Magpie Ducklings!

Several weeks ago in my quest to find Magpie ducklings I was able to place an order for just six little ducklings. Most online hatcheries require a minimum order - something like 25 I think. Yeah, I don't want 25 ducklings! THAT would be crazy! It was a blessing to find out that the feed store in Orchards would add my order to their regular chick order. All I had to do was prepay and then wait. The original  date of arrival was April 20 - but that didn't work out...so more waiting.

As it turns out the wait wasn't as long as I thought it would be and I got the call last Friday...we are so happy with these little girl Magpies! We got a bonus too! The hatchery added an extra duckling and the feed store asked if we wanted to take her home as well. What kind of question is that?!

YES, PLEASE!

They settled in right away after a car ride home complete with a stop at Starbucks

They are all pretty lively and so much fun and so CUTE...I can't even...seriously!!

We let them settle in on Saturday, but on Sunday since there was a period of time that was sunny, I decided it would be good for them to experience some fresh air and the sunshine. So into a big bin and out to the yard they went. After a couple of hours it started to rain so instead of putting them back into their brooder in the garage, I relocated them to the hoop house where they continued to do cute duckling things while still staying warm. At one point I was out in the hoop house working on some seedlings - transplanting and stuff. They must have run around and ate and drank water for about 45 minutes if not longer. One minute they were running around - then in about a second they were all piled up and napping.

Just. Like. That.

After awhile I looked down just to see this sight...

Could there BE more cuteness here?!

While Tom and I both are smitten by these little girls the two hooligans might have different feelings (maybe).

Shelly was barely able to peek into the tub

Making sure they are still there 

As usual Lenny is cautious and aware that things are different

On Saturday while I was sitting with the ducklings - just watching them...Lenny came in and wanted to see what was taking attention away from him. When he looked into the brooder and saw the little creatures it was almost like he was shocked at what he was looking at. Who knows, all I know is that his world will change forever and for Sheldon too. Maybe for the better for everyone.

Sheldon will finally have some girls to bond with instead of trying to mate with Lenny. Which I'm sure that Lenny will be happy about as pool time isn't as carefree as it once was. Not with the duck trying to attack him. 

Hopefully Sheldon will also let Tom just walk around the property without getting under foot. In fact...yesterday he was running around in the yard with the Shelly and let's just Shel was a little overly excited.

Enough said. 

It will be a couple of months before they will be able to co-exist...maybe...

This should be interesting. 

Until then we will just watch the little girl ducklings play and eat and drink and sleep. 

She's fancy - wearing a beret and black leggings!

Farm Life is the BEST Life!

OH, Hey there...

Okay, so weeks and weeks haven't gone by, but it has been over a week since my last post.

Been a little busy with work and with home stuff, taking care of feathered creatures...getting seeds into soil blocks etc...SoWHAT has been happening?

Mottle Javas

Well, the little chickies are growing so fast! One morning this week, when I went out to do the chicken chores and went to open the tractor door up - I thought I was looking at full size chickens! They really have changed so much in 10 weeks! From the spazzy little fluff balls when we brought them home to this:

There is one in particular who has become my favorite...

A couple of them encountered the big girls one day last week after the neighbor boy was over and checking them out. And by checking them out, I mean he was walking (chasing) them toward the main flock and a couple got through the fence. Boy, oh boy...those girls didn't quite know what to do, neither did the hooligans. As it turns out, they are able to squeeze through the netting. It's a good thing the fence wasn't energized, that would have been a very surprising sensation for them. Anyway, maybe the transition won't go too bad afterall. They have be observing one another through the poultry netting, so it's not like they are unawares.

The girl Magpie ducklings were supposed to be delivered last Friday to the feed store, however a couple of days before then I received a call from the feed store and when I called them back, they had some bad new. The hatchery had called to notify them that their hatch was not successful and that there wouldn't be any ducklings coming. What?! How did the entire hatch fail? They tried to offer a different breed, but I still wanted the Magpies so I asked if they could check if there would be another hatch. The people at that feed store are so nice...they called and found out that the next hatch was scheduled for May 4. 

