# KDailey's Journal



## KDailey (Dec 30, 2011)

1.    What state/province/country are you in and what is your climate like?
~East Texas, United States, Usually pretty hot and can be muggy sometimes. It's december 30th and just yesterday we were outside in short sleeved shirts. 

2.    How many people are in your family? Marital status?
~I live with my boyfriend, I'm 20 and he's 21

3.    How would you define your farm?
~In the works. Even though I have many animals it's really not very organized and there's a lot that needs be "fixed up"

4.    What would you do with your spare time if you had any resources you needed?
~Completely rebuild every fence on our 100 acres. Build entirely seperate barns for each species of animal I have. Actually start building our house. 

5.    Have you ever built a house, barn , or other types of building? Do you want to?
~I've only ever helped to build our little chicken shed and coop. We're planning on building our house.

6.    Can you weld? Steel, aluminum, MiG, TiG, stick, Oxy-Acet?
~Did a little in 9th grade Ag shop

7.    Who or what inspired you to be a farmer/rancher, hobby farmer?
~I love love love animals and the country way of life. I think I was born in the wrong century. I'd love it if we still rode horses everywhere and relied completely on our farms for food

8     Is it a hobby or an occupation?
~Hobby but I would love for it to be my full time job

9.    In what areas are you knowledgeable and in what areas would you like to learn more?
~I know a lot about horses and dogs, a good bit about chickens, and I showed lambs in FFA so I know a little about them. I'd like to be more knowledgeable about every farm animal there is and have one of everything at some time in my life, not necessarily all at the same time. 

10.  In what types of farming will you never choose to do?
~I can't really think of anything...

11.   Are you interested in providing more of your own food supply?
~Yes! I'd love to start a garden and raise animals for meat

12.   Where do you end up when you sink into yourself, away from the outside world?
~Pretty much somewhere doing something with animals

13.   Can you drive a farm tractor or a semi?
~nope

14.   Do you make crafts or useful items? Would you want to teach others how to do these?
~I can if I have the time to get creative

15.   Can you legally have all forms of livestock where you are at? Do you have any? What kinds?
~We have 7 horses, 1 donkey, 3 dogs, 2 cats, 7 rabbits, around 50 chickens and 6 ducks (2 are calls)

16.   Can you operate a lathe? Metal, wood?
~nope

17.   Do you like to garden? If so, what do you enjoy growing?
~I don't but I would like to
18.   Do you fish? Bait or explosives?
~occasionally, bait

19.   How much space/land do you have or rent? City farm? Country?
~113 acres. It's my boyfriend's parent's land

20.   Are you a Novice, Technician, degreed?
~Just me

21.   What is your farm specialty? Or what one would you like to learn?
~We don't really have a specialty yet since we aren't very organized but I have a few things I would like to do. I'd like to raise Pygmy Goats and Nigerian Dwarf Goats, Bantam Cochins and Old English Game Bantams, and Dutch rabbits. 

22.   If you could create a degree and curriculum, what would you major in and what classes would you take?
~A degree in how to run a farm as in how to run a tractor, how to build a chicken shed, etc. Not the finacial aspect.

23.   Do you do wood work? framing, finish, cabinet?
~My boyfriend runs a portable sawmill and builds things out of pine and red cedar

24.   Are you interested in herbal animal medicine?
~Not against it, not necessarily gung-ho either

25.   If you could live any place you chose, where would it be?
~Right where I'm at, just more land

26.    Do you use a wood stove for heating or cooking?
~No but I think it would be nice

27.    What would your ideal super hero/villain be?
~Someone that knew everything there ever is to know about animals and farming

28.    Are your family or friends also interested in animals?
~Ehh. They like animals but definately not like I do. My neighbor is really into chickens

29.    Do you like to cook? Are you interested in whole foods and natural foods? raw milk? farm fresh eggs?
~I like to cook. I just don't like the clean up afterwards. I think it would be awesome to have farm fresh milk and I already get fresh eggs

30.   What was your best animal experience? Worst?
~There are so many good that I couldn't even begin to tell you. Worst experiance was when I was thrown from a family friend's horse when I was like 10.

31.    Do you forage or hunt for part of your food needs?
~My boyfriend and his dad do a lot of hog hunting, I'd like to be more into deer hunting. We have wild raspberries growing in the pasture that we like to pick 

32.    What skills do you have that help you be more a self sufficient farm?
~Ryan (my boyfriend) runs a portable sawmill and he saws all our lumber from logs. We never have to buy lumber.

33.    Do you process your own meat? Can or preserve?
~I haven't ever processed my own but Ryan and his dad do sometimes

34.   Do you use alternative energy sources on your farm? Would you like to?
~none

35    What is on your to do list?
~Way too much to list

36.   Have you ever lived completely off what you produce? Would you like to?
~That would be a dream come true!

37.   In what do you trust?
~God and Ryan

38.  Do you make and fix things yourself to save money?
~Ryan is the handy-man king!

39.  Has the experience with animals changed your attitude or habits?
~I have always been an animal lover and sometimes I let that part of me take over and I wind up bringing in all kinds of strays and any free animal. This tends to get me in trouble with Ryan.


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## Sunny & the 5 egg layers (Dec 30, 2011)

Glad to see that you started a journal!


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## KDailey (Dec 30, 2011)

Thanks! I'll get around to an actually entry later when I have more time


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## KDailey (Jan 3, 2012)

Ok to start off I'll list our animals:

3 dogs
-Toby: 2 yo beagle/dachshund/jack Russell male. Smart as a whip and very adventurous. 
-Gunner: 3 yo catahoula/lab. If you've seen the movie Marmaduke then that's just like Gunner
-Nuggett: 10 mo CKC longhaired Chihuahua male. Teeny tiny and a total mess. He lives everybody and has a huge attitude. 

2 kittens, black and white. Approx. 5 mo  had to bottle feed them when their mom, a stray, abandoned them. Don't really have names cuz nothing has really stuck except little nicknames
-Stinker/Kitten/Fattie: this cat is a mess! Talk about cuddly. I've never seen cats that were as cuddly as these two but this one is all over me!
-Sweetie/Sister: this one likes to cuddle too but is more subtle about it. While the first kitten is in your face trying to get your attention, this one is more likely to just sit in your lap and go to sleep. 

