Here's to 2014!

It has been a few months! Blogging has just been off of my radar for a while. I hope to remedy that and what better time to start than when I am starting to get spring fever? We shall see. I tend to stay more caught up with blogging when things are really busy around here, which it hasn't been recently.

That isn't to say that nothing has been going on or changing on Sunflower Hill.

The garden is closed down for the year, with the exception of some carrots still in the ground, but will be back up and going very soon! It is past time to start seedlings already!

The guineas free range full-time now. They bully the turkeys terribly so they had to be booted out of the turkey coop. They are still bullies when the turkeys are free ranging, but it helps the rest of the time. The guineas now sleep high up in a couple of trees that are located in a triangle between the turkey coop, chicken coop, and pig area. They are pretty safe there, especially guarded by the dogs all night. They also help protect the other birds. All are still accounted for and are healthy and LOUD! One thing is for sure... Nothing will enter our yard without the warning sirens going off.

The turkey population here at the homestead dropped by almost half right before Thanksgiving. A pair of black babies and a Bourbon hen found new homes. One turkey was sold for Thanksgiving dinner to a wonderful native american lady and her family who wanted to thank the spirit of the turkey before humanly processing it. Three others were processed here at the Homestead for Thanksgiving and Christmas. They were wonderful! We are blessed. We now have 6 turkeys. A Blue Slate trio (Yellow, Tallow, and Sari) and a Bourbon Red trio (Franklin, Tabby, and Terra). A new Bourbon tom, named Franklin, has joined the main flock. He is very curious (even by turkey standards), has to be in the middle of everything, and basically resembles a rambunctious teenage boy in every way. He is sweet and we are enjoying him. I am especially enjoying that I am not moving hoop tractors everyday anymore! I will soon forget how much work it was. I am already anxiously awaiting the arrival of our first turkey eggs of the year.

The tractors have been retired for the year but I expect to get them back out soon. Yes... despite being exhausted from working such long hours (tax season) and being sick lately, I have again been struck by chick fever! The incubator has been put back into action and is currently filled with two dozen Speckled Sussex chicken eggs. I have had roos of this breed in the past and loved them so I bought hatching eggs from a friend of mine. Unfortunately, the day after they were set the temperature here dropped and so did the incubator temperature without heat on in the house. It wasn't a huge drop. Just to 95F or so, and I don't think it was for very long but it was severe enough to have potentially killed the embryos. I am anxiously awaiting candling day!

The reason for the breed switch is because we no longer have most of our Buff Orpingtons. Our puppy, Luna, managed to take out all but 3 hens, including our head rooster, Jack. She is such a super sweet girl but she just couldn't manage to keep from playing with the chickens... to death. No harm appeared to be meant, but regardless, she was no longer able to be trusted with chickens. She was tied to a run line during the day and let loose at night to get her energy out for a while, but she soon learned how to free herself from the chain. She has since had to be rehomed. I really hate that, but living her life tied up was not fair to her and putting the lives of my birds in danger constantly wasn't fair to them. We sorely miss Luna, as well as Jack and his girls.

The other chickens are doing well, although not laying well at all. I think that some of them must be laying somewhere else but I have yet to find where. We are still way over our ratio of roos but I just don't know what to do with the 3 silkie roosters that we ended up with. The other rooster, Red, is one of the little ones I hatched out in the soup pot. He is so big, goofy, and sweet, that he has just managed to stick around so far. We shall see what happens later I guess. Hopefully the remaining hens will begin laying better soon.

Our pigs are no longer with us, but are rather, in my in-laws' deep freezers down the road along with a cow they had processed at the same time. One was processed right before Thanksgiving and the other two went to the butchers in early January. I had planned on processing them myself but my father in-law managed to convince me otherwise. The butcher shop is a very small family business and does a good job in a humane way. The pork is AMAZING! I never want to eat store bought pork again! I guess happy animals really do make much better finished products. I wasn't sure I could part with the pigs in the end and even though I was ready for a break, tears were shed when they left us. By me, at least. They didn't seem to care, being more interested in the feed and fresh eggs in the back of the trailer we used to haul them. It was made much easier by the sweet cutie baby pigs turning into giant monster pigs that tried to knock me over and bite my legs every time I got near them and were FOREVER ripping the hose off their waterer and flooding the pasture. I couldn't even get on their side of the fence most of the time without them running toward me full speed and threatening bodily harm. Especially when there was food involved. They fought with each other and anyone close to them was likely to get hurt. I know that most of the time they didn't mean to be mean, but those were some really big pigs and it wouldn't take much to hurt someone! I loved having pigs but pigs that size can be dangerous and I was not-so-secretly ready for them to go. I do look forward to having them again, though. We are already planning to get new babies in April, so we have them when the garden is in full production and canning is producing a lot of waste.

Here's to a brand new year! I hope it is as magical and blessed as the last! Things are not always sunshine and roses on a farmstead but it is an amazing life full of blessings, all the same. I'm looking forward to another beautiful year on Sunflower Hill!

We've had a chicken incident...

