Good Morning! in 2018

[kenya]

Yuck Rats, hard to get rid of too, they are so smart. Hope you get him right away!

[kenya]

Hey theres my girl at the top of the page. Looks great!

[Ontario Chick]

She looks lovely, balances the PTO logo very nicely.
My offer of spring rites this morning, lady crab playing hard to get.

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[Ontario Chick]

here we go again

[labradors]

Fiddler crabs! I've seen swarms of them in the dried creeks of NC. Maybe I should have said "an orchestra" of them :).

Linda

[WLLady]

OC are you still in the warm climes? we finally got a couple days of sun here. and the water is finally down back into the river banks so sunday we pulled some logs.....lots and lots of dead ash coming up to the house for firewood.....
my girls just picked up their laying in a big way! i think i didn't get eggs from 10 girls, that's it! so as soon as i know what the fertility is like (this coming weekend i'll candle the incubator load) i can start planning! yay! unfortunately i have a meeting for work on the day that mount forest sale is-so i'll be unable to go to mount forest given i'll likely be presenting at the meeting.....
starlings are moving into everywhere again, building a nest in the lid of the propane tank, and all along the eaves of the barn again. this weekend the wire is going up. i'll likely take the pressure washer to the barn if it's still warm, chase them all out and then wire over every little crevice i can find. i'm DONE with these filthy things. they're noisy producing machines. gah! and plastic is going up in the turkey doors, the turkeys can learn how to push through, and another row of plastic into the horse doors (because they figured out how to fly hard into the plastic to pop through). then i'll put my cats out there and won't let them in again until all the birds are gone LOL. i'm just sick of the bird everywhere. oh, and turkey pens need their spring cleaning, because i'm thinking positive. AND need to get the turkey jennies in with the right boys....that will be fun herding them all around LOL.
here's hoping the weekend is a nice one! i know it's only tuesday, but.....a gal can dream of spring! oh, my daffodils are up 2 inches!

[Ontario Chick]

Yup, finished my house sit assignment, returned my host's car and picked up a rental, was handed a fob, but no key.......
I guess it was bound to happen sooner or later, but aren't we making it just a bit too easy for the car thieves? :) 2018
Tracker? I think, it is just a computer on 4 wheels, can't wait to see what happens when those computes start to act up.
Everything is blooming like crazy here, it's going be a bit of an adjustment coming back, but was listening to a rooster crowing on one of the islands and realized how much I miss it.
So next week back home and start thinking chickies!!! :)

[Brebis]

Oh what a beautiful day here! Sunny and 9C.

Went over to the barn and let the sheep out into their paddock for the first time since the late fall and though there wasn’t much for them to chew on they just had a good time frolicking in the sunshine! The chickens have been out for a few days now and are happy to get out and check out what’s happening around there and find new hiding spots for laying eggs as well!

Tapped a few trees yesterday and running well so will do some more over the next few days and see if we can do some syrup...

[windwalkingwolf]

Yup, finished my house sit assignment, returned my host's car and picked up a rental, was handed a fob, but no key.......
I guess it was bound to happen sooner or later, but aren't we making it just a bit too easy for the car thieves? :) 2018
Tracker? I think, it is just a computer on 4 wheels, can't wait to see what happens when those computes start to act up.
Everything is blooming like crazy here, it's going be a bit of an adjustment coming back, but was listening to a rooster crowing on one of the islands and realized how much I miss it.
So next week back home and start thinking chickies!!! :

Yup, computer on wheels. If it's anything like my last two rentals, the fob has to be within a metre of the car for the push button to work, so it's not like just anybody can jump in, push the start button and go...and also, once the fob is out of range, the car automatically locks itself just in case you forgot. Just don't ever lose the fob, because it will cost your firstborn and require a computer engineer to get a new one. Digital EVERYTHING, how silly! I think I'll keep my old-fashioned keys.
Good morning everyone!
Maple sap is flowing a river around here! I didn't tap (again) this year, but two of my neighbours are hard at it, both boiling 24 hours a day. Birds are laying like crazy, and I've got my first broody hen of the season...my little house hen that got scalped comb to back by a goose a few weeks ago...BUT I HAD TO BUY EGGS FOR HER TO HATCH!!!! Why? Because her own aren't fertile (she hates other chickens, especially if those other chickens are roosters. She's weird.) and because my beloved dog, Penny, is eating all my darn eggs! First thing she does when let out to pee, is patrol the barn outside and in, looking for rats or anything else out of place. She's decided that eggs don't belong in a barn, they belong in her belly. So I've seen no rats, and almost no eggs! I have two turkeys, one goose, 2 muscovy, 20 hens and possibly one duck pooping out eggs, and yesterday I got ONE. One turkey egg, and only because she laid it in a smallish dog cage and either the dog couldn't get in at it (t's frozen to the ground still in the lee of the barn with the door partly open) or just hadn't found it yet. So instead of buying chicken feed to feed the rats, I'm buying it to feed the dog But, no rats, chippies, squirrels, weasels, raccoons or other 4-legged wildlife have come close to the barn since Penny discovered the joy of critter chasing, so there's that. I can't close up the birds to keep her out of the eggs until new pens are built, because right now the back door stays open so cattle, pigs and goats can come and go, and the enclosed pens I've got aren't big enough to house everybody comfortably. Especially not when I've got a goose with a hate-on for hens, and turkey hens with a hate-on for roosters.
Speaking of turkeys, does anybody know if a turkey tom spur can have the casing twisted off like a roosters? I'm thinking maybe not, because of their fatter shorter shape, but my one old tom has some monsters, he crippled my old girl with them a few years ago, and right now he's feeling his oats. If not, I'll take a grinder to them tomorrow, but I'd prefer to twist them off if I can...it not only limits damage mechanically, but the tender nubs also will make him a little less...energetic...during the act. He shoots blanks anyway, but he's ancient and I don't want to deny him a little fun during the very brief time when he actually thinks he wants some. I think I only got less than 2 weeks of strut out of him last year, and he cut up a hen doing it. He should have been put in the pot years ago, but he's pretty :? And he hates my mother-in-law
OH, GUESS WHAT? I MADE BACON!!!! All by myself :D Using a brine recipe and liquid smoke and my oven, and it's the BEST bacon I've ever had!!! OMG SO GOOD. I'll post the recipe after a nap, I still haven't been to sleep after work last night. A nap is in order, to recharge and to give Penny lots of time to eat more eggs. It's a good thing I love her.

[WLLady]

oh i definitely want that recipe! i want to take another try at curing meat like bacon etc....my last attempt wasn't wonderful, wasn't awful, but not the best....
looking cloudy today. and rainy. and WTH i got a weather statement on my phone saying 10-20 cm of blowing and drifting snow for thursday night??!!!! NOOOOOOO say it aint so!!!! although, it is the end of february...and the last 5 days have been glorious!

another truck load of eggs last night. candling this weekend (d7 incubation) to see who is fertile and who's not, and then depending on fertility i'll have hatching eggs available as wanted....and hopefully a pile of fuzzybutts in another 2 weeks. of course, counting all my eggs before they hatch!