Monday, April 13, 2015

Springing New Life

We're going to be expecting new arrivals at The Compound in the next 4-6 weeks.  We have two pigs ready to deliver in early May.  Our best mom from last year, Pepper and a new mom to be, Queenie (my absolute favorite).  Can you believe I don't have a readily available picture of Queenie!  It must be because I don't take the time to get one, I'm too busy scratching her ears or her belly!

This was Pepper last year, a few days before delivering.

 

Since we're only a few weeks out, we separated them to the farrowing area, got their wallow filled up and fresh straw laid down.  Now they won't have to share food with 10 very hungry teenage pigs.  It leads to a lot of squabbling.  Getting these two girls to the farrowing pen was easy work.  They love to be loved, so they just followed us in to see what we were up to.  They both get along very well, and we're eagerly waiting to see the new brood.

We did have two turkeys hatch in the past week, and 3 more hens sitting.  We never did see the Toms covering the hens, but obviously they did at some point.  Again, I didn't get any pictures.  Although, the hens wouldn't let me get very close, or they'd start puffing up.  Even the Tom's would get between me and the little chicks.  Since this is my first foray into Turkey raising, it's all been interesting to watch.

We did catch a very large rat snake trying to make it's way into the Turkey pen.  I'm sure after those little chicks.  That immediate problem has been resolved.

We bred our Holland Lop Ear rabbits this past weekend, so we'll be looking for kits in early May. What have you used for nesting boxes?  Anything extra I should be thinking about for the new moms?

Pickles on the left and Cupcake on the right.

We're debating on whether or not we start raising Quail.  Anyone want to let me know the good, bad and ugly of raising them?  Is it worth the endeavor?  I'd like to get fertilized eggs and hatch my own.

We also have an incubator full of chicken eggs.  We didn't raise any new chicks last year on our own, and some of our girls are getting up there in age.  Although you'd hardly know it, we still get 4 dozen or so eggs each week out of about 30 hens. Too many for us to eat anyway, so we give them away.  After the new chicks reach laying age, we'll need to cull the flock.  Not something we look forward to, but the more animals we have, the more money it costs and the harder it will be to sustain them and us.

Well, that's it for now.  Have a great week!


9 comments:

  1. Wow Izzy. Your compound is definitely growing!

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  2. Hey Izzy, For rabbits I have used 5 gallon buckets filled with straw and layed on their side for nest boxes it worked great for us! On the quail, they are good eating, but let me tell ya you can be quickly over run with quail...they lay prolifically for the first year and then they are done...We got rid of our just because of they time they took to feed and water everyday was more than we wanted to do..its takes a lot of quail to feed a family...they are small and you can figure each person eating 2 and some will eat 3 they are small...that is 6 quail for my family...if you are feeding several people it would take alot of quail...so for us, it wasn't worth the trouble or expense...but everyone has their own limits as to what they will do and how time and money they will expend...Rabbits are a much better investment IMHO! Looking forward to seeing pictures of your chicks...they are so fun to hatch! I have 200+ in my incubator due to hatch Wednesday!

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    1. Thanks for the info on the quail. You've reiterated what I was most worried about. I'm just not sure there will be enough of a return on the investment to make the additional funds and effort worth it.

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  3. Replies
    1. Yep, more bacon bits! We're looking to butcher a hog this weekend and make sausage out of him. We're looking forward to adding meat to the freezer.

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  4. Izzy,

    I'm excited for you, your pigs, rabbits and turkey's are all expecting or have had babies. I can say you've been busy. I'm looking forward to upcoming posts with updates on your new babies.

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    1. The Moose and I definitely love to add new additions to The Compound! Since this post we had 2 more turkey chicks hatch!

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  5. Wow! I'm a wee bit envious of your turkeys...I need to revisit the idea of raising a few with the mister. :)

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