Freeze Tag

Fall with all of its beauty and activities also hits you with the urgency brought by the change in seasons that every living thing seems to feel.  Wild animals have an urgent need to put up their winter stores whether it be the squirrels going like crazy collecting and burying nuts or mammals like raccoons, foxes and coyotes trying to pack on a little extra insulation.   If we are going to have a predator problem it will be in the fall.   We have been fortunate in the last several years, but this fall we have had a pesky raccoon (we think) that has culled our egg laying flock by four in the last month.  The most recent a straggler who didn't head for the coop to roost last night and was inadvertently locked out.  Fall is the time of year when extra little tasks, like re-fortifying small flaws in the chickens' fenced in yard, get piled on the list of busy harvest and closing down related chores.

Today, we have the added frenzy of freeze tag.  Our first and season ending freeze will happen this evening.  I do not remember having a freeze warning this early before.  We have certainly had frost advisories this early in the past, but the term freeze warning makes gardeners do double time.  We have been pretty close to done with the garden for a little while now, grabbing a straggling tomato for a sandwich from time to time.  But today, TAG, we are it!  So off we went to harvest the remaining green tomatoes, those peppers that we let continue on for fresh, and though perennial, our abundance of delicate sage.

So, mowing or weeding be damned!  In today's little game of tag, plans are changed up a bit because once you harvest certain things, they just cannot be left to sit.  So I spend time bundling sage to hang and dry in the basement, and also put together a few smudges.  As with any game of tag, freeze tag does leave you invigorated and perhaps a little more motivated to push on.  Oh!!  And Mabel went in to heat yesterday for the first time.  So perhaps in about 18 days or so, we will see if we can't inseminate her and have our first farrowing experience this winter!

Fowl Lessons

Our first year of raising chickens and ducks for protein was a learning experience, and we did not realize just how much until we began to raise this years batch.  We kept last year's fowl well into early fall because they just did not seem be growing as expected.  When they did go for processing and we got them back they were very thin and tough.  With the exception of I'd say two, they have spent the rest of the time in our freezer, with us not quite knowing what to do with them.

That is where this year comes in.  All of our birds are huge and growing very fast.  In fact we will call for a processing appointment on our ducks in about two weeks!  I would say it was a problem with the breed, we changed hatcheries and went a different route on the chickens this year getting Red Rangers, but we kept with Pekin ducks so now I believe it was just the quality of stock coming from the hatchery.  From day one the chicks were aggressive eaters and foragers.

With a very wet start to summer, and rain in the forecast for most of this weekend, we got some tasks done when we could outside, but mostly focused inside and clearing out the freezer.  B had the great idea to try pressure cooking the chickens to see if that made them more tender, and then pressure canning the meat for future.  That, did the trick!  We ended up with 6 1/2 quarts of beautiful shredded chicken, and 7 quarts of a rich stock, all canned and ready to make easy meals on busy nights.

Signs of Early Fall

With the equinox in just a few days, the feeling of Fall is palpable.  Though today promises to be a warm one, the early morning crispness and rustling wind are beginning to dislodge the first early leaves from their branches.

As we clear and re-work the garden methodically bed by bed, B harvested over 100 lbs of potatoes yesterday.  The beans are drying and we have already harvested our first batch for shelling.

The squash are hardening off and turning the beautiful deep colors that butternut and spaghetti squash do.

Little fall rituals commence; the house is clean, smudged, and windows flung open.  Yet most endearing, two of our six young 23 week old hens have begun to lay their first eggs, and we have one who is laying green ones!  This is especially exciting because our only other green layer is getting up there in years and only laying periodically.  I am so looking forward to this, my favorite season as it continues to transform the world around us.  What early signs of Fall are you seeing?

Foul Wrangling

Never a dull moment here on the farm.  In the last week we have lost two of our meat chickens to a predator.  We figured that it had to be coming in from the air, because our electric perimeter did not appear to have been broken.  Then the other night B found some very vocal blue-jays haranguing a very large owl.  Predator found.

It has been a number of years since we have had a predator problem with our chickens, and it seems that late summer and very early fall is the season for it.  When we allow birds to completely free range, they tend to roost high up in our pine trees.  When this witching time of year comes, they are used to getting up about 4:30 am or so when it is light and continue to do so, even if it does not really get light now until closer to 5:30 now.  This is the ideal time for Mr. or Mrs. Owl to swoop in.  Well this morning we went out and found that he had upped his game and taken one of our runner ducks, one of the few we were planning to keep for eggs.  Ugh!