I was on my way home from picking Keegan up from band practice when I got a call from Brad. He said that he heard Luna outside barking like she was playing. When she didn't stop and he didn't hear the other dogs playing too he decided to check on her. She was indeed playing... with one of my hens. I asked him which one, having named pretty much all of them, and myself and Keegan knowing each one. He replied " I dunno... its one of the pretty ones." Hmmm... Well that didn't help me much because I think all of my chickens are pretty! When I got home he was sitting on the front porch with "Little Bit" on his lap. She is the youngest chick, and only hen, that I hatched out of my emergency egg incubator in March.

I checked her over and she appeared to only have superficial damage done. Missing feathers and some scratches on her back. She was shaking quite hard, breathing loudly, and having a hard time standing. I don't know if it was just because she was, quite understandably, scared and shaken up or if there is more damage that I'm not seeing. Brad had already sprayed her back down with vetericyn. I gave her a small dose of penicillin and she is currently borrowing Ari's dog crate. She is resting comfortably and seems to be much more alert than she was earlier.

I showed Luna the chicken and made is quite clear that her behavior was not acceptable. She seems to be a really smart dog. Hopefully this will be a one time deal and the lesson has been learned. I know it sounds terrible, because I don't want any of my chickens to suffer, but why do the dogs always have to get my favorite birds?! Ugh... well. Poultry are remarkably resilient creatures so hopefully Little Bit will be back out free ranging quickly.

On a happier note, I got my Basil planted. There are very few spots left in the "pig plowed" section of garden. I am still waiting on my order of seeds from Baker Creek. They should be here by now and I'm getting antsy. I want to get my beets in the ground! I also ordered some giant eckendorf beets that are supposed to be good for animal feed. Specifically for the pigs. At this rate they won't be done growing before the pigs are in the freezer!

Speaking of pigs... I realized that the pig feed that I have been giving them is medicated! Argg!!! One of the reasons I decided to raise my own pigs is because I don't want to eat meat that has antibiotics in it! I didn't even think to check, or to specifically ask for unmedicated feed. You know what they say about assuming... They are almost out and I will make sure that mistake isn't made again. Luckily, they haven't been on it for long and antibiotics will leave their systems quickly. The biggest problem is that the chickens are into everything, i.e. they have been eating the pig feed every chance they get. The pigs don't seem to mind at all that the chickens run directly to the feeder every time they walk more than 2 feet away, but I'm not too happy about it. That means that their eggs also contain antibiotics. I have had to start feeding the pigs every single egg laid until we get unmedicated feed. It would be so much easier to keep the great big pigs out of the chicken feed... the chickens and traverse almost anything and the more I attempt to keep them out the more interesting they think it must be. Keeping the chickens out while still enabling the pigs to get in will take some thought. Even after I switch the feed I need to try to find a way to keep the chickens from getting to the pig feed. Pigs are omnivores (as are chickens) and I'd be willing to wager that the feed contains chicken. Not a good thing. I wish I lived close enough to a mill to have my own feed ground so I know exactly what is in it. I will be looking into some kind of way to do that.

Rain is on the horizon! It has been overcast, hence much cooler, for the last couple of days. It is supposed to rain tomorrow! The grass is crunchy and we really need it. A strange thought after having daily monsoons for most of the year. It is amazing how powerful rain is. Too much or too little can be disastrous. Especially for a farmer. I'm so thankful that, while I try to live off of the homestead as much as possible, our livelihood doesn't depend on it. Worst case, we can still get food from the store. It seemed so normal to do that before, and now it seems to foreign to me. I hope that our fall garden doesn't leave us in as bad of shape as our summer garden did.

Well... Like a beautiful lady once said, "Que Sera Sera... Whatever will Be, will Be". One of my favorite quotes, and I can often be heard singing it (quite badly might I say) as I am working around here.

No More Excuses!

I keep putting off writing a blog because I want to take pictures to post with it. I keeping thinking about writing, usually first thing in the morning before I have had a chance to take pictures, or last thing at night when it is too dark to take pictures and I realize that I had forgotten during the day. That, and my camera has been going downhill since the screen got busted a month after getting it. It was brought down by a drunk falling out of a pub in Galway (Ireland). And no, I wasn't the drunk. LOL It was another American tourist that apparently attempted to drink like an Irishman. Perhaps it was the attempt at walking after drinking like an Irishman that got him... and my camera. Anyway, I need to post with or without pictures because I'm getting behind!

 The piglets are getting huge! I brought all three home in 1 medium sized dog crate. I don't think I could fit 1 of them in that dog crate now. They moved out of the garden and onto pasture about a week ago. My garden went from resembling a jungle, to being clear of weeds and tilled without any backbreaking digging or tilling on my part. Pigs make wonderful plows. They are now working on clearing a large section of brush that has been growing up for about 10 years. My brother helped me finally get the fence up around a little over an acre of wooded brushy area with some pasture surrounding it. It is beside the garden so they just had to cross the fence from one side to the other. Moving them out of the garden took a lot of persuading... and about 3 dozen eggs. I unplugged the electric fence, moved the wires down so they could step over, and put eggs on the other side of the fence. Jimmy is very curious and always the first to come when I call. He crossed immediately with no problems. Dean came shortly after. Poor little Link was another story. He knew that fence wire was there and he didn't want any part of it. He paced back and forth, squealing his little piggy squeal for over 10 minutes while the other 2 ate all of the eggs. After reasoning and trying to chase him didn't work, I finally had to raise the wire so he didn't have to step over it before he would cross. I saved him some eggs as a reward when he finally got the courage to run over to the other side. They went from a 3 wire fence, to a single strand run around the pasture. They don't seem to be the least bit interested in crossing it. In fact, Keegan accidentally unplugged it the other day and it was off for at least 24 hours. The pigs didn't even test the fence. I'm amazed! They really are smart.

