Pullet Surprise

The new hens, the five lovely barred rocks I have left after the "whatever" got so many of them, have started laying.  There is a marked difference in the size of pullet eggs compared to regular hen eggs.  The eggs will get bigger as the girls mature.  It seems a little early for them to start.  I wasn't expecting them to lay for another month at least, but every breed is different and I have not had barred rocks for years.  The eggs are coming in abundance from the older hens as well.  Sometimes when it is this hot they really slow down, but for some inscrutable chicken reason that has not happened this time.

Above: a cooperative rooster puts himself in the fire ring. BBQ chicken?















Of Stinger Goats, Chicken Thieves and Blacberry Winter

Poor Pico hasn't had a very good week.  I think I wrote last time that he has been hanging around the goats' stall, "guarding" them, touching noses with the kids through the stall door, and trying to go in to socialize every time the door is open. I finally felt like the goats were settled enough to be put out on pasture in their moveable electric fence which I set up near the barn for starters.  Pico was excited that the little goats were getting to come out to "play", but he stayed back nicely and let them go in their pen.  Once they were in the fence, he took up his post next to fence--but not too close because Pico does hate to get a shock from the fence.  All was well until one of the little goats came up to the fence trying to touch noses with him.  Pico moved forward.  I could see what happened next coming a mile off, but I was too far away to stop it. Simultaneously, as they reached out to touch noses they both touched the fence.  The goat went hopping and "maaing" back to it's mother. Pico went yelping all the way to his pen and went inside, looking back at me reproachfully like I was at fault.  Maybe I was, as I had brought those awful "stinger goats" to Pleasant Places to begin with.  Since then I have noticed that Pico is not so keen on being around the goats.  In fact, now that I think of it, he's been avoiding the barn completely.
And as if it wasn't enough to be "stung" by a goat kid, Pico has let something make off  with most of the young pullets that I just put down in the hen house a few days ago.  I don't know what it is, but it leaves almost no trace and it has quite the appetite for young chicken.  I am sure they are quite succulent.  Unlike last time we had the predator problem, this time it's not leaving any chicken bodies behind at all. Fortunately it has left the hens alone, but it has been disappointing to lose so many of the little ones I just got started.  I had a talk with Pico about the importance of staying near the hen house and guarding the chickens, but he much prefers to hang out with the horses, especially since the great goat fiasco.  He reminded me that he never said he was a working dog, and that I did, after all, get him from a subdivision.  Well, so be it.

Meanwhile, I hear there is a slight chance of frost tonight.  I doubt that it will, but I have covered the garden beds just to be safe.  It would be terrible to lose beans and potatoes at this stage.
The irises are in bloom and the clematis is just finishing up.  Both have been simply stunning this year.  I didn't realize I had so many colors of iris, but I find myself wishing I had even more.  They are quite possibly my favorite flower of all.

Spring Babies

We have this thrifty custom here in my neck of the woods.  If we have something that we want to get rid of but that might be useful to someone else, we take it and sit it beside the dumpsters. I don't know what the local sanitation department thinks of our redneck recycling, probably not much, but it's a system that works.

 Now, just to be clear, I am not really into dumpster diving per se, but on a couple of occasions, I have happened along at the right time and scored something I could put to good use.  Today was such a day. Someone had put a bassinet by the dumpster, and I happen to have some babies on the farm that could use it. 

It's getting a little crowded in there: 20 barred rock chicks and 4 khaki campbell ducks.  They will be moving out to brooder as soon as it warms up again a little.

And many thanks to the neighbor who left the bassinet.





Chicken Run
After attending a training session this morning, I came home to work on the chicken run some more.  My chicken population is still under attack by some "fowl"  serial killer.  We're thinking now it's probably a raccoon.  On Monday after school I spent some time tightening up the hen house and putting the electronet back up around it.  The net won't keep the chickens in because they can almost all fly over it, but I am hoping it will keep the killer out. Right now it isn't even electrified, but I do plan adding a charger as soon as I can.

Today I made the chickens a run so they don't have to be cooped up all the time. ( I had to drive six fence posts--pumpin' iron, farm-girl style!)  This is the first of probably three runs which I will attach around the coop.  That way I will be able to rotate them from run to run by opening and closing the pop doors.  It's a far cry from truly being free-range like they were, but on the other hand, they very possibly get to see more of the outdoors than those labeled "free range" in the grocery store.  (The label "free range" means only that the chickens have to have some access to an outside yard, not that they ever actually figure out how to get out there.  "Cage Free" just means that they are not kept in battery style cages, but they are still raised inside. Just FYI.)

I took pictures while I was out there:

"Whatcha Doin'?" 

Farm Girl Weight Machine

Checkin' Out the new Digs

A Good Afternoon's Work

Local Old Timers say that when a snow lies around like this one has, it's waiting on another one.

