Another dozen babies.

Well we did it again, more baby chickens.  I had to make up for killing ten of the first dozen by asphyxiation.  Saturday, Annmarie went in to town and picked up the babies I had ordered.  I brought the brooder back into the house and put it in the dining room.  The two live chicks from the first batch are now out in the chicken coop in the baby area.  They can even go outside into the baby Fort Knox grassy area if they so desire.  Basically, its a  baby chicken paradise.  I sprayed more weeds on Saturday, another 100 gallons of 2-4-D for a total applied this year of 425 gallons.  I had Annmarie pick me up some Milestone, which is a different chemical herbicide that will kill the thistles.  They are holding out and look like they might survive their chemical warfare battle.  I upped the ante and got a better poison. 

I need to let the 2-4-D work so I am taking a break from the spraying for a couple of weeks.  I am moving on to the corral.  I drove over to Hermiston today looking for 24 inch metal gates to go inside my cow chute.  No such luck, it is looking like I may have to have them custom made!  This sucks, but it might just have to happen.  I found railroad ties.  Amazingly Payless lumber still had quite a few.  I picked up two bundles for a total of 32.  I calculated the corral could be built with 30, not a lot of wiggle room but I think I can make it work.  I need to clear all the grass and break out the tape measure and string and mark the entire pattern out on the ground then I can use spray paint and mark all the gates and holes.  Once the holes are marked I will hook up the post hole digger to the tractor and dig them.  I want to disassemble the existing enclosure so I can reset all the posts in gravel.  This will also make it easier to shrink the chute width.  I have a friend coming over next week to help out and I would like to be able to set all the posts on that day.  I will need another load of gravel brought in also.  It will need to be ordered tomorrow so there is plenty on hand.  I stopped and picked up some flexible drain hose also.  I will get Phil to dig a drainage ditch in the barn lot by the horses enclosure.  This will necessitate some gutters but I think it will help keep the mud down immensely.
Zeke has a front leg injury and has been limping for several days.  We have been forcing him to be inactive and keeping him on the overhead run so he cannot roam the place.  He has not been impressed.  The limp is getting better. 

The two survivors.

I finally went and picked up the two surviving chickens from my mother’s house.  They are very big and would have gone to the coop sooner but there is only two of them.  My dozen new baby replacements should be here this week.  I needed the brooder box for the new babies. 

I sprayed more weeds today.  I got the upper prime pasture finished.  Now I just need to spot spray a few places and start working on the lower pastures down by the school house.  Two more days might get it done.  Unfortunately, my paying job is going to get in the way again of my home job.  So I will try and squeeze it in as soon as I have some time off.  I spotted all five female cows today but no bull.  Annmarie, myself and the dog jumped into the pickup and drove down to the school house pasture.  There he was standing next to the fence near the road hollering at the pasture full of bulls.  We left his small dumb self down there.  He is lifting the fence over the back creek.  I need to put some anchors on each side of the creek and join them with a large board and then tighten them with cable.  I can then make a rigid crossing out of panels as they will have something they can be attached to stiffen them.  Until that time, the bull just uses them as gates.  I sprayed another 100 gallons of spray today for a grand total of 325 gallons used so far. 

 

Back barn lot still kinda tractor accessible.

I am on a spraying marathon.  NO other chores on farm are allowed to interrupt the eradication of noxious weeds. My tractor is only four feet wide and I thought I might be able to get it through the first gate into the back barn lot.  I made it with inches to spare on each side and sprayed the little spit of land.  I used a whole piece of one inch plywood when I made that bridge, it is exactly four feet wide.  I drove the tractor over it with the tires hanging off of each side.  I sprayed the whole barn lot.  There is a hill just across from the stream and it made it very hard to line up on the bridge to make it back across.  I need to put the box blade back on and chew into the hillside to make the lot more tractor friendly.  But that cannot happen until the spraying is completed. 

Second gate into back barn lot.

