Farmerjan's journal - Weather

[farmerjan]

Sunday morning and heading out to get the bale truck and move hay off the fields that we baled last week, in the subdivision.

You will never believe this and I wouldn't if I didn't see it with my own eyes... The buff Leghorn hen is here. I thought I heard a chicken cackling that was too loud for the ones in the crate when I went to let them out. But I figured I was imagining it. I went in the shelter, let them out. Filled the feeder and came out and was going to zip the front closed and here goes the buff hen across the grass towards the holly tree.
Have not seen or heard a thing out of her for the week or so she has been missing. Not a sign. Of course, her being out loose and alone has honed her "wild" tendencies... but WOW . So I unzipped the door to the greenhouse shelter and let the other 3 come out. I am hoping she will want to be with others and then go with them and maybe will be able to get her in the shelter. The buff rooster will go from the straw bale he perches on, to run right in the crate with the 2 brahma pullets, when I go in there in the evening. If I just get the buff hen in with them, I will keep them in the shelter for awhile and then hopefully they will learn to go in if I let them out. At least until I get a suitable pen for them. I think she might be laying as it sounded like that kind of an "I laid an egg" cackle.... Can NOT believe she is still alive and looks like she has all her feathers. She might have just slipped off the hay bale and got under the edge and then disappeared...

Nice and sunny, light breeze. Yesterday was nice too. I went to the Apple butter festival at the mill where I used to work and it was crowded. Saw some people and talked a bit, spent a little time with the farmer friend that just had his 2 knees done 2 months ago, and his wife. They sold out of the apple butter they made ahead... 440 pints or something like that. $10 pint..... They were cooking the apple butter in the copper kettle and it would be ready to come off at around 3 p.m. and they have a waiting line for that too.... I didn't buy any this year. I have 2 pts and a qt from last year left. I also have several cases of applesauce that I can turn into apple butter. They had applesauce left over a few years ago and I said I would can it up so got several 5 gallon buckets of sauce and canned about 4-5 cases I think.

I picked through the tomatoes again this morning, found a few I missed and that should be it. We are supposed to get some showers/rain tonight and maybe tomorrow and then the temps are supposed to drop to freezing or below tomorrow night. It was only down to 52 last night... and it hit 75 during the day yesterday. It is typically sunny and breezy again today. Hate that this is probably the end of the "warmer weather". We will get more nice days, in the 60's maybe, but I think that nights will start being colder. Of course... I have farms this week and all 3 need meters set up and all that..... at least I will be going to them during the day to set up but then pulling off the milk lines will be in the evening. Oh well.... this is why I had seriously thought about retiring... I am hating the "go out to work in the cold" anymore.

Time to head up for the truck... wish me luck on getting the hen to go with the other chickens and into the shelter this evening...

 

[Mini Horses]

Chickens! A mind of their own sometimes. . At least she's ok. Maybe she'll settle.

We're getting rain late tonight, into mid morning...stop and more Monday night. Then 3 days in 50s, low 30 nights. Like you, not liking cold to start up. Older I get, the colder I get. Hard to warm back up. I have a drawer full of long johns!! Looked over the batch and think I need to replace some. Those rascals are expensive now.

Tried to buy some lined jeans...out of stock. Bet they won't have the 25 percent off when back and bet my extra 15 off will have expired! Not fair. Even tried to pay now, send later. Nope.

 

[farmerjan]

Got the 2 brahma pullets to go back in the shelter but cannot get the pair of leghorns to go around to the front. Brahmas are already locked in the crate for the night... early. Going out to try to get the leghorns in there, now that it is getting nearer to dusk...
If I ever get them in there is going to be some sort of other arrangement because she flies up over everything and scuttles under the underbrush out there too. He was just starting to be a little less flighty.
Got cloudy and some showers already. Pulled the wagon with the tomatoes and potatoes in the boxes to the carport. Damp and chillier, rather depressing out. I did not go move any hay today. Maybe I will feel like it tomorrow. Haven't heard or seen a thing from DS today. I was pretty sure they would be drilling the seed across the road from the house today to get it done.

