They're ALL getting an upgrade!

hey everybody and welcome back to Living Traditions Homestead well today we have a lot of animal work to be doing and we thought we'd bring you guys along we're going to start out here in waddlesville we've got some new additions to waddlesville and some things to show you and then we've got just our normal chores to be doing out here as well now we've already done a lot of our chores this morning we decided to save these chores so that we could bring you guys along uh the sun is kind of high in the sky we've been out here for a while already but we knew that you guys would enjoy seeing the animals be let out here and just the other work that we need to do out here so we're not going to mess around much longer because everybody's hungry and wants to get out of their pen through the day let's head on into waddlesville now before we go in I do want to show you two things outside of waddlesville here here quickly uh just some fun things that I ended up adding and there's some more inside we'll show you in a little bit but I got this awesome sign that we added so that everybody is well warned before they enter waddlesville that they're putting their life at risk and uh I you know I bought some a few different things I'm trying to get things that kind of represent all the different animals in waddlesville but honestly finding things for geese isn't very easy so I ended up going to my workshop and I made the geese their own whirly gig which we don't have enough wind right now for it to be spinning I do have some footage from the other day I'll put in here so you guys can see it spinning but so I made a whirly gig for the geese and I tried to paint it as close as I could to match the buff geese that we have in waddlesville so just a few fun things let's head inside and start on the work well we'll start out this morning letting out the Ducks we wanted to let you know that we have integrated our original four ducks with this new flock we did that overnight and today will be the first time that we let them out all together so that will be exciting to see if they integrate into like one flock a lot of times Ducks don't they stay with their original flocks we'll see what happens it will also be the first time that the our original ducks see the new Pond hopefully they will enjoy that and and be shown by the new Ducks how to get in there we also did bring over the silkies so when it's time to open up the silkies our two very first silkies will be coming out with the uh the second flock of silkies so let's let out the Ducks we need to feed them give them some new water in their pool and just give them some freedom hahaha [Laughter] [Laughter] well I see the the original for already a little bit separated they don't know what's going on they're still trying to figure it out they're like where are we there's this is like an amazing Paradise let's get you guys some food too well we've had some rain recently and one of the old pig wallows that in this area fills up with water and so the ducks have enjoyed splashing around and you know getting all muddy in there as well it looks like the uh the original ducks found it but then when exploring past it so the ducks have been enjoying both the new pool and the pig wallow when it's been raining so let's go let out the silkies they're hungry and thirsty too [Music] so like I said we have two new chickens in here a black rooster and a black hen that we had originally you also haven't seen three of the young silkies that were hatched out here we've integrated them into this flock we have two gray ones and a white one so you guys can see them for the first time today too Kevin added this really fun sign here for this silky house the fluffy butt Hut I think that's pretty cool definitely fun okay guys [Music] [Applause] [Music] okay [Music] [Music] foreign [Music] now that the Ducks and the silkies are out it's time to move on to the geese today is a big day for the geese because today we're going to let them out of their tractor and have free access to waddlesville they're about five weeks old now and they're big they're getting almost as big as the Ducks already they've got a lot of their adult feathers already so I'm pretty confident that it'll be fine to let them out there's a little piece of me that's hoping they don't try to go in the pool yet but I think even if they do it'll be okay I did put a couple rocks in the bottom of the pool so that it's easier for them to get in and out so that nobody will get stuck in there so I think it'll be fine now I don't know if we've even shown you guys the geese since they were in their brooder but about three weeks ago we moved them outside into a tractor and we've had them here in waddlesville so that all the other animals could get used to them but they've then confined to just a tractor and we moved that tractor like every two days but they're getting to the point now where they're going through a ton of water they're making a huge mess in their tractor and it's just time for them to come out so we're not going to mess around anymore we're going to let them out and see how they act with their first day of freedom now before we let the geese out I just wanted to review in case some of you haven't seen the geese or heard about them at all before this so the geese that we're raising in here we have just four of them we've got