Many thing mark the end of summer for me, the start of school, the harvest of wheat or potatoes, the start of the state fair.It just seems that this summer has gone by too fast. I am still working on the duck shelter and I need to bring the last 10 ducks home. I think maybe the nursery folks are getting tired of them. They also have 10 new chickens for me and I need to bring them home as well. On top of that Rascal needs a shelter and I need to fence in his area so he can be off the tie-out. Today he broke the shorter cable and I had to bring the longer one up and catch him and get him back where he belongs. You would not think it would be that difficult with a small buck like that, but he is what I would call a butt-head with and attitude. Fortunately (unfortunately?) Abby is in heat and he was not straying far from the girls pen.
I forgot to mention last week that the wheat we gleaned sprouts very nicely! However I was not doing a chlorine rinse, and all 8 trays had mold in them. I had to throw them out and start over. Washing the trays thoroughly, each batch of grains now gets a chlorine rinse that I hope kills all of the mold spores. I cannot sprout enough for all of the goats, and they take some time to get used to sprouts. The chickens however love the greens and I think if I can just sprout grains for them, it will improve the eggs. So that is the plan for now.
As for the duck shelter I now have the floor built and am working on the walls. The back walls seem to be a straightforward build of a stud wall. I thought the floor would be easy, but getting the corners square has eluded me. I have to remind myself “it’s only a duck house”. As long as it is secure from predators large and small, and I can enter it standing up to clean and check for eggs it will be OK.
One more thing, I was out checking the bamboo to make sure they are getting enough water. I probe the soil around them with my fingers to feel the moisture and on all of them I found good sized (pencil thick) rhizomes pushing out from the original planting. The little leaf bamboo now has another new shoot. this one came out horizontally at ground level and I almost did not see it in the straw mulch. It is a much bigger shoot than the first one. I have great hopes for these plants.
So, egg count for the week of 8/24/2014 thru 8/30/2014:
- Collected – 51
- Sold – 0
- Cartons filled – 4
And for the month of August (8/3/2014 thru 8/30/2014) :
- Collected – 229
- Sold – 5 dozen
- Cartons filled – 18
Egg sales have been slow, maybe they will pick up now that people are back down from the mountains?