Fingers Crossed!!

April 27 UPDATE - the feed store just called and they received the ducklings today! I got the call this afternoon and we'll be heading over there tomorrow morning to pick up the newest addition to the farm. Wahooooo!!! For some reason I took a little time to get the brooder set up a couple of days ago. We have a waterer and a pan for food...that should get them started off right. 

Our Mr. Shelly duck is getting to be a bit much these past few days. Hoping that his little harem will accept him...and that he won't "love" them to death! It will still be a few months before they will be able to co-exist. This should be interesting. Once the girls arrive, maybe Mr. Lenny will get some peace.

The Duck and The Goose

This week the dudes turned 1 year old!

Helping in the garden! 

It's amazing to think that we have had these two goofballs for nearly a year. We brought them home when they were only three days old...

Gardens & Seeds

Since vacation time I have been getting seeds into soil blocks. Sometimes this time of year is frustrating for me. We'll have weeks of mediocre and coolish weather which keeps the hoop house on the cooler side of warm. Then because the weather can be wacky here we get ONE warm day which means the hoop house is HOT and my seedlings - complete with plastic domes get FRIED! I've had to get more soil blocks made and sow more seeds. So far so good. I've been keeping track of the weather this week and the seedlings are looking good. This weekend I will transplant some into plastic planters.

The garden boxes have been cleaned out and I have seeds in all of them. So far I've got radishes, spinach and arugula coming up. Beets in another box and a couple of green beans have germinated. I do like to start stuff from seed and my hope is that I will not have to buy any plants at the store to put into the garden. As easy as that would be I really don't want to spend money on stuff that I can grow. How am I ever going to figure out what I can grow and what I can't?

Once the free range garden is ready to plant I'll be getting more beans planted, this year will be the year that we process veggies for the winter and things that will store well through the season. However, before we can get anything planted out there we need to broadfork it and then add some sand and compost to fortify the soil. The chickens did a pretty good job with keeping things all cleaned up, but it will need more work. My hope is that this garden will be MUCH better than last year. 

Fruit Trees

At the beginning of my vacation in March we purchased three apple trees to start a mini orchard/food forest. 

I didn't do a very good job with researching varieties, but we are all about experimenting.

After we chopped off more than half of these apple trees, I was a little worried - what if they don't survive?! So for several weeks all we had  were sticks in the ground with all three of them sporting two or three branches. After awhile I noticed that the leaves were coming on and then the blossom buds were forming. This week we have actual blossoms! All three of the trees have leaves, but only two have blossoms. There is hope afterall and also relief that they aren't going to die - this year anyway.

American Guinea Hogs

Now that the weather has improved and has been mostly dry we are going to get an area ready for the pigs! We'll be adding a breeding pair next weekend and I am so excited! So far I have been able to keep all sorts of other outside creatures alive...this makes me confident that we'll be able to deal with a couple of pigs as well. 

I feel like I'm an "all-in" type of person. We can educate ourselves to the end of time, but I'm definitely a hands-on learner. So, with all that we have already learned from books, the interwebs and from the Mother Earth News fair our adventure into raising pigs will be fun! We'll spend the next few days getting supplies, making a shelter and looking for an appropriately sized pet carrier that will fit in my car. Yep - we are taking the Kia to pick up these pigs! There WILL be an update when that happens!

So, my work week is nearly done and I'm looking forward to doing more stuff in the hoop house this week, more prep work in the big garden and running errands tomorrow. We have a short list of things that need to be done and a long list of items that we need to pick up at the feed store and ducklings to bring home...

Farm life is the BEST life...

Finally Moved Out

EVERYONE has been moved to the field. There is no longer chickens or the dudes in the garden or the yard. I gotta be honest, I miss having them close to the house, but it was time. They did their job now I can do mine!

