Life and Death

The harsh reality of farm life.

Out of 25 Freedom Rangers we are now, nearly 6 weeks into this adventure, down to 17 eating machines.

Let's break this down. Of the 8 chicks that were "lost" one decided to fly the coop (for lack of a better explanation). That one was totally our bad.

To make going in and out of the chicken tractor easier on us during feeding time. I  suggested that a piece of fence be installed - kind of like when the Magpie Squad was living in the tractor.  Otherwise those tricksey little birds would get out and run around as they already had done on more than one occasion. Also, every now and then we let them get out and check out the courtyard - but only under our supervision.

Yeah, I'm a hardass.

Rightfully so, the Sunday before this last Sunday, when it was a bazillion degrees outside. We had gone out to check on the critters. I decided to open the tractor door to let them roam a little and then after a few minutes I decided I needed some AC time. Yep, the Rangers were still out.

When I remembered it must have been at least an hour later, maybe more...I immediately went out and shoo'd them back in and called it good.

Later on, while doing the evening chores, both of us at separate times tried to take a head count. Most of the time I landed on 24, but there were a couple of times that I came up with 25. When Tom gave them their food and their were somewhat stationary, he came up with 24.

DANG!

Oh well, I guess he/she wanted to live up to his/her name...Freedom Ranger.

We have been diligent since then with the time that they get to leave the safety of the tractor to the fenced courtyard right outside their door. They get to come out and forage a bit, but once the food goes in so do they.

On Thursday or Friday of last week Tom discovered that a couple of the Rangers had died.

Oh...hmmm...what happened?

Since then there were a couple more, but on Monday not only were there dead chicks there were a couple of sickly chicks. So we quickly took them away from the seemingly vibrant and healthy chicks and put them in the brooder overnight. They were no longer in the poo, but then they also were not doing well.

The next morning we were surprised to see that they made it through the night. That was short-lived as the more sickly one finally gave up in the morning and the not so sickly one late afternoon.

The remaining 17 are pretty lively though, so we have hope that they will make it to processing day let alone, 6 weeks. I knew that there would be loss, but 7 of them dying, that was surprising.

Oop...hold the press I just did a quick google search...

Evidently around the 5-6 week mark high protein feed diets start to catch up with the little stinkers. So in essence, we have overfed the birds and their little bodies couldn't keep up. I was kind of right then thinking that their little hearts could not keep up with the rate of their growth. Also, I had read in a couple of places where other folks had a problem and that they experienced loss at a time that didn't seem right.

So, I think what we'll need to do with the next round of chicks is start restricting feed around 4 weeks and only feeding during the day. With this batch we were allowing 24/7 feeding up until the deaths started happening. Now that it has been a few days of taking the feeder out, we have noticed that the stinkers are doing better.

This morning I was trying to decide if continuing to raise Freedom Rangers or even the Cornish Cross would still be the right thing to do. I even explored the heritage breeds, the slower growing chickens and decided on the Orpington. However, I think that we can still do the Freedom Rangers and still order from the hatchery that is not far from us. The Freedom Ranger has a grow out rate of 11-12 weeks, which is quite predictable. The Cornish Cross grow out in 8 weeks, but that's just too soon.

Yes, I am THAT confident that the next batch will be better.

Oh how I hate this type of learning experience. However, if we don't have a fail here and there, we'll never learn anything.

Despite the challenges that we have had the past week I am still convinced that this life is the best and I wouldn't want it any other way.

Love Connection?

Back in April we picked up our ducklings - and now they are pretty much all grown up. At what point do we stop calling them ducklings anyway?

A couple two three weeks ago we moved the girl Magpies closer to the chicken enclosure and the hooligans became aware that the 7 girls were here to stay - as if they didn't know it before. So once I figured out that they were kinda sorta interested in them I suggested that we let them co-exist in the same space. It was touch and go for the first week or so. Neither were in any great hurry to make friends.

Well, it has taken a couple of weeks, but I do believe that the girls and the hooligans are okay with being with each other and have figured out who is in charge - that would be Lenny, just by his size really, but we know that Shell-Bell is the one in charge.

THEN last week I was observing the ducks and Lenny together and was noticing that there was one duck hanging close to Shelly. Tom had already mentioned that Phylis (she has a crazy feather tuft) and Shell had been pal-ing around together. However this is the first time that I saw them together.

After a minute or two I watched as Shelly started to pick on Phyllis and kind of attack her. I wasn't really understanding what was happening until I saw him trying to mount her...

WHAAAAT?! She is only three months old!! I don't believe he was successful, but they do hang around each other. A LOT.

It must be her crazy feather tuft on her head.

Since then I have noticed that she will follow him around and not hang with the rest of the ducks. Not all the time, but more often than not. Even when it appears that he is ignoring her she'll stay near both him and Lenny. It's almost like Lenny is their chaperone.

Lenny, Shelly & Phyllis from L to R

This makes me happy, I'm glad that there has been a connection and that maybe in time there will be others being accepted by our little Romeo.