Got a chicken carcass in the pot and cooked it a couple times. Today will be the last heating up, and will get the broth out and make some chicken salad out of the breast meat that I didn't eat. Got a pile of folded clothes to put away and have to get bottles in some racks for this week.
Tuesday will drop off a tray of bottles to the owner sampler farm. They have finished the parlor and I will not have to take meters there anymore. So I said I would leave the bottles when I was testing at the farm just down the road, and they could sample and test when it suited them, then call me, and I would come by to pick them up. This way I can just drop the bottles off any time I am in that area and not have to coordinate... and they can test and let me know when they do and I can make the trip up to get them and do the computer work. So at least one trip will always be made when I am in that area. Won't hurt the bottles to sit there for weeks or until they need them. I may just take them a tray of bottles when I go pick up the ones they took samples, and just leave them for the next time they want to do it. But regardless, it will definitely save me at least one special trip and not have to deal with the meters and hoses anymore....
So, I am going out to see if I can get the chickens headed in the right direction for the night.

 

[farmerjan]

Well, the leghorn cockerel was in the shelter and the pullet no where to be found. I let the 2 brahma pullets out of the crate, they went and got something more to eat and then drank and the cockerel ran into the crate and I managed to herd the brahma's in with him. Looked in some of the trees but there is alot of brush and crap out there along the property line where the greenhouse shelter is. So, he is in and maybe tomorrow I will let them out in the afternoon and see if I can find her, then get her to go in with the cockerel. If she continues to survive the owl, hawk, coon, possum, coyote predators..... She is wilder than all get out. At least he had the sense to come in. When I saw him in I thought WOW.... wonderful... til I realized he was in and she was not.

Rainy, wet and damp out there. I have some folded clothes to put away; put the chicken carcass back on the burner on low to heat again and then I will take it off in a bit, take the broth off, make chicken salad with the breast meat and all. Maybe just have chicken noodle soup for this wet chilly evening. It was lightly raining very steadily and is supposed to be wet most of the evening into early tomorrow morning. Then mostly to partly cloudy monday and temps dropping . So the plants will come in tomorrow that need to be inside and that will be the end of the "houseplants" outside. Haven't gotten everything the way I want it yet, but will have a place for them.

I have some real pretty reblooming irises right now. Some blue/white ones and some yellow ones that just came out. Moved from the other house and last year they did not do alot but this year they are nice. Going to expand the iris bed and get rid of the the plain orange daylilies that grow wild here that are taking up a huge chunk of yard. Maybe plant some of the daylily plants I got in this bed and intermix with the irises... have to see if their soil "wants and needs" are compatible.
Raining pretty steadily out there. 55 or so... won't get much colder tonight if the weather report can be believed. Rain heading east so @secuono and @Mini Horses should be getting it now or soon.

 

[secuono]

Well, the leghorn cockerel was in the shelter and the pullet no where to be found. I let the 2 brahma pullets out of the crate, they went and got something more to eat and then drank and the cockerel ran into the crate and I managed to herd the brahma's in with him. Looked in some of the trees but there is alot of brush and crap out there along the property line where the greenhouse shelter is. So, he is in and maybe tomorrow I will let them out in the afternoon and see if I can find her, then get her to go in with the cockerel. If she continues to survive the owl, hawk, coon, possum, coyote predators..... She is wilder than all get out. At least he had the sense to come in. When I saw him in I thought WOW.... wonderful... til I realized he was in and she was not.

Rainy, wet and damp out there. I have some folded clothes to put away; put the chicken carcass back on the burner on low to heat again and then I will take it off in a bit, take the broth off, make chicken salad with the breast meat and all. Maybe just have chicken noodle soup for this wet chilly evening. It was lightly raining very steadily and is supposed to be wet most of the evening into early tomorrow morning. Then mostly to partly cloudy monday and temps dropping . So the plants will come in tomorrow that need to be inside and that will be the end of the "houseplants" outside. Haven't gotten everything the way I want it yet, but will have a place for them.

