Chickens, Bees, Gardens and Spring

Deklyn and his baby girl Leia

 
Oh!  I can't even believe it has been almost 2 weeks since I posted last....  I usually enjoy more time in front of the computer (down time!).  But my computer needs worked on in a BAD way.... it needs a total cleaning.  Like everything needs to be wiped off of the hard drive then things need to be reinstalled....  When I type, it's extremely difficult because it won't move for several seconds and then everything you typed will just appear on the screen....  So there are so many mistakes and to go back and correct them takes forever too...  But enough of my crazy computer, just a note though....  I will HOPEFULLY have a friend work on that his week...  But that means I will be without a computer for a day or two...

We got rid of a few chickens last week.  I put an ad on Craig's List and we sold some of our Rhode Island Reds and some of the Golden Comets that we bought last year.  We kept about 10 RIR and got rid of all of our Golden Comets.  We also have some of our 2-3 year old Buff's and Americaunas.  We also have a few mutt chickens that we hatched last year, plus our banty chickens.  So, we are down to about 30 or less chickens.  Corn prices have just been getting so high, we can't do as many chickens!  We were getting about 20 eggs a day with the 80+ chickens, and now we got rid of all of the chickens BUT our NEW layers started laying this week too and we are still getting about the same amount with 30!  Good news!  :)

We also got our new bees yesterday!  Last years bees, we had got 2 hives.  One hive swarmed (up and left us!) and the other seemed a little weak.  So we left them with all of their honey.  And we didn't expect them to make it through the winter.  But to our surprise, we found them alive and thriving a few weeks ago!  We had already ordered 2 new batches of bees, so we actually had to buy a new set of brooders and other things.  But hopefully, we will have the one hive making honey like crazy since they are seasoned veterans and then we will have another 2 hives with a little less...  I am hoping to have some honey this year then!  Maybe enough to last me all year long.  I would probably use about 8+ gallons of honey a year, maybe more if I had it around instead of sugar!  I am excited to have those going.

It has literally been raining like CRAZY here.  Our pond is flooded and everything is SO muddy.  We finally have our tiller up and running, and it is SO wet, that hubby couldn't even get the garden all tilled.  So for me to plant anything is not possible!  I have seed potatoes (red and Kennebec) ready to go into the ground any day.  I also have all of the cold weather things to go into the ground yet too...  I HAVE to get this stuff in the ground soon, grocery prices are already going NUTS and I have to be able to feed 4 boys with crazy appetites! 

All of the other animals are doing good.  Baby goats and sheep are getting bigger and enjoying being outside.  I love watching them frolic and play in the pasture.  It's so funny!  :)  But we are finally done with baby season.  Our last Jacob sheep had a baby last week and we weren't around all day... It ended up dying.  He was just so big, my hubby thinks she probably had some difficulty...  I gues life on the farm brings those sad things sometimes though. 

So much going on right now!  How about you?  I need to get around and visit some of your blogs also!  I miss spending my down time on the computer and getting some reading in!