Adding to the Flock

When I retired I had received a gift card to Wilco Farm Stores from the chiefs and other staff members. The card was for $150 - a very generous gift. It didn't take long for me to decide what I would use it on - CHICKS! Wilco starts making chicks available toward the end of January and continues through to late spring. Then they have more during the month of September. 

We need to back up here a little...

My M.O. has been to add pullets in September so that by the time Spring rolls around, they will be ready to start laying. Last September I added six Buff Orpingtons and six Sapphire Blue Plymouth Rocks. As of today we only have two of the six Buffs, but all of the Saffies. I'm a little disappointed, but those little Buffs decided to explore and didn't get into their house one night. Farm life right? We usually lose at least one once they are outside full-time, but to lose three at once? That was new.

One Buffy and One Saffy

The young hens are getting close to laying. They have been making the laying hen sound which is kind of a There's-Something-I-Gotta-Push-Out sound. In the next week or so we'll be moving all of the hens to the back of the property where it is nice and clean and not yet poopy or muddy. The young hens will be joining them out there as well. 

Okay, so yesterday Tom and I went out to Wilco in Battle Ground and I picked out a couple of breeds that I have been wanting to add, but either didn't want to spend the amount that they were priced at or they were not available. So, to give myself an idea of what might be available I checked out what they might have in stock starting this month. The breeds that I decided on were the Speckled Sussex, Cuckoo Maran and the Delaware. Of the three I really wanted the Speckled Sussex, but they didn't have that one. However, they did have the Cuckoo Maran (the most expensive of the three). The other breed that I decided on was the Easter Egger, which was listed as an Ameraucana Easter Egger on the receipt. I'm not sure what that means, but I wanted to add another color of egg to the mix. As the name implies, Easter Egger, they lay blue or green eggs. The Maran's eggs should be a dark brown - I've been wanting dark brown eggs!

The BEST part - during this month Wilco has a deal on chicks, buy two get one free. Score! Before I knew about the sale I was thinking that I would pick out three different breeds and get six of each. After I read through the last Wilco email that I got I decided to go ahead and get a dozen - which means that I would only pay for eight chicks. After my purchase I had to study the receipt to figure out how they charged me. This is the weird part, the Ameraucana EE's price was posted at $3.99, but the receipt showed $3.89. The Maran's were $5.99, but were $5.89 on the receipt. There must have been some other crazy deal that I'm not aware of, I'm not complaining. Just confused. Meh...In the end I got four of the Ameraucana's at no charge and paid for the remainder. Now, I have quite a bit left on the gift card, so I might just wait until fall and add more layers. We'll see.

A little vid from their ride home from Battle Ground...

These littles were quite lively yesterday afternoon I swear they grew!

So, why are we adding to the flock? Well, many of the girls are from our original 2017 flock and the average egg laying cycle of a hen is around two and half to three years. Rather than continuing to feed hens that are no longer producing eggs, we would rather add to the flock and process the older hens and use them as stewing hens. Yep, a purpose for everything. We are a little behind as far as culling the flock goes, but that should happen sometime this spring. Well, that's what I'm hoping.

Just how many laying hens do we have? The simple answer is that I don' know. I think a year ago we had around 30-ish hens. This number included the 10 hens that we received from one of the captains at the fire station. Currently I think we have maybe 25 hens, but 7 of them are not producing anything so the new buffs and saffs are their replacements. Once the new pullets are ready to join the flock we may be up to 30+ hens. 

In a way I'm ready to have eggs coming out of our ears and running out of space to store all of them! Since our last sale of one dozen eggs last month we have had enough eggs to meet our own needs. 

My goal is to have plenty of eggs available for those friends/neighbors who have been coming to us to buy eggs. Once all of the hens are laying we'll be able to use the egg money to offset the feed costs. Winter is not our favorite time as the hens are not laying much, if at all. There have been a few days when there were NO eggs. Fortunately, we haven't been totally out of eggs because the ducks are still laying. It would kill me to actually buy eggs at the store. Especially since we haven't bought eggs since the summer of 2017!

