Coops Cleaned

Yesterday I did the dreaded cleaning of the chicken and turkey coops.  In the winter I use the deep litter method so there was a lot of crap in them.  I hauled the waste to the garden bed and will till it in when the ground thaws more.  Found a couple mouse families in both, the chickens ate a couple of the mice (ick).  Not much I can do to keep them out, I don't have food in the coops that is in the runs.  I guess living next to a field and woods doesn't help.  Now until winter it gets cleaned monthly or sooner.
Today my back and knees are hurting and my legs keep me from getting a good nights sleep.  I am pretty much unfortunately used to getting little sleep.

Mr Sandman Where Are Thou

Mr Sandman where are thou, I need you to come back to my house tonight.  I went to bed last night at 9 PM and was awake at 12:30 AM.  So I got up at 1:00 AM and have been working on my store marking down all the items.   I need to make room for things I plan on purchasing in April on our trip to Pennsylvania.  We will be gone for a week and I can hardly wait to go.  We have only been to Amish country in Pennsylvania one time about 20 years ago.
Our almost 18 year old granddaughter will come over and help our grandson who is 23 that lives with us take care of all the chickens and turkeys.  While we are gone hopefully there will be some turkeys hatching.  Every Sunday I put the turkey eggs in the incubator from the week.  Out of the the 4 turkey hens only one is old enough to lay and I have been getting 5 eggs a week from her for the last 2 weeks.  The other 3 hens should start laying in about a month.  I will continue to try to hatch all of the eggs myself and then when it gets warmer I will let them hatch some if they go broody. 

Smoking Meat

At an auction last month we purchased a new Brinkmann Charcoal Smoker for about $30.   Ron has wanted one for a while now and this is a nice size one and got it for a pretty reasonable price.  Ron and I smoked one of the turkeys we butchered this winter, a chicken I butchered last week, a corn beef tip brisket roast that I picked up yesterday and some fish filets.  When you smoke something you might as well fill up the smoker. There will still be plenty of space but for the first time smoking something I think we will stick with these 4 items.  We had the turkey today along with some pasta salad, quinoa salad and spiral cut baked garlic butter potatoes.
We will have the other meat during the week for supper.  All I will have to do is add a side dish with the meat and have a really nice meal.
This was a first for us, we have never smoked anything before and I can see we really missed something all these years.
Of course I taste tested everything and there will be a lot more fish done, the brisket is soooooo good and all the meat was nice and juicy.

The smoker.

The turkey, 7 lbs.

Fish filets.

Chicken and boneless corn beef tip brisket.

Two Incubators Full of Eggs

On Thursday I filled my first incubator with 41 chicken eggs and then today I filled the second one with 40 chicken eggs and 1 turkey egg.  I will have to take the turkey egg out and put in my 3rd incubator when I stop turning the chicken eggs.  Hopefully the turkey who is laying will continue and the other 3 will start laying real soon.   All turkey eggs I get I will incubate unless when it gets warmer one of the turkeys go broody I will let her sit on them.  But for now while we are still experiencing snow, ice and below zero temps I will collect the eggs and add them to the 3rd incubator.

Turkeys Have Started Laying

Found 2 eggs in the turkey coop today in a corner I hadn't looked in.  I just figured they would lay in the nice nest box I have set up them.  Needless to say with the polar vortex we still have going on they were frozen.  So from now on when I go out several times a day to get chicken eggs or to check on everyone I will be looking all around the turkey coop.  It is earlier than they started laying them last year so I hadn't been looking that closely.  I added some more bedding to their nest box and moved it to where I found the eggs and am hoping they use it.  I don't know where there are any golf balls or I would put a couple in the nest box.  I'll have to see if Ron knows when he gets home from work today.  Yahoo, hopefully I'll have better luck with turkeys this year, not easy to hatch and get past 6 weeks; that has been a problem for me.

