Daily ramblings.

Today Neil got a chance to build the hay feeder for the alpaca girls. I have been feeding them hay on the ground which isn't good for several reasons; 1. A lot gets wasted from being walked on and 2. It can increase they incidence of parasites from eating soiled hay from the ground. I was thrilled to get the feeder built finally. The girls seem to really like it too and all of them can easily fit around it.

Neil also installed my new solar shed light inside the goat barn as well as another solar motion sensor light over the door to the big barn. Both of these will help out with evening chores as it is pitch dark by 5:30pm this time of year.

Well, I butchered four roosters today, two Turkens, a Barred Rock and my last Dark Brahma (a feather footed breed). This should be the last of the chicken butchering for a while. I still have more roosters then I really need at 8. Those that remain include a Barred Rock, a Cuckoo Maren, a Dominique, a Dark Cornish, the Hill Roamer, two Welsummers, and my mystery rooster. The mystery rooster should go in the pot but I just think he is so handsome he will be able to stick around as long as he behaves himself.

But, as far as butchering goes, I think that doing 3 at one time is really my limit if I have to do them all by myself. My back really gets soar from all the standing in one place during the scalding/plucking/cleaning process. Not to mention almost wearing the skin off the back of my right hand from repeatedly inserting into the cavity of the bird during cleaning. You really do need small hands for that job. I knew that doing all four would be a strain but I wanted to be done with them as next weekend I will be butchering 3 turkeys out for Thanksgiving.

Only 5 eggs today... hmmm... what's up with that?