7 horses
-Smack: 16 yo bay quarter horse gelding, been there done that, best horse in the world. He has severe arthritis in his knees and we're afraid we won't have him much longer. 
-Dusty: 19 yo bay QH gelding, firecracker, can go all day, experienced riders only
-Snow: 13 yo bay roam app broodmare 
-Gretchen: 3.5 yo red roam blanket app filly in training using Clinton Anderson's Downunder Horsemanship Method. Amazing bloodlines and my everything. I wouldn't give her up for anything. 
-Ruby: bay grade mare, for sale or will give away to good home
-Slick: 7 mo chestnut colt, Ruby's son
-Hollywood: 3 yo red overo paint gelding, in training with Gretchen

1 yearling donkey, Willy

7 rabbits
-2 harlequin Dutch bucks
-1 harlequin Dutch doe
-1 black/white Dutch doe (supposedly bred)
-1 grey harlequin doe
-1 white doe w/ black spots
-1 ? White doe with tan ears and tan eyeliner

Chickens
-2 BTW Japanese
-2 BTBuff Japanese
-lots bantam Cochins 
-lots old English game bantams
-2 blue silkie hens
-1 white silkie hen
-1 white silkie rooster
-1 partridge silkie rooster
-1 partridge showgirl hen
-1 buff Orpington hen
-1 buff Brahms pullet
-1 RIR/Jersey giant pullet (one eye)
-1 WCB polish Hen
-lots chicks (Cochin, OEGB)

Ducks
-2 harlequin (?)
-1 blue Swedish hen
-1 chocolate runner hen
-1 white call hen
-1 snowy call drake






Gretchen





Hollywood





Snow & Gretchen





Slick @ 2 weeks old





Ruby when we first got her









Nuggett @ 8 weeks





Gunner









Toby


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## KDailey (Jan 3, 2012)

Ok here's my first official entry!

Yesterday we took in a 5 day old heifer calf that was having trouble nursing. The cows udder was so big and low to the ground that the poor calf was having trouble getting to the teats. She was just sucking on the side of it. 

The cow belongs to Ryan's PawPaw and they've had to bottle feed calves before but he's gettin on in age and didn't want to mess with the calf so we took her in. So far she's not pickin up on the whole bottle feeding thing. We've tried 3 times so far and we're not having much luck. I'm hoping she's gonna get hungry and it'll click and then be off to the races. 

Her name is Tootsie


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## 77Herford (Jan 3, 2012)

You have some great looking horses.  I don't have any App's but I know a guy who breeds and shows them often and they are beautiful.  Well he is more of an aquaintance.  Looks like a nice place to raise a family and have some livestock.


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## Mamaboid (Jan 3, 2012)

Beautiful horses.  Wish I lived closer to you, I would love to give her a good home.  I had 7 horses at one time, but had to get rid of them when my husband passed away at age 42.  They were Quarters and Morgans and 1 Tenn. Walker/Mustang.  She was my baby.  My present dh and I now have room for lots of animals, but at age 61 I think I am just too old to start over with horses.  I will stick to my goats, and admire yours from afar.  Thanks for sharing.


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## KDailey (Jan 3, 2012)

Well Ryan fed Tootsie today around 11:00. He only took half a bottle so we wouldn't be wasting it if she still wouldn't drink it. He said she drank almost all of it but it took about an hour. 

When I got home from work at around 4:00 we took her another half bottle. She drank almost all of in about 30 minutes and she did more of the sucking on her own without us squeezing it into her mouth and rubbing her throat to get her to swallow. I'm hoping that in the next couple days she'll figure it out completely and we can gradually get her eating a full bottle twice a day like the instructions on the bag say. 

Also, it's been almost a month since I bought the black/white Dutch doe that was supposed to be bred. Still no babies but only time will tell. They could have bred her right before bringing her to the auction.


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## redtailgal (Jan 3, 2012)

Have you considered starting her on a bucket?  I've had a few calves that never took well to a bottle but started right up on a bucket. (bucket calves seem to start eating grain a little easier too).

She is a pretty little thing.  I just love how perfect a young ones feet are.  I know, I am strange.  Its fun though!


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## KDailey (Jan 3, 2012)

We haven't tried a bucket yet. We'll try it if she doesn't pick up on the bottle soon. 

I know exactly what you mean about their perfect little feet!


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## KDailey (Jan 4, 2012)

We're makin progress with Tootsie! This morning we took half a bottle of milk (1 quart) and she drank every drop in about 5 minutes with no fuss at all! I'm one proud mama!


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## Annamarierw (Jan 4, 2012)

KDailey said:
			
		

> We're makin progress with Tootsie! This morning we took half a bottle of milk (1 quart) and she drank every drop in about 5 minutes with no fuss at all! I'm one proud mama!


Woo Hoo!! :bun Glad Tootsie is doing better!


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## Ms. Research (Jan 5, 2012)

It's been a pleasure reading your journal.  Awesome animals.

Good Luck with Tootsie.  Look forward to continuing reading about your little farm.

K


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## elevan (Jan 5, 2012)

When we brought home our calves (only one survived) the vet had me give them a shot of Bo-Se to boost their immune systems and a shot of Vitamin B to boost their appetites.  Just a thought.


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## KDailey (Jan 6, 2012)

Vitamin e huh? She definitely doesn't have much of an appetite so I'll have to see about that. 

Even though Tootsie is drinking the bottle she's not happy about it and most of the time she puts up a fight. But at least she's getting some and she's starting to fill out. She's still bony and I can still almost get my hand around her backbone but it's not as bad. I'd say we're makin progress.


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## KDailey (Jan 6, 2012)

I completely forgot to tell y'all I have 40 bantam Cochin eggs in the incubator that I bought from LuckyPickens over on BYC. She has gorgeous birds so I'm really excited to see what I get. 

They're hatching today and so far we have 7/40 pipped! I'll be at work till 5:00 so hopefully when I get home I'll have lots of little babies


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## KDailey (Jan 6, 2012)

3/40 hatched


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## Annamarierw (Jan 6, 2012)

cant wait to see pics of the little guys! 
3 down 37 to go


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## KDailey (Jan 7, 2012)

It looked like it might rain last night so Ryan built Tootsie her own "real" pen under the shed. We had moved some chickens out of the coop/run and into another pen so that tootsie could have the run but it wasn't covered. 

