Lost Friends

Yesterday was a sad day here. Those who read this blog regularly or know me in real life will know that I had three ducks. Mr Walker, Leeanne and Tracey. I am saddened to say that I now only have Leeanne. I let them out at about 10am yesterday when I fed them and the other poultry. I worked inside all day and at about 4pm I went outside to go into town. I found white feathers everywhere and Mr Walker and Tracey with out their heads :( I would say it was a dog attack as it was so light by 10 that a fox is unlikely, also a fox would take more than their heads I would imagine. They were dear friends and I enjoyed Mr Walkers playful nips at my ankles when I was out in the garden as well as their quite quacking. I am very sad. Leeanne is lonely and calling for them constantly.

New Old Rooster!

Back in November 2007 there was a stray rooster in town. How can I remember? Well he featured in a blog entry I did!

No one knew where he came from and eventually he moved in with some chooks at the house over the back. Yesterday a young man knocked on the door and explained that all his girlfriends have passed away and he was all on his own ( the rooster, not the young man). They had become a bit attached so didn't want him to be lonely! I didn't need to be convinced and "Old Stray' has come to live here. He has settled in nicely with the turkeys and the ducks. The above photo was taken from the blog entry back in 2007 , the link will take you to the entry.

http://gobblersrun.blogspot.com/2007/11/just-happy-day.html

Ready for a ride????

Well I have had sometime to do some serious thinking in the last few days and I have had a brainwave! It was not so much my brain wave but a dear friend pointed out to me that the blog is my opportunity to be me, no one telling me what I can post about and I make the rules. I can't believe I had to have it pointed out lol. Sooooo, what next?
The answer is ME.
I don't mean that in a narcissistic way but I will be posting the things that I do, like, enjoy and things that bring happiness into my life.
Those of you who have read the blog for a while will know a bit about me but if you have just come across my blog I will give you a bit of an out line. I am in my mid thirties (I can't believe I just wrote that!) I live in a tiny remote town in the far side of the Wimmera on what I call a micro farm! One acre with 3 turkeys, 20-30 chooks, 3 ducks, 2 sheep, 2 adorable cats and 200 goldfish. Kitty and Harry, the cats, live inside with me to protect the native wildlife.
I work two days a week in the big town down the road and the other days I make and sell my handmade soaps. I also fill my days with tending my vegie garden which is up the back of my block nestled in and around my orchard of 15 3 year old fruit trees. I am in the process of fencing this area off from the rest of the back yard as I have big plans for it.
I also fill my days by baking bread and cooking from scratch (most of the time) Developing my new native garden and working where I can in my community.
I have produced a community newsletter and I want to continue working on this as I believe it is an important part of the community.
I also enjoy sewing and I will explore many projects I am working on here on the blog so maybe we can help keep each other motivated!
As I mentioned earlier I sell my handmade soaps online here and I will be adding further to the shop with the other things I create here. Things like head wraps, hand dyed scarves, cloth pads and other handy things.
Gosh I am really excited so lets get this party started!

I love my life!

I was just out hanging the clothes on the line and looked around. Yes I see it everyday but today it just seemed different....beautiful. I have been working flat out on the soap business and I will continue to work flat knacker for the rest of the year but working like this means you don't get time to really see whats around you. Do you know what I mean? It wasn't just what I saw but the sound track as well. The turkeys were gobbling away up the back, the sheep were talking to me over the fence and the ducks were noisily quacking away! Here are some pictures to give you and idea....and to remind myself how cool it is right out side my door! I wanted to add more photos but blogger isn't playing!

Damn Foxes

Well, foxes are mean!
I love poultry and had built up quite an array of them unfortunately due to a cunning a vicious fox I now only have 3 ducks, 3 turkeys and 7 chooks (3 of which are roosters!). First night it took a duck, managed to open a secured door on the duck run! Then it cleared a really high fence into the chook run. I thought the fence would have been high enough as to stop it but it appears not.
It took a turkey hen who was sitting on eggs and got her back over the fence and then left her (I imagine she would have been to heavy) right out side my laundry door! then came back that night and took about 15 chooks. I can't believe I didn't hear anything and not a feather in sight!
I did more fox proofing over the next two days but it managed to dig into the enclosure with a mummy chook with 11 chickens and take 8 of them leaving the mum and 3 chicks. Yesterday morning I woke to find he had come right up on the front verandah and broken into an enclosure there with the turkey poult and 4 chicks that I had hand reared from day old. That just topped it of, I was a wreak yesterday and I just feel so bad for them all as I wasn't able to protect them the way I should have. I'm angry at the fox but more angry with myself! Gobbler's Run is officially in mourning!

