. They fight worse when they can see me.

Dh and I discussed raising a few turkeys next year. Maybe.

 

[AyeUpChuck]

Sorry Guys but I have to do this. Nina Ruth you need to start posting and talking to people instead of just reading!!! Stop being so shy! Say hi to people. These are your neighbors. Oh and Happy Mothers Day and I love you! Now say hi to everyone!

 

[TerriLaChicks]

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WOW! what a set up you have! Everything looks wonderful!
OK the young turkeys are CUTE! now I almost am not afraid of those, lol.
Your broody hen, on the other hand--- gee if looks could kill - be very afraid of her!

I have eaten rabbit meat but never raised any of them. Our neighbor did & then when it was time to 'process' them couldn't do the deed so my Dad went over & did it for him. I know what you mean about the roosters. I sure hope I didn't have a lot of roos this time. We still haven't processed the two extra Blue Orpingtons but will at some point this coming weekend.

AmyLou that's just wonderful about all your canning! I can't wait to get started here. I love doing pickles & stuff.
Nina Ruth whoever you are, come say Hi! We won't bite!

 

[kuntrygirl]

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Thanks for calling Nina Ruth out. Oooooooh Ninaaaaaaaaaaaa. Where are yoooouuuuuuuu?????????? Come out, come out, wherever you are.

Hi Nina Ruth. How are you????

 

[NonnasBabies]

WOW Julie, you made me tired just reading that post!! Whew... had to wipe the sweat from my brow!!

LOVE all the pics. I'm so amazed at all the animals you care for!! Kudos to you!! The newest gosling is just adorable!!

One day!!

We've talked about raising rabbits for meat, so we'll see where that goes in the future.

Here's a pic of the finished product of our processing on Saturday. This was my first experience raising Cornish X and I don't think it will be my last. Talk about more bang for your buck. Out of the 6 I started with I only lost one. She died last Tuesday. I knew it was coming cause her comb & wattle were turning purple. That's the only thing with this breed that bothers me. The term "Frankenchicken" is so true. But from a finanicial stand point it's the best bet. Can't honestly say I kept track of anything cause I didn't but I will do that next time. Out of all 5 CX the largest dressed was 6 lbs 11.1 oz and the smallest was 5 lbs 2.2 oz. and was the only pullet. I also culled 2 roosters and at almost a year old they weighed in at 4 lbs 5.7 oz & 4 lbs 1.9 oz. So you can see there with those numbers what you get.

My garden is coming it slowly but surely. Will be harvesting some cukes, squash & zuccinni this week. The weeds are about to drive me nuts though.

I will definetly try a differnet weed free approach after this season is up.

 

[kuntrygirl]

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Thank you!

Look at those Cornish X !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

That is a magnificent sight!! OMG!!! The look wonderful!!! LOOK HOW BIG THEY ARE!!!! I didn't realize how big they had gotten.

How old were they when you processed them? Now why did you have to go and post that pic. I'm going to Tractor Supply today to see if they have any left. I want some of those.

When you cook them, please take a pic of the meal and post. And let us know how great they taste because I know they will be delicious.

You did an excellent job on those!!

You get an A+++.

ETA: Forgot to ask.....What did you feed them and how often? Did they have food 24 hours a day?

 

[kuntrygirl]

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I'm hungry after looking at that pic. Is it lunch time yet?

 

[Cajun_Magnolia]

So I have plenty of room in my freezer for those cornish X if you need to get rid of some....

How fantastic!!