Thanks everyone for your kind words and support! Sorry Cindlady for the trouble your having.
Well the Jeeps at the shop, they said at the absolute most for a total rebuild is 1500$. He said the torque converter is out and 2nd and 3rd bands are slipping so it could be less. He can't get to it this week but it will be done next week sometime. He at first tried to talk me out of even fixing it but after explaining to him that I just purchased it and wasn't about to finance a better vehicle and giving it a real good look over agreed that it would be a good decision to spend the money. I can't wait to get it back so I can enjoy it.
No chicken more chicken losses as most are penned up at the moment. Talk about roosters, not good but nice to know I'm not the only one with the problem this year. I have 9 in the pen we made out of the old hay dryer I took out of the barn. Those were from early spring chicks, no pullets. Jose's pen has 2 pullets and 6 cockerels left, whats left of the June/July hatches I think I only seen 4 possible pullets of 15. Not sure what I will have of the 16 in the house, just early guessing I'm only seeing a couple pullets. Of those cockerels is a BO, Splash Cochin LF, SLW, BO Bantam, Lavender Orp(I have 3 total), EE, Lemon Cuckoo Orp, and other Orp and Wyondotte crosses. On top of my breeding pens; 3 SS Hens & 1 roo; 1 Lav Orp roo & 2 BO Hens 1 Black Orp(Split); 1 Lav orp Roo & 1 BCM 1 Blue CM 1 Mix; 1 BLRW & 2 BLRW hens 2 BWA 1 SLW 1 GLW 1 Blue Wydontte 1 Black Wyondotte; 1 Partridge Cochin Bantam & 1 PCB hen 1 Black Cochin 1 White Cochin 1 Lav Cochin 1 Blue Silkie 1 Mille Fluer; free rangers are 1 Billy Bob & 2 Reds 2 Leghorns. I know I'm missing some as I have 80 plus total at the moment. Last head count before chicken theives was 84 outside plus the 16 chicks in house. I'm not 100% but think I may have a BO Bantam Pullet to replace my show hen that Dog got to get pared back with my roo unless it being his daughter is bad to pare for breeding. If its not good to breed them back I'll just sell them as I've not been able to come across anyone who breeds them to purchase more pullets/hens.
John that sure is a nice coop. I had huge plans of building me a log coop with some of our pine trees before winter but it's not looking like it will get done this year. I wanted to build it big enough I could partition it to house all the chickens in one coop and use the hay dryer cages for their separate runs. I have such big ideas but health prevents me from accomplishing them. I wanted to do it this was so I don't have to power my currently 9 coops(10 now if you could the dryer cages housing the roos) all in one location. I have them spread out all over and it gets to be tiring to do all the hauling and walking to feed and water. I did have a routine that I filled all the water jugs and loaded them into the wheel barrow which took a great load off but their are times I can't even do that. If I build it behind the garage like I intended I could run power easily. I was going to hire a friends boys to come do the hard work but haven't felt well enough even for that. This time of the year would be perfect though as it's not as hot to work. On our property we have an over abundance of pines(not a pine fan) that are roughly 8-10 inches across that we've been wanting to clear out for the past years but didn't have a plan for them until I was driving on one of my adventures and seen a log cabin coop and fell in love with it.
The shooting off the shotgun idea sounds like a plan as my boys suggested it the other night but it was after midnight and didn't feel like waking up the rest of the house digging around to gather the guns and ammo. Will definitely get it done as the boys have been wanting to do some practice shooting. We had just did skeet shooting last week and shot off about 30 rounds or more and it didn't scare them off none. I'm not sure how big a coyote pack is but from the ones I seen their were 10 pairs of eyes the other night. When me and son went out to inspect they started growling at us about 50 feet away and our dog Rudy took off chasing them away. He's a good home protector but I fear if I leave him out at night to guard the chickens they may get brave and try to gang him. I'm not educated on how they work as packs. Maybe I'll have to do some reading.
Well today me and the boys are going to go donate time and truck usage to haul some beds to the Time Out Abuse Shelter as they needs beds and some were donated but they don't have a way to get them. I wonder if I can work that into their home schooling somehow when we do charity work. This weekend is the Harvest of Talents auction which 100% of the money goes to Rusk County. Last year we donated 10 framed photos me and my daughter did from our photography club which raised 610$. We are donating photos again and possibly some of my homemade jewelry. All donations for the auction are crafts and hobbies others in the county make. I do believe last year they raised over 25K with the auction and bake/rummage sale. Half goes to the county itself and half to the food pantries. We also go to the food pantries and help with food donations. They also help out at Lego Night at the library and with the monthly mana meals at church amongst other things. I want to teach the kids well on helping others.
Again a Frenchie post. Where are you French? If you come back I may not have to take your place with all this as I'm sure people don't want to hear about all this nonsense I spew. Although I love to read about how peoples lives are going good or bad. I don't have any face to face friends and it keeps me in touch with the world I guess if that makes sense. The only personal friend I had was the lady with the mistreated/animal hoarding and she told me I was never allowed their again. I still think I did the right thing even if it didn't turn out the way I planned.
that's what I was thinking to do. She is the same hen that started out laying huge double yolkers and the pigment spotted eggs so she was having getting things "synched up" from the start. Just wanted some input from the more experienced than I.
I so want a barn 
