Tuesday, Jan. 12th, 2010... Winter Seems to Be Flying By Like Everything Else These Days...

Think Spring...... Now !!!

Sorry for the blog entry yesterday, but I felt it to be of importance. I know I said I would post this type of blog on our other blog, (Click here see it) but I wanted to spread the news as fast and far as I could because we need to protect our kids! Looks like the government isn't doing it! That's why it was posted on the farm site.

I can't believe it's already the twelfth day of January. It seems like New Years was just yesterday. Thank goodness ugly winter days go just as fast as the summer pretty days when we have so much we can do to enjoy them. It won't be long until we're sitting here looking at spring flowers popping up outside as we're getting ready for Easter Sunday. It happens so quickly, but for now, we're stuck with dreaming of the flowers, spring air and the warming sun. Oh well, it also gives us time to think about the coming summer and what we might expect to be on the agenda for this year. I know that I want to build a turkey house this spring and fill it with both gobbler and hens. We can gather and sell turkey eggs while raising them into the fall to sell. It's the most cost effective way to handle turkey eggs, because, like chickens, they lay best in their first year. After that, they are a spotty as chickens. By rights, we would be smart to stagger our chicken flock, so the spring birds start laying in the fall and continue into the next summer, while you hatch and raise your next brood of layers. Then you are producing eggs at the maximum efficiency all the time and selling year old birds when the next brood takes over. Now you're making the most money chickens can bring...being real farmers, but selling birds off....Not Vick's favorite thing to do yet.

I don't foresee any changes in the alpaca operation... nor do I anticipate anything special in the angora department. I suppose we will breed at least one litter this summer so we can expand our angora fiber...and we owe a bunny to the gracious lady that gave us the thirty-five guinea fowl which gave us an excellent start on a healthy flock for the summer. I'm sure they will also nest around the yard and come out later with litters of little guineas. We can't wait to see a Momma with babies, pecking around the yard. I hope to someday have an old Rhode Island Red watching over a brood of chicks out there too, but to date, it hasn't happened. Perhaps someday there might be a chicken that might hatch a litter.
We will start the incubators up around the middle of March so we have new chicks available around Easter. We will probably keep the incubators running all summer long like we did last year. We already have folks wanting to buy chicks from us.

Yeah......I think this summer is gonna be a fun time on the farm.

We will be working on the inside of the gift shop, to finish it up and get it officially opened, but it will be a fun time inside. The worst was the outside construction and the roofing issues with my knees. Inside and electrical will be a cinch! Stay tuned.