July Milk & Egg Tally

Here are our somewhat dismal numbers for July:

1. 23 eggs, 1 cup milk
2. 16 eggs, 2 cups milk
3. 24 eggs, 4.5 cups milk
4. 17 eggs, .5 cup milk
5. 22 eggs, no milk
6. 26 eggs, 8 cups milk
7. 18 eggs, 1 cup milk
8. 21 eggs, no milk
9. 16 eggs, no milk
10. 21 eggs, no milk
11. 18 eggs, .5 cup milk
12. 14 eggs, .5 cup milk
13. 21 eggs, no milk
14. 10 eggs, no milk
15. 12 eggs, no milk
16. 15 eggs, no milk
17. 10 eggs, .5 cup milk
18. eggs not recorded, 2.5 cups milk
19. 7 eggs, .5 cup milk
20. 17 eggs, no milk
21. 7 eggs, .5 cup milk
22. 14 eggs, 1.5 cups milk
23. 8 eggs, 1.5 cups milk
24. 8 eggs, 1 cup milk
25. 12 eggs, 2 cups milk
26. 5 eggs, 1.5 cups milk
27. 9 eggs, 1.5 cups milk
28. 14 eggs, 1.5 cups milk
29. 11 eggs, 2.5 cups milk
30. 9 eggs, 1.5 cups milk
31. 15 eggs, 2 cups milk

Totals: 440 eggs, 38.5 cups milk (or 38 dozen plus 8 eggs and 2 gallons, 6.5 cups milk)
Sold: 13.5 dozen eggs

First, the eggs. Those chickens are driving me crazy. I don't know what is going on, but we should definitely be getting more eggs than we are. They look like they may be moulting, but it sure is taking a long time. I'm becoming more and more convinced that they are hiding eggs somewhere. I tell you what, though, I'm real close to making some hen stew and starting over with new ones. It is senseless to keep and feed a flock of 30-something hens in order to get 5 eggs in a day. They aren't earning their keep. The month didn't start out too bad (though much less than previous months), but it completely tanked.

Add to that the continual problems we are having with their portable coop and it's enough to make a person throw up their hands. We have lost the roof on that coop more times than I'd like to count. It is no light-weight roof, either. It weighs probably around 200 pounds, when you consider that it has a 5-gallon bucket of water and a feeder hanging from it. It is screwed down to the frame of the coop and the wind just literally picks it up and tosses it, anywhere from 20 to 100 feet. I'm sure in a tornado, it'd be in the next county.

If I sound frustrated, it is simply because I am.

On to the milk. So after many, many days of getting just literal drops in the bucket, we started to separate Burt from Annabelle at night. Their first night apart was the 17th, but then for the next few nights we were unable to catch him. So, the next night they were separated was the 21st. He has started to get used to the routine and now usually finds his way into the barn on his own. He bunks with the goats.

As you can see, separation is doing very little for our milk numbers. Milking is hardly worth it at what we are getting. Don is ready to just wean Burt and be done with it, but I know that I can and should be getting more, even with Burt still on Annabelle during the day. Other people doing the same thing are getting anywhere from a gallon to 2 or even more in their one morning milking. There is a problem and I don't know how to solve it. I'm guessing she is holding back on me, but it's been a week and a half and I expected her to get used to this before now.

Not only is this affecting our families' ability to drink milk, we are still having to buy cheese and butter. And ice cream. I shouldn't have to buy ice cream. But I do.

Sigh.

So, there it is. I'd love to make up numbers that make us look more like we know what we are doing, but that wouldn't be keepin' it too real, now, would it? Instead, I'll let it all hang out there and endure the shame. Now, where's my store-bought ice cream?