As of last night right before bed we had 4 chicks hatched  anybody wanna guess how many will have hatched when I get outta bed and go look?


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## Annamarierw (Jan 7, 2012)

KDailey said:
			
		

> It looked like it might rain last night so Ryan built Tootsie her own "real" pen under the shed. We had moved some chickens out of the coop/run and into another pen so that tootsie could have the run but it wasn't covered.
> 
> As of last night right before bed we had 4 chicks hatched  anybody wanna guess how many will have hatched when I get outta bed and go look?


my guess it 11


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## Roll farms (Jan 7, 2012)

Tootsie is beautiful.


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## KDailey (Jan 8, 2012)

Ok there were 10 total hatched and two were workin ok it. 

One had zipped and the other had made a good sized hole but hadn't zipped yet. I waited and waited and finally decided to check the one that had zipped. Apparently it zipped in the middle of the night and then quit. It was dead. After waiting s little longer on the other chick, I could see its little beak still moving in the whole, I decided to assist it before it died. The assist went great but the little guy wouldn't un-curl. It died a few hours ago. It was a gorgeous little lavender. The other was silver laced. 

Later on in the day I looked in the incubator at all the chicks and for some reason one of the silver laced that hatched out in the beginning had died. I have no idea why. It had been running around fine earlier. 

I noticed there was another chick zipped, a silver laced, but when it hatched it's insides we're on the outside and it died shortly after hatching. 

So I have 8 living, thriving chicks. Kinda disappointing after I got such a good hatch rate last time I bought eggs from this person but I'm still happy with them. 

Also, this morning we decided to try giving Tootsie a full bottle and see how she did. We've been giving her just a half bottle because she wouldn't finish it and fought us the whole time and we didn't want to waste it. We ran out of the first milk replacer mix and had to start on the other stuff. We took her a full bottle and after a second of it in her mouth she went to town! Sucked the whole thing dry and started head butting Ryan lookin for more! I couldn't believe it. It was like she was a completely different calf! Apparant the problem wasn't that Tootsie didn't want to eat or didn't know how to drink out of the bottle, she just thought that other stuff tasted gross! Lol XD

She drank TWO FULL bottles today and I have no doubt now that she'll probably make it :-D


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## KDailey (Jan 8, 2012)

Roll farms said:
			
		

> Tootsie is beautiful.


Than you! She's a real sweetheart


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## KDailey (Jan 9, 2012)

Well down to 7 chicks now :-( 

Tootsie drank THREE FULL bottles yesterday! I'm so happy that we figured her out and that she's eating good now. I'd have been devestated if she didn't make it because I didn't take care of her correctly due to lack of knowledge. 

We had someone contact us last night wanting to take Ruby! I'm so happy. She has a stifle problem tht makes her back legs lock up on her if she stands still too long. Once she's moving she's fine but she's not much good for anything and I can't afford to feed a horse we can't use. It also makes it hard to rehome her because no one else wants a useless horse either. 

They know all about her leg issues and still want her. They're coming to pick her up tomorrow or Wednesday


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## KDailey (Jan 10, 2012)

Well the people came and got Ruby yesterday. They brought a two-horse straight load to pick up a horse that has rarely been loaded at all much less in a small dark box. 

That's to my Dad who taught me everything I know about horses we got her in the trailer in less than 10 minutes. I'm so happy she's getting a good home and I don't have to feed her. Lol. 

We got a mess load of rain yesterday. The pasture is flooded, the creek is overflowing 10 feet and more in some places. Pretty much means there's not much we can do today on my day off. 

We're about to go feed Tootsie and the rest of the "zoo" as my family calls it.


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## 77Herford (Jan 10, 2012)

I heard about all that rain, crazy.  You get a 2 year drought and then 2 years worth os rain in one day.   

We are having a winter drought of sorts and I'm getting worried about this coming springs rain fall.


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## KDailey (Jan 15, 2012)

If we had gotten all this rain spread out over the summer and fall we woulda been in good shape. 

A few hours ago I put in a order with Ideal Poultry for 110 chicks. 50 buff Orpington pullets, 5 buff Orpington males, 50 rhode island red pullets, 5 rhode island red males. 

The plan is to raise them up till just about time for them to start laying and then sell them, keeping the best for ourselves to continue the project. Ryan is quite happy with the arrangement as he's not a big fan of my bantam Cochins and old English game bantams. Lol. 

They're not due to arrive until Friday of next week so I'll update pictures of them when they get here and keep uploading pics as the grow.


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## autumnprairie (Jan 15, 2012)

KDailey said:
			
		

> If we had gotten all this rain spread out over the summer and fall we woulda been in good shape.
> 
> A few hours ago I put in a order with Ideal Poultry for 110 chicks. 50 buff Orpington pullets, 5 buff Orpington males, 50 rhode island red pullets, 5 rhode island red males.
> 
> ...


I love my orpingtons, I am looking for different colors this year. I have buff but I want to get all 4 colors black, blue, white, buff then work with all the different colors.


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## KDailey (Jan 15, 2012)

I'd like to have all different colors of buff orpingtons but I can't find them anywhere. Or what I do find is really super expensive and are from out of state so they'd have to be shipped. 

I already have one buff orp hen and I love her to bits


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## autumnprairie (Jan 15, 2012)

KDailey said:
			
		

> I'd like to have all different colors of buff orpingtons but I can't find them anywhere. Or what I do find is really super expensive and are from out of state so they'd have to be shipped.
> 
> I already have one buff orp hen and I love her to bits


Here check this thread out 
http://www.backyardchickens.com/t/620164/black-and-blue-orpingtons


this hatchery sells white and buff

http://www.mcmurrayhatchery.com/white_orpingtons.html

How far east are you in Texas? Are you close to Arkansas? I have a friend that has some lavenders and I want to see if she will sell me some. You might be interested in getting some too.
I travel all over the state for goats why not chickens too.


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## KDailey (Jan 16, 2012)

I'm pretty much as far east as you can get, not far from the Louisiana border.


