Herding Piglets?

Today the piglets decided to explore beyond their fence. The tricksy little stinkers figured out how to get out by going under the fence. We either need to keep the fence energized all of the time or just let them do what they do. 

After dinner tonight I decided to go ahead and let Fiona out and leave the fence open so that the babies could join her and 4 of them did! The other two were napping within their area and missed the opportunity.

It's hard to stay upset with the situation as it were. They are too cute and how can anyone be upset with these little faces?

I do believe that this life is everything that I want to live out for the rest of my days. Just need to drop the work thing....

Farm Life is the Best Life!




Fun Video...

It's Vacation Time...

With my vacation time comes lots of projects and things that I want to get done around our little farm.

Over the weekend we started one very important project - building new nesting boxes for the hens. The pet carriers are functional and all, but they are a bit haphazard and kind of janky too.

How the egg cart looked at the beginning.

The first set of nesting boxes were as you can see above. A couple of pet carriers and an old hooded cat litter box that we found at Goodwill for cheap. Over time we add three more pet carriers and it worked for a while. The whole system is not a bad concept...just looked...well, janky. Especially since the litter box is now on top of a pet carrier and, since it is so large, will have at least two hens sitting in it. That's not a bad thing if they both lay an egg. Anyway - with the addition of several more hens we decided an upgraded system would be good. I might still hang on to three of the pet carriers and the so that there are options. It would look nicer for sure.

Today is Monday and I have an outing planned with a friend so there won't be nearly as much happening as we'll be going for coffee and Pokemon catching opportunities. Lunch may be part of the outing, but I'm not sure yet.

Tomorrow is our meat chickie pick-up day - so we'll be heading south to Tanget to do that. I love that there is a hatchery so close to where we live. So today we'll need to get the brooder all cleaned up and ready for new tenants - 30 of them!

I will be posting here each day and sharing what we have accomplished each day. Right now, I need to employ good time management skills. My list of things to do is a mile long and I only have a week off.

Here's to farm life!

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.

Less Than A Month...

In less than a month we'll be heading back to Tangent, OR to pick up...

Twenty-five Freedom Rangers

I'm so excited!! We are down to 4 or 5 chickens in the freezer right now so it's time to fill it up again!

This year will be better and we'll reach processing day with more meaties. Last year we ended up with 16 after losing 9 of them due to our inexperience. We are in the know and I'm confident that we will have more on processing day than last September.

I do love me a project and so I'll be posting their progress here weekly and by then we'll be in full swing getting gardens planted and more chicks and a couple of goslings as well. It's almost go time!

Farm living is the life...

Always Planning

My mind can't seem to rest. I'm always thinking of the next thing to do - whether the project is for the garden, chickens, ducks or pigs. Sometimes I think of other projects like for gifting (Christmas anyone?) or for Operation Christmas child - my latest idea is to crochet washcloths. We'll see how long that lasts.

So what am I thinking about right now? Well let's take a look...

Garden - A few weeks ago I decided that we should grow asparagus in one of the areas in the back yard. After some research I found that I will need a lot of space to plant 25 crowns. Oh, I plan to order from Territorial Seed company in Oregon. An order has 25 crowns. It's a good thing we like asparagus.

Hoop House #2. I'm hoping for a new and improved space to grow tomatoes and other veggies that like the hot temperatures. I already know where I would like it situated - just need to start building it.

Chickens - Well this is a little more involved area as I am also dreaming up the waterfowl situation. Let's start with the chickens I am dreaming about having an actual mobile flock to work different areas of the property. This flock would be for clean-up purposes (and eggs).

Along with this mini-flock I would like to include a pair of goslings to get the goose factor back on the farm. My hope is to having a breeding pair of Embden geese. We miss Mr. Lenny quite a bit and things are very different without him so we want to get the goose on the loose back.

The Chick Shaw MiniMe - this is a smaller version of the chick mobile that we built last year hence the name MiniMe. This will be for our mini flock of chickens and the geese (are you sensing the theme here?) This coop is 4' L x 4' W x 2' H. I've got wheels already - so that is one less thing to plan for later.

