ELeVan ~ Honaker Farm Journal

[elevan]

Days not quite over yet...but I'm beat! One of those days when I really have no energy

I did go out a couple of hours ago and hand shear 1/2 the llama...not a pretty job let me tell you that. He is not a pet, but a guard and as such doesn't get a whole lot of interaction from us. I don't have sheep so buying a pair of shears for just 1 llama is an unjustified expense. Scissors do the job but it's slow going and as I said not pretty.
Last time I attempted this task it was a kick to the calf muscle and a knee to the groin for me from him. Things went quite a bit better this time around. He was not happy about being tied though! By the time I got 1/2 of a barrel cut clipped it was either come back to it another day or lose the barn wall. I chose to come back to it another day He definitely seems a little happier now. Poor boy...wearing a heavy winter coat in this weather is awful.

Time to go feed the calf and let the broody hen out with her chicks for a couple of hours

eta: I thought you all might enjoy this chicken moment.

Every night I go out to feed the calf. Then sit and visit the goats for a while. At 8:30 I open the coop door since some of my girls and of course the broody and her chicks like to use it to go in. Our "pop" door is actually a high window to keep the goats out Anyway, some of the girls start going to bed around 8:30 and the rest trickle in over the next half hour. Tonight our "little girls" the EE and EE/Frizzle went in first. Then the broody & chicks...followed by most everyone else. The only hen I was waiting on was Lucky...then the EE/Frizzle fell off the roost right in front of the broody!! Well as you can imagine the broody gave her a what for and chased her out of the coop.

This particular girl (EE/Frizzle) is what I call a spaz...she's very nervous (spastic) and is heavily bonded to the EE...she won't go anywhere or do anything without her buddy. So she sort of runs around in a circle screaming her head off and generally freaking out...not wanting to go back into the coop. So Blue (the EE) gets off the roost and goes outside...calms the frizzle down and leads her back inside to roost Isn't chicken love grand!?

 

[elevan]

Man, is it just me or is my big chicken coop taking forever to build?!? After losing most of my flock last fall I build them like Fort Knox though. We got the first piece of roof sheeting on tonight!! Yay!! Hopefully, given DH's schedule, we should be able to move the new chicks into the big coop next week

DH and I worked on that coop all day today. Had to take frequent breaks cause it was so darn hot outside or I'm sure we would have accomplished more.

Of course as soon as the power tools started the calf was right there...what is it with him and power tools?? We decided to put him into the bucks pen for a while to keep him out of our way. Things were fine for most of the day...then I had to go to their side of the fence for something (coop being built off the buck's barn) only to see the calf ram our oldest buck into the wall! What the heck??!!! We quickly took the calf out and verified that Speedy was fine :/ Not sure what the calf's issue was but I've never seen him do anything like that before. If it happens again I guess we'll be having veal rather than full on beef

Cinnamon and her chicks are out during the full day now. During one break from working I sat and watched them a while. They decided to rest right next to where I was sitting so I scooped up one of the chicks. It started peeping like crazy and I thought for a second that Cinnamon was gonna attack me Crazy girl! Although she has been being very protective of them. She rode the back of one of the duck's half way back to the pond yesterday and today she was leaping into the air after little birds flying by.

The goats are getting a little upset that the large pile of lumber that they've been playing on almost disappeared today. I've got plans to build them a playground but this coop needs to get done first

 

[elevan]

It rained most of the day today, so no more work was done on the Big Coop.

I am sad to let you all know that Cinnamon lost one of her chicks today It was a drowning...poor little thing. She's letting them get farther and farther away from her which worries me as they are so little still. But I'm determined to let her raise these chicks. They are after all "bonus" chicks since she went broody and we decided to let her try to hatch and raise a brood. We had given 2 of the 6 to the friend who gave us the fertile eggs. So now she's down to raising just 3...

We allowed our 2 boys to try their hand at turkey wrangling this evening. We've been allowing the turkeys to free range with the boy goats. We originally tried to free range them in the main pasture but they tried to kill the chickens. They are doing great with the boy goats though. But they do not put themselves to bed at night and so must be wrangled. My oldest boy (almost 7) went first. He did great and got the Tom almost right away, handing him off to DH who put Tom to bed. The DS went for Henny and when he picked her up she scratched him and he dropped her. Time to sub in the younger brother (5) who is almost the same size as the turkey he tried his best but it just wasn't going to happen, so DH went in and got her and put her to bed.

Bob white quails have begun mating. I wasn't really expecting this for a little while. But looks like *hopefully* we'll be getting some quail eggs soon.

Calf is doing great. I plan to wean him over the next month. Checked his banding and his sack is starting to shrivel...so that's looking good. He seems to be gaining some good weight cause let me tell you - when he steps on my foot now, I really can feel it!! OUCH!

We're still agonizing over the decision of whether or not to wether Snickers. Do we allow him more time to mature and hope that he'll be ready someday to mate the girls? Or do we go ahead and band him believing that his infection and injury caused him permanent damage? Ugh!

 

[elevan]

Still working on the big coop. I believe we're all secure... Still have to put in roosts and nest boxes. Need to get the door knob. I'll post pictures soon

Cinnamon and her 3 chicks are exploring the field more and more each day. I am amazed though that they are only 4 days younger than my hatchery chicks and there is a world of difference in size and feathering out. I'm anxiously waiting for Cinnamon's chicks to catch up.

