Turkeys, grapes and Ben
Here's some more scenes from our place here in northern Wisconsin. We got turkeys again this year and so far they are doing good. Thanksgiving dinner should be great, providing nothing happens. We are raising them in a chicken tractor. We give them boiled goose eggs as a treat. We have 16 turkeys in this pen.
We have four movable pens out on the pasture. The one on the right and below has some young chickens which just came out of the brooder to make room for a new batch of day old chicks. The two other pens are not shown. I build our pens out of what ever scraps we have on hand so they are all different. We butchered the last of our first batch of chickens of the season the other day. They ranged between 4.5 and 6 pounds cleaned and dressed.
The grapes we put in are coming along and are well established.
I have yet to get the trellises up however. I got two posts set a month or so ago and haven't touched it since. I hope to get them all up before winter. So far the grape vines seem to be doing well just laying on the ground. We have lots of green little grapes growing already.
One of our garbage customers, an elderly man,who heard about us putting in the grapes asked me if I was going to make any wine. I told him that I might give it a try at some point. He said he'd get some from me if I made any. Well, the next time I saw him he asked me how that wine was coming along. I told him we didn't even have any grapes yet. Somehow he got it in his head that I was definitely going to make wine because every time I see him now he wants to know how the wine is coming.
I came across this picture that my daughter took of our golden retriever Ben. I thought it was a nice picture of him so I decided to end this post with it.
We have four movable pens out on the pasture. The one on the right and below has some young chickens which just came out of the brooder to make room for a new batch of day old chicks. The two other pens are not shown. I build our pens out of what ever scraps we have on hand so they are all different. We butchered the last of our first batch of chickens of the season the other day. They ranged between 4.5 and 6 pounds cleaned and dressed. 
The grapes we put in are coming along and are well established.
I have yet to get the trellises up however. I got two posts set a month or so ago and haven't touched it since. I hope to get them all up before winter. So far the grape vines seem to be doing well just laying on the ground. We have lots of green little grapes growing already. 
One of our garbage customers, an elderly man,who heard about us putting in the grapes asked me if I was going to make any wine. I told him that I might give it a try at some point. He said he'd get some from me if I made any. Well, the next time I saw him he asked me how that wine was coming along. I told him we didn't even have any grapes yet. Somehow he got it in his head that I was definitely going to make wine because every time I see him now he wants to know how the wine is coming. I came across this picture that my daughter took of our golden retriever Ben. I thought it was a nice picture of him so I decided to end this post with it.
Until Next Time
posted by RL at 10:02 PM
5 Comments:
Hi Russ,
Your turkeys look great. Jonathan is raising about 35 of them, but they are white ones. He is trying our electric poultry netting, and so far so good. We just butchered 165 chickens and survived -- but Jonathan has 400 more to go!
I wish I had more time to blog and read everyone else's blogs, but this summer has been way too busy. Bet you can relate.
Hi Lynn,
Butchering 165 chickens is alot of work no matter how you look at it. We've never done over 100 at a time. Kelli and I decided to take it easy this year and are only doing 20 at once. That's probably not very effecient though, since it takes just as long to set up and clean up whether we do 20 or 100. But, her and I can do 10 an hour pretty easily not going at break neck speed. But, we are going to have to step it up soon if we are going to have enough for ourselves for the winter.
Yes I can relate. I didn't make a single post last month and I hardly get around to the other blogs. When I do I just kind of speed read and don't take the time to comment.
Thanks for dropping by.
In addition to what I just wrote, I would add that this past week I have been trying to be more sociable and have been getting around to some of the other blogs.
Sounds crazy but I enjoyed the pictures of your chicken (and turkey) tractors. How did you attach the green corrugated roofing for the roof? I've wanted to do that but can't figure out a way. Thanks for your inspirational blog.
-Kerry
Hello Kerry,
I used sheet metal screws to attach the corrugated roofing to the metal hoops. It has lasted about 12 years so far.
Thanks for the comment.
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