I have some real pretty reblooming irises right now. Some blue/white ones and some yellow ones that just came out. Moved from the other house and last year they did not do alot but this year they are nice. Going to expand the iris bed and get rid of the the plain orange daylilies that grow wild here that are taking up a huge chunk of yard. Maybe plant some of the daylily plants I got in this bed and intermix with the irises... have to see if their soil "wants and needs" are compatible.
Raining pretty steadily out there. 55 or so... won't get much colder tonight if the weather report can be believed. Rain heading east so @secuono and @Mini Horses should be getting it now or soon.

I don't want the rain. Hoping it magically skips us.

 

[SageHill]

Well, the leghorn cockerel was in the shelter and the pullet no where to be found.

She's just a free spirit looking for a good ol' hen party. (sorry - sometimes I just can't help the funny stuff - hope she doesn't become an item On Col Sanders predator menu.
Been there done that with chickens - they now live in a Fort Knox of chicken coop run combo.

 

[farmerjan]

Yeah, she will have a hen party of 1... if she survives it. She's done a good job so far surviving it... but the odds are against her.... especially as the weather gets colder. At least the resident skunk that was around here got smooshed on the road ... no more skunk smell nightly. They will go into a coop/run combo as soon as I can get ahold of her; since she can't get with the program. At least the cockerel learned that going in with the brahma pullets isn't so bad...

Still raining so we will have a decent soaking by morning. Still in the 50's so that is good.
Time to quit for the night.

 

[secuono]

I don't want the rain. Hoping it magically skips us.

Ugh, it didn't this time. Everything is muddy and gross.
Sheep are soggy and b*tchy because they hate it and think they deserve treats for their "misfortune" of an impromptu shower. Lol

Not looking forward to the below freezing temps that follow tonight.

 

[farmerjan]

Monday morning. We got .5 inch so a decent soaking but not too bad. Unfortunately it looked like some of the bigger areas of yellow on the weather map were in more of central Va... and yeah, I know the sheep all hate to get their dainty hooves wet @secuono LOL. It only got down to 51 last night but is in the upper 50's now. Supposed to really drop this evening. Not wanting the cold especially either. Luckily it looks to be mostly sunny all week and temps ought to warm a bit by the end of the week again. We'll have some more decent days in the next month or so...
No sign of the buff hen this morning, but since I will be here later this afternoon, I opened the shelter up for the other 3 to go out. Maybe she will hook up with them again.

In Ct when I first got married and we moved to a house, there was a hen that had been running around loose there. I called her the "wild hen" and she would not go in a coop so I finally started feeding her outside when I did my pens of purebred show birds. I would let different ones out loose for a few hours at a time... and SURPRISE... she showed up with 6 baby chicks in early Dec... It snowed the next day and she was right there with them wanting food. I opened the door to the coop and she went right in and they followed and from then on she was a member of the flock. She raised several batches of chicks, from eggs I put under her from my show bird matings, and was the ultimate in a good mother. Maybe this dumb buff pullet will get the idea that food in the shelter is not such a bad thing. Problem is, there is alot of food out there right now so she doesn't feel any need to have to go in.

Going to go and move some round bales today that I didn't do yesterday. This afternoon I will get the meters in the car for the next 3 days of testing... I need 16 for Tues and Wed herds, and 24 for Thursday's herd so will just put them all in the car. Both herds use many of the same hoses so will just put them all in there too and be done and ready. I have to get the bottles all in the trays for Tues and Wed... and I have a tray to drop at the owner sampler farm Tues when I am right down the road. Then I will have to put more bottles in trays for Thursday's farm once I pack those from Tues to get shipped out.
I need to go out and get the battery screwdriver from the storage shed and figure out where I am going to put these hangers so I can get things put up for the plants. I just hate doing carpentry stuff...

