Four Moose, No Elk, Winter Storm Warnings, Turkeys and Happy Thanksgiving

Sorry for the lack of update.  The past week we've been getting record cold, winter storm warnings, and lots of snow.  According to the National Weather Service, we're in a La Nina cycle, which means colder than normal temperatures and higher than normal precipitation. What that's equated to is a shift in the really cold weather -- we usually get it mid-December instead of now.

The chickens, ducks and geese are fine, despite the cold temperatures.  The main problem has been the waterers freezing.  I have one set of waterers on a hot mat that keeps them thawed, but in order to have all of them thawed, I'd need four heated waterers and at about $45 a piece, I've got to wait.  Sid has his very own heated bucket, so he's good.

Everyone outside eats twice as much as they normally do to stay warm.  I added the chicken scratch in with the regular feed and have been keeping the feeders full.  I'm going to have to fill them tomorrow -- I've been hoping to fill every other day, but the birds have been eating like crazy.

We've been looking for elk, but instead found four moose in one day, making us both wish for moose tags.  They're pricey and you have to draw for it in the summer, but now that we know we have lots of moose, we're going to try for them.  We'd have two moose in the freezer by now if we had tags.  So far, the moose count this hunting season is 6 moose total. 

We butchered and dressed the turkey for Thanksgiving.  She was a tasty bird and we felt somewhat sad for her, but the broad-breasted white turkeys don't live long.  By next year, I'd probably have to take an axe to her to put her out of her misery or she'd die of some implosion due to her huge size.  She was over 20 lbs dressed out and without feathers and skin.  Next year, I'm planning on getting heritage breed turkeys so I can keep some around for eggs and chicks. 

Thanksgiving consisted of turkey with organic cranberry stuffing, organic potatoes, homemade cranberry chutney, salad and blackberry pie.  Yes, it was good.  Hope you had a Happy Thanksgiving!