Drstratton - My Backyard Journey Journal

[drstratton]

Thanks.... I have chronicled the LOOOOONG BS with getting in the house, in my journal..... not all in yet, partly due to my wanting to try to get things put in place as I go rather than 9 million boxes to pack, piled up, then all to unpack. Plus with my knees I am not getting it done as fast as I want.... waited forever on the floors to get done.... BUT ..... I am moving stuff daily and had hoped to be done by Jan 1st. It will be more like the middle of January.... but I am making progress. DS had a pos test and was feeling "fluish" with headaches but coming back along now..... his gf had a very mild case of headaches and backaches..... and I have been juggling work inbetween.... It will be done soon. Challenges with needing a new heating system now.... but... I'll get it figured out.
Happy New Year too!!!!

Hi Jan! Things never get done as fast as we want them to! Putting things in place as you go is a very smart way to do it...otherwise it can be so very overwhelming! I hope you are all in this month. I'm glad your son and gf are getting better!

We just started a kitchen remodel and I know we won't be completely finished with it until at least February...we have to replace my kitchen window and that may not be ready until then. We are also helping our son move to Oklahoma...we will be on the road this Friday and won't be coming home until somewhere around the 15th! After we finish the kitchen we have 2 bathrooms to update and we are making a couple of changes in our bedroom to give more room to our master bath! Then, hopefully we are finished with remodeling and can do something fun!

 

[drstratton]

Happy New Year, Miss @drstratton!

Thank you! I hope you have a fantastic year!

 

[drstratton]

Hi everyone! I hope life on the farm is good for you all!

Life has been crazy here! We got our son and his family moved to Oklahoma. We are still working on the kitchen remodel, the scope was bigger than I realized and when you are doing everything yourself, it can take quite a while. I knew it was wishful thinking when I said it would probably be the end of February...lol! My poor mom just went through her 3rd hip surgery and is back in rehab. She developed an infection and they had to remove the implant. Once again, I can't even go down and see her.

Here's what's been going on with our livestock! I was able to sell only 2 of the rabbits, I sold them very cheap, I just wanted homes for them and to give someone a chance to start their own breeding program. We are not going to breed again, unless we need to! So, we had to process 7! I've lost 2 hens, one to a hawk and one to roosters fighting over her...I'm pretty sure that's what happened to the 2nd hen! We will be butchering the 2 Silkie roosters that my friend gave to me...they are at the root of most of the drama in my flock. I'm giving a friend one of my Marans roosters, that will leave me with 2 Orpingtons and 1 Marans. Hopefully I will not have to thin them down further, but we will if we have to!

Now, as to the pigs we raised. They turned out to be a complete nightmare. Over the course of my children being in 4H, we probably raised 8-10 pigs and only had one just barely miss weight! The 4 pigs we bought would hardly eat, they were very small when we got them and we believe they were weaned to early. One of them was clearly in distress and it just never bounced back! We wormed them, gave them antibiotics and my husband went out daily trying to encourage them to eat, by mixing different things into their feed, fermenting their feed, we even tried different feeds, just hoping we could find the right combination. One of them finally started to grow. On Friday I called my friend and asked them to come get the 2 smaller pigs, we are hoping that they will start to gain weight once they are away from the bigger pig, but I'm not sure that will happen. We called around to try and find someone to come and slaughter our pig, but with no luck. So we watched videos, set up with the tractor and slaughtered him today. I was really dreading it and even cried when he was in his death throes, I just thanked God for His provision. We skinned him and did everything else needed so we could take him to the butcher. This pig was a year old and the hanging weight was only 146 lbs., my husband wasn't sure if he would even dress out at 100lbs., so all things considered we are not completely disappointed. I now know that I can also do this, not a fun thing to do, but I can do it! We will probably not raise any pigs this year, but we might try again next year. I will definitely buy them from a different source!

My time here will probably still be spotty, but I'm hoping after we are done with the remodel that will have time to catch up with everyone! I hope you are all doing well...God bless and take care!

 

[Baymule]

So sorry that your pig experience was so lousy. But you slaughtered the pig yourself and deserve kudos for that! Better luck next time

 

[Bruce]

the scope was bigger than I realized and when you are doing everything yourself, it can take quite a while.

It always is and always does!

My poor mom just went through her 3rd hip surgery and is back in rehab. She developed an infection and they had to remove the implant. Once again, I can't even go down and see her.

Oh no! Bad enough to need to have it done but removal?

Nice to see you again Doc

 

[GardnerHomestead]

Hi everyone! I hope life on the farm is good for you all!