Hatching Some Chicken Eggs

On January 31st I put 25 eggs in one of my incubators.  I didn't fill it because I wasn't sure the 2 roosters were doing their job.  Yesterday I candled the eggs and only 4 had not developed anything. So I have 21 eggs that are showing some growing going on inside. A week from this Friday I hopefully will see some babies. I will fill 2 incubators after this group hatches.  Now I am getting really anxious to see how many of the 21 eggs will hatch. 
In a month or so the turkeys should start laying eggs and I will put turkey eggs in the 3rd incubator.  I didn't have very good luck with turkey eggs last year and am hoping I do better this year.  
I will keep you posted and of course will post pictures just like any proud mommy would. 

More Snow in the Forecast

Looks like we will be getting more snow in the next 3 days, just what we need.  I guess there are some positives:  snow melts and fills my well, the farmers need it on their fields, I can tell if any animals have been around the yard or by the coops by looking for foot prints.  My negatives are:  I have to shovel it, we've had our share this year, the chickens won't go out in the run until I shovel them a path and I am just plain tired of it. 
Last year we were spoiled and had less than 4" for the whole winter so I guess we are making up for it this year. 
I think the worst part of this winter has been the horrible cold temps.  We haven't experienced this type of temps in over 30 years.  When it does get below zero we seem to have the horrible wind with it and that just makes it worse.  I stay nice and warm in the house but I would like to spend more time outside.  Right now all I do is go out to collect eggs several times a day so they don't freeze and to feed the chickens and turkeys.  A couple of times I did walk around the yard to pick up twigs and branches from the white pine tree.  We have a huge pile of branches we've lost from that tree this years because of the ice and wind. 
Well no matter how much I complain about it there is nothing I can do to change it.  My daughter Renee said yesterday at this point you just have to laugh when you hear snow in the forecast and I guess she is correct.

Beautiful Sunny Sunday

Wow what a difference just a few days make.  It is a beautiful day, sunny and 41 degrees out.  I didn't put on a jacket when I went out to tend to the chickens.  They are all out enjoying this nice day.  When we were shopping yesterday I picked up 2 heads of cabbage at Aldi for $1.29 each and Ron hung one of them in the run for the girls to eat.  I try and do this every couple of weeks, it gives them something to do and some good greens to eat.  It took them about 2 hours and it was gone but they had fun picking at it while it lasted.  I told them to enjoy this day because tomorrow the high will be 1 degrees, no not a typo, it will be one degrees for the high tomorrow.  Mother nature has a way of building our hopes up and then knocking us down real fast.
On this nice day I have a small hen turkey that we butchered last month baking.  I also have a nice pan of dressing in with it.  At Thanksgiving I made a huge amount of dressing and then portioned it out in containers and froze it for times like this.  We've used some already and have 2 more containers in the freezer.  After I use that up I need to make some more of the dried dressing mix that I made last year, that stuff was simply delicious and so easy to make. 

The chickens out enjoying the sunny day.

My turkeys.

The 3 males, brown one which you can only see part of and the 2 black ones.  The white one is 1 of 4 females.

Several of the chickens in the coop, the brown and white one is my favorite and she lays green eggs.

More of the girls decided they wanted their picture taken too.

Front yard, can you tell where the septic tank is?  Your correct it is the big bare circle up at the front of the house.

What A Different Week

Last Monday at this time we were -18 with wind chills in the -35 range.  It is just a little after 9 AM and it is 38 degrees out, partly sunny and beautiful.  Just came in from gathering eggs and feeding everyone and did not need to put a jacket on.  Last week when I went out I would put on a jacket, 2 scarves, a face hoodie, 2 hats and gloves and was still cold.
We got a huge head of cabbage for the hens yesterday and hung it in the run so they would have something to do and also a treat.  All that is left right now is the core of the cabbage.  I need to do that more often as it is so good for them and helps pass the time so maybe they won't eat their their eggs.
I and they need to enjoy today because the weather is changing and by the end of the week the high will be only 20 degrees.  Oh well it is winter and I live in Central Ill and this is to be expected.