 

[farmerjan]

Monday night. The buff hen appeared again... and it is a shame she is so wild because she is really nice typed... much nicer than the cockerel. I looked out and there she was with the rooster.
Went down to the farm but DS has some stuff on the back of the bale truck, and it is a little muddy so it was decided that I ought to wait. Tomorrow I will be leaving pretty early to go test so probably won't get to it until Wed. DS was at the barn, he had just gotten home from the specialist as they did injections again in the neck and shoulder. He was in the process of putting the starter on the truck that has been sitting inside the cab, for 6 months.
He was going to the stock yard south of here as it is their graded feeder calf sale and said that he asked a friend to go but I was welcome to go since he didn't think the other guy was going. But then the other guy called, and with all the stuff in the truck, with it being a supercab, not a dual cab, there just wasn't going to be enough room for me after all.... I used to go with him all the time... so I sorta got "uninvited"..... . huh???

He said that he didn't get the field across from me planted on Sunday... got rained out. I said well, I figured he was going to come do it early that morning...would have taken about 2-3 hours total to get it planted..... but seems they went to a haunted house/ halloween thing sat night and didn't get home until the wee hours of the morning because there were such long lines.... so he didn't get up very early. It didn't start to rain until after noontime...

So I came home instead of moving round bales; or going with him. I got all the meters and hoses for Tues and Wed farm's testing in the car. Went through the garden a little more and didn't find much more to salvage.
Brought all the rest of the spider plants in the house. Going to have to get some brackets and stuff up to hang them all.
Went out about 5 to see about the chickens. The buff rooster was in the shelter all by himself. The 2 brahma pullets were in the brushy stuff out behind it, and I had to chase them out and they came around the shelter and went right in. No sign of the buff pullet. She just isn't going to cooperate any time soon. If she manages to live long enough, maybe she will come in when we get crappy weather and there is nothing much out there for her to eat. . The only saving grace right now is with her coloring, she blends in with the leaves on the trees that are changing color. I looked in the trees and all, and did not see her anywhere. But it is pretty thick with the brush and all.

I want to get it cleaned out behind the shelter so I can get that stretch of fence run too... there will be about a 5-6 ft space behind the shelter that I want to keep mowed once I get the perimeter fence down that boundary line. If I use the sheep and goat fence of 4x4 spacing, at least they will not be able to go through it. Yeah, they could go over it... but I want to move the some of the chicken pens over to the other side where the fruit trees are all going to be so they can keep down some of the "bugs" that go in the trees/fruit.
I am going to put a gate at the top end of the fence behind the shelter, near the road, and then run the 300+ ft of wire. It will be a straight pull. And all according to where it stops, may put another gate at the end of that; since I am hoping that I might be able to buy another acre or 2 off them at the christmas tree farm since they do not grow trees on that side of their driveway that goes in there. Plus, if the cows get out it might help that there is a gate to get them back into my property on the lower side too. It will make the property worth more and won't affect the christmas tree farm except for the 2 weekends where they park on some of their grass that's between us. I am hoping that with them getting older they might like to get some extra money, and not really lose any productive ground. Next year I am thinking.

Moved the potted irises over to where I am going to winter them. Pulled grass and weeds out of the current iris "bed" along the porch there. The reblooming yellow ones came out and they are really really pretty. The blue/white ones have a couple of blooms left to open.
If the wind keeps up we won't get much of a frost tonight unless it drops way below the 30 degree mark. It has been blowing all day pretty steady. Chilly enough to wear a sweatshirt all day.
So just have to get the bottles in the trays to take tomorrow for the farm... already have the tray of bottles for the one to drop off. I will also do the tray for the farm on Wed since it is only 1 tray.

Oh, and you know that feast or famine thing ???? Well, got another farm wanting to test this week... owners' day to milk is on Friday... so I am going to do them then... and of course it is 250 cows m/l..... geez louise....I will be lucky to be able to walk by the end of the week. They will only need 12 meters... and just have to put in 2 long hoses for the 2 meters in the front of the parlor since those brackets had to be put up high due to the gates to let the cows out... otherwise everything else will work that is in the car now. I will have to change the brackets for the Wed and Thurs herds, and then change back 12 for Friday... then next week there should be 2 or 3 herds to do.
Then we will be back to the first of the month.....and start all over.