them because we want them to kind of help be Protectors of this area my plan eventually and really within the next little while is to build an outdoor Aviary in here that will move some of the quail to as well because I've never raised quail in a more natural environment like that and I'm hoping that the geese will kind of help protect her on the outside of that from snakes and other things now the breed that we've chosen to have in here is called the American buff sir geese we chose them also because they are supposed to be the most friendly or mild-mannered the least aggressive out of all of the different breeds of geese and so we thought that that along with being guard geese would be a really great choice for us and for waddlesville right we want them to guard against predators but not against us right so anyway let's let them out and see what they do with a taste of freedom I guess I'm gonna have to go in foreign you guys look how big they're getting can you believe they're they're not even quite five weeks old yet well I'm here I will let you out too they're loving the grass yeah the fact that they eat grass is also another reason why we wanted to have geese in here a less mowing would be great and it looks like they're really enjoying the grass every time we've moved them in their tractor from one place to another they have just gone to town on the grass they're just loving it [Music] foreign well that's full enough we have lots of places for them to drink now everybody so I think we're pretty much set in here one thing we haven't done yet for the morning is feed the pigs and it's been a long time since you guys have seen them I think you might be surprised how big they've gotten so let's go over and feed them they are waiting at their feeding trough for some feed and the goodies that we've been throwing in there every day just ends of vegetables and things that we don't use in the house or things that have kind of gotten too bad or yucky or old eggs they love eggs so let's go feed the pigs and check on them you guys can see how big they're getting good morning pigs I know breakfast is late today but everybody wants to see you all right you guys want your breakfast you got some quail eggs in there too I know you broke one of your bowls so we're gonna have to eat off the platform for today yeah they absolutely love getting all of these extras along with their normal feed but yeah they are growing so fast and they're such friendly Pigs we're really excited to have them I'll be honest it's really nice being back to just raising a couple every year for ourselves and no longer breeding all of the pigs it's uh it's made it more enjoyable we can just come out spend some time with just the couple that we have and yet we know that by the time winter weather comes around they'll be gone and we won't have to worry about pigs all winter long so it's really going to be a nice nice thing and we're excited to be back into just doing it that way well I thought I was gonna have to give the pigs a wallow today or fill it up with the hose but we got some rain overnight and God filled it up for him so they have a nice wallow they've made this wallow quite a bit bigger than what I had originally started for them and they've sealed it up real good so it holds water once it's filled up like this it'll hold water now for three or four days before we need to fill it up again and they absolutely love just you know wallowing around in it and getting full of mud and cooling off in the warm weather it's super important for pigs to have a wallow all right we do have some other animal chores to do yet this morning some exciting things we've got some new animals to show you guys and we've got some moving around to do of our breast chicks well we hadn't planned on showing you guys some of the cows but I walked down here and saw that our heifers and our steer are over here and they came up to greet us and to say hello now we have separated these heifers from our large herd because these three heifers are daughters to our Bowl and we don't want him to breed them we are holding them back for breeding for next year we'll be getting a new bull for next year but these are all Texas girls they're doing so well they've got access to tons of grass right now and are getting nice and fat Gomer right here the all brown he's a steer he is the steer we're raising up for meat for our family he'll be going to the butcher I think the end of October he is 100 grass-fed and we're excited to be able to feed our family the blessing that he's going to give to us and our family this fall hi Fanny I know it's been a long time since we've been over here to give you scratches you girls are doing so well yes Fanny's actually our most tame of all of the heifers and the entire cattle beef cattle she's the most tame okay well let's move on these ladies and this gentleman are doing fantastic so we're over here by the hoop coop where we just moved out our ducks and silkies the four ducks that we moved into waddlesville and the two silkies that we moved into waddlesville had been living in this hoop coop for several years this is where our American breast chicks that we're raising right now for our own food supply are going to be moving into today for those of you who have followed us for a very long time you know that we used to raise Cornish cross chickens for meat and when we did