Pink Fox: its Raining...IN MY HOUSE! :/

[pinkfox]

Honestly ive not known many dobes, a couple of special needs rescues, a few that I knew in passing fro the vet and a couple of yugolavian line babies that were the LOVE part for me lol.
its been a breed ve admired for a long time always wanted but before talie I didn't realy excect to ever have one in my life...and now, keiras been here less than a wee and I cant see myself without one in my life.

the ay she and the little girl interacte was magical, shes not realy huge into people, not disliking of people, but shell go over stand quietly for the mos tpart let you pet her and that's that...if you eep petting her shell stand there a little longer....
but this little girl just was getly rubbing her chest and keira just rested her chin on her shoulder and the little girl leant forward and put her forehad on her chest and it was like hallmark adorableness!
shes such a sweet gentle soul, and yet when she barks its terrifying.

I can understand people being warey shes a large black dog of a bred who, thanks to media sensationalism, have a bad rep...but youd think dog "professionals" would have a little more of a clue
kinda sad realy!

FEM ifyour looking for a loyal loving protective companion whos made of part Velcro...GET a Dobe! you wont be sorry!

 

[pinkfox]

computer fried itself, thanks to a couple of angels disguised as my friends however I now have a new computer and have to learn how to use Windows 8...its odd but im getting the hang of it!

just went out and fed buns and did their water. its COLD! but they are done at least. quail are also fed and watered, they need to go to freezer cam though soon, especially the older batch of A&M's they've started canabalizing eachother (they only got fed yesterday morning and aparetnly a few hours without food means lets eat out cage mates. one wing is missing feathers on the side where the wing was torn off, but the wound itself looks fine...
the one that got scalped however is now missing most of the flesh off its head and the feathers all down its neck. skull is visable and there it is head in the food eating away I swear quail are actually zombies!
that cage will get done first, but I have got to make space first...hoping to get at least all the whites done tomorrow, then the browns on Tuesday...
going out Wednesday and thurs so will likely do the buns on Friday.

this means this afternoon ive got to done the warm clothes and go climb in the chest freezer and make a list of everything I have.
will pull any bread that's in there and defrost that for the critters over the next few days., make a list of everything else and hopefully rearrange things to make space to recive.
Ive also got to go through the freezer in the house and see whats in there and make a list and figure out what to do with some of that stuff too!
right now theres about 18 quail and 3 rabbits to go to camp.

still no nesting from the rex girls, they've got till the first weekend in December before there considered over due.
silly girls...

did manage to get the hands free leash made this morning. very happy with how it turned out.
got to measure up and see how much is left of the paracord i got
Would have to charge about $25 to cover costs and labor on the hands free/multi-leash.
hardwares the expensive part, gonna do some looking online to see if i can find a place to get that stuff cheaper.

anywho...gonna go sort the inside freezer i think...figure do that one first lol.

 

[frustratedearthmother]

Brrrrrrr...it's toooo cold to be rummaging around in a freezer! I had a scalped quail too - when I discovered that she also had a gimpy foot - she was dog food.... I've got 9 more males to do before Thursday - cuz they are our Thanksgiving dinner!

 

[pinkfox]

I know right, i think im going to do them today and let them sit in the fridge overnight, if i get them done this morning i should at least be able to go through the house freezer today to make some room.
i used the last of the game feed yesterday (the feeders hold about 2 days worth) so by tomorrow morning they'll likely be trying to eat eachother again lol.

so that's pretty much the plan for today its cold, theres a call fo rain and then potential wintery mix on the overnights...
haven't fed the buns yet but wanted to wait for the sun to get up a little higher *BRR*
ill take my processing stuff out with me then and get the quail done. i figure it shouldn't take too long since ill be skinning them.
least i wont have to worry about flys. :/

then the rest of the day will be spent on the freezers and trying to get the house cleaned again. don't know if trash day will be weds or Friday this week, its uusually Thursday.

if theres time a little later and its not freezing i might also take Keira down to the park, but that ones debatable given the temperatures.

