Bettacreek - New home? Plus a pic of some of the ladies here

[Bettacreek]

So... I've changed my mind, yet again. I'll be keeping more than just one of these guys. Why? Because as I'm told, some of these are lavenders... If it's true, they'll absolutely make some money on hatching eggs later, so ALL of the lavs are staying. *Sigh*

 

[Denim Deb]

If I ever get to your area for a visit, you might find some of them missing.

 

[BarredBuff]

Yeah the Lavs are valuable, you'd have quite a hatching egg empire there

 

[Bettacreek]

I'm just not sure how I ended up with lavenders from eggs that cost me $1.75. That's totally insane. I really hope these guys truely are lavs.

 

[BarredBuff]

I'm just not sure how I ended up with lavenders from eggs that cost me $1.75. That's totally insane. I really hope these guys truely are lavs.

If you live in area like me, value is not value in other spots. We get grass fed beef less for conventional, store bought beef. Somebody probably had them, and didn't know what they actually had.

 

[Denim Deb]

If I ever get my own place and can have birds the way I want, you just might find me heading up your way to get some chicks when you have them. I like how they look.

 

[Bettacreek]

George is the worst enabler ever. I no longer have to build a coop... Which I was really not looking forward to plunking money down for. I'm so excited that it's not even funny. I'm using a cellar room for the birds. Not only do I not have to pay for the supplies to build a coop ($100 range), but I have a LOT more room, and it's predator proof, to boot.

He also came home today with a bunch of tomato cages for me. I told him I was going to stake them up, and he said cages were easier to work with, but I told him they were too expensive, stakes were cheap, and I'd rather put a little more effort into them than having to fork out the cash for cages... Then he comes home with a bunch of cages, lol. He's been simply amazing. We had several huge issues in the past, and I thought he'd never change, but, honestly, I think he has. The flirty crap has stopped, he's been spending a lot more time with the boys and myself. And, crazy thing, he really likes the turkey poults... He's always checking on them, talking to them, etc. He's like the only person in my personal life (besides the kids of course) who doesn't think I'm just a nut job for all the things I enjoy. My parents think I'm crazy ("just go to the store and buy it!" "It's all JUNK and garbage", etc). My brother is somewhat in line with me, but not quite as crazy as I am, lol.

I've also sold some chicks. Only six, and I ended up giving them to him for $2 a piece. I was tired of trying to do the math on the prices of each different kind he got, with kids whining about anything and everything, and ended up just saying "let's just do twelve and be done". Even at $2/each, it's still a good profit, plus it reduces the amount of feed a little bit. After this weekend, I'm just going to adjust my ad and list them all at $2 (the layers still at $1.50 or possibly dropping it to $1/ea). Hopefully they'll all be gone before having to hit auction, then I don't have to drive down. That'd save me some money on gas, reducing my chick costs to $0.16/each (gas and egg prices) and that's even including my duck eggs...

 

[Bettacreek]

Well, most of the people who were "going to come this weekend", I haven't heard from. I had two "lavender" chicks, and one is missing... I think the guy who bought six took one of them instead of a blue!!! And, to boot, it was the one I think was a pullet, the other I think is a roo. So, just going to take him down to auction with the rest. I'll just stick with my original gameplan of the cornish x, turkeys and pekins. I'm still debating on picking up more poults... If I could vent sex earlier, it'd make my life so much easier with that decision. I just can't see any difference in any of the chicks. I've sexed my older ducks and a definate penis popped out on the drakes, and it was confirmed with green heads coming in on them later. I just wish little penises would pop out that easily much earlier in the game! I don't mind having toms to munch on, but I need some hens, and would love to know how many of each I have!

The little "coop" is working VERY well so far. And the shaving bedding is working SO much better. In less than 24 hours, they made the brooder into a disaster area. It's been about a day since they've been in there, and you can hardly see any poop. I'm ready to get rid of these little chickens though, they're eating a lot of feed, and I want that money to go towards other stuff.

Also finally starting to get applications back for the craft shows. I am excited to get some shows done, and get some product sold. I have higher hopes this year, since I've changed the labelling and packaging of the soaps, added some colorants and have more variety to the scents, plus a few new products. I'll still have to do some more candles, but that's a given with how few I made for our first show. They will do better in the fall as well, since most people tend to do candles in the cooler, festive months. So, hopefully I get a decent amount back this year.

Garden is still slow going. I still need to go buy the extra plants. I haven't seen anything of the seeds I planted, but it's only been like three days or so, so I'm not worried yet. Tomatoes aren't looking the best, but they're hanging in there. Pepper plants seem to be doing really well though.

 

[Bettacreek]

Still haven't ordered my chicken chicks. I currently have 30 that didn't make it to auction on Wed, plus I just pulled 22 to put into the big room, with several more hatching. Also have buttons hatching out now. One chick so far, plenty of pips (didn't count, too many eggs, pips are small and open incubator time is limited when you've got hatchers.

We've been putting more compost down on the garden. That's hard stuff. George helped to put the last load down, and he's like "how do you get this in the car?" "I shovel it in" "By hand?! That's a lot of work you've done then" Like, yeah... Now you understand why I only do like two loads in a day... It's exhausting on top of everything else that has to be done in a day!

Also got my SLSa yesterday, so there will be a lot of "playing" to do. And, got to eat lasagna and cake at my parents' house in celebration of my nephew's and my birthday. George not only ate an end piece to the cake (extra icing), but he didn't go to the gym either, lol. Everyone was laughing, telling him they thought he gained a pound since he walked in, thinking he looked a little bit chubbier since he arrived, etc. He's very pro-health, but that's a good thing. At 63, it's keeping him healthy and in excellent shape. Nobody can believe that he's actually his age, they all think he's much younger. So, it all works. I was shocked that he did go for extra icing though, he's not big into sweets, lol.

 

[Denim Deb]

Was it chocolate icing? If so, I'd go for the end piece too.