My brother, who is staying on the property with us for a few weeks, and I have been working on getting the garden planted now that that half is cleared and tilled. So far we have broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower, swiss chard, and kale planted. We have been covering all of the planted areas with newspaper and mulching with hay to try to stop the weeds before they start getting out of control again. Hopefully it will do better than the summer garden did. It has stopped raining and I have actually had to start watering the plants and plants-to-be daily because it is so hot and dry! What a change! The pig waterer is taking the use of my long hose, so I have been lugging buckets of water to the garden to water the seedlings and plants. Today I got a new Gorilla Cart, and boy did it make that job much easier! My wheel barrow has been worked hard and has been overdue for a replacement for a while. I love this cart so far. I hope it stands up to the test of time. I am rough on things. Real work gets done around here, and cheap flimsy tools don't last long. I really need to invest in another hose.

Luna, our new farm puppy, is so playful and sweet! She is so full of energy, but that isn't great when there are skittish chickens roaming around. She hasn't hurt any of them but she has been chasing them periodically. I bought a remote controlled shock collar for her. I know, I know... It seems so cruel. I have always hated the thought of those things. I even admit to stealing them off of dogs when I was a teenager and throwing them away... yes I was that pain in the butt animal and environmental activist that would have freed the frogs from the biology lab had they not started using computer programs instead of the real thing. But getting a few zaps seems much better than taking her back to the pound. She is a pitbull, which means that she doesn't have great odds of a happy ending. Also, it doesn't seem much different than using the electric fence. I tried it out today and it is amazing! First a zapped myself. I figure that if I'm going to inflict something on anyone I should know what it feels like. Funnily enough, the shock doesn't seem to bother her at all! The vibration setting is what gets her attention. No pain at all, just a little vibration to get her attention. She is already much less interested in the chickens, even when they run right past her. I'm so happy! I was really worried that she wouldn't work out and I couldn't bear having to take her back to that place!

Tucker, the 2 girls (juvenile turkeys), and the guineas are going to be transitioned to the big hoop coop soon. They are getting big and I think they are ready to have more room. The other small hoop coop of turkeys are doing great and they are getting big too. Both small hoop tractors have been being moved every day and I think that all of the fresh grass and bugs really do them good.

The chickens have been laying like crazy! Yesterday I got 13 eggs and today I got 16! I have 20 hens and 5 roos right now. I really need to get back down to 2 roosters soon because they are making the ladies' lives rough. Now that Brad isn't working (back to school) and selling eggs at the office, I've been trying to find every way imaginable to use eggs. A couple of nights ago a scrambled over 2 dozen with onions and peppers, wrapped them in tortillas, and froze them so my guys have something easy to heat up for breakfast. Thankfully, Keegan has gone through them fast so I can make more soon. I hate wasting eggs! The pigs love whatever we don't use, so I guess it isn't a waste. It may seem strange, but I think a basket full of my green, blue, brown, pink, tan, and white eggs is such a beautiful sight! It makes me smile every time I walk by the kitchen table and see them sitting there. Simple pleasures. Life is good. :)

LGD In-Training

Meet Luna! She is our new Livestock Guardian Dog (LGD). Or, at least, she will be once she is trained up a bit. I know that she isn't a typical LGD breed. Luna is an American Pit Bull Terrier. After doing a lot of reading, I decided that age is more important than breed. Even typical LGD breeds, such as Great Pyrenees, are not necessarily good guardians if they have never been raised and trained to do the job. Being a strong believer in adopting dogs from the shelter, rather than buying, it isn't often that I have access to a GP puppy. I went to the local animal shelter hoping to find a very docile puppy of any breed other than a "bird dog" like a retriever or hound. Luna was the only dog in the whole place not barking, or even interested in all of the people walking around. She is a very sweet girl and I have high hopes for her. She already doesn't appear to be the least bit interested in any of the poultry. Because she is going to be a working dog, she is going to sleep outside, which isn't something I'm used to doing. I've always felt that dogs are supposed to be a part of the family and should be inside. My Chihuahua mix, Elliot, has helped me become much more comfortable with animals being happy outside.

Our hard working farm girls, Ari (left) and Elliot (right) 

Elliot has inserted herself into the role of LGD over the last couple of years. She came from the same shelter as Luna, and was obviously an "apartment dog" when we got her. She didn't act as if she had ever seen grass and despised getting her feet dirty. If it was wet outside she just wouldn't go out. Now, I can't get her to come inside most nights. She will turn and look at me when I call her, and then turn back around and stare at the chicken coop. She takes her job seriously and doesn't want to leave it. She really doesn't care for the chickens or turkeys a whole lot. She doesn't want them near her, and doesn't want them eating anything unless she gets first dibbs, but they her HER chickens and turkeys and she doesn't want anything else near them! Every dog attack we have had has been when she has come inside for the night. Because she is so little (maybe 12 lbs) I fear for her safety and don't like leaving her outside on her own. Ari, our Schnauzer mix, also chases animals from the yard and does a good job, but isn't nearly as intent on keeping the poultry safe as Elliot is, and prefers to sleep inside. I am really hoping that Elliot can help train Luna, and they can keep each other company.

