Farmerjan's journal - Weather

Baymule

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Jan, you need some chicken meat customers. I have just a few, but they happily pay $6 per pound, dressed, cut and packaged. :th A lady picked up her order of 4 chickens yesterday for $162 and was thrilled. Yeah, it's a lot of work for me, but I make money on the Dirty Birdies. Finishing up an order of 10 today. I want to make another chicken tractor before spring. I need to figure out a way to make a portable yard for them, not that they would free range much. I've tried to give them more room, but they just don't get it. I know one thing, all that poop sure makes the grass grow! I need about a million super poopers all over our land! LOL LOL I just have a few customers, slow growth is ok with me. I want a tub plucker, maybe someday.
 

Mini Horses

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Can you rent a set up of equipment? Saw one guy a yr or so ago who would rent his big tub pluckers and scalder but $50 per day was too much for just the normal backyard group. A group of 50 + and it would be ok. A doz, not so much. This amount you have, great!!

Bay have you looked on line where they show to make a plucker for one at a time, powered by a drill? It would help you until you went for the big one.

For your customer at $ 40 per bird --- wow. You know that would not be what we would be willing to pay :cool:. We are just not that shopper -- just that grower! It's like my $10 gal goat milk.
 
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Baymule

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I need to make me a drill plucker. It would have to be better than hand picking. We left a lot of pin feathers on this time, it was cold, lightly misty and I just wanted to get them processed to the point of taking them in the house to finish. I spent a LOT of time in the house, fine tuning the Dirty Birdies. Heck, I wouldn't buy my OWN chicken at $6 per pound. My customers tell me it's the best chicken they ever tasted. They can keep on believing that. I move their tractor daily, I know they eat the grass, I find it in their gizzard and crop. That and the fermented feed must make a difference. If not that, maybe my story on how I raise them must put the idea in the customers mind, I am a good talker. :yesss:
 

farmerjan

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Hey everyone. Went and got another 65 tonight....UGH !!!! So there were about 180 in the ones we caught last evening...He estimated..... and he had these 65 in the trailer and I went and got them after I got home from taking my heifers to the dairy and then cleaned out the trailer. Long day as I spent 3 hours and got the other field drilled (planted) with the wheat....
So there are about 240+/-.... and they are in the cattle trailer as I don't have the space for that many and it is calling for rain and stuff from that hurricane that just hit Louisiana and is heading this way. Not that I had time to do much of anything this morning with the planting,,,,then having to deal with the BS with Jim because he still hadn't finished the lights on the trailer and didn't answer the phone... I was some P.O.ed.......was supposed to be done yesterday....Got done with the seeding at noon, went and got the cattle in, went to get the truck/trailer and there is the plug in for the trailer all taken apart.....Didn't get to leave until 2:30...... so that made my getting home late, getting the trailer cleaned out in the dark, birds all transferred into it late, going to get the others that they called me about right as I was getting the heifers loaded, very late. Got back here to the new house at 9pm. Wanted to get on the computer for a few minutes.... have to get some clean clothes to take to old house; need to take shower and wash my hair because tomorrow I have to go to Duke in NC for the checkup appt for the ankle. Got to put water and feed into the trailer in the morning, I am just too tired to go getting all that together tonight.
And the lights went out on me on the trailer, and the dash lights in the truck, and he tried to say it was the junction box in the back of the truck that has been there for years..... :barnie:barnie:barnie:he:he:he:he:duc:duc:duc:rant:rant:somad:somad:somad:smack:smack:smack I know why DS keeps him around.... he can get him to do all this stuff so that he doesn't have to and can go running off to the gf all the time. I don't mind the farm work stuff, I like doing the hay and seeding and all.... but this other stuff he is getting really bad about getting done and then has Jim do it ...... and I can't see where he is such a good mechanic that ds says he is.
Okay rant over.
So the birds will stay on the trailer because we aren't going to use it for a few days at least.... until I can get a little caught up with stuff. The rain is supposed to be done by Fri aft......

So, there is no way they will sell here for any kind of money like you get @Baymule .... they do sell good at the poultry swap but that was in Sept and again in May if things go okay. There are too many poultry houses and too many that know someone who knows someone, to get a few from. I was doing pretty good selling them at the poultry swap.....$10 each to mostly Mexicans and ethnic buyers.....No work for me but to load and take. These weigh in the neighborhood of 4 lbs.... they need another month or more, out in the open, and getting grass and such, to get the "poultry house smell" out of them and gain some good muscle weight. The best things about them ; they are free, and they are way past the needing heat lamps and such. They are feathered pretty much.....and will get better as the weather cools now. Plus once they are not competing with all the others, these smaller ones will really gain and actually will be better tasting because they will get more muscles/weight from being out and about. Going to see about getting something put together here so they can go on the grass and all where the garden is going next year.... that is where I cleaned out the trailer too. It was VERY SLOPPY SOUPY from the 2 loads of calves and then the load of our cull cows he took last Friday to the stock yards.... not counting my 6 today.