Farm Life, Best Life!

February Happenings

Wow, it's crazy that a month has gone by since my last post! So, what's going on at Pigs 'n Poultry? Well, let's get into this!

Our Greta girl decided to pop out an egg that had no shell. Not so unusual for a first egg so it wasn't totally a surprise. It was a surprise that she is now at laying age. She's been with us since May and boy that took a long time for her to start laying! I was curious so I did a little research - geese only lay during the spring months and they usually only lay somewhere from 10-30 eggs per season. I had read somewhere that geese CAN lay as early as their first fall, but it's not common. She did do something that looked an awful lot like nesting and it was in the yard in between two garden boxes. Weirdo! This week we got a big surprise - and I mean BIG...

This mutant weighed in at 248 grams!

This egg almost looks fake-o, but it's real. The grass and blood stuck on it when it was brought in...man I felt so bad for Missy Greta. To go from a pretend egg that just had a leathery "shell" to this behemoth! She can't go back now! Fortunately, her routine is every other day since this big one.

The waterfowl egg collection

We used the goose eggs to make a frittata and it was delicious! I think that if we were to use the goose eggs for breakfast we could probably get two servings from one of those eggs! I'm accustomed to the duck or chicken egg size. We will enjoy these while we have them though - they won't be coming all the time. I'm excited about these eggs and look forward to more eggs from Greta. It will be interesting to see how long her laying season turns out to be in the end. Once she is done laying she'll go into her first real molt.

The other thing that happened in the last couple of weeks - my co-worker/friend and his wife dropped off 10 more young hens. It took a couple of weeks, but we got the new hens...

So that afternoon our flock increased to 31. When Clint asked how many we had now, Tom first said we had 26 chickens I quickly piped in and said 31 because of the little girls. We tend to not think of them since they haven't started laying yet, so I'm sure that's why we kind of forget about them. They don't offer anything but a lot of cuteness!

The Buttercups tend to want to be together, but they have been accepted by the older girls. Back when they were a couple of months old Tom decided to convert a dog house that we got down the street from our house.

November 2, 2019 - The Buttercups are finally out of the Brooder!

The best sight ever! Chickens out on grass.

The dog house got a door, a heat lamp and a perch too! So for three and half months they have grown accustomed to their home. I doubt that they will want to move in with the big girls.

So the chick shaw is filled a few more chickens and they are getting along better with each day that goes by. The first day we had to catch each of the new girls and physically place them in the chick shaw. This is actually a funny sight in the morning when the girls are first released for the day...23-26 hens coming out of the chick shaw. You wouldn't think that so many chickens would fit, but they do! Can you say Clown Car?

We have been keeping an eye on Fiona and her belly! She is looking good, but not huge. According to some research that I did recently, she may not even REALLY look pregnant until she is about 3 months after she has been bred. So when we do our willy-nilly calculations based on iffy memories we think that she was in heat last in mid-November. So that would put her around 3 months now. Gestation is 3 months, 3 weeks, 3 days - approximately. If she continues to have her hangy belly swaying back and forth when she is running toward us at feeding time we might see piglets during my vacation time or sooner, maybe.

We know that she is not fat because they have been on a diet since last summer and Rex is looking pretty darn good. It's taken some time, but he is finally not looking like a....well...a pig.

This month has been quite rainy and I'm ready for some dry weather - especially on the weekends. I have so many things that I want to do!

Also, looking forward to the day when I can be home doing the farm life and making my own schedule with the time that I have in the day...

This is my happy place!

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!

Broody Hen Update

If you missed my last post on the Broody Hens go HERE to catch-up...go ahead...I'll wait :)

This was Friday morning

As of yesterday two of the hens were back to normal. In fact, whenever I went to look in on them, they looked very much like they would like to rejoin the rest of the flock. They should spend at least one more day in there. Just to be sure.

The third lady is VERY persistent and might not break even today. I am not sure how we'll fish her two friends out without her escaping. We could just remove Miss Broody and release the other two back into the arena.

