Three Whitetails Feed the Kitties for Nine Weeks

DH and I finished processing his three whitetails today(almost). I think he said there are three more quarters from the last deer to go. After saving the back strap and tenderloins for himself, there are nine weeks worth of ground venison for our five kitties. I need to find all the other tubs that are mixed in with everything else in the other freezer. There is still time for more deer. We usually run out around April or so and the poor babies are forced to eat canned food from the pet store. This makes at least two of them very unhappy, even though I buy what is supposed to be of the highest quality available around here.

Busy Day Ahead

It is just after midnight and I'm still up.  Thinking of the day I will have 'tomorrow'... I must get the remaining bushel of apples processed while they are still in good shape (some dried and some apple butter) ... there are tomatoes to be skinned, pureed and canned... green tomatoes to put up (several recipes in mind-- green tomatoes pickles, relish, etc.)... garlic to pickle.  No time to waste!  Will try to get some photos posted anyway. 

Three Eggs and a Fox

Today we are up to the third egg from the pullets.  I have no way of knowing if these are all three from one hen or not.  I did find in Gail Damerow's 'Raising Chickens' that when a pullet begins to lay early then she is more likely to prolapse or become egg bound.  I guess I will have to prepare myself in case that happens, but pray for the best.  I have never had to deal with either situation yet.  

I took down the rest of the shade cloth today.  Some of the birds thought it was cozy to sleep on the shade cloth instead of on the roost in their shelter.  Kind of like a giant hammock, I guess!  One of my 'Have to Do's' before winter is to get a Chicken Tractor made.  This will be taller than their current shelter, so they will be able to roost higher up as they prefer...and they are ready for nest boxes.  It will be portable, by definition, so they will be able to be moved around to fresh grass, yet be safe from predators.

We have had a fox on the property.  He still eludes our capture and I have not been comfortable letting the old birds out loose.  The use of the dog run has come in handy this summer for some peace of mind.   

Pullet's First Egg

One of the pullets laid her first egg today.  It was very surprizing as I think it is early for them to begin to lay.  They are only eighteen weeks old!  I don't know if the surprize was from one of the Cornish or a Sumatra... a very nice brown egg though.  The small egg belongs to the pullet and the larger eggs are from my old hens. 

Butchering Day

Today I set my alarm early.  I once read that it would be easier to capture the cockerels early in the morning while they are still half asleep and loopy.  I was out there right before sunrise, capturing them one by one and hauling them out to a holding pen.  We didn't get to butchering until later in the afternoon, due to other chores that took priority that morning.   This butchering ordeal is my least favorite part of being part carnivore.

I had already spent some time the last couple of days in the pen with the birds finding and marking the more docile roosters.  I knew there were at least a couple, but managed to find five that would let me handle them.  They seemed to have no fear nor contempt of me and would jump up on the fence waiting for an invitation to roost on my arm or to be held in my hands.  As soon as I picked one up, he would get comfortable in the palm of my hand and sit there until my arm grew tired and I had to let him down.  These five I marked by spraying 'Blu Kote' on their feet and legs.   At the very end, I will have to pick two only to keep.  I have to leave the area when DH does the dirty deed with the three who won't make it. 

Chickies Arrive!

The chickies are here!  They were shipped out from Murray McMurray on Friday, May 6th.  I got a phone call on Saturday afternoon from the post office up in Champaign to let me know that they were there and that I could come pick them up, if I wanted to.  We were not able to make the two hour drive, so would have to wait until Monday for them to arrive at our little local PO.  The birds would be fine, as they are able to survive at least three days without any food.  They would do well on the nutrients that they had from the egg. 

The area I was setting up for the brooder was not quite ready.  I hurried to get that done and we would need to make a trip to town for another heat bulb and something for litter... Rural King was out of pine shavings, but they had ground cobs.  We'll see how well those perform, I guess. 

Sumatra chick

Apples and Pecans

The apple trees and pecans have been ordered from Miller Nurseries in Canandaigua, New York.  For one reason or another, I chose not to go through Gurney's.  I have used them in the past and was happy, but this year I have been disappointed on several counts when trying to place an order online.  I will not go into detail right now, but just let it be said that I am not happy with them at all this year.  I was going to try Henry Field's, but I suspect that they are affiliated with Gurney's... same operation with a different name perhaps.  I would have preferred Stark's over Miller's, because Stark's stock would be more regionally adapted to our location, but I went with Miller's for the simple reason that their stock is air root pruned.  This is the great advantage as researched by Dr. Carl Whitcomb.   They also have a nice selection of fruit and nut trees and reasonable prices. 

So the trees that I was able to narrow it down to are as follows:  I purchased as a package the disease resistant varieties of four apples; also a Winter Banana Semi-Dwarf Apple and Northern Spy Semi-Dwarf.  I am concerned about how these two will do because we already have a cedar that carries Cedar-Apple Rust.  I may try to figure out a place to plant these two trees that are a little further away from the afflicted cedar. 

For the nut trees, I ordered two hardy pecans.  I want a heartnut walnut tree, but these are sold out at Miller's for the year.  I will search around a bit and see if I can find it from another nursery without having to wait a whole year.