I had a nice weekend after a really busy week.  I kept busy but not ragged.  After I got home from my convention in Hutchinson I took Sarah to the football game where the Owls won 21-7.  While the Owls are the defending state champions I don’t see them repeating again this year.  Their undefeated record just does not show the weaknesses that they have.  Too many dropped passes, penalties and poor deep defense to consider them a great football team.  I hope for the best but am not expecting a whole lot.  Sarah also got to be a cheerleader again and was just so excited to be on the side line acting all grown up.  We got home really late and went straight to bed.

 

I woke early on Saturday and got my chores done in short order.  There was not much to do since Susie did a good job of feeding and keeping the chickens and turkeys watered.  Feed consumption and laying efficiency is holding steady and providing us with plenty of eggs.  I am able to give away about ½ dozen each week to my co-workers.  They are appreciative but little do they know that I am simply planting a seed for when I start selling them in the spring.

 

Around 10:30 I ran into town to get my tractor out of the service center.  The mower clutch assembly seems to be working fine now but I do need to do some more maintenance such as a new oil filter, spark plugs and fuel filter.  The tractor seems to me really low on power and should get better once these are accomplished.  After getting the tractor home I went back into town and picked up 125 feet of fencing from a guy that advertised on Freecycle.  The plan is to use this fencing for the pigs in the spring.

 

Speaking of pigs I think I have Susie convinced that the pigs would be a good addition to the homestead.  I used the example of the chickens, which she was originally reluctant to have, to show that my ideas do work out well.  I also have Sarah pushing the idea too.  She really wants to enter a pig in the county fair next year.

 

The weather turned cold on Saturday night and has gotten colder as I write this entry.  Fall is definitely upon us as last night was our first hard freeze.

 

The chicks are all doing well and feathering out nicely.  Still not sure how many hens and roos I have as they are not showing any individual characteristics yet.  Probably be about 3-4 more weeks before it becomes evident.  I cleaned out the wooden brooder box in preparation for their transfer to the garage next weekend.  I am also planning to insolate the box as it will probably be the hen house for the winter.  I have a bunch of styrofoam pieces that I will glue to the outside and cover with a vinyl tarp.  It should keep the box warmer and drier. 

 

Last night I found a guy trying to get rid of a 6x6x6 hen house with a metal roof.  I am heading over there on my lunch break to see how I can get it home.  Freecycle is just the greatest service to find the crap others don’t need but can still be used by others.

 

I am still looking for participants for my chicken study.  If you are remotely interested in helping to gather statistics related to efficient free ranging please let me know.  No operation is too small to participate.

Good luck with the pigs...Make sure your fence is sturdy...and you might want to tuck it under the ground a little...they love to root...we bought two little guilts last spring...and thought we had them in the pen secured...we had raised another one there the year before...well within 30 minutes as we had left to drive to the feed store...they escaped...pushed the fence up and ran... we posted flyers all around...and heard of them sighted several places...one of my student's dad even tried to catch them one morning...but we never did get them back...So we've been waiting to build a more reinforced holding pen before we try again...Oh..we named them Thelma and Louise...