While we are on the subject of housing for the chickens, we have thought about building another chicken tractor. That way the ducks will still have something to live in and we'll have one for the meaties...

Freedom Rangers! Shooting for a June processing date so it's time to get the order in for a March pick-up in Tangent. It has been gratifying to go and pull out a chicken from the freezer. One that has been raised on pasture and contains no funky stuff. Truly happy chickens doing what chickens do eat bugs and grass and get to run free on pasture. Gotta get the calendar out and figure out the dates so I can get the poultry kit reserved. More meat into the freezer!

Pigs - We are hoping that Miss Fiona will farrow sometime in the next 6-8 months. Which means we need to keep an eye on what is happening with Fiona and Rex. We know that Rexy has shown interest in his partner. However we are not sure how far the interaction progressed...because there was something going on - if you get my meaning...hehe.

Next week we'll be heading to the farm where we purchased our pair 'o pigs and watch as the farmers process one of their hogs. This is a learning opportunity for us and I am looking forward to checking out how things are done.

There are so many other things that just go through my mind it can be a little crazy. What I need to do is set aside thoughts about the farm and focus on getting my Christmas projects done.

The year is almost over, but there is always some to dream about and plan for!

Farm Life is the BEST Life

The Weekend Plan

Tomorrow will be a big day for the Magpie girls...and if you happened to read my post about the girls - I did get an answer from the feed store. The hatchery claims that they are indeed Magpies. I'm still not convinced. Anyway...the Magpie Squad will be relocated to the field next to the chicken arena. This will be the first time that the ducks and the chickens will be close to each other.

The ducks don't require a whole lot. They'll have their pool and a couple of shelters in which to slumber at night. They won't be locked up into the tractor at night, so this is a huge step up for them. The fortunate thing is that they stay together no matter what. So if one of the girls goes in then they all go. If one makes a move to do anything...she'll have company. Guaranteed.

It might take a couple of days to get them used to a new area. They have only been in the backyard and the side yard so far. It will be interesting to see how they like the field. It's not like we have kept them going that far...they just haven't walked out there yet. My guess is that they will still make their way out to the Hoop House on occasion and in the side yard which was their first outside area.

It's time for the stinky little monsters (Freedom Rangers) to get out of the brooder in the garage and out into the yard where they can breathe in fresh air and play in the grass. I don't want the littles to have respiratory problems. We want happy chickies...in a much bigger space and with no pine shavings. Real grass...on their little tootsies!

How they have changed in their two weeks of life...

July 5, 2018

July 12, 2018

July 19, 2018 

Right now I'm enjoying the youngest critters on our farm and looking forward to watching them grow and develop. It's exciting to think that these are our first batch of meat birds! I don't want to think about harvest day just yet. There are still 9 weeks ahead of us and I want to enjoy every single day until the end of September!

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...

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!

It's Time to Go Back a Year!

Yeah, so I didn't have a post on this blog a year ago, but there is a great GAFT video from this day one year ago! This was from Full Circle Farm in Florida. This is titled "When Organic ISN'T good enough..." as well as "The BEST way to cook pork chops"

We have been trying to eat better, that is make choices when we grocery shop. Having a steady supply of eggs really does open up all sorts of opportunities for creativity. This is something that I blogged about a few posts ago. Since our eggs are fresh as fresh can be the option to hard boil them is really a no go option. We would have to use older eggs if we want to peel them without taking half the white part away, we don't usually keep eggs around that long. I had forgotten that from my time at home and all the eggs that we had coming out of our ears then. I suppose we would have to buy eggs, but why would I spend money on eggs that are not as good as our own?

Oh, while we are kind of (not really) on the subject of chickens I came across a fun little Safety Tip Sheet on the NFPA website - I'm not sure that I have mentioned that I work for a local fire district. Anyway, as I was looking at Safety Tip Sheet to display on the counter on the National Fire Protection Association website they had a NEW tip sheet for...get this...Chicken Coop safety! Go HERE to check it out. 