I suspect that she has been overtaken by her biological malady the longest of the three. It would be so much easier to release three non-bloody girls back to their friends.

Main reason...Egg Production is DOWN!

Oh, I did find out something new - our escape artist, Dora, laid an egg at the neighbor's house! That would be kinda crazy, she is only 4 months old! She's an over-achiever!

I think it is plausible though, over the past couple of weeks I have observed the following things in the Java's behavior:

• A couple of them have been a little more interested in the nesting boxes
• They are becoming more interested in the oyster shells
• They are making the "I wanna lay and egg" sound
• The neighbor found an egg in his lawn (this one is a dead giveaway)

Even this morning, once the chickens were released from their nighttime jail one of the little girls was looking into the nesting boxes they way that the big girls do....hmmm...

Very Interesting.

Broody girls or not, Farm Life is the Best Life!

Some Days...

Are just more exciting than other days.

Earlier this week I had to make a trip home during my lunch break to take care of a Butcher Box delivery. I figured it would be a nice and easy lunchtime activity - go home, unpack box and place the meat in freezer. One would think that right?

Well no, that would be just a little too easy. This is what I found on the door when I arrived home:

BIG SIGH...

Well, I decided to take care of the box first and then give the neighbor a call. Really, what I was doing was preparing myself for the worst. She couldn't possibly still be at his house.

It was time to make the call - he did a quick check and said that she was still under the bush in front of his house. Big sigh of relief! Well, that was a surprise! As he told me that she was there I immediately started walking his way. This is such a great way to meet your neighbors! When I arrived we introduced ourselves, engaged in a little chit chat and then I said I needed to get her and get home so I could get back to work. With some help from him, I was able to grab little missy. 

This is where I should describe my attire...

Since I was home on my lunch break I was dressed for work. On this particular day I decided to wear a dress and comfy light jacket. Yep, I'm walking down a residential street carrying a chicken under my arm. Fortunately it was fairly quiet and I only encountered two other neighbors on my way back. Of course those two neighbors had to ask what was up...obviously I'm carrying a chicken! Thankfully, I made it back without any trouble. Little miss became a little agitated once we reached the road, but I was able to keep her calm.

Seriously, I was completely surprised that she had made it so far - that particular neighbor's house is about 500 feet from our house. In chicken terms - that's like a half marathon! I am also surprised that she crossed the road without being hit...yes, there's a joke in there somewhere.

Anyway, while I was walking back I was thinking of where to keep her for the afternoon so she would be safe. It didn't take a second thought as I realized that the ducklings would be fine not having access to the chicken tractor - she is after all a chicken!

Not a great photo, but you get the idea

Later in the evening we decided to clip her wings - so as to remedy her flying problem. She is a wily little thing - so we decided to clip both sides. However, we have noticed since they were about a month old that Javas are quite athletic, so she was still able to jump/fly over the 4' fence. I found this out yesterday as I returned home from work. Little stinker!

Since Tom will be away from the house most of today I decided she needed to be confined (for her own good). This meant that I needed to spend the remainder of my outside time trying to identify and catch little missy. It occured to me that the Javas REALLY like their scratch feed and I know how little missy eats out of my hand. So with a little scratch I was able to grab her to relocate her to the chicken tractor.

I am not one to name my hens, but I have named a couple and we have named her Dora.

Farm Life Is The Best Life!

Even with chickens who like an adventure...

Adjusting

Now that we have even more critters to look after we have been busy! Chores start early - as soon as it is light out which is currently around 5:30 AM. I'm up early, so it's not that huge of a shock, but it does make the morning go quickly. I've figured out a good routine though, we'll see how long it works out.

Just this week I have learned that I need to let the two hooligans out otherwise Mr. Lenny will fly over the fence. He hasn't done that before and maybe he didn't realize what exactly he was doing, but I HAVE to get them out before I start working my way around the pens. In fact, when he popped over the fence and landed he just stood there somewhat dumbfounded - as if he were asking why didn't Sheldon follow him. I'm not sure that Shelly could actually make it. He's a duck and all, but he rarely gets his little squatty body off the ground and mainly uses his wings to run faster when he is playing with Tom.