To help get Luna used to being outside and near the chickens, without leaving her unattended around them, I have set up the hog-ring near the chicken coop. She has a dog crate with blankets in it, and of course food and water. It is acting as a "play-pen" of sorts. We get her out and allow her to run around when we are outside (always with a leash until she is more used to the chickens). She comes around with me to do all of the animal feeding chores so she can see them excited over food and get used to the high energy levels that happen from time to time. I always make sure she is in a calm state before doing this. Taking her when she is full of energy and excited already is just asking for trouble. She is doing great so far! She has even started barking at things toward the woods, which I have yet to see, but apparently she isn't happy with. I really hope that she blends in with and adds new assets to the rest of our animal family. This is a functioning homestead so everyone works here, and I think she is already enjoying her job. Along with all of the hugs, kisses, and love, of course! Newest project that needs to be accomplished is to build her a proper dog house near the coops. A hard working dog deserves a nice comfy home to call her own

!

Even On The Stormiest Days, The Sun Peeks Through The Clouds

One of my turkey hens came back yesterday afternoon! It was Tabby, my dark bourbon hen. She had braved the wilderness for 2 days and nights and still managed to make it home! What a fighter! There is nothing behind my property but national forest for miles, so every manner of wild animal is likely to be in very close proximity. I thought that if the wounds from the dog attack didn't claim her, the infection she was very likely to get from them or wild animals would finish her off. She is in really bad shape. She is missing more skin from her back than she has left, and she has some pretty deep lacerations. It is really gruesome. I immediately gave her a shot of penicillin, cleaned her up the best I could without stressing her, and sprayed her down with vetericyn. She is resting in the small hoop coop with Yellow and Tallow.

Yellow and Tallow are looking much better! They still look pretty bad, but they are visibly more alert. Seeing them stand taller and move around more fills my heart with joy. They still aren't eating much, which worries me, but I'm really hopeful that as they start feeling a bit better, that corrects itself. It may be, simply, that the antibiotics are making them nauseous. I know it does that to me.

As it turns out, I was wrong about who owned the dog. From what I am told, the dog has been roaming the neighborhood for about a month, although I had only started seeing it about a week ago. The neighbors that recently moved in on the other side of the neighbor that I thought the dog belonged to had taken it in and been feeding it. They were quick to pay for the replacement of the turkeys. They sent half of the money over with the police officer and said they would pay the rest in about a week. The dog is still here, but the neighbors gave up rights to it and I am working on getting animal control to come pick her up and take her to the shelter. She is still tied up on a run and we have been caring for her until they can get her. She is a good dog, but has a taste for expensive turkeys. I'm hopeful that she will find a good home, far far away from poultry. I work closely with the animal shelter (fostering puppies for transport to areas that don't have overpopulation problems where they can be easily adopted) and all of the dogs I have owned since I became an adult have been shelter dogs. I am confident that she will have a happy ending. Because the neighbors were willing to work with us and gave up rights to the dog, I told them not to worry about the rest of the money. I'm just happy that I don't have to worry about when the next time she will end up in my coops will be.

It has been a rough few days, and was a really bad situation. I am amazed that even with such a bad situation, good things keep happening. If this was going to happen, I can't imagine a better ending to it. We aren't feuding with the neighbors. I don't have to worry about the dog ever coming back to finish my birds off. I thought I had lost all of my birds, but amazingly, I have three left. I have offspring of the others so I can watch them grow and love them. The sun does shine, even on cloudy days. We are blessed.

And in more happy news, tomorrow we welcome our newest homestead babies! It has been a long time in coming and we are very excited!

Dog Attack

I woke up this morning to Brad grabbing the gun and yelling at me to go outside "NOW". I walked out to see a huge dog standing in my turkey coop surrounded by carnage. I've caught the dog in the yard a couple of times in the last week. Usually as it was being chased out of the yard by my dogs. I was hoping that it was a friendly dog, or that it wouldn't come back. Apparently, I was wrong. Who knows how long the dog had been in the coop. My dogs were inside for the night. It was in there long enough to do a lot of damage. When I ran out there yelling at the dog, it stopped. It sat down and waited for me to let it out of the coop. We couldn't shoot a dog that listened when I fussed at it. I got her out of the turkey coop and tied her in the front yard and then went back to survey the damage. The dog had climed up the side of the coop and busted through the bird netting at the top. There was a hole in the other side of the coop where some of the turkeys had gotten out.

One turkey was killed and half eaten (RT). Three others (yellow, tawny, and chester) were in really bad shape. The remaining three (tabby, tallow, and tom) were MIA. I grabbed a pot of warm water and the vetericyn and tried to get the three injured turkeys cleaned up. Chester and Tawny were shaking and visibly in severe pain. Yellow was not quite as bad but it still wasn't looking good. To add insult to injury, we only had 2 bullets. They have been nearly impossible to buy recently. Brad went to Walmart in hope that they had some, which they didn't. We had to call all over the neighborhood just to find ammunition to put my turkeys out of their misery.