So, of course I have to take a look. To be honest it seems like the stuff listed on the sheet would be no brainers, but I guess there is always someone who just doesn't get it. 

You'll have to go to the website to get all of the tips!

I just don't understand. Chickens are pretty hardy creatures and they do alright when the temperatures go down at night. In fact, now that we have our first winter with chickens on our farm behind us, they did pretty good. Granted we didn't have any crazy winter snowstorms - which are rare anyway, but there were a few days here and there where we woke up to snow on the ground. Which was fun watching them contemplate leaving the coop. In the end the chickens did just fine. So did the Dudes. Why risk a fire by putting an electric heater in the coop? We wouldn't even think to do that since the coop we built is the Justin Rhodes chick-shaw. It really wasn't designed to hold a heater or heat lamp anywhere.

In other happenings - we are getting closer to getting those piggies on our farm. I was in contact with Cascade Meadows Farm yesterday (via text) just to get the bug in Jason's ear. In another couple of weeks I'll probably send an email to get the ball rolling. We have the tote to use as a waterer, pallets to make a shelter and Premier 1 hog electric fence to help keep them contained. After watching Art & Bri's video this morning I'm pretty excited to see how the piggies will help with our garden spots around the property. Check out their video:

It's almost weekend time! The next couple of days should be decent as far as the weather is concerned. Easter Sunday might be a little rainy. The forecast is ever-changing so I guess we'll see when we wake up that morning.

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...

DST and All Around Busyness

Man oh Man! We did so much around the house this past weekend! And it was Daylight Saving Time?!

Saturday - we were out and working on getting the chickens and the dudes moved to the new area. Instead of just letting them roam half of the garden at a time as we did for December & Janaury we got them set up to work the WHOLE garden and the grassy area all the way to the road which also included the wood chip pile. This took both of our Premier poultry netting (one is 100' and the other 160'). I don't gauge distance very well and I'm not spectacular at thinking out things ahead of time, whatever I got set up was taken down...booo. However, it was good for me to figure out exactly where we would have the opening, so not a total fail. 

What things looked like before the big move:

The back yard has been officially fertilized by the feathered creatures

They get another opporunity to poo up this area before we plant in a few months

I took zero pictures of my other Saturday activities which included:

• Weeding a garden box, broadcasting some cover crop seeds and getting the cover over the top of it. 
• "Working" for Mr. Shelly by digging up worms for snacks while he "supervised" and offered quality control by eating all that he could find. 
• Getting some onion seeds started in a small tray and doing some general clean-up in the hoop house. It will need to be organized since I'll be getting the trays out and starting all sorts of stuff while I'm on vacation next week!
• A trip to Freddy's to get my 99 cent cereal! There was a special download coupon good for Saturday - so Honey Nut Cheerios baby!
• Tom worked on splitting some wood and stacking it up.

Sunday was a more relaxed day - kind of...maybe not:

• Worship time - I was on the Info Desk schedule for the morning. I like it because I just stand around and talk to people. Which I could do every week, but don't. The introvert in me goes and sits down and waits for the service to begin.
• After we got home I made another loaf of egg bread and tried making egg noodles.
• While the bread was in the first rise I made some soil blocks and got my tomato seeds going. The other seeds I got out were Shishito peppers, cucumbers and I think some sweet peppers.
• Small group time was all about games last night. So good to be with our people and playing together and laughing together. So. Much. Laughing.

Thought I would try making noodles - it's really a messy project, hence the bowl

My noodles are a bit thick, but I think they'll do just fine

Making bread just doesn't get old

Another thing that we figured out is just how smart Mr. Lenny is. We have been known to not always eat the crusts off of the toast that we have for breakfast at times. Those crusts go out to the chickens. Well, they are supposed to. Lenny actually gets to the treat first and eats up the tasty bits first.

SO - last night we sat out in the yard and ate our sandwiches (late lunch = easy dinner). Well Lenny & Shelly were out and about foraging when Lenny spotted the sandwiches and came right up to Tom and stood as close as possible. He was filled with so much excitement about the bread that he begged and begged and begged. Worse than a dog! That goose - he knows what he likes and he doesn't miss anything! Again I didn't have my phone, so there are no photos proving that this actually happened. It was pretty funny actually. At one point he was next to me, but I just kept eating and he just kept watching. Ever hopeful. 

