Thursday, March 25, 2010

Where do your farm ideas come from?

Martha's chicken coop2

Martha Stewarts’ roost from http://www.themarthablog.com/

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The above photos show each end of our roost.

As many of you may know from Jen’s blog, I have been out of service this week as I had surgery on Monday. I had a tumor removed and the right adrenal gland ( the tumor was attached to the gland), and since my gall bladder was only functioning 40% of the time, it was also removed. Any way, between medicated naps I thought I would show a small farm project that was an idea Jen found on Martha’s blog.

This is a roost the Jen thought my chickens would like. This project takes a little longer than think no because of the project but finding the right tree. You either need to find two tree with similar sized forks or find one tree with two forks that are a similar size. You will also need to find a tree with a long semi-straight section to be the cross section of the roost. After spending a good bit of time searching I found the perfect tree it had both forks and the cross section. That kept from having a lot of waste.

Also in back of Martha’s picture you see a couple of ladder type roosts she had created for her chickens. I built one similar and it is on the inside of the coop; this is one of the preferred places for my ladies to sleep.

While I did not have any instructions, it was self explanatory. Each end in about 12-15” deep with a little concrete to secure it.

I would have never thought of going to Martha Stewarts blog for farming ideas but my lovely wife reads a lot of blogs and will recommend some for ideas that I usually find useful.

Sunday, March 21, 2010

Foster Parenting

 

group5 Scarlett and the late Capt. Butler, may he rest in pieces.

Last spring Jen purchased two silkies from Tractor Supply; they turned out to be a hen (Scarlett) and rooster (Captain Butler) .  Later in the year she purchased another rooster (Rhett) with a much better temperament thus Captain Butler made his final appearance in the post entitled “First Processing” and Rhett moved in with Scarlett.  We plan to breed these to hatch some of our own silkie chicks.  Silkies are known for being good brood hens (will hatch any eggs). Scarlett has become broody a couple of time but being so young has not stayed on eggs for the required 21 days plus she did this in the winter, when they are hard to keep warm. 

Recently I purchased 4 frizzle bantam chicks (4 weeks old) and 6 easter eggers (1 week old) that were all about the same size.  In the past when we moved some younger chicks into the coop we had let Scarlett tend to them as a foster mom but we were a little concerned on how Rhett would react.  With much hesitation: we elected not to put these in a brooder box but instead placed them in a cage outside that is now known as the “Nursery”.   Much to our surprise Rhett immediately began to help Scarlett with raising the chicks.  After dark as the evening begins to cool, if you look in the nursery, they will raise their wings letting you see all ten of the chicks.  Once you have had the chance to see them they will lower their wings and protect their foster chicks. 

 Scarlett and Rhett  Scarlett, Rhett and the foster chicks

Many people have told me you MUST keep young chicks under a warming light starting at 95 degrees and drop it 5 degrees a week until the temperature is at 70 degrees for them at a minimum.  That would be 6 weeks provided the outside temperature does not drop below 70.  I do not completely agree with that as I believe that animals have natural instincts that help them survive; I believe we as people try to complicate their lives way too much.  In this case, I have never put these chicks under a light and they are all doing great living with their foster parents. 

Thanks Scarlett and Rhett.

Now to quote ever info-mercial “but wait there’s more!”  Today when we checked on the nursery, we noticed one of the frizzles had been picked on.  She had had some of the feathers pulled from her tail area and was red and swollen.  This will happen sometimes as the chickens try to establish the pecking order; even at a early age.  The best way for this to heel is isolation, we have had a few to go through this process.  Since this chick is so young we decided to put her in the house with some of the chicks I bought earlier this week at TSC these are just about 5 days old.  She has taken to the 5 day old bantams as if they were her chicks.  She is sitting in the corner with the bantams under her wings.  It is so cute as she is still a little chick herself but since they are younger she is trying to be the big sis. 

Foster FrizzleFrizzle chick and bantam chicks 

“Now you know the rest of the story.’ – Paul Harvey

 

Friday, March 12, 2010

First processing…

Some of the chickens I purchased last year were referred to as straight run (indicating you do not know the sex). Some breeds are especially hard to tell until they either lay eggs or crow. Because of this we had an excessive amount of roosters, which tend to fight for dominance and do not give the hens a break. I have even had a couple that decided they would be aggressive toward people. I devised a plan to fix this problem….hmmmmm…yep, you guessed it the plan is dinner.

The four roosters ranged about 5 months to 1 year old, a little too old to make good fried chicken but not to old for Mrs. Jones to use make chicken salad and real chicken broth for soups. The boiling of the chickens will allow the meat to be tenderized.

I am not your typical southern boy and did not grow up hunting, so slaughtering and processing animals is new to me. Last Thanksgiving was the first time I had ever processed turkeys. As with anything I do not know how to do, I did my research thanks to www.backyardchickens.com and I also found a mentor who had previously worked in a chicken processing plant (during her college days); Connie Watkins, my mother-in-law. We also had assistance from Kenzie-Grace with some of the processing; I could not believe how much of this she was willing to participate in. Just as with the turkeys, we processed the 4 chickens.