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## autumnprairie (Jan 16, 2012)

KDailey said:
			
		

> I'm pretty much as far east as you can get, not far from the Louisiana border.


East and South, I am 6 hours from you, if my friend has different colors she used to have blue and lavender, would you be willing to meet me half way?


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## KDailey (Jan 16, 2012)

Willing? Yes. Able? Would depend on when this took place as we're on a tight budget


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## autumnprairie (Jan 16, 2012)

KDailey said:
			
		

> Willing? Yes. Able? Would depend on when this took place as we're on a tight budget


ok I have been talking to this other women too she also has lavenders and hers are 8.00 a piece. min of ten she also just picked up a pair of whites she is willing to seel them too when they start laying. I don't know how much the whites will be. you could have them mailed to you.


This is the email I received from her and I will get the rest of the info if you are interested. My friend does have lavendar and they are 8-10 for 4 week olds that are already sexed.


My Lavendar orp chicks are $8 each, minimum of ten if I have to ship them so they stay warm, $15 for a box & heat pack, and then whatever the shipping is to you.


I like to have a deposit of half of the chick cost about 4 weeks ahead of time, and then, the balance the day of hatch. That way, if I can't send you chicks, I will refund you the deposit and it won't be such a large sum. If the buyer backs out, the deposit is forfeited, and its not so much either.



If you decide you want chicks, and I have enough white chicks to sell, I could do that, or do you already have white?



Either way, let me know...


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## KDailey (Jan 18, 2012)

So there really hasn't been much goin on around here lately. Tootsie is eating up a storm and is putting on lots of weight. She was so skinny before but is doing great now. She's even learning to walk on a halter. 

Ideal Poultry called this morning and asked if they could ship out my chicks today instead of next week. So it looks like I'll be preparing for 110 chicks to arrive Friday. Woohoo!

We're going to a chicken sale in Louisiana Friday evening to sell a few chickens and a pair of call ducks. Hopefully I'll get a little spare cash to go toward my crazy chick adventure.


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## Roll farms (Jan 18, 2012)

I can't even think about chicks for a while yet....tooo cooooold.

But I'm getting 100 black australorp pullets as soon as it's warm enough.  I'm tired of my buff orps, we change breeds every few years.


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## KDailey (Jan 18, 2012)

I'm more of a bantam Cochin kinda person as well as bantam old English but there's just no market for those around here. Now laying hens on the other hand bring a pretty penny. I'm keeping my Cochins and OEGBs along with a few select favorites. This will be my first attemp at raising a large quantity of something for the sole purpose of re-selling them for a profit (hopefully). I've been crunching numbers and as long as I don't lose a bunch of chicks or have somethin crazy happen I should make a good profit. Enough to pay for their upkeep plus my pet chickens for a while. 

Depending on how well this goes I might save the money I make from them and put it towards doing the same thing for next spring.


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## Roll farms (Jan 18, 2012)

I used to hatch / raise 20+ different breeds.   Our 'specialty' were blue Orpingtons...I once sold 6 eggs for $120 on eggbid.

I love the bantam cochins (and standards) and the d'Uccles and my DH was wild about his seramas.  I had Japanese, Longtails, silkies, just a huge variety of all the things *I* thought were pretty / would sell well.  We also had several varieties of pheasants, guins, peacocks in different colors, turkeys in about all types....

Then A) Bird Flu and B) Farm Stores opened up by us and C) Ethanol all three happened and I lost my local customers to the farm stores, the USPS started charging double to ship b/c of Bird Flu (and required special boxes for while that cost $$$), and local feed prices went up 66% due to everyone selling their corn to ethanol plants instead of the feed mills.

Soooo...now I have just a few silkies for pleasure, one pair of cochins for yard art, 15 or so guineas, and a bunch of boring old layers because that's what most of my remaining customers want.  Oh, and my royal palm turkeys...I just got another trio of those.  I keep selling them b/c they're not 'practical' but I do adore them.

Seriously, at one time we probably had 300 adult breeding birds....t'was awesome.

*sigh*


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## 77Herford (Jan 18, 2012)

Yeah, Corn prices have really gone up. Since the Ethanol boom in the midwest.  I use to feed chipped corn and chicken feed but had to cut back to just feed pellets.

Banty Cochins are a nice size.  I like the Buff Brahma banties, they are often very sweet and good mums.


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## KDailey (Jan 19, 2012)

The little fluffy butts are here! A day early I might add so we were not prepared for them. We were planning on getting everything situated for them today because everytime I have ordered from Ideal they have always arrived on Friday. Not this time! 

So I hauled my butt out of bed at 7:00 am and drove 20 minutes to pick them up and 20 minutes to get home, then checked everybody out and counted them. We had one extra rhode island red female but 2 cross beaks and 1 with what i think are some of her intestines on the outside. The "retards" as I lovingly call them, get to stay inside in the storage bin that I'm keeping my precious cochin chicks that I hatched out from LuckyPickens while the rest go in the enclosed coop with a bunch of sawdust and heat lamps. There's just way too many to even consider keeping in the house. The coop is insulated and we're putting up several heat lamps so it should be nice and toasty for the little rugrats. 

There are 50 buff orpington pullets, 5 buff orpington males, 51 rhode island red pullets, 5 buff orpington males. The males have purple spots on their heads.


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## KDailey (Jan 19, 2012)

Roll farms said:
			
		

> I used to hatch / raise 20+ different breeds.   Our 'specialty' were blue Orpingtons...I once sold 6 eggs for $120 on eggbid.
> 
> I love the bantam cochins (and standards) and the d'Uccles and my DH was wild about his seramas.  I had Japanese, Longtails, silkies, just a huge variety of all the things *I* thought were pretty / would sell well.  We also had several varieties of pheasants, guins, peacocks in different colors, turkeys in about all types....
> 
> ...


It sounds like you've got the life! I would love to just raise what I personally like the best but with us being such as small farm and really not having the connections to sell specialized breeds, if I want to try and start a small business I've got to go with what sells. I actually do like buff orpingtons and rhode island reds but I've just got other breeds that I prefer. 

