Thinking and Planning

Though I don’t write about it every day, I do think about two things every day and often into the night. I wake up asking for the Lord’s grace for the day, for His grace is sufficient for me. After I get up I spend some time praying, covering those that I love and know and those that I may not have met but know they need prayer.

When the school day starts for Little Jon and me, we start with a prayer and the Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag. As our home schooling starts, and during the day, my life is wound around things to do now and planning for things to come. Whether lessons or hopes for the future, prayer plays a big part in the planning. There are things to be accomplished, things to be bought, people and places to see.

I do not know how people make it through a busy day without consulting the One who knows not only our past and present, but our future as well.

The Father and His Son direct our steps, but they expect us to interact with people. He uses others to bless us even as He uses us to bless others. One of the great blessings available to us here in Dallas TX is the availability of book and craft stores.  Another blessing for me is the Internet. I have been able to not only find books for my grandson’s classes, but books on gardening, poultry, and small backyard farming.

Once in a while we make a trip to the Tractor Supply Store in Mesquite TX. They have the cheapest incubator that I have found. They also keep me supplied with various magazines – some on gardening and some on poultry. I wish we had a duck/goose magazine I could subscribe to.

The poultry magazines run $7-$5. I recently found a book on chickens for a similar price: Keeping Chickens by Liz Wright. The author is from England or Australia. I like reading it because it has a slightly different perspective than American writers.

Catching Up Finally

Though I have not been writing for this blog for a while, I have been continuing my interest in all things poultry. 

Life has been very busy as I home-school my ten-year-old grandson through his 4^th grade classes. I have been valiantly trying to get him to complete his semester end classes. However, my body was having issues which caused a violent case of diverticulitis and nearly a week in the hospital.

 Last week Lil’ Jon and I sent in to Texas Tech the Science, Language Arts, and Social Studies tests and projects. Tomorrow, we will begin working again on finishing 4^th grade Math which is not due until March 22. Though we don’t have the lesson plans for the other courses, we will also begin our 2^nd semester in the other subjects using a format similar to what we have been following. My hope is to be finished with this 2^nd semester in May.

In the meantime though, I have been buying poultry books and magazine as well as homestead type books such as:

              Possum Living by Dolly Freed, Tin House Books, Portland Oregon,1978. A very interesting homestead on a string type book. I found it at Border’s Books in Arlington TX and could not resist it.

              Extraordinary Chickens by Stephen Green-Armytage, Abrams, New York, 2000. Mr. Green-Armytage is a photographer who became interested in photographing some extra ordinary poultry. I bought it at Borders’s Books as it was so beautiful and it was half-priced.

              The Homesteading Handbook by Abigail R. Gehring, Skyhorse Publishing, New York NY, 2011. I also picked this up at Borders. I went over my budget getting these but I feel they are all worth the price I paid. This one is chock full of ideas for growing food, canning, keeping chickens, generating your own energy, building sheds etc. and much, much more.  It’s a great reference book.

              The Field Guide to Chickens by Pam Percy, Voyageur Press, Minneapolis MN, 2006. I got this one for its breed references. It is not the best book, but also not the worst. It gives an over view of several breeds and well as the care of chickens. I mostly got it with a small, local library in Mississippi that had no poultry books in it when I visited it last summer.

              I also bought a couple of cookbooks from Half-price Books, one of which is Wild about Waterfowl, put out by Stoeger Publishing Co., Accokeek MY, 2003. I bought it for the recipes.

              I have been rereading Storey’s Guide to Raising Ducks by Dave Holderread. I  hope to be able to purchase some ducks this year and am brushing up on what breed/breeds I might want. I Like the Muscovy, Cayuga, and Saxony. I know the Muscovy is a great breed for setting and for pets. I am not sure about the others.

              I have also bought several poultry magazines off the shelf at the Tractor Supply store in Mesquite TX.

Yeah, I dream a lot about the future.

Reading and more

I have added a list of books that I have read recdently. I am continually looking for things to read and currently prefer poultry or homesteading/small farm books. One that I have just started is a scientific study of greylag geese called: Here Am I - Where are you? by Konrad Lorenz.  I think it will be more difficult to read but should be interesting. I will also read Five Acres and Independence by M. G. Kains, which is a more applical book for us now.

