Surviving Minnesota!

[Dandelioness]

I think I see Runnings in my future... I am not going to try and work in this stuff, I know I would slip and twist my back and really be in deep do-do.


I hade a kestrel land in the tree next to the coop while I was feeding the turkeys last night. I had chickens out, they scattered.  Then the kestrel flew to another tree. I yelled at it and it flew to a coop right next to shed with my chick pens!  I had left the door open as I was only going to out for a minute.. Scared the poop out of me. I ran back to the shed pronto..


It did not go in the shed.  I will admit I was weighing how much of the 25,000 dollar fines the judge would access me if the Kestrel had died of lead poisoning... I feel so at the mercy of all these raptors! BTW the dogs were outside with me and that did not dissuade it either.

We've had a lot of raptors lately, too. Driving close by our place, even saw what looked like two golden eagles working at a carcass. Do we get golden eagles in MN? We see bald eagles a lot, maybe these were juveniles? They were huge!

There is two new calves on the ground. One Tarentaise cross heifer and a big old bull calf from one of the new cows.

Awesome! How many left to calf?

 

[Dandelioness]

Okay - the wind has now started. The flock is fed and watered and in their runs. So no worries about them.  I can just hibernate for as long as I want or can stand it. Sew, more Game of Thrones, reading. Some housework, some office work. Peace, quiet, contentment. Lucky me! Called retirement after years of hockey games with three boys, soccer, working fulltime ++, community invovelment (still maintain some), blessed friends, healthy family. Opps! sorry . . . . I just went off on a tangent. Loving this life.

I love my family! But I look forward to the quiet season ahead. I did a lot of house/office stuff this past week, too.

Looks like a great week to be outside, though!

 

[Dandelioness]

I buy it in the cleaner section of the hardware store. I've watched a video on making your own from wood ash...that's just crazy. One day I will try it though...just to see what a settler had to do to get soap. That may be a good pairing with the venison lard.

I've dabbled in soap, too. I like to try to do things the pioneer way at least a couple times, just to know I can. So yeah, I buy my lye, too, but the lye making process is on my list. I read somewhere you can test the lyes strength with some kind of egg float test, to get it just right.

Tomato plants . Going to re pot them . Signs of spring . Invasive bush honeysuckle .

That's a lot of green! A sight for sore eyes!

Had them for several years . Evil creatures . No fence can hold them . Got rid of them 20 + years ago . If I ever get them again I would get the fainting ones . You can catch those .

Amen! Sheep are good, too! Good browsers & they are much more content than goats. My niece is thinking about borrowing mine to clear some brush.

 

[Dandelioness]

Did you get to the part where it said to have Judy test it by sticking her finger in the stuff to see how strong it is??

Oh, Ralphie!

Ralphie, I thought of you this morning, and your efforts to keep the Cornish X alive and healthy. There was a segment on RFD TV this morning. I think it was the "Samuelson Says" portion of "This Week In Agribusiness". In any case it stated the Whole Food Markets are moving away from selling rapid growth Chickens and will in the near future not sell that type of chicken at all. It also stated that there are 600 poultry farms in the U.S. that have moved away from producing that type of chicken and that there would be many more switching in the future. The segment mentioned the physical problems with the rapid growth birds, such as not being able to fly, roost and in some cases even walk. It would be of interest to know what type of commercial chicken these operators are switching to, but they did not identify that. For your information, I am not 100 yet. Only 98 I think, but at my age it is hard to remember and no one cares anyway. As long as I can still run Grandmas Marathon I will not worry about my age.

Yes, I'd like to know what alternative breed/hybrid they have in mind. It seems to me raising them differently would be a better option.

The upside down buckeye laid an egg today!!! Her wings by the way look completely folded and tucked. She's good to go! She and the other hens have been sun tanning on my deck. Cuties!

Glad to hear it!

Here are pictures of mine. You can see the panels. My older ones were 8 ft. 6ft works way better.

Looks great!

 

[I Love Layers]

We've had a lot of raptors lately, too. Driving close by our place, even saw what looked like two golden eagles working at a carcass. Do we get golden eagles in MN? We see bald eagles a lot, maybe these were juveniles? They were huge!
Awesome! How many left to calf?

In SW North Dakota we have nighthawks, golden eagles, bald eagles, chicken hawk, etc. Just to name a few. Our, Great Pyrenees(1/2), border collie(1/4) Australian Shepard(1/4) cross does a very good job of keeping any predator away. Including the mountain lion in our area.

 

[The BlanchRanch]

The first rule of Bacyard Chickens is: You do not talk about Bacyard Chickens. The second rule of Bacyard Chickens is: You do not talk about Bacyard Chickens. Third rule of Bacyard Chickens: Someone yells stop, goes limp, taps out, the fight is over. Fourth rule: only two guys to a fight.

 

[scandiafowl]

The first rule of Bacyard Chickens is: You do not talk about Bacyard Chickens. The second rule of Bacyard Chickens is: You do not talk about Bacyard Chickens. Third rule of Bacyard Chickens: Someone yells stop, goes limp, taps out, the fight is over. Fourth rule: only two guys to a fight.

Photos involved?

 

[duluthralphie]

Good morning, I have to retype all I had written so far and it was award winning prose too!

I have 27 hours until the state Vet comes here and crushes my dream of a NPIP flock and hatchery. I have about 48 hours more work to do.

I moved the turkey hens last night, It is never fun to move them. One of the hens was sitting on eggs, she has been sitting for about a week or so. She had 10 eggs, I could not let her finish sitting where she was, it was a poor place. The poults would have not been safe in the nest where she put it even inside the pen. I took her eggs and immediately disinfected them and placed them in the incubator. I gave them a date of May 1st to hatch, but I really have no idea, I am hoping I can pick out day 14 by candling. Or get close.

I also need the Guinea Gulag for the Guineas. Tomorrow after I take a sample of their blood they will be going into the gulag. I need guinea eggs. They should start laying any day if they are not already.

In addition to being short on time, and needing coffee breaks, I have a dentist appointment to get a crown placed this morning. Another 3 hours out of my day. Also I have decided to start training for the Duluth Marathon so I can run right next to EJB in the Seniors Division. (the under 100 group). So far I can go 7ft before needing to break for air. Am I allowed my inhaler during the race?


When I test the Creamers tomorrow I am switching pens for them. It has been a while since I got a white chick, I am thinking I broke up the pair I needed to be breeding. I was thinking it was Mother/son or Father/daughter. It appears that is not correct. I did have another Creamette hen I got from Heidi, it was munched on by a raptor last year. (or some other predator, I hope it got food poisoning and had a slow painful death for eating my expensive bird!) So it is possible it is a brother/sister pairing that gives me the whites. I thought the odds were slimmer on that. So tomorrow we change the groupings. Onn I will be numbering the new grouping 3 and 4, one of those groups must have white chicks I would think..

 

[KlopKlop]

Good morning all! I spent the whole day outside working and then fell into a deep slumber
It was a nice day! We burned another brush pile and cleaned up a section of our grove. Lots more to get through though.
I saw we could be seeing 70s this week! Oh ya!

 

[holm25]

Dandelioness there is 12 more to calf. Well maybe just 11 cuz a cow was put in a calving pen last night.