that we would always raise them in chicken tractors now there's several reasons why we're not going to be raising the American breast chickens in chicken tractors the first and foremost is because they're great Flyers with the corners crossed chickens we never really had to worry about when you had to lift the lid to on the chicken tractor to get in and give them food and water and stuff like that they don't really fly they don't even attempt to get out but the American brass you'll see when we go over to their brooder I've actually had to already increase the height of the walls on their brooder because they're trying to fly out so that would be a nightmare every day you know opening the lid to the Tractor trying to give them food and water have 20 chickens fly out have to chase them around it would just it would not be an enjoyable experience so we're not going to be raising them in tractors instead our plan is going to be kind of a multi-part plan so they're going to start off when we move them out here today they're going to be just exclusively inside of the this hoop Coupe they're not going to be let out at all this Hoop Group has plenty of airflow plenty of protection for them but they're going to be exclusively in here in another couple weeks when they're a little bit bigger because they're only three weeks old right now when they're a little bit bigger we're going to build just kind of a temporary run out here on the front of the hoop Coupe out of some type of fencing that will be small enough that they can't get through it'll start giving them some access to come outside but not you know a huge area yet then once they're big enough that they'll no longer be able to fit through the fencing of our of our chicken moat because really our chicken boat is designed for full grown chickens it's not designed for chicks so we need to wait till they're big enough that they can't fit through that fencing then we'll let them out of the front of or the other side of The Hoop Group into the chicken moat area so it'll really be a process probably over the next couple months before they're ready to go into the chicken moat area and then that's where they will you know live the rest of their days until it's ready to process our plan is to process these at 16 to 18 weeks somewhere in that range and so you know they'll have plenty of time to be free-range chickens up until that point all right we need to get this set up for them now we did already clean out the old bedding from the Ducks and the silkies that were in here so basically all we have to do today is we need to put some new bedding in we already brought over their feed and water we'll put that in there and then we'll be able to go actually get the chicks and bring them over as well so while Kevin is getting some of the bedding put down I just wanted to tell you guys the type of bedding that we have come to love the most and that is actually just Pine shavings we actually exclusively use the the fine Pine shavings it seems to work the best for us now we have used different kinds of bedding throughout the years different kinds of hay and straw and we really always come back to the Pine shavings being the best for us and I'll tell you why when we put down straw or hay or something like that it ends up making just like a solid layer of bedding and then when the ducks or the chickens poop on it it makes like a crust and it is so hard to clean out that bedding and it just doesn't lead to a very sanitary living situation for any of the animals with the pine bedding because they're little pieces the birds a poultry when they go to the bathroom in it you know they they naturally like to scratch around and move the bedding around and so it kind of mixes up the bedding with the poop and keep things dryer and when it gets wet in there from rain and then they scratch it up it just creates a drier environment all of that dries out faster and it's just healthier for them so we actually either got a comment or an email or something asking us to specifically talk about what bedding we use and why we we like it so much and hands down for us it is the pine shavings Now Kevin moved their water pan in there that we like to use to keep things a little bit more dry inside there we have two one gallon waterers for the chicks and he also moved in the feeder so it's all set up you guys for these chicks I think you'll be surprised at how big they are that like Kevin said they're just over three weeks old three weeks I wouldn't look they're three weeks and two days yeah and even though they are you know a dual purpose chicken not or breed you know unlike the Cornish cross they still grow really fast I think you guys will be surprised and they're very Hardy Birds we hatched out 45 chicks from the incubator and we still have 45 chicks they're doing fantastic we can't wait to move them in here can't wait for you guys to see them and they'll be so happy out here and when we go over to the brooder area we've got a surprise for you guys over there I'm excited to show you that too all right we're gonna get some bins to put the chicks in so we can actually move them and we'll meet you guys at the brooder all right well we're out in our brooder area this is one of our barns that we've walled off two sections to make brooders and you can see the breast chicks can you believe how big they are for three weeks old uh