Simplifying Our Farm

Silas and Frankie 2011

Jerry in our kitchen 2010 - and no, we kept the rabbit in the cage behind her...it wasn't a goat cage. What a wee little thing she was!

Brownie and Jerry Winter 2011

The goats were a stressor. After a year and a half, we decided to find another home for the goats. I'm really saddened by this. I'm not going to dwell or air my dirty laundry online...well, more so than usual.

We have decided to focus on the chickens. We are now poultry farmers.

We recently acquired 30 broiler chickens. We have lost 9 in a week and a half. We are not good chicken farmers. This morning we lost our 9th. I had the little girl all wrapped in a warmed towel, giving her sips of cool water. Her eyes were closed and I could see her little tongue as she tipped her head back to drink the water. The husband said to just put her back in the brooder...there was nothing I could do. Within an hour she had died and had been pushed aside by the other chicks.

We also acquired 3 Auracanas. They are still with us.

It's interesting to see the size difference between the broilers (Cornish Cross) and the Auracanas. The broilers have become double the size of the blue egg layers.

We have more chickens coming this week, as well as some turkeys. Oh, yes...turkeys. Gobble, gobble.

I'll be ordering more egg layers, too.

I still can't decide whether to cull some of the layers at the end of the year or just keep them until they die of old age...