Lorihadams-- hi guys...been busy!

[lorihadams]

Well....my start to 2011 was awful.

Hubby and I were taking down the xmas tree and decorations and putting them back in the shed. I'm taking the next load of boxes out to the shed and I hear hubby screaming obscenities from the chicken run. Our young roo decided to attack one of the duck hens and peck her neck down to the bone and tendons. Hubby was crying and saying "the Bast@%$, I just couldn't get to her in time"

Now, my hubby is a duck and goose hunter but he loves his ducks. I took the hen, who was sadly, still alive. I reassured her that she was okay and hubby went after the rooster. This is why we will never have a roo. Every single one we have ever had has ended badly. I had planned to sell this one in the spring when chicken fever started but alas....hubby was able to catch him and slammed his head against the 2x4 on the bottom of the chicken house. Repeatedly.

Did I mention that he loves his ducks?

Now that I finally have the hen's heart rate back to a respectable level I made the executive decision for hubby to "go get the knife".

I quickly dispatched her and spent the rest of the day consoling hubby and trying to figure out how I'm gonna rebuild my flock of ducks. I now have 2 drakes and 1 hen and we all know how THAT will work out. Come springtime I was going to order some new babies from Holddereads anyway to restart my flock with some new blood....now I have no choice. I do know a lovely girl the next county over that has blue runners but I wanted to stay with a different color cause everyone seems to really like the blacks and chocolates.

Grrrrrrr.

Hubby and I also had a serious discussion about the "fence situation" and have decided to fence in about 1/2 acre on the side of OUR property next to the other side of the shed where the garden was originally going to go for the goats. We are going to see if hubby's cousin will come over with the tractor and help rip up all the fencing we just put in on the property that was supposed to be ours before the great "betrayal of 2010" happened with FIL and BIL.

I don't know where we'll put the garden but it looks like we're gonna have a lot of work to do. Good thing we're starting from scratch, huh?

It's raining and I need to go get ready for church.....Happy New Year everybody.

 

[Wannabefree]

Sorry about the duck lori. Roosters can be vicious at times, as can husbands. Good thing he got rid of him though.

I hope you have a great time at church!

 

[framing fowl]

Oh no. That must have been a horrible sight. Not a fun way to start the year for sure. As far as the fencing, big disappointment last year but now you know what you've got to work with. Hope you have an uplifting time at church.

 

[savingdogs]

Sorry about your duck, that is sad. At least you were there to help end the suffering quickly. I don't like that tendency of poultry to be rather mean like that sometimes. We have had mean hens, who pecked on other hens viciously when they had an injury, so it isn't just male chickens that can be mean. We have a nice roo, and he is our first one. I didn't realize we are so lucky to have one like him. He rules by personality and never pecks anyone.

Somewhere on BYC, I read that if chickens were our size and we were their size, they would eat US.

 

[lorihadams]

yeah, we sat down and had a heart to heart yesterday and hubby just doesn't have it in him to be an a*hole to the general public.

The thing with the fence is that now it is on BIL's land, he will NEVER sell it to us unless there is some sort of catastrophe and now we are stuck. The good thing is that we have 3 acres of land and that is plenty to work with. Chickens and ducks are done, shed is up and the lean-tos just need to be closed in for hay storage and goat barn, then we just need to run fencing around the barn side of the shed and figure out where the garden/bees will go. The biggest thing for me is the increasing problems I am having with the neighbor's dogs. I want to do no climb horse fencing for the goats and BIL won't let us put it on the big pasture on his land. He will only do electric and even then he is complaining about how the fence posts every 30 feet are obstructing his estately view.

If you don't wanna see farm stuff, don't move onto a farm. DUH.

His new wife was raised on a dairy farm. Are you kidding me?

Anyway, I just don't want to put money into someone elses land. He's gonna have an aneurism when we start ripping out those fence posts. If the county catches him he is gonna get fined bigtime cause he has the land in land use but he has no livestock on it.

The good thing for us is that we are starting with a blank slate so we still have the ability to do what we want.

 

[Dace]

I hope things go smoothly for you..... sorry to hear about the duck.

 

[Denim Deb]

So sorry about your duck. I think I'm really glad that I took the young roos out of my chicken pen. The one will try to peck me when I go to feed them. As soon as I can find someone to teach me how to butcher them, he's gone!

And, it looks like I'm going to have to go back and read more of your journal so I know what the situation is w/your fencing. But, hope the rest of the year goes more smoothly for you.

 

[dragonlaurel]

Sorry about your duck. Stuff like that makes me nervous about having one someday. :/
At least you'll get to see the look on his face when you get your fence back. ***Evil grin***

 

[lorihadams]

Well, we just got back from a visit with one of the good neighbors, my hubby's uncle and his cousin. He and his wife said pull up the fence posts and do it on our land. It's nice to have backup

I think we are going back to church tonight. There's a local quartet that is performing and apparantly they are pretty good so we may go for the first half of the concert tonight and take Aunt J home at intermission so Uncle can stay for the whole thing. She is a teacher and goes back to school tomorrow so she doesn't want to stay late tonight.

My 5 yr old is being a brat. His response to everything is to yell. He also whines, a lot. I know that it is partially my fault, the yelling at least, cause I yell a lot. When the kids are fighting sometimes it is the only way I can get them to listen to me and "snap out" of fighting mode.

I'm trying to remain level headed but its hard when you are with your kids 24-7. Sometimes I just snap. :/

 

[Henrietta23]

I've noticed this week that a lot of my DS's behaviors that drive me nuts are things I do as well.
So sorry about the duck. That absolutely stinks!
And the BIL too...