Spring has sprung

It is a beautiful spring here as far as temperatures go. It's been in the 80's, some nice sunshine. We've gone to the Star of Texas livestock show and went to the rodeo. What a blast! The chickens are all growing, some of the garden is planted and Ward is working furiously to get fencing, coops, etc built. He is building a broiler pen for our first test batch of cornish cross broilers that we hope to have ready by the end of May. He also has been clearing a land a little bit at a time. In the evenings...the June bugs come in swarms. We've started putting buckets of water under the lights. In the morning, there are loads of them swimming around and guess who they are a treat for? The chickens ignore their food and come running for the bugs. There are many wasps too. The red ones startle me, they have a buzzing noise they make and when it gets too close to my ear it makes me want to freak out. I've heard their sting is bad...hope i don't find out. Several neighbors have regaled us with stories of scorpions too. Ward has seen a couple when turning over boards. He says they are reddish in color. I have only seen black ones growing up in Oklahoma. Apparently the neighbors have scorpions in their house all the time. Almost everyone has a sting story. I'm hoping the chickens going under the house all the time will keep them at bay. Maybe it will be worth the chicken poop in the yard. I don't know how to make them not come up in the sink or shower drain. Guess we'll cross that road when we come to it. There are some SERIOUSLY creepy Bugs out here. By the way, don't ask who the pumpkin is in the garden picture is. We have a hand roll cultivator and push seeder that we bought for the garden. Makes pretty easy work of it. We have several new animals....a dog named Lucy, and two cats...Mina and Lynard Skynard. Lynard has already caught us a nice mole. Thank you!

Goats in Trees

The former owner of this land told us one time that they had goats and came out one day and they were in the trees. I think I know how they got there. One of our little goats is making a play for the branch. I will post if she makes it. Chickens are all doing well. Adult hens are picking up their laying a bit. I wish more. I do believe some of them are not laying at all. Teenage chickens are in their new coop, The Chark. They have limited outdoor run space right now until they get a little bigger. Still easy prey at this size. Baby chicks are so CUTE! They move from the heated part of the brooder into the larger cages on March 23rd. We are going to the Star of Texas livestock show and rodeo this week. Very excited to see cattle and pigs. Also getting close to ordering some broiler cornish rock crosses. We are starting the experiment to raise some for ourselves first before diving into processing for selling. That's a ways off, but am excited about having chicken in the freezer within a few months.

Garden Time

The garden is tilled and ready to go. But ward has to put the fence up first. He's out driving T posts today. plus we ordered a hand push farrow/cultivator and a seeder. It's supposed to be here next week. We're just so anxious!

THE CHARK

Here are some preliminary pictures of the chark and it's soon to be contents.

We named it the chark because it is a chicken coop that resembles an ark. The contents are our 6+ old week baby rhode island reds and white leghorns. They are very anxious to get out of the brooder and join the laying force in only about 4 more months! The older hens have gathered around to meet and greet.

Can't believe it's March

We seem very busy the past few weeks. Ward is desperately trying to finish the coop for the 6 week old chicks to get into today. I think he'll make the deadline. He will hurriedly move onto to spreading lime on the garden and tilling the whole thing. We should be planting soon! There are still fences to build also. Luckily, the days are getting longer. I will be painting the chicken coop tonight in a barn red. Hope to have pics of it tomorrow. We procured four 330 gallon water containers for rainwater collection. Now if it would only rain....sigh! Dewberry Farms was kind enough to give us a load of composted wood chips and chicken manure last weekend. We took about 3 yards worth and that will be tilled into the garden. I hope we can grow something. I have a small vegetable garden in the bed outside the side door. I have it fenced off from the chickens since they ate everything I planted last fall. I have lettuce, carrots, radishes and kale growing. It is doing well so far. We have been looking at and for equipment to start putting together our processing facility for broilers. My of the time we've been scouring online, but I think we'll probably have to buy some new equipments like a plucker. That's several months away. We are going to the livestock show and rodeo on March 17th. Hoping to see and talk to some breeders about different types of cattle. I am still leaning towards miniature herefords.