Tom took on most of the task of moving the birds himself this time. Saturday was pretty rainy and the Chicken RV lid hadn't been fixed yet, so it was going to be an interesting process. We couldn't keep the girls and Thor confined all morning, so out they went so they could eat and the girls could get into the nesting boxes. There is a routine so we gotta stick to it.

Once the roof was back in place and the portable fence was up,  it was time to start relocating all of big girls to the field - it's not that easy when they are already out and have been for several hours, let me tell you. The one thing that I learned from when I moved them by myself in November - the food cart is my friend and a handy tool/lure. Once the kids heard the cart Thor and a few of the girls that were minding him at the time started to follow.

Meanwhile, the two dudes were just wandering around watching the happenings, they were having a ball! They had lots of free ranging time that morning. Which actually works out as they are usually more than ready to rejoin the flock when we want them to.

Anyway, we got Thor and 6 of the girls into their new area. That left 4 more to corrale. Man! Those little girls are FAST! I needed Tom to help kind of keep them from heading back to where they were for the last 5 weeks...little escape artists! I think I was able to get one of the girls in by plying her with some scratch feed - that's how it's done people...get that scratch out!

The other ones were either uninterested in the scratch or were happy to be free from the other girls. There was one in a nesting box and when that was being wheeled over to the new space that particular girl didn't want the ride and hopped out. Eventually they were all lured back in (no easy task) and I don't remember if the little girls were still in the yard or if they already were moved.

Either way, they ended up next to the main flock and once they were out of the chicken tractor they started what they love to do best - FORAGE!

There must have been something interesting on that blade of grass

They don't seem to mind that the grass is taller than they are - the Jerseys were far too prissy to be in the tall grass and they did not enjoy it at all. These little Javas, they were having all sorts of fun! They are very adventurous and explored the entire perimeter - checking out the boundary.

Hide 'n Seek?

It was a lot of fun watching them running around and jumping and testing out their wings. I would have to say that they enjoyed their time out a lot!

Lenny & Shelly taking notice of the new girls on the block

Later in the evening when I went out to check on them and planned to get them into the chicken tractor the for evening. Well, they were NOT in the tractor, but in the tall grass instead - all hunkered down in a pile.

I get it, they didn't know...

So after taking one lap around their home ONCE I knew it would not be an easy task, so I had to get Tom to help. The way it is set up was unintentionally perfectly done - the fence opens toward the tractor going in, so it was easy to block that way - while I walked them around to the front and toward the door.  A couple of them got it and the others were just freaked out. After a couple of minutes of trying to coax them in they finally were all in.

I'm thinking it will be another month before they get to go with the big girls and the hooligans. At that point it will be perfect as our ducklings will be ready to go into the tractor themselves.

Ducklings should be arriving on Friday!! SO EXCITED!!

Not Again... a frustrating TBT

Wow! This flip your Chicken RV lid got serious this time. Last weekend the Pacific NW experienced a lot of wind along with the standard rain that we are used to. Of all of the things that I was concerned about (the new chicken tractor, the panels on the shed...my hoop house, etc) I wasn't really focused on the Chicken RV. In fact, neither of us noticed it. As I was heading out to run an errand and drove past...there it was. No pic this time.

Check out what happend...

What made this particular flip more impressive is the fact that the original piece of the frame that was replaced with a 2 x 6 was torn apart with all the strength wind could muster up. Not only that, the ONE sand bag that was supposedly keeping the roof weighted down was flung a distance away from the chicken mobile.  

WHAAAAT?!

The last time this happened was during the time that Tom was in the hospital - recap that HERE. When it first happened it seemed worse than it really was - well compared to this time. That time was totally my fault - I didn't replace the sandbag to weight the roof down. 

My suggestion for a temporary roof - using some of the metal roof panels from the big shed and the shed we used to park under. They are perfect, but a little long, but they work. There were three straight pieces and we dragged them over. Perfect! They work so well that Tom has decided to use them for the permanent roof. The chick mobile requires three panels, which will make it much more hefty and would take a tornado to make the whole thing break apart. 

