Welcome to my pond - Swim, wade, or sit on the bank

Good morning everyone. I haven't been on much lately. Life has been busy. Hope everyone has been doing well. I just skipped to the end of the thread lol. I haven't even taken many pictures at work so far this season but here's one from this past week.

View attachment 3884290

I've dramatically downsized my flocks this season. I sold off pretty much all of my breeding groups. My scaled quail all went yesterday minus two that were too young to take to the swap. I kept 7 turkeys, 13 chickens, 2 geese and 1 duck. Quite a few of them are rather old and some don't even lay anymore. My one turkey hen turned 9 years old this year! I help her down off the roost every morning since her feet/ legs seem like they're getting arthritis. She appreciates it. So as they slowly age out and die off naturally, they probably won't be replaced. My chickens are being led by a sweet, older mixed mutt roo that I rescued from the swap earlier this year. I've even decided to work towards closing my Etsy shop. I have a ton of fabric left still so when I finish up a many hen saddles as I can and sell out, I'll be done with that too. I'll try to stop in and say hi every now and then, maybe drop a picture or two. Stay healthy out there everyone!
Sweet picture. Sounds like you had a enough to keep you busy. Yes, do stop in now and then.
 
Good morning everyone. I haven't been on much lately. Life has been busy. Hope everyone has been doing well. I just skipped to the end of the thread lol. I haven't even taken many pictures at work so far this season but here's one from this past week.

View attachment 3884290

I've dramatically downsized my flocks this season. I sold off pretty much all of my breeding groups. My scaled quail all went yesterday minus two that were too young to take to the swap. I kept 7 turkeys, 13 chickens, 2 geese and 1 duck. Quite a few of them are rather old and some don't even lay anymore. My one turkey hen turned 9 years old this year! I help her down off the roost every morning since her feet/ legs seem like they're getting arthritis. She appreciates it. So as they slowly age out and die off naturally, they probably won't be replaced. My chickens are being led by a sweet, older mixed mutt roo that I rescued from the swap earlier this year. I've even decided to work towards closing my Etsy shop. I have a ton of fabric left still so when I finish up a many hen saddles as I can and sell out, I'll be done with that too. I'll try to stop in and say hi every now and then, maybe drop a picture or two. Stay healthy out there everyone!
Why have you decided to do the huge poultry downsize AND close up your etsy shop?

Some kind of huge life epiphany???

:hugs
 
Why have you decided to do the huge poultry downsize AND close up your etsy shop?

Some kind of huge life epiphany???

:hugs

Downsizing the flock is a combination of DH being tired of having so many birds, our main chicken coop starting to fall apart and making my life easier, especially during the work season. Trying to get various breeding groups fed in the morning before leaving for work, sorting eggs, hatching and incubating... it's all becoming too much and I'm losing the joy of even having the flock. So I've downsized to my older girls that I'm attached to, a few barred rocks that I adopted from a man at church when he was battling cancer (and unfortunately lost). His wife asks about the girls now and then. And a couple young easter eggers to keep giving us eggs. The turkeys, duck and geese that I kept are basically all pets. They'll be here till they die lol. Everyone is in one big coop now so it's easier every morning to get everyone fed. As far as closing my Etsy shop, that one is a combination of the government wanting a nice chunk of my earnings every spring and my having no life because I'm stuck at my sewing machine all the time. I can't keep up with the demand and still have time for me. I'm looking forward to being able to take a vacation or go on a day trip without having to worry about orders, customers, eggs, birds, all of it. This winter, I plan to use up the rest of my fabrics and list everything. Once it's all gone, that's it, I'm done. I need to focus of myself for a while and try to get healthy again. I've been dealing with some increasingly bad low back pain on top of everything. I go for a CT scan on Thursday that will hopefully give me some answers.
 
Downsizing the flock is a combination of DH being tired of having so many birds, our main chicken coop starting to fall apart and making my life easier, especially during the work season. Trying to get various breeding groups fed in the morning before leaving for work, sorting eggs, hatching and incubating... it's all becoming too much and I'm losing the joy of even having the flock. So I've downsized to my older girls that I'm attached to, a few barred rocks that I adopted from a man at church when he was battling cancer (and unfortunately lost). His wife asks about the girls now and then. And a couple young easter eggers to keep giving us eggs. The turkeys, duck and geese that I kept are basically all pets. They'll be here till they die lol. Everyone is in one big coop now so it's easier every morning to get everyone fed. As far as closing my Etsy shop, that one is a combination of the government wanting a nice chunk of my earnings every spring and my having no life because I'm stuck at my sewing machine all the time. I can't keep up with the demand and still have time for me. I'm looking forward to being able to take a vacation or go on a day trip without having to worry about orders, customers, eggs, birds, all of it. This winter, I plan to use up the rest of my fabrics and list everything. Once it's all gone, that's it, I'm done. I need to focus of myself for a while and try to get healthy again. I've been dealing with some increasingly bad low back pain on top of everything. I go for a CT scan on Thursday that will hopefully give me some answers.
Thanks for the answer! Now I know that this will be a good for you change! :hugs

I had a drastic reduction in flocks...stopped breeding and selling, etc..... and now this year I super bought poultry.

The break was nice... I think getting back into it will be nice (not sure how I will feel mid winter.... .).

The buildings falling apart IS A HUGE PART!!!! The kids are helping to put the buildings back together.... nice infrastructure makes everything easier.

But then... there is the cost factor... always a struggle to figure out the best path!

I hope the back pain is solved. Chronic pain is a huge problem.
 
Downsizing the flock is a combination of DH being tired of having so many birds, our main chicken coop starting to fall apart and making my life easier, especially during the work season. Trying to get various breeding groups fed in the morning before leaving for work, sorting eggs, hatching and incubating... it's all becoming too much and I'm losing the joy of even having the flock. So I've downsized to my older girls that I'm attached to, a few barred rocks that I adopted from a man at church when he was battling cancer (and unfortunately lost). His wife asks about the girls now and then. And a couple young easter eggers to keep giving us eggs. The turkeys, duck and geese that I kept are basically all pets. They'll be here till they die lol. Everyone is in one big coop now so it's easier every morning to get everyone fed. As far as closing my Etsy shop, that one is a combination of the government wanting a nice chunk of my earnings every spring and my having no life because I'm stuck at my sewing machine all the time. I can't keep up with the demand and still have time for me. I'm looking forward to being able to take a vacation or go on a day trip without having to worry about orders, customers, eggs, birds, all of it. This winter, I plan to use up the rest of my fabrics and list everything. Once it's all gone, that's it, I'm done. I need to focus of myself for a while and try to get healthy again. I've been dealing with some increasingly bad low back pain on top of everything. I go for a CT scan on Thursday that will hopefully give me some answers.
I am glad to see that you are taking care of YOU.
 

New posts New threads Active threads

Back
Top Bottom