Pears, Eggs, and Wolf

Despite our best efforts we lost all the kits. We have gained valuable information and found a contact who can help us in the future. Jason bred the two rabbits on Sunday so with any luck in about a month we will get another try and raising some meat rabbits. 

The pear trees didn't produce like they have in the past. We are disappointed that we won't be having pear sauce all winter. We did manage to pull a few squashes out of the garden and we intend on visiting a local farm to get some pumpkins and apples to put up for the winter.

This is Wolf, our new pet. He is an angora-jersey mix. He was a gift from a friend. Isn't he just the cutest thing! He is just what our hearts needed after loosing all those kits!

The daycare kids are thrilled and keep asking us when we are going to put him outside with Sarah our other pet bunny.

A couple of weeks ago we spied Fluffernutter and a couple of his gals out front of the house. Too close to the road for us! The chickens were all ushered back to the barn where they spent their first few weeks of life and given a few nesting boxes, just in case they might lay.

And they did! We have found four small little eggs so far (the white one is a store bought egg). We estimate that in a few more weeks everyone will be laying normal sized eggs. Yum! We are so encouraged that at least one thing is working right!

Fall

For those of you following our little farming journey I'm sure you have noted the lack of progress reported. That is because there is little to report.

Thankfully the pear trees produce with out any help from us. We have been enjoying fresh made pear sauce and are hard at work fighting the bees for the pears. The bees like the pears as much as we do it seems. We also made a batch of pear jelly from the cores and peelings of making pear sauce. It is a little tart, but very tasty!

The horse, ducks, and chickens took care of the weeds in the garden for  us. We let them in to clear it out. We declared the garden a bust. That being said we did get a few things out of the gardens: peas, green beans, carrots, beets, turnips, tomatoes, and a few squashes. Jason's grandparents gave us a bunch of cucumbers that I pickled and a five gallon pail full of green peppers that I sliced up and put in the freezer. 

We harvested five ducks and one rooster. Jason and his friend wound up skinning them after attempting to use the de-feather.  The ducks are tasty but not as economical as broilers. Our poultry count is six ducks and fourteen chickens. The two rabbits have been bred and are expected to have their litters in a few weeks. 

We are keeping busy preparing for the winter. The chickens will need a space in the basement and some nesting boxes. A new to us wood boiler needs to be installed, wood stacked, and blankets shook out. In a couple of weeks we will be hosting our annual harvest party. Before we know it, winter will be here!

Chores

Come Along, it's time to do our evening chores.

First we feed the chickens. Mommy goes first, and then I can help.

Next we feed and water the ducks. Mommy feeds the ducks and I water the ducks.

Ooops, water goes in the bucket!

Now that our work is done, we can go back to playing!

Layer Update

In the morning or evening when someone would go down to tend to the chickens there seemed to always be one or more layer where she didn't belong. One day when I went down there were four layers roosting on the fence that kept the three species apart, two in with the ducklings, and three in with the broilers. It was apparent that the layers had outgrown their fence.

Yesterday we moved them outside. They still aren't in their permanent home, for the time being they are in the pen that the ducks were in. There is a "plan" for their future home. I don't quite understand it yet but it has something to do with rotating the pasture they are in so that they will always have some place that has food and bugs. We can't free range them for fear of them pecking at the tomatoes, getting eaten by the neighbor dog, or visiting the daycare. 

They respond to my (Delia's) voice. I had this fear of chickens before we brought these homes. I had this image of putting my hand under a chicken to pull out an egg and getting pecked to death. I had a goal that the chickens and I would be friends. Nearly everyday when they were just wee chicks I'd go out there and talk to them and hold them. Now when I go out to see them they come running! They allow me to pick them up and will sit on my hand looking like the king of the mountain. 

  

We think that Fluffernutter might be a rooster. What do you think? 

Piglet has grown and we can no longer  pick her out of the crowd.

Twig is growing and her funky feet don't seem to be an issue, but she can't quite scratch in the ground so we will need to keep some dirt around for her.

Saturday Journal

The gardens are doing awesome. This is the best year that any of us have had in recent years. We have been weeding, tending, hoeing, hilling, watching, picking, and dancing a little dance of joy. Some of the squashes look a little on the small side, but I think they'll rally. Mom realized that she's been drowning the cucumbers on a regular basis and has moved the duck pool so that she'll stop doing that.

We have eaten peas twice now and it looks like we'll be able to eat them at least one more time before I have to pull them up. The blueberries are turning blue and we've eaten a few. Looks like our mornings and evenings will be spent picking them soon! Yum! There are small tomatoes, peppers, beans, and Brussels Sprouts; the top of the onions, carrots, beets, and turnips are looking great and so we are optimistic about a bountiful harvest. I'm not sure how the cabbage is doing, some of it is big, but I don't see anything forming in the middle. The Brussels Spouts have - ahem - sprouted but in this heat I don't think they'll do much.

The broilers are getting huge! We really hoped to do some swapping around this week but we ran out of roofing material for the duck house. Dad and Jason have Monday and Tuesday off so just maybe we'll get some of our birds swapped around. Our total bird count is 38: 15 layers, 12 broilers, 7 mystery mallard layers, and 4 Pekings. Three of the mystery mallards are going to a friends house, we are just raising them for her for a short time. The winter count of birds ought to be 21, maybe a few less if we decide to eat all the Pekings.

