Yesterday started out pretty rough around here. First we woke up about 1/2 hour late, but that wasn’t the worst part of course becase that isn’t THAT big of a deal. So I rushed outside to put the two buff cockerels moving to a new flock in North Carolina, into a crate for transport only, when I opened the coop door, it was like a horror scene. Apparently they decided that enough was enough and they were tired of living together. Unfortunately, one was much better at getting his point across. Long story short, only one rooster went off to his new home in NC and the other is in a clean cage on our porch nursing his wounds. Today it looks as though he’s dipped his head in some kind of tar due to all the coagulated blood & scabbing that has started. I want to keep him here until he at least LOOKS better. He’s crowing and doesn’t act phased but wow does he look messed up. It appears that the bulk of the blood came from the back of his head where his comb was being ripped off his head. I really can’t tell yet but I have hope that it’ll all heal back up pretty well and he’ll only have a few scars to show for it.
Just a few days ago www.backyardhatchery.com went online and started accepting signups. We are already doing well in a couple of the search engines, getting search result visitors within a week or two is fantastic results. It really pays to have great hosting and a good network available for publicizing. Here’s the first banner I made for it:
Tomorrow I will start “spring cleaning” around the farm. We were building late into the fall last season, well beyond comfortable temperatures for construction. That being the case, all but the tools we used, is still right where we left it. Incidentally the entire area is one unfinished construction site, materials included, just piles of screen, welded wire, scrap wood and so on. I also need to get into each and every chicken enclosure that has a dirt floor and take up the top few inches of sand and soil, and replace it with fresh. The first up is the “Roosters’ Coop” which will be used this spring/summer/fall as a breeding pen, heck I might even turn it into a four season enclosure for a flock, as it’s becoming clear that by next winter I will have to have a very different setup than I did this year. I will seriously need to slim down roosters, and choose a breeding project to move forward with… one project. Well.. one chicken project anyway, I’ll still have to have my turkeys!
Until next time… don’t forget to bookmark my new site www.BackyardHatchery.com where in under a year it will be the most difinitive easy to use online resource for locating local poultry breeders!!