 

[pinkfox]

well 1/2 the quail are done. got everyone in the white pens chopped when some rain/hail started coming in so I brought them inside to process.
will do the other 1/2 later or tomorrow.

the good.
pretty easy, had an easier time chopping their heads off then I do processing the rabbits...
the clean up processing part was easy too relitivly once I got the general idea of where everything was.
I whent out to feed about an hour ago, did buns and water bottles then started..so 9 quail in id say 45ish mins from live to chilling...not bad for a first time.

the bad.
so many feathers LOL!
these guys were small...the batch of 12 week olds cleaned out to just under 4oz a piece, I got 2 nice large ones that came in a little over 4oz...the 7 week old batch however were TINY...most in the 3oz range...I got one that was barely over an ounce!

conclusion so far, I wont likely be doing A&M lines again, I can see where the benefit would come from if plucking (white feathers easier to clean) but for skinning, mabe its just this particular batch/line but definatly not large enough to be worth the feed...
but ive got a nice looking batch of 9 quail setting in the fridge.
ive got another 9 browns to do...all told that's a week and a half of food for both ruby and jasper. not enough to realy make it worth the feed since they didn't lay/begin the self reproduction cycle...
but its a good experience and ill do quail again...the browns I already know are larger (while also a little older) so im pretty sure browns are the future plan
saved the hearts livers and spines/necks for the cats too so they will be happy lol.

right now though, chilling having a drink and trying to decide what I want for lunch.

 

[pinkfox]

well the rest of the quail are done..
MUCH happier with their sizes, still a little on the small end compared to what I want...but MUCH closer than the whites. smallest was 3.6oz, largest (and probably my dinner tomorrow) 5.2oz. (that's bone in but guts and spine removed)
im looking to get MINIMUM 4oz dress out weights though.
ruby should be getting about 4oz per day, jasper about 2oz per day
Keira will probably not be getting much in terms of quail since she realy needs about 1 1/2 lbs per day...and the quail are literally 1 bite meals for her that id worry about her eating them whole.
not a big issue, chicken can be had fairly cheap for 1/4's anywho, so shell stick to chicken and rabbit as a primary diet with the cresties on quail and rabbit as primary diet. then whatever other meats will get added once In a while as I have acess...got a feeling im going to have to start hunting...lol.

the browns were no harder to dress out and I even plucked on to see if it would be difficult and honestly other than an odd pin father here or there, it would be just as easy to pluck them as any other color (and they pluck REALY easy!)
so I now have 19 quail set resting in the fridge, should be about 12 days of meals for the 2 lil ones at least.

anywho.

after that was done, ran to town for layer feed....
and a quick walk in the park, it was cold, to the point that even Keira wanted back in the car after about 10 mins. managed to get in 1/2 mile before we both said DONE.
got home and the power was out, checked the fuses, no issues, and just as I was about to call PEC there they were infront of my house looking for wherever it had gone Poof. ill give those guys this, when the power goes out they are on the ball!

now just chilling, having a drink...
in a little while ive got to set up my spare crate and go play catch the rooster. Big Red Roo, and little red hen are going to a new home tomorrow evening...a frined lost some of her chickens and one of her faves was a banty coshin hen....
so I told her id sell her my partridge banty cochin hen IF she took the roo as well...hes too pretty to butcher but needs his own girls and banty roo has been trying to attack him through the fence...
so she seems very excited, hell have a little flock of girls of various sizes to look after...and its 2 less mouths to feed.
bird wise this will leave me with my mottled bantie cochin group (1 roo, 3 hens) and my 2 girly geese.

I realy need to find a home for the Holland buck, and add 2 girls to the bunny butcher list for next week...I know which 2 girls, but if I don't sell him, those girls will go in a little colony with the Holland (bluebell and laurel, both broken opals) if I can sell him though, those 2 will be freezer camp bound, cutting me down to 8 buns total. if not ill be at 11 for the winter, not bad compared to 20 at my highest.


yeah...
that's about all I got right now.

the plan for the rest of the day is, pull out that crate, and get it set up, lil red is fairly easy to catch she comes running for food but big red is more skittish so ive got to get him tonight while hes with the geese for supper.

tomorrow is a little crazy, need to prep some stuff for dinner Thursday, making cranberry sauce (not the canned jellied junk) an apple crumble and some pull apart bread going to malke the cranberry saice and bread tomorrow and prep everything for the crumble, then just have to bake the pie while were having dinner on Thursday. Crumble is always best served hot!

 

[pinkfox]

big red roo and lil red hen successfully caught and crated and fed!
all other critters also fed.
its fuzzy jammie time!

 

[Denim Deb]

I'm at that time, too.

 

[frustratedearthmother]

I'm right behind ya'll.

Congrats on getting the quail done - I did ten tonight. I've got 'em soaking in briney water for Thursday's dinner. I need to weigh 'em, but dang - a 5.9 ounce one sounds HUGE! That's awesome! I don't think I had any of them that dressed out that big. :/

Do you leave the wings on?

 

[pinkfox]

nawh, not enough meat on the wings to make it worth it I snip them and the feed off, then peel the skin off pretty much in 1 piece, snip down either side of the spine and use a finger to scoop the innards out, rinse and done