I would give absolutely ANYTHING to be able to have all different kinds of chickens and turkeys and peacocks as well as cattle, sheep, goats, etc but I really have to keep everything on a small scale for the time being. Hopefully I can get some good customers for my birds and they'll spread the word and we can go from there. 

Ryan's dad has a small portable sawmill that Ryan saws pine logs on and his dad just recently asked Ryan if he wanted to buy the sawmill from him. In a form of payment, he would saw 1000 feet of board for 15 weeks and then the sawmill will be his. On a good day Ryan can saw just about 1000 feet a day so it would be very easy to saw for his dad as well as himself. Ryan already has a few good customers that bring cedar logs for him to saw and they are very happy with his work so we're hoping that they'll spread the word and maybe Ryan can make a business of custom sawing logs and selling pine lumber. Then when possible, hopefully I could make a business out of my farm.


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## jodief100 (Jan 19, 2012)

I just love little baby chicks.  There is something about opening that box and seeing all the babies in there.  I always pick mine up since Mt Healthy hatchery is 45 minutes away.  I am thinking of ordering some different breeds this year.  

Good luck on your new business venture.  You have a plan, that is a good start.


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## KDailey (Jan 19, 2012)

Well we use Ideal Poultry becuase it's the closest to us and it's the simplest to use so far. They're only 3 hours from us so we get the chicks really quickly through the mail. It's just a little too far to warrant a drive when Ideal doesn't actually charge for the shipping. They just do these 1/4 box charges and small order charges. 

I only had $4.00 worth of small box charges for this order and the postage on the shipping box showed that it cost over $9.00 to ship so I got a good deal on shipping this go round. Other hatcheries, like Cackle for instance, is way too complicated when it comes to figuring out the shipping. I ordered a catalog from them to see if they were cheaper than Ideal. The prices were cheaper but when I looked at their shipping chart it was wayyy too complicated and when I did figure it out it was gonna be crazy and it would definately be cheaper to go with Ideal as long as I didn't get a bunch of different varieties in quantities under 25 chicks. Plus they're only 3 hours away so the chicks have very little mail time and are generally healthier.


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## 77Herford (Jan 20, 2012)




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## KDailey (Jan 23, 2012)

Well my journal is turning out to be quite boring. Lol. We don't have much exciting goin on around here  

We went to the chicken sale Friday night and slot a bunch of roosters that a neighbor gave us as well as a pair of call ducks, two pair of Japanese bantams, a silkie rooster and a buff brahma pullet.

The call ducks sold for $42 and the rest sold for a few dollars each. I couldn't believe how high some stuff was selling for. Little old English game bantams that were at $2 each a few months ago were going for over $10. I only bought a three-hole nest box for $20, two carry cages for chickens/rabbits for $7 each, one young mini Rex buck for $6, 50+ quail eggs for $2, and four quail for $8. 

The quail are laying which is great. There are two pharaoh and two Texas A&M. I plan on putting all the quail eggs I bought into the incubator tonight and hopefully we'll have a bunch of quail in 17 days. I've never raised quail before so I'm hoping I don't do anything wrong. Lol. They're actually very pretty. 

Ryan's grandma told him the other day that they have another calf that's not sucking good and asked if we wanted it. Ryan said no! When he told me later I said yes we do too want it and that he needs to go right back over there and get it. Lolwe'll probably go see if they still have it sometime this week. Hopefully today or tomorrow so we can get the poor thing eating. 

I've got a weird work schedule this week. I'm working today then I'm off Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday. Then work Friday and three hours Saturday. I'm getting my 20 hours so I'm not complaining about three days off in a row. It's just strange. 

Oh, Ryan did sorta re-vamp the rabbit hutch. Really all he did was take it off of the sawhorses and make it a stand next to the calf's little stall but it's a lot better because water doesn't sit in front of it and it doesn't turn into a muddy mess. 

I'm thinkin about selling all my old English game bantams except for two favorites that I couldn't part with. I'll probably never sell my bantam Cochins but I'm startin to think I'm not THAT fond of the old English, at least not as much as I was. I figure I can always buy more later since its not like they're anything special. They're really common colors and there are always plenty of them at the chicken sale. 

I'm afraid it might be getting closer to that time when we'll have to finally put my old horse to sleep. I grew up with the old guy and he helped me learn everything I know about horses. he's only 16 but he's had a hard life and has really really bad arthritis in his knees and be an barely get around. He's been a team roper, team sorting horse, barrel racer, all around playday horse, trail riding, jumping, and just about anything else you can imagine and it's definately strained him. As much as I hate to think about it, I think the best thing for him is going to be sending over the rainbow bridge...


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## SmallFarmGirl (Jan 23, 2012)

KDailey said:
			
		

> Well my journal is turning out to be quite boring. Lol. We don't have much exciting goin on around here


Don't worry about boring!! I said the same thing .... Something to read is NEVER boring!!! I love reading journals!!


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## KDailey (Jan 23, 2012)

Lol. I like reading the journals too. I just wish I was doing the farming thing full time instead of working all the time. Ther might actually be more action.


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## autumnprairie (Jan 23, 2012)

I to love reading journals


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## KDailey (Jan 28, 2012)

Well..... here we go

A couple days ago I went out to feed everybody and while I'm feeding Tootsie (calf) I look over at the rabbit hutch and see one of the rabbits laying very un-naturally while the others are running around trying to get my attention (they're very very friendly). When Tootsie is done with her bottle I walk around to the front of the hutch and there's my new mini rex buck torn to shreds... I thought maybe the other rabbits had done it but they had been getting along fine from the get go and he'd been in there several days. Plus these rabbits have never had a problem adding another bunny to the group. Then I look down and what do I see? Raccoon tracks.... I look back up at the hutch and notice that the square piece of hardware cloth that covers the hole where a feeder would normally go has been pulled halfway down. So it looks like a raccoon is the culprit. 

Then my mind flashes to the ducks who are kept on the pond. We lost one the day before and have no idea what happened to it. There weren't any tracks, no body, no feathers, absolutely no sign as to what happened to it. Which is exactly what happened to the last three ducks I lost, no sign. So I look over to where the ducks usually are in the mornings and no ducks. There should be three and there are zero. So I go look on both ponds and still no ducks. They're no where to be found. So I'm thinkin, "Great. What could possibly happen to three ducks all at once?" I understand one going missing here and there but all three and no sign of what happened? 