And Still It Snows...
Out of school again today due to weather...no surprise there.  The main roads are clear but every little hollow and hill in the mountains has its own private road and those are still, as I understand it, impassable.  I know ours is still snow-covered.
After a relatively warm (it got up to 34) day yesterday, temps dropped to the teens last night and today it hasn't been out of the twenties.  The result it that some places that had managed to melt yesterday are now frozen solid and everywhere the snow has  a layer of crunchy ice on top.  When I walked down to the barn today, I enjoyed the sensation of breaking through the crust with every step.  Underneath, the snow is no longer snowball-making consistency, but has frozen into a fine powder that won't stick together at all. 
The birds have been very active at the feeders today so I know it must be getting difficult for them to find anything else to eat out there. I've seen thirty or so at time at the feeders today with more stationed nearby in the trees.

Save the Chickens

Our poor chickens have been under attack since the weekend of Thanksgiving.  I started out with 40 or so in early fall and today I counted 20, 18 hens and 2 roosters.  Back in late summer we had to put our livestock guardian dog down. I guess I didn't truly appreciate all that Lance did to protect the flock, but I am beginning to get it.  Predation is worse in winter anyway, and apparently something or several somethings are treating our unguarded, free-range flock as its own private buffet. 

I do think part of the losses are from aerial predators.  We have seen hawks about, both red tails and chicken hawks.  And we hear owls.  We have also seen fox, coyote, raccoon and bobcat in the area at times not to mention domestic dogs and cats, so there is no shortage of predators around.

So yesterday when I found yet another clump of owner-less feathers in the snow, I decided enough was enough.  I inventoried what we had around to work with and came up with a plan to quickly attach a run to the hen house.  I firmly believe that chickens allowed to really free range are healthier and produce better eggs, but I guess they would prefer confinement to a house and run rather than say, being dead. 

First I cleaned the bedding out of the house, put it in the composter and replaced it with clean.  I usually use recycled paper shreds from the school for bedding, but this time I used some very old hay that had been stored in the barn too long to be any good for feed.  Next I used a section of our portable electric fence to make the run.  It was difficult to stick the posts in the frozen ground, but doable.  I doubled the fence around twice because it was too long and I didn't want to cut it.  I figured double fencing couldn't hurt anyhow.  Finally, I stretched bird netting tightly over the run and attached it to the fence with cable ties.  Last time I tried the poultry net fencing, my chickens just flew right over it any time they felt like it, so hopefully the top netting will keep them in as well as "death from above" out.



I managed to persuade most of the chickens that this was a good idea.  I still have four renegade hens to capture somehow, but that is a job for another day.

The horses were extremely curious about this new arrangement and were totally in the way during the whole project.  They are inspecting the finished project in the photo above.



A view from about halfway up the hill.  Still plenty of snow here, but it is starting to melt.



Autumn Egg Hunt



The pullets I bought in mid-April, around the time of my last post (for shame), should be laying... I say should because they are not, or at least not where I can find the eggs. Oh, one or two of them is dropping me a token egg in the nest every couple of days, but I have 30 plus hens, for heaven's sake, I should be rolling in eggs.


Where are they laying? I have looked all over the wooded areas they frequent, climbed high up on the hay in the barn, checked every likely spot. Nothin'. Supposedly, hens like to lay in nests where there are already eggs. I don't know who asked the hens about this, but I thought it was worth a try. I put ceramic eggs in the nests that look so much like the real thing I had to mark them so I wouldn't pick them up by mistake. I think the only one being fooled here is me.


Meanwhile, these girls are eating me out of house and home.


Here are a couple of the pics of the slackers,







This one below I believe is a Hamburg. Isn't she pretty? Now if only she'd lay an egg.

A cold rain is falling on Pleasant Places, and I am trying to remember which poet it was that wrote "April is the cruelest month..." I should know that. After all, I was an English major, but that was years ago. Anyway, there is a frost warning tonight and I fear for my tomatoes. Surely it won't be cold enough to hurt the tiny baby peaches. I am so looking forward to those peaches.
Cold rain or no, I took a few minutes to walk through the woods today. "Checking the fence" I told myself, which is absolutely unnecessary as there is nothing in the pasture at the moment that requires a fence. Dutifully, I removed sticks and pulled a few encroaching vines, but mostly I looked at the wealth of wildflowers that grow on our wooded slopes: mayapple, solomons seal-real and false, many kinds of trillium, toadshade-which is blooming now, ladyslipper (I think, but it isn't blooming yet), some kind of lily with strappy foliage. and on down into the fields I find violets, buttercups, wild strawberry and barren strawberry and more. All poised to start the spring show...if only this cold rain will let up and the sun will come out again.
Sunday we finished fixing the barn so the chickens can't get in and roost in the rafters. They make such a mess below and they do have their own house after all. The night we finished I stayed down there awhile and watched some of them determinedly inspect every square inch of our work trying to find a weak spot. My persistence gave out before theirs and I went to the house before they went to roost. Today when I went down two hens were in there. One sat on a bale of hay where they like to lay and one perched on the top of the stall. I ran them out and walked around yet again looking for their way in. I plugged a few places under walls, and then took my fence walk and when I got back...there she was again, sitting smugly on her nest. I think that hens are a great deal more intelligent than we have been lead to believe.

