Today is 12 July. Been a crazy summer so far. Time just seems to go by so fast and I haven’t gotten to write on here as much as I wanted to. Or I haven’t taken the time to do it. There is always something else to do and I put it off, or there are pictures I want that I don’t’ have. And then when I do get around to it, there is so much to write about I never know where to start. Do I start where I last wrote and try to catch up, or just start here and see what happens?
I realized a while back that none of my chickens have ever gotten broody, or at least not really into it where I couldn’t chase them off the nest. So I did some research and discovered that the 3 or 4 breeds I have are some of the least likely to ever go broody. Then I looked up which ones were. Bantams or Cochins are the best they say. Broody and good foster moms. So about 2 or 3 weeks ago we went to the auction and bid on 8 mottled cochin chicks. They looked like they were a week old or less. Paid just under $15 for the bunch. Then a few days later had some turkey eggs hatch.
Of course all this is a week or so after I moved the last of the brooders out to the trailer. We’d had chicks in the living room for several months by then. So starting over. Got them all moved outside yesterday into a little cage. Gives them room to roam, and protects them from other animals. I think.
Hadn’t had any problems with animals, but I’d been watching. Then one night something got into the peacock pen and killed the hen. Didn’t touch the male. A few nights later it got into one of my cages and killed all the babies. About 11 turkeys and 4 chickens. Ate two of them, and just killed the rest. So I put wire under the cage as well, and that is what the babies are in now. We decided we were going fishing one night when I got off work, so we drove up to the dam and stayed until about 3 am. When we got home I went to check on the birds and found the raccoon in the peacock cage. It had killed the male. I killed the raccoon, so no more problems with it, but both our peacocks are dead now, plus all the other birds. Hope to get more next spring, but obviously need to build a better enclosure first, one the coons can’t get into so easily.
We’ve done really well with the turkeys this year. After the old ones were killed by stray dogd this spring, we bought new babies. Ordered 10 Broad Breasted Bronze and 10 Narragansetts. We also decided to get a Broad Breasted White to check out and a new female goose to go with our drake. They gave us 1 extra of the BBB and Narragansetts, and we only lost 1 bird. Built a new mini-coop for them and put them in the garden. One of the reasons the garden was so late getting put in this year. Worked really well with them in garden and then putting them in little coop at night. And they did a good job on the garden, eating the pants and such. Didn’t bother my strawberries either. But moving them out was a problem because they kept wanting to fly back over into the garden.
Got out the pool and put it up. Had a few holes so we patched them. Filled it up and it popped a leak again. Must have filled it several times and it kept busting a hole along the bottom seam. Guess we have had it for many years. So took it down and got out Jeanne’s. IT had a few holes too, but got them patched and it’s been good ever since. And now that it 100 degrees outside and only cools down to 75 at night, swimming is nice in the evenings.
Nest Wednesday is my last day working at McDonalds. Then we are going to St. Louis for a couple of days. Then Jeanne and I take off to get Bella and John for a few weeks. We’ll meet Angela in Denver and bring them back with us. Plan to do some fishing, make some jam and jelly, maybe can some things from the garden. And there are a couple of fish hatcheries around here we’ll go check out and visit. Just do lots of things to help them learn about everything. Hope it’s not too hot to do things.
Riding lawn mower died yesterday. Broke the drive belt. Not sure if it jumped off or what, but it got jammed under the pulley and hung up, then the turning pulley on the motor smoked it in two. So I’m going to have to figure out how to get it off, it won’t come off easily. Then see if there was something else that made it hang up before I replace the belt. And while I have it apart, need to check on the steering and see why it only turns one direction. Just got though fixing the one for Jeanne’s mom.