I got the entire barn lot sprayed and a small amount of the four acre weed plot. 
I did manage to find our wild honeybee hive.  One of them ended up in a hole in our walnut tree in the barn lot.  I still think there is one more wild hive somewhere on the place yet undiscovered.  The weeds are dying.  Another 100 gallons of spray on the ground, total used so far 225 gallons.

Honeybee hive found!

Sprayer up and going.

Another burn pile up in smoke.

I had this plan, go outside and just lift the spray tank up with my quick connect 3 point hitch, wire in some power and spray.  It was a great plan, flawed but a great plan. I tried to lift the tank and the quick hitch would not lower enough.  I lifted the tank onto the bottom two points then realized I needed to raise the upper hook on the three point.  It was stuck and took some work and choice words.  I got it in the correct position and tightened and then the tank would not fit.  The pump kept hitting the quick hitch.  I had to take the quick hitch off and manually put the tank on, after I reattached the quick hitch upper hook back into its original position.  I did manage to start the couch burn pile on fire.  Annmarie was tired of the eyesore and I was tired of hearing about it.  The wind switched directions away from the house so we would not fill up with smoke.  Thirty minutes later it was a small pile of ashes.  I had to fill the tank with water and mess around with the nozzles and valves for another hour before I could make the sprayer work correctly.  I only had two joints and the pressure valve leak, all of them were fixable.  I managed to spray 100 gallons of 2-4-D today for a total of 125 gallons.  I am going to try and keep track of how much spray I use this year.  I have a lot more spraying to accomplish. 

We had another baby lamb two days ago!  The sheep are multiplying at an amazing rate.  I have 15 of them lined up for local customers.  My mother still has the last two living chickens at her house.  They are very big about 8 inches high already.  I need to get them out into the coop as the new babies should be here on Monday. 

Double yolker!

I finally finished my stretch of days at various jobs and it is time to spray some weeds.  I am not opposed to herbicides it is just that getting ready to spray is always an ordeal.  Everything always magically breaks down over the winter.  This winter was no exception, stuff was broken.  I could not start the mule.  So off to town to buy a new battery.  It is not so simple as just putting a new battery into the slot.  I had to pour acid into the various cells, wait one hour and then charge the battery.  I installed the new battery and could not get the mule to start at all.  There were two flat tires and some animal had rubbed the brake light off the underside of the mule.  I could not get the mule into neutral.  I had to drag the mule out with the tractor and a chain.  Once I got the mule out in the open I was able to get it out of gear and mess with the shifter till the neutral switch was correctly aligned so the starter would kick in.

  Once I got it running I pumped up all four tires and then drove it over to the house to fill it up with gas.  I left it running while I filled it up with fuel.  I went down and filled the tank up with water and then spent another hour cleaning spray nozzles and making adjustments.  Once that was all done I was ready to spray!  I filled the tank 1/2 full and added some 2-4-D, 8 cups and 150 ml of surfactant.  Unfortunately, about five minutes into spraying I realized my back was getting wet.  I looked back and there was a crack across the whole upper third of the tank.  It was toast.  I finished spraying and the next day went looking for a new tank.  D and B had one 25 gallon tank left, so I scooped it up. At home I pulled it out of the box.  It was not the same tank, mine had the pump mounted on top and three holes drilled.  This new one only had the fill hole on top and one exit hole on the bottom of the tank.  It had the pump mounted to the long side of the tank.  I was going to have to make a ton of modifications and hope the pump worked mounted sideways.  I had seen a 3 point 55 gallon sprayer at D and B.  It was calling my name! I consulted the boss and back into town I went.

They had a floor model set up and it was missing a Y valve so I could add a wand, which was absent also.  There was no inline filter set up.  I spent 1.5 hours finding the correct fittings to add the necessary pieces and then waited 30 minutes to get the boxed sprayer loaded.  I had to go back into the store and get a pin for the hitch because it did not come with one.   I went home and promptly tore into it and installed the Y valve and wand setup.  Next I put on the inline filter and ran out of daylight.  I figured I would get it all finished the next morning.