I am a day late, again, in posting this weekly egg summary. Holiday weekends seem to throw me off for some reason. We had company this last sunday. My brother and his wife stayed overnight on their way back home from a wedding in Wyoming. Always a good excuse to light up the firepit and cook out.
I did not mow the lawn on Monday as my regular schedule would have had me do. I did try last weekend to get the irrigation water flowing down the ditch. At first there was not enough water in the main canal, then the ditch plugged off at the first place it crosses the lane, once I got that cleared, it plugged off at the place it crosses BACK across the lane and then of course it plugged off where it goes underneath the county road. I was unable to water to any extent on Wednesday, except where the plug-offs flooded the lane.
We called Roto-Rooter since they have a high pressure pipe cleaner and they came out first thing on Thursday morning. Their cleaner head found a hole in the side of the pipe and created a small geyser in the yard of the house across the street. It also knocked loose a large “hairball” of grass and mud that unblocked the pipe and allowed me to get most of the yard watered. The ducks rediscovered the joys of irrigation day and spent it following the water flow as I moved it to the different areas of the yard.
Thursday afternoon I went to an appointment with a local orthopaedic surgeon’s P.A. to have him examine my right shoulder which has been bothering me more each day. They took some x rays and compared them to the MRI I already had, and badda-bing, badda-boom turns out I am a prime candidate for complete shoulder joint replacement surgery! Lucky me! I think, for the time being I will opt for the steroid shots. Many things to consider including how long the recovery will take, what can I lift, Seriously no haybales? How do I take care of the critters if I can’t feed them?
I have been getting very little milk from the goat mamas. The kids are getting so big and drinking so much. The last few days I have tried putting the moms out on tie-out for three hours prior to milking. I can get about 1 full quart/day doing that. It’s not much, but better than 1 quart/week.
Friday afternoon the bamboo plants I ordered arrived. In all they spent 3 days in transit, and arrived in great shape. I don’t yet have their new home ready, but did get a start on prepping the planting area. After the steroid shot on Thursday, my shoulder does not hurt more than my back for a change. Nice. I even worked most of the day Saturday out in the sun, shifting wood, pulling wire out of the ground.
This morning I woke up at the regular time and the dog took me out into the yard. After coffee, I went out to feed the critters, but didn’t hear the usual noise from the ducks. I saw why, something had invaded their pen and killed all three. At first I thought it had to be one of the barn cats, and from what I can read on poultry forums, domestic OR feral cats are capable of such predation. After further reading, and looking at the way they were killed I now think it may have been a weasel, or ferret or some other of that family of hunters. The pen was closed, but it was possible for something to climb in over the top or something smaller and thin to come through the few gaps in the fence by the edges. I cleaned the pen, buried the bodies, and went down the road to console the now orphan ducklings.
Life on the farm, not so laid back as John Denver would have us believe.
Egg count for the week of 5/25/2014 thru 5/31/2014:
- Eggs collected: Chicken – 50, Ducks – 9
- Sold : 0 (zero) taken for my own use 2 dozen chicken, 2 dozen duck
- Cartons filled: Chicken – 3, Duck – 1
For the Month of May 5/4/2014 thru 5/31/2014:
- Eggs collected: Chicken – 233, duck – 51
- Sold: chicken – 15, duck – 1 (forus 3 chicken, 2 duck)
- Cartons filled: Chicken – 18, Duck – 4
Final note, the ducklings are starting to show their adult colors, they are getting big and will be a fine looking flock. I will be bringing home the 12 that I hatched and three from the Jensen petting zoo. Plus I have 1 dozen eggs out with the lady in I.F. Hopefully most of those will hatch. There is still the promise of many ducks here at StoneFace Farm, I just need to figure out how to prevent this from happening again.