Magpie Ducklings!

Several weeks ago in my quest to find Magpie ducklings I was able to place an order for just six little ducklings. Most online hatcheries require a minimum order - something like 25 I think. Yeah, I don't want 25 ducklings! THAT would be crazy! It was a blessing to find out that the feed store in Orchards would add my order to their regular chick order. All I had to do was prepay and then wait. The original  date of arrival was April 20 - but that didn't work out...so more waiting.

As it turns out the wait wasn't as long as I thought it would be and I got the call last Friday...we are so happy with these little girl Magpies! We got a bonus too! The hatchery added an extra duckling and the feed store asked if we wanted to take her home as well. What kind of question is that?!

YES, PLEASE!

They settled in right away after a car ride home complete with a stop at Starbucks

They are all pretty lively and so much fun and so CUTE...I can't even...seriously!!

We let them settle in on Saturday, but on Sunday since there was a period of time that was sunny, I decided it would be good for them to experience some fresh air and the sunshine. So into a big bin and out to the yard they went. After a couple of hours it started to rain so instead of putting them back into their brooder in the garage, I relocated them to the hoop house where they continued to do cute duckling things while still staying warm. At one point I was out in the hoop house working on some seedlings - transplanting and stuff. They must have run around and ate and drank water for about 45 minutes if not longer. One minute they were running around - then in about a second they were all piled up and napping.

Just. Like. That.

After awhile I looked down just to see this sight...

Could there BE more cuteness here?!

While Tom and I both are smitten by these little girls the two hooligans might have different feelings (maybe).

Shelly was barely able to peek into the tub

Making sure they are still there 

As usual Lenny is cautious and aware that things are different

On Saturday while I was sitting with the ducklings - just watching them...Lenny came in and wanted to see what was taking attention away from him. When he looked into the brooder and saw the little creatures it was almost like he was shocked at what he was looking at. Who knows, all I know is that his world will change forever and for Sheldon too. Maybe for the better for everyone.

Sheldon will finally have some girls to bond with instead of trying to mate with Lenny. Which I'm sure that Lenny will be happy about as pool time isn't as carefree as it once was. Not with the duck trying to attack him. 

Hopefully Sheldon will also let Tom just walk around the property without getting under foot. In fact...yesterday he was running around in the yard with the Shelly and let's just Shel was a little overly excited.

Enough said. 

It will be a couple of months before they will be able to co-exist...maybe...

This should be interesting. 

Until then we will just watch the little girl ducklings play and eat and drink and sleep. 

She's fancy - wearing a beret and black leggings!

Farm Life is the BEST Life!

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!!

Not Again... a frustrating TBT

Wow! This flip your Chicken RV lid got serious this time. Last weekend the Pacific NW experienced a lot of wind along with the standard rain that we are used to. Of all of the things that I was concerned about (the new chicken tractor, the panels on the shed...my hoop house, etc) I wasn't really focused on the Chicken RV. In fact, neither of us noticed it. As I was heading out to run an errand and drove past...there it was. No pic this time.

Check out what happend...

What made this particular flip more impressive is the fact that the original piece of the frame that was replaced with a 2 x 6 was torn apart with all the strength wind could muster up. Not only that, the ONE sand bag that was supposedly keeping the roof weighted down was flung a distance away from the chicken mobile.  

WHAAAAT?!

The last time this happened was during the time that Tom was in the hospital - recap that HERE. When it first happened it seemed worse than it really was - well compared to this time. That time was totally my fault - I didn't replace the sandbag to weight the roof down. 

My suggestion for a temporary roof - using some of the metal roof panels from the big shed and the shed we used to park under. They are perfect, but a little long, but they work. There were three straight pieces and we dragged them over. Perfect! They work so well that Tom has decided to use them for the permanent roof. The chick mobile requires three panels, which will make it much more hefty and would take a tornado to make the whole thing break apart. 

Not bad huh...

It ironic that we would use the metal panels from the big shed. Many of the panels have been warped, bent and ripped off of the big shed...

Because of the wind!