So I go about my feeding while Ryan sets a trap for the raccoon using the dead rabbit. I'm feeding the horses and all of a sudden, here come the ducks. I have no idea where they came from or where they were hiding but I'm sure glad they're ok. Hopefully we'll catch the raccoon and whatever else is lurking around and not have this problem anymore. 

On a happier note, my buff orpington and rhode island red chicks are doing really well. I'm please with how well the setup is working. We really didn't have a brooder big enough for over 100 chicks so we used the 8' x 4' coop with heat lamps and sawdust. I usually use pine shavings for my chicks but we didn't have any on hand and as you know if you've been keeping up with my journal the chicks arrived a day early and we weren't prepared. So pine sawdust from the sawmill Ryan runs is what we used, and I'll tell you what, I'll probably never use shavings again. The chicks can scratch in the sawdust just like it was dirt and it doesn't fling everywhere and get in the feeders and waterers like the shavings do. I can turn the sawdust and mix the droppings and have a new layer of clean sawdust instead of the droppings just falling all through the shavings and all of it being soiled. Also, if the waterer spills or they knock it over I can just remove the wet sawdust like you would kitty litter instead of the water spreading through all the shavings and having to dump all of it. And there is always the added plus of the sawdust is free since its produced when Ryan saws pine logs. lol. 

We've only had a few chicks die out of 110 and they're going on two weeks old I believe. I went ahead and put my precious cochins chicks in with all these guys and they are absolutely thriving! I haven't lost a single one which makes me soooo happy as I really really wanted these guys to make it. And on top of that I think out of the 7, I may only have 1 rooster, maybe two which is fine with me! lol

An even happier note? We got more hay! Woohoo! We were down to our last 3 square bales and they aren't that great of quality either. We had to feed more than we should have and it really wasn't doing much for the horses other than just keeping them alive. They've all dropped a lot of weight so I'm sooo excited that we found this guy. It's great quality hay, huge bales (I can barely get them off the ground), and at $9 a bale it's the best deal we've found. We gave a whole bale to every two horses and it took them almost 2 days to finish it. And it's not becuase they just didn't want to eat it. They would chow down for a while and then just go lay down or stand in the sun and then they'd go back and do the same thing all over again. They should get nice and fat and happy now. 

We went to get the hay with the man that keeps a bunch of tennessee walking horses on our back pasture. He hauled it all on his trailer and then we moved ours to our truck at his house. They have a bunch of horses, dogs, chickens, guineas, etc. They had a mama dog (dachshund) show up at their house a few weeks ago and she had 4 little bitty puppies with her. Well they've gotten bigger now and two of them are off to their new homes. Don't get me wrong, these people are really nice and would never let an animal go hungry, but these puppies have extremely short hair and it's been really cold out. I picked up one of the little guys and his feet and ears were like ice! But they won't bring them in the house. I just couldn't let him freeze like that. The other puppy seemed to be ok but this one was having a hard time, he was smaller than the others, so I brought him home. I really didnt need another dog, we have three, but he was so sweet and freezing cold, I just had to do it. I'm very impulsive sometimes. I named him Buster but this morning Ryan called him Mr. Weenie (Open Season the movie) and it just stuck. So he's now Mr. Weenie. I'll try to get a picture when I can but no promises. 

Last night I started working at a restaurant here in town as a waitress because I need a little more cash on hand between paychecks. O...M....G..... I have never worked in a restaurant that was soo un-organized and just outright rediculous! I was supposed to be training? There was no training to it. On top of that they fired the two waitresses that were supposed to be working there last night and just had me and another new girl. Neither one of us knew a single thing about how they do things. I've waitressed a lot in the last 5 years and I know what I'm doing and I'm good at it. But they were so un-organized that I didn't know which way was up! There's too much to go into detail but I highly doubt I'll continue working there unless things change. I'll give it a few days but I can't work somewhere like that. I'm planning on talking to the man that owns the other restaurant in town and see if he'll hire me. His place was actually my first choice but this other restaurant was already hiring and i'm not sure if this man is or not. I'm crossing my fingers.

I'm supposed to be getting my income tax refund this coming week and I've got sooo much that I need to do with it. Gotta get the oil leak on my truck fixed, pay for the hay, and then maybe build some more chicken pens or something with the rest. Who knows. I can't decide. lol

So we actually had a little excitement this week.


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## KDailey (Feb 3, 2012)

So I'm pretty much runnin on empty. Income tax refund was supposed to be here today and it's not and I have $0.22 to my name. :/ I've got to go get the rest of the hay for the horses ASAP before we run out, plus I need gas to get back and forth to work, and we still need to do our grocery shopping. I bought all the animal feed first thing when I got my paycheck so they wouldn't starve, so that means us people are going hungry until my refund comes in. Grrrr....the government is frustrating...

Well you remember I got the new puppy from a man we know? His name is Mr. Weenie and after a few days we decided to go back and get his brother for Ryan. His name is now Bubba and they are quite the team.  They'll keep you entertained for hours on end. 

Bubba is the one on the backside and Mr. Weenie is the one in front. 






I started crocheting a lap blanket for myself. Just a plain jane blue/brown striped blanket. Those are my favorite colors together. I only started it yesterday and I'm not quite half way through with it. I worked on it probably 7-8 hours yesterday throughout the day. I gotta say, for bein my first blanket that I'm actually finishing, I think it's coming out really nice and boy is it soft! I've started little lap blankets before and always quit before I got 1/4 of the way through it. 






Ryan and his dad cleared off an old fence that was so grown up with bushes and weeds and vines and little trees that you couldn't even see the fence anymore. Now that I've got my horses in it and they're eating part of the brush and the rest is dying since it's winter, we're finding holes in the fence. Pretty much the fence wouldn't've been standing if the brush hadn't been holding it up. I thought Ryan was just pulling the t-posts out of it to save them for the new fence but I hear a bunch of racket from an engine and go look outside and him and his dad have completely bulldozed the entire fence line, trees/brush/fence and all. I'll get a picture when I get off work and try to post it tomorrow. It's gonna be nice. 

I just thought I'd throw this pic in of Ryan and our colt, Slick. He'll be  a year old in May. 





