Expectant

This time of year is always so expectant.

Expectant of the spring to come.

Expectant of the life rising up from the earth again.

Expectant of the lives that will come from lives already here.

Expectant.

Even though we are snowed IN,

The stream is between the tree on your right and the first tree on your left.  Nope, you can't see it, I know.

having received another triple-headed snowstorm on top of the one we already had,

spring is coming.  There are plants growing under lights in the dining room, and plans for the year are being made.

So, no doubt about it.

On top of that, two of my girls are expectant as well.  Thanks to these two gentlemen,

Max on the left, Stu on the right.  I don't know which is "daddy"

Dulcinea now looks like this:

(No, she's probably not thankful.  Understandably so).

When I look at last year's pic, when I thought she might have been pregnant,

 

Last year's pic of an unpregnant Dulci.

but she was not, I am happy to say that Dulcinea is expectant too.  Due date?  April 7th.  We'll see if she sticks with it.

Lilly is also expectant, I believe.  She's not due until late May, but she's kinda-sorta showing.  She's drying up like gangbusters, which is not great, and dances on the milking stand like it's going out of style.  I taking that to mean she's also expectant, but I'm waiting until she pops to be sure.  If so, Lilly can expect this to be just about the last time she has to be expectant, since she's one of my CAE girls, and I'd prefer not to risk her, when there are 4 others who are clean to take her place.  At the very least, she will earn a break.  

On the other fronts?  I expect to get outside in the next two days to tap trees, as I am very, very late because of snowstorms.  I also expect to be seeding about 100 broccoli and 100 cauliflower plants this week, as it's that time already.  I also expect, honestly, to run out of room to put all these things because 200 seedlings on top of what's already growing is A LOT of seedlings in a limited space.  I expect to worry about this, since I already am worrying.  Might as well avoid the rush.

Also, at the end of the month, I expect to order the first batch of meatbirds to arrive next month, as well as a number of Delawares which I expect to be our sustainable meatbird of choice.  At least, I hope that's how it's going to work out.  I can't tell at all if it will, as I've only dealt with the Cornish Cross, but I am hoping that the Delawares will live up to their feed conversion ratios and become some good looking birds meaty birds who will be able to reproduce themselves and therefore keep us in chicken ad infinitum.

We'll see.

I also expect to figure out what to do about the turkey situation, as that would really be a nice addition to our stores, but NO WAY am I doing that whole turkey thing like I did back in 2012.  What a mess that was.  I expect this time, now that I've had experience, to turn out better.

So yep, expectant.  That's this time of year in a nutshell.  Is it the same for you??

It Is As It Is

• We're expecting a hurricane, or something up here tomorrow.  Today I spent some time putting things away that were likely to blow away. 

 Good times.

The good thing is, that since I'll most likely have to stay inside, I'll have nothing to do but clean my office/sewing room.  And believe me, THAT is a very good thing.

• I also put the rabbits out for a bit of fresh air, since they're not likely to be able to run outside for quite a few days, depending on how soggy it gets.  They have nice cages, but I always feel that a bit of a run is good for everyone.

Daphne agrees.  She can't see very well, but she loves how outside smells.

I really think they love being outside, and it's great for me, because it gets them used to being handled.  And snuggled.  In that order, pretty much, but more snuggling than handling. 

• This morning the turkeys went to turkey heaven.  We didn't process them--they were WAY too big for any pot, cone, or even plucker we have.  I found a person through Craig's List up here who lives not too far away and would come, pick them up and process them in exchange for two of the Narragansetts.  That seemed more than fair to me--I love bartering.  I discovered a fellow homesteader this way, too.  It seems that he and his wife produce everything they eat.

Something to strive for, definitely  We've made a date to meet up so I can look at his gardens.  I've got to see how big they are, to see how they're feeding his family.  What I loved so much was how enthusiastic he was about homesteading.  He was inspirational.  I always figure I'm the only nut who thinks it's fantastic and everyone should do it, but he's the same way.  It was truly nice to meet a kindred spirit.

Most disappointing thing about the turkeys overall?  After 26 weeks of walking them to their stupid coop every night, and feeding them buckets of feed, and putting up with their stupid shenanigans and truckloads of poop, the two Narragansetts weighed 7 and 8 pounds, and Great White turned out not to be great, and weighed a whopping 17.  Return on investment?  Not really.  I'm thinking that we may not venture down this road again, or do it very differently if we do.

Blah.

