Then There Were Twenty-Four

Over the weekend we got the Meaties out into the yard and within the new Premier 1 Shock or Not fence. They actually had two field trips out of the garage!

On Saturday we transferred them by carrying the brooder out - it needed to be dumped of the shavings anyway - and then grabbed them and plopped them in the yard. They didn't know what to do of course and there was some peeping, but within a couple of minutes they started getting active and started poking around.

It didn't take long for them to start spreading out

These two were not convinced

After about 3 hours in the morning we gathered them up again and returned them to the brooder. Only then did they realize that they were tired and needed to rest.

On Sunday after we returned from church we promptly got them out again and let them have some more outside time. The fresh air was really what I wanted them to have. They stink up their brooder pretty quick. This time they got busy right away and were running around and looking for natural treats in the grass. There is a good sized divot near the far corner and most of the them were crowded in it looking for bugs and such.

Things were going pretty well and I was in and out of the house several time. I think after about an hour I was coming back outside when I looked to the chicks and they were not moving and in complete high alert mode. As I walked over I noticed a couple that were sitting together on one side and then across from them on the other side one of the chicks was dead. Just like that...I don't think that I was in the house all that long a few minutes at most.

After alerting Tom and getting the dead chick out I went to check out the two that were together and one of them moved on, but the other one was extremely still. Upon closer examination I saw that he/she was still alive so I picked it up and there was blood - insert colorful language here - I wanted to cry because now we had an injured chickie on our hands. Tom was still messing around with the dead one when I informed him of the injured one and that we needed to get a bin set up with water and some pine shavings.

A few minutes later as I was observing the chicks some more I noticed one that had some blood on it AND some of its friends were picking its body. Okay - so more than two of the chicks were affected by the attack. 

Long story short we decided the crows that were hanging around tried to get a free meal and tried to make off with a couple of the babies. I think that the one that died must have had a little heart attack or something - that one had no wounds on it. It also seems that the chicks are at a size that makes it difficult for a crow to carry them away in their beaks. If they were a true predator they would swoop down and pick them up using their claws. I learned that crows are opportunistic creatures and will sit and watch until the moment is just right. 

The remainder of the chicks spent the rest of their time out in the yard in their fenced area underneath a bird netting. We may have to install bird netting over their area when they are outside full-time, but I am hoping that they will reach a size that will not be so appealing for a crow to try and get one again. 

As much as this makes me not enjoy having the crows around...they do tend to keep the hawks at a distance by being annoying to them.

The Twenty-Two Healthy Chicks

Our two ICU patients

Overall, getting them out was a success and they really did enjoy getting to stretch their wings and spar with each other along with looking for things in the grass. The fact that we only lost one is amazing...it could have been so much worse. The two chicks will be isolated until they are nearly healed up again - even if they have to stay indoors while we get the rest out of the garage this weekend.

Farm Life Isn't the Easiest.....but Baby Chicks!

Graduation Day #1

The meaties will be moving out of the Brooder and into the Stress Free Chicken Tractor hopefully right before April arrives.

They currently live within a box that is approximately  2' or 3' x 4'. With each passing day they are steadily filling in the space - with growing chickie bodies and poo. We have removed the heating plate and one of the lamps. As their feathers start coming in they need the heat lamp less and less. Last night I took one last look at them and they were all bunched at the opposite end of the brooder away from the lamp. While I would like to take the lamp down, I think I'll let it stay in the event that we have some cooler nights ahead of us still.

Before we can move the meaties out, we have to come up with a new house for the Magpie Squad. They are currently in the Chicken Tractor and have become quite accustomed to the spacious accommodations. They'll have to adjust naturally and they will get a new not as large home, but one that is custom made by Tom!

The beginnings of the new duck condo

Hopefully more work can be done on the duck house and we can get it in place sooner than later. I'm pretty sure that they will protest a bit, but they adapt fairly quickly. They may even like the smaller house rather than the tractor:

The Stress Free Chicken Tractor being put in service

The dimensions of the duck condo is one pallet wide by 2 pallets long...that's all I know. Much smaller than what the duckies are used to.

The twenty-five meaties will have lots of room to experience fresh grass and with the fence - they will even have the opportunity to explore outside of the tractor.

Premier 1 Supplies has a newer poultry netting that is specifically designed for chicks. I first saw this on the Justin Rhodes channel - he and Premier have a pretty good relationship and he is the reason we use Premier for all of our portable fencing needs. This is the video that he published when he put the fence out for the first time:

The first thing Tom commented on is how tall the fence is. I think the regular fence is the same, but maybe those fence are 42" either way this one seems taller.

Tom went to run an errand so I decided to work on getting the fence set up. It was easy, just like the regular fence, but the prongs would get caught up in the small mesh portion of the fence. 

The meaties will get a preview of outdoor life hopefully this weekend. It would be nice to clean out the brooder and freshen it up for their last week or so in the garage. It's hard to say how they will react once they are on grass. However, I'm sure that they will be curious about the grass and maybe even start looking for things to eat in the grass. The trick will be gathering them back up to get them back into the box.

This fence will change the way our chicks grow up - maybe they will be even MORE meaty than last year's bunch. Last year I really enjoyed hanging out with the meaties and taking photos daily and some video here and there. This year will be no different.

Soon enough they will be out of this:

They have space now, but soon they will be totally on top of each other

Last year the meaties had a small courtyard

In eleven weeks we'll be graduating the new batch of Freedom Rangers to the freezer. Until then we'll enjoy watching them grow each and every day while moving them around the field every couple of days to new grass.