So Dr tomorrow after getting some feed and water in there for them.... then the 500 + cow herd Friday morning.... then I will be able to take a breath and figure out what I am going to do with all these.... Biggest thing is a roof over their heads for the rainy weather.... although it looks like after this hurricane goes through we will have a week or more of dry..... but they need protection from the cold wet dew too.
@Mini Horses , "come on down" I will fix you up....!!!!! Seriously, it is a bit of a trip, but if I get a load like this, I would gladly give you a bunch.... all it costs is your gas.... If this covid crap ever ends, we could even meet for lunch.... I put them in the back of the little truck bed with 2 panels I had made just to keep them from flying out, not that they can fly but sometimes they will get on the wheel wells and sorta hop/flutter out.....then just take the hose and wash out the back of the truck......

Okay, time to get going.... I need to get up and get up here before 7 to do them so I can leave by 8..... 3 1/2 hrs .... have to be there for 1pm appt.... like to allow time. I think I will leave the good clothes here to change into.....Won't get back until after dark......since it gets dark fast when it is rainy and gloomy....and have to get stuff in truck for Friday morning.....
 

Baymule

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Whew! I'm exhausted just reading all that! Get a little breathing room and you'll figure out what to do with them all. Is there an online classified for your area or a free paper of classified ads that you could advertise them in?
 

Senile_Texas_Aggie

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Miss @farmerjan,

With all of what you have going on right now, I wouldn't be surprised that your hair looks something like this:

1603979348551.png



Senile Texas Aggie
 

farmerjan

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Nightmare day..... Pouring rain last night, chickens very wet and bedraggled in the trailer. Put up tarps on both sides and put shavings on the floor of the trailer to try to get them a little dried out. There wasn't enough time to do things really right, but then I had never expected to be getting any so everything is just last minute. Expect I will find some dead in the morning from the soaking. The only good thing is that it was VERY WARM today..... short sleeve shirt weather when they were originally saying cooler. So, in the morning, after I get home from testing, I will see what is what and make some decisions on what to do.

Had 2.6 inches in the rain gauge when I got home. It flat out poured from here to the Va/NC line then let up but the wind from there down to Raleigh NC was wicked..... 3 wrecks from probably hydroplaning on the way down.....one on the way home but don't know if it was from wind shoving them off the road.

Had a great check up. Said the ankle looks good, that I have as much or more mobility than most and I was complaining that it won't straighten out as much as the other and she (Physicians Asst.) said I have much more flexibility in the right ankle than most people. Some of the restrictions could be the slight swelling.... but that I may never get more than what I have which she again said was VERY GOOD..... but that I can try some more stretching type exercises.... but that I really had very good mobility in it.
I will see the Dr. that did the surgery my next time there in 6 months.... then maybe once more in a year after that......

Got a call back message from the furnace guy.... he is away til Monday, but said that he will call me Monday, and we will set up an appt for them to come and see about getting the furnace going.... bleed the fuel lines, and whatever it needs....
Good thing, as the temps are supposed to go down to about 30 the first of the week; with days in the 50's. No precip for at least a week..... I'm sure we will be doing some more hay. Have to take a hooded sweatshirt on the tractor if it gets that chilly. Then moderating by the following weekend.

Got the samples bottles and boxes in the rental car for testing in the morning. Oh, forgot, had to go pick that up at 8:30 this morning in the pouring rain too....It goes back tomorrow since I will be coming right down past there after testing. Get my 4x4 truck and come home.

Since the weather is going to be clear, I will get back on the laundry detail.... bring up some from the house. Have PT next Monday, so will take the blankets and all the bulky stuff with me and go do them Monday so they can hang out and get dried here....There are still plenty of stuff in drawers that need to be washed. Trying to go through some things too....making a box of stuff to yard sale and then donate to Goodwill anything that doesn't sell that is decent. Have a few things I have added to the ragbag too....

Gotta go so I can get some sleep... have to be up and gone by 3 a.m., to be at the farm to set up their samplers on their milk line. Luckily no set up of meters, and they pull all that stuff off after it washes long after I am gone.

One more funny thing. They tried to take my blood pressure 4 times.... both arms like normal, then both forearms.... and the machine was not registering. Joking that maybe I didn't have any blood pressure... or that it was so sky high from the stress of driving down. So after they x-rayed the ankle to look at the joint, they took it again. 127/72.... Which is good for me..... as I was running more in the 150-160's over 80's..... So I was pleased.
 

Baymule

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Poor Dirty Birdies! Not much you could do about that with a hurricane blowing through. You did all you could, you'll get it right as soon as you can. Maybe you can build a Cornish Cross coop and run just for them. Then you won't have to scramble to take care of them.

That is good news about your ankle. It may be doing well, but you want it back to pre-destruction days. LOL LOL
 
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