• I did get a chance to speak to the vet about Min and Lilly, and she told me that she didn't see a need to separate them out from Dulci, as CAE is hard to transmit unless through milk or by blood.  So basically, if there's an injury, I need to stay on top of it, but I'm in contact with them all the time, so that shouldn't be a big deal.  She suggested that Min could still be bred if I catch the kids, and never allow them to nurse, but that Lilly should be a pet, as different blood tests showed some other issues.  She'll be retested in a month, but it's most likely that she'll just be a buddy from now on.  So she's "Companion Goat", and that's all right.

Min I won't breed this year, as I don't want Dulci's babies to suckle from the wrong mama at any time.  I'll breed her when Dulci's babies are no longer nursing, and yes, I'll catch the kids.

We had a good time with the girls today.  Min did her usual sneaking through the gate thing, and so I let them all out.  Most likely, they won't be out too much in the next few days, either.  My son and I raced them up and down the driveway.  What a blast!  They are fast as lightning, and there was no way either he or I could beat them.  We ran so much we had Dulci panting.    They are a barrel of fun, those girls.

I'm not happy with the way the tests turned out, I won't lie, but I know that in my heart, I can never part with my girls.  Fingers crossed that they don't show signs, but if they do, I know I won't ever write them off easily.  They are my girls, after all.  And I love them so.

And they smile:

 

And eat leaves:

 

And climb things they shouldn't:

And I've taught them to trick or treat.  So the kids should easily triple their haul this year:

 

Unless, of course, Halloween is washed out. 

And that would be bad, since I love me some horrible-for-me Milky Ways and peanut butter cups.  So bad for me, but so, so good.

Ah, my girls.  I love my girls. 

Be well, friends.  I hope you are all out of the path of this weird storm, and if not, batten down the hatches and good luck!

What Works, What Doesn't

Ah, fall.  The time in the year when I can stop long enough to look around for a minute and see what is working and what is not.  I only have a minute, though.  The processing of food and picking of food goes on continually this time of year.  So I guess I ought to think fast.

One thing I have noticed this year that does NOT work are the turkeys.  I've gone from liking them (when they were younger) to really disliking them now.  We have 5--4 are Narragansetts, and one is a Broad Breasted White.  I actually rather like the BB White--she's gentle and kind of sweet.  The Narragansetts, on the other hand, are unbelievably grabby.  In their eternal quest for food, they steal from all the other animals, and peck us every time we sit down--and it hurts!  And they are constantly around, as they like people.  Normally,that thrills me--I rather like being surrounded by my animals.  But all the turkeys do is make a lot of noise and peck and poop.  And poop and poop.  The back deck, which is usually pretty clean, as the geese can't climb the stairs and the chickens don't often come up, looks like a war zone.  It's horrible.  And not 2 hours later, after it's been cleaned, it looks like that again.  The turkeys shriek and whistle all day--sometimes it's a really nice noise, sometimes it's like the guinea hen's noise--just so grating.  But either way, they do it ALL day long.  And they are constantly underfoot-literally.  So they are not working out.  The turkeys, which I had planned to keep and breed a pair of, are going to be moving out soon.  I think they would have worked had they been able to be kept in an area away from the house, but as they can fly, there's just nowhere safe.

You can't know unless you try, right?  Now I know this does not work for me.

On the other hand, I am surprised to say that the following animals are working out for me very well.

Ygraine in front, Phillip Johnny Bob in back.  Doesn't she look better?

Ah, my little fluff-puddles.

I will say this first:  I like rabbits, and always have.  We had three before I acquired these guys, and though I like the three, I don't LOVE them.  I have always thought they were fairly useless and kind of hard to get to know.  They don't really like to be handled, and we have a "here's your food, thanks for letting me scratch your head" kind of relationship.  No real companionship from them--forget having them sit in your lap.  Ain't gonna happen.  These two have completely changed my view, though.  They are extremely personable.

Ygraine will sit with me for quite a while as I pluck her hair.  She will turn and kind of show me where I should do next.  She likes to be pet, and lets me know when she's ready to get down.  Philip Johnny Bob (PJB) doesn't love to sit in laps, but he will for a minute or two.  He will let you pet him quickly, but he enjoys people no matter.  When you go into his outside pen, he will nudge you to say hi, and yes, he does know the phrase "green bean?".  He stands up on his hind legs to ask.

In all, I will admit that when I brought these two home I was apprehensive.  I kind of thought they would be aloof and not want contact, and that I'd be getting the wool under duress.  That's not at all the case.  Pulling wool is extremely relaxing for me and Ygraine (I haven't pulled PJB's yet) and I really feel like we're bonding.  What a surprise!