they're fully feathered they're definitely ready to come out of here now like I told you guys earlier they have started to try to fly out so I've had to gradually build these sides up higher and higher on the brooder I did hold this one on with just a clamp like this so that one I need to get in and out of there I can actually get in and out of there but if before when it was just it was only down to like here I came out one day and they were all over the barn they were just flying in and out as if it was no big deal at all so we're gonna start loading these guys up but before we do that I want to show you guys over here in the other brooder just yesterday we had a batch of quail hatch out and we just brought them out this morning I want you guys just to see so these are one day old quail chicks they are so tiny let me grab one [Music] look at how tiny that chick is make sure she doesn't jump out of her heat but look at how tiny that chick is we've gotten so used over the last few months we got so used to raising chicken chicks again like the American breast chicks I've kind of forgot how tiny these quail chicks are but they are so fun to watch I think we ended up with 49 of them that are out here and you guys these are going to be at least some of these are going to be the ones that will move into the new outdoor Aviary that we're going to build in waddlesville but they are just having a good time I do have a heat lamp on for them although we probably wouldn't need it today to be honest but because they're just day old I'm not really worried about it getting too warm out here for them they're fine even if it gets pretty warm in this Barn but anyway that's what I wanted to show you guys it's always so fun when there's new things on the homestead and quail are just one of my favorites there's they're so fun to watch all right we need to start loading these tricks up because we already took away their food and water and it's warm in here I don't want them to have any ill effects from not having food and water so we're gonna get out of here I'm gonna attempt to not Crush any quail chicks on my way out let's start loading these up 21 . two and one and one in the other all right here's the first bin they're pretty crowded in there so we need to get them over [Music] and Bin number two all right let's get these guys in here and out I'm gonna tip mine gently and see if they'll just kind of come out come on guys everybody out everybody out come on now don't be shy there you go hey girl there we go all right everybody gets a new home today foreign looks like they're really doing great inside there I know that they're going to enjoy having a little more space and the airflow they're going to have a really great time in there I did want to point out that at about three weeks of age which is about right now that's when their legs turn blue the American breath have the red waddle the white feathers and blue legs red white and blue chickens they're beautiful and I think every single one of them is starting to turn blue they've got such beautiful legs now as we were moving them out here we were trying to pay attention to the amount of you know roosters versus hens that we think are there no it's still a little young to tell a hundred percent but it looks like we have quite a few roosters which is good for what for this batch we're hoping for a lot of roosters because these are going to be our meat Supply and uh you know the roosters grow bigger faster so our plan with these again is these are going to be for meat but if we have a lot of hens we put plan on taking some of the hands and adding some to each of our two breeding flocks so that we can expand those a little bit and then if we have more than we need for that we'll probably be selling the extra hens so if we get to that point and we have extra hens to sell make sure you guys are watching our new website livingtraditionshomestead.com that's where we always post things for sale but we usually try to post it on Facebook as well just saying hey go to our website we have more things for sale there now but I know a lot of you want brass chicks or breasts you know chickens yeah and so if we get to that point and have some extras for sale that's where they'll be listed you guys so we're so happy that you joined us today to see an update on waddlesville you got to see the pigs that are growing so well and the geese getting the freedom absolutely special appearance from some of our heifers and our steer got to see brand new baby quail one day old and our breast chicks move out to Freedom right you guys there's never a dull moment when you're living this lifestyle but it is absolutely so rewarding we're glad that you're following along we're glad that you came to spend some time with us today don't forget that as always the absolute best way that you can help us is just by sharing our videos on all of your social media because there may be others out there who don't know about us yet who may enjoy learning this type of content just like you do so you guys thank you so much for stopping by the homestead today take care and God bless God bless

Channel: Living Traditions Homestead

Views: 86,035

Keywords: Living Traditions Homestead, Missouri, Ozark's, homesteading, Ozarks, self-sufficient, homesteaders, unjobbing

Id: 5JtVzXwIURU

Length: 28min 21sec (1701 seconds)

Published: Wed Jul 26 2023