Had to keep chasing the calf off when we were working on the coop today. He has a fascination with power tools...I don't know what it is but they draw his attention.

I'm REALLY hoping to get the coop finished this week...barring final trim and painting. The temporary home in the garage for the 44 chicks is getting kind of tight.

 

[elevan]

It's been one of those days that had better get better....

Woke up this morning to DH yelling at me that the chickens were in the yard and he hadn't let them out yet!! I forgot to shut their window (which is their "pop" door) last night, apparently because it was wide open. Thank goodness all were accounted for and safe.

Then I went to the dentist in the afternoon only to be told he was running really far behind and that they wanted me to reschedule...for next month!!

Then I get a call from Ridgeway Hatchery...I'd asked them to reserve me 12 guinea keets if they had extras on their hatch. They apparently hatched yesterday, they called at 3:30 today, I got the message at 4:15, they are an hour away and close at 5:00, the person who was supposed to pick up the order and split it with me backed out and they have the nerve to make me feel guilty that I can't pick them up until tomorrow morning!! REALLY??!!

So, I'm adding twice the amount of guineas to my farm that I had planned. Maybe I'll put a few for sale...anyone interested?

They'll spend a week or 2 in a temporary pen in the garage before being moved to the current coop (once the chickens are moved)...so at least I have a permanent home for them...*wink, wink to DH*

I keep seeing tons of "guineas are hard to raise and stuff" comments...never had them before so we shall see...

 

[DonnaBelle]

Guineas? We got 9 this spring, raised them to adults. One little word of advice. Don't let them free range they poop on everything!!

We tried to raise them in the barn, but they roosted on the stalls and pooped in there too! Eweeee the barn smelled like really sour poop.

So, we gave them to a neighbor who was set up for guineas.

A lot of people don't like the noise they make, but I did. I didn't mind the noise, but I sure didn't like the poop in the yard. They do fly and go where ever they want.

They're the only animal I've gotten and then gotten rid of. But they did go to a good home, so no worries there.

Just, no more guinea poop please.

DonnaBelle

 

[ksalvagno]

I didn't know there was a hatchery around Columbus. I just knew about Meyer and Mt Healthy. I bet you could sell those extra guineas. Right now Meyer has Bantams in the store and I keep hearing how fun bantams are to have. Of course I don't need any more chickens. I already have 7 Golden Buff roosters growing to put in the freezer later and 10 egg laying female chicks growing in the garage. Just sent a meat chicken and 10 old laying hens to the processor. I'm thinking of trying to put the Golden Buff roosters on Craigslist and see if they would sell. Sell them for like $3 a piece and see if they go. They are 10 weeks old. I got them for free and figured it would be good for the freezer but I also wouldn't mind them going. There happened to be one broiler in with them and that is how I ended up with the one meat chicken going for processing. Rambling, I know. I worked from 7am to 5pm today and I'm tired.

If those guineas hatched out today, then they should be fine until tomorrow if they are like chickens.

 

[elevan]

Karen - Ridgeway Hatchery is just outside of Marion...in LaRue. They've been in business for 88 years but don't do a lot of advertising, mostly word of mouth. The keets hatched yesterday afternoon according to the gal I spoke to...but I'm sure they'll be ok come tomorrow morning. I probably will offer up the "extras" for sale...

DonnaBelle - Our plan is to use them as bug control and process them in late fall-early winter. If it works out we'll get more next year and keep a breeding pair from them to get eggs to hatch our own. Farm across the road had some but hers weren't contained in any way and kept becoming road kill...I'm hoping that with ours being in the field and fenced (and we'll wing clip) that I can avoid the road kill situation.

eta: Turkey poop makes me wanna hurl but I guess I can stand it until they go to the processor. Hopefully guinea poop isn't much worse...

 

[elevan]

I picked up our guinea keets yesterday morning. Lady at the hatchery said she put them on feed and water Thursday night. I picked them up at 8:30 am Friday morning and they added 5 extra keets (so we had 17) because a few were looking poorly.

Drove the hour home and almost immediately upon arrival 2 died. A 3rd quickly followed and then a 4th. We lost the 5th a little while later. And the 6th died after the remaining 11 piled on top of it to sleep...bending it's neck clear back...there was no way I could have saved it by the time I discovered the pile up.

This is my first go round with guineas...and I'm really frustrated. Ticked off is more like it...I've raised chicks and ducklings and never seen anything like this...

On the way home I really expected to lose 4...just because of the way they were looking...but now I've lost 6!

The remaining 11 seem to be doing really well...survival of the fittest I guess.

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We'll be moving the hatchery chicks into their side of the new Big Coop tomorrow evening.

We still need to install roosts and nest boxes into the other side before we move the big chickens in there.

The current small coop will then be cleaned and disinfected. Then the guineas will finish brooding in there and it will be their permanent coop.

 

[DonnaBelle]

Dang!! That was bad luck to lose so many!! We bought 9 at TSC and didn't lose any. Of course not, my yard was destined to be guinea poop city.

I hope you can make it with the eleven you still have. Sending YOU good guinea peep vibes!!

DonnaBelle