Note to self: Don't let the dudes out to forage while enjoying dinner on the lawn!

I would rather see this:

Now that Spring is really just around the corner we have all sorts of projects in the queue for the next few weeks.

Here's another Great American Farm Tour video for your viewing pleasure. This one is titled "Turning Rotten Coconuts Into Eggs"

Yep, We Did It Again!

We got baby chicks again! When Tom went to Wilco Farm Store earlier this week and sent me a couple of photos of the chicks that were available. The Mottled Java was one that was available and I knew that they would be coming home to our farm. 

Last spring when I was researching what breeds were available the local feed stores, the MJ was on the schedule for one of the stores. I would later find out that some of the chick shipments were cancelled due to slow sales.  So we came home with the Jersey Giants instead and then supplemented the flock with the Australorps. 

With 10 hens and one Roo and several people interested in fresh eggs from pastured chickens I have been planning to add a few more pullets. 

So, off to Wilco we went and the moment I walked into the store I heard the sound of Spring in a farm supply store! It was fun looking at all the little fuzzy days old chicks...but I only wanted one breed! There were quite a few people gathered around the tubs so it was a few minutes before I got to the chicks that I wanted. In the process I chatted with a woman who wasn't sure which chicks she would be going home with so I told her that the Aussie chicks are good layers...I doubt that she ended up with any since her kids were picking out an assortment. 

So why did I just come home with one breed? When the girls get older and it's time to start culling the flock I will know which of the girls are the oldest and ready to be turned into stewing chickens. It will be easier to keep track of groups of breeds instead of tagging them or whatever. However, that is a few years down the road. So, we will have lots of egg gathering seasons from our first flock of layers.

Livestock Conservancy Java chicken facts:

Conservation Status: Watch

Uses:  Eggs & Meat

Egg Color & Size: Brown/Large

Weight: Male 9.5 lbs, Female 6.5 to 7.5 lbs.

Temperament: Hardy, Calm - Excellent Forager

Three Days Old

Adult MJ

Java Hens are not great layers - they average around 150 large Brown eggs. Even though I wanted a 200+ egg layer, I'm excited that we have one of the breeds that I REALLY wanted.

Here's to making our flock a little more diverse.

Another GAFT favorite

The Great American Farm Tour. How I ever sat myself down almost everyday to watch the daily video from Justin Rhodes is beyond me. We did it though, although, there were a couple I just couldn't sit through. Otherwise we watched them all! Some of them a few times even.

The farm feature was waaay back in May of last year. The Farmer is John Suscovich. The farm is Camps Road Farm in Connecticut. The book is Stress Free Chicken Tractor Plans.

The first video that was featured:

The moment he kneeled down to help out Mr. Brown - I knew this guy would be awesome! 

Then there was this video:

By the time we had watched these videos we already built the Justin Rhodes Chick-Shaw. The chicken tractor with a million pieces...hahaha! Actually the chick mobile is awesome! It did take some time though. When I found out that Farmer John had a book I HAD to check it out. Not only that I ORDERED it and we have been studying it and will be building one of these bad boys soon.

Everything about this guy...his experience kind of clicked with me and I understood what he was saying. The way he farms, the way he learns while doing stuff and then makes adjustments when things don't work out...boy I get that. He is for real people...a farmer, husband, father...YouTuber. He is a farmer...not a homesteader. We all know how that word has no meaning to me. It is over-used. Enough said. Also, not that I would do this, but he toured the part of the US on his bike, visiting farms along the way. What a life! There was a time that I thought I might want to do a bicycle tour, but that's an unrelated story.

We had the chickies before we saw these videos, but the video about the chicken tractors got me thinking about raising meat birds. Something I wanted to do last year, but let's face it, with the new chickies (gosling & duckling included) and trying to keep my pathetic garden from totally dying off I don't think that a batch of meat chickens would have helped. What we did end up doing is processing three of our extra cockerels at approximately 19 weeks old or so. That was quite the experience - one that I am happy to say I survived and didn't get totally freaked out about. Go HERE for that post.