I went to pick the borrowed ammo up. While I was gone, Brad found Tallow. She was walking around the very back section of the property. She was obviously fearful, but she let me slowly approach her and look her over. She is banged up, but not as badly as the other turkeys. After a few minutes I convinced her to let me pick her up and carry her back to the coop. I looked chester and tawny over once more just to make sure that they were beyond help. I have a hard time convincing myself to put anything out of its misery. I like to give everything a fighting chance instead of deciding that it is beyond help. Chickens and turkeys don't show when they are sick or in pain until they are on death's doorstep. It is a defense mechanism. They don't want to show weakness because they don't want to be picked off by predators. These turkeys were obviously in a lot of pain. They had deep gashes and were missing skin over large areas. The chances that they would survive was not good, and it would be impossible to keep them from getting an infection in wounds that large and deep. After many tears and reasoning with myself, Brad put them down.

I called the police and made out a report. The police officer was very nice and understanding. Apparently he had ducks that had suffered a similar fate. He had to put all of them down. After talking for a while and showing him the damage, he went over to the neighbor's (suspected dog owners) house to talk to them but nobody was home. I assumed that the dog belonged to the same man whose dog killed my turkeys last November because it looked a lot like that dog and appears to be about the right age to have been a puppy right around that time. She is huge, but young. Nobody was home. The police officer told me to hold onto the dog and he would check back in with me before the end of the day.

After he left and the police report was made I took Brad to work. He had already missed half of the day by that point. I went to the feed store and talked to a wonderful women there that is also a vet tech. She helped me find an antibiotic that will hopefully work on the turkeys. I bought them some injectable Penicillin. I gave each of them a shot of 1/2cc into their breast and they will need it every day for the next 7 days. I'm hoping that it will help Yellow and Tallow to fight off the infection and heal. I'm going to be keeping vetericyn on the wounds. They are obviously still very sore, but I hope they will make it. I moved them both from the big hoop coop, to one of the hoop chicken tractors. It is smaller, but they need to be resting. I also wanted to get them on clean grass. I can move them every day this way and it will be more sanitary.

This evening the police officer gave me a call and let me know that he was back at the neighbor's house, but there was still nobody home. He went to the next house over and talked to the people that lived there. They are Hispanic and speak very little english. Apparently, the woman acted like it was actually her and her husband's dog. Not the neighbor that I had though she belonged to. The police officer explained the situation the best he could to her and said he would be back over here in the morning to take pictures of the dog to give them to make sure it was the right dog. He told them that there would be damages that they have to pay. It won't replace my sweet turkey-heads.

I was holding out the hope that maybe when it started to get dark tabby and tom would come back. They didn't. I know that they were probably pretty badly injured by the time they managed to escape. They probably went off somewhere and died. All of my bourbon reds are gone. My 2 blues are in bad shape but I'm hoping that they pull through. Most of Tallow's eggs got smashed in the struggle. I'm assuming that the rest are scrambled. She needs to heal herself before she hatches any eggs anyway. Thankfully I still have some of their sweet babies. I was disappointed because I hadn't sold all of them. It it late in the season for people to be wanting turkey poults. I'm so thankful to have them now. They won't replace their parents but I hope that they will have a lot of their traits. I got so attached to my turkeys over the last year. They were more like pets than anything. It breaks my heart to have lost them and most of all that they had to suffer like they did.

I will spare you the gruesome pics of today and instead share the way that I will try to remember them.  The way Chester would strut for me and then look up at me with those big beautiful brown eyes to make sure that I saw how handsome he was. The way they would move like a school of fish around the yard, following my every move. How sweet, funny, and curious they all were. I will miss my sweet turkey-heads dearly. It has been a really rough day.

Busy, Busy Bee

I Love my Azaleas!

Things have been slowing down at the tax office that I work at, just in time to try to keep up with all of the things that are going on at the homestead. Notice, I said try. I am still falling behind! Coops need to be built, fences put up, and gardens tended to. None of the projects I needed to do over winter were accomplished. It seems that we either have the time or the money, but never both at once. Oh well. All in good time. I have still been busy!

The turkeys are doing great! Two of the Bourbon Red Toms are destined for the chopping block in a couple of days. There are just too many toms for my 3 poor hens, and they are fighting amongst themselves. Choosing which ones will go is difficult. Turkeys really are easy to get attached to, but this has been the plan for them since we got them as poults. I keep reminding myself that the life that they have had is turkey paradise and their death will be as painless and free of fear is death could possibly be. I refuse to give money to factories that raise birds any differently. I also don't want to put those unhealthy birds into my family's bodies.

The second generation of turkey-heads are in the incubator! I set 18 turkey eggs on the 22nd and their hatch date is April 19th! I have not separated the breeds yet so they are going to be a mix of Bourbon Reds, Bourbon/ Slate crosses, and there may be a blue slate or two in the mix. That is doubtful though because my Self Blue tom, Yellow, isn't the alpha tom and despite how hard he tries, he usually doesn't get mating privileges. One of my next projects is to build two small hoop coops. One of them may be used to give Yellow and Miss Tallow the privacy they deserve and, hopefully, give me the Blue Slate eggs I so desperately want! I may increase the gene pool by buying eggs from a friend of mine who also raises them. Hopefully, most of the poults hatched from this batch will be sold and the next batch will be used to increase my breeding stock.