I usually read two or three books at a time. It seems to be best to have a heavy book included with a light book or two. That  way when I get tired of making my brain smarter, I can read something that helps me relax.

Planning for the Future

In my searching around for all things chicken and duck, I found that Tractor Supply has a still air Little Giant incubator for just $44.00. That is cheaper than anything I have seen online. With that in mind, I took myself down to the local Tractor Supply store in Mesquite TX and bought me one.

They did not have an egg turner on the shelf at that time, but I knew from their website that they carry them. It is about the same price, which is not too bad. After all I will not be paying for shipping. Therefore, I plan to buy one sometimes this month.

I have been finding other "clucking" and "quacking" sites on Facebook. It is always interesting to read what they have posted. I have gotten several ideas from them. I have also located a few small hatcheries that were interesting.

As for ducks, I hope to be ordering them from www.holderreadfarms.com as Mr. Holderread has written several books on ducks, chickens, and geese. He has reasonable prices on ducks and the shipping cost is okay.

As for chickens, I will probably be ordering some from http://www.meyerhatchery.com/ , http://www.welphatchery.com/ and possibly http://www.purelypoultry.com/. There are certain breeds I want and each hatchery has certain offers that sound better than others. Meyer has the best price on frypan specials, Welp has excellent prices, and Purely Poultry also has some good prices. I will start with Meyer and Welp and then see.

By the way, Meyers has great sales, an interesting write up on each breed, and a nice Facebook page.

Happy Clucking

Dreaming of Poultry of All Kinds

I have continued to try to learn all I can about poultry. This means mostly chickens but including ducks and geese. I do want to get a few ducks just because I like them and they are really good at eating bugs. However, I am not sure if they would be worthwhile for eating. With that in mind, I realize I need to cook several before I will truly know we don’t want more than 2 or three ducks. This means I need to get more than the 2 or three so that I can practice processing and cooking them.

So which ducks do I get? I have about decided on Saxony ducks because of Hollered’s write up about them – great forgers, rare breed, good setters, good all-around breed. They won’t lay as many eggs as some of the other breeds (which will be good, I think – that is unless I want to market their eggs). They are said to have less fat and taste better – perhaps because they like to forage. I don’t know but I think I will try. I do know that Muscovy ducks are not as fat and taste okay – had one that we ate years ago. I will get a pair of them for sure. Muscovys are quieter, which is good, and they won’t lay as many eggs but will set on the eggs.

I often go looking for the older, free to read books on Google books http://books.google.com.  I found one that is not particularly appropriate for our needs, but I have found it to be interesting: How We Make Ducks Pay by American Pekin Duck Company. It is based on the price of things over a century ago, but it is fun to read. It makes me wonder if such an enterprise would be available to someone living in Mississippi. Who knows? It does stimulate my mind to think of possibilities though, and that is fun.

More Dreaming of Poultry and Gardens

I bought a couple of new chicken and duck/geese books from Half-price Books recently. They are like a walk-in Amazon.com, and I love to shop there. In addition, I searched Amazon for other books. I have also added a couple of cookbooks that have recipes for cooking ducks and geese. Chicken - I know how to cook but duck and geese are new to me. I tried to cook a duck (that cost us a huge $15) I got from the grocery store. It did not turn out so good, and turned my husband off duck. However, I know you have to cook things several different ways to know for sure whether it is something good or not. I plan to get some ducks and try it again and again so I will know for sure whether we want to raise some.

I pour over my poultry books and hatchery catalogs to make sure I am planning correctly. I check and recheck coop plans to make sure the designs I want to build will work. I plan building them over in my mind so I can be sure I have things right. Tom, not being a chicken lover, will not really understand so I need to build them myself, and raise the chickens myself so he can learn the value.

Poultry Books that I have bought to help me with my dreaming:

The Complete Encyclopedia of Chickens by Esther Verhoeff, AAD, RIJS; Rebo International; 2011- British oriented book but a very interesting read. It is not really an Encyclopedia but it does have a lot of information.

