May 18, 2007

ven though the incubator with 114 eggs in it went down to 84F instead of 101F for up to 8 hours, this morning I was greeted by a fresh shiny feathery face when I opened the incubator to check the water and the temps. This hatch, even though there was a mishap, doesn't look too bad and alot better than the last one. We have many eggs being pipped currently, not slow and scattered like the last batch. As of this writing, there are 16 out and 50 or so coming out.

We had to get the second 'honeymoon suite' breeding pens for my birds, which I have to install the adult turkeys into, so I can put the baby turkey poults into the area where the large turkeys were after cleaning it a bit and putting down new shavings, so I can put the new hatch into the brooder room. I was kinda busy and frankly I did not have much hope of this batch hatching, so I put off the task of getting a place ready for them.

We had to move a whole pen forward about 10-12" to get it in line with the other 2, so I will have 3 pens done. But to move the one pen took 4 of us last Fall.. so there is no way I can do it by myself. I have to wait for help for that and for moving the 'doghouse' that goes with the pen. I do have about 1/3 to 1/2 of that job done and should only take about another 30-40 minutes to finish up.

Picture Above: This years batch of turkeys installed in their outside pen

I went back to the Morel spot, but no new ones had cropped up. My friend "A" let me know of his secret patch and I can go raid it this evening when all the chores are done. I do not want to go by myself due to known bears in the area. The sow chased a few people out last year and attacked a man after he got into the middle of a bear and dog fight.

Mary's fencing rolls finally came in at the farm store. She picked that up and I bought the grass seed for our pastures.

We picked stone and log chunks out of the furthest back pasture-to-be early this morning and tossed into the burning piles or flung it out into the bush to eventually rot and turn into soil. It was not as bad as I thought it would be. I thought I smelled a bear, so I thought it may be a good idea to head back to the house since it is about a 1/2 mile run if we had to go in a hurry. if I see "VW" up close I want to make sure I am in a vehicle or in the cabin looking out the windows. We took the day off from fencing, but with Mary getting the wire, and a good fencing crew tomorrow, hopefully we will be done with all the fencing tomorrow or Sunday. After a week and a half of fencing I am ready to go on to a new task.

Picture Above: The furthest pasture back on our property almost ready to seed. We have several pockets of pasture within the forest

I need to get some of my other gardening plants planted. With all the fencing I sorta forgot about them. My squash and pumpkins and other odds and ends need to be planted. Like 4-5 days ago. Parts for our tractor should be in early this coming week so we can do all the garden stuff pronto and then move cattle. I am sure "Daisy" would have to have her calf by then. It is crazy how wide she is getting.