We bought 6 Black Australorps last years this time to see how they would do and hopefully give us some eggs. We have lost a couple of birds but now our flock is getting reestablished. We thought we lost a couple of hens about a month ago until yesterday.
My heart always jumps s bit when l se a new family of hens 
so nice to see them…
I am wayting for a rabbit family to come out of the ground for the first time since l let them out of the cages to live free around the stable.
Good for you Bill. I think mine may have tried but when my egg production dropped I watched the hens very close to see where they were laying them. They tried 3different spots other than the henhouse. I found them. I have been down an egg or two lately but think it is normal, no hens staying off by themselves. I will be adding to my flock in the spring.
Ain’t nature grand! Free chickens!
Our egg production dropped a lot too because they are not all going into the coop at night. I think as it gets colder, I hope they start going to the coop to stay warm.
Yes @Carl, it is grand. Just knowing they are able to provide more little ones keeps me from having to worry about buying more chicks.
Kristijan, I check on her and the chicks frequently throughout the day to make sure they’re okay. I am interested in in starting rabbits sometime.
Rabbits are great, have young every month, but you you have to get used to the holes and eaten flowers 
My friend rented a dozer to clear a spot on his 80 acres up here this week. He can only be up here for four of those days and let me use it when he’s not here. Wow, this thing is fun! Yesterday I cleared out a road behind my house to make a big circle and this area for our camper a little away from our house to give us more room. I get to use it again Sunday and Monday too. I will make a road to our Maple trees for syrup next spring. Also for logging.
Nice work clearing that area, but I can’t take my eyes off all that perfect sized birch fuel you knocked down (and the still standing). Would make me feel like kid in a candy store.
Hahaha, I see it.
So far I have saved everything 1"-3" for wood gas.
3" and bigger get split for heat.
The smaller branches get thrown in the chipper for in between the garden beds.
Looking good trail hopping road there Bill , have you decided what kind of trees grow good in your soil type as you maintain a tree supply, my sandy soil has moisture around the pond, so i was thinking black locus for hardwood tool stock or it will add up weight for long trips’ and i may have too grow fast grow popular on thr rest of my 3.5 acers, or hybrid willow out by the pond. any way you have a good start of a wood lot, i think yours will replenish from root sprouts as you harvest.
Yes, this 40 I am on was harvested in 2007. It is so thick, I have a hard time getting through it with an ATV.
I have Tamarack, Balsam Fir, Birch, Maple, Poplar and Spruce.
I was just trying too chizel some of them birch from your wood supply as i know how nice they burn as my dads 10 accers has quit a few birch still left on it. I wonder if them hybrid populars ar as fast as they sell them as.
Poplars do grow quick but we have a much shorter growing season in Northern Minnesota than down south. I don’t think we’ll see the same results up here. My Tomatoes won’t even ripen here before it freezes. Our first frost can likely come in a couple of weeks.
Ya man we certainly have some long winters up towards the north’ i think the ideal setup would be too head south at least 3 mounth of the year, still you caint beat good wood heater, long as the sun is shineing, too dry off from cutting wood sweat. PS you may have too build a raised tomato bed too get the sun past the shade trees.or clear a few accers near the house too keep the deer out.
It was another busy week. My good friend that also bought land up here rented a dozer for 8 days. He was only able to use it for 4 of those days. So I made a few more sites and roads around my property. What an amazing piece of equipment to use. I saved myself a years worth of skid steer work clearing land. I also did work for 3 other people up here to put some favors in the bank.
Yesterday my meat birds were ready to be butchered. We ended up with 27 of 29 birds. Because of my lack of knowledge and newly acquired favors , one of the people I dozed for came to show us how to clean the birds and we were done in a few hours.
As we were cleaning up our butchering mess we discovered one of our hens cautiously walking around with 12 new chicks. I paid $8 each for the original chicks last year. I need to go to the feed store now and happy about it.
Bill, What breed of chicken did you buy for meat birds?
Bob
Good on-you BillS on all of your living-there-DOing-it accomplishments.
Maybe you can forgive me now on my obstinate insistence that the first step in going Rural self-sufficient is to just GO THERE. Jump in by rural renting, and get wet. Dig yourself in as a Local soonest.
You will save a lot of time, energy, and wasted efforts versus years of Urban armchairing planning, and driveway I-think-I’ll-need puttering’s.
Real Nature; Real needs-done-now’s will show you the true priorities.
That you will always run out of favorable weather, daylight hours trying to get it all done. Learn to look forward to a snowed-in winter slow down recovery period.
Ha! Then, you know a guy has really gone Rural.
Steve Unruh still sweating-in firewood
Looking good Bill.
We butchered a pig a few days ago.
Hoss has come up with a “new” way of cooking it.
We cut it into the major pieces (hams, ribs, shoulders, etc.) and wrap the pieces in parchment paper then in aluminum foil.
Get a big fire going to get us a good bed of coals.
Then put the meat in a hole in the ground surrounded by the coals, and bury it. Kind of like a dutch oven.
Eight hours later, you have some of the best BBQ you could ever hope for.
You are making great progress Bill. A chance to try out the “chicken cone”? That brood hen is a keeper for sure, a real partner in your progress.
Looks similar to what my parrents did when they were young. Its called gipsy duck (althugh they used chickhens). You kill a chickhen and take the guts out. Thain put a thick lair of clay around. Build a big fire on top and when the fire dyes, the capsule is broken. All the feathers are stuck to the clay capsule, just the super tender meat shows up. This was usualy done at the last of April, it is a tradition here to burn big fires and light black powder mortars and carbide cannons at that night in memory of the Turkish invasions in the middle ages. It is quite a sight, the ladscape glows bright and the sound of canonpower is something to remember.