Spring Break...
And the gardening season has started in earnest. Mother Nature is apologizing for that long, cold winter with one of those all-at-once, exuberant springs. It feels like if I blink I miss something blooming or leafing or out. Almost all the trees have tiny, bright green leaves now, and in the garden the lettuce and spinach has pretty much just jumped out of the ground this week. We even ate a little of it and some radishes and arugula this week. Tastes like spring. I am so convinced it is really and truly spring that I went ahead and put out the tomatoes and peppers and planted the corn and beans.
But I almost forgot the biggest news...the chicks arrived Monday. Twenty six little peeps. Layers in waiting. I picked them up at the Post Office Monday morning. They spent the first few days inside in a box, but today I put them out in the brooder in the garden. They seemed happy with the arrangement, though it is hard to regulate the temperature. On warm sunny days like today it can get too hot in there and I spent a lot of today trying out various propping and shading arrangements.

Today started out dreary with a few more snow flurries. This evening is clear, and I do think it got above freezing today finally, but it is still cold. BUT something has changed...this week the days got long enough to trigger a few of our hardy hens to start laying. Egg laying is very day-length sensitive and though it still feels like winter to me, the hens would like everyone to know that the shortest days of winter are now over and spring can't be all that far behind. I am getting only 3-4 a day right now. At least two of the eggs everyday have been blue/green so that means some of the arcaunas are laying. In fact they may all be arcauna eggs as I have noticed that they seem to start earlier (but they also quit sooner). I had eggs for breakfast this morning. Can't tell you how much better they are than any store egg we have found. Yum.

A few of the chickens purchased last spring have started laying. They always start out laying small eggs that we call "practice eggs". The eggs get larger as they mature until they reach normal size. Now that we are back in school, the chickens are enjoying their leftover milk again. The calcium makes their egg shells hard and the extra protein helps them grow and lay eggs. Did you know that you can drop the egg of a well-fed farm hen on the ground and it usually won't break (unless it hits a rock or something). Egg shells are also covered with a thin, clear coating that makes it air and water tight for awhile. They really are quite an amazing food.
The photo shows a "practice egg" and one from a mature hen.

The chickens are now about 2 months old. They can go in and out of the coop through the "chicken door", and they have access to a large fenced yard area, plenty of green grass, dirt, bugs and sunshine...chicken heaven! They are still being fed a special feed for young, growing chickens. They also get the milk leftovers from school--I guess they are going to miss that this summer! And, of course, plenty of clean water.
Learning Center Students, I will continue to update our blog during the summer, so check in from time to time. Summer is a busy and exciting time on the farm. For starters, our goat mamas are ready to have their kids any day now. I'll be sure and post pictures of the babies.
Have a happy, healthy summer!

Our chicks have made their move out to the new coop. Goats and older chickens have been evicted, and now the new batch of chickens have the coop and chicken yard to themselves...Well, except for their guardian dog, Lance. Right now, for their warmth and protection, they are confined to the coop itself where they have everything they need to keep them happy and growing. The chickens are about a month old now and don't look much like the fluffy little peeps we brought home. Now they look like small versions of the plump Rhode Island Red hens they will grow to be. Young female chickens are correctly called pullets before they begin laying eggs.

The new chicken coop is ready and waiting for the new chicks. If the weather stays this warm, we should be moving them in in another couple of weeks. The coop is made mostly of recycled materials. It contains nesting boxes and roosts with a special hatch under the roosts so we can clean out underneath there when needed. Right now it also contains a goat now and then because the goats are currently sharing space with the few grown chickens we have. Eventually we will move the goats out, but that may be awhile yet.
We have just begun on the barn this weekend. We set the four corner poles. It doesn't sound like much, but getting the four corners right will have everything to do with how the whole structure turns out. We will continue to work on it throughout summer and possibly fall, hopefully finishing in time for winter.
In the garden, the lettuce is up and growing. Sometime soon after spring break, I will be bringing in some for the salad bar. The asparagus is also coming up, but some critter has been helping itself to each little sprout that pushed itself up out of the ground...we finally discovered a way to keep the culprit out so we could have some ourselves. More next time on who the thief turned out to be!

The Chicks Have Moved Out!
Our fine feathered friends have already grown up enough to move out of their brooder box in the laundry room and into a much larger cage outside near the back porch. They are still quite small and they must have their heat lamp on at night especially, but their fluffy down has been replaced by small feathers and they can actually fly about some. It's a bit chilly tonight, so I am going out to check on them as soon as I am finished here. We worked on their new coop today and it should be finished in plenty of time.