Not bad huh...

It ironic that we would use the metal panels from the big shed. Many of the panels have been warped, bent and ripped off of the big shed...

Because of the wind!

Graduated!

The little ladies were graduated from the stinky brooder to the chicken tractor yesterday evening. It was a pleasant evening and the transition was an exciting one. Just watching them jump and run around was worth all the effort that went into building this chicken tractor.

Today's weather has been interesting, the morning wasn't so bad, just some showers. However this afternoon we have high winds for our area. The winds are supposedly going to last until late tonight.

SWELL!

So far the tarp is holding up. It was attached to the frame with zip ties so today's wind will put it the test for sure!

The Javas will live in the tractor in the yard for a little while. I hope to give them their own space out on pasture along with access to outside of the tractor. That will have to wait until next weekend when the flock is moved back out to the field. Then we can use the original poultry netting that was part of the original kit that we purchased.

By then we'll be able to pull it instead of carrying it. Yep, you read that right, we had to carry it. Not a nice and easy, short and direct route, mind you. This thing is much wider than the openings in the fence, so around the garage and through the grass we went. That grass is a lot taller when you are carrying a heavy object and watching your step! Good times...never ending fun around our place.

Also, I am sure that we are an unending source of entertainment to those who live nearby or are driving past our house. So if anyone saw us marching around the garage I'm sure they got a good show. However, I was determined to not put it down! Mostly because if that happened while were in the field, I'm pretty sure that I would not have been able to hoist the tractor up again. Plus, I'm pretty sure that it would have broken and that would have been terrible and I would feel REALLY bad - for a long time!

Once the wheels are usable it will be easier to pull it from place to place. We can start by practicing in the yard!

For more information on this chicken tractor visit Farm Marketing Solutions HERE.

One chicken tractor done...number two will wait 'til next year!

Things Just Got Real

OH.

MY.

GOODNESS.

What have I done?! Check it out...

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Come July 3 we will be starting to raise our first real batch of meat chickens! This is something that I have been wanting to do for a while. However, now that I have actually placed the order - I'm only freaking out slightly. I mean I'm excited, but wow, 25 little chickies is a huge deal! I was worried about keeping 10 chicks alive...but 25?! AHHHHHH!!!!

I'm seriously feeling all the crazy feelings right now. For REAL!

The video that started off this whole grow your own food thing would be THIS video. We probably watched this a bazillion times just to get ourselves ready to do the little roos last September. Also, this video will be helpful to review when we do this batch of chickens HERE. Danelle is very thorough - she explains each step as she is processing the chicken.

The good thing is that we have a little bit of time to get all mentally prepared for this - is it just me? Maybe. Once I get over the shock that I actually have done this all will be well. Then it will be business as usual. The only difference is that these chickens will only be with us for 9-11 weeks. I'm sure that the time will go fast and that processing day will be long, but I think of all the food that we'll have in the freezer. From chicken to veggies (hope, hope) we'll be set for a while. That will be worth it!

We can and will do this!

Throw Back Thursday...

to when we really started this farm up. I feel like the moment the farm came alive was when we added the chickies. Which meant my dream was coming to fruition. In April 2017,  we visited Pioneer Feed and went away with 10 Jersey Giant chicks and some supplies to get them set up. Go HERE to see that post. A few weeks later we added a few more pullets from a chicken farmer located nearby to supplement our flock that at the time ended up being 5 pullets and 5 roos.

Now, nearly a year since we started this adventure we have added an addition six 3 day old pullets. We settled on Mottled Javas that JUST arrived at the farm supply store the morning that we brought them home. Tom wanted a breed that wasn't black. These won't be totally black...so we are slowly transitioning to other colored chickens.

February 16 - The newest members of our flock

Most of them were good size, the only runty one would be the one all the way to the right. I was concerned that she would not make it, the other just seemed a little more lively. As it turns out, all of them made it and have been thriving since we brought them home.