Last summer he did a few videos on raising pigs and how beneficial they are to the land. Our property was once part of a much larger cattle farm operation years ago and our plan is to add a breeding pair of American Guinea Hogs that will help make our property healthy again. All we have done for nearly 20 years is mow the grass. Only last year did we actually introduce the chickens to part of the pasture. I have plans to keep the pigs moving around the property and increasing the food growing areas. Fruit trees, berry bushes or gardens, I want to add them all! 

What else about this guy...he is all about sharing information on YouTube - all free which is a bonus. He does have a "store" on his website, Farm Marketing Solutions. If you are looking for suggested reading, he's got a list of books. Apparel, yup. His published books...oh yeah. Like I mentioned before I got the chicken tractor book. There's a new book in the works that I'm planning to order to get our market going. 

In the time since watching these two videos, I have started to follow his channel - SO GOOD! I've commented on his videos and sent him an email of appreciation (and got a reply!) - he is seriously cool! 

Go on...check the videos above and check out his channel on YouTube. I'm going to start planning again...

Little Fuzzies

It's that time of year!! The chicks and ducklings are starting to show up at Wilco!!  Tom was out in Battle Ground and stopped in at Wilco to check out the chick situation today and sent a couple of photos - the chicks and what they will end up looking like...

The Barred Rock

   

Breed Information:

Use:  Eggs, Meat

Egg Color & Size:  Brown, Large

Market Weight:  6-8 pounds

Temperament:  Calm, Docile

Characteristics:  Early Feather, Cold Hardiness

The Mottled Java

 

Breed Information:

Use:  Eggs, Meat 

Egg Color & Size:  Brown, Large

Market Weight:  6.5 - 8 pounds

Temperment:  Hardy, Calm, likes to range

Characteristics:  Excellent Forager

These were the only two breeds that Tom sent to me. We'll be making a trip out there on Friday to check out all that they have available. 

I would really like to get some chickens that are good layers - that lay 200+ eggs per year. From some of the research I have already done, the Mottled Java is an okay layer with approximately 150 eggs per year. The Delawares can lay up to 280, Dominique - 230, Barred Rock - 200. I REALLY love the look of the Java though; might have to add them because they are cool! If I could find a place that has Dorking chicks I would get those just for fact that they lay white eggs. That would be an easy way to know when they are laying! A dead giveaway. 

I'm thinking of egg production and not really having to buy eggs from the store. The last dozen we bought might have been in August. Also, when we have surplus we will either sell them or give them to friends and neighbors. We have quite a few neighbors across the street, some of whom have had our eggs and they are happy to get the eggs when we have extra! Got myself a pretty easy market going here...hmmm...more chickens please!

Right now we have Black Jersey Giants and Australorps. What we need is some color diversity. So the next batch of chickies will grow up to be something other than BLACK. Why not switch up the color palette? White...Brown...Buff or Speckeled??? I'll be researching on the go as we head out to Wilco this weekend.

Oh...how I want to see the chickies! Hashtag who loves baby chickies?!

Maybe I am going to be like my mom...I now understand why we had so many chickens!

When It's Time to Move

Moving day (Saturday) is always a fun day. We are getting to the point where we are getting the fence set up a little quicker each time and then relocating the shelter, water & feed pans and of course the chickens.

This month they will be situated in the backyard. Now that we have over two hundred feet of fence we are able to give them a fairly large area to explore. I do have some garden space that I'm hoping they will scratch and till away at.

Some fun contours for the feathered creatures

Girls trying to figure out which box is their favorite

Once they are situated and released they run around like crazy, checking things out...usually looking for food. Moving day is the one day that I do not feed them. I want them to forage and find food in their new space and not rely on the feed. Honestly, these girls are a little chubby, so I really don't worry about them too much. Just because I'm not a total ogre, they do get a little bit of scratch in the evening and as usual they attack it as if it were their last meal.