ANYWAY

Boys come out and off to feed the pigs - they are super easy! I distract them with some bread and then quickly dump some of their feed onto the ground. Once they finish their appetizer they happily start munching away on the feed which then turns into a little grazing at the same time.

Rex is on the left...then girly Fiona with her cute pink nose and feet!

Next on the list would be the Magpie Squad...

We are still unsure what is going thru Lenny's head when he looks at the girls.

The little Magpies are just over three weeks old and growing like crazy! They definitely know where the food comes from and will stand at the end of their little courtyard and scream at the top of their lungs until I get over there to feed them. These 7 ducklings can make a lot of noise! That's okay - they are super cute!

As they grow I am noticing that most of them are quite large, there is one runt in the group. So I am hopeful that they are all female, just as I requested. The only thing about that is how does anyone know for sure. Man, I hope they're mostly girls...Sheldon is already pretty spazzy, what if we have one or two more drakes to deal with?

OYE!

Also, I'm not sure if we'll be housing these littles with the rest of the flock when it comes to that point. They might need their own home. Oh My Goodness...Lenny and 8 ducks?! We'll figure that out later.

Then at last the main chicken pen. The Javas are still not roosting in the coop at night so they are free ranging when I finally get to them. This is actually perfect though. Because they are new to the flock they still get bullied by the big girls when it's food time. So they get to eat before the others are released. While they get to eat, the hooligans are out foraging  so the Javas have a chance to eat in peace. As soon as a couple of the Javas are done eating and start wandering around I let the rest of the girls out and chaos ensues! 

Time to make my exit! 

Depending on the day, sometimes it is a chore to get the two dudes back in with the girls. They are usually pretty good though, except for yesterday. Little stinkers! Lenny was unhappy with me...which is fine because I was REALLY unhappy with him. Most of the time they are pretty easy and want to get back in and eat. It seems now that we no longer have a rooster, they don't care so much about going back right away. I don't know if they were trying to protect the girls from Thor, but they were always ready to head back. 

The evening routine is pretty much the same. Getting a second ration of  food to all of the babies and then scratch for the hens. The ducklings are the most work as they mess up the tub that they get to swim in pretty quickly. So sometimes it gets refreshed twice a day sometimes more. They are stinky little peepers for sure! I just don't remember Lenny & Shelly eating so much. Maybe they did...it's hard to say. 

Things will change yet again when we get the Freedom Rangers from the hatchery on July 3rd. We have until about the end of July to figure out what to do with the ducklings. Add them to the flock or give all the waterfowl their own area? 

That's still a ways off, so we'll just enjoy the process until then. 

The best thing from today...

The Kia is truly the All-Haul vehicle

That's a lot of bread! The back seat was folded down too!

 A friend of mine told me about how I could get Franz products at the local outlet for super cheap, so I went and checked it out.

For $10 I can get a Cart of bread that is not sellable to the general public in the outlet. These items are sold as hog & bird food. So last week on Monday I visited the outlet in Hazel Dell and I got onto the list.  Today was pick-up day. We had a lot happening today, so I was really hoping that the bread would be available during my lunch break...SCORE!! We got lucky today - the truck came back early. 

Anyway, the back of my car is filled with hamburger buns! If this is considered a cart - I am not sure that I want to know how much is in a RACK!

What is considered a cart? Well, that would be 10 trays of bread. In this case each tray had 6 packages of hamburger buns and for the heck of it we got a bonus tray. Each package has 12 buns...you do the math!

OH. MY. GOODNESS.

That should last us a while. On top of that the clerk handed Tom a few packages of bear claws and cinnamon rolls...seriously, this is getting ridiculous!

What have I gotten myself into?! Craziness!!

So while we continue to adjust to the changes at home and try to do the regular daily stuff...I believe more than ever that Farm Life is the Best Life!!

I still can't get over this!

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!!

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!

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...

It's Saturday Evening?!

What happened to the day? It was cold, Cold, COLD today!

