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!!

March!

Let's see...what is happening this month?

Well, so far, I have researched and figured out where I'm going to get my little magpie girls. Went and prepaid for them yesterday and the wait is on. They are due to arrive the middle of April. Perfect! Orchards Feed Store...they're alright.

The littlest pullets are just over two weeks old and are doing quite well. It's kind of weird to think that they are just over two weeks old, they are growing so fast! Maybe the Jersey's grew fast too, I don't remember.

Don't grow so fast!

We don't have a suitable little outside pen for them to hang out in, so I had to plop them into a big ol' tub and set them right outside the garage so they could at least feel the fresh air and see the sky. These littles are quite fast! While trying to catch them, they were jumping just about as high as the brooder wall which is oh I don't know 2' tall? Those little wings are now helping them jump higher now that they have some feathers! They are thriving though and that makes me happy. We'll have 6 more egg layers by mid-summer!

This month I'll be taking a week off of work to do some projects around the house and prep for meat chickens later this season.  That means we'll be building this chicken tractor:

This will be so much easier to build than the Justin Rhodes chick shaw that was last year's project. It works great and we love that it is mobile. This design appears to be less involved - we'll see. Check out the video - John Suscovich was featured on the Great American Farm Tour:

We have yet to figure out when our chicken processing will happen this year...more on that later. This will be a good transition for the littles when it comes to that. We won't be able to put them with the big girls until they are much bigger so this will be the perfect solution! By the time June rolls around they might be big enough to hang with the main flock. We'll see though, we might have to keep them separate for a little while. Either way, they will have a home for a little while - then we can get the meat chickens in there for a late summer harvest.  

John Suscovich is a big reason why I'm wanting to raise meat chickens. I had the thought to do it last year, but it wasn't meant to be. So why not this year...we have a little bit of experience and as time goes on we are finding out that there are some people who are interested in helping on processing day...YAY! There are more people who are freaked out and don't want anything to do with processing. That's fine, just don't spread negativity. Especially if great tasting chicken is the end result! Keeping it short - I could go on and on. Check out Farm Marketing Solutions HERE. If you do, you can get all sorts of cool stuff...

It's a terrible photo, but it shows all the stuff that we got from FMS.
I have the hoodie in red!

If you want to see the evolution of the meat chicken go HERE. We are going to be meat chicken farmers. #onemillionchickens

Other happenings this month: The girls and dudes will be moved again this coming Saturday - we have decided to get them back onto the garden one last time before the big planting in a couple of months.

We have noticed that in the last month that the boys across the street didn't come over as often to give our feathered creatures treats. Maybe the move to the garden will make them more comfortable with coming over again. We'll have to use both fences to get the entire area fenced in as well giving them grassy area to poop and scratch up too.

As time allows during this week, I'll be hanging out in my hoop house in the evenings getting my seed trays ready. We went to Freddy's earlier today and bought a couple of bags of potting soil and two bags of mushroom compost. It's time to get my soil blocker out and pick out the seeds I want to get started. Seriously - it's March...planting season will be here in no time flat!

It's time to stop goofing off and get down to business!!

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!