Scissorus

One of the three chicks hatched in my emergency incubator, named Scissorus (Keegan said he was Roman), had scissor beak. I tried to feed him and give him water, but he wasn't doing well and his beak got worse every day. He didn't make it. The other two (both roosters, BO/BO and Einey EE/Ruthie NH?) are doing wonderfully, and we had a wonderful surprise last week when another egg from the emergency batch hatched! They have a cute fluffy little brother or sister (EE Greta mom- BO Jack dad). The rest of the eggs were duds, but I am overjoyed to have saved this many of them!

Keegan, INSIDE the chicken tractor playing with the babies.
Coincidentally, this was shortly after he he told me that he
doesn't actually like chickens (I asked him to feed them). <3

The "Outside Babies" are doing well and are getting HUGE! They will be too big for that chicken tractor soon. The other hoop coop I am going to be building will be for most of them. A few will be going into the project after that: boxes that fit directly in my raised garden beds so they can scratch around, till and fertilize the soil, and get rid of any bugs or weeds that are in there. My garden beds should be ready to go soon! This morning when I was feeding them before work I noticed a single bloody-ish looking stool in the coop. I have noticed the silly things hopping on top of their waterer, even after I raised it off of the ground to keep it clean, and are pooing in the water. I'm worried that one may have coccidiosis, which means they all likely do or will, so I treated the whole flock with Sulmet. I will treat them again when I get home. They are on medicated feed but when they are this young I don't like to take any chances. I don't give medication for the sake of giving medication. Not to myself, my family, or my animals. That is why we have the super-bugs that we do now-a-days. None of my adult birds are on medication, but babies are much more prone to getting sick, regardless of how well they are taken care of. They are all taken off of medicated feed when they are 8-10 weeks old and their immune system is stronger. I tried giving the babies unmedicated feed last year and nearly lost my whole batch to cocci. I am a fanatic about keeping coops clean, but apparently sometimes that doesn't completely eliminated the risk. As icky as many people think it sounds, it is VERY important to keep an eye on your poultry poo! Sometimes that is the first, or only, sign that something is wrong. It also helps to catch things early enough to do something about it!

No matter how many egg baskets I get, this is how my eggs
usually get carried to the house. :)

The adult chickens are producing lots of eggs and they are selling really well! I have to make sure to keep some back for us! Our foster puppy, Chicago, has been fighting Pneumonia since we brought her home. We have had her for nearly two months and her improvement is amazing! She couldn't breath through her nose at all when we first got her, and would not eat. She was losing weight rather than gaining it like a puppy should. After changing her antibiotics, she showed a little improvement with her breathing, but not much with her eating and weight gain. I gave her wet food, dry food, NutriCal nutrient supplement gel... nothing seemed to work. I was really getting worried that she wouldn't make it, simply because she wouldn't eat! Finally, not knowing what else to do, I started giving her boiled eggs. Farm fresh pastured eggs are packed full of nutrients and protein. She ate them! She started gaining weight and getting her energy back immediately! She also got her appetite back and began eating like a horse! She goes through more dog food than I think she has room to put it in her bony little body, but she is increasing the space every day! She is on another round of antibiotics to try to get rid of that last pocket of fluid in her lungs, and her medicine is delivered twice a day, you guessed it, hidden in the middle of a boiled egg! All the antibiotics in the world wouldn't have helped her without her getting the nutrients that her body needed to give her strength to fight the infection. Ah, the power of eggs! She is going to be healthy enough to be spayed soon and then will be on her way to Maine to find her new forever family! I love happy endings!

From bottom to top: Elliot, Chicago, and Ari is hiding way in the back. 

All of Sunflower Hill is covered in snow white dew berry
blooms! What could be better? The whole place
being covered in dew berries soon! 

Speaking of happy things, the seedlings I planted are still alive! Yes, I am thrilled about this! I love growing things, but starting seedlings inside has always been my downfall. They always start out strong and then wilt and die. The tomatoes are getting really big and the peppers are looking dark green and strong. All except for the jalapeno peppers, none of which came up at all! I'm probably going to have to replant those. Some of the eggplants failed to come up, as well. I am loving my new seedling shelf in the kitchen! I think that the space put aside just for them in a draft and bump free area, and the shop lamp hung over the trays, might just keep my seedlings from dying before they get planted! The strawberry plants have tiny green strawberries and flowers on them. Now I need to fence the strawberry patch off so the chickens don't get them all before I get any this year! The peas have sprouted, the brussel sprouts budding, and I got my first little bunch of broccoli the other day! I am counting down the days until I get some fresh dewberries!

All in all, everything here on the homestead is bustling and growing! That is what spring is all about! I am loving life, busy busy busy as it may be, up on Sunflower Hill!

Spring time!

 What a beautiful spring day it was today! The feeling of a refreshing warm day spent outdoors after being cooped up inside for what seems like forever, is priceless. The blueberry bushes are in bloom and the bees are busily flying from flower to flower, happily pollinating them so I will have delicious blueberries this summer. I fertilized them earlier this week and today they got a nice long drink of water. The strawberry patch, garlic, brussel sprouts, broccoli, and flower beds had fertilizer applied today as well as a healthy drink.

 The babies got to come outside for the first time today! They are feathering out nicely and since it was warm today I opened the hatch and let them out into the chicken tractor run. The other chickens came over to visit them. The hens really weren't too interested in them, but the roosters were fascinated. Especially Jack. He loves babies. He is such a good rooster! The babies flew around and has a swell time while I cleaned out the brooder.