Here are the steps of the process we used (sorry maybe next time we can have pictures):

As they came out of the cage I tied their legs together with a string.

They were hung by their legs on a shepherds hook. They will calm down in just a couple of minutes.

Next I held the head in my hand and gently slid a sharp knife across the jugular vein. They will flop a little but by hanging on the shepherds hook they do not bruise their meat by flopping on the ground.

After about 5 minutes they should be through draining.

Scald them briefly, to loosen the feathers or skin (we elected to skin these).

Then cut off the feet and head.

Pluck as clean as possible, there may still be tiny pin feathers (almost looks like hair on the wings).

Cut out the vent and remove the insides (save if you like fresh chicken livers and gizzards or dog food).

If you are going to skin them now is the time.

After you have them cleaned well, take a piece of paper lit like a torch and singe off all the tiny hair like feathers.

Then wash thoroughly in cool water, dry and package in freezer paper.

Mark with a processing date.

FYI, if they had name do not write the names on the outside of the package; it may gross out the rest of the family.

Thursday, March 11, 2010

You have to love technology….

Jen introduced me to craigslist where I can look for useful things for the farm without having to get up at the crack of dawn on Saturday and spend all day at the flea market blowing money.  I have been wanting goats for a long time and last week I found a few that interested me.  We want to get a young one where we can handle it and work on developing a calm temperament.  So last week I sent out a few emails to the folks that had goats available.  This one guy did not impress me because he wanted me to take it at three days old; I would really like for it to be weaned. 

As you may know from reading Jen’s blog http://fiddledeedee-jen.blogspot.com/ I travel quiet a bit with my job.   Tuesday I found out I needed to fly to the D.C. area for a Thursday meeting returning on Friday.  Thursday, I received an email on my blackberry with a picture of a young goat that I had inquired about.  I forwarded the picture to the home office of Rosebriar Farm for a purchase order Jen for her blessing.  Later i sent the gentleman a response stating I would like him to hold the goat until weaned and I would agree to purchase it.   

BabyGoats 007BabyGoats 002

I thought you would like to see the new fellow and maybe give me ideas of a name.  It is a boy so no girly names.  It is awesome being able to have technology at your finger tips that allow me to add to the farm while working out of town.

Wednesday, March 10, 2010

“Give a man a fish; you have fed him for today. Teach a man to fish; and you have fed him for a lifetime”—Author unknown

Audley’s version “Give your in-laws eggs you have fed them for today. Give them laying hen and you feed them for a lifetime.”

fried eggs eggs

I have given my in-laws a hen that actually belongs to my nephew Jon Tristan (hence the name JT for the hen), along with two additional red sex link hens, and one Rhode Island Red hen. They also have "Big Dawg", (Brad’s pet rooster) on loan as they have just completed a small coop and run. Big Dawg is on loan because, I did not have a rooster I would give them as I had four I wanted to keep (for breeding purposes) and four that needed to be processed for food (aggressive).

Any way, earlier this week Billy and Connie had four hens and a rooster move to their house. Just as planned, the following day Billy was able to collect three eggs from his four hens.

Tuesday, March 9, 2010

How did Ben Franklin help the modern hobby farmer?

For the hobby farmer to have time to get all the work done on the farm in the winter months means doing a lot of work in the dark.

ben_franklin

photo from http://www.memeticians.com/2008/01/an-homage-to-the-original.php

Ben Franklin’s idea of daylight savings time is a true blessing for us. After the time changes this weekend I will have more daylight to work on getting my garden ready and trying to prepare a pasture for cattle this summer.

Thanks Ben!

Wednesday, March 3, 2010

John Denver is a liar…

In Thank God I’m a County Boy John Denver sings “Well, life on the farm is kinda laid back” boy is he a liar. It doesn’t matter how you feel, what all you have going on with the kids, church, work and friends there is always work to be done on the farm. I have had some serious issues with some part of my digestive track, to the point there are some days I can not function. On the feel good days I have to make up for the days I could not get anything done. Anyway enough “belly aching” on with the update.

Jen had some serious issues last year with my Free Ranging Chickens indulging on her fresh vegetables and fruit. This year she asked if I would build a fence to protect these items; I assembled my crew and here is how it went.

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First we set the post about 15” deep.

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Next, we poured concrete to secure the posts.

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Then we added the woven wire. We used “field fence” this has small openings on the bottom and larger openings on the top.

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We also installed a gate with similar wire openings. There are additional supports around the gate for increased strength.

IMG_0016 Here is a picture of the additional posts for increased support of the corners. Also included in the picture is a new peach tree. Looks like we are a long way from a fresh cobbler. Aw Shucks!

Thanks for all the help from Maddie, Brad and Kenzie-Grace the project is complete.