Weekend Update: Mud & Chickens

Reader Contribution by Heather Jackson
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Welcome to the mud pit. Please bring rain boots if you plan to visit us. Seriously. I need to make a warning sign. We have mud. Lots of mud and guess what’s on the forecast for today? Yep, rain. Ugh.

On the bright side, our pond is full and our ducks are loving it!

Last Saturday, we had to move our pasture coop. We needed to get it to drier land in order to use it to quarantine some new chickens we were getting. We knew it would be hard to move with the mud, so we took my Tahoe into the pasture to pull it. Of course we got the Tahoe stuck. Then we took the truck into the pasture.

I just knew that we were going to end up with both vehicles stuck, but Eric had just enough solid ground to pull the Tahoe out, move the coop and get the truck back out the gate (without releasing the cow.) This was not without slinging a bunch of mud though. Check out our gate!

After it was all over, it was very difficult for me not to say “I told you so” as, in fact, I had said the night before that if we took the vehicles into the pasture they would get stuck.  After awhile I casually said “you knew they would get stuck” to which Eric replied “Yeah, I know. That was fun!” Weirdo.

After that, we drove up to Fort Payne to pick up some new bantam Barred Rock chickens. We got seven pullets and one rooster (in case we decide to breed these.) They are super cute and they don’t eat that much compared to our other birds. They should start laying in a couple of months!

On Sunday, we avoided the mud for the most part. We trimmed the goats hooves, and shaved Beulah Belle’s udder. In other news, I used Eric’s beard trimmer, so if he starts looking like one of the guys from Duck Dynasty, you’ll know why!  

After that we made a batch of cheddar cheese. We won’t know if it was successful for a month, at least. I hate waiting. That’s why I usually make mozzarella! It’s ready to eat in under an hour. Instant gratification! Take a look at the cheddar curds, though:

So what about you? Are we the only ones who seem to do battle with mud all winter? I suppose it’s what we get for not having snow . . .

  • Published on Feb 8, 2013
Tagged with: Reader Contributions
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