lupinfarm's journal: a pretty little wilderness

[FarmerChick]

magic can happen when people meet up! keep the faith, ya never know.....then again, don't ever worry if nothing happens, cause honestly, ya have to meet alot of guys --sometimes---to find the right one....and yes, it could be one you already knew, thought it wasn't going to happen, and a few years later it does.....whew...that was long.....hope you get that! fate and destiny and all that are strange creatures!

 

[lupinfarm]

First and foremost, HAPPY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE.

Okay, down to the details. Last night around 12am the power went out, it was high winds conditions outside plus the rain was now all freezing. We didn't get power back until 12pm Christmas DAY. So while we could have made egg and baky on the stove because it's propane, we decided the clean up would be insane later since the pump obviously was not running we couldn't use water from the well to do any cleaning. Instead we went for a drive to Belleville to see what was open for foodsies. Nothing was open. Not even Timmies which is usually open on Christmas Day.

Then we drove west on the 401 and then back east again to a Micky D's on the highway, really horrible, but it was food regardless.

Before we left I made the chickens some treats to keep them warmy all inside, this mostly consisted of a MASSIVE tray of hot mash (Oats, Something that is either wheat, rolled oats, or barley (not sure which), frozen sweet peas, oyster shell, rice, and some honey put in a steamer pot on the stovetop) and some apples rolled in peanut butter and oats.

They left the apples until later tonight, at about 6pm they were munching away at them in the coop.

These are the apples etc. that I made...

Anddd outside eating the mash.

Funny thing about the mash, later I came out and I had added some of their egg shells to it crunched up, well I looked at it and thought to myself.. I didn't put that big a piece of egg shell in there. Then I got closer and realized one of the chickens had laid her egg in the mash LOL.

 

[PamsPride]

Sounds like your chickens had quite a feast today while you had Mickey D's! LOL! That is to funny that one of them laid an egg right in their goodies!

 

[2dream]

Nothing like MacD's for Christmas dinner. LOL That will go down in the family memory book - a hey, remember when story to be told over and over again.
At least you made a memory and the chickens ate good.

 

[FarmerChick]

wow sorry for your rough and wierd day.
nothing open here on Christmas also. My little corner gas station opened and everyone was so thankful to him. He is from India and a real nice guy and decided he would open 10-5....late open and early close but he had tons of business!! I stopped there on my way to moms and dads and got some drinks for us to take.

you made memories....always when we had wierd times on holidays those are the ones that are remembered and chatted about for many years to come!

an egg in the mash...HA HA...that is funny. She wanted a warm spot under her butt!

 

[lupinfarm]

Also, Christmas Day I decided to reconfigure their coop space, get rid of the single level roost as I had noticed one of the chickens sleeping on the floor because they wouldn't let her on the roost. Instead I put in this tri-level roost, it's enough space for 12 chickens when at least 4 sleep in the window sills.

Don't worry, I have painted the pressure treated sides of it already I just didn't have any regular 2x4s and I took this picture before painting them.

The two upper levels are from their old roost, I thought it'd be attractive to them to have their old nasty roosting pole added onto the new one.

With the three levels, now everyone has a space on the roost, even the lowest on the pecking order.

I also put in new nesting boxes. I posted earlier with my frustration about them eating their nests and finding broken eggs because they scrape out all the shavings and then lay on the bare wood. I thought at the time the plastic storage crate boxes were too close and too easy to access for them and that's why they were messing with them. So I decided to use the cleat I had for the old roost as a rest for the new boxes, and made these! I still have to add the pitched roof and one leg but essentially they hold themselves up on the cleat and "joists," that were once used to extend the roost away from the wall.

The chickens really seem to like them, and this way the chicken who is the lowest on the scale who got picked on while trying to lay, has some privacy to lay her egg. I didn't put a roost on the front of it because they are able to get in and out without it, and roost on the guard when flying up. Last night I had left the boxes open without anything there, no dividers or anything just cause it was too late to work, and when I got out there this morning one of the chickens had laid an egg in the big open box LOL, unfortunately because there was no nesting material in there it broke, but it was pretty funny.

Today we went into the new Lowes in Belleville to get a wheelbarrow (there was a SLIGHT accident with the old one while transporting concrete down to the field to concrete in a 5 inch cedar gate post, where the wheel barrow lost a wheel and has sat by the barn since october LOL). While in there, we were looking at a woodburner that was okay for up to 1800 sq. ft. (our house is about 1350 sq. ft.). In the end we decided to go to Pellet Power, a wood and pellet stove dealer and installer in our closest town. They supply and install wood and pellet stoves for everyone in the area, so we'd be more interested in buying local than from a large chain store.

