Finally! getting a chance to post some pictures

The Hens

The Roosters

a couple of turkeys

trying to get a cute Easter picture

the trip home with the goats

 

Geese, Ducks and Turkeys

the newest additions- Kissee and York

 So all the poultry babies are just growing really fast, Monday the chicks will be a bit over 3 weeks old and the rest will be reaching that date on Thursday (I'm going by arrival dates).  Its hard to imagine the amount of growth they are supposed to achieve in the next couple weeks.  My books say the ducks should be ready to butcher at about 8 weeks and weight about 7lbs.  WOW!

The goats we just brought home yesterday.  Kissee is a very well scoring, good milking bloodline registered Nubian.  She was not cheap, but I'm really hoping that she will prove to be a good milker for a long time so getting the quality in place now can mean a lot.  Her only real flaw is that she has an underbite, but none of her kids do so its apparently not passed on.    Her scores are 11*M, VVEV, averages about 7.8lbs of milk daily (I've only recently learned what those even mean, don't feel bad if you don't).  As I've discovered that you have to be a pretty good hand milker to get that 7.8lbs a day.  This morning we got a quart and a half out of her and we probably should have been able to get that last half quart if we were better at milking.  Aye, its a learning curve.  I've also learned why a milking stand is important....my back hurts!  Not to mention how fidgety she is about being milked from the floor.  So my husband (awesome man that he is!) is building me a stand as I type this.  Isn't he great!

The other day, on April 22, I calculated how many eggs we've gotten since the arrival of our 7 hens on March 23rd.  It was 115 eggs!  So I did some math and compared to Meijer organic eggs at $3.39/dozen, which is what we were buying, we saved about $15 after adjusting for feed by keeping hens instead; and they are better eggs!  Now that the eggs are coming in faster, I'll have to make more egg related dishes.  I figure our "cost" per dozen is right around $1.50 if you don't include things like the mobile coop costs. 

I'm trying to keep up with the economics of the farm outputs vs. inputs since part of the reason we do this is to hedge off rising grocery prices.  I'll put up more comparisms as I have them.  I hope its not too boring.