Farm Life is the Best Life - with new(ish) chicks.

I Did It

My Facebook Cover Photo collage

I recreated a Facebook account for myself for the intention of keeping up with the Homesteader type people that we follow on YouTube. This account is mainly for farming/homesteading purposes and I have connected with a few "friends" mainly my cousins and other family members as well as the farmers at Cascade Meadows Farm.

So, I went through the list (in my head) of the farmers/homesteaders whose videos we watch regularly and gave them a follow on the Facebook. Also did a search for an American Guinea Hog group to join.

Already I'm enjoying the low drama involved with my new-ish account. I had resurrected it a couple of months ago and then decided not to pursue it after all. I was thinking about how nice it was that I wasn't looking at crap posts all of the time or people who seem to have no life other than playing on facebook. There is good stuff to be had, but there is way too much junk.

AND

I am not going to accept every friend request out there. I don't have to, so no one give me a hard time about that. So, while I will connect with other somewhat like-minded people (and family) I plan to keep moving forward with my dream to have a thriving farm.

Farm Life is the Best...without the junk.

REX!

Today we are celebrating REX!

We knew that we wanted to raise American Guinea Hogs.

We didn't know how much we would love them.

Rex has a really sweet personality with us! 

He gives us pig "kisses" a.k.a nose prints on our pants.

If we just give his side a little scratch, he will fall on his side for more belly rubs. 

He is the first to greet us when we go to their paddock.

May 5, 2018

March 2019

So here's to the big guy - a Happy Happy Birthday. 

He'll enjoy the special pastries that were brought home earlier this week.

March 2019 Vacation

Today is my last day of vacation before the weekend. What did I accomplish this week?

On Monday we spent the day doing stuff around the house and enjoying the REALLY nice weather. I don't think that it was terribly warm, but it wasn't cut to the bone cold. We did have a dinner invitation to our friends house - it started with a suggestion to go have coffee - to us bringing dessert to said friend's house to them providing dinner. It's hard to one-up that one, so dinner with friends it is!

Tuesday was pick-up day at Jenk's - or rather at the pick-up location for Jenk's which is a gas station a couple of miles away from the hatchery. The drive to Tangent was uneventful as was the drive back - although there were more cars going toward Portland which is not unusual. Anyway, the little Freedom Rangers came home on Tuesday and there have already been changes just three days later. Today I noticed that their little feathers on their wings starting to develop.

Other than those two things, the week has been pretty quiet and relaxing. Felida Bible as a church doesn't observe the Lenten Season, but our Small Group has decided to observe this year. This is the first time that we have been a part of a group that is observing a practice that is mainly connected to catholics or lutherans among others. I had been thinking about doing something anyway as a way to refocus time that I spend playing games on my Kindle. I suppose the Lord has been gently nudging me to give up the games and other time wasters. I felt even more convicted when another player on one of my games announced via a group chat that she would be deleting all the games she plays for Lent. So, I hopped onto the chat and announced my intention to remove my games and here we are. So far I don't really miss the games and I have been spending more time reading my bible and have even made some progress in a couple of my books. Definitely the right decision. 

The only other thing that is worth noting is that we went to the movies on Thursday. We haven't gone to a movie theater in a while and Tom has been wanting to go. It's always been something he has liked to do. Me - not so much. Since he is willing to see anything that looks interesting to me I got to choose the movie. I decided that Green Book looked interesting. There was only one showtime yesterday at 4:10 at the Vancouver Mall Cinetopia. There were only two other people in the theater so it was kind of nice. Good movie too.

Overall this has been a relaxing week and even though I didn't accomplish a lot as far as our farm, I'm okay with that. I needed rest and relaxation.

One more video for fun.

Rest and relaxation on the farm is best.

Why I Take Vacation

In the years before we started our farm we would take vacations - like to places. For a football or baseball game or one year we flew across the country to participate in a running event. Other times we used vacation time for church missions trip to Tijuana.

These days my vacation time is spent hanging around home and doing farm projects. Whether is starting seeds or planting the garden or getting ready to add some feathered critters my time is spent here at home.

Today, March 5th, we are heading out to pick up our Freedom Rangers at Jenks Hatchery near Albany, Oregon. I choose to pick-up because today is the actual hatch day of our chicks and I know exactly how old they are and how long to let them grow-out before they graduate to the freezer.

Last year was our first time growing Freedom Rangers and it was successful - for the most part. We ended up losing 9 chicks in the process, but there has to be loss and learning at the same time. Otherwise we would get too full of ourselves thinking that we got this down. Farm life is not like that. We learn something new everyday or every week at the very least.

Choosing to grow our own food isn't easy, but we can't always rely on commercially grown food for good quality, nutritious food. We do subscription meat via Butcher Box and we do get a few organic vegetables from Imperfect Produce. But to make up the rest of good food we have to grow it ourselves. Well, we don't have to, but we choose to.

Since we raised our first batch of meat chickens I don't think that we have purchased chicken at the store very many times since September. We make do with what we have and really...a whole chicken does go pretty far when it is roasted and eaten in a couple of different meals during the week.

So this week, while I am on vacation, I am working on farm projects and will be setting up a couple of seed trays in the Living Room. If our morning temperatures are in the 20s our seeds will never germinate outside! The pig palace will be worked on some more and garden spaces may get worked over with the broadfork.

Today though, we are going out of town to get our chicks!

25 Meaties!

Farm Life is the Best Life!