Larsen Poultry Ranch - homesteading journey

[Larsen Poultry Ranch]

Ice on the car windshield this morning, wasn't expecting that. Checked the plants in the garden quickly and they seemed ok. Will check more thoroughly later when I have time. Last day of work before vacation, I have all next week off. Hopefully I can get some projects done and also get in the Christmas spirit. We don't have any decorations up yet, but we did find one box. Hopefully I can find the others and we can decorate.

 

[Larsen Poultry Ranch]

I spent a lot of today butchering quail. Took a lot longer than I thought it would. I spent a good 20 minutes last night watching the Halloween hatch quail and grabbing the males out as soon as I saw them crowing or mating. I had to add a second holding cage after a while as there were so many. I ended up splitting them between the cages as "definite butcher" and "if I have time and after I choose the keepers". I thought I got most of them last night but as soon as I turned on the light this morning even more were crowing so I grabbed those as well. By the time I stopped quail watching and started butchering, there were 31 to butcher with 12-20 in the backup cage. There are still more males I didn't grab out that are hiding in with the females. Hopefully the ladies will be happier without being harassed by so many males. Tomorrow I get to butcher most of the remaining males I grabbed out after choosing the biggest/prettiest 3-4 to keep.

 

[Baymule]

I had to smile at your post. I raised quail one time and I so remember thinning out the males!

 

[Larsen Poultry Ranch]

Bred Frost and Cinnamon this morning, 3 fall offs. Tried to breed Expresso and Coffee, only one fall off. So I swapped them, putting him back in her cage and leaving her in his to hopefully put her in a more receptive mood. It seemed to have worked, she didn't hide when I put them back together tonight and they had two more fall offs. Going to breed two more does tomorrow. Need to add nest boxes to the first group towards the end of the week. It's really hard to tell if they are pregnant, but Pepper looked more chunky than usual.

Didn't work outside today, mainly worked on cleaning and organizing the house. Will butcher more quail tomorrow. I think I gathered close to 60 eggs today.

 

[Baymule]

Quail eggs make good fried eggs, a yolk in every bite!

 

[Larsen Poultry Ranch]

2 dozen quail eggs today. Ran some errands and did stuff around the house. Hubby played on the tractor and flattened the area where we are getting a 45' shipping container delivered Wednesday morning. It's not quite level but it's better than it was when he started, and he removed a bunch of trees and rocks too. There's a few giant ones he couldn't jam out of the ground with the tractor so hopefully the delivery truck is able to maneuver around them.

I think it's time to plant some garlic, lol. This was in the kitchen, guess we didn't cook fast enough.

 

[Baymule]

I bought garlic at the grocery store and found some pods starting to sprout, so I bought them too. I planted them and they are coming up now. LOL

 

[Larsen Poultry Ranch]

Container delivery guy was a bit early, but we made it work. Hubby, his dad, and a co-worker used hi lift jacks to shift it over a bit and level it, then added blocks.

It was cold this morning! I guess it was cold enough to get frost, hopefully my garden is ok, I haven't had a chance to check on it yet. I received notification that the plants I ordered are on their way, so I need to prep for rooting the cuttings and either plant the rootstock or build a gravel bed to let them grow a bit more. I also went by Green Acres to buy some Christmas presents yesterday, and of course looked at the different fruit plants in sleeves they had. Somehow a Jelly Bean blueberry, a Goji plant, and an almond jumped into my cart.

 

[Bruce]

we realized we forgot the baseboards in the small closet after we put everything away.

No one looks in the closet anyway.

Cats aren't certain what to think about moving rooms, they don't get a ton of traction on the hardwood.

That is what makes it fun! Especially when they get up a head of steam then try to change direction.

 

[thistlebloom]

You'll love that Jelly Bean blueberry. Mine is by far the most productive of any other variety I have. It's planted in a half barrel on the patio and we pick berries off it for weeks because they ripen over a long period.