How is your garden doing? Feel free to leave a link to your blog!

Last weeks list:

• weed
• watch for bugs
• weed
• water when needed
• weed
• move layers to a tractor outside

This weeks lists:

• weed: cabbage and tomatoes
• water if it doesn't rain
• continue to watch for bugs
• replant cucumbers
• move layers outside and Peking ducks to house

Saturday Farm Journal

hot peppers, pears, blueberries, peas

Brussels spouts, red cabbage, beans, tomatoes

onions, squash, beets, carrots

It seems like the warmer it gets outside the more work that needs to be done. A lot of weeding was accomplished last Sunday with a promise that this vacation week we'll get more done. It looks like the peas are done and I'll be picking and pulling those up this week. I feel so foolish that I forgot about them! I allowed them to get too big for eating raw, but I think they will be just as tastey cooked. 

We received several mystery ducklings. They are some sort of laying breed. A cambell-mallard-runner cross maybe, who knows? The broilers have about 5 more weeks of life before Jason harvests them. We are hoping to get them outside for a bit of free ranging before that happens. Today a duck house is being built so the big ducks can go live outside in the pond and the little ducks can get out of the barn because they are stinky and messy. We did learn from our mistakes and they are where we could hose them down as needed.

List two weeks ago:

• Keep an eye on the bugs
• Re-plant potato, cucumber (looks like they are actually up so we didn't do this)
• Fertilize onions, tomatoes, peppers
• Weed

This week(s) list:

• weed
• watch for bugs
• weed
• water when needed
• weed
• move layers to a tractor outside

Chickens on the Move

First a bit of cuteness, well I think she's cute.

Where'd they go?

What's that in the garage?

Oh, there they are! Layers are on one side of the brood box, broilers on the other, and ducks on the other side of the fence. Everyone has room to move and grow.

Learning Curve

What a few weeks it has been. We have learned a lot in the past few weeks and, so we don't forget, I'm writing it all down.

• Ducks are messy and smelly. What this means for the porch: the porch will be wet and smell funny if they are out there. Why they are messy and smelly: Ducks poop, a lot, all over the place. Ducks spread water, a lot, all over the place. Wet poop smells bad. Spread water drips out of dog kennel and on to porch making the porch wet on stocking feet. What to do next time: put ducks someplace where smell and wetness will not be a problem. Current solution: ducks live in barn basement.
• Ducks grow fast. What this means: They will not last long in any enclosure. What to do next time: don't bother trying to house ducks and chicks together in current brood box. Current solution: ducks live in barn basement.
• Ducks will be stupid with their food and water. What this means: They will get it wet and will lay in it. They will poop in it. Current solution: keep food far away from water. 

• Broilers and Layers should not be house together. Why is this a problem? Layers jump, flutter, and perch, but broilers should never do these things. Hard lesson learned: I believe a broiler died due to jumping (but it could have been another ailment?) Current solution: broilers now live in the barn basement.
• Broilers get big fast. Really, really, fast. They weigh quite a lot, a lot more than the layers
• Layers can "fly". They can "fly" out of their brood box and perch on the edge. 
• Chickens get shavings into their water. What this means: the waterer will fill up with shavings and they won't be able to drink anymore. What to do next time: get the hanging waterer in there ASAP
• Chickens huddle for warmth and will squish each other to death. Hard lesson learned: chicks pig-piled and one got smothered. What to do next time: put something in corners so that no one gets stuck and make sure brood box temp is checked more often.
• Chickens are distracting. What this means: chicken loving people may get "stuck" out on porch watching chickens a lot. Current solution: none, I enjoy it quite a lot!

This is the broilers and ducks new home. Actually, right now the fence is going in the other direction due to the torrential amount of rain we've had the past few days. The basement flooded much to the delight of the ducks and the dismay of the chickens. 

Saturday Journal

I cannot believe how the garden has changed in a week. Last week I had nothing to photograph, this week not true. The beans, some of the zucchini and summer squash, and the sunflowers are all up. The peas are growing fast and the other plants are looking great.


The chickens are changing almost daily. The broilers definitely weigh more than the layers. I think I have narrowed down the mystery chick to a bantam (Fluffernutter), it is still quite tiny and if I am right she* will only be about 2lbs fully grown. The deformed chick, Twig is doing great, it will be interesting to see if she will be able to get up to nesting boxes and roost, time will tell. Piglet is our smallest, not sure why she is so little, but it doesn't appear that she's being pushed out of the way to eat so I think she is just bitty. The men are hoping to get the ducks moved into the basement of the barn, boy are they messy!


We are mulching with the pine shavings used in the chicken brood box and in the ducks. I'm not sure if it's a good idea or not. Anybody know for sure? From what I understand the shavings are high in acid which means that we will need to add more lime next spring. Everything is trial and error, like with the ducks who are on house number 3 or is it 4?


Last weeks list

• Weed the peas
• Mulch the strawberries
• Plant pumpkins, squashes, cucumbers, potatoes, watermelon, turnip

This weeks list

• Weed tomatoes
• Hoe between the rows
• Mulch Brussels Sprouts
• Thin the beans

*I am of course, assuming that most of our chicks are female. We were told they are 90% female so hopefully we'll only have a couple of roosters