We decided to re-locate them into an area where there were no trees within their perimeter that they could roost in, hopefully forcing them to go back into their very nice chicken tractor at night.  It was a bit of an ordeal to capture 24 chickens and 11 ducks, move the tractor, and then move the fencing, but we did it this afternoon and are quite happy with the new placement.  We can see them from our front porch now and it is fun to watch there antics.

Good thing we could see them because guess what happened last evening?  They jumped  up on the roof of the chicken tractor, then haphazardly flew to an adjacent pine branch and began their ascent into the tree!  We managed to capture all but three, who were far too high, and wouldn't budge even when shaking the branch.  Crafty little beasts.  It looks like round two today will involve clipping all of their wings...that ought to be fun!  Score one for the ducks!  They wrangle much better, herding right into the enclosure.

Stretching Wings

This springs fowl on the property are growing quickly and are forever entertaining.  One duck in particular quacks like Donald Duck and when he gets mad, it almost sounds like he is scolding us.  I am trying to catch it on video, it is quite comical!  As we are in the middle of a sudden downpour, I am reminded of the fact that ducks love the rain and run out of their shaded areas to raise their bills to the water that falls.

The chickens and ducks have all been housed together since they were babies a mere eight short weeks ago. They live harmoniously together and have all decided to refuse our best efforts to lock them in at night.  As you can see they are finding places to roost wherever they want.

We chose all of our meat birds in particular because they were aggressive foragers.   The barred rock especially embrace this quality and have taken it to the next level, roosting together in an apple tree.   It makes us a little nervous, this choice of theirs to stay out at nights, perching where they like.  Thankfully we invested in the electric poultry fence to keep the predators out, with any luck it will continue to be an effective deterrent.  At some point you just have to let them stretch their wings.

Fowl Everywhere

There is never a dull moment when it comes to raising fowl.  Right now we have them everywhere in various stages of development.  The one above looks a little bit like he is giving me what for, but I think it is just a little quack of thanks to have their new large fenced in meadow to play in.  As this is our first experience with ducks, it is a lot of fun to see how they differ from chickens.  I do not think that our new herding baby boy (who we pick up later this week), will have any problem learning.  These ducks are inseparable and always travel as a tight group.

Our adult girls are enjoying the moderate weather.  It is forever fascinating to see them interact with one another and with us.  They have such personalities and are wonderful egg producers for us.  We are adding five more Araucanas to the mix this season, they are in that awkward teenage faze right now and will join the rest of the ladies later this summer.

Speaking of the teenagers, they look terrible right now.  They are growing, but losing their down as their real feathers come in so look rather homely.  They were moved out into the upper level of the chicken tractor yesterday, the ducks are below.  They will remain inside for several days to adjust, then be introduced to their forage and play area.  We fenced off about a third of the orchard with special electric chicken fencing, which won't effect the chickens but should keep any predators out.  The ones that have colorful feathers developing are the Araucanas and will be our egg layers.  The black ones are Jersey Giants and are our first go at meat chickens.  These "teenagers" are a month old.

In the basement are our 27 chicks that are two weeks old.   See how fast they grow!?  They are in what we call their brood boxes and they have grown enough that I have just removed the heating lamp. They love to cheep and sleep.  They will begin playing with each other soon.  These will also be meat birds for us and we will move them out to the chicken tractor and forage yard in another 2-3 weeks.  These are also Jersey Giants with an equal number of Plymouth Barred Rock's.

We end where we began with the ducks.  As you can see they are in the bottom half of the chicken tractor and love their new swimming pool.  They are the same age as the chickens that we just moved outside.  As you can see they grow tremendously fast.  They are three times the size of the chickens and moved outside almost 2 weeks ago!  Ducks come in what is called a straight run, they are more difficult to sex as babies, so they may be a mix of boys and girls.  We got three varieties of ducks and we are hoping the the runner ducks, which we plan to keep, will be egg layers... well and maybe one Drake for breeding purposes.  An interesting fact we learned with the ducks...they cheep like the chicks, but higher pitched.  I never expected that...however their voices are just beginning to change and when they get really excited I can hear an occasional and true quack slip out.

Random 5 Friday

1.  When I went out to take pictures of the ice on Lake Michigan earlier this week, I captured this little guy dancing.  It is amazing how calm and smooth the lake was that day!