I dug carrots today, with help from the turkeys and my newest foster little Chicago (whether I wanted it or not...). I was really impressed with how many I got! While I was digging them I went ahead and turned all of the soil in that bed over and replanted the bed.
 

I planted spinach in one third of the bed, lettuce in 1/3 of it, and in the back I planted sugar snap peas and made a tee-pee for them to climb. It is really too late to plant them but Keegan loves them and I thought it was at least worth a try. In the bed behind that is broccoli and to the back left are brussel sprouts. They are plants that I planted in October of last year. They have been slowly growing all winter and I am hopeful that they will still produce something.

I was feeling so productive when I got done cooking dinner that I even made pizza dough for dinner tomorrow ( Keegan has a soccer game and I know it will be late when we get home), baked pumpkin bread for breakfast in the morning, and baked Italian bread. Brad got into it before I could take a picture. He tends to wait by the oven for it to get done.

I planted Amish paste, Cherokee purple, and German stripe tomatoes, bell, jalapeno, and pepperoncini peppers, and eggplant seeds on Tuesday, and I noticed that one of the Amish paste seedlings has broken the soil! I hope the rest of them join him soon. My next project is to build a shelf for the kitchen and hang the shop light I bought over it for the seedlings. After that I am going to work on new (smaller) hoop coops for the chicks once they outgrow the chicken tractor, and maybe for the turkeys until then so I can separate breeds while they are laying. Such a beautiful and productive day!

Welcome back to the World of Internet Access!

My brother captured on the game cam while visiting. 

So, I have been offline for a while. It is funny how life takes unexpected turns. I am a firm believer that all things happen for a reason and that everything always works out in the end, as long as you have faith. The grant that I had been counting on for my research assistant-ship at school fell through, and I will have no chance at another one for at least a year. That means no income coming in and no tuition waver, so lots of money going out. After much discussion, agonizing over what to do, and changing my mind 15 times a day, I decided to take some time off of school. Money got tight, really fast, so the first thing we did was disconnect the internet. I have found work and will be starting soon, but many of the plans I made a couple months ago have been put on hold. Rather, they are just happening a bit more slowly. I have been working the last few days to clear the land where the shed will be built. The animals have been keeping me busy. My brother and his family have moved down here for a while. I don't think he wants to stay a really long time, but I am enjoying having him here! He has been enjoying the homestead. I love finding pictures of him interacting with the animals when I check my game cam. He comes over often to visit, and always ends up helping me with chores.

Baby Quasi, one of my foster littles, visiting the turkeys.

So, an update on things on Sunflower Hill...

 Randy (my poor chicken-eating foster puppy with the malformed neck) was adopted! He found a wonderful home where he is now called Trevor, and is spoiled daily by a little girl. We have since fostered two more puppies, Quasi and Vine, both of whom had kennel cough but after some love, and hard-core antibiotics, they both went on the transport up north and found great homes.

The hoop coop after the dog attack. Feathers everywhere!

We had another dog attack a few days before Thanksgiving. A neighbor's pet (didn't know that at the time) hopped its fence and found its way into our yard. Luckily it happened during the day when both Brad and I were home, otherwise it would have turned out much worse. The dog hopped on the hoop coop, pushing the pipes over enough to hop on top and collapsed it. He climbed in through the top and had the turkeys cornered. Our trusty guard dogs let us know and we ran out and dealt with it in time to save most of the turkeys. Two had escaped but came back. All of the turkeys were injured, some worse than others, and one was dead by the time we got there. We had to put some down. We are left with 8 turkeys. We have 6 Bourbon reds, 4 males and 2 females, and 2 Blue slates, 1 male and 1 female. We did have one of the toms that we had to put down for Thanksgiving. It was wonderful, but I cooked it longer than I needed to. The turkeys are now free ranging when ever I am home. The hoop coop has seen better days. It is falling apart every time I move it, so I try to just let them out so it needs to be moved less often. Hopefully soon they will be free ranging all of the time, like the chickens. As soon as we can teach them not to chase cars... My brother helped me throw together a roost to get weight off of the side of the coop, put a new tarp on, and I have braced it. Another turkey coop needs to be in the near future, but it works for now.

The chickens are doing well, and are still laying like crazy. I don't know what to do with all of the eggs! I kept giving them away, and nobody ever returns the egg cartons, so now I have nothing to give eggs away in, and so they are going to waste... I HATE that! The baby chickens are getting big! The two roosters have matured and are now fighting with each other and being really... REALLY hard on the girls. I have made chicken saddles for several of them, but need to make more. The roos are going to freezer camp really soon. Brad bought me the most wonderful hunting knife and scissors for Christmas! His dad (my enabler) is working on finding the parts for a chicken plucker. Both of these things mean that my life will be MUCH easier in the future! He is also looking into an incubator. Have I mentioned that he doesn't have chickens? LOL I don't know which of us enjoys my having chickens.... and turkeys... and growing a garden... and building stuff more, me or him! Brad doesn't find it nearly as amusing and we do... at least he pretends not to. :)

My winter garden is doing well, update on that coming soon.

