Peep,Peep,Peep

Our youngest son's Gifted and Talented class incubated eggs that hatched right before spring break. They hatched around 20, and we are now the owners of 12, adorable Red Island Reds. I've raised day old chics one time before and made the big mistake of putting them outside too soon. I was going to lock them in the wonderfully spacious coop Ben made until they knew where 'home' was, but was talked out of it... I knew better, but didn't follow my gut. Sure enough, all that peeping and no mother hen meant breakfast, lunch, and dinner for our cats... I was really upset, and mad!! I wish birds weren't such a great things for cats. I don't mind the rodents, but I'm always a little sad when I see they've killed a pretty Blue Bird or Cardinal. They never seem to catch the nasty Jays or Sparrows... We don't have too many barn cats now, and they're all 'fixed', so hopefully someday we can have some bird feeders again! LOL! I'm really getting used to the sound of the chicks almost 24 hours a day. They've graduated from their box, to a large rubbermaid tub, and are about ready for another move. I was going to use one of the 4x4' whelping boxes, as that's perfect! They're about 30" high. I'd like to move them out into the garage so I don't have sawdust in the house (again), but I don't know what I'd do about the darn cats. It's impossible to keep them out of the garage 100% of the time. I hate to put plywood over it, as they poor babies would never see day light, and I'm not about to hook a heat light in there and then put plywood over it. I'd have frrried chicken(s). So I guess in here is where they'll be. I'm sure Ben could make a top out of that rigid screen material, (like rabbit cages) but I'm a little scared that if a cat jumped on it, it would knock the heat lamp off. (I'm a 'freak' according to Ben- but hey, when was the last time we had something stupid happen...) I need to look in my chicken info book and find out how much longer they need heat. They are about 50% feathers now. Rhode Island Reds are such a pretty bird. I've also read they are pretty tame and bond with humans. These will be our layers. (All but 2 roosters will be butchered for the dogs) I need to order a nice batch of day olds from McMurry's. They have a hybrid of sorts that is a wonderful meat bird. I'll be stuffing a freezer with them. Some for us and some cut up for the dogs. Supposedly these birds are at finished weight at 8-10 weeks. That's hard to believe, but I guess it's so. I'm also thinking seriously about ordering day old Khaki Campbell ducks for both herding and eating. They are attractive duck that is light skinned, so it's easier to pluck. Like the chickens, they'll be in the freezer for both us and the dogs. Probably more for the dogs, but we'll see. I have enclosure made for them already, so it's just getting the money to order them. The more I think about things, the more I think I might skip an awful lot of the up coming trials and get things "right" around here. There isn't too much more to do. The priority being finishing the last 315' of the property with fence. Then the entire property is fenced and the dogs can just be out being dogs even if I'm busy with something else. It'll take one roll of fence and the posts. I already have 2, 8' gates for the driveway so that's a big expense already covered. Yesterday I spent nearly 8 hours taking down the kennels along the south side of the house (11, 10x10's with canopies). I got 2 remade over by the garage where there is natural shade nearly all day. It's completely shaded during the hot hours of the day. The canopies last a year. It wasn't the wind, it was the sun. They faced south, and from about #4 as they went west, they just got completely dry rotted from the summer sun. I replaced them with $20 tarps (6 of them!) that were uv and seemed heavier duty. Problem was they weren't a perfect fit. They were just a bit wider. So Ben kind of layered them. Well this meant that not all the holes had a bungee, and that the bungees were hooked to the next canopy over's tubing. Well... that was a mess in the wind! The tube that is at the top of the Aframe is two pieces. Since the canopies were hooked to the next one over, what happened was in the wind the 2 pieces got pulled apart, and they looked like *hit. I hate stuff that looks half-*ssed. So since we're finishing the fence, and the dogs can just be out in the yard most of the time, I'm just going to move their kennels were there is natural shade and not even put tarps over them. I don't kennel them in the rain. When it rains they can either be loose in the yard so they can lay on either of the 2 porches, or under the trees in the grass, or they'll be up in their crates. I never hooked them in a wet 10x10'. Eventually Ben is going to build me a kennel building that will include a permanent cover over the outdoor enclosures, but that is a long way off. I'm kind of thinking of putting in a 10x(up to) 100' garden were the kennels were. It's very good soil there and it's in a good location. That wouldn't be till this fall.

So I'm off to get some more kennels put back together. Taking them down was a fairly slow process. I did the canopies and aframes Tuesday and the panels yesterday. I didn't get any dogs worked yesterday since I just dove into that project. I should get some worked today, as I don't know when I'll loose this field across the road. It's a late crop they put in (it's always been either beans or peanuts), but I don't know when they'll start getting it ready.