Good Morning

[ross]

Hiya! Just a quick note that we have made some changes to hopefully make things a bit easier for cell phone users. The pic of the month can make it difficult to read whats being typed in the text box if the photo is darker so we have opted to move the pic of the month to the top banner. However you will notice that there are different photos on each page because we opted to use all this years picture of the month photos. We will keep adding the winner(s) to the other photos in the top of the screen until the end of the year. That way they are posted and cell phone users can see what they are typing. Hope this works for everyone. If you do not see the updated photos just refresh your browser.

Thanks Kathy

[Killerbunny]

Nice job Kathy!

[Happy]

I was laying in bed this morning trying to ignore my bladder's urge to get up. I started thinking about life in general and the point that I'm now at. It's a strange time for me. I'm not old but I'm sure not young anymore. A part of my decision making process now includes the question "how long will this last and will I still be ok with it at that point?" For example-chickens. I debated adding a few chickens to the coop this year. I've lost 6 in the past year and a bit. I don't have many standards left that are still laying regularly. I refuse to bring in adult birds and risk disease-just not in my comfort zone. A chick today could still be an old hen in 10 years. It's not that I don't think I will be capable in 10 years. I just might not be here. The plan is to not be in Canada for our winters. Hubby and I both hate them. I guess that's a bridge I will cross when I get there. I started out with day-old sexed chicks ordered from a hatchery 10+ years ago. I did the hatch in an incubator thing...the hatch with a broody hen thing...the get eggs from a breeder thing...the rehoming cockerels thing... So I decided that I have come full circle. These will be my last chicks before I wind down my chickening. I ordered them from the same hatchery I got my original girls from. It's really bitter-sweet for me. It's sad to think this is the beginning of the end. To everything there is a season...

[Killerbunny]

@Happy I totally get it. We hate winter and it's a lot of work with turkeys but we're OK with it. What really brought it home was a year of breast cancer treatment 5 years ago. I worry about my birds if/whn I die or can't look after them. Turkeys are big and strong and hard work. At least you are thinking about this issue now.
On another note all ILT vax boosters done - only 13 turkeys to do this round instead of the 27 last time.

[Ontario Chick]

@Happy although I absolutely hated wrapping up the chicken portion of our lives after 40+ years, in the end as you say to everything there is a season....
Because you are facing the prospect realistically, you will find it much easier when the time comes.
I think I sort of "mourned" my chickens starting about 5 years before the actual end.
I still miss them, but there are benefits, when it's brutally cold I don't worry about the chickens, when it's horribly hot, the same, I can now watch the Hawk perching in the pines without getting hysterical, and even the foxes are cute again

[WLLady]

FYI everyone-bird movement through the woodstock/ingersoll area is restricted. https://lfpress.com/news/local-news/bir ... ord-county

[Farrier1987]

Happy, I am getting to that stage too, but firmly in denial. Goats chickens dogs horse garden, How far into the future am I entwined with them? I think and wonder about it. And I go out and play with baby goats and feed the chicks with the broody hen and prune the fruit trees. And say, Oh well, its not today. Then go watch a baseball game.

[lolotsung]

I'm on my last cat, dog, and chickens. Pizza is 10. Otis is 3. Chickens are 1. I'm going to miss them but I don't have the energy I did 10 years ago and know that 10 years from now I'll have less energy. I'm also absolutely sure no one in my family is capable of taking care of a pet fulltime. I've been thinking of driving around in an RV and exploring the world as a retirement plan...

[KimChick]

The small farm thing is what we are doing in our retirement. We could not afford a small farm in Southern Ontario almost 39 yrs ago. I would say that we have 10 more small farm years in us.

[Killerbunny]

I'm on my last cat, dog, and chickens. Pizza is 10. Otis is 3. Chickens are 1. I'm going to miss them but I don't have the energy I did 10 years ago and know that 10 years from now I'll have less energy. I'm also absolutely sure no one in my family is capable of taking care of a pet fulltime. I've been thinking of driving around in an RV and exploring the world as a retirement plan...

We travelled and dived a lot when everyone was saying we should save/wait for Retirement. Never been so glad we didn't listen. France & Spain on a motorbike before we came to Canada, diving round the Carubbean. I honestly think we got the best of everywhere. Europe when it was safer, diving before reef bleaching, Brockville before the visibilty went and the wrecks decayed. ALl pre-COVID