Yesterday morning we awoke to missing guinea fowl poults. I counted eight adult guinea fowl and not a peep was with or around any of them. Vick walked out as I cleaned up the wood around the barn and she found one chick that finally came out to the adults. We caught it and put it into the brooding house with the chicken peeps under the heat lamp. Perhaps that one little guy will make it…and 15 of his hatch mates are gone…probably to a fox or raccoon. I knew we should have caught them all the other day and put them in the brooding house, but the Momma was doing such a fine job of protecting them from the geese and chickens, flogging anything that got close to them. I failed to think about a guinea out in the dark when a predator attacks a setting hen at night. NOT GOOD!! My mistake and 15 poults are gone.
While Vick looked for guineas, I worked around the barn, unloading the truck of remaining 6” wide boards that were left over from the upper barn siding…moved the 4” batten boards that are needed for the back side of the bunny brothel over to that side and cleaned up the barnyard area. After dealing with that and a couple of farm tours with visitors from New Jersey, I ciphered the needed kiln dried lumber we need for the new tractor shed and Vick and I went to GNH Lumber to get them. The two guys there loaded eight 12’ long 6x6 treated posts, four 16’ 2x6 planks and twelve 10’ long 2x8’s into the back of the truck, crying about the weight and grunting as they did so. When we returned, I unloaded everything myself, stacking everything neatly, including the 6x6 posts. I believe I even unloaded and neatly stacked the items QUICKER than the two guys loaded them too. Waa, Waa, Waa…what a bunch of panty waist kids! I should have invited them both to come and watch me unload by myself...after they laughed and said they would like to see me unload alone when I got home.
The building will be 15’ x 30’ and will house the tractor, backhoe attachment, our wood pellets and the posthole digger. Actually I can’t wait to get it laid out and start setting the treated 6x6 posts and get the top ties on to resemble a building. It should be a pretty quick project once the posts are set and the ties are in place. Although I hated losing the old building and all the equipment that burned…we will have a much prettier building when we’re completed, that will actually compliment the other outbuildings on the farm.
Vick will again operate the DeWalt compound miter saw, cutting each and every board I place on the shed as usual. All I have to do is take a measurement for the next board and Vick cuts it immediately and delivers it to me to install. We’re a pretty slick and well oiled machine when we build together. Vick runs the compound miter, a jigsaw and the circular saw for rip cuts and is more than capable of making any cut needed. She never gets credit for the half of the work she performs, as if a woman isn’t capable or they simply don’t appear to believe she actually does all that. BUT SHE DOES. Just come sometime and watch her in action.
Anyway, after getting the truck unloaded…and while Vick was preparing dinner, I went out and trimmed some limbs from hanging over her garden at the end of the driveway and took the limbs to the trash pile. We went to fill the gas can and get some things from the grocery store before hanging it up for the day.
Today, we’ll wait for a lady that called Friday for two dozen eggs, wanting to pick them up this morning between ten and twelve. After she comes and gets her eggs, we’ll plot where the posts go for the tractor shed and I might drill the holes and fit the posts. We need to tie up the drooping branches on the plum tree too. When we tie them up, they will in time, grow that direction and stop drooping in the driveway.
Once the tractor shed is up and finished, the only other job I have around here is to fix the leaky Bilco doors to stop water from coming in on the basement floor. Anything else is a tiny task when it comes up… Ahhh, sweet dreams of being done!
Left all the animals out for the day and found the last Guinea fowl chick dead. It was lying out in the middle of the box, under the heat lamp. I don’t think the chicks smothered it during the night, because it was not in the corner where they sleep in a huddle. Go figure…now we have no Guinea fowl chicks again…Two years running the parents lost them. Talk about child abuse! Next time we need to immediately gather them up and put them in the brooding house, in their own space, under a heat lamp with lots of food and water.
Below are more of today’s pictures…ENJOY
Found this wondering around the living room this morning...
The tractor shed will encompass the three vehicles parked here...
Stack of lumber we bought yesterday (the light colored piles)
These are the Bilco doors that I need to fix...
I guess at some time we'll need to finish the chimney too...
We do have a beautiful, completed barn...
It really makes the farm look great...
"Lunch time for the kids when I get home..."
Well, that was quick...off for another?
"Yeah, my work is never done with hungry mouths to feed..."
Good Morning Gladys...how are you?
Good morning to you too Terrance Turkey...
Oh, is that one of your off-spring behind you?
Would that be Terry Jr. or Terri? We can't tell for sure...
We'll just have to wait to see I guess...
The back of the barn is in stellar shape now too...Beautiful
Oh, I see the ladies are doing their jobs quite nicely too.....
Looks like we need some rain again...The fish agree...
All 32 of the bought chicks are still healthy and growing...
Too bad the Guinea fowl chick didn't make it too...
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070374 Cluckin' "A" Critter Farm, LLC
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