TTs Chicks Pics and Ramblings

[TTs Chicks]

Sunday was an interesting day - my oldest ds woke up throwing up and mid-day my middle ds started at the opposite end. Didn't do much - went to the grocery store, they had alot of stuff we use buy 1 get 1 free and some good sales so I spent about $105, but what I saved was about $75 (according to their register printout).

Yesterday when I got home from work dh informed me that I had a rooster with a hurt leg. When I went out to take care of the chickens I took a look and it is the leghorn roo that has decided to be mean. He has attacked me and my 4 year old - attacking my 4 year old signed his death warrant, I will not have one that I have to worry about my kids being around. I have been going to butcher him for over a month and haven't gotten around to it. He can hobble around and get to the food so I'm gonna watch him and if he doesn't get worse I'll wait til the weekend.

During the week I don't do much but go to work and go home so my journal will be pretty boring - just thought I would warn ya'll

 

[TTs Chicks]

Sold 4 dozen eggs yesterday - 2 @ work, 1 @ my Mom's work and 1 from the sign at the end of my driveway. The lady that stopped at the house said that she bakes cakes and likes to use brown eggs so I might just get a regular customer

On a more somber note - when I got home yesterday the roo that was hobbling around was laying down and looked barely alive. He had gone down hill pretty fast and we had to cull him. I still don't know for sure what happened to him, I looked him over last night and other than some missing feathers I didn't see anything and everybody else seems to be okay.

My seeds I ordered finally came in yesterday - since this will be my first attempt at a garden I'm excited, but very nervous.

I ordered potatoes and want to try the tire method - for the last week the dump at the end of the road has had a huge pile of tires. Well my seeds came and this morning on my way to work I looked and . . . . you guessed it there wasn't the first tire there!! What the heck? Oh well - there will be more or I will build a basket instead.

 

[justusnak]

Hey TT, I tried the tire method once...and I will say, NEVER AGAIN! Oh MY were they hard to get apart..and heavy..and then haveing to dig the taters out of the tires..not to mention, you know there are chemicals in those tires. I am going to build my taters up like The Metal Peddler. Have you seen his thread on taters!? Looks easy and practical. No need to use up garden space because they can be placed almost anywhere!
Hope the kiddos are feeling better and no one else gets what they had/have. YUK!

 

[modern_pioneer]

Debbie was that you that told me a few weeks ago about those heavy tires?

Teri, congrats on doing a garden this year, I to am nervous this year. I have some high expectations from my garden this year. My clayoil ( clay some soil ) looks good this year

The reason I started the basket method was because I use to have a small yard in the city, my veggie garden was 6 x 8 feet, not much space. Back by my old fence, there was a space where I would grow my taters in baskets.

The down side of basket growing is hulling the soil/straw in. I don't mind checking on them every three days and watering them. When the plants get 6 inches high, pile some dirt/straw on top carefully, and leave 2-3 inches of the plant to allow it to continue to grow.

At harvest time, remove the basket, and start sorting for taters. It's a lot of fun compaired to digging out hills.

Keep us updated on your garden.

 

[TTs Chicks]

Thanks justusnak, so far so good - I'm knocking on wood - no one else has caught it and the boys are back to normal.

The-Metal-Peddler - Thanks - I'm sure your garden will live up to your expectations.

I may just forget the tires and go with the basket. I like the idea of not having to take up space in the garden for the potatoes

I have so many things I want to get done and not nearly enough time - oh well gotta pay them bills so I have to work Sometimes I really wish we had made different choices in the beginning, but I also know that we were not ready then. Everything happens according to God's will not ours and he obviously know us better than we did.

 

[justusnak]

So glad to hear the kiddos are better. AND that no one else caught it. I think the baskets will be good. As Jay said, hauling in the dirt will be the only downfall. Oh well...worth it in the long run!
I agree about "wish we would have made different choices." But, then we would NOT be where we are now, and I am very content with what we have. I feel DH and I have been blessed....for sure.

 

[TTs Chicks]

I am very content with what we have. I feel DH and I have been blessed....for sure.

That's exactly how I feel and what keeps me going when I start feeling sorry for my self Doesn't happen often.

 

[TTs Chicks]

I sold 3 dozen eggs this morning (I actually was brushing my teeth DH heard the doorbell) - some folks saw my sign and stopped I also gave 12 dozen to our church for breakfast in the morning after sunrise service.

This afternoon has been fairly productive. We butchered the mean roo that had been saved by my Dad - he was a lakenvelder and he was a really pretty rooster, but he started getting mean early. When we butchered our first set of roos he was supposed to go then, but my Dad wanted him cause he was so pretty. He lived at Mom and Dad's until a couple weeks after Dad passed and has been back here 3 or 4 weeks.

I made a couple of baskets to try to grow some potatoes in - used some pickets from a broken fence FIL gave me as uprights to wrap the wire around. Basically I used what I had laying around. Put some taters in and covered with hay so we'll see.

I planted a started gardenia bush that I got from Mom - it's been in a vase in my kitchen window growing little roots.

I moved some wild roses from my garden area over next to my driveway a couple weeks back. I put a piece of the picket fence from FIL over there so hopefully they will run up it.

Burned the one pile of limbs/leaves that was dry enough. DH moved a few wheelbarrow loads of mulch to the driveway before he went to work.

Cleaned out nestboxes and put clean hay in them.

Whew - I am tired and I still need to clean house and cook supper for me and the 3 bottomless pits

Hope everyone is having a great weekend.

 

[TTs Chicks]

Let's see - since I last posted . . .

I sold 5 dozen eggs. I have noticed for the last week egg production seems to be down - dropped an average of 6 a day. Every one looks fine and healthy. I got home tonight and I had 2 dead hens - - one was in the top nest box with her head hangin over the side and the other was on the ground at the bottom (not under) the nest boxes. I have no idea what could have happened. I'm gonna have to keep an eye out & have DH make regular checks during the day before he leaves for work.

I scored big time on tomato plants - found a guy locally giving them away He had Roma, Better Boy, and Biltmore - We didn't really count them he just pulled off a pretty good sized section - he had them started in big baking pans - of each. We guessed about 15 - 20 of each kind. I have given some to my FIL and I am going to take some to one of the girls that works for me. I tried to give Mom some plants, but now that Dad isn't there , she doesn't have anyone to help. I told here I'd just share with her cause she's gonna have to teach me how to put up the stuff I grow.

Stuff is starting to grow My taters are starting to grow. Grape vines have started to get leaves and look less like dead sticks. Granny Smith Apple tree has finally started to get some green on it - it was looking like a giant dead stick

I haven't found a tiller I can afford yet so Friday I'm gonna rent one for the weekend ($39) and get my garden tilled and Lord Willing planted

Oh - I told Mom that I had decided I wanted to get some guineas (ticks are BAD!!! in our woods) She has some and they have been laying for a little while now. She has a hen who has gone broody so we took some of her guinea eggs and put them under the hen Hopefully I will get some guineas out of this BTW - anybody know how long it take for guinea eggs to hatch?

Sorry so long - hope everyone is well.

 

[TTs Chicks]

Jeez - I know I'm boring . . .

This morning I found what looked to me like worms in some loose poo I went and got a bottle of acv and put some in all the water buckets. I went looking for some D.E., but the store I went to doesn't carry it. The lady recommended a sulfer dusting powder that is supposed to be safe.