Wisconsin "Cheeseheads"

[tiki244]

Quote:
OMG

What a vivid imagination you have!!!



Brent many healing thought are going out to you for a speedy recovery. Hope you recover soon.


Well I gotta go for now but will try to finish catching up later.

 

[FrenchToast]

Quote:
Well first of all nice seeing you back on here..

As far as horses go, you really should have two since they are a herd animal. You can get them a goat for a companion. The cost to keep a horse ................... Well lets just say the horse is the cheap part. Although keeping them on your own property saves alot of course if you don't have a fenced in area you'll have that added expense.
I vaccinate my horses my self so I save a vet call. I have 6 horses, 1 pony and 3 donkeys so doing all of this myself saves a bundle. Then you have to deworm them every 8 weeks but now the newest way of doing it is having your vet do a fecal float test and only deworm depending on the results. So after paying the vet for the test even if you don't have to deworm the cost should balance out.
Then they will need their feet trimmed approx every 8 weeks. Sometimes they slow up during the winter months so you may be able to stretch it out a bit longer in the winter but really is an individual basis.
A bale of hay (45-50lbs) costs me $1.75. I think it is more down by you. For just a trim that is $25 for each animal. Figure up to a bale a day for hay. Some bales are alot lighter and you may find them a bit heavier. The size of the horse will determine how much hay to feed. It goes by the weight of he horse and so many lbs of hay etc. Don't know the calculations right now.
So you've got hay, deworming, vaccinations, and a yearly vet call for him to check out teeth etc. Some horses may need their teeth floaed (filed down) every year and others can go much longer. So it can be quite costly especially if you don't do the deworming and vaccines yourself. To you this may look like alot of money but for me just paying to keep just one or two horses would be great since I am feeding 10 mouths. That is why we eat alot of Aldi's $2.29 pzza's too !! But I can tell you that it is costing me alot more for chicken feed then it is for hay each month. My monthy hay bill is $315 a month. That is 180 bales @ $1.75 a bale. That also feeds my four male goats. No doubt will go up during the peak of winter.
It was costing me $400 a month to board 2 of my horses when I lived in Racine. And that was a very good price. If you shop online or thru catalogs for supplies you can save quite a bit.

I'm sure TO and WCC can pick up where I left off. I am so tired now, I keep falling asleep. Didn't really get much sleep last night so forgive me if what I said doesn't make sense. I keep falling asleep here !!

Oooppps said that already, see what I mean !!

Ok, nap time

 

[jvls1942]

Quote:
are all heirloom varieties of vegetables runty, bumpy, or blemished ? or is that just my imagination ?

You just got lucky Jim.

I grow heirlooms only now and have had some real beauties. here, go look at some pretty pictures.

http://www.seedsavers.org/Items.aspx?hierId=43 5 freezers?? How come you and Annie don't weigh 500lbs?!

well,maybe if the freezers were empty,,,we would..LOL

 

[jvls1942]

just taking a break. I got the quail pen all ready.. have a brooder hood/light getting things warmed up before I take the quails out..

Annie has this thing about making sure all the relatives have enough to eat also.. hence the extra food/freezers... nobody goes hungry with Annie nearby.. LOL

I do not eat radishes.. Ken does, but not as many as we plant..
I have never seen radishes grow this tall , ever before..
the stem is a good inch in diameter, and it branches, just like a tree..
I gotta take pictures..

TO, you better NOT have the same amount of birds as I..
that would be too spooky.. LOL

 

[raimnel]

got goats, check. can't afford the critters that we got so I guess the horse is out of the question. Darn lol So who loves around me with some horses that I can ride?
Thanks FT for the info and for missing me lol I'm pretty busy during the week, now

ever think of lice and your head start itching?

my head is itching like crazy lol I just washed it yesterday lol

wondering what were gonna do with all the birds/critters for the winter. DH wants to drop down to 1 coop in the winter

like as if. the guinies are gonna get set free (roam) tomorrow lol wonder if we'll ever get them back

off to wash clothes and more dishes finally got all the regular dishes ran through the dishwasher

now its time for the big stuff, BEFORE they all eat again lol
later

 

[FrenchToast]

Well, you wouldn't be able to ride a mini horse or pony but that would be cheaper. You could drive them. Or drive around with them in your back seat

Or just have one for a pet. Minis shouldn't be out on pasture since they are prone to founder so you wouldn't need a huge pasture for one of them.

Do you have any breeding pairs of chickens you could sell hatching eggs from? That is one way to help pay for your chicken feed or horse feed. I am going to start listing my eggs soon. Really should get rid of my partridge roosters with the funkiest combs I've ever seen but it would break my heart to kill them. They all get along fine so I might just keep the roos as pets. I'll have the mill mix me up a lower protein and lower calcium mix for them then and it will at least be cheaper. My mix right now is 21 %. So lowering it to 16 % would save m a couple of bucks a bag.

By the way, Amy where about do you live? I forgot. Have you thought about leasing a horse? You may even be able to find someone that would gladly let you ride their horses for free. Alot of people don't have the time with working an all and would welcome someone to ride their horse and spend time with it. May want to put an ad out on Ebay.

