Chicken Day

Saturday we will process about half of the Cornish Crosses. For those of you interested in helping, shoot me an email. Slaughter Saturday also means that this is the last week to pre-order. After Saturday birds will sell for the normal $20.

We still have Freedom Rangers ($20) available as well as a few Dark Cornish ($8).

Pig Tales

This week I discovered pigs like to have their bellies rubbed. One in particular likes to be scratched. A couple of others would rather I just feed them.

Nicholas picked up a couple pumpkins a neighbor threw out on the way to the farm. The pigs appreciated their treat!

Over all, keeping pigs is quite pleasant. Though the rains last week led to the purchase of the best farm boots ever: Muck Boot Company boots.

Some may wonder if I'll be sad on slaughter day. A little I'm sure, but these pigs exist to be food. In the mean time I want them to curl their tails a lot and run and lounge in the sun and be as piggy as they please.

Small Update

One of our hens started laying about a week ago. Today is the second time she laid an egg two days in a row. Most of the eggs she laid her first week had double yolks and both rich gold colored and delicious! I wonder if the eggs this week also have double yolks.

Can't wait for the other hens to start laying.

September Summary

September ends with the completion of a few big projects. We moved the chickens from the hoop house to a Salatin Box to protect them from hawks and themselves, rebuilt the brooder, and processed the meat birds on October 1st.

The Salatin Box works great now that I've figured out a good routine. The chickens don't seem to mind the increased confinement much. Catching the birds for processing went much more smoothly, though it inflicted a different set of problems. We still need to find someone to fabricate a dolly for it. At the moment I pull it with either vehicle (the fit is go even on the farm). Over all, it is a reminder that we're still learning.

The re-built brooder now stands alone and better fortified against raccoons while also more accessible for the humans. Hopefully the chicks will arrive tomorrow as planned and let us know what works and does not work. I still need to paint it. Since winter is coming and I tend to become depressed with all the gray in the world, I decided to paint the base white and the roof yellow.  Once Le Petite Poulet has a logo we will paint that on it too.

                                 

Processing went very well Saturday, October 1st. We managed to round up five other people to help. One person had processed before, one volunteer brought their fishing and deer cleaning experience and others just caught on well. We processed about 60 birds between 9AM and 1:30PM. Then we all sat down for lunch, which was tasty thanks to Hal who also provided the driveway and equipment. One dedicated volunteer even stayed to help put away the equipment. Our volunteers rock!

New Brooder: Now a Two Day Project

Whew! We had a full day today constructing most of the new brooder. Perhaps we could have finished today had I gotten up sooner and if we did not have the current flock to tend. One problem still may have stymied us: the lack of a trailer or another strong person.

Nicholas and I moved our basic frame near the cabin in order to use the new air-compressor and pneumatic staple gun (Nicholas' new favorite store: Harbor Freight). Sadly, after adding to the frame, I could not help move it back to the area we want to set it. I know, fail.

So, flatbed trailer just moved up the list of things the farm needs.

The Hawk Buffet is Closed

After being greeted by clumps of feather and bits of bird every day the last couple of weeks, Nicholas and I built a Salatin Box. Well, a modified version. I owe many thanks to Rachel Prickett's A Daring Adventure blog and Troubador Farm's flickr. Thank you for sharing your knowledge and experiences!

A normal Salatin Box is two feet tall. We made ours three feet tall to allow more air flow because it is hot here in the Southeast. Sure, we get snow and frost some, but most of the year we worry about keeping animals and ourselves cool and hydrated. When I get around to making another one, I may try to contrive a way to pitch the roof to allow even more airflow.

We lost several chickens recently to both kites, hawks, and yes, even the fence and the chicken's own self-destructive tendency to panic. In fact, while building the Salatin Box we chased off a kite before s/he could kill one of our Dark Cornish.


Below is a photo journal of this past weekend.

 

 

I am a goddess!

Well, at least that's what the Freedom Rangers seem to believe.

About a week ago, after still not having all of the necessary slip-ts to build the portable PVC pen for the layers, and losing some layers to a prying nocturnal predator, I moved the layers to the hoop house.

Then, I lost more layers, but not to hawks or nocturnal predators. It took me a couple of days and five chicks, but after a conversation with my guru, Hal, I figured out that the other chickens killed and ate those layers. He also uknowingly, gave me the solution to the rampant cannibalism among my flock. The chickens crave protein. The towering Freedom Rangers pecked on and then ate the little layers because they're diet lacked sufficient protein. Hal told me about wheat germ and that he started using it almost as a substitute for the pricier fish meal. Wheat germ has the added benefit of being procured locally.

I started feeding it that very afternoon and sure enough, no more cannibalism. The Freedom Rangers now recognize me and come running every time I feed them. It is their crack. But if wheat germ is their crack, then Bluegill guts,skin,and heads are their cocaine.

My landlord kindly left a bucket of unwanted Bluegill remains for me to feed to the chickens. I dumped them out in a row outside the hoop house for them to eat. Unfortunately, a thunderstorm came up not long after and one Barred Rock did get pecked on quite badly so I brought her home. Yet, after the storm passed and I went to fix the fence posts, I could not walk without tripping over Freedom Rangers. They swarmed around my legs in hope that I would rain down more protein to them. Either I am a revered character in their eyes or a meaty treat they just haven't quite figured out how to eat yet.