February 18

The little girls were settled in a couple of  days later. Their markings looked like little scarves.

February 25

I had forgotten how quickly they change from the little fuzz-balls even after just a few days.

March 4

The only time that they got to kind of experience fresh air was on March 4. These little girls are quite active and it was hard to grab them so we could get them outside for some Vitamin D.

Then the photo sessions became less frequent after this last photo...I don't know why.

March 24

Toward the end of my vacation week. I guess we were pretty busy doing stuff, just did enough to keep these little girls watered and fed.

March 31

The most recent  photo is from this past Saturday. It was a nice sunny day and there was no reason why the girls could at least be in the sunshine. So we dragged the brooder over to the opened garage door and let them enjoy not only fresh air, but some actual sunshine! They didn't realize that they could sit at the opposite end to keep from overheating. After a few minutes they were actually panting. Silly girls!

The plan is to have them out in the yard on grass by the weekend. Since it is pouring down rain right now I am not sure how much we'll work on the chicken tractor after I get home. It is nearly finished really. Just one more piece of chicken wire on the top and then the back end...install the carriage bolts for the wheels and add a hook to keep the door closed. So close!

These little chickies have grown so much so fast that it is crazy! Once they go out we will get the brooder ready for the girl Magpie ducklings to arrive. They should be at the feed store on April 20th! So excited!!! Then - we'll have the meat chickens coming sometime toward the middle of June.

If I don't order them, we won't have them...I bet get on that!

The Chicken Tractor Build

Check this baby out! Tom worked on this quite a bit on Saturday when we weren't running errands (two times to Parkrose) or taking a union break.

The best part...was finding the Chicken Wire at Pioneer Feed Saturday at only $27.99 for the 48"x50' roll. That is the best price that we have seen yet without having to order it and wait for the delivery.

The annoying part was having to talk to one of the Parkrose guys and his experience with chickens and how much feed they waste and how we need to use the system that he uses. Uhh...dude, we just want the carriage bolts, washers and nuts...plus our chickens don't waste a lot of food, just the grit and oyster shell - because they forage quite a bit, not because they want to, because they only get feed and supplements in the morning. If they are lucky, a neighbor will come over with treats for them so they don't have to totally forage all day long. Although, they do anyway - with or without snacks.

Anyway - The tractor is coming along nicely and Tom was able to do a little more work on it yesterday before we went to a friend's house for Easter lunch. The little girls could possibly be relocated sooner than the weekend! We'll see how things go!

The little Java Girls are just over 6 weeks old

They are getting so big...and fast! It was such a nice day on Saturday that I thought that they might like to sit in the sun during the afternoon. So we were able to drag the brooder over and put them in the sunshine by the open garage door. They were a little confused by the brightness and heat of the sun. Yes...littles, this is what your future will consist of. Bright sunshine and lots of grass to play on (even though you are still in the box)! Also, if you look closely, the one in up against the back of the brooder had her "hairs" on her neck standing up. I'm not sure what that meant, but they seemed happy enough. After a little while, I think the brooder was warming up and they started panting...drink some water girls! They figured out that if they went to the opposite end of the box they wouldn't be nearly as warm. The temperature for the past couple of weeks has been on the cool side, so they have been in the dark, literally, since we brought them home.

This relocation is just the first step to them going outside. Soon they will be playing and foraging on the lawn. they will be able to scratch for little bugs and whatever catches their eye. The only thing that they need is a roosting bar - I have seen them perching on the rim of their feed pan. It's time to graduate them for sure!

It has been staying light longer into the evening - which means we can do more stuff outside everyday! It's not enough that I work full-time, I need to maximize my time away from work and do stuff on our farm too!

If I could stay home and work on our property forever I would. Until that can happen, I have to divide my time and plan when I can take time off to accomplish my goals for this season.

Here's a little something from from a year ago on the Great American Farm Tour...