New to the block

[Hideaway Pines]

I should have been more clear, not 6 gardens, 6 years or seasons of gardening. LOL It has taken awhile to go from beach sand without the ocean, to fertile ground. Yes, I have made the pilgrimage to Madisonville for mushroom compost, but not since moving here.

I butcher and can my old layers, can the broth, it's the best. But sometimes there are the old ladies that get to hang out and just be chickens. I brought one with us when we moved here, Robin. She lived to 7 years old and is buried right inside the garden gate in a place of honor.

I only have 9 pullets now, will probably hold it there as I want to get knee replacement surgery next fall. Gotta make it easy for DH to do the animal chores! We raise Cornish Cross for meat every spring, have a few customers that buy from us, so we eat for free, plus make a little on them. Same for pigs. We raise 2, have a pig customer that buys one.

I want Jubilee Orpingtons, maybe after I get knee surgery. I have long admired them, like some eye candy!

We found a power line cleaning contractor in our area about 4 years ago and let them park their trucks here at night. They brought us over 110 loads of wood chips! That was a major help here! Early this spring, they were back in the area and brought us 11 more loads.

ha okay then, yes I should cull the older hens, but we are attached to them, they were our first girls and my husband does not want to end their lives just yet. I do love making my own broth, I have about 10 cans still from my last canning of chicken and rabbit bones I cooked down. I understand the attachment to a particular hen, Tink was mine. she was more like a dog than a chicken - so much personality. I have a hodge podge of hens. I love diversity ) I have: Golden Wyandotte, blue Wyandotte, silver laces Wyandotte's, buff orpingtons, silkies, barred rocks. rhode Island Reds, Andalusian, ameraucana, Brahma, Welsummer, golden sexlink and several I hatched that are a mixture of these breeds. I have chicks mainly for eggs but we have eaten our extra roosters with each new batch of chicks. I just find that cleaning a chicken is a lot more mess than cleaning our rabbits. I can do a rabbit from start to finish in about 20 min.

what breed of pigs do you raise? we have been looking into a few breeds, but have not landed on one yet. Hoping to jump into this next year sometime.

and yes loads of woodchips are amazing! I use them everywhere around here. cool you got so much from them, they last a long time.

 

[Baymule]

We buy feeder pigs each year. Don’t want to keep breeding stock all year around. I try to find heritage breeds. I have a thread each year for the pigs, on my phone now. When I get on my laptop I’ll post the links.
I used to raise show rabbits. I got real good and real fast at butchering rabbits. You are right, it takes awhile to clean a chicken!

 

[Kimi BK]

Welcome!

 

[Coolbreeze89]

I have had a run with the gophers myself, I found my 22 was the best way to control them, just parked my chair by their homes and waited...take some patience, but it works. I leave the dead one in the hole, it deters new incoming gophers... but also try Mole Maxx, it works great on gophers and moles.. you must water it in the ground though so the smell causes them to relocate. I have some mole that have nibbled on my root veggies and leave me tunnels all over my garden, a few times I have used my shovel to go after them, and once flushed a few out with my water hose. My Aussiedoodle actually killed one a week ago too - she got a huge reward.

on the ants, we do not have fire ants here thankfully, but we do have a biting red ant (almost as bad) that lives in our sand and leaf cutters which can strip a plant in a matter of hours. I found fresh coffee (not old grounds but unused) is good as a deterrent, I scatter it around the plants I want them to stay away from. They hate the smell. I also use DE and scalding hot water on their mounds - not at the same time as DE needs to be dry to work. We do all organic in all our land here, so we stir away from pesticides near our gardens. But around our house I use ant killer.

I’ll give the 22 a try. Dang, they are destructive!

I stay organic with my plants as well. I tried orange oil/Dawn/water mix on my potted blackberry plant when DE didn’t deter the fire ants. I seem to have finally gotten rid of them, but the poor plant looks like a poodle, with just tufts of leaves at the ends of branches. I’m hoping it thrives in the spring! (It’s not even a year old now).

 

[Baymule]

My feeder pig threads. I like supporting the people who raise pigs with my money. It is much easier to buy piglets than to keep sows and a boar all year. I keep them 6 months, then I don't have to care for them all winter, they are in the freezer! LOL

Baymule's 2020 Feeder Pigs!

Here we go! Got two guilts today, Hampshire and Yorkshire cross. I’ve been looking, people sure are proud of their pigs this year. Finally found these an hour and half away and we went and got them. Sentry is in a pasture, not against the new Pigs, but he knew he didn’t like them. He barked...

www.backyardherds.com

Sometimes I get crazy! LOL

Baymule's 500 Pound Boar!

I found a deal on a huge boar. His name is Wilbur and he is a Red Wattle. He got too big to breed their sows, so he went up for sale. The lady who owned him couldn’t put him in the freezer, he was her first pig and a pet. He is very calm and gentle. But she became afraid of Wilbur because he...

www.backyardherds.com

I built a Pig Palace

Baymule’s Pigs 2018 HEREFORDS!

I found 2 Hereford boars 4 1/2 months old on Craigslist. We went and got them today. I have long admired Hereford Hogs and am delighted to find these! As usual, I have no hog pen ready and won’t be putting them in the pasture we sprigged with Bermuda and Bahia. So I guess we better get busy...

www.backyardherds.com

Feeder Pigs 2017

Monday, February 20th, we bought 3 Red Wattle pigs, 4 months old for $75 each. I found them on Craigslist and we jumped on them quick. Just weaned piglets were listed for $65 to $100! We plan on keeping them probably 3 months and taking them to slaughter. We offered 2 to neighbors and they...

www.backyardherds.com