You live, you learn.  It's all part of the adventure, isn't it?

Meatball Version 2.0

We're on our second batch of meatballs here at Chicken Scratch, and they are doing just fine so far.  This Saturday is the day for them.  The.  Day.  You know what I mean.  We started off with 16, and had one get out of their yard and stuck in some fencing, where it dehydrated and died.  I cursed a blue streak at not finding it in time.

I am so ladylike sometimes. 

But besides that, they've been pretty good.  This batch, which is from a different hatchery, has been far more active than the last.  Unless their weights are low at the end of the day (THE day), I'll be ordering the next-and last- batch from them again.

Round birds=Meatballs

They range far and wide and spend less time at the feeders than their predecessors.  Though they sit down a lot, they actually get around pretty well.  Much less rundling with this batch than the last.  They use their legs much better than the others did.

I sometimes wonder if it's the turkeys influence on them.  They share their pasture with the turkeys, and though the turkeys don't stay in the pasture (they can fly really well, something I did not expect), they do hang out a lot of the day with the meatballs.

Comingling at the feeder, turkey and chicken butts together

I sometimes laugh at the "system" the meatballs have.  They have pasture, but I also throw weeds in the yard, too.  They like the greens, and there are always bugs.  They will dig a little and then sit down.  Then they let the others dig, like this:

And once something is dug up, they move in and gulp it down.

I know, they don't show a lot of action in these pictures.  But I thought it was pretty clever the way they know to wait until the others do the work for them, whether it be an egg layer, or a turkey.

Then they get the good treat at the end.

Not stupid.

Speaking of turkeys, they are gettting l-a-r-g-e. 

This is Gus

Gus likes the camera.
"Well, I'm handsome.  Why shouldn't I?"

Out of the four Naragansetts, we seem to have 3 males and a female.  Gus is the first one I could identify as male.  He LOVES to show off.  Turkey boy, in that picture above, is also male and the one Gus likes to fight with occasionally.  I believe I saw one of the others flaring at me (I'm attractive to turkeys, I guess) a few days back, and it was not Gus (who's banded) or Turkey Boy (who's gigantic and easy to spot).  The last Naragansett hasn't shown off and is a slightly different coloration than the other three, which makes me think "female".  It won't surprise me, however, if I am completely wrong.

And Great White?

Great White is 12 pounds, if she's an ounce, and I believe also a female.  Again, I could be completely wrong.  She doesn't fly well, due to her large stature, but loves to keep up with the littler ones.

At 11 weeks, it is really something to see how big she really is.

Great White is slated to be Thanksgiving dinner, but I will find no pleasure in that.  Not that I do, anyway.  Great White has quite a personality, which I was unprepared for.  The Naragansetts will be sticking around, unless there is one male too many, because though they sit on the roof of the house, and dig in my flowers on the porch, and eat like pigs, they are some of the sweetest animals on the place.

Yep, I was surprised about that as well.

So, it goes as it goes.  I'll let you know how the day turns out on Saturday!  Until then, stay cool!  We've got a scorcher (another one) here!

Boys!

Boys will be Boys, right?  Yeah, well, they never accounted for male turkeys, but they probably should have.  The turklets are 7 weeks old and starting to hit their stride, which means the testosterone is FLYING.  This has become a fairly common scene around here, between the two turklets we're pretty sure are males.

___________________________

One turkey boy says something rude to the other one.  Something like "Your mama was so ugly, that your dad had to put his snood over his eyes just to mate with her!"

This, of course, totally ticks off the other little turkey boy, and he curses back or says something just as rude.  After a minute or two of barbed comments, the fight ensues.

One goes high, the other goes low.

They dance around one another, wings down and tails at the ready.

They charge.

They meet and jump on top of one another's heads.

The way to win the fight?  Grab the back of the opponent's neck and hold on until he cries "Uncle!".

They both go for the advantage.

Now Gus (the poult with the orange band) has taken the lead and has gotten a grip on Turkey Boy's neck.  Normally, Gus will just hang onto Turkey Boy until Turkey Boy lays down--a sign of submission.  This time, a chicken broke the fight up and Gus didn't get his victory.

Which meant it wasn't really over, and he knew it.  Once the chicken was gone, Gus stalked Turkey Boy back and forth, not really starting with him, but not letting him completely off the hook, either.

