Savingdogs-Saving the chickens

[framing fowl]

I can just picture the scene. Sorry it didn't go well for you but I'm just giggling at the thought of you tricking them with scratch. Sounds like something I would do. Maybe they'll be nicer tonight.

 

[ohiofarmgirl]

ha! tell them that the line to file a complaint starts here and ends at the grill

it also helps if you yell "who wants a piece of me today?" and then act a little crazy. that works for me.

;-)

 

[Denim Deb]

ha! tell them that the line to file a complaint starts here and ends at the grill

it also helps if you yell "who wants a piece of me today?" and then act a little crazy. that works for me.

;-)

I'm sure it does!

Are the goats carrying around signs that say ON STRIKE! UNFAIR LABOR PRACTICES. WE WON'T MILK TIL WE GET OUR CHOW?

 

[savingdogs]

So this was the day we were going to the county fair.....but.....

We went to the local cheap grocery story and stocked up yesterday. The cupboards were bare so it took some cash. We spent over 500 dollars! So much for going to the fair. We also bought Trouble some pants, he was down to ONE pair. The kid is growing like a weed.

But we DID manage to buy bulk of everything and we concentrated on dry goods and non-perishable type items. We feel GOOD! Buying the food was more important. I'll be cooking everything from "scratch", we didn't get anything pre-prepared except canned chili, which is the favored food of the men around here. We also got a couple cases of pork and beans because they were dirt cheap and we figure if we had to, we could eat those cold & uncooked. We also got sacks and sacks of rice and dry beans, oats, flour, sugar, baking soda and baking supplies. And spaghetti sauce...I have to learn how to can my own and grow enough tomatoes next year to make a supply like this myself.

I really wanted to check out the animal barns and figure out how to show my rabbits there next year. Oh well. I will just have to spend time with the animals in my own yard I guess if I want to see animals, and I'll thank God I have them every day. I'm also sooooooo grateful that my SSI check will come at the end of the month and we can buy Trouble his school stuff just in time.

The sun is coming up here and the clouds are stuck on the mountain. I was watching a travel show last night and saw photos of the Smokey Mountains in the south. That is almost exactly what it looks like here! They should call these the "smokey mountains". Except that could be a self fulfilling prophesy, there is a nearby town that is famous for having a huge forest fire around the turn of the century which leveled the whole area over there. This area has not burned....

We have never been able to learn why or how our mountain got named. I tried to find out online but couldn't find any references. There are some local books that I checked out from the library as well that show local history, but nothing about naming the smaller mountains. There is, of course, the stories about Mt. Saint Helens and Mt. Hood and such, there is a fun Indian tale about them, kind of how the native americans explained the volcanic activity I guess. I am very interested in the era of history when this area got settled and the Oregon trail many of them took to get here.

 

[ohiofarmgirl]

great work baby! dontcha just love having all that stuff - dontcha just feel ready?



our county fair usually has a 'family' day - for just a couple bucks. i think a nearby one also has a 'free' day - they might offer something along those lines.

but yay for you! and we'll teach you to make sauce - easy peasy.

*hugs!*

 

[savingdogs]

I need to get my tomatoes to grow first! I did manage to make two plants survive this year and they are just about to give me my first tomatoes. I grew cherry tomatoes though, because of the problems I had getting them to ripen last year when I tried Romas. I'd have to make cherry tomato spaghetti sauce or buy the tomatoes I guess. I just don't have a tomato climate here. In California, I couldn't EAT all the tomatoes I grew, there were always ones to give away. My mom used to tell me she was afraid to can foods because canned tomatoes can give you botulism? I was always afraid to try canning kind of because my mom scared me about it as a kid. I realize now that is silly, but things you learn as a kid can sometimes stick to your ribs.

We also bought a lot of ground meat yesterday since we don't really have our meat production going very well here. The rabbits have just sold for too darn much money to eat, the ducks are not surviving except the two and when I got some help sexing the chickens over at BYC, I don't have too many cockerels after all. I'm actually delighted about that.

Would you believe the four chicks I incubated are ALL pullets? What are the chances of THAT? I was thinking there must be a scientific reason why that happened. Also, three of the four are RIR/BO crosses and only one is a pure BO. So that makes me think that possibly Charlie was not fertilizing all the eggs well enough. His favorite chicken was always a certain RIR and she is probably the one who layed the eggs that hatched. That poor thing still has not recovered all her feathers even though Charlie has been gone a couple months. He was an active guy!

But I only have three cockerels out of 25 chickens, all three EEs. I wanted to have two EE roosters so that leaves me just one to eat or sell. All three have actually turned out real pretty so it will be hard to decide, but the one I called ugly duckling is probably the one I won't keep. Except that he has such a submissive personality, he might be the one that doesn't mind having a second rooster around too much, so we will see what develops there. I was told by an EE person at BYC that I ought to keep the blue and red one, that it will be "stunning" when it is older. I've been calling that one Uh-Oh because I thought it was a hen. The other one I've been calling "Red and White" so his name will probably become just "Red." Maybe I should give them a more dashing name, like the three musketeers....or maybe the three stooges is more apropos.

 

[sunsaver]

I could never eat a chicken if i gave it a name. "Boy! This Charlie and dumplings sure tastes good! Sorry, Charlie!"

 

[BarredBuff]

Good job on the stocking!! Im getting there thankfully!

 

[savingdogs]

Hi BB! Nice to see you around.

 

[BarredBuff]

Hi BB! Nice to see you around.

Yeah its good to be around. Maybe my schedule will fit SS in!