Beginnings of a chicken fodder system!
Apart from selling the goats, November was a really slow farm month. We didn't even buy feed this month. It seems that every day is colder than the last. I've been leaving Baby Girl inside with Hubs while I do chores; it's just really cold for her to be out there. Plus she hates being in the stroller now. :/ Every time I do this I'm so glad we sold the goats. Chores only take about five minutes between dumping new feed in their feeder, collecting eggs and breaking their water.
Chickens
No chicken deaths to report in November. We are up to three eggs per day now, as opposed to two last month. So that's good news!
I also started working on a new fodder system for my chickens. I wanted to do this last year (and previous years) but just never got around to it. I got my husband to use his construction whiz skills to build a frame for stacking fodder containers on top of each other. This month I'm going to drill holes in my containers and stack them on top of each other. The idea is to line the bottom of each container with seed for sprouting. Then you water on the top, and the water trickles down to all of the other containers. Each day you take one container of fully sprouted fodder out to the chickens, and add more seed on the (empty) bottom container.
Strawberries
This month we used fallen leaves to cover almost all the rows of strawberries. I had planned on doing straw, but I think the leaves will be better because there is no chance of them shedding seeds for a weedy strawberry patch next year. We also didn't have to buy straw. There are still a few uncovered rows that I should probably buy straw for. But we'll see if that happens or not.
Profit & Loss
Expenses: $4.00 for fodder containers
Income: $3.15 from book royalties (One Season of Farmers Market)
Net profit: $(0.85)
Year-to-date net profit: $324.51
Well, the good news is that I lost less than a dollar this month! I know I will have to buy feed in December, but that's all I can forsee. I really like the pared-down animal chores this year. We are planning on doing a winter vacation sometime in January, and the goats are one less thing I have to worry about while we're gone.
Til next time,
-Bethany
Chickens
No chicken deaths to report in November. We are up to three eggs per day now, as opposed to two last month. So that's good news!
I also started working on a new fodder system for my chickens. I wanted to do this last year (and previous years) but just never got around to it. I got my husband to use his construction whiz skills to build a frame for stacking fodder containers on top of each other. This month I'm going to drill holes in my containers and stack them on top of each other. The idea is to line the bottom of each container with seed for sprouting. Then you water on the top, and the water trickles down to all of the other containers. Each day you take one container of fully sprouted fodder out to the chickens, and add more seed on the (empty) bottom container.
Strawberries
This month we used fallen leaves to cover almost all the rows of strawberries. I had planned on doing straw, but I think the leaves will be better because there is no chance of them shedding seeds for a weedy strawberry patch next year. We also didn't have to buy straw. There are still a few uncovered rows that I should probably buy straw for. But we'll see if that happens or not.
Profit & Loss
Expenses: $4.00 for fodder containers
Income: $3.15 from book royalties (One Season of Farmers Market)
Net profit: $(0.85)
Year-to-date net profit: $324.51
Well, the good news is that I lost less than a dollar this month! I know I will have to buy feed in December, but that's all I can forsee. I really like the pared-down animal chores this year. We are planning on doing a winter vacation sometime in January, and the goats are one less thing I have to worry about while we're gone.
Til next time,
-Bethany
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