The girls get so excited that egg laying is the last thing that is going to happen. Moving day is the day where the girls hardly lay - this time there were only 3 eggs as opposed to the 7 eggs that we got yesterday. 

Two of the Jersey's contemplating laying an egg

These girls have been in the field and in the free-range garden and in the yard. The one spot I wish I could feel okay about is the front yard. Where they were the last couple of months was as close as I would like them to be to the road. Also, having them up there made our house a spectacle. Which is okay, but at the same time, people don't need to slow down and gawk...move along people...there's nothing to see here. 

The people who bring the treats will not get the customary greeting from Lenny since he won't see them until they arrive at the hen pen. I'm sure that the neighbors won't miss hearing him squawking so stinkin' loud!

Get to work little ladies! One month will go fast!

Never, Have I Ever...

Gotten a catalog for living creatures - poultry to be more specific.

A couple of weeks ago I was pokin' around on the Meyer Hatchery website and decided to have a catalog sent. Sure I can look at the catalog online, but this way I can add this to my sad farm library. Also, it's fun to thumb through a catalog...or magazine as I like to call it. 

If I were to do a mail order I might consider Meyer Hatchery as they have a large variety of poultry to choose from. From the various brown egg layers to white and "olive eggers" and "easter eggers." There are some even mor exotic birds available as well like Egyptian Fayoumi and White Sultan

Turkey for the holidays - Yep! Ducks & Geese - Yep & Yep! Game birds, hatching eggs and all sorts of accessories and supplies to get your chicken operation set up.

A couple of my favorite listings:

Leann's "Adopt Me" Bargain - 

These are basically the runts that were "hiding" in the incubators after a hatch. The catch with this collection - they could be anything including bantams or turkeys. Could you imagine? The chick that keeps growing turning into your holiday dinner centerpiece?

Personally, if I were to order a special collection/pack it would be the Production Pack. This option is all female and all excellent layers. The breeds that might be in this one would be: Golden Buff, Barred Plymouth Rock, Rhode Island Red, New Hampshire Red, Buff Orpington, Black Australorp or White Leghorn. An order of 15 will set you back $50.42 which really isn't that bad of a deal actually. 

Here's a bonus:

The Fry Pan Bargain (meat bird section). This is a ALL-ROOSTER assortment. According to the catalog:

"This all-rooster assortment may include one or more of any large rooster in our catalog."

If you were inclined to go this route it is VERY affordable! 

• 1-5 $1.10
• 6-15 $0.99
• 16-25 $0.83
• 26-49 $0.66
• 50-99 $0.50
• 100+ $0.34

As much as I would like to order this pack...I think I will stick with a different broiler breed for my first batch of meat chickens.

Order yourself some chicks! Well, maybe get a place for them to live first...then place an order!

The Weekend Agenda

Saturday

1.  Move the Chickens - we do this once a month to keep things fresh for the girls and dudes. I try to keep the set up mostly the same so their isn't too much interruption with the egg layers, but sometimes they just get excited about a new space. Also, since I don't really get to hang out with Lenny & Shelly during the week I'll get to take care of them during the day and let them out to forage and get into their pool now and then throughout the weekend. Yay!!

Their current location

2.  Replenish the layer feed. There is a great warehouse that is around 4 miles from our house and they have reasonable prices and almost everything that we need to grow healthy chickens and other feathered creatures. Once we get the meat chickens and the guinea hogs we'll be stocking up feed from their warehouse. 

3.  Bake Bread. I have finally found a easy bread recipe that I have made a couple of times. It is Easy Egg Bread from the Red Star Yeast website. It's a reason to get my Kitchenaid out and make a little bit of a mess in the kitchen! I think this time I'll make regular loave instead of braiding the dough. I would like bread that is more sandwich bread shaped. This is seriously good...if you ever wanted to make bread try it! We haven't tried french toast yet, but I think it would be fantastic! 

 

4.  Game night at our friend's house. A little fellowship with our core group and hoping for a win...

Sunday

Worship in the morning and then lounging around in the afternoon and then small group in the evening. I love our church family...and I really appreciate our small group people. I couldn't do life with any other people. We are Blessed.

