Broody Happens

It's just best to not fight nature.

We have one Java hen who routinely jumps the fence and forages all over the place.

Every. Single. Day.

If she doesn't jump the fence - which is rare - it might just be weather related. We could have tried to keep her penned up, but it doesn't do any good.

Over the past few days I have been observing her and I started to get the idea that she just might be broody. Well, yesterday I wanted to get her egg and get her back to the others. So I did what I needed to do which is get too close to her nest. She jumped out and got all agitated. She was running outside with all her feathers ruffled and puffed up. However, the attitude adjustment came when she realized that she would be heading back and getting some scratch with the other hens. She's not so dumb.

This morning, I went out to take care of the girls and released them from the coop and after they settled down I started to count the hens, just to make sure that they all made it in last night. First I started by counting the Javas. It's not hard to count them as they are black and white instead of black like the Jerseys and the Australorps. I kept coming up with five hens...there should be six. After looking in the coop, like one would still be in there, I realized that the daily escapee was out all night. My hope was that she made her way to the garage before we closed it up for the night - she did. Tom mentioned that he didn't see her earlier as she was totally hunkered down. Plus we don't expect to see her in the garage that early.

Okay...Now what?

We don't have a rooster so there is no opportunity to have her hatch out chicken eggs, BUT we do have ducks - 3 hens and a Drake. A few months ago, I thought that maybe if we had a broody hen that we should pop a couple of duck eggs under them and let them hatch out ducklings. It doesn't seem likely that one of the ducks will go broody. Plus we wouldn't even know what that looks like. After a brief discussion, Tom agreed and went it to retrieve a couple of eggs from the house, those being the freshest ones from this weekend actually.

Mind you I have never done anything like this. When I was growing up, the hens just collected up the eggs that they wanted without any help from me or my mom. So I went in with the two eggs and placed them right next to her and as I was violating her space she squawked and pecked at me, as expected. After a few seconds she evaluated the situation she took the eggs and slipped them under her warm little body and hunkered right down.

Good girl!

We call her Betty - Broody Betty

The average time period to hatch chicken eggs is 21 days. Hopefully our hen doesn't have an internal clock that tells her to get off her nest at 21 days as it take 28 days for ducks. I suspect she'll stay on the nest until something happens. She does look happy now. Also, I have gotten close to her to place some food and water next to her nest and she didn't get all crazy. Tomorrow we'll add a couple of extra eggs just to make sure that she has some success.

We tried breaking broody hens last year and it was hard to capture them to confine them. Plus I just felt bad for them. They were just trying to do what comes natural. May as well go with nature.

Farm life is the best life with broody hens!

Curb Appeal

Some people have nicely manicured front lawns. Maybe a flower bed or a tree or two. Or maybe you live out in the far reaches of the county and no one can see your front yard so you plant a car out there. Well, we were the people with just a tree and really sad grass and something that once resembled a flower bed. As much as I would like to have a nice front yard to sit in and watch the world go by, it's just something that we have never done. Sitting in the front yard sounds like such a nice activity...(sigh)

These days we have no grass and if there is anything out there it's the overgrown cover crop that should have been tilled under weeks ago. We don't even have a curb! Tom has tried to use the space as a garden for the past 3 seasons. There was some success, but mostly things that gave it a good try and then gave up. Plus it's the front yard - and we really don't spend time out there. Also, the tree that's in the middle doesn't help out much. Things that are planted around the edge of the yard usually does well. Most other things not so much. Although, there was a zucchini plant out there last year. Zucchini probably isn't too picky...just stick a plant in the soil and it will take off!

After a couple of seasons with chickens I have decided that it would be okay to go ahead and let the girls work the front yard garden. I mean really, if we aren't going to enjoy the space we may as well let the chickens hang out there. Up until this season I have been a little reluctant to have the chickens smack dab in the middle of the front yard. We are already a bit of a spectacle as it is. We don't need help in that area. In just the past couple of months the ducks and the pigs had been hanging out in the front yard for the cover crops which the pigs enjoy or what might be hiding under the fallen leaves. The ducks love to root around in the leaves!

The poor girls had a mud pit up until this past Monday

Now that it has been a few days, I'm okay with them in front of the house. They don't seem to mind much either.