This is me and what I had to wear just to go out and gather eggs last week.

A Tour of My Chickens and Turkeys for a Former Coworker

 http://www.amazon.com/Cattle-Tales-Seven-Cowboy-Stories/dp/149435151X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1388449786&sr=8-1&keywords=cattle+tales

Yesterday morning one of the guys I used to work with came over with 2 of his kids to see my setup for the chickens and turkeys.  He has just published his first children's book and was thinking about getting some inspiration for another book and wanted to visit.  Shaun, Sophie and Christopher were my captive audience as I showed them around and tried to share everything I know about raising chickens and turkeys.  I'm sure at some point I was boring them but I was so eager to share my knowledge.  The only thing I miss about not working is having interaction with people on a daily basis.  My husband IS NOT a talker and neither is the grandson who lives with us, so when someone comes over I so enjoy it and NEVER shut up.  They were here for almost 2 hours and after talking outside we came in and the kids enjoyed some hot cocoa.
Sophie who is 11 was interested in seeing all my canning stuff so I was more than glad to show her my canning closet.  I also shared with her the stuff I dehydrated.  We talked about other things and then it was time they left so they could finish their Saturday chores.
Go to the link above and take a look at Shaun's first book. 

Turkeys

The weekend before Christmas on a not so horribly freezing day Ron and I butchered 4 small toms to put in the freezer.  When dressed out they were all about 8 lbs and just the perfect size for the 3 of us.  Now we are down to 7 turkeys, 3 toms and 4 hens.  I though we had 2 toms and 5 hens but the other day I discovered that what I thought was a hen is a tom.  If we had know that when we butchered the others we would have done one more.
This group will be used for breeding and then late this summer after I get plenty of poults they will get butchered and start the cycle over.  All three toms are different breeds and the hens are 2 different breeds.  Don't ask me what they are because I have no idea except for one Tom who is a Bourbon Red.
So for my first year butchering turkeys we ended up butchering 6, not bad for a first timer.

Unwanted Visitor

A couple of weeks ago Ron spotted a coyote in the back field, we've seen coyotes out back before. This morning when going to collect eggs I noticed large tracks all around the coops and yard. I followed them to see where they went and where they came from. I followed them through the field and had to stop tracking them when they disappeared behind the neighbors wood pile and down into the gully and woods. The tracks were all over the front yard, side yard and back yard so he was exploring the entire area. Our runs and coops are very secured so nothing happened to the chickens or turkeys. We have a trap that we can set out but first need to find out if it is legal to do so. I don't want or need any coyote hanging around this close to our house. He has plenty of fields and woods to roam without roaming my yard.

My Horrrible Experience

We experienced the worst weather in Central Illinois than we have had in 25 years in the last 48 hours. We've had snow, horrible winds and way below zero temps.  I've went out several times today to check on the turkeys and chickens and on my second trip out I noticed the chickens couldn't get to their water because it was drifted over 18" in spots so I went in the run with the shovel (the run is only 4' high so I am stooped over the whole time). Shoveled them a path and backed my way out, about 20' and couldn't get out. The latch had fell and I was locked in the run at -9, wind chill -25. Lucky Ian was home today so I called him to come out and save me. I was properly dressed but even at that my fingers were frozen. When I came in the house I cried for over 5 minutes while trying to get them warm. I forgot to tell you I am claustrophobic!  I can tell you for sure that this will never happen again.

Whizbang Chicken Plucker

Just ordered the majority of the parts to make The Kimball Whizbang Chicken Plucker. I will be able to use it on the chickens and turkeys this year and will cut the work of dressing them down to just a few minutes. Can hardly wait to get the stuff so Ron and I can start making it. This is our winter project and I love doing projects.
The parts will ship out of New York today so we can start working on it real soon.

http://whizbangbooks.blogspot.com/

Turkey Processing Day

Today was turkey processing for 2 lucky birds.  We processed 1 tom and 1 hen, the tom will be for Thanksgiving and the hen is going in the freezer.  It was 23 degrees out and a horrible wind so it was darn right cold.  We ended up doing the gutting inside because we were frozen.  Derek and Brandon came over to watch and stayed outside until we were almost done with the first turkey and then went in because they were cold.

