Tuesday, March 24, 2009

stuffing my stuffer with stuff


Right now I find myself wanting to answer the much too common question, "How are you?" with "WE"RE JUST SO BUSY!" and then I want to punch myself in my crooked nostrils. Because I think that answer is over used and tells people to stay away and not ask anything of me......um, so maybe I should use it more often, der.

I have lots of critters that are requiring my attention. So, a bullet point post is all I have in me.

*We have 18 meat birds in the basement that creep me out and eat more food than I ever imagined. Which also means they poop more, which means I am constantly cleaning out their cage.

*We have two baby turkeys that I have nearly scared to death when I do my turkey call.

*We also have 21 chicks of various kinds peeping their little beaks off in another pen in the basement.

*Did I mention the turken? We got one turken also known as a naked neck. One of my chicken loving friends recommended it, so we got one to see if we like turkens.

*For those of you that have trouble with math, that adds up to 41 birds in my basement.

*We have one rooster and five hens left from our flock last year out in our chicken coop.

*I am getting one egg a day. It's very irritating. I had to buy eggs last week. Dad blab ricken frig grrrr CHICKENS!

*Mark your calendars on May 2nd we are planning to butcher the 18 meat birds (and possibly the lazy hens in the coop). I will post all the gory details right here for your viewing pleasure.

*Jean, Ellen is alive and well and yes, she spends most of her time hiding in the dark corners of our house to avoid being the subject of a blog post. The boys, however, wish I would post about them everyday.

*We went to the first of two beginning bee keeper classes. I'll try to post about that soon.

*One of our hives is dead. We're trying to decide if we should get a new queen this year or wait. There are so many details in the apiary business. I had no idea how much work bees can bee...hee hee. Also, it's not a cheap hobby. More on all that later.

*For the third time I hung out laundry and then started to burn sticks and brush. My clothes all smelled like smoke. I had to wash them again. This does nothing to help make my life easier or prove to others that I have any brains.

*I've planted peas, beets, lettuce, spinach, onions and herbs. I desperately need to get potatoes in the ground.

*We had a violent wind storm here all day yesterday and last night. I was certain our barn roof was going to be torn off and splintered all over the field, but it's still intact. I honestly don't know how it survived.

*That's it for now, gotta run, cause, you know, I'm so bus....er, I mean, uh, um, I got some stuff to do and then after that, some more stuff, and then my stuff has stuff to do, and then I'm gonna stuff some stuff in my stuffer.

*Now line up all your critters and give them a big hug and kiss for me and for the sake of the baby turkey's don't gobble.

15 comments:

jean said...

There are classes about bees? Who knew! I can't wait to see pictures. Have Ellen take your camera and go around taking the photos. If you're behind the camera your safe. Now I have to go and look up Turken.

Melody said...

Good luck with all of your babies. This time of the year can be crazy busy on a farm!

Becky Meyers said...

ROFL!!!!!

Gladys said...

April once you get your hives going it isn't so bad. Also just make sure you let the chickens run around once you chop off their heads. That way your kids will know what your talking about when you say....like a chicken with its head cutoff.

Mylinda said...

My daughter got a turken last year for a school project and we loved it. Poor thing was so ugly as a baby that no one else in the class wanted her. We did. She was so ugly that she was adorable...not to mention the sweetest chicken ever. Love those naked necks!! lol

Anonymous said...

Please esplain why you have all that live poultry in your BASEMENT?? You say you have a barn for pete's sake. PEEU.

Have you ever butchered birds before? Its TONS of fun! Smells good too.

More progress in my studio if you want to check it out.

Anonymous said...

I have house centipedes in my basement.

(Do your birds smell? I knew a family once that kept piglets in their basement. Oh my. That was a smelly endeavor.)

Southern Gal said...

Good luck with all your birds. I'm guessing you've got all of them in the basement cause they're young and it's too cold to put them in the barn?

Unknown said...

Yes, too cold to put them out there just yet.

I'm hoping to get those freaky meat birds out of my house this week, but the little guys will be in the house at least two more weeks.

It smells like cedar shavings in my basement because that's what we use for the litter.

Leila said...

We have to get to bee classes too. Our bees died.

Yes -- is there a thrifty way to bee keep??

You aren't supposed to use old hives, b/c of disease...and new ones are so expensive!!

They better produce some honey, man!! and stop dying.

Sally said...

I am so glad we don't have basements here. :)

Anonymous said...

Dude, Don't use cedar with chickens the fumes can kill them!!!!
If you havea place that will process chickens for you do it!!!!
Buthering is GROSS-Smelly-Did I mention Gross and Smelly!!! Processing here in Wi cost about $1.50 each and their done under food inspectors observation.
I'm just sayin'

April said...

Sorry Mary,
I meant pine shavings. And yes, there is a processor not too far away, but we're going to make a fun day out of killing those chickens and you know, I need the blog material.

Anonymous said...

Have a bucket for those whu throw up near by my Marine who can hold anothers guts in couldn't handle the smell.

Kris said...

Do you feed scraps to your chickens in addition to the feed? I know you have the pigs, but our chickens don't lay unless they are getting a little something from our kitchen -- leftover pasta, fruit rinds, bits of sandwich, etc. Hope that helps, nothing more annoying than having to buy eggs when you are paying for the feed!!