The Dollar Hen by Milo M. Hastings; Norton Creek Classic; 2003 – A classic book reprinted and edited  by Robert Plamondon. This is a book based on life at the turn of the 20^th century but many of his ideas are applicable for today.

Raising Chickens for Dummies by Kimberly Willis with Rob Ludlow; Wiley Publishing Inc. 2009. This book is from the American perspective. An excellent book for new and experienced chicken owner.

Building Chicken Coops for Dummies by Tood Brock, Dave Zook, and Rob Ludlow; Wiley Publishing Inc. 2010. Very interesting for many reasons. I was not so much interested in the first half of the book. I liked looking at the plans and reviewing why and/or how they would work with my ideas.

Keeping Ducks and Geese by Chris and Mike Aston; David and Charles Publication Inc.; 2009. Written from the British perspective, interesting and informative.

Storey’s Guide to Raising Ducks by Dave Holderread; Story Publishing; 2001. This is the best all around book on raising ducks I have found. It was so good that if I order ducks, it will be from Holderread’s farm.

Cookbooks to help me with my cooking:

The Sporting Wife Game and Fish Cooking Edited by Barbara Hargreaves; H. F. & G. Whitherby Ltd.; 1976- An interesting collection of game recipes including duck and geese,

Duck & Goose Cookbook by A. D. Livingston; Stapole Books, 1997. I will definitely be checking out these recipes.

U.S.A. Cookbook by Sheila Lukins; Workman Publishing; 1997. This one has some interesting sounding duck recipes plus a lot of other delicious things.

Traditions, A taste of the Good Life by John Galsworthy; Little Rock Cooks, 1983. This book has a game section that is chock full of recipes for all kinds of game including ducks, wild geese, even frog legs. It should be fun trying out the recipes here.

I have a lot of cookbooks in my collection. I have weeded a lot of them out by giving them to friends and relatives as well as donating them to libraries. I don’t believe in throwing a cookbook away, but it is fun to share. However, I did not have any game cookbooks, just a very few with some duck recipes.

General Books

I have a lot of general small farming books.

Backyard Livestock by Steven Thomas; The Countryman Press; 1977. This is a classic all around book that we have had for years. I have dug it out to reacquaint myself with Thomas’s ideas.

Handy Farm Devices and How to Make Them by R. Cobleigh; The Lost Library; 1909. This is an old book that has been reprinted. It has some great ideas for things that were used in the 19^th and 20^th century before modern equipment became available.

New Beginnings

Chicken Adventure 2011 – 2012

I had a small flock of Buff Brah mas and Black Sex-link chickens this summer but had to give them away before they could lay eggs. It was a case of waiting forever for my husband to decide to retire; or for me togive up and move back to Dallas to wait with him. I loved being with my husband as we have only been married 47 years – been with him so long it feels like I am missing part of my body when he is not there.

Back in Dallas, things settled down but I keep making plans in my mind for when we moved back to the old home place in Mississippi. There will be chickens to order, new better coops to be build, and raised, square-foot gardens to create (or made ready to plant for the fall).

In my mind, I plan and replan all these things especially the chickens. I read and talked so much about chickens that Tom told the family, “She clucks when she reads, she clucks when she is at the computer, and she clucks when she sits down to talk.” Tom is not the chicken person I am.

I have not revealed to him all my hopes, dreams and plans. He would not understand. It is enough that he says we can have chickens even when he asks, “Why do you want more than one breed. Just get 100 hundred of one breed?”

When he says that he is remembering what his mama and grandmother used to do. They bought 100, raised them up to eating size and cut the flock down until there were about 12 good hens and one rooster. I want 4 breeds and for various reasons. I want Salmon Faverolles because of their friendly nature, beauty and all around usefulness. (I want them for pets and eggs.) I want Delawares for similar reasons and because they are good for eating at most any age. I want Americanas for the beauty of their eggs. I also want some Silkies because of their nature – friendly, broody – and because of their beauty. This means having 4 different coops and our big back yard fenced. We can do this.