Thanks! Its just I feel so darned depressed about the whole thing, (I'm sure the hormones don't help!) like I worked my BUTT off to get someplace and then poof, its gone. I understand that raising livestock can be hard, but man, I am just so darn tired of starting over again and again! I had to start over with the Silkies again this year, I managed to hatch ONE batch out of what I salvalged from last years massacre, and I have an outstanding Roo I can use. They'll get locked up for the winter this month, but considering I had 14 hens last fall and now I have two, thats kinda hard to recover from. Not to mention how much a good silkie hen will run, ouch!
I had planned on a pen of Runners this year, that did not work out. (I should have ordered a single color, not an assortment) and between the predators and me accidentally killing a bunch of them, there isn't enough of them to do anything with for next year. I'm shipping whats left of them to the Bath auction and I guess I will order blacks or whites for next spring.
I'm particulary bummed about loosing the Cayugas though, there is only one girl left from my order, and I don't like it. I have three young females my ducks hatched out that look nice, but I am going to need a new Drake. (Anyone wanna trade a year old Cayuga hen for a unrelated SQ drake? lol) That can probably wait til spring though, since they won't lay most of the winter anyways.
I really could not afford to loose that Ameraucana Rooster though. I also lost a Lavender pullet too, that really hurt. I have one in my basement that I have been afraid to put outside because I NEED it, I know I keep waffling about selling them, It depends on the day and what happens to be missing that day, ya know? I just sat down and bawled when I saw he was gone. I had them ranging because it was too darned hot in the coop to keep them penned, not to mention the cost of feeding penned stock and the fertility/hatch rates just stunk when they were penned. Plus I could put them in the pen, and they would be out in no time flat, since it needed to be repaired to keep the darn things IN.
The real issue is my pens are not secure, sure, they're "secure ish", but not ideal. I had losses IN the pens/coops this year, so it wasn't just while free ranging, although most of the loses were from ranging. I can probably fix the one pen, because just the run needs to be secured. The other coop I need to fix two runs AND the coop, probably more work than I can afford or get done this year. Depends on how far that roll of wire goes, lol Have I mentioned how much I wish I had built stuff "right" the first time? Yeah.
We just got an almost $800 medical bill in the mail last week, and I think we've already spent $1000 so far? So there really has not been any sort of disposable income for the improvements I needed to make this year, thankfully I got by without the exhaust fan I needed for the rabbitry or the shade cloth, but I need to repair the floors on like 8 cages, that isn't something I can wait on any longer.
I had planned on getting a part time job here to pay for some of the improvements I needed, only I really had not planned on being pregnant. I can't sit, I can't stand and lord knows I could not work in retail, I might beat someone to death with the way my hormones have been!
Is Greenfire selling splits too? Or just the Chocolates? I'm trying to figure out how the pen would work since its sex linked, right? Pips and Peeps has some too, I was thinking about ordering from her since she has project Ameraucanas, it would save me a step at least! They're bantams though, so I would have to breed up for size I guess...