2.  28 degrees has never felt so good.  Nuff said.

3.  We managed to get a big chunk of the basement cleaned out last weekend, it is amazing how much accumulates over time.  It was like a walk down a memory lane of old kids crafts and garden start remnants.

4. Our chickens are really troopers, perfectly content with their heat lamps in this weeks cold.  Interesting fact...when eggs freeze in record overnight lows, they crack and split.

5.  Speaking of eggshells, we have been saving all of our egg shells to crush and use in next years garden.  This morning I came across an interesting article on re-purposing dried crushed egg shells and using them instead of oyster shell. It is supposed to be just as good and also act as a deterrent for any egg eaters.  Have you tried this??

Happy  Weekend!

Participating in:
 

Evening Chores

Evening chores are much like morning chores, but without the urgency.  The day is winding down versus gearing up.  As I walk a more leisurely pace to let out the chickens and collect eggs, I take deep breaths and take in the late afternoon sun.  Once the eggs are collected I relish in harvesting berries which despite the extreme weather are turning out to be a bumper crop.  As I pick them I can feel the warmth of the sun in the berry.  There are few things as heavenly as warm berries right off of the vine.  In the last two days we have picked about 7 pounds of Blackberries and Boysenberries.  I have made a berry pie and I suspect a very large pot of jelly is in my near future. 

During the evening chores I allow myself to be distracted by the light.  I  jump up, grab my camera and snap photos, leaving B alone for a few minutes during our latest succession planting to rows in the garden.  I hear the kids wide awake voices squealing in delight as they play with the new Mini Rex bunnies that came last night.  They are such sweeties.  They are litter mates, a blue buck and a broken doe (the adjectives referring to their color :)  The names settled upon are Polka (the buck) and Dot (the doe). 

 see how her markings are smiling at you?  I was the first to spot this pattern, the second auspicious thing I've come across this week! :)

Then as a cooler wind kicks up and we hear the distant sound of thunder we eagerly decide dinner based on what young fruits are just ready to pick.  We do a lot of stir fry this time of year and tonight's installment will have a small eggplant, a couple green peppers, handful of green beans, kohlrabi, swiss chard and chicken.  Yes, evening chores are good for the soul. 

Mother Rooster

One of the interesting things that we learned about Silkies when Sidney was choosing her show breed last year, was that the roosters are broody, and may very well assist hens by sitting on a clutch of eggs.  Since until just recently we haven't had any compatible (size wise) birds to house with Topaz, we did not know if this would be the case.  When we moved the D'uccles and Topaz outside from the barn last week, we also added to two baby (now 4 month's old) D'uccles to the mix.  It has been a happy introduction and Topaz is very protective of them.  The last couple of mornings our temperatures have been cooler, more seasonal.  I tried to capture a shot, the second day when I let them out, and the above was as close as I could get.  What is so sweet about the proximity of the birds is that when I opened the house to peek in, topaz had one of the young girls tucked under each wing and was keeping them warm.  You have heard the phrase mother hen, right?  Well I must say it is so cool to have a mother rooster!

Springing The Chickens

Nothing does my heart better than to give the little specialty chickens their access back to the outdoor tractor again.  This morning was Spring moving day for Topaz, Chanticleer, and our little D'uccle hen whose name escapes me at the moment (I will have to wait till Sid gets home from school for that one :) 

We are in the process of scoping out which beds to set our first salad greens, leeks, and radishes to seed in.  No worries about spinach, it over-wintered and is thriving!  Since we can't rely on this amazing weather not being interrupted by a little jack frost, we are going to order two high tunnels for beds that we will attempt all season gardening in. 

The garlic is managing to push it's way through all of the heavy straw that we had piled on it's winter resting place and it looks to be strong and healthy.  

I find the sun's higher location in the sky and the music of frogs, yes they're out already, songbirds, and roosters all around to be amazingly energizing and relaxing at the same time.  I'm looking forward to a weekend of 4-h, sunshine, soccer, and gardening! Happy Friday!

Wordless Wednesday~Perfect Yolks

There's a Chicken In My Kitchen...

 And it's not for dinner!  We have spent quite a bit of time the last couple of days troubleshooting with "little squirt".  You may recall that she was born with a bum leg and fostered by some friends of ours.  When we got her back at a month of age and the others picked on her horribly, so we had to separate her in her own space.  As she has grown, her leg has been much more a hindrance than we had hoped and we fear that some tough decisions may lay ahead. 