Yesterday was my day to cook Indo food for a chosen few. It's my way to end my vacation week, hanging out with friends.

Progress on the chicken tractor project slowed down a little bit. There is a door frame in place along with the panels that we put together a couple of days ago.

The thing that we are stuck on currently would be bending the EMT conduit. In the Stress Free Chicken Tractor book it says that bending the conduit can be "tricky." Yeah we got tricky down...

This wasn't accidental - just trying to figure out how the bender works

Oh - we rented a bender at Parkrose -

This did not come with instructions

Tom took some time this afternoon to try to get the tubing bent in the right places and the right angles. He got frustrated and declared that all 5 tubes would not work and went back to Parkrose to get more EMT. After he returned - I decided to take a turn with this seemingly harmless device.

I studied the section on how to prep the tubes for bending...then tried to make a bend. Well, I found out very quickly that my short stature would make this task a little difficult. The tubing is ten feet long...TEN FEET! However, I had to do it in my own to figure out what needed to happen to get things set up. After some moments of being annoyed and stretching and twisting AND stepping on one end of bender to make it work...I DID get it to work! Since I was just goofing around I made a sculpture instead. Oh well....I got a better understanding of how to accomplish the task. The instructions in the book helped, especially the illustrations.

We will have to get busy on the project as soon as we get home from church tomorrow morning since the bender needs to go back in the afternoon.

NO PRESSURE.

One of the EMT tubes that Tom formed

After I played around with my first bended tube I took a look at Tom's "rejects" and did a minor adjustment and it seems to work out okay. It won't be like the book says, but it will work. All we need to do is get three more to match it as close as possible - perfect is too much to ask for. This is a chicken tractor after all and the chickens aren't going to complain.

It's a hobbity sized door!

These little chickies are just over 5 weeks old!

Once the Java Girls are old enough and the weather stays at a reasonable temperature they will be the first to take up residence in the chicken tractor. They will need to go out in about three weeks if not sooner. The Magpie girls should be arriving by then! Then when the ducklings outgrow the broader they will move into the tractor next. I'm hoping that we'll be able to integrate the Javas in with the Jerseys and Aussies when that happens. It shouldn't be too difficult as they will all be in the same area, but separate. So, until further notice their is no vacancy at the Chicken Tractor Inn.

My morning project - making a loaf of Egg Bread...SO GOOD!

Ready for the oven

This shape is the most interesting yet!

One more day away from work...sigh...

2018 Staycation

I am so excited to be home all week! This is what I long for...staying home to work on projects on our mini-farm.

The morning was productive as we got out and did tbe chicken chores together. When I'm home the two hooligans get some extra time away from the cluckers so in keeping with tradition they were released from the hen pen.

After some worm hunting with Mr Shelly I decided to work on getting another garden box cleared out and ready for some mushroom compost. A garden project is never complete until the almost 11 month old gander gets involved.

Big boy Lenny inspecting my work

Upon closer inspection....

Meanwhile, Thor and his girl crew were happily working on the pile of wood chips. It's good to give the kids something to do...

King of the mountain

The littlest girls aren't so little anymore...they are now entering into the not so cute stage of chickhood -

Chow time!

Whew...we went out looking for some supplies for the Stress-Free Chicken tractor. That took us to Harbor Freight and Parkrose Hardware. Since we have most of the lumber which a friend of mine took down off of our huge shed we only need hardware type items. We picked up enough items to round out the stuff we need to construct the frame of the tractor. Many of the other items can be purchased later as they are not critical to the early construction of the frame.

Our haul from the hardware stores

We had a couple of other stops to make with the last stop at Shorty's to check out if they carry bare root fruit trees...it didn't appear so. We'll have to head to Woodland tomorrow and visit Tsugawa's. Just to be sure they still had trees I sent them a message on Facebook. This weekend is the last weekend to get the bare root stock. I'm glad I took the time to contact them! We didn't leave Shorty's empty handed though...they did have a nice variety of seed potatoes.

Growing potatoes is one of my favorites and so easy to do!

This is just the beginning of what will be a very productive week away from work!