Even though money has been tighter than I ever remember it being, times have been tough and we are doing without many things, and the stress level has been pretty high around here at times, I am so incredibly thankful for being as blessed as we are. I have such a wonderful family. I missed going out of town to spend the holidays with my parents and grandparents, but how lucky it is that the one year we couldn't go see them they came down in late October to see me? Every time things got really tough and we weren't sure how we were going to make it, something happened, sometimes explainable things, like checks going through when there was no money in the bank account, and things always worked out. It goes to show you that if you keep trying even when things seem bleak, always give of yourself to others that are in need, even when you don't have much yourself, and have faith that God knows best and will get you where you need to be, even when it seems like things are all going wrong, life will always be beautiful. Things get tough, but stress doesn't solve anything. Looking at all the things in life that I am thankful for always makes it a much happier place. Sometimes I need to be reminded of all of these things. I am thankful for that reminder and thankful that we have had such an exciting and beautiful year. Looking forward to another one!

We at Sunflower Hill Homestead hope that your holidays have been blessed and that you have a wonderful start to the brand new year!

Doggie Drama

I love dogs! They enrich my life. Dogs can be the best companions that anyone could ask for. Like furry children, even. They have been causing so much heartbreak and drama here the last few days, though. Randy, my foster puppy, has had a bad habit of catching, and killing, my chickens. At first it was Miss Idgie's babies. I assumed that it was because they were small, fast, and made lots of noise. I tried keeping them away from him and hoped that it would stop. On Thursday, he killed Gabby, one of my adult easter egger hens. I assume that it was him, anyway. After today, I wonder. Yesterday, he caught Greta (Gabby's sister) be the tail and was trying to get a hold of the rest of her. At that point, I realized that it wasn't something I was ever going to be able to correct. He is a wonderful dog, he just isn't "chicken friendly". I had to return him to the shelter. I signed a paper saying that I would not give him away to anyone else, and if I couldn't keep him for any reason I would return him. But, I didn't want to take him back to that place. I cried halfway up there, stopped and got Randy a cheeseburger, and then cried the whole time I was getting him processed and coming home. I hope that he will find a good home, somewhere that he will not have feather covered temptation staring him in the face all of the time. As much as I love my dogs, I am just as responsible for keeping my chickens safe, as I am responsible for the dogs' safety. I have been working on circulating photos of Randy in hopes that he will find a new home.

This morning, I was awakened by the sound of my turkeys, upset, right outside my window. Immediately, I hopped out of bed and ran outside, to see a hunting dog chasing them around the yard. He had somehow unlatched the hoop coop, and was trying his best to catch one. Again, I love dogs, but we have to protect our animals. Brad grabbed the gun and took aim, but missed. The dog ran off. After locating most of the turkeys, we went looking for the dog (they always have phone numbers on their collar). We found him next door, got the phone number off of his collar, and hoped that he would not be back. I am missing one of my blue slate females (of which I only had 2). This evening, the dog returned. He was a sweet dog, but I didn't want to take any chances, so I put him on a chain until I could get in touch with is owners. Finally, the owner returned my call and said he would be right over. I assumed that I would be able to explain to him our situation, and he would be apologetic, and promise to keep his dog off of our property. Boy, was I wrong! He was upset because I asked him to reimburse me for the turkey! When I explained why we can't allow hunting dogs on our property, he looked at me as if I were insane, and said he has run dogs here for years, and asked if I was even from around here! I don't care if I moved here yesterday, it is my property! I finally had to tell him that if we caught his dog on our property again, we would have no choice but to shoot it (surely he would think better if bringing them back, right?). He came back with "that really wouldn't be a good idea, I suggest you don't do that" and then started listing the local police and sheriff as his hunting buddies. I called the sheriff's office, because I felt like he was threatening me, at that point. Once the police officer got here, he informed me that I do indeed, have the right to shoot the animal if it is in the act of killing my poultry, but they can be on our property as much as they want and I can't do anything about it any other time. Hunting dogs have more rights than I do, apparently. I have to let the dog attack my animals before I can do anything about it. Really?! Where are my rights?! Where are the rights of my animals? 

Now I just don't feel safe. I feel helpless. Now I have made the hunters in my area mad at me, and half of the hunters are the public officials that should be there to protect me. I am worried at this point that they might come back and retaliate for me causing a commotion and "threatening" their dogs. Perhaps I should have just kept my mouth shut, and ate the cost caused by their dogs, simply because they have the numbers in their favor? I also have to find a new place to buy my feed. The brother of the man I was dealing with owns the feed store. He showed up part way in to the conversation and was not happy with me. He finally bit his tongue, got in his truck, and left. Was I wrong to expect the response that I did? That is how I imagine I would respond if the tables were turned. If one of my animals went onto someone else's property and caused damage I would feel terrible! I would do everything I could to make up for it! I would at least promise to make sure that it never happened again! It makes me want to move. I am praying that the issue is over and the problem is solved, that all of my animals will be safe, but as upset as the hunter was, I don't see that being the end of it. I am worried now, that he will come back when I'm not home and do damage to my animals, himself. I am buying game cameras, motion sensor lights, and lots of "No Trespassing" signs to put up. Only time will tell how this will play out. 

Doggie drama has run rampant here the last few days. I'm ready for it to be over...

Update: We found the remains of our turkey hen in a side field on our property. We received the game camera that we ordered. It will be up and working as soon as possible. The hoop coop dutch door has been wired together so it is more difficult to open. I am more hopeful that things will work out than I was the other night. Everything always works out in the end.