The chicken's new space

The girls were patiently waiting to be set free to explore their new space.

 I'm not sure where we'll move them to next. We'll keep them out front at least a month, maybe a little longer or less depending on how much they tear up the mediocre lawn and the cover crop in the garden.

Whenever we can get the chickens (or any critter) to do the work for us, the better!

Farm Life is the best when you put chickens in the front yard.

Starting Seeds

Okay, so growing our own vegetables isn't entirely foreign to me. We have grown all sorts of gardens large and small over the years. Some were very elaborate like a potager garden - fancy for kitchen garden or very free form, which I like to call the free range garden. All of my gardens have been a combination of store bought plants and us starting seeds at home. Either way, I have always had a fair amount of success.

A couple of years ago the big garden on the street side of the privacy fence was a disaster. I couldn't get anything to germinate - not even flowers! It was extremely frustrating. How could I NOT be able to grow any flowers?! The things that did come up were celebrated one day and then a couple of days later I would find that they were eaten by a critter. Stupid deer. So the end of that garden season was very disappointing with few veggies to count as a success. Seriously...no flowers that year.

The following year we decided to run the chickens through the garden and let them "do the work." Hello permaculture. Last year's garden was FABULOUS! Most things were from seed. Those that I started in the hoop house a few weeks before transplanting. I was giddy! We tried new things and even the things that didn't do that great were minimal and I know to start certain things like the Three Sisters garden a little sooner than we did last year.

So, what is my beef this season? Well, my seed starting skills are not what they once were and I don't know why. By mid-March I had a few trays of seeds started, nothing terribly exotic. The success rate was mediocre at best. The things that did sprout were tomatoes. Which was great, but over the next couple of weeks some of the tomatoes started to wither. Which is fine, I always plant more just in case. I ended up with a dozen of pretty healthy seedlings which were transplanted into pots over the weekend:

Some of these looked a bit sad when I first transplanted them. I was hopeful that they would perk up and they did!

Here is an example of what didn't work:

Some of the seeds in this one came up, but I think that was somewhat accidental. The soil I used for these soil blocks wasn't ideal. It ended up being really heavy and solid blocks. Not awesome. I won't be picking up that soil mix again.

Another thing that I tried out for the first time ever was making little pots out of toilet paper tubes. I was getting tired of dumping something that could possibly be used somehow. After a search on Pinterest I found the post that led to this:

So they worked out pretty well. I think the key here was that fact that the soil wasn't totally packed into these little cups. These are Romanesco (left) and Kohlrabi (right). This part is the success part, we'll see what happens once they are transplanted into bigger pots or even straight into the ground.

Of the 5 trays that I prepared throughout the month of March only two were semi-successful. This morning I spent some time getting the cell packs out and ready for seeds. The one tray that didn't work included the free tomato seeds that were included in my order from Baker Creek Heirloom seeds and the Shishito peppers - a favorite and the really cool Royal Golden Watermelon. The other tray is all herbs and some squash.

In the transplants and the cell packs I used the cheapest potting soil I have ever seen and it seems so much better than the last stuff that we found at Lowe's. We are kind of experimenting here. We bought and planted three varieties of blueberry plants (one of each) into the yard bed along with the Olympian Fig that I got a couple of years ago. The blueberry plants along with the soil were from Walmart. I have never thought to buy garden supplies at WM - so this year will be interesting If all works out, I think I'll have to stock up on the soil. Anyway, we'll see how things turn out in the days to come.

I came to the conclusion that maybe soil blocks might be the better way to go for my fall crops. Which I will start by mid-summer. The hoop house get's a lot of heat, so I'll have to set up some trays in the garage so that they will have a little bit of a chance of surviving.

Growing a garden is my jam...it's what makes Farm Life the best!

Ever Get The Feeling...

that you might be the weird one? Not only are we the "weird" ones, we also live in a very unique situation.

When you think of homesteading or homesteaders what do you think of? Up until about four or five years ago I never had the thought of either homesteading or homesteaders or considered myself in those categories. Actually, I wouldn't have considered myself a farmer or think of us as living on a farm. In my mind I was growing a garden and it was mostly for fun, but we did enjoy plucking ripe tomatoes off the vine and harvesting some beans or whatever for a meal we would cook later. So, no, not a farmer - not even a little. Farmers have animals and big gardens and maybe even a tractor. What we have is a riding lawn mower...which usually requires the tires to be filled and the battery to be charged. In fact I didn't even know any farmers!

