Ball Pythons, Corn snakes........and Turkeys? Chickens too!

[Cheryl Marchek aka JM]

Well~ I guess this is where I should start.

I didn’t even realize I was already registered here. I guess I registered a couple years ago to respond to a story that had gotten cross posted here. No~ I didn’t do anything evil~ I did something stupid and it got cross posted here! Your welcome to look for it~ I think it’s kind of funny~ but I often think it’s funny when I do something stupid……in hindsight. Usually in the moment I’m too busy cussing to see the funny!

So~ I came here looking for my friend Wilomn. I don’t usually go out of my way looking for people~ so FEEL SPECIAL Wes~ that’s all the ego stroking your getting from me today!!! You arrogant Son of a ………..yeah~ we all know! LOL!

Anyway~ as long as I’m here let me introduce myself and see if any of y’all share any of my newfound obsessions…………………..

I’ve been keeping snakes since 01. Got a bit obsessed~ I tend to do that~ attempting to create a pied. Started in 02 and spent more money and years trying to create that first pied than anyone else I’ve ever heard of………….Finally did in 08~ but it was a “cheat” win in my opinion~ Heather Wong (I think I saw her here?) actually produced my pied using my het female to her pied male. So~ I win……almost……not quite. Not until I DO IT! (Thanks Heather~ you did great~ but it’s a cheat win for me…you did that not me…I have to win on my own yet)



Beautiful isn’t she? I call her my White Whale and I hate her almost as much as I love her. The effort put into producing her pretty much burned me out. I’m not giving up~ but I’ve cut my collection drastically. Well~ drastically for me~ I’m down to somewhere around 70 snakes I’m keeping (some adult BPs~ some subadults~ more 08 hets/poss hets than I probably really want and some corn snakes). Considering how many I sold and just flat out gave away this year……….thats a drastic reduction (somehow it still feels like too many, maybe I need to get rid of some more?)

But~ between finally producing that pied (I think I would have given up a few years ago if I wasn’t such a compulsive personality) and moving from the suburbs of California to a beautiful homestead in Alabama I have developed a NEW obsession………

POULTRY!
Well~ and most everything “Homesteading”~ I’m really very obsessed and have the best time! I’ve lost about 50 pounds since moving here. No dieting~ just working from the time the sun comes up (and the roosters start calling to me) till the sun sets! I have a bit more time right now as the sun is setting around 5pm~ but my time visiting on the internet has drastically reduced from when I was just a housewife in So Cal to be a “homesteader” in Alabama..

I’m having more fun than I’ve had in years. I’m keeping, breeding and eating my own poultry now. Chickens, Turkeys, Ducks, geese and goats so far (my first goat will go to Freezer camp tomorrow I think…….hope it’s not much harder to figure out than the Turkeys were~ a book in one hand a Turkey in the other (I bought the turkey on ebay as an egg, hatched in my basement and raised myself) in the other……….


……we learned basic butchering together!)


Last year (our first year on the homestead) I produced a lot of our own food here on the homestead~




(I built that barn all by myself~ and you can’t imagine how proud of myself I am! Or how much I hurt myself doing it! LOL!)

next year I plan to do a LOT more. I see y’all have a Farm Animals forum~ I’ll try to make time (intermittent when the sun sets early, it rains or snows…..otherwise I’m busy!) and maybe we can all fall in love with my new obsessions as much as we are with my old obsessions!

Have you ever hatched baby chiks? You know you can buy these on ebay and hatch them in your hovobators right?
I hatched this in my hovabotor last year

Yep~ that’s an Emu named Ebay (I bought the egg on Ebay)….sadly he got sick and passed away~ but it was a fun adventure in homesteading in the meantime!


These guys did fine~ you saw some of their pics above! 32 new chiks hatched out day before yesterday~ 20 silkies set in the incuabator right now!

Homesteading stories to come~ as weather permits!

Nice to meet y’all!

[OhBalls]

Welcome! and ~~Please~~ share more pics of that adorable emu if you have them!

[Cheryl Marchek aka JM]

I have a lot of pics of him. We loved him very much. We did not expect him to hatch~ were shocked when he did and raised him in my kitchen for two months (WOW was that a LOT of work!) If you want to read Ebay's story I kept a blog at that time~ but be aware I stopped blogging when Ebay passed away. It was much too emotional for me~ I had become very attached to the little critter who thought he was a dog...............

http://www.thereddragonsden.com/Homestead08Feb.htm

If you don't want to read the sad story~ I would not want too~ the beginning is happy but the ending was so devastating to me that I stopped writing about our homestead so.....Some happy pics of Ebay when he was doing well......

[stangs13]

I know some stuff about farm animals! Just holler. Great looking snakes and birds. What are you feeding your meat birds?

[TheMolenater2]

That Emu looks almost as spectacular as that Piebald!!!!

[OhBalls]

I'll certainly read his story. I'm very sorry he passed, he was simply adorable. I didn't know eggs were sold on eBay...good to know!
Thanks for the extra pics!

[Muze]

Hi There!

I am a member on Fauna too so I know you from there. I gotta say, I love the pied, but I LOVE the emu. So sorry to hear he passed. The turkeys are pretty darn nice too. Welcome aboard (back???)

[filly77]

the cutest photo ever!!!!! Truly sorry for your loss. He was well loved, you can tell for sure!!

PS
that turkey looks delicious!!! Next year I'm coming to YOUR house hehehe

[ballpythonluvr]

Sorry about your loss of the emu. He sure is cute in the pictures! That is one nice looking snake you have there. They are my absolute favorite, well along with spiders. Welcome to the forum!

[Cheryl Marchek aka JM]

The turkey WAS delicious!

As far as what I feed the birds~ I've not been using a national brand name feed~ we have a little feed mill J&R in town I use their blends. I usually start with non-medicated 28% protien game bird started. More protien than the chickens need~ but it's good for the ducks and it's non medicated. I'll switch to medicated if I ever have too~ but for now the non medicated seems to work well for me and I prefer to try it. After about 6 weeks I switch to a 15% protien layer pellet. A little early~ but I haven't been able to convince the birds that one feeder is JUST for the babies.......so when I mix new babies in they wind up eating what the adults are on. I free range all the birds~ so most of the year they hussle for most of their food in the form of bugs, grass, weeds and seeds. They eat a lot of table scraps~ chickens LIKE table scraps and garden extra's. In fact~ if I don't remember to turn on the motion activated sprinkler in my garden the entire garden turns into supplemental chicken food that day!!

It's winter so I'm not getting as many eggs right now~ about a dozen a day~ but I have more pullets coming up and plan to increase that quite a bit. As of now I'm able to sell my extra eggs for enough to cover the feed costs in summer (winter feeding is heavier while egg production is down so egg sales are not quite covering what I spend on feed right now) The plan is for the egg sales to cover the cost of the poultry and give me a little cash as well~ and to provide us with all the fresh healthy free range meat and eggs we can eat ourselves! We'll see how all these new chics I'm brooding integrate with the current flocks!