We also ended up in Smiths Falls today, via Perth on a little road trip to check Perth out. We went to the Big Ben Park, and walked around the local shops. Tomorrow we'll be leaving early after egg collection to Ottawa for my dad's 53rd birthday, we're stopping off in Perth to go to their huge fabric shop so I can look at getting some toile for my bedcovers (I'm sewing up a duvet cover and pillow shams for myself after not finding what I want in the stores). I'm going to use the toile that has the stable hand on it, in the brown and white. My walls will be a light but warm shade of brown, and we're going to bring the colour up onto my ceiling (I have sloped ceilings, our house is 1 1/2 stories, and the bedrooms are in the pitch of the roof upstairs). All my baseboards and trim will be in honeysuckle white, which is a very soft white, and we always use the outdoor paint in semi-gloss because it stands up better to wear and tear.

Anywho, that is all for today from lupinfarm! Oh except we put up the eggs for sale sign at the end of the driveway today, and I still have to put one up at the end of the road. Hopefully we get some egg customers soon!

 

[PamsPride]

Fantastic nesting boxes and roost!

 

[lupinfarm]

Last night our power went out again due to a wind storm that reeked havoc on the surrounding area. It was like a hurricane outside. Houses in the area lost shingles, had damage to windows, siding, etc. Barns were blown away. We didn't sustain any real damage, the barn doors were open this morning, and garbage had gone on a walk about. HOWEVER, the biggest amount of damage we had was our driveshed. Already on the lean, our 3 sided 1870's driveshed is leaning more, and one of the supporting beams is more on an angle. Also, the centre post has moved, and one of the trusses is gone. Roofing is missing. The building was in poor shape to begin with, but hoisting it back up would have done the trick with a new foundation. Unfortunately though, after the storm it is too far gone and we'll have to get a demo permit in the spring to take it down, hopefully saving any large beams. The upside is that it's really too big for what we need, has no foundation, and doesn't open the right way. Now we can at least build a new run-in shed up in the top field where the driveshed is.

Also, the old hackney shed, another 1870s building has sustained some extra damage. It was in worse shape than the driveshed, bu still standing straight. More roofing is missing, another truss has gone, but the basic frame is saveable for when we move it. It will hopefully, if the town gives us the go-ahead to move and restore the building, be the barn for sheep or goats.

Today was a beautiful day though, warm, sunny, little to no wind. I got the back wall of the duck house up, and marked the first truss out, so tomorrow I will be marking and cutting all the trusses and setting them in place. I ran out of 2x4 so I have to use 2x6 for my trusses, which means I won't be doing the chicken run for a little while longer, at least they have a run though! They're using Nacho's 10x10 dog run at the moment. We took a trip into Madoc today to the Co-op, and I found a goat feeder, it's small with two bowls attached and is supposed to be screwed to the wall, I'm going to screw it to the back of our access door so I can swing the door open, put feed in, then close.

Also, we got 12 eggs from the chickens today, 3 dozen in the fridge now which is way too many for us to eat. I put a poster up at the co-op for eggs, and we have a sign at the end of the driveway, but unfortunately our driveway is really long and kind of icy right now. I'm hoping with the snow we got tonight it'll be a bit better. But I've got to make a sign for the end of the road, not sure what I'm going to do as there really is nowhere to put one up aside from the wood post that the road sign is on, and I'm not sure the town would care for that. Mum suggested we bang a stake in, but the ground is frozen right now so that's a no-go.

 

[PamsPride]

Wow, that was some really strong winds you had! Your town must really be strict if you have to get a permit to take down a lean-to!! I hope you can find buyers for your eggs!!

 

[lupinfarm]

Wow, that was some really strong winds you had! Your town must really be strict if you have to get a permit to take down a lean-to!! I hope you can find buyers for your eggs!!

Well, lol.. We're not sure yet, in most cases you need a demo permit because of safety, but some it is because of the age of the building. The driveshed isn't safe right now, it's leaning, and it groans in the wind, but it's also very old so we're unsure.

We have to get that hackney shed moved first though, cause if the driveshed goes down, it's going to go down ontop of the hackney shed.

LOL I won't lie, I was MAYBE hoping the barn would have bit the dust, it's very old, and it' sgoing to take a lot of money to get it up and running again, but it is insured for $50,000 which would be more than enough to build a new 4 stall barn if that one went down. It's a huge old foundation barn turn ramped barn, with 4 good size stalls and maybe 2 pony stalls and a tackroom, plus the new well system. 1500 sq. ft. a level, two levels, upper is the hayloft obviously.