Until...

Tom discovered Justin Rhodes YouTube channel and he thought that what they were doing was pretty cool. It took me a little longer to see the value in those videos. After a few videos and Justin saying that he was the Permaculture Chicken Ninja (or something close) I got an idea.

You see, I've been wanting some chickens for a little while, but couldn't convince Mr. Tom that it would be a good thing. He was well aware of the amount of chickens my mom had accumulated during our time on the house in Fern Prairie. I assured him that I would not be that crazy - our house was the landmark for anyone giving directions to go somewhere, "Yeah, you know that house with all of the chickens?"

Anyway...

So, now we are watching this guy name Justin Rhodes who is living on a farm (homestead) with his family. They raise chickens and have cows and have a vegetable garden. We watched a lot of his videos and I was getting the bug...I could see chickens in our future. I don't know what happened, probably a lot of me saying "you know, we could get chickens" and still assuring him by saying,  "I won't be the crazy chicken lady, like my mom." The next season we started building a Justin Rhodes chick shaw, because I not so secretly found the plans on his website and presented them to Tom. I'm not that sneaky, but I do know what I want. After a few weeks we had 95% of the coop ready to go - we were waiting on something, but I don't remember what. It might have been the wheels. Anyway, while we waited on those, Tom built a brooder and we were off to Pioneer to pick up some chicks.

I'm pretty sure I had an idea of what I wanted for our first chickens which were Australorps, but Pioneer did not have them. What they did have were Jersey Giant chicks - they would have to do, since they were the only ones that were less than a week old at the time. Go HERE for that post. Since half of the chicks turned out to be little roos, we "had" to get some more chicks. Yeah, I'm still not a crazy chicken lady...

A search on craigslist and I connected with a woman who raises chicks on her farm in Woodland and the pullets would be closer to laying age AND she had Australorps. SCORE! We made arrangements and met her at the Safeway and completed the transaction like a drug deal going down in broad daylight...hehe...and we were on our way.

Thus was the beginning of our farm.

That season we added a gosling and duckling. Some people might just stop with chickens and waterfowl. Nope, not me...the following season which was last year, we added more chickens, pigs and more ducklings. We even grew our first batch of broiler chicks last year.

All of this would make sense for someone who might live out in the "country" someplace more rural at least. We live in a house on a piece of property that was once a farm many years ago. Our portion of the original farm is 2.71 acres. I'm unsure how much property made up the farm in the beginning. The fortunate thing for us is that we are just beyond the Urban Growth Area of Clark County and we are not bound to the rules of those who live within that area. In a way it feels like getting into this house/property was part of a greater plan.

Our home sits directly across the street from a newer subdivision of 15 or 16 cookie cutter homes. In more recent years we had been trying to figure out how to make this property more interesting and to connect to the world around us. More simply to our neighbors. Having neighbors is a fairly new thing for us as we have not had neighbors that we could actually observe from our front yard or from our living room at least.

Because these neighbors have witnessed the transformation of our property from a house on a couple of acres to a small farm. We truly are a spectacle. Anyone who walks to the mailbox at the corner across from our house can clearly see what is happening over here and will comment on it if we happen to be walking down their street.

The folks that live across the street are an interesting mix of retirees with grandchildren and families with young children. All with very different goals in life. Some are enjoying life without the daily grind of work and others just growing up their families as best they can.

We have connected with a couple of the families and have invited the kids across the street (along with Dad) to come observe/help with our last chicken harvest. One of the boys was a little traumatized at first and the other totally into helping - albeit brief. In time I hope that there might be just a little more interest - at least with the younger neighbors. An interest to learn exactly how their food is grown.

There is so much more to this story that I can't even begin to address in one blog post. Stay tuned and maybe learn a little more of what drives us. It's all very exciting for me...the reluctant homesteader.

Farm Life...it really is the BEST!

April 1 - 6, 2019

We just love these two pigs!

