Drstratton - My Backyard Journey Journal

[Baymule]

Good morning Bay and thank you! It was just crazy, we did a lot of the things you've talked about in your pig raising threads...to no avail! Except for eggs...they love eggs. We discovered that they would chow down if we mixed egg into their feed, but there's no way my chickens could meet the demand...lol! we had a great crop of pumpkins from our garden, so I would cook one up and hubs would mix it into their feed, they ate that really well and zucchini. How are you doing...did you get hit by the cold snap very bad? Our son moved to Oklahoma just in time to deal with it. A portion of their pipes froze, but I don't think any broke!

We had two ice storms and 10" of snow. It got to -6F, breaking 100 year records. We never lost power and no pipes froze so we were blessed. But everything else was frozen, my husband kept the post boiling on the stove and I carried buckets of boiling water to the animals to thaw out their frozen water and give them a drink. For the steer and horses, I could bash the ice, for sheep, chickens and dogs, it was the hot water treatment. We had 17 new baby lambs and they came through it just fine. Thanks for asking!

 

[drstratton]

We had two ice storms and 10" of snow. It got to -6F, breaking 100 year records. We never lost power and no pipes froze so we were blessed. But everything else was frozen, my husband kept the post boiling on the stove and I carried buckets of boiling water to the animals to thaw out their frozen water and give them a drink. For the steer and horses, I could bash the ice, for sheep, chickens and dogs, it was the hot water treatment. We had 17 new baby lambs and they came through it just fine. Thanks for asking!

I'm so glad to hear that, sounds like you did a great job, but had a lot of extra work! At least we're prepared for freezing temps here, it's completely different when it's not your normal winter!

 

[Baymule]

In January we had our "normal" snow, 3-4 inches, gone in 3 days. But the February storm was something else! We just don't get that kind of weather and have nothing to deal with it. Oh well, it's gone now and it's been hitting 80F this week.

 

[drstratton]

In January we had our "normal" snow, 3-4 inches, gone in 3 days. But the February storm was something else! We just don't get that kind of weather and have nothing to deal with it. Oh well, it's gone now and it's been hitting 80F this week.

Yeah, that was just crazy weather for you guys...I truly am glad that you made it through without any major issues!

Our weather has been ranging in the mid 50's to mid 60's for daytime and still dipping into the 30's some nights. Spring is almost here! Is it normal for you to be in the 80's this time of year?

 

[Baymule]

We

Yeah, that was just crazy weather for you guys...I truly am glad that you made it through without any major issues!

Our weather has been ranging in the mid 50's to mid 60's for daytime and still dipping into the upper 30's some nights. Spring is almost here! Is it normal for you to be in the 80's this time of year?

Yes, but it is going back down to the 60's during the day. It was nice while it lasted! LOL

 

[drstratton]

Yes, but it is going back down to the 60's during the day. It was nice while it lasted! LOL

Enjoy those 60's, I'm sure it will be hotter than you want it to be soon enough!

 

[drstratton]

Hi all! I can't believe it's been 4 years since I've been on here. I had to step away, life became so busy for us along with some health issues. Things are better now, but no less busy.
I hope all has been good for my friends here.

Quick updates:
We are no longer keeping rabbits. We decided that we're just didn't like eating them. Not my favorite. I would however raise them again if there was a need.

We haven't raised pigs for a few years. Not sure if we will again.

We still have chickens. Just bought 20 in April.

We had 5 of our original hens and 1 Roo left until just last week. They got out of their pen and a pack of dogs killed all, but 2 of my girls. We had not integrated them with the littles yet, so those were still safely locked up. They are all together now and the big hens are showing them who is in charge...lol

We also no longer have our peacocks. I didn't like taking the babies from the mom at the end of the season. She would cry and cry for them. I couldn't take it, broke my heart.

My husband and I talking, we should downsize, also my husband and I, let's get bees.... So that's what we did and it has been an amazing experience. I will share our journey here.

 

[fuzzi]

Hi all! I can't believe it's been 4 years since I've been on here. I had to step away, life became so busy for us along with some health issues. Things are better now, but no less busy.
I hope all has been good for my friends here.

Quick updates:
We are no longer keeping rabbits. We decided that we're just didn't like eating them. Not my favorite. I would however raise them again if there was a need.

We haven't raised pigs for a few years. Not sure if we will again.

We still have chickens. Just bought 20 in April.
View attachment 119968
We had 5 of our original hens and 1 Roo left until just last week. They got out of their pen and a pack of dogs killed all, but 2 of my girls. We had not integrated them with the littles yet, so those were still safely locked up. They are all together now and the big hens are showing them who is in charge...lol
View attachment 119969
View attachment 119970
We also no longer have our peacocks. I didn't like taking the babies from the mom at the end of the season. She would cry and cry for them. I couldn't take it, broke my heart.

My husband and I talking, we should downsize, also my husband and I, let's get bees.... So that's what we did and it has been an amazing experience. I will share our journey here.

View attachment 119972
View attachment 119974

Hi!

I don't think we've met before. I joined last year.

I have bantams, want goats.

 

[drstratton]

Hi!

I don't think we've met before. I joined last year.

I have bantams, want goats.

Hi there!

It's very nice to meet you.

We started with bantams almost 40 years ago... that was a long time ago. Love them!

I wanted goats, never got them. It would have been fun. Now we're retired, I don't have the desire anymore. We're on the go too.

Hope you get yours, they are so much fun!

 

[drstratton]

We have had our bees since April it will take awhile for me to get everything posted.

We talked about keeping bees for the past 20-25 years. We finally decided to quit talking and I'm so glad we did. They are such amazing, resourceful little creatures. They definitely put my work ethic to shame.

We were at North 40 and they were selling bee packages, so we jumped in feet first and ordered a package. That would give us a couple of months to gather our equipment and start studying and studying and studying...lol There is so much to learn. One of the first things we learned is that it would be better to buy a nucleus hive, so we ordered one of those too. It's also a good idea to have at least two hives. Still had a couple of months until we could pick up our bees.

So, this will have a lot of pictures of what we've done & experienced so far. I love to answer questions and help others, sometimes I don't have an answer and that makes me research to find the answer and I learn something new too.

The first thing we had to do was decide where to place our bees. We chose the NE corner of our yard. We could then face our hives to the SE, so they would get the morning sun and start their day bright and early.

We get a lot of wind so decided to build a fence.

My husband designing and welding our new stands.

Trying to decide how to set them.

We decided to put in pavers to set them on.

By this time we had our new hives. My husband built screened bottom boards for them.