Monday - It's Martin Luther King Jr. day!! Woo hoo!!!

It's Cascade Meadows Farm visit day!! It looks like it will be a wet day, but maybe we'll get lucky and we'll get to tour their farm without getting too wet. We will be ready with a list of questions about American Guinea Hogs! 

I. Cannot. Wait.

Aaannnd...

Just like that the year is almost over! I'm not sure where the past couple of months went! As I look back on the year I am amazed at all that we accomplished and the things that didn't seem to work out at all.

Adding poultry went very well!  We didn't lose any as chicks from the original 10 chicks to illness. One cockerel was cannibalized later after they were relocated to the great outdoors. We added six more pullets since our original 10 ended up being half pullets and half cockerels. Early last month one of them decided to run away from home. Not  long after getting the first chickies we we brought home the duck and the goose. They are quite the characters and we love that we decided to add them to the flock!

They didn't seem to mind the snow. Although before I took this photo they were
huddled in their little shelter next to the coop.

We successfully processed three cockerels on Labor Day. They were about 19 weeks old and about 10 weeks past their prime as far as being considered broilers. They were excellent stewing chickens though. Labor Day morning was interesting go HERE to read that experience.

So we know that we can raise chickens and waterfowl!

What didn't go as well would be the garden. Hardly anything worked. I decided to try growing the tomatoes in the big garden this year and they did okay, but not great. We hardly had anything to harvest that wasn't affected by the blossom end rot which. We did have a few that we brought in ate with a few meals which were good, but not enough to actually make sauces to save for later. The two hoodlums (duck & goose) enjoyed most of the tomatoes since I pretty much gave up on them.

The tomatoes will go back into the hoop house in 2018.

I did get greens, carrots, peas and loads of potatoes. However, no beans - thanks to hungry bunnies - one of the easiest things to grow and we didn't get enough to make a meal. I had direct sowed over my seeds and had over 20 little seedlings pop up only to have almost each one nipped off a few weeks later. I'm blaming the deer for that. And the bunnies for keeping the plants trimmed to almost nothing. No flowers except for some really late germinating Cosmos and even later blooming. Tom's pumpkins worked out pretty well, but with them being planted in the front yard - they were shaded by the tree that is smack-dab in the middle. There were a few decent pie pumpkins and a few carving pumpkins. They more than likely cross pollinated so they turned out slightly off from what they should have been. To say the least the garden was very disappointing.

The plan for 2018:

1. Add a few more pullets - at the neighborhood holiday party we connected with several people who are interested in buying eggs.
2. Add a half dozen or so of little girl ducks for Mr. Shelly. It would be nice for Sheldon to have some of his own kind to boss around and not the chickens. Plus, duck eggs are fantastic!
3. Meat Chickens - processing our extra cockerels was not a terrible experience. It was nice to have a little extra food that we grew in the freezer! 
4.  Pigs - Maybe a breeding pair...maybe a couple of piglets for meat. We could raise the offspring for meat or sell the piglets...this will be a totally new learning experience!

A little ambitious? Maybe, but we know that we can raise poultry from chicks so that won't be too much of an issue. We got our feet wet by processing three of our own chickens already and I know where we can rent the equipment - so I'm not freaked out about that. The other thing that we'll need to do is build that Chicken Tractor for the broilers. Also, I have the idea to modify a small room on one end of the parking shed that would be perfect for the little chickies. They will be spending a few weeks in the brooder in the garden garage. They will grow out of that box fast though, so we gotta start  thinking about what needs to be done to make the modification. More on that later...