We have some time until the ducks start laying eggs. I think what I read was as early as 6 months, which would be October. If they don't lay at all, that would be fine with me. I'll have extra time to figure out a proper little area for them to lay eggs in. Maybe one day we'll have ducklings!

Farm Life is the BEST Life!

2018 Mother Earth News Fair - Oregon

Oh yeah...it was a good day in Albany!

There were three seminars we agreed would be good to sit in on and one extra just in case we wanted to stay a little longer.

Seminar #1 - Making Bacon at Home with Karen Solomon

We had a little bit of a theme this year...anything pig/pork. So when I saw this on the schedule and that it was early - at 10am...that was incentive to get to Albany as early as possible. Our chosen route these days to avoid going through Portland is to go via I-205 and not deal with any nonsense that might slow traffic down. It's a little longer, but at least traffic keeps rolling. Anyway, we arrived with about half an hour to spare.

Just like most fairs there were a variety of vendors, so I wasn't terribly interested in checking those out except for Bob's Red Mill. I love to stop by and just pick up the goodies that they are giving away.  We made our way to the Real Food Stage and selected our seats.

Once the presentation started I felt like maybe this presentation would be a little slow. The speaker was inexperienced at Mother Earth News Fair and there were a couple of technical issues - mainly with her mic. Her talk was fairly brief, but full of all sorts of information that will help us with making bacon once we  have pork with which to make bacon out of.

While the talk was interesting I was glad it was over and looking to move on to the next presentation...

Seminar #2 - Homegrown Pork and Getting Ready for Backyard Pigs with Jeannette Beranger, The Livestock Conservancy

Jeannette Beranger is an excellent speaker and we have sat in on her presentations the past two years which both were about chickens.

So this talk was mainly about how to set up for pigs and we did pretty good with setting up for them. Especially with the few items that we actually had.

• Shelter - check - The shelter can be elaborate or fairly simple. We went with simple. Free pallets from a neighbor down the street and a tarp. Tom slapped the pallets together and put up a piece of garden fabric to use as a curtain of sorts. They basically need to be sheltered from rain and wind. During the few days we have had that were rainy, the did spend a good amount of time in their shelter. I'm guessing that they were sleeping and only emerging when it was time to eat or to relieve themselves.
• Water - check - Since we only have the two pigs right now we are able to get away with using a Rubber Feed pan that we picked up at Pioneer. Once there are more (babies) we'll have to revisit the waterer and explore our options.
• Protection - check - We are currently using the Pig QuikFence. It's a nice set up, not terribly different than the poultry netting. This netting is 30" high and should work until Fiona has piglets. At that time we'll have to figure out how to modify what we have or get the Hog Net which is 24" tall and has strands of wire along the bottom which are spaced two inches apart and would be perfect to keep piglets in. We have some time to consider what to do once Fiona does have her first litter.

There were other tips and what not, but these were the most important. She also went over the different breeds of pigs that would work well for a backyard situation. 

I always enjoy The Livestock Conservancy presentations. I hope that there will be more talks in the years to come.

Seminar #3 - Whole Animal Butchery with Meredith Leigh

We both were looking forward to this presentation! For this demo she was using a half a hog! What the What?! When I saw the carcass being prepared, I started to get excited and couldn't way for things to get started. 

Not only did we learn a lot of the lingo - Primal, Sub-Primals and Retail cuts we learned a lot about how home butchery is the best way to go as far as the animal goes. Every part of the animal will be used in one way or another weather it is for human consumption or for amending the gardens or feeding to the animals - mainly chickens. Even the feathers can be composted which goes right back to the earth.  Every part of the animal has a use and those parts need to be used!

The thing that really struck me is how as a consumer we look for a specific cut (steak, roast, etc) whether it is considered the "best" cut or a lesser cut. What is thought to be a great cut - tenderloin - is actually not that great. While the cooking of the tenderloin is easy, it actually does not have that great of flavor. So to just take something like the tenderloin out would be to take away from another cut of meat that is considered a better cut. So to butcher for a specific cut can be wasteful and some of the parts are useful for better cuts of meat are used for things like All Meat hotdogs. Anything to make a buck right?

What?! 

Oh man! If this isn't compelling enough I don't know what would be. 

I know, most people do what is natural...go to the store and peruse the meat cases that are filled with all those supposedly tasty cuts of meat and make a selection of those steaks, roasts etc and plop into your shopping cart. 

What is happening is people are buying meat that has been factory farmed...and that's another issue altogether which I touched on a couple of posts ago. 

My solution for part of our meat purchases is using Butcher Box which has been great! They partner with farms that raise pastured animals - win! However, just as before we are still consuming specialty cuts of beef and pork. So, in a way it's also a non-win. Soon enough we'll be able to fill our freezer with our own pork and even sooner we'll be harvesting our chicken. 

This seminar was the best of the three and at some point I'll have to add Meredith Leigh's book to our library The Ethical Meat Handbook. 

Until then I'll be educating myself on factory farmed animals, the importance of whole animal consumption and learning how to butcher an animal myself.

After looking around at a couple of vendors and checking out the animals that were in one of the buildings we made our way out. Before heading home we visited the Historic Carousel and Museum that was featured on OPB a couple of months ago.