Yesterday, B used some vet-wrap and tied the splayed leg to the other so that she could pull it under herself and attempt to walk.  Sidney introduced her to the outside which little squirt was quite skeptical about, so she came inside and hung out in the kitchen.  With her new "crutched" legs, she began to get around better than she ever had.  This morning when I went downstairs to feed and water everyone....she was gone!!  Not in her cage, door pushed open, gone!  We found her several minutes later as she had been exploring the basement.  Please note, that getting around in a 36" square space had been difficult up until this point. 

We still do not know what her future holds, but I am willing to bet that we are the only family North of Yancy's place on Walton's Mountain that has a Chicken roaming around the kitchen!

A Difficult Decision

Our farming adventure dabbling in livestock with chickens has been rewarding and a huge learning experience for us and our daughter Sidney.  When we had our first predator problem, she was devastated. After time faded the wounds of losing something that she had raised, she began a quest that we never harm or eat any animal from our property. 

When one of our hens grew up to be a rooster last season, we warned her that if he turned out mean, he would have to go.  He developed a fair amount of sass, yet nothing compared to our first rooster (subject of above referenced predator problem), he was plain mean. "Feathertail" didn't bother us adults much, but challenged and went after the kids. We allowed him to continue on on a trial basis, for Sidney's sake.  Yesterday, when I went to collect eggs, he had gravely injured one of our hens.  We did all that we could for her, but it was too late.  Sidney referred to him as a "murderer" to one of her friends.  She knew he had to go, but we had to find a place for him. 

Today I checked around, but no one wants a rooster who is both aggressive to kids and hens, and I couldn't pass him off as some docile avian.  After much heartfelt discussion B and I made the decision to take him into work and euthanize him.  Then we had to decide whether to tell Sidney what we had done or to lie about it.  We feel strongly, especially with what we do for a living, not to pass it off to her as we 'sent him to the farm.'

Of course, the first words out of her mouth when I picked her up after school were, "did you find a farmer to take him?"  Once we had settled in the car, I explained to her that no one wanted an aggressive rooster, and I couldn't lie to someone and tell them he wasn't. She asked what we were going to do. I let her know that we had already made the decision.  That daddy had put him to sleep...not the 'farm way', but the way we put down dogs and cats, and he never knew. 

This was the moment that I was dreading.  She understands philosophically the circle of life and knew what needed to happen for every one's (especially her remaining hens) safety, but emotionally I was not sure how she would take it.  Her first spoken response, after an extended silence, was that we were selfish to put him down, and we should have called the school to tell her so she could talk us out of it.  I explained to her that we had few choices, it was a horrible decision, but we couldn't put anyone elses kids or her other hens in danger.  I also explained that we thought about talking to her first, but didn't want her to feel solely responsible for what the decision was ultimately going to have to be.  She thought about this, and to my surprise , accepted it. 

She spent some time in the barn with her hens this evening, the first time she has been able to go in by herself in a long time.  Now the fear of being attacked is gone.  The setting feels much more relaxed, and she has learned from, and I think found peace with, a very difficult decision.

Egg-cellent!

With the exception of a fall crop of lettuces our farm baskets have wound down.  It was a great first season trial and I thank my guinea pig families!  We have entered phase two of production with all of our ladies now laying eggs!  We've had close to a dozen a day since last Wednesday, so I sent out a post on facebook and what did I find??  Eleven families quickly jumped on board the organic egg bandwagon!  We have delivered the first four dozen and I'll have an other two by Wednesday, woohoo!  A friend emailed me this Craigslist sale last night, how cool, antique egg crates both reduce and reuse!  Let's see... I can purchase them with the proceeds of 15 dozen eggs!  Egg-cellent!

Ruffled Feathers

 What a wonderful and productive day!  We've been doing masses of farm chores and fall garden tasks.  We literally blew through, or should I say we were blown from project to project with the crazy gale force winds today.  It was an early release at school today and we had one of those wonderful family moments all sitting on the front porch with our hair blowing wild and shelling white beans.  Sigh... this is what it's all about!

We even did a little chicken chasing.  They decided the garden looked like the perfect place to hunt and peck.  Well, I must say we did irritate Bright-heart, the rooster, and he let us know it!  Sorry, the Swiss chard and cold weather produce is ours!  Happy Friday!