Killing a Rooster

Well last weekend I killed my first rooster.

I am proud of myself for doing it and I'm glad I know how to do it but I didn't enjoy it :(

The first thing I did was the night before I went up to the chook house and picked up the rooster from the perch. They are much easier to catch at night. I had a small enclosure set up with some food and water to make it easier to catch him in the morning.

Then in the morning I gathered everything I would need so I wouldn't have to run around later. I was going to use my axe but a guy at work suggested that with my par-chant for accidents perhaps I should borrow his dispatcher ( homemade short handled cleaver) as its easier to wield. So I had a chopping block, dispatcher and a bucket full of hot water.Then I gathered my courage and picked up the rooster, gently lay his head on the chopping block and did what needed to be done. I then rang mum and cried. Mum gave me some words of support and suggested I get back out side and start plucking.

I dunked the rooster in the hot water and swooshed him around quickly to wet all his feathers. If he stayed in the water to long he may start to cook. The hot water helps his feathers come out. If the feathers start to get a bit hard to pull out just dunk him quickly again.

Then I took him inside to pluck the last of the feathers and do the gutting. Once he was featherless I used an old pair of scissors to cut of his feet. As part of my day job I cut the feet off and gut ducks so I was sure I could handle the rest. If you have a feel of his 'knees' you can tell where to cut and if you have the right spot the scissors will just take the feet off in one go.

The next step is to put the scissors into his vent (the opening under his tail). There is a lot of talk about carefully cutting around his bowel chute but as long as you clean the cavity really well there is no need to do this. Just cut from his vent to the chest bone ( you will feel it). Reach in and carefully pull out his entrails. Make sure you get as much as you can out. You can use the offal. Giblets make nice stock and gravy and can even be smoked. Chicken liver pate etc.

I haven't eaten him yet, he is in the freezer. I will though when its not so fresh.

And then there were none ...

Mummy silkie is so very sad as today her final surrogate baby passed away. She had moved to be near the little one and she was clucking away, I could almost see tears in here eyes.

Tears before bedtime.....

It's a sad day here at Gobbler's run.
When I got home from work this afternoon I went straight to check on the little ducks. Sadly two of the three ducklings had passed away. Somehow one had managed to get out of the broody box even though we had checked for any gaps and thought there were none, the other poor baby was well away from mummy silkie. The sole survivor was tucked up safe as could be under mummy. There were some feathers around the yard so I'm wondering if something may have got in a given everyone a fright but all the girls and boys are accounted for.
We all came together for a small service, Kitty-Anne the cat, Paul and Kelly the sheep, Troy and Helen and the Brownies 1 & 2 the turkeys and all the chooks gathered around as I said a few words. Two little ones, sadly missed.

Baby Ducks!

On Friday Jamie called me to tell me that he had found three little wild ducks. They were only about two days old and seemingly without their mum. He found them along the railway line and he looked up and down and couldn't find a sign of their mum. He had popped them in a box with a hot water bottle wrapped in an old jumper along with a snack. We weren't sure if they would make it but they did fine.

I have a clucky silkie here and her eggs didn't hatch so we thought, maybe, we could put them in with her. I posted the question on ALS and the ladies 'in the know' said that a silkie would be a good option (if we were sure that their real mum wasn't coming back!) We waited until about 11pm then crept up to her broody box with a blue light and snuck the little ducks under her. She wasn't very impressed to start with! We persevered until the cold took hold and we all decided to call it a night. We still weren't sure if she would keep them warm enough over night. I jumped up early and went for a look. How cute is this!

The ducklings must be bi-lingual as mum is clucking away happily and the little ones are peeping back! Everyone is Happy!