The one thing that I am concerned about is the pigs. The only other mammals I have been responsible for keeping alive have been cats and dogs. So, this will be quite the learning experience. After some research (not much, but enough to make a decision) we have decided that the American Guinea Hog would be ideal for our mini-farm. The basics of these little guys is that they top out at around 200 lbs for males and 150 for females. Other breeds would be slaughtered AT 250 - 300 pounds...that's a lot of pig!! So, in my quick research I have figured out that these guys would be a great addition to our mini-farm. They don't root around, but are more of a forager. They are pretty friendly and on the smaller side. Also, there is a YouTube channel we have been following, Art & Bri, they recently added pigs to their homestead and they are American Guinea Hogs. Coincidence? Perhaps...but it will be another place to observe the habits of these swine. Another help will be the farm that specializes in these guinea hogs and they are located not terribly far from us. I hope to schedule a time to visit and take a look at their operation and get more information on raising these pigs.

So as this year quickly comes to an end I look back and see more success than failure. We have to fail in order to learn...so really, this year has been one learning experience after another.

Here's looking forward to 2018!!

Day Before Thanksgiving

I've been away from this space for a little while and bam! It's the day before Thanksgiving! I'm tired, but thankful for a variety of things. So here we go...

Let's start with having Tom home from the hospital! Way back on October 25 he was feeling not so great and visited Urgent Care who in turn said - You've got appedicitis, you need to go the hospital. Oh okay - simple appendectomy. Not so much. After two and half weeks and a second surgery he was discharged and came home on the 12th. Yay!

Having Tom was in the hospital meant it was up to me to keep the outdoor feathered creatures and the indoor furry creature alive...okay that worked out. Yay!

A week after Tom was admitted I came home from work to this sight:

The coop lost it's lid during a wind storm. 

After I took this photo I pretty much lost it. It felt overwhelmed and didn't need to see this upon my arrival at home. The good thing was that we didn't lose any chickens due to this minor catastrophe. My dinner plan for that evening was to spend it with friends at their house, but after seeing this - that wasn't going to happen. So I sent a short text and the photo to my friend Dani and said that I needed help getting this put back together. It wasn't that the top was heavy, it's just too big for me to handle. Good Friend Dani came right over and then her husband Dan shortly after and we were able to get the roof back on the coop and then I weighted it down (as it should have been) and called it good. Tom will need to do the repair - again.  Yay!

We had planned to get the chickens moved to a new spot the weekend after Tom happened to be admitted to the hospital. So I had to go to plan B which was to wait and see when he would be coming home. Once I realized that he would not be anytime soon, I then asked for our small group peeps to help with some chores that needed to get done and were put on hold. A couple of hours during the morning of November 10 and the chicken fence was relocated and the front yard garden was cleaned up. Yay!

This was taken after I rolled the coop to the new space.

Later the same day after visiting Tom and then running some errands I arrived home to find that the chickens were not in their temporary area. Dopey me didn't secure the fence before heading out for the afternoon. Perfect. Actually it WAS perfect - the coop is pretty heavy when all of the birds are in it! Jersey Giants are BIG and a little hefty! So wheeling around an empty coop is AMAZING! Yay!

Of course, now I have to get the girls and Thor into the new space. After trying to herd them in - which is like herding cats...I had to think about it for a minute. I then realized that if I wheeled out their food bin they would probably follow. So I did and they followed! Yay!

The new space where the chickies promptly started working on Mary's garden boxes.

The only other thing that REALLY needed to be done I need to transplant some plants into the Fall Garden space. I could have had someone stay and help with that task, but I felt that they did enough and I didn't want to ask for more. I suppose all is not lost...I'll have a chance to do that this coming weekend. It will be late, but it can't be  helped. It will be an experiment - like most things are in our gardens.

After all of the fun things that happened at our house, Tom finally got to come home!! Yeah, it was an appendectomy, but it wasn't so routine. I am thankful that it wasn't even MORE serious than it was, and as it turns out, it was pretty serious. In this I got a taste of what life would be like if he were not around. I'm not so sure that I could do this working full time and trying to maintain a mini-farm.

I'm incredibly thankful for our friends who said they would help and they did - providing meals for me, helping on our property and visiting Tom in the hospital as well as being awesome prayer warriors! Once again I am reminded that we are not meant to live life alone. We were created for relationships whether the times are good or otherwise, we need other people in our lives.

Here's to the 2017 Holiday season which seemed to come so fast this year!