Chickens & More…

We have chickens. Over thirty of them, too. We had more, until the coons finally figured a way into the coop. We lost eight chickens in about a week before a few well-placed rounds from the .22 stopped them.

The skunks are harder to get rid of - they are wiley, and take off the minute you let the door slam coming out of the house. I tried shooting the last skunk with the .22, but you don't want to get too close to that kind of target, and it's hard to aim at a distance while on the run. I finally finished the business by purchasing a 12-gauge shotgun. Aiming isn't quite so necessary with that kind of artillery...

At any rate, the chickens provide between six and twelve eggs a day, which Tyler sells. The difference in taste from store-bought eggs is quite noticable.

We haven't quite worked up to butchering a chicken yet, but as the ones we still have are now pushing two years old (egg production slows greatly after the first year molt), it's probably time to start thinking about it.

Spring, 2006

Our new baby chicks (26 of them) arrived in the mail today:

They seem to be settling in nicely!

Horse and Goats

In addition to the chickens, we now have a Quarter Horse named Oakey, and three Nubian goats.

Here's the goat feeder Tyler and I built in December 2008:

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