Life has been crazy here! We got our son and his family moved to Oklahoma. We are still working on the kitchen remodel, the scope was bigger than I realized and when you are doing everything yourself, it can take quite a while. I knew it was wishful thinking when I said it would probably be the end of February...lol! My poor mom just went through her 3rd hip surgery and is back in rehab. She developed an infection and they had to remove the implant. Once again, I can't even go down and see her.

Here's what's been going on with our livestock! I was able to sell only 2 of the rabbits, I sold them very cheap, I just wanted homes for them and to give someone a chance to start their own breeding program. We are not going to breed again, unless we need to! So, we had to process 7! I've lost 2 hens, one to a hawk and one to roosters fighting over her...I'm pretty sure that's what happened to the 2nd hen! We will be butchering the 2 Silkie roosters that my friend gave to me...they are at the root of most of the drama in my flock. I'm giving a friend one of my Marans roosters, that will leave me with 2 Orpingtons and 1 Marans. Hopefully I will not have to thin them down further, but we will if we have to!

Now, as to the pigs we raised. They turned out to be a complete nightmare. Over the course of my children being in 4H, we probably raised 8-10 pigs and only had one just barely miss weight! The 4 pigs we bought would hardly eat, they were very small when we got them and we believe they were weaned to early. One of them was clearly in distress and it just never bounced back! We wormed them, gave them antibiotics and my husband went out daily trying to encourage them to eat, by mixing different things into their feed, fermenting their feed, we even tried different feeds, just hoping we could find the right combination. One of them finally started to grow. On Friday I called my friend and asked them to come get the 2 smaller pigs, we are hoping that they will start to gain weight once they are away from the bigger pig, but I'm not sure that will happen. We called around to try and find someone to come and slaughter our pig, but with no luck. So we watched videos, set up with the tractor and slaughtered him today. I was really dreading it and even cried when he was in his death throes, I just thanked God for His provision. We skinned him and did everything else needed so we could take him to the butcher. This pig was a year old and the hanging weight was only 146 lbs., my husband wasn't sure if he would even dress out at 100lbs., so all things considered we are not completely disappointed. I now know that I can also do this, not a fun thing to do, but I can do it! We will probably not raise any pigs this year, but we might try again next year. I will definitely buy them from a different source!

My time here will probably still be spotty, but I'm hoping after we are done with the remodel that will have time to catch up with everyone! I hope you are all doing well...God bless and take care!

Thats crazy! Ive never met a pig that wasnt.... well a pig. We did our first pig ourselves last fall, it is hard. For some reason harder than chickens for me. But once you push through im thinking the next time gets easier. great job. As they say "Nothing worth doing is easy".

 

[drstratton]

So sorry that your pig experience was so lousy. But you slaughtered the pig yourself and deserve kudos for that! Better luck next time

Good morning Bay and thank you! It was just crazy, we did a lot of the things you've talked about in your pig raising threads...to no avail! Except for eggs...they love eggs. We discovered that they would chow down if we mixed egg into their feed, but there's no way my chickens could meet the demand...lol! we had a great crop of pumpkins from our garden, so I would cook one up and hubs would mix it into their feed, they ate that really well and zucchini. How are you doing...did you get hit by the cold snap very bad? Our son moved to Oklahoma just in time to deal with it. A portion of their pipes froze, but I don't think any broke!

 

[drstratton]

It always is and always does!


Oh no! Bad enough to need to have it done but removal?

Nice to see you again Doc

Good morning Bruce...good to see you too Yes it does and I know it, my husband is much wiser than I am, he knew! I don't think he wanted to reinforce what I already knew, he was afraid he'd lose his workforce...

Yeah, it's been very hard on her...thanks!

 

[drstratton]

Thats crazy! Ive never met a pig that wasnt.... well a pig. We did our first pig ourselves last fall, it is hard. For some reason harder than chickens for me. But once you push through im thinking the next time gets easier. great job. As they say "Nothing worth doing is easy".

Good morning! Neither had we, it was crazy, we've never experienced anything like it! All of our other pigs had great appetites. Processing is not my favorite thing to do, but if you're going to raise it, I know you have to learn to deal with it. It will be easier the next time. The hardest part for me is when we put them down, once I have my knife in hand I just focus and do the work. I know this is going to sound strange, but I actually enjoy the skinning and cleaning part, (the animal is already gone, so now I make their sacrifice into food for our family), I wasn't completely pleased with my craftsmanship in it, but hopefully I will be better at it the next time! We are processing the 2 roosters this afternoon. then we should be done with that for a while!

 

[drstratton]

We just finished processing the Silkie roosters, I was told the meat was dark, I've never seen anything like it! We decided to skin them, my goodness were they tough! I don't know if it was the age...almost a year or the breed! I'm thinking Chicken n'dumplins!