Each animal on this carousel is hand carved and painted by volunteers. People that had no experience or skill for carving were able to carve each of these with amazing skill. The story is pretty extensive, so it would be best to just go to the website HERE.

The next time we find ourselves in Albany we'll be going back to the carousel and taking a ride. At $2 per person that is cheap entertainment.

We have decided that attending both days of the fair would be the way to go. That way we could sit in on seminars that happen later in the day without feeling like we need to jet out of there at a certain time. 

For example, one of the last sessions at the 5 o'clock hour was Intro to Charcuterie with Meredith Leigh - now that would have been interesting to sit in on. Learning how to incorporate the parts of a pig that wouldn't normally be sold as a retail cut. Think Italian cold cuts aka Salumi.  The Sunday sessions included more Meredith Leigh presentations and another Karen Solomon session focusing on pickling. 

Next year we'll go both days...do AirBnB or the hotel next to the fairgrounds and do all things Mother Earth News "Bringing the magazine to life."

In other news: the swine have been with us for 3 months! The duo are doing well, growing a lot and getting older! Fiona is 5 months old and Mr. Rexy Pants is almost 5 months. They may reach breeding age in 3 more months at the earliest. If that is the case I'm not sure how we would know for sure that she is bred.

We still have some time so we'll just put those thoughts on hold for now.

It's has been a great day! We spent the day catching up on the things that we would normally do on Saturday and had a nice relaxing day at home. Next year I'll extend the weekend by a day maybe two to enjoy the weekend even more.

Farm Life is the Best Life!

Photo of the day:

I wanted a photo of the 4 girls...but Shell-Bell couldn't stand not being the center of attention.

Friday!

This week had to be the longest week ever! Maybe because I have been looking forward to this weekend! It's Mother Earth News Fair - Oregon this weekend :) YAY...

But first what happened this week?

Well, Miss Fiona is now 5 months old!

Fiona is still as sweet as ever and......hungry. I suppose that is never ending. This week we had a little bit  of  a situation. On Tuesday instead of having dinner and then going out to take care of the critters I had a Click List order ready at Freddy's. So I got home, Tom got into the car and we were off to pick up our groceries.

Well...for some reason ALL of the critters were extra hungry - don't know why. We got home, put the groceries away and ate some dinner. By the time we got out to feed everyone, it was much later than usual. I had already let the ducks and Lenny out...fortunately, they aren't a problem. They'll just forage until we feed them for real.

The problem was Missy pictured above...

I was in the garage getting food ready for them. They can totally see all of this going down, so they are squealing with hunger moreso than usual. I look out toward their enclosure and it's quiet and then I see Fiona and she is basically at the edge of the lawn and coming toward the garage. Guess who was a few steps behind...

Yep - Mr. Rexy decided that making a break for it was a good idea too. So he was trotting along behind Fiona.

It was a little shocking to see them NOT in their pen...but it was easy getting them back since they wanted FOOD!

At first Tom thought that they had broken part of the fence, but as it turns out they just popped the cap off the cornerpost and it was easy to put back together.

Lesson of the day....always, Always, ALWAYS turn the fence back ON.

AAAANNNNDD...

The Freedom Rangers are now FOUR weeks old!!

These littles are nearly feathered out now. They still are sporting a little bit of fuzz on their heads though. They were moved to a new spot in the yard and also have a "courtyard" area like the Magpies had. I had suggested that as a way to not have to chase them around after they escaped their house. Earlier this week Tom had to chase a couple of the chicks down - so the solution is a win. They are happy to pick at the fresh grass right outside of their door. Next time I think maybe a fence around the chicken tractor would give them the option to "play" on grass and scratch for bugs and other tasty items.

The mystery of Cleo - after more observation last night I still was not convinced of her supposed Rangerness. So I sent one of the photos to Jenks to get a final answer...

This morning I saw that there was a response and it said:

"I see your picture as attached, but I do not see which bird you are referring to. Could you please send me a         different photo?"

Ummmm...what? It's kinda obvious to me. Okay - so I sent this one:

REALLY? This isn't different enough?

After a couple of additional emails, I learned that there Cleo definitely is a Freedom Ranger. She just happened to develop some of the characteristics of the other breeds that were crossed to come up with the Freedom Ranger. Very interesting. He was appreciative of the photos and I am now a little smarter than before.

Lucky us huh...we are definitely going to keep Cleo. She doesn't necessarily like us coming after her, but once she is caught she settles down.

Our big thing this weekend is the MOTHER EARTH NEWS FAIR in Albany!!

This will be our third year going to this fair. A few weeks ago, I wasn't sure that I really wanted to go. I had looked at the different speakers and thought that maybe there wasn't anything that would be that interesting.

However, once I looked at a grid of the schedule when I could see ALL of the seminars I was able to see how we would be able to check out three different presentations starting at 10 AM and ending around 3 PM. Actually there would be time for another, we'll see how things shake out.

So much going well at home with the birds and pigs! The garden is doing well...flowers and veggies! I'll post photos soon.

But first...Mother Earth News fair!