It's war !

Since the day the weasel killed our chickens i've been on a mission. First i nailed some strong wire over the window, he has'nt got in there again. Then i did some research about the varmint . I tried to catch him with a couple of conabear traps , he just stole the bait and got away. Back to the drawing board. Then i found a site where a guy shows you how to build a weasel trap. He says there light footed and sneaky. So today i built the trap and will see how i did in the morning. I figure since he knows the chickens are there he will keep returning. So he must be illiminated ! I also hung another set of bi-fold doors between the bathroom and our bedroom. The reason were using them is because they take up less wall space.

The weasel !

Our chickens started laying eggs at an average of 5 a day. Then one nite we left the window open so they could get some air, big mistake ! A weasel ripped thru the screen and killed our rooster and 4 hens. How i know it was a weasel is because they just bite the throat and suck the blood out.We learned a valuable lesson so we bought metal fence to put over the window. On to better news, we stocked our pond with large mouth bass , blue gill, channel cats and fathead minnows . After we stocked it the guy that brought the fish , Mike, noticed a large turtle surface. He said your going to want to shoot him or he will eat the fish. So the next day a got the rifle and waited. He said they can hold their breath for about 30 mins. before coming up for air. Sure enough he came up and bang, have not seen him again. I have learned that whenever you start something new , there's always maintance ! Then Katie wanted to learn how to use the brushog so she could help me mow the pasture, she did great ! My next project is to build a lean-to for our firewood. So i started cleaning up the old firewood pile an encountered a water snake, i don't like snakes , so you know what happened to him. Fyi, the company that stocked our pond is "Rainbowhead farms" they did a fine job and brought us some healthy fish , thanks Mike ! In the pics , the pile of wood is where the lean-to is going.

Concrete apron !

Over the Memorial day weekend i formed and poured an apron off the back doors. We had a piece of plywood there for a ramp since we started this project , so i thought it was time for a real ramp. I will pull off the forms this week sometime.

Trucks & machinery !

Here are the trucks and machinery i use to maintain the ranch !

The ranch ....

So this is the ranch i now take care of . There is usually 12 horses at all times , we have 35 steer for roping. The next post i will show you the machinery i operate, because i can't post that many pics at once.

Chick , Chick , Chickens !

Ok, so the chickens came in last friday and their getting comfortable. We got 6 white , 6 brown and the rooster. He crows every morning and nite , its kinda cool. The best part is that if we have the windows closed our house is insulated so well you don't hear him. They hav'nt layed any eggs yet but they said a week or two, so maybe next week. They are well trained , they go out in the morning and come in at nite , without a problem. I took some pics this week of the ranch i work on and my next post i will share them with you.

Bring on the chickens !

Katie & i worked on finishing the run today , we got it done. The chickens are coming in on Friday so we wanted to be ready. I also got a steel drum to put the feed in with a lid so we could leave the feed outside.Since i built the egg box thru the back wall we can get them from the outside.