Critter musical chairs

We played a little musical chairs this weekend with the birds, as the meaties had enough feathers to go out, and were reaching the 3-week old "omg, they stink, I can't keep up with the volume of poop" stage. But before the meaties could go outside, their chicken conestoga had to be vacated.

So, the 11 pullets were rudely snatched from their chicken tractor and thrown to the wolves moved to the chicken yard. Miss Speckles was extremely mean, and a couple lost some feathers, but the other hens pretty much just ignored the new additions. Deputy Guinea dictated the rules of the barnyard (go to bed promptly at dusk, stay in the yard, no fighting) and herded them around for a while. Other than that, not a whole lot of excitement there. The Fayoumis kill me. They're so tiny, they just run in and out of the fencing, like it wasn't there. Ugh.  The Fayoumis are the ones with the white heads.  They're roughly the size of a Stellar's Jay.  No joke.






The meaties were hauled out to the chicken tractor, where they'll live til Memorial Day weekend, at which point they'll transition to freezer camp.  Can't wait for the day.  Grody birds.  Tasty grody birds. On Tues, 4 BBW turkey poults took over the newly vacated brooder in the shop.  Love turkeys.  Love love love.  Wish I could keep a BBW tom.  They're great.

(pics from last year)

We installed two nucs last Saturday, and the new bees seem to be very happy (knock on wood). They're very local bees, as there's a big bee place about 2 miles away as the crow flies.  I did totally biff it while carrying a frame, and it was nearly a disaster.  But I did my best to control the fall and didn't jar the frame much (but did land on my left arm and totally torqued my shoulder).  Anyhoo, two hives are up and running, and LJ is copying the design of the cardboard nuc boxes to make some swarmcatchers to put around the property.  They'd also double as a catch kit to keep in the car.  If they work out well, I'll post an entry on how he made them.

Hm... what else.  None of the 17 duck eggs in the incubator were fertile, so I chucked em and put 7 of Maggie Muscovy's eggs in there.  We'll see how that goes.  She's currently filling up a nest out in the duck hut as well.  I want cute little waterfowl babies! (that turn into fat tasty freezerbirds).  :)

Quick pic Wednesday... Icky Chickies

Because I've been too busy to post about the Pekins yet.

Meaties are getting big! 3-4 weeks to go until butcher day.

Eat up little meaties

Grow nice and big...

The feed store had shorted our order of 20 by 3. I found some cornish chicks of approx the same age at a different store yesterday. LJ had me pick up 8 more. So, 25 meaties this year. Yum yum!

Beautiful evening!

Perfect temperature, and a clear sky.

Weighed one of the Cornish X chickens yesterday, an average sized pullet, and she weighed in at a little over 7 lbs. Sweet! Two weeks to go...

Been really busy, prepping for Mom's visit. Still lots to do!

Hope everyone had a great 4th!

Icky chickies and the chicken tractor

Goat pics soon, I promise.  The escaping goat did not attempt escape yesterday, so maybe he can stay.


The icky chickies are finally out in their chicken tractor, dubbed the "chicken conestoga" by LJ.  It's still a little cool at night, so we've got a heat lamp in there for the evenings.  The feeder is set up so we can raise it in order to restrict their food a bit.  Otherwise they'd lie around the feeder, eating day and night.  Piggies!

We're pretty happy with how it came out, and it wasn't too expensive to build. At least the chicks seem happy!

Goats, icky chickies, quick update

Goats were delivered yesterday. 5 of them. Not sure what the breeds are, but they were free, and they have already done some serious damage to the blackberries and thistles. Woohoo! 2 does, 3 wethers. Only one wether is polled, and he may need to be rehomed somewhere else this week (today or tomorrow, preferably), as he is the size of a small pony and can clear a nearly 5' fence. The others are fine. The big boy is the only problem goat. I don't want him to teach the others to escape. He jumps the fence, even though he gets the bejeezus shocked out of him. All the others respect the fence. LJ wants to give him a couple days, but I need that goat to go away. Especially with lots of baby fruit trees, blueberries, and my garden at risk. Stressing me out. I really don't like problem animals...

Icky chickies are out in the chicken conestoga. They seem to be enjoying the forage and freedom. Now that they have room to run, they are having baby chicken battles. Pretty entertaining. At least they are getting some exercise. :)

I'll try to get pics up this week. Happy Monday!