Learned 2 things today:
1. We have to get the plucker made and soon before we do the next group of 6 turkeys in a couple months.
2. Looks can be deceiving, the turkeys dressed out a lot smaller than I thought they would.  Of course they are not commercial breeds and had plain old turkey food WITHOUT growth hormones.  The tom dressed out 14.8 lbs. and the hen 8.1 lbs.  The hen will be the perfect size for the 3 of us with leftovers.

Hen Butchering Day

Today Ron and I butchered 12 old laying hens.  I thought we'd never get done.  Before next season I WILL HAVE A PLUCKER.  Plucking them by hand takes forever.  After dressing the hens we moved 18 pullets to the laying coop.  We put bands on all their legs so we know what year they were born.  I now have 38 hens and 2 roosters.  For a while eggs will be few until the new girls all start laying.  This is the last of butchering chickens for the season.  We butchered 33 chickens this year.  Next year we hope to do more.
After moving the chickens we moved the turkeys to their coop.  We have 2 toms who weight 25+lbs and 3 hens.  We will butcher 1 tom the Saturday before Thanksgiving and the rest will be for breeding for next season and hope to have more turkeys next year than we did this year.  We started out about 8 this morning and by the time we were done butchering, bleaching everything down, feeding everyone, scrubbing all their water containers and burning all the feathers and guts it was 4.  I am dead tired.  Need to get some rest and get up early tomorrow and get the house cleaned for the family gathering.  I'm grilling hamburgers and beef brats, made Ali's Turkish salad, have chips, soda and everyone will bring a covered dish.  It is going to cool down so it will be nice outside to just sit and visit.

My Day, Not as Planned

Ron and I got up early this morning to butcher several chickens but woke up to rain.  We need the rain but wanted to get the next group done.  So now we will be butchering chickens on Saturday morning.  Ron goes back to work tomorrow and doing it by myself would take forever.  I would love to find a used chicken plucker and am running an ad on Craigslist looking for one.   Not sure exactly how many we will be doing this time but for sure there will be 4 roosters and several hens.  I think I will cut the meat from the bones and grind the chicken as we eat ground chicken and ground turkey instead of ground beef.  Then I will put the bones in the roaster and use the broth to can and if there are any small pieces of chicken I will can that.

After we get the butchering done we will be moving some pullets to the cage of layers and move the 4 leghorn hens in with the leghorn rooster so we can get some pure breed leghorn eggs to hatch.  Leghorns are the best layers and each hen lays about 6 eggs a week.  I will leave them together for a couple of weeks and start collecting eggs to hatch the second week when I'm sure they are mating.  This will mean that the new leghorns will start laying in the early spring.  Out of the first 12 chickens I hatched I had one 1 rooster and so far the other 20-30 others are just getting old enough to start telling.
Of the 5 turkeys I have I'm sure we will be only butchering 1 for Thanksgiving and saving the rest for next years breeding and then will butcher the ones kept from this year and start a new breeding group every year. Turkeys are best if butchered before they are a year old or not more that 15 months .  If older they get a little tough.

I've learned a lot this past year on chickens and turkeys and have done things I never thought I would do.  It just goes to show your never to old to learn and I love learning new things.

Ted and Thelma Find a New Home

Ted and Thelma went to live the rest of their lives out on a farm where they can free range all day with another turkey and lots of chickens and ducks.  Ted and Thelma were 6 and 4 1/2 and too old to butcher and the eggs have not been fertile.  I decided to save a male and 2 females from the turkeys that hatched this year for my breeding stock.  Of the 5 turkeys I have now 2 are females, 2 are males and the other is too young to tell yet.  If the unknown turns out to be a female she will also be kept as breeding stock.  So that means we will only have 1 turkey to butcher this year unless some miracle happens and the 6 turkey eggs I have in the incubator turn out to be fertile.  

