What we're raising

introduction

Hello, I live with my mother, on a small family farm. I'm going to be showing pictures of some of the animals we own. And explain my plans for expansion.

THE CHICKENS

We have plenty more chickens than the ones pictured. We are also hatching many out in a cabinet incubator. We sell day-old chicks for about $5-$15, and pullets for about $15-$30. We raise silkies, polish, and cochin for breeding, we also have other breeds we raise for eggs. I would like to raise a breed of chickens specifically for butchering, but, need a separate pin just for them.

THE DUCKS

I don't have many pictures of the ducks, but, they are in the above images with the chickens. We have muscovies, harlequins, call ducks, and a few other breeds I can't recall, there's a good 20 or so ducks. We sell them for the same amounts as the chickens. I would love to have a few more harlequins.

THE DONKEY

(Don't know what caused the image to be sideways after upload.)
This is my mother's bf's donkey, his is Rebel, he's always following someone around the yard, hoping they have something sweet, or salty. Back during the coldest part of this year, he wasn't let to roam the yard, and ended up losing weight, and muscle mass in his legs, for a bit over half a month, my mom's bf, and I, had to hoist him to his feet using ropes, and walk him around the yard, eventually he got enjoyment out of it, and even though he was able to lift himself up to stand, he would stubbornly make us do it, until he messed up one day, and got up to follow my mom's bf before I got outside. Their nickname shouldn't be jackass, it should be smartass.

THE CATS

The grey fuzzball, and orange fuzzball are my cats, Demon Jumper, and Baker, they can be a handful at times, but, they're my boys, love them. Baker is actually currently asleep in my lap right now as I type this post. Demon Jumper is off asleep somewhere else. There's over 20 cats here. The black cat is one we had taken in when our neighbours moved and refused to pick her up, she passed away a week ago from possible congestive heart failure. We have five kittens that need new homes, but, it appears my mother isn't really wanting to find them new homes.

THE DOGS

I don't have any immediate pictures of the dogs on my laptop, or phone. We have two great Pyrenees, and 3 small mutts. The Pyrenees are named Allen, and Willow. The mutts are named JC, Donkey, and Tailor. Allen is kept outside on a chain, while the others are kept inside in crates, and let outside during the day. Willow refuses to stay outside when it's raining, even though she's one of the only two dogs we have that can protect the animals. I'm wanting to get a Scotch Collie, since they're easier to handle than their border collie cousin, and are good around little kids.

PLANS

Alright, I'm wanting to build a shed for brooder bins, since we hatch our own chicks in a cabinet incubator, and we don't have a proper place inside to keep the cats from messing up the totes we currently keep the chicks in, inside the house.The shed will be a 10FTX10FT building, with a pallet floor, a window, and one door. Since standard american pallets are 48inX40in, that means a 3x3 configuration of pallets, with a 2ft protrusion in the front as a "porch", which will have planter boxes built on opposite sides of the entrance to grow herbs in.(I could also buy a prefab for about $900, but, I'm sure the materials for this would be close in cost, if not cheaper depending on if I can get certain materials second hand, or free.)

I am also planning to raise honeybees, I would like to start with 4 hives, preferably italians, or russians. I've noticed that prices tend to be about $500-$600 for 4 NUCs(nucleus hives). I'm wanting them both for honey and wax, but, the primary use would be for pollination, and wax. I suspect the cost to start would be about $200-$300 for the smoker, langstroth hives(1 deep 1 medium each), among the other tools, I can't recall, on top of the cost for the NUCs.

I'm wanting to build a raised bed around where we had the garden last year, about 1ft tall, with a fence along the back for vining plants such as cucumbers, or beans.

The big issue for getting these plans started is finances, since we live in a rural area there's not many places I can find work around here, and I have to rely on my mother to be able to get around. My mother is always in the red, financially, which ends up leaving us with barely any money for gas by the end of the month. I'll be writing a fundition post here soon, once I finish price checking the materials, and comparing the importance of each. There's a few other things on the plate, but, they don't create a self-sufficient outcome(I.E. house repairs). While the ones I've gone over can increase the count of chicks we can handle at once, or create a new avenue for barter/income.

ASIDE

We had goats at one point, but, I had spent $100 for a lamb, she was beautiful, black, with white markings, her tail looked like it was stitched on, we put her in with the goats during a terrible coldfront, and I wanted to put her back in the other pen,after it had past, my mother decided that since there wasn't much fuss from the goats, to leave her... Two weeks later, the male goat headbutts her in the throat and she suffocates on the hay she was eating. I was pissed, when I was made aware of it. I put my shoes on, walked right into the pen, threw her over my shoulders, not caring about her drool getting on me, and put her over the fence.

Her eyes still had life in them, even though she was gone. Sold the goats within a week after. I want to get back into both, yet, I need two separate pins for them, but, my mother won't have a hand involved with them, this time, they will be my personal project, just like the bees. Just want to get other things situated before I attempt that again.