Well today was totally usless !! No more eating M&M's at night. You did notice I said at night !!! Can't give them up completely !!!

I was cleaning my silky pens for hours yesterday, I am so stiff and sore today !!

Speaking of freezers, DH is out bow hunting. As much as I don't want a dead deer hanging outside I sure wish he would get one. He hasn't gotten one since we've been up here and that's been 5 yrs !!! He does happen to fall asleep in the tree stand now and then so that doesn't help matters. So guess I'll be cleaning out the freezer if he gets one. If he does get one we'll be asking Bigzio where he got his processed into all of the good sausage that he brought to the bash !!! YUM !! Would be well worth the drive to do it!!! I love it, the free deer really isn't so free after you pay for your license, clothes, bow or gun then the processing !! Guess everyone has their own hobbies they enjoy !!

Oh I gotta tell ya about yesterday. DH went to town to deliver eggs. Everytime I've talked to this woman she will ask me how long you can keep eggs !! To be on the safe side I tell her at least a month. So yesterday she asks DH the same question.
He tells her that the store has 45 days to get them out on the shelf (don't know where he heard that) Anyway, then he tells her you can see how old they are buy putting them in water and the old eggs will float.
She got this confused look on her face and said "HOW DO YOU GET THEM OUT OF THE WATER?" DH and her husband looked at each other and then gave her a puzzled look like What the H3LL !!!

Then DH says "YOU LEAVE THEM IN THE SHELL!!"

Then she said then she's been wasting alot of good eggs !!! She must be tossing them after a few weeks !!!

Ok, catch ya all later. Oh TO and WCC did you go to the swap? I thought I saw TO on at about 10 AM didn't you go??

 

[jodiea60]

Hey Tiki where in western wisconsin are you? I am 35 miles sw of eau claire......I maybe looking to get some cochin bantams in the spring....Do you sell chicks....Need not be show quality...


My 5 week olds are spending their first night in the coop.....They are a little stressed and hubby is still banging around out there so that is really making them nervous......I am nervous too about the temp....Have the brooder light in there and It was about 75 degrees....

 

[Terri O]

Welcome Jodo--dont think I've seen you here before? Stop in often!

Good evening! Yes we did go to Portage...Carol about bought up all the chickens for sale and then took some from H&R too! Cade got the brown bantam leghorns he wanted for 4H next year and I got...NOTHING! A woman named Donna really wanted to sell me her BCFM eggs--she tried to sell them to H&R too! The collection of Marans eggs she had in a basket was really neat. No--my incubator is going OFF after the quail! OK I did get 2 roos from H&R to replace my cuckoo that I lost....we all had a really fun time. THe show was A LOT smaller than I thought it would be...I guess when I hear International I am thinking BIG automatically! It was more like a small swap type show. Saw some really neat birds though...a standard OE game bird...COOL!

I am going outside after this post with my flashlight to count my birds...after hearing Jim's 180 I just have to...might be a little hard though--I dont know if I will be able to see all the ones in the trees...at least I KNOW I have 34 geese. THey walked in a nice single line the other day and I got an accurate count.

Well-I have to get some supper...talk later! TErri O

 

[Hens and Roos]

Evening everyone, TO and Carol met up here at our house and we all went to the Portage show- we got there shortly after 1 pm- they were still judging but we did walk around and look at bit. Ran into the kids 4-H poultry leader- she was there showing birds. Seemed to have a good sized group showing and a small swap. DS(9) found the breed of chicken that he is interested in- light brown leghorn bantams- so he picked up a very nice looking group of 1 cockeral and 4 pullets. Carol also found some chickens to keep her company on the way home!

Have the new group settled into the garage that has no chickens and will keep them separated to make sure there are no problems.

 

[Terri O]

Back in for me...I just downed my scrambled eggs with cheese, peppers, tomatoes, mushrooms, basil and some LO mashed taters...MMMM--Now I am stuffed! Well, the verdict is not good Jim! I countede my birds and I officially have more than 100 more than you! OMG...

WHERE did I get all these birds??? Hereis how I counted:
Quail-9
Ducks-60
call ducks-5
in the coop-55
coop lean/to-12
trees-10+5 (turkeys)
barn-30
upstairs barn-6
milkhouse-8+8 guineas
shed-10
dog pen-15+5 ducks
geese-34
pigeons-7
big guineas-8

YEah...if I added right that comes to 287...so....according to someones siggy line if you know how many chickens you have you dont have enough? Or is it you have enough? I'm with you Jim--I need to practice shicken math really soon, the subtracting kind! When Elaine asked how many roos we were processing I said 7 or 8! Changing that to 77 or 78! I am thinking that I am going to have to get ruthless with selling/culling before the snow flies--either that or I am going to have to get 2 more full time jobs...
Man, I knew I had a bunch but....I better go to bed; or start posting on CL! Sweet dreams everyone! Terri O

My next assignment is to count the birds I have in the house....