New Babies

Do you know what these are ?

 I'll give you a hint , My husband named them- Thanksgiving, Christmas and Pot pie. We Started out with 3and our dog "Piggy " got into where they where being kept and killed them. So we had to start all over again. I believe them to be broad breasted whites. and there are 3.My husband made them a turkey tractor, we just move it across the lawn  as needed so they can free range along with there feedings. Turkeys eat A LOT ! Some thing like twice there own weight every day. See the tractor below. Hey there's 4 turkeys in there ! HAAAA just kidding, think one is my hubby.

 Two removable latters " opposite sides "

 An up stairs , so they can put them selves to bed.

Strap to pull, when moving.

 nice size.

 looks nice. Again, the roofing material ,from our son jess. Thanks Jess.

 YES ! That is a Rabbit you see in our yard. That's Jack " short for Jumpin Jack Flash" He comes out of his cage in the mornings while I feed, he never goes very far and he gets along with the chickens ,turkeys, even the cat. He's on the "TABLE" list, if you know what I mean, but I don't know ! He's kind of growing on me .....

 Its a little crazy around here at times. Wouldn't have it any other way. T.

Roosters

Meet Red. Red is a LARGE rooster, and he is in jail right now. Why you might ask would he be in jail ?

 Well, Old Red doesn't like to play well with others. He likes to fight the other roosters and that upsets the Girls "the hens ".

 Now in this Pic. above you can see 2 other roosters(at bottom right)black and white, this is Kellogg, and at the (top left) met Romeo , so full of colors. Now these kind of get along. That is they are both in the same pin yard and same coop at night, but Romeo rules the roost. Because Kellogg is willing to let Romeo rule he is some what left alone. That is as long as Kellogg doesn't try to have his way with the ladies, he's ok.

 Now as you can see, the girls look a little worst for wear, do again to 3 roosters and only 8 hens. So they are getting a bit of rest right now. Any way, that's what lead us to believe we needed to add on.

 So, this is the 1st coop. Feed and supplies were keep in the middle section and rabbits in right side, chickens in left. And this worked fine. Until, our lovely ladies started hatching chicks. Yes . Yes. Yes. I love those girls. we have 7 maybe 10 at the moment hatched " soooo cute " anyways we have to go and take the chicks from the hens because they nested up too high and the chicks have no way of following momma around.  Its working out ok. How ever we would much rather momma do to deed. makes for stronger, healthier chicks, more likely to raise there own and they don't have to be reintroduced to the flock again.
.

 My husband building away. We are taking care to make sure they have sun and shade when they choose.

 The back view of old coop.

 This is the door to let them out every day, its a mud flap added to a piece of board. Beep Beep !

Digging the holes for the fence. Forgot to tell you . We are expanding the run also.

 Just look at their view.

 Getting ready to put up the chain-link fence.

 This is metal shelving our son Jess brung us. We will be making a gate out of them.

 One gate panel on.

 Chuck finishing up the fence. Below the gate is up and a homemade latch bar installed. Waste not, Want not.

 AH, see the babies !         We have other babies also, next time. T.

Starter plants

Just some of the plants planted for the garden.

Fodder

So , we wanted to try feeding our chickens and rabbits fodder to cut the cost of store bought feed and keep it fresh.

 My husband made me this simple cart and I just purchased baskets from the dollar store.

 I drilled holes for drainage.

 I started with a little bag each of, barley, alfalfa and oats $16.00 for all.

 

 soaked the seeds over night and changed the water until water ran clean and clear.

Spread the seeds out in the baskets and watered from top , the drip system took care of the rest. All I had to do was wait and make sure they don't dry out. So, to make a long story short. Every day you start a new batch and that way everyday you have some ready to harvest . Takes 7 days to harvest. Some grew better than others. I stuck with the barley. You get the most out of it and it's the fastest growing of the 3. Chickens and rabbits both like it .T.

 Micro greens

Shopping the Discount Grocery Outlet

Well I had stumbled across this store and decided to go in and see just what it was they were calling a discount grocery store outlet. Turns out it is owned and operated by the Amish and it is stocked with foods from trucks that for what ever reasons won't be able to reach there destination. The owners of the store had contracted with the insurance company and they are called if a truck breaks down and they go retrieve the contents so the truck can be towed for repairs. Any way this is what I bought, A salt cured ham that weighed at least 25 lbs. I looked up the maker when I got home and called them to ask how to cook a salt cured ham. They where very helpful and explained that the hams are special ordered and come out of Tennessee , and that the ham I was referring to was at least $89.00 salt cured ham. I was delicious, I even canned some. Cost of ham $ 19.99.

 we bought summer sausages for $1.29 each and pkgs of Mrs. fields cookies (6 pk) .50 cents pk.

Now , you can't expect to be able to do your every day grocery here. How ever , you can expect to be surprised with a gook deal or two. T.

Winter photos

From our back yard.

Another Cake

This was a cake done for a friends son.

Hope he enjoyed his day and cake.

MAKING WINE

I decided to try making my own wine.

 I started out with a cheep verson using grape concentrate, just to see if it worked befor I spent the $ and time on fruit.

 I got a glass carboy and the rest of my equipment at the hobby store in Lancaster, Ohio.

 The sugar I used.

I'll keep you up dated as per how it is going. It takes a while. T.