More pics and videos coming in a moment as soon as they finish uploading to photobucket.


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## KDailey (Feb 3, 2012)

Ok here's the video and pictures I promised

This is the video of both puppies and my longhaired chihuahua Nuggett all playing tug-o-war with the same toy at the same time..... goofy dogs...  click it to make it play




The donkey, Willy. He's almost a year and a half old






And Tootsie, This isn't all that recent but I think it's a cute picture of her


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## autumnprairie (Feb 3, 2012)

Tootsie is so sweet she makes my heart melt


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## KDailey (Feb 9, 2012)

We're trying to get Tootsie to drink her milk out of a bucket so we can try to get her started eating calf starter pellets pretty quick. She needs something to munch on in between bottles. 

Ryan is going with his dad on a job in Peru, Illinois. They're leaving at 3am on February 14th and will be gone for 9 days straight. So no Valentines day together this year.  but the job is paying $18/hour so that's good. He's been half-heartedly looking for a job for the last year and a half and we really need more money than my part time job brings in. There's a job in a town nearby that's paying around $15/hour and I'm taking him over there to put in an application later today probably if he doesn't do it himself before I get off work. The goal is to eventually get in a position where I don't have to work and can stay home a cook/clean and take care of the animals the way I want it done.


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## KDailey (Feb 10, 2012)

It's a miracle!! 

I put 30 eggs from show quality birds in the incubator 3 weeks ago. About a week into it our power went out in the middle of the night and the incubator went completely cold, we don't know how long it was off. I got up to go to the restroom around 5:00am and realized it was off. There was nothing we could do except wait for it to come back on. It came back on around 6:00am. That's a whole hour that they were off and who knows when the power actually went off. 

I went ahead and left the eggs in the incubator just in case, I mean you never know. Well as of this morning before I came to work, we have 4 hatched and 3 more zipped, 2 pipped. That's 9/30 so far and I wasn't even expecting a single one to hatch! Woohoo!!


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## jodief100 (Feb 10, 2012)

Hatching eggs!!!!!!


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## Roll farms (Feb 10, 2012)

We used to suffer from frequent power outtages, back before we got smart / got a generator.

If they were going to be long ones, DH used to pack up me, my computer, and my incubator...and take me to my mamas.

That probably sounds pretty easy, but this is a big Sportsman incubator I'm referring to....poor thing liked to kill himself loading / unloading it...but we'd have $$$ eggs in it every single time it happened.


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## autumnprairie (Feb 10, 2012)

I had 6/9 hatch from the power outage I have a friend let me hatch some out. Now I want my own incubator


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## 77Herford (Feb 10, 2012)

Incubators are fun.  I have one that fits around a dozen eggs.


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## autumnprairie (Feb 10, 2012)

77Herford said:
			
		

> Incubators are fun.  I have one that fits around a dozen eggs.


store bought or homemade?


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## KDailey (Feb 11, 2012)

Well the final count is 10 hatched but one little Japanese bantam chick was extremely extremely extremely tiny and and weak and didn't make it through last night. I was rooting for the little guy to make it but he was just too weak. 

They are all out of show quality chickens so I'm really excited about it. We have 1 white silkie, 2 bantam brown leghorns, 2-3 black-tailed white japanese bantams, 2-3 Old english game bantams, and I'm not sure what else hatched. I'm still leaving the incubator on just in case we have a late bloomer. I'll probably turn it off tomorrow or monday and look at the eggs to see what they're labeled. 

I traded a white crested black polish hen yesterday for 10 Pharaoh Quail chicks from my neighbor. She's the one who got me into chickens last summer and I bought the polish from her a couple months ago. It was one of her favorites so when I sold the rest of the polish I kept "Fanny" and offered her back to my neighbor. I recently bought 4 quail at a sale and had been looking for more so when she bought 40 quail chicks and I offered her "Fanny" back she offered a trade. 

I am completely in love with these little guys! Their little chirps are so pretty to listen to and they're simply packed with personality. I can hardly wait the 6 weeks for them to start laying so I can hatch more of these pretty little fellas.


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## KDailey (Feb 18, 2012)

Hey y'all! It's been a while. lol.

Well Ryan left tuesday for Peru, Illinois to work for a week but he'll be gone 9 days. So far he says its really boring. Poor guy. 

So that leaves me to do all the chores by myself and when you're used to the man of the house doing pretty much everything, it's quite the shocker when you finally have to do it all by yourself. 

Feeding and watering all the chickens and rabbits was no biggy, we share that chore. But feeding the horses is a different story. He gives them their hay and I give them their grain. Now let me tell you, these are some of the biggest square bales we've ever had, I'm talkin huge! I can barely get them off the ground a few inches let alone carry them anywhere. So Ryan set up the hay so that all I had to do was pull up our yellow utility wagon and push the square bale off the top of the stack and it would land in the wagon and I would be able to get it to the horses. 

So I pull the wagon up next to the stack, position it below the bale that I'm going to push off, climb up the 6 foot stack and push the bale off. Unfortunately I went with it..... I must have fallen just right though because I'm not sore or even bruised. How you fall 6 feet and not get a bruise _somewhere_, I don't know, but I did it. Needless to say, I'll be pulling the bales down now instead of getting on top and pushing....

Last night was the poultry/rabbit sale in Louisianna. I usually wouldn't go without Ryan but our neighbors (who got me into chickens) were going so I decided to head that way at the last minute and take 2 rabbits that I don't need. I've decided to stick with the smaller breed rabbits and these two are pretty large. 

I couldn't believe the number of hatching eggs, chicks, ducklings and baby bunnies that were there last night! The sale starts at 5:00pm and they always start with the eggs and baby animals first. We didn't get to the adult chickens and rabbits until 9:00pm!! And it usually takes another 2-3 hours to get through with the adults animals! Of course since I got there late my rabbits were at the very back of the sale and would be some of the last animals to sell. I have to drive almost 2 hours to get to the sale so I was going to be really late getting back home. Thankfully the birds I wanted to buy were relatively close to the beginning of the adult birds so after they sold I was able to get some friends I made up there the first time I went to get the money for my rabbits for me and I'll get it from them next week. I was afraid I wouldn't be able to drive home or I would fall asleep while driving and it just isn't worth it.

