I did it!  I finished all the fencing I was supposed to do this year.  The barn lot is totally enclosed by sheep wire.  I should probably hang a small board under one of the gates so the sheep don’t crawl under it, but that doesn’t count since the sheep are staying in the barn lot currently.  Zeke (new puppy we just got on Saturday, border collie) and I spent half a day finishing the fence.  Zeke does not care for the horses.  He hid under the pickup when they came over.  I had some scratches on the hood of my pickup, the curved edges at the sides of the hood that I thought were from the dog trying to scramble up onto the hood in a storm over the summer.  Imagine my surprise today when I caught the horses dragging their teeth on the curve and trying to bite the hood.  They took paint off with their teeth!  I had to chase them off repeatedly.  This did make Zeke happy, he kept wanting to bark at them.  He ignored the sheep and chickens today when we were outside. 

I went to the far end of the farm and managed to get the old gate up so no one can drive into the CRP and park and party.  Trash was accumulating at the far end of the farm due to no visibility from the houses.  It looks like my mother-in-law may not lease out the pasture next year.  So I now have a whole new chunk of fencing to repair and weeds to spray and mow.  It is going to be a busy next year. 

I called the insurance company today and the adjuster told me to just go to the shop and get a quote.  The shop is a preferred provider so they can just fix it.  I will do that tomorrow.  I also picked up the lumber for the light access panel in the upstairs bathroom today, $20 worth of lumber for the whole thing.  I will start framing it tomorrow. 

October report:  I lost $17.34 for the month on an average 22.5 hens laying(a increase of 5.5 hens/day. predator issues again!).  My net income total is – $275.25 for the year .  I had $59.34 in expenses for feed (250#) this month.  For the year, my monthly expenses are $94.85.  We collected a total of 253 usable eggs (decrease of 63 eggs)  averaging 8.2 eggs/day collected.  My productivity for the month was 36% (decrease of 2% from last month).  The chickens ate 0.99# food/egg (an increase from last month of 20.2%).   It cost $0.23/egg or $2.76/doz for feed (an increase of $0.48/dozen over last month).  My monthly net income is a loss of $27.53/month this year (a decreasing loss of $1.13/mos).  It is slowly getting better, but winter is coming and my feed expenses are going to go up.  Now there was a large increase in the cost of feed in early summer but that has gone away.  I am currently paying around $11.89 for a 50# bag of layer pellets at the feed store.  In Pendleton it is running around $15/bag that would add$12-$15/month in feed expenses if I had to buy it in town. 

September report:  I made $21.52 for the month on an average 28 hens laying(a increase of 8 hens/day).  My net income total is – $257.91 for the year .  I had $59.48 in expenses for feed (250#) this month.  For the year, my monthly expenses are $98.79.  We collected a total of 316 usable eggs averaging 10.5 eggs/day collected.  My productivity for the month was 38% (decrease of 13% from last month, I had to add in all the chickens that are old enough to lay).  The chickens ate 0.79# food/egg (a decrease from last month of 16.4%).   It cost $0.19/egg or $2.28/doz for feed (an decrease of $0.36/dozen over last month).  My monthly net income is a loss of $28.66/month this year (a decreasing loss of $6.32/mos).
This is starting to look better for the year.  I would prefer to only loose about $12-15/month as this is our normal egg consumption but I am still not there yet.

August report:  I lost $32.88 for the month on an average 20 hens laying(a increase of 1.7 hens/day).  My net income total is – $279.43 for the year .  I had $70.38 in expenses for feed (290#) this month.  For the year, my monthly expenses are $103.71.  We collected a total of 316 usable eggs averaging 8.5 eggs/day collected (a increase of 1.7 eggs/day due to my leghorns getting old enough to produce).  My productivity for the month was 51% (increase of 5% from last month).  The chickens ate 0.92# food/egg (a raise from last month of 17.4%).   It cost $0.22/egg or $2.64/doz for feed (an increase of $0.48/dozen over last month).  My monthly net income is a loss of $34.98/month this year (a decreasing loss of $0.24/mos)
My leghorns started laying this month and boosted my egg production.  

Another month ready to go, some may wonder why I post this stuff.  Initially, it was a way for me to just let friends and family keep up with the things going on around the farm.  Then it become a log of things not to do.  Now it is a record for me of the things that have gone on and the times they occurred.  I can look back and find information and facts of things that have happened.  So now I use it as a journal and log book for the various things around the farm.  Next year, I will start posting some of the sheep facts also. 

July report:  I gained $10.11 for the month on an average 18.3 hens laying(a decrease of 1.2 hens/day).  My net income total is – $246.55 for the year .  I had $46.89 in expenses for feed (200#) this month.  For the year, my monthly expenses are $108.47.  We collected a total of 263 usable eggs averaging 8.5 eggs/day collected (a decrease of 2.6 eggs/day due to predator kill).  My productivity for the month was 46% (decrease of 11% from last month).  The chickens ate 0.76# food/egg (a raise from last month of 1.4%).   It cost $0.18/egg or $2.16/doz for feed (an decrease of $0.12/dozen over last month).  My monthly net income is a loss of $35.22/month this year (a decreasing loss of $7.56/mos)
I made money this month!  Thank goodness for Summer and plenty of bugs and green grass.  The decrease in feed costs helped lots even with the decrease in hens.