List Making

Layers in their new yard 

"Easter Egger" 

...Pig Piling Turkeys...

Silver Laced Wynodette 

"Broiler" Cornish-Rock Cross

In March I posted about our to do list for the spring. It was a little lengthy and quite daunting. This is what our list looks like now!

• Fence in the barnyard :: there is quite a lot of debate on to what that exactly means. The only decided part, put up a fence near the road, and do it sooner than later. -DONE >> read about it HERE
• Move the ducks to this coop area in the dog house - turned duck house - turned chicken coop and now back to duck house. -DONE >> read about it HERE
• Move duck house and turn it into a chicken coop then build a fence around it tall enough so the chickens stay out of the daycare yard.  -DONE
• Decide where the turkeys will go. -DONE
• Move rabbits into Rusty's old stall
• Clean out winter chicken coop to put meat birds in it -DONE
• Get brood box ready -DONE >> read about it HERE

It feels incredible to have some much done! It took longer than we planned, but we all have other jobs to do other than our growing poultry farm.

I was thinking, as I helped Jason with the fence, about our failures and successes over the past year that for people who have no recent experience with poultry, we're doing pretty good. Last year we lost quite a few of our broilers in the first few weeks, maybe half all together before we butchered them. This year we lost one broiler and one turkey, I think that's quite an improvement.

We also have fences. I had no idea how much I would love a fence until we put ours up. We only have one more fence to go, for the turkeys, but we have a little time before it becomes a real problem. The real beauty of the fence and our preparedness is that next spring when we buy chicks they won't need to be on the porch!

Here is the next list:

• Butcher 5 Rabbits (so we can stop feeding them and because I really want to make rabbit stew)
• Move Rabbits
• Plant Garden
• Finish Turkey Coop
• Finish Turkey Fence
• Fix Chicken Coop to fit in the nesting boxes better
• Plant Garden
• Plant New Blueberry Bush

I am assuming that this list will take us through the next few months.

The other day Mom and I sat down and planned out the garden. Our inspiration is this garden from Better Homes and Gardens.

Source

This is what we came up with:

This is in an effort to plant what we can handle, not what we want to eat. We will also have a vine garden in near the poultry yards in the middle of the "L" shape that their fences make.

How is your Spring going?