Friday, April 9, 2010

April 9th Finally Friday!

Off to a great start already this morning...and yes, I am being sarcastic!! Rich was in one of his moods this morning. I hate mornings when he doesn't really won't to go to work but kind of needs too. He had plans on taking today off to spend time with his parents, daughter and granddaughter but they had some issues with one of the air handlers in one of the buildings he works in that needs to be completed as soon as possible. Men get too stubborn sometimes about what they want.
I managed to get the poultry barn all cleaned out yesterday. I cleaned out all the sawdust and old hay that was inside. I cleaned out the nest boxes and the roosting shelves. I then scrubbed and cleaned everything thoughly! The poultry barn is 10x18 so it took me some time. Once I managed to get everything out and scrubbed down, I put in new sawdust for litter on the floor, added hay to the nest boxes, refilled the feed, cleaned and scrubbed the 10 gallon water dish, scrubbed and cleaned the two one gallon water dishes. I clean the water dishes really good and disinfect them about once a week until the weather gets warm here and then it has to be done every day on the small ones and every two days on the big one. Feed is given to all the birds on free choice, but the two dishes still need to be filled about twice a week. It took me about three and a half hours from start to finish.
Big Momma, the turkey hen that the toms injured will trying to breed her, is healing extremely well. She had about six kids come visit her and pay attention to her yesterday. She loves being "petted". She lays right down on the ground and closes her eyes and just takes it all in. She is one of the nicest birds I have ever had and is an excellent bird to teach the little kids about how different turkeys are from chickens.
Norman junior is doing a little better last night. He is slowly regaining some muscles strength but now has developed swollen joints in two of his legs. I will have to keep an eye on that too now. Hopefully, he will turn around and be a little more lively today and the swelling has gone down some on his legs otherwise, it is a call to the vet to get him some antibiotics and a big vet bill. I will be praying my little guy to get better soon. I hate to see him struggle so much to even be able to stand. It breaks my heart to have to assist him up. He is stubborn though, so I am positive he will pull through it all.
The weather here is miserable last night. We had a storm blow through with lots of lightning and tons of thunder. The dogs were scared silly. One was hiding behind the bathroom door and the other was so close to me I think I can feel every hair on her back.
We started spreading the fields with liquid manure yesterday afternoon. We managed to get one of the field chisel plowed. The rest of the 50 acres are going to have to wait until tomorrow. We had three tractors spreading and one plowing. The neighbooring farm up the road is assisting us with the liquid manure, extra equipment and man power. We should be able to finish up the bigger section today. By the end of the coming week, we should have corn in the ground. The medium field that runs along the property boundary to the pond will be left for hay. It produced good last year at about one round bale (about 800-900 lbs) per acre. We won't get to harvest that until sometime around May 1st.
Well, now that I am done with my coffee it is time to head out to the barn to do my morning rounds of feedings. It is cold out here today and right now the temp sits at 40 degrees. Big difference from yesterday morning when it was 65. Since the weather is going to be cooler and rainy today, I am working inside for most of the day today. Today is the day to do housework! Yuck...I would rather clean the barn.
I will be loading a recipe on for Corncakes later this morning! A Sunday favorite for me! Rich doesn't like pancakes but loves the corn cakes. I thought maybe that would be something good to share for our first recipe of the week. Of course, to those of you who read, I am sure we could find a way to do a recipe swap! Anyways, "It's time to make the donuts." as the Dunkin Donuts comercials used to say! Have a great day all, may God Bless.

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