This week was Washington's Spring Break. So my week at work was pretty slow and kinda tiring in a way. I would much rather be at home doing my farm stuff than sitting at work trying to get to the end of the day. Here are some of the happenings from the last week.

The Freedom Rangers:

The Freedom Rangers have been doing quite well out in the Chicken Tractor and have had a few opportunities to forage in their fenced area - which is new this year. Last Sunday - after we returned from church I relocated the two chicks that were injured to the outside area. They spent a full week apart from the others, but blended right in pretty quickly. So that's a happy thing.

Today was their first move while in the tractor and we are heading out toward the field now. This spot will be so much better for them - they started their first week on the spot where the ducks were before we moved them out near the pigs. So there was a lot of straw and nearly bare lawn ready for them to poop it up.

As of today we are at nine weeks to go. The time will go by quickly and before we know it we'll be off to pick up the poultry kit at the Conservation District in Battle Ground and getting ready to set up the processing area. We will move part of the processing into the garage - the evisceration area. I doubt that it will keep the Yellow Jackets away more, but I think it will be a cleaner area overall. I have a couple of people who have already said that they will help and I might have one more person. I really want to make sure that we get this done efficiently and more hands will help in that area. We'll see. In the end we need to be flexible and just go with the flow.

The PIGS:

Well, we had hoped that Fiona would be bred again, but she had a heat cycle toward the end of March. We don't know if Rex was able to get the deed done, so we are watching to see if she has another cycle this month. However just earlier this afternoon I was observing the pigs and Fiona has a look about her than might suggest that she is pregnant. Her teats are starting to look elongated and her belly is starting to sag.

Now, I don't know if pigs are like humans in that their bodies go into pregnancy mode after a few weeks in anticipation of starting to carry a baby or piglets in this case. So, as we are unsure of her status we'll just have to wait and see if she goes into heat again this month. Hope, Hope...

The Shelter:

We have a plan to revamp the old parking structure into a pig/storage shelter. With all of the other projects that has been put on hold. So Fiona could wait on being pregnant again so that there will be time to get a more appropriate area ready for her and Rex.

Here is the structure in all of it's dilapidated glory - this was in February. At some point we'll be able to circle back around to this project and get it going again. Like how I said "we'll?" hahahahaha. I'm only qualified to pass tools or hold the ladder or whatever. My hope is to turn the left part of the structure into a swine condo along with a farrowing room for Fiona. We have no idea what the room was used for, but it is perfect for our princess pig to give birth in. I also have a vision to incorporate a couple of stalls to try to keep the adults separated from the littles. They would also have easy access to pasture behind the shed to get out and graze a bit. There are a couple of other things that are happening that actually is more important and this project will be on hold for the rest of the month - most likely. That and it is April and the rains have started up this past week. Welcome Spring...Indeed.

The Garden:

Last weekend I thought I would broadfork the big garden. After a couple of passes I was over it and decided that the rototiller would be best. The garden is very compacted right now for some reason and it was difficult getting the broadfork to go very deep at all. Tom was planning to rototill anyway so he started with the garden and I dragged the silage tarp out and it is now covering the garden until it's time to plant.

In going through and ditching some of my old seeds I found an old package of peas that are the bush variety. They were from 2017 and unopened. I decided to see if they would germinate and now that it is nearly two  weeks later and still nothing. Okay, I'll have to figure something else out and plant the seeds that I saved from last years pea crop. They are one of the first seeds that I decided to save so I'm excited. In fact I'll plant the bean seeds that I saved from last year's beans as well. Both seeds came from Seed Savers Exchange.

Tomorrow I will be working on starting seeds again. The flower seeds that I sowed several weeks ago are doing alright so that's a good thing. There is one tray in which nothing germinated - which in itself is a frustrating thing. I think the soil that I chose wasn't a good choice as some of the seeds were from last year and should still have been viable. Other things did okay, but not great. So, I think I will be coming up with a new plan and see how it goes. There are a two or three other veggies that I want to grow, but I need to get the seeds first. I will probably spend some time in the hoop house tomorrow afternoon and maybe start a few extra tomato seeds and get some lettuce seeds sowed somewhere else in the hoop house bed. Maybe April will be a better month.

I always look forward to the days that I can spend time at home working on projects. One day this will be my everyday thing. One day.

Farm Life is My Favorite Life!