All in a Day's Work...

We had a busy day today! It all started with an early call from the Post Office, informing us that our chick order had arrived today! YIKES! We didn't expect it until tomorrow, and the brooder house was not near ready. We made the 30 mile round trip to pick up the little peepers and Levi got busy on the brooder house. Here's a shot of them just as we opened the box...81 chicks in all.

We ordered 25 Cornish Cross for ourselves, and 25 for a friend (going in together on chick orders saves shipping). We also got 25 Production Red pullets and 6 Rhode Island Red cockerals. The Production Reds will be next years' layers, and the roos will replace the Red roos we lost this year.
Levi started getting the brooder house ready by shovelling out the composted poo. About 8" deep on the floor had to be moved out.

Next we added a layer of hardware cloth to the existing wire. This will help keep the chicks from finding escape holes, and helps keep predators fom digging in.This is the view from inside, in the morning we will add a layer of lime to the floor and a foot of pine shavings before moving the chicks out there.

Tonight they will sleep in these brooders so that we are sure they are eating and drinking well. If there are any stragglers we will keep them in for a few days before moving them to the brooder house.

While Levi was busy in the brooder house, I was busy making cranberry sauce. The girls and I are working on our Thanksgiving menu and getting ready for the holidays. Cranberry sauce is something that we make each fall and can before the holiday season. Once the berries have cooked, they are run through the food mill.

Once this is done, we add sugar and bring it all to a boil to thicken before pouring into the jars. The jars are processed in a boiling water bath for 15 minutes, then allowed to cool overnight.The result is delicious home made cranberry sauce, and we have enough for the year!

Next I moved on to our wild hog hams. They have been curing for a couple of weeks, and were ready to go into the smoker.

Levi got the roof finished on mom's well house today. He and Bob will finish trimming it out this weekend, but as you can see it is nearly done.

And when he realized I was still taking pictures he gave me his mad face. Hey, I have a hard time getting shots of this kid....he couldn't run this time! On the ground you can see the old well house, you can see why mom needed a new one!

I love this time of year! The bucks are finally out of rut, and now they are keeping each other company again in their big pen...

and the trees across the back yard are starting to lose their leaves...
We stay busy, but I wouldn't change a thing! I thank God every day for giving us such blessings.