Yep, he chased him to the edge of the deck, and showed him who was boss.  This is Gus in half display.  I wasn't quick enough to catch the full monty.

He continued to threaten Turkey Boy, but the fight kept being interrupted by chicken after chicken.  Gus soon gave it up.

Minutes later, since they couldn't fight anymore, they took a nap together.

That's Gus watching me, because he saw me take the camera out.  The thing fascinates him, and he sticks his face right in it every time I bring it out.  If I want to get any "unposed" pictures of Gus (ie; pictures that are not of up Gus' nose or in his mouth), I have to do it from inside the house.  He went to sleep right after I put it away.

If you're wondering why Gus has a band and Turkey Boy does not, it's because we identified Gus as a boy early on.  He's also the tamest, and will sit in anyone's lap and talk to them.  To be sure I knew which one he was when they were all together, I banded him.  I believe Turkey Boy is also a boy, since he's the only one Gus takes on.  But until I'm sure, he'll be unbanded.

And yes, Gus did win this fight, even though it was interrupted.  Gus, who is a bit smaller than Turkey Boy, wins every fight.  He's small, but mighty, it seems!

Nap

Turkeys take their naps very seriously.

zzzzzzzzzz.....

Wha...huh??

Can't you see I'm sleeping here?  Jeez, woman!

So do kittens

What hard lives they all must lead.

Poults are Funny People

This is my first time with turkeys, and it's been quite a learning experience.  They've been pretty easy to take care of, and need similar things to chickens.  The thing I have discovered, which I pretty much knew, was that  I can't keep them apart from the chickens.  Everyone says to keep them separate, but ain't gonna happen.  I guess they'll have to build up an immunity to the bad chickeny germs and worms, or not survive.  At this point, they've been in with the chicks since they could hop their brooder, which was at about 2 weeks.  I'll go in to check on everyone, and the poults will be in with the chicks, co-mingling and whatnot.

Darned co-mingling.

What I have learned is that they've got quite the personalities.  It was a bit surprising to discover, and it seems that turkeys are, well, quite personable.  And quirky.  I like quirky, so they've got my attention.

There are five now, as I did lose one.  One is a broad breasted white, and four are Narragansetts.  The white is destined to be Thanksgiving (don't let him know).  The Narragansetts are for breeding, though I may not keep all four (don't tell them, either).  It's going to depend on how they fill out.

I'm fairly sure that out of the 4 Narragansetts, 2 are toms.  They started displaying very early in their little lives, and I know it was two of them doing it.  For weeks they would put on quite a show for me, no matter what I was doing.  I'd look at them and they'd be puffed up like a peacock and strutting around.  The males would also sit right on my hand when I picked them up and seem to want to be stroked.  If I did this, they'd make a funny purring/chirp.  Kind of like "Aaaaahh, that's nice!".  Very funny, really.

The girls (or what I am assuming are girls) want none of that.  And the white one, well, that one's a bit schizophrenic.  I think it must be all of that breeding.

Yep, you're seeing turkeys on the roof.  Apparently, turkeys like to fly.  I was surprised by that, I'll admit.  I figured that because they're going to be such large birds, they'd fly as well as chickens, which is not so well.  But no, they're fliers like guineas.  Who knew?
The poults are 6 weeks old now.  Their house needs to be put into position (more on that later), and then outside they go.  I am looking forward to it, since whenever I go into the garage-barn to check the chicks and turkeys in their brooders, there's usually a turkey or two flying right across my face.  Or doing this:

And it wouldn't bother me that they are so far above my head, but for the fact that they're -um-indiscriminate poopers and like to let it out anywhere and everywhere.  Which might mean my head one day.  Which I will not appreciate.  So yeah, I am anxious for them to be outside full time. 

On the flip side, I have discovered turkeys are trainable.  Not a one of them has a name yet, but if I call "Turkey, turkey turkey", they come running.  It's also funny to imitate their many different whistles.  They have quite a vocabulary.  When you've been listening to them as long as I have, you can recognize which call means "Where are you?", and then imitate it.  They come running when you do.

Ah yes, turkeys.  My little feathered shadows.  Where I go, they go.  They have accepted me as the head of the flock without question, and act accordingly.  Funny little guys and gals, they are.  I would definitely recommend them. 







**Oh, and if you do decide to have turkeys, I wholeheartedly recommend the book Not Just for Christmas by Janice Houghton Wallace.  It's written for a British audience, but she's had more insight into turkeys than I have found anywhere.  You can tell she truly appreciates them.  Just my two cents!