What's New At My House!

[Cindi]

Well, Brian, bust ma britches.  I think that you have a really busy time ahead of you, you aspire to great things.  I hope that your volunteered help helps out alot, that is far too much to tackle all on your own.  I have been doing alot of work revamping my chicken areas too.  The 20 little chicks are now 5 weeks old and seem to keep getting bigger and bigger, smiling.  Had to make their baby yard bigger.

This morning I am heading off to Surrey to get some two month old Blue Cochins.  I can't wait.  I have had my eye out for the blues and I finally found a gal selling some, straight run, but when I asked her she said that they are beginning to show their gender, that will make life a little easier for me.

Ivan (that Light Brahma I incubated from your eggs) is massive!!!!  He is one smoking hot beautiful bird.  I picked him up the other day, and he is heavy.  Still has lots of quills that are just getting their feathers coming out the ends, looks like hundreds of little paint brushes below his larger feathers.  Still wish I had a gal for him.  He keeps trying to have his way with the girls, but Jackson is one mighty powerful dude who is just not going along with it.  Keeping my eye out for a Light Brahma hen, haven't seen one yet though.  Have that wonderful, most awesome day and life, and health.  Cindi

[Brian D. Bray]

I'm still working on the chicken house, at the rate I'm making progress I'll be working on it all summer, which means I'll have to install the pasture fence in the snow and ice.   Oh well!!

I was doing a little excavating in order to install the steps into the chicken coup.  I moved one shovel full and I was suddenly surrounded by chickens looking for worms.  I drove the shovel into the dirt and had one chicken grab a worm before I could lift the sod.  Meanwhile another chicken just sits on the sod while I lift it and dump it along side the hole I'm digging.  The hen wasn't ruffle a bit until I tossed the shovel full of sod about 3 feet away.  Then half the chickens descended on the dirt scattering it going for the worms and the roots.

Went out to feed the chicks and turkeys I have let loose in the fryer run now that it's 90% finished, I still have to hang the netting to keep out the hawks.  Found a mutilated rat in the pen, those turkeys and chicks can move.  I just wonder if they played tag football with the rat as the football like the hens do. 

When I tore down the old falling down chicken coop I found rats nest with a dozen young.  Chickens went after them like they were desert a Tiffany's.  I've even seen them devour small snakes.  Snakes make for a good game of chicken rugby.

[Brian D. Bray]

Time for another update:

I've got my brother coming over tomorrow to be the 1st to test out my butchering line, call it a carcas disassembly line.
He's bring 4 ducks and a couple of egg eating chickens to butcher.  I might throw in a couple of birds myself, time to 86 the banties as the only thing they're doing now is eating a fighting.
We'll have to set up the automated feather plucker, to burner and stock pot for scalding, and the butchering table.  The table is one I got from Sportsman's Guide it is big enough for 2 people to work at at the same time and it has a hanger for a 5 gallon bucker under the hole in the middle.  It folds up and out of the way.  I guess I'll have to break out a couple of my butcher knife sets too.

The chicken house is still in need of a little touch up paint, needs the rain gutters installed, and a few other tweeks but is essentially finished.  The Solar panels are up and proviing lights and AC power through an inverter.  Installing the solar panels was not fun, I hate high places (ladders and roofs) as the vertigo I have as a result of Menier's disease makes the task difficult by itself.  Everyone has admired and commented on my chicken house.  They keep asking if that's the Cadillac of chicken houses, and I tell them no, it's the Lincoln. 

The chickens and Turkeys are about 1/2 grown now, the largest turkey might dress 8-10 pounds but none have started to show the signs of maturing (snoods and beards) so I can figure out my tom to hen ratio.  Although I do thing I have 6 toms out of 16 turkeys, that would make about 5 trios.  The Jersey Giants have matured enough to show their green sheen on black feathers so telling them apart from the Austrolorps is a snap now.

We've been working on the pasture fence for the last few days, have the post and rails up all across the back from corner to corner and started hanging the welded sire today.  The down and across the creek at both ends of the pasture is going to be the hard part.  I've giving the man and his kids that are helping me build the fence a 3 high medium 8 frame hive and a wether named Billy for their labors.  It's over 300 dollar value and we're both happy I get help on a hard project and he gets the brush cleaner and bee hive he wants for his 5 acres.  He and his wife have decide to follow the example of what I'm doing in the way of self-sufficiency and freedom from the super market for when the next crash comes.

Spent the morning repairing the garden cart.  The support for the front end was bent and one wheel was bent past fixing, Thanks to Growers Supply I know have 2 new wheels.

I've also started collecting rocks for my liear rock pile to dam up the creek, the bigger the better.  The dam is only going to be 8-10 inches high and will work like fish ladder just in case the scientists and environmentalists are correct and there really are fish in this dried up creek but I haven't seen any in in over 30 years..  Maybe if the pond I creat from the dam is big enough I can plan some of my own.

[Cindi]

Brian, wow, I can't believe what you have done in these past few months.  You have truly done a work and a wonder.  I would LOVE to see your place, maybe one day, one never knows.  It sounds like things are growing fast at your place.  That rock diversion will be a wonderful thing that will assist with the waterway, and keeping it low should keep out any environmentalists that would think that you may be wrecking the environment, you and I know better.  Fish ladders are good, smiling.

I have a picture of one of my turkey poults that I raised.  By the time that he was 7 months old, his beard was clearly becoming, as was his snood.  In this picture he had already had the showing of the beard for some time, but he was very interested in breeding with his mother at 7 months, not that Richard would let him, but he surely did want to, as did his brother, oh brother, incest in critters, guess they just don't care, smiling.  Glad to hear that so many of your birds you got as babies have grown so nicely.  I have mountains of little dudes all over my place that are getting bigger and bigger.  I have sold many a bird here in the past month.  Have that most wonderful and awesome day, health.  Cindi

[Irwin]

Cindi JP can have the ducks I'll take that turkey any day