Saturday we will butcher a couple old hens, I have 32 hens that range from 1 1/2 years old to 3+ years.  The older ones were rescue hens and they will be the ones we butcher.  I also have 6 pullets that should start laying this month and then we have about 30 chickens that I and Brandon hatched this year.  We will butcher all the roosters and some of the hens and save some hens to replace the ones we butcher.  My target number of laying hens is 30.  That would give me about 2 dozen eggs each day and maybe I won't have to turn away any customers.

I'm Still Here

I am very disappointed in myself for not keeping up on my blog this year.  It has been a crazy year so far with not feeling the best for several months and with having my Etsy store and selling on eBay I have been busy.  These are just excuses I keep telling myself.
My grandson Brandon who inspired me to start this blog sent me an email early this morning:

So I was just wondering why you haven't posted anything on your blog in 3 weeks exact. I'm just saying your blog is like my nightly newspaper, and I haven't gotten a paper in 3 weeks so I decided to contact the company (you). 
So could you please start posting funny and interesting stuff again? Please.  

So here I am, June has been a nice warm and wet month.  I harvested my beets last weekend and canned 11 pints of pickled beets.  We've had creamed peas with new potatoes twice and buttered peas once.  I have one more picking of peas then they will be pulled up and green beans will be planted.  I put in 2 rows of green beans early this summer but the rabbits ate them.  Hopefully the rabbits have found something different to eat and I will get some this time.  Yesterday I put in the second planting of beets and hopefully I'll get a third planting in.
My tomatoes are going wild, my daughter Renee said they look like they are on drugs.  No ripe ones yet but it is still early.  Cucumbers are loaded with baby cucumbers so I should have cucumbers soon.  I have a couple green peppers and the egg plants are blooming.  We've had plenty of rain this year and I love that.

Chickens: 33 laying hens, 6 new pullets and about 30 adolescent chickens.  Several of the hens, several adolescents and the 6 pullets came from Renee and Brandon.  I sent for some leg bands for the birds and am going to band this years layers so I know for sure what ones to cull next year.  I will be culling several of the ones I have now and replacing them with some I hatched this year.  By winter I want to be down to 30 layers.  The older chickens will be canned for soup, noodles and casseroles while the ones hatched this year will be ground and the breasts frozen for meals.  Of course I will not waste the bones and will can plenty of chicken broth.
Turkeys:  I am planning on culling Ted and Thelma after I get some questions answered on them.  I am new to raising turkeys and need to know if they will be good to roast.  Thelma is 4 and Ted is 6.  If you have an answer for this please let me know.  I have 5 adolescent turkeys and will keep some of them for next years breeding stock.  I want to end up with one male and 2 or 3 females.  I keep trying to hatch Thelma's eggs but am not having any luck.  I have only one turkey from them.  I've lost 6 or 7 when they were just a couple of days old and most of the eggs have not been fertile.

I will be more diligent in posting and hopefully won't bore you.

Went on a ride yesterday and saw this old house.  A good strong wind and she will be no more.

Brandon's Evening in Pictures

Pea bloom.

Birdhouse Brandon and Ron made several years ago.

Flower bush out front.

Egg sign on the tree.

Garden that is doing wonderful.

Onion beds.

3 chicks that are about 3 weeks old.

Chicks that were born this weekend.

What is that crazy Brandon doing?

No I'm not smiling.

I did not know for sure how many hens I had so we went out and counted them.  There are 33 hens and 1 rooster.  Some of the hens are on a roost on the other side of the coop.  Please note that you can not see them but there are 2 more roosts below where they are all crowded together.  Chickens by nature will sleep as high up as they can.

Broiler turkeys and chickens. 4 turkeys and 12 chickens so far.