Feed/hay run, barn loft door, chick moves, a quick look

Friday I was up at 5:15 so I signed into work an hour earlier than normal. Because of that early start time, I was able to get off an hour early which allowed Mama and I to make a run to Muenster for feed and hay. Over my lunch break, I hooked up the trailer to the truck and rearranged bags of feed in the shop to allow space for the feed we were planning to buy that would need to be added to the stock left from the last purchase. All went very well with the trip over and back. The feed store had ample access for trucks hauling trailers, so it was not an issue to get into place for the feed to be placed in the back of the truck before we headed to get hay. Since Mama was getting hungry, we pulled into Sonic for a bite to eat. I had to park along the driveway because of the trailer and in getting situated with the truck and trailer I happened to notice that one of the tires on the trailer was nearly flat. That was not an urgent issue, but it was something I needed to take care of before we headed home. At the farm where we got the hay, I had to back the trailer into a barn in a tight area but managed to do so with limited trouble.

The thirty bales of hay were loaded in a few minutes, and we headed out to find some air for the low tire. That took two attempts to accomplish. The first gas station I stopped at did not have an air station, but the second one had one that was easily accessible to me, so I lined the trailer up close enough to the compressor station to reach the low tire and added the required air to inflate the tire. I added some air pressure to its mate on that side of the trailer and after Mama used to bathroom, we pulled out and headed home. It was an easy drive home, but I made a detour in Alvord to circle back to a realtor sign at a house on the main drag so we could call for information on the property. Back at the farm, I parked the trailer near the goat barn where I would offload the hay into the loft of the barn and unhooked from the truck so I could offload the feed at the shop. The hay would wait until Saturday.

It took considerably more time to move the bales of hay from the trailer into the loft Saturday morning. I am able to take five bales at a time in the bucket of the tractor, lift them up to the loft opening and stack the bales in the loft. Once the six trips from the trailer to the loft were done, I lifted the door I had built for that side of the loft and fitted it in place as I used the bucket of the front loader as my scaffold. That took some time to line up properly and anchor in place, but it is now in place as should have been done long ago. Better late than never. There is still some work to be done to seal up both ends of the loft, but having the doors hung at each end is a major improvement for storing hay in the loft. Blocking off the loft will also limit the amount of air that blows through the barn from those large openings. This winter, it will be a major improvement for our goats.

As the day continued, I helped Mama get two cages set up in the coop areas so we could relocate the chicks out of the garage into the coop. I had to do a bit more work on one cage to make it snake-proof, and once that was done, I cut away a portion of the roost in the area where we decided to set the coop. In addition to that cut, I had to move the nesting boxes a few inches to allow the cage to fit, but eventually we got it squeezed into the designated spot. Now the chicks are split up in the two cages to allow them room to grow for a few more weeks before we try to integrate them into the flock. Hopefully we are not going to house any more chicks for awhile other than the ones our Banty hens are sitting on in their coop. We think there are at least four eggs under each of the five hens squeezed into the three nesting boxes in their coop. By next week, we should see those chicks hatch out and by the end of the month we will see how many of our nine duck eggs hatch. Additionally, I am gathering thirty quail eggs to try once more to hatch them. I am not sure what we will do with the hatchlings, but there is time to make that decision over the next couple weeks.

I looked quickly into the two beehives Saturday afternoon. In one hive, the bees have cleaned up all the sugar in the feeder. In the other hive, there was quite a bit left of their sugar supply. So, I added sugar to the empty feeder to give me a few weeks to get the bees into the nectar flow- which is almost here. In both hives, the colonies look healthy. I had four frames from our collection of honey last Fall, so I took those frames and put them in place of four empty frames – two in each hive. Those frames should be very easy for the bees to repair and refill with honey. I will look more closely at the hives later this week or early next week to see if I can take a split from each of the hives to start two new hives. I also will bait the three swarm traps I have available at the farm to possibly catch any local swarms. Each swarm will potentially allow me to start a new hive. My eventual goal is eight hives. I have not made any real progress toward that goal to date, but I am in no hurry. My retirement will facilitate maintaining the larger number of hives.

It was a good weekend from my perspective, although my back hurt badly Sunday morning.