My purchases included: 
54 ducklings
8 1-day-old barnyard mix chicks
10 older chicks (black australop and unknown whites)
12 black silkie hens
1 blue silkie hen
2 black silkie roosters
1 blue silkie rooster
1 harlequin dutch doe bunny
1 ? buck bunny
3 dozen barnyard mix hatching eggs
1 dozen Welsummer hatching eggs (really super dark!)
2 small jars of pickled chicken eggs

Unfortunately I did not have a box for all the ducklings so we had a bit of a delima. They did have an extra box laying around but it wasn't tall enough to keep them all in so I put the box inside one of my wire cages and hoped they would stay in. (The holes are just big enough that the smaller ducks could get out if they really wanted, this is inside my truck in the backseat.) I'm driving down the road and about 20 minutes into the drive I hear peeping coming from the front passenger side floorboard. I pull over and turn on my cargo light and there are 5 little ducklings sittin down there! I look in the backseat and the ducklings are scattered all over! 

I put them all back and hope they're ok till I get home. I'm pretty sure I got them all out when I got home and I didn't hear any peeping in the truck this morning on the way to work so I'm sure that's a good sign. lol.

If it will ever stop raining here I'll get out and clean up the coop and move out the older chicks that are just about completely feathered and move all the new babies into the coop. But it doesn't look like it's going to stop any time soon. :/

I also need to move all the silkies to the proper pen.


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## autumnprairie (Feb 19, 2012)

sounds like you had a really good time. I might try and go next year, I will need to know the where is it and stuff. Do they have a website?


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## KDailey (Mar 24, 2012)

It's just a little local sale barn. They do it every friday night in Dequincy louisianna.

It seems like I sure do go a long time in between journal entries but I guess that means I have more to tell when I do write. lol.

Tootsie the calf is doing fine. She's eating some calf starter now as well as her milk. We've moved her to a bigger pen where she can run and play better. 

The ducks are growing soooo fast! That first week we lost a couple of the runts. The smaller ones seem to get trampled so we seperated the smaller ones until they were bigger and not so fragile. Now that they are getting more feathers we've been allowing them some play time on the pond while we feed and water everybody else. They're soooo cute! They follow me to the pond running as fast as their little legs can go and just a hollerin! The play in the pond anywhere from 10-15 minutes and then they put themselves right back in the pen. 

Unfortunately, the other day when I let them out to play and they came back up to the pen I noticed that two of them were acting really really strange. They were flopping over and acting like they couldn't stand up and rolling their heads back like their necks were made of jelly or something. I let the rest of the ducks back out so these two wouldn't get trampled, hoping they could regain their feet. I thought maybe they had drank too much water becuase their crops were huge so I held them upside down so some of the water would drain back out. This has helped on a few ducklings before. One of the ducklings seemed to be better after that but the other one just wasn't acting right. Within minutes it was dead while the other one completely recovered. 

I went to get the rest of the ducklings and now I notice that there are three more just floating dead in the pond and the rest are swimming really fast out to the middle of the pond. Now I should explain that the ducklings never never ever leave the this one shallow spot on the pond. They go just far enough out that they can duck and dive under but never any further. So i knew something was really wrong. 

Ryan went around to the pond dam to try and get the dead ducklings out of the water and when he did all of a sudden he jumped back and hollered, "Snake!" He couldn't get a good enough look at it to tell what exactly it was but it was swimming in the water really close to where my ducklings usually are. We're assuming it was a water moccasin because it was greyish black and in the water. Ryan grabbed a hoe and ran back to where he saw it hoping he could kill it but it was gone. 

The best we can figure, the snake must have a nest or something on the pond dam and the ducklings got too close. That's all we can think of to explain why so many were killed. We got the rest of the ducklings back in their pen and didn't let them back out for several days but we eventually had to start letting them out again because the pen is getting too small for them as much as they've grown. The plan has always been to let them stay on the pond as soon as they had enough feathers. So far there hasn't been another attack but Ryan keeps a look out for the snake just in case he can get a chance to kill it or find it's nest. 

On happier terms, I'm starting to get lots of eggs from my chickens. This is my first spring with chickens so I haven't gotten many eggs up until now. I also bought out a guy that was selling some really nice old english game bantams. There's a pen of Wheatens and a pen of Fawn Duckwing and they are gorgeous and very friendly! My cochins are giving me at least 4 eggs a day and I get as many as 6 a day from the OEGBs. 

I also have a broody Fawn Duckwing hen and I am ecstatic! I've only had one broody hen before and she was really young, barely even laying, and she quit the nest while we were out of town and we weren't able to take the eggs and put them in the incubator in time and the sitter didn't know any better. This hen seems really super serious though so hopefully she'll do good. She has 3 OEGB eggs and 2 cochin eggs. 

Ryan finally found himself a horse that is broke to ride and that I approve of conformationally. He has the worst taste in horses. He'll pick every single nag in a herd of beautifully built horses. If it weren't for the fact that we ride a lot and the horse needs to be built for performing I'd let him buy whichever horse he wanted. The horse is a 10yo bay paso fino gelding and is actually a little short for Ryan but he's well behaved and built nice. Plus ryan really needs a gentle horse to build his confidence on. If that means the horse is a little to short then that's ok. When he is more confident in his riding abilities then we'll worry about height and a little less about temperament.

Also....... We have baby bunnies!!! They were unexpected but ohhh so cute! They were born Thursday. 

Here's mama, black/white dutch. She's not correctly patterned but I was told I might get some correct babies breeding her with this buck






Here's daddy, a dutch harlequin and a real sweetie





And the bun buns! There are two black/white dutch. One looks exactly like mama bunny and one looks like it's pretty correct. Then there are two orange/black harlequin, they have a lot more of the black on them than daddy which I'm quite pleased with. Then we have one that looks like it's just going to be orange dutch. Then last but not least is the mystery bun. It's not black/white, it's not harlequin, and it's darker than the orange dutch. I'm not sure what color it will be. It's the one at the very bottom of the picture. Any guesses?


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## Queen Mum (Mar 24, 2012)

My goodness.  What a lot of fuzzless bunnies.


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