Good Morning! <=2017

Bobbi · Post by **Bobbi** » Mon Mar 21, 2016 8:10 am

Built a standing Quail hutch for outside, need to build more raised beds, and fix up my turkey pen, and meat bird tractor then I'm done my spring projects. Happy we got a lot of other things done over the mild winter or we would be very behind.

Looking for some brown quail babies to grow out.

Have a good week all.

SandyM · Post by **SandyM** » Mon Mar 21, 2016 8:25 am

It's lightly snowing here this morning. The ground is crispy. We have 5cm of snow Wednesday and 5-10cm of snow Thursday. Of course some rain mixed in with that. Nice and sloppy.

Off to BVF this afternoon to pick up sweet tater shoots, thanks Kathy!

I'm also off to look at some multi-purpose tractor or lawnmower that I can hook a wagon up too but can get put back without destroying the land to get fallen trees. I have no idea what to get but I gotta start somewhere so I'm heading to John Deeere and Kobota.

Purchasing a hive today and nucs. Big move for me. I hate stings but I'm excited. I go through a lot of honey so might as well do my own and help the bees. Umm, anyone notice it's a very expensive hobby? LOL

My one Silkie girl is still 'off'. Not sure what is going on but she's in quarantine and under watch. Last night I was thinking....she got even more aloof and uncoordinated when I had the Silkie flock on meds for the girl with a cold. Maybe a reaction to that? And my Silkie rooster is brutal to them in the mornings. Every single one gets a big DONK in the head and if you don't scoot out of the coop you'll get another one. He's pretty rough on them as soon as the coop door opens.

Have a good day.

hayladee · Post by **hayladee** » Mon Mar 21, 2016 9:34 am

Sun is out and shining brightly! Did the family butchering over the weekend...whew, glad that's done for another year. Yummy fresh scrapple on apple butter bread for breakfast this morning...used "honey" apple butter, good stuff! just catching up while finishing a cup of coffee...turned the eggs in the bators then out to check cows. DD had her first calf yesterday from the Dexter bull we bought for first timers last year...a little heifer calf about 45 pounds.... It was about 3 weeks premature but is up and nursing and doing fine so far....little teeth haven't erupted yet, lol. Her momma got some white mold and it turned toxic...she walked in circles, lost balance and was blind for a few days, thought she was a gonner but lots of vitamin B and she didn't lost the calf like we'd expected and although she has a curve in her neck and her balance is still poor she is a fighter and so is the baby. DD used a big bale with some mold spots for bedding a couple weeks ago and the silly heifer must have snacked on it instead of walking out to the hay wagon where the good hay was....that wont happen again....but cant blame her for trying to eccomonize bedding....hard lesson but one she wont ever forget.
Candled the 7 eggs in the brinsea and so far so good....cant wait to check the big bator tomorrow, fourth day. How long can I open up the bator while candling? Should I candle only a dozen at a time then let bator warm again?

Bayvistafarm · Post by **Bayvistafarm** » Mon Mar 21, 2016 10:10 am

Good morning. Hay. I usually candle at 10 days and for sure no doubt about embryos u can see them bopping up and down. I don't worry at this stage having the bator open for as long as candling takes. As long as it's not hours lol. Mom usually gets off daily to eat and whatever else.

Well. Babysitting today again. Sawyer isn't quite well enough for school.

Sooooo back to the bus today, Sawyer will come and we will see Sandy this aft hopefully.

Sun is out against a dark sky. Pretty

hayladee · Post by **hayladee** » Mon Mar 21, 2016 10:14 am

Bay do you do a dry hatch the first two weeks? I only hatched once before and the guy (Maran eggs) said he had better hatches if he didn't add water till after the second week...any thoughts? I got 6 out of 7 hatch

hayladee · Post by **hayladee** » Mon Mar 21, 2016 1:24 pm

trying a photo....it worked I think. Is it too big?? The girls are going to a jackpot show this coming weekend...they have so much fun with their cattle

Post by **Killerbunny** » Mon Mar 21, 2016 3:48 pm

That's great!

Bayvistafarm · Post by **Bayvistafarm** » Mon Mar 21, 2016 4:25 pm

hayladee wrote:QR_BBPOST Bay do you do a dry hatch the first two weeks? I only hatched once before and the guy (Maran eggs) said he had better hatches if he didn't add water till after the second week...any thoughts? I got 6 out of 7 hatch

I have fiddled with hatches it seems forever. I find if the humidity of the room is over 50%... I don't add any water to my bator. If its a dry hot summer, then I will add some water in the beginning. Or all along. I have fine tuned so much, lol. I do up the water big-time/sponges... when the lockdown begins.

Great picture of the kids and the calf!!!!! Beauty!!

Post by **WLLady** » Tue Mar 22, 2016 8:23 am

woke up this morning to the 530 news.....
my heart is in brussels....can't help it. what awful news. makes me appreciate canada, and makes me appreciate what i have in life, and where i am in life. and makes me wonder just why.....why?

looks like a nice day here so far, with freezing rain on the way??! yikes. oh well. everyone will be comfy and dry at home. and if it's icy, i'll stay there too! i think the sparrows are slowly moving out of the barn into their nests over the doors LOL. my goal for this weekend is to try really hard to find all the places they are accessing the loft and seal them up. should be FUN! LOL

planted up 2 flats of pepper and tomato seeds last night. hopefully i'll get the rest of the seeds in tonight and tomorrow...i'm so behind this year, but given that i don't have any dates yet from surgeons i'm not going to put my life on hold....not yet. so i better get started! (i will leave the tilling to someone else though....if i till at all this year, i'm thinking about not tilling and just composting in the bottom of a hole for the plant and then planting the plants and then mulching deeply....no till method kinda hmmmm)

hope everyone has a great day-those kids look sooooo happy! and that's by far the fuzziest calf i have ever seen! great job!

SandyM · Post by **SandyM** » Tue Mar 22, 2016 8:26 am

Morning Y'All

Nice to meet you yesterday Shirley and thanks for being the pick up point. Thanks for bringing those shoots Kathy. Wow!! They are rooted wonderfully and definitely good to go. Into pots today.

Stuck at my desk rest of the week with long days. A lot of rain on the way and all that snow removed from the forecast.

Got a broody girl. Different Silkie. I managed to break the other and she's loving being single right now. I'm smarter this time. She's got 4 FERTILIZED eggs under her from the big coop flock (3 Easter egger and 1 barred rock egg). She's been sitting as of yesterday. I left her for 2 days on Silkie eggs (the ones that aren't fertilized) to see if she was serious or not.

Not much going on for Easter Weekend. Lou's mom will come one of the days for an early dinner and that's it, that's all. Big bowl of pasta and meatballs, salad and bread. Maybe I'll make a lemon meringue pie but who knows. Sounds easy peasy!

I want to start the coop sorting this weekend. Sort the wood, plywood, shingles etc., I have and see what I can get built. We even have a load of tiles leftover from a job hahah! Imagine a coop with a ceramic tiles floor. Umm no!

I'm heading to the auction on Friday. Need some calf hutches for the ducks I NEED when the weather gets warmer. Now to decide on which duck breed. Khaki Campbell's are apparently the best egg breed but I loved the Muscovys and their fly hunting. Think I'll go and start a duck thread and see what people's experiences are. Later. Gotta get some stuff done.

Hope everyone has a great day!!