Quick Update
All our laying hens are now dead--and even the rooster. We actually had a chick born as a result of the rooster's presence; the chick is also dead. This has happened over a number of weeks, all to predator problems that we have not been able to bring to a halt. And our dogs are less than worthless in the effort; they would help the predator(s), if they thought they could get some chicken. I'd like to think that we'll never again have dogs (or any critters) on the place that are not working and contributing to the farm in some way. The three dogs we have now are a liability. It's looking like the two cats may be, too.
We have a small batch of broilers again, but even the chicken tractor was attacked: a hole was actually torn in the chicken wire! Around six chicks were killed. This happened a few weeks ago, and thankfully, we've had no more successful attacks on the broilers. We have more broilers on order; we're going through our first batch (processed July 4) very quickly. The broilers we have now and those on order are not Cornish cross.
It appears that one of our cows that is expecting will be delivering fairly soon. We are also hoping to slaughter a steer soon, one we own with friends. We had thought about doing it this weekend, but Keith wants to wait until the weather is a little cooler.
The garden has been mostly cleared off, now, and a compost pile has finally been started! Of course, we still have turnip greens in the garden; they often last through the winter here. And my mother was not quite ready to do away with the tomatoes, even though the tomatoes we're getting are quite small--still, they are far superior to what we can get at the grocery store, and even to some we can get at the market. (Also, I think the market will soon be closing down for the year; probably at the end of this month.)
We made apple cider last week--very cool and very good!
We've been blessed with many guests over the last few months. I cannot say enough about each of them; they are such precious gifts to us and enrich our lives in innumerable ways.
Our children amaze me with their character. The Lord has truly blessed us with and through these arrows.
Mary Susan
We have a small batch of broilers again, but even the chicken tractor was attacked: a hole was actually torn in the chicken wire! Around six chicks were killed. This happened a few weeks ago, and thankfully, we've had no more successful attacks on the broilers. We have more broilers on order; we're going through our first batch (processed July 4) very quickly. The broilers we have now and those on order are not Cornish cross.
It appears that one of our cows that is expecting will be delivering fairly soon. We are also hoping to slaughter a steer soon, one we own with friends. We had thought about doing it this weekend, but Keith wants to wait until the weather is a little cooler.
The garden has been mostly cleared off, now, and a compost pile has finally been started! Of course, we still have turnip greens in the garden; they often last through the winter here. And my mother was not quite ready to do away with the tomatoes, even though the tomatoes we're getting are quite small--still, they are far superior to what we can get at the grocery store, and even to some we can get at the market. (Also, I think the market will soon be closing down for the year; probably at the end of this month.)
We made apple cider last week--very cool and very good!
We've been blessed with many guests over the last few months. I cannot say enough about each of them; they are such precious gifts to us and enrich our lives in innumerable ways.
Our children amaze me with their character. The Lord has truly blessed us with and through these arrows.
Mary Susan
posted by The Bradshaws at 3:24 PM
4 Comments:
Sorry to hear of the chicken losses. This posts makes me appreciate our dogs (and cats as much as if hurts to say) all the more. It is hard for people to believe our dogs and cats love each other so much and even more that the dogs and cats don't eat chicks or keats. The dogs do eat eggs once in a while but so far we put up with that.
I hope you can resolve this problem soon.
I am so sorry. It is always disappointing to have losses, but continued losses gets old really quick. Maybe you could got with a more hardware cloth type wiring on your tractor. It is not easily torn open and has smaller holes. Also, have you tried some electric poultry netting around your area? That should help eliminate the problem. It is well worth the investment and you can get some that work on a battery. Go to http://www.premier1supplies.com/c/fencing/ These people are great and you can even call them and tell them your problem and they help you figure out a solution.
I feel badly for your chicken losses. We went through the same thing; if it wasn't a weasel it was one of our dogs that did damage. We finally resorted to having to tie our biggest offending dog. The other dog has always wanted to please us, so when he saw how much we detested what he did, he quit -- at least now we can trust him when we are home, but when we leave we tie him up. Thankfully our cats have left the chickens alone. We also didn't do a good job of feeding our broilers, so when we finally butchered them they were nothing like they should have been. This has all been such a learning process for us. Hope you have a better experience with your next batch. We get the winter off from broilers, but still have turkeys and laying hens.
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