North Carolina

[dutchbunny83]

I'm back.
Have to catch up on the thread we had no internet access up at the farm.
All the animals are doing great and had food & water left over. I need a plan B in case my sitter falls through at the last minute for me again.
The corn & peppers aren't looking so great, but the rest of the garden faired pretty well in the heat.
I just picked over 25lbs of zucchini and over 15lbs of tomatoes. Need to go back to pick the corn and cucumbers, but it's too hot out there now!
I also came home with another animal (can't seem to go anywhere without that happening!)
There is a 12 year old dwarf doe of some breed or another in this tiny wire cage in the back corner of the cow barn where it's been it's entire life without any other rabbits.
It's never handled (they told me she wasn't friendly), teeth over grown, nails never been cut in her life (literally inches long wrapping around in spirals she couldn't even walk they just had hay piled high in the cage), wreaked of cow poo from the barn, never getting sunlight over in her corner. They've never given her rabbit food just the hay and occasional scrap from the kitchen. I seriously don't know how this rabbit lasted as long as she has, and probably won't live much longer, but at least she's got a home now where she'll be taken care of for whatever time she has left.
She's the sweetest little thing, loves to cuddle!

 

[RuanMac]

that's sad

 

[Hollowoakfarm]

Dutchbunny, glad all the critters made it.

 

[khickensrus]

I'm so glad your giving this rabbit a chance to know what love his in his remaining time left.

 

[Tikkijane]

Good morning! We finally got some much needed rain yesterday. My chicks finished hatching yesterday too and I moved them out to the new brooder. I was very happy to see that they are still doing well out there this morning. I think I ended up with 22, but they are always moving and so hard to count! I was hoping for a higher hatch rate, but it went pretty well overall. 3 of the 4 from my flock hatched along with 9/10 from some mixed eggs that I bought locally to fill my incubator. I was pretty happy with that, but the hatch rate was much lower on my more expensive eggs. Only 10/16 of those hatched. They weren't shipped so I'm not entirely sure what the issue was there, except for those eggs were more porous than the others. The ones that didn't hatch were fully formed but never pipped. Oh well. I'm still happy that I got as many as I did! 

Has anyone ever raised guinea keets with chicks? I'm considering getting some keets from a guy up the road from us that hatches them. I would have to put them in with the chicks though. I feel comfortable with about 20 chicks in my brooder so I would have to sell some of them first.. 

On another note, I finally figured out where my crazy little free range Easter Egger hen has been laying. She suddenly stopped using her usual spot about 2 weeks ago. Then, she laid them on my front porch for about a week. It was funny (and convenient!) to find them on the welcome mat in the mornings! For the last few days, I haven't found a single egg from her. I finally found them IN THE TRASH CAN in the barn today. Needless to say, those won't be for eating! I covered the trash can. I guess I'll be resuming my egg hunts tomorrow until she finds another place to lay that's suitable for both of us. 

Keets should be fine with chicks; although they are more delicate than chicks.

 

[Tikkijane]

I have a conundrum

What should I do with my roosters? they eat too much expensive feed that could go to egg laying hens. I have no problem eating them except it's so much less work and money to buy a $5 roasted chicken than feeding the roos until they get to a good eating size and then butchering/plucking.  

I also don't want to butcher them when they are still chicks because there's no meat, i would just be killing them for nothing. Now, i understand why big corps dump them into grinders as soon as they are sexed. 

what do you guys do?

thank god for the heavy rain, ive been keeping most of my garden alive by watering almost every evening but some stuff has been dying anyway, like my watermelons, the melons and some tomatoes. the frogs are going crazy outside tonight.

Also @hollowoak Ive been learning website design so i can make my own site. 

I just processed 4 last week. Meant to do 5, but one got away. I need to do at least 1-2 more. Mine were 6 and almost 5 ish months. That brings me down to 14. I have got to get rid of the silkie boys. (Free if anyone wants them). I am not keen to process, but it made the most sense since I couldn't find anyone who wanted them and I absolutely cannot have that many boys. Cockerels really get on my nerves. They are so rude!

 

[Tikkijane]

Well, many many of us aren't getting even a little rain !  Our grass is turning brown, our gardens are dying...  many of us depend on our gardens..  However, much of the west and central part of the state has gotten a good amount...  I live near I95 in eastern NC.....I've seen the rain clouds just split and go north and south of us..    Don't want a flood...been there-done that !!  Just a little here and there would be nice.    send us a little !!

X3. Got a little bit today, but we need a lot more if we're going to get caught up.

 

[Tikkijane]

Something fun for you chicken lovers lol the chicken test! what chicken are you? http://www.playbuzz.com/backyardpoultry10/which-chicken-are-you?size=largeThumbs I'm a belgium bantam lol

Me too! Hilarious!

 

[FVRM]

lol what's up with everyone being a belgian bantam? I think this test is rigged lol

 

[Matt A NC]

Dorking here