so much, so little.

So much can happen in so little time.  It was a good thing I had fixed the goat shelter yesterday cause there was a big storm this morning.  I woke at 6am to find the power was out and the goat shelter had blown over and the goats trying to find a place to hide from the driving rain.  In the time it took me to go out and right the shelter and come back in, I was completely drenched.  Like I had jumped into a swimming pool drenched.  I dripped my way to the bathroom and shed the soaking clothes and then went about getting dressed.


In the backyard an oak split off half of its top and it landed across the clothes line, thankfully nothing landed on the turkey or chicken shelters.

Even the chicken tractor was pushed back several feet from the wind.  The fence is where the edge of the tractor was yesterday.

The rain was slacking off and so I went out to look around and called my parents to let them know we were all ok.  And then I saw my female rabbit loose in the yard.  Thankfully I have good dogs that herded her back behind a piece of plywood and I got her caught (on the second try as she left the cage the first time before I could latch it.

Then the neighbor's dog came over and so I caught her and the boy came and got her fairly quickly.  Good deed for the day done.

I got to check the baby bunnies and she had six.  They look great.  I am very pleased.

So other than the storm things are going great.  It is 12 pm now and the power came back on.

destructive goats

So this morning I discovered the goats had completely dismantled their shelter.  Not entirely sure how they pulled it all down (not a single piece was upright).  But I had to reassemble it today for them.

While mowing the grass I ran over an egg one of the hens decided to lay in the middle of the yard

And when I put a second egg in with the white hen for her to hatch she got up and left to go dust bathe.

Ugh.

In other news I think my new female rabbit might actually kindle.  I put in the nest box with her.  I hope something on this farm reproduces.

Broodiness

So they white hen is in a brood faze, unfortunately I only had one egg available to put under her since she stopped laying.  The other chickens' combs are pink and not red so I think they are going through their molt and not laying as much.  The one egg I saw today had fallen from the nest box and was broken.  I wish I had been more aware and gathered more of the white hens eggs and didn't put them in the fridge so she could try and hatch them.  As it is I am not sure the one egg I have her is fertile.  I will try and collect more in the next few days to give her but I don't want to spread out their hatching time too much.

The chickens and turkeys have slacked off on eating the fallen mulberries but I am not sure if that is a blessing or a curse.  Their poop turns black because of the berries and it is everywhere.  I need to take the time to collect some berries and attempt making jelly.

So about them eggs

I think my problem with the lower number of eggs is I haven't been consistent with giving the chickens oyster shells to bolster their calcium intake.  This morning when I went to collect one it was so fragile it crumbled in my hand and the chickens gobbled up the remains.  The least I can say is at least they aren't actively destroying their own eggs.  So now the search is one for bulk oyster shells.

Also got the last of my garden planted and the trees set.  I did bungle one thing when planting the weeping willow.  I wanted outside my computer room window and when I went to dig the hole I picked the one 6 inch area that the invisible dog fence wire went through.  So I moved over several feet and planted the tree and then went about fixing the dog fence.

When I told Dad, he teased me that I didn't call dig-rite.

Odd egg

So I got an odd egg this morning.  Basically a runt.  I ate it.
Some pictures for size comparisons.

 The chickens seem to be slowing down in their egg production.  I was happy with 4 - 6 eggs a day but they are down to 3 -4 now.  Not sure why.  At least the white hen is consistent.  She always flaps here way out of the pen - goes to the bush in the front yard - and lays her egg almost everyday.  Then she comes back for me to pick her up and put her back with the others.  She amuses me and it isn't hurting anything to let her do her thing to be happy.

The garden had a visitor.  Lucky it didn't look like the turtle had done much damage.  Will see when the tomatoes start coming up.

The broccoli is prolific.  I hope it heads soon so I can harvest.

I got my nut trees in the mail and spent some time this afternoon planting them.  It started raining before I could finish so only half of them have chicken wire around them.

The mulberry are starting to come in.  My photography skills are lacking on the phone-camera but those green blobs are the fruit.

Pictures

Oh yeah. Forgot to post about the veteran award my dad got for the Lt. Governor of Missouri.  Mom nominated him but he really deserved it!  Congrats Dad!

And pictures of the new turkeys.

The garden is coming along.  I just planted the rest of the beds today but the colder weather stuff is coming up like the lettuce and spinach.

I didn't kill the grape vines!  (that is a leaf if you can't tell)

I have requests for eggs and chickens so I need to bite the bullet and order some more.  The big part is building a shelter for them that I can move easily.  The nice thing about the broilers is they don't need as much room so no need for more fencing like with the turkeys.

Shopping

Went shopping today and came home with a new female rabbit and five turkeys.  The new rabbit is a flemish giant x giant checker but she looks like a runt.  I am hoping she will produce some babies that can take her place.

The turkeys are all white, and ugly.  But that is the curse of being a turkey.  Maybe I can get a few eggs from the hens before thanksgiving and see about hatching some more.

I might trade Miss and Camo in on a new goat, I will have to talk to the guy about it.  I need a goat that will give me some milk and babies otherwise there is no point in having them.  (as amusing as they are)