Chickie Babies Adventures

As we ready ourselves for a new bunch of chicks, we are enjoying our 8-week old chicks. If they were meat birds, they would be halfway to butchering size. Now when you open the coop to check their water and feed, they try to escape. Not really escape as much as flying to see who can get to you first. When you have fourteen little gals all vying for your attention at once, it can get a little harried.

Upon opening half the outside access door, there's a flurry of activity from the hens. Dozens of little birds wings from the roosts and bottom of the coop all heading towards you at once. I'll have baby hens on tp of my head, shoulders, and arms in an instant. I'll quickly catch them and place them back in the coop because usually there is a dog or cat in close proximity.   I'd rather them not be traumatized by ending up in one of our other critter's mouths. I know my cats won't kill them, but I'm not so sure about the other critters. Can you see me trying to chase down Dervish or the dogs after they catch one? I think I'll pass.

The point is, we've trained our new hens to trust us and it started from day one on our homestead. They are a friendly bunch now. They look at Mel as the main mama. I'm their secondary mama.Either way, they are glad to see us and be loved on by us. There is an exception. One Barred Rock chick, loves her some Mel and only Mel. When I reach out to pet her, she lets me know in short order that I'm not allowed to by pecking my hand hard ( just short of drawing blood) in rapid succession. No, we won't be naming these new chicks or any subsequent chicks in Mel's business venture. They'll just be too many of them even if they all have distinctive characteristics.

I still haven't figured out just how we managed a standard silkie chick in our assortment. There's no mistaking the feathers, black skin, nor dark feet. She's a Silkie. Meyers doesn't hatch standard Silkies and she's too big for a bantam. I had thought maybe she was a Polish, but she's lacking in the tufted head feathers, sand there is no solid white in Meyer's breeding assortment. Somebody messed up somewhere. But we're not upset by it. Silkies are known to be very broody. So when we start the chicken farm with breed specific hens and roosters, she can hatch them out and raise them just like Brody and Black Butt. It'll be less work for us to do. Although there won't be the big hatch rates as with the incubator. But still, five to ten babies we won't have to care for is a plus. The mama raised chicks aren't as friendly as the ones we brood and raise.

Now that it hasn't rained in two days straight, it's the ideal time to open the coop door and let the babies out into a huge world (the 12'x26' run).`Besides, their coop needs to be cleaned out and new straw spread out. They've made a fairly large mess in there. The first challenge they face is the 2 1/2' ramp to get to the ground. The run is covered by straw and dried leaves. It takes a while for the most bold chicks to even step out of the coop. We are prepared for this and brought two chairs into the run for us to sit and wait. In a matter of a couple of hours, all the chicks are outside in the run. They are doing their own thing in clusters while we scrap the soiled bedding out of their coop and put fresh bedding down. We decided not to do the deep bedding methods for more comost for the garden.

Just before dusk, we go back out to the run and help wayward chicks back into the coop for the night. We will have to do this for several nights until they all learn when roosting time is.

Meanwhile, we'll muck out the bunny/chicken barn. We'll be converting this to raise even more chickens in and have a "maternity ward"/ toddler area for our broody girls to raise their young. It'll be  a safe place to grow out mama raised chickens. It's already set up for really young chicks. We put chicken wire up 3' to keep the rabbits in and it will work for the chicks too.

We'll be building a partitioning wall to separate the rabbits and chickens within the bunny/chicken hoop barn. We've been thinking about doing it for a while now. a wired pallet wall halfway up will work with a door between the rabbit and chicken area so I won't have to walk around the building. It will also help support the hoop roof that we are currently using 2x4x10s bracing.

So changes for the better are happening around our homestead. The baby chicks and upcoming baby chicks are causing us to rethink what we already have in place to repurpose for cheaper alternatives as Mel grows her business. And, the adventures are just beginning.

Y'all have a blessed day!

Cockeyed Jo

Reorganizing and Plans for the Barn

Similar to this but no door or window in front

It really isn't a barn though we call it that. It's a metal structure that's supposed to be a garage. It has one window which overlooks the orchard and a door on the opposite side of the garage door. It's 18x 26.

Mel built a raised, platform floor inside of it that takes up a quarter of the space from the back entry door out 8x12. We will be expanding this area out another 4' to give her more room to play  in 12x12. She didn't have near as many toys to play with before I got here. It's easier on the feet and legs standing on the raised platform than the asphalt patch type floor.

I bought about $100 worth of 2x4x8s for a shelving unit along one side of the garage between the window and garage door.  I wanted them sturdy and strong. Rather than use plywood for the shelves, we used 2x4s. It is almost overkill for weight bearing. Didn't I say I wanted it strong and sturdy? Each upright is double thickness between the shelves.  Then each unit is secured to the building at the back.The earth would have to shake a whole lot to move them.

Most of my stuff is in these 45-gallon, wheeled totes, and are heavy.  There are four of them and a foot locker that's mine. They are almost totally rodent and bug proof. Two of these totes would fit on each bottom shelf. She built three of these storage shelves units. These are on the lowest shelf while the upper shelves house the standard 18 to 30 gallon totes. One whole shelving unit houses paint, varnishes and assorted odds and ends that Mel stores. The upper most shelves hold seasonal stuff. Hopefully, the rats won't chew through the plastic as easily as they did the boxes these items were originally in.

A whole truck load of damaged belongs were taken to the landfill this year because of the rats and bug damage...mostly stored in cardboard boxes. With each tote labeled and stacked, we should be able to find what we want more easily. Better organized, the easier to find, right? Of course that meant having to go through each and every thing too. We've been at it since spring and we're almost done. The days of dumping whatever wherever in the barn is over! Now it has a proper place.

Next in the barn to build is building a small storage building within the barn (8x12x6). This space will be designated for storage of extra empty canning jars, rabbit and chicken (and people too) grains and feed when we catch a sale on these items. It will be built out of recycled pallet wood. It will be sealed against rodents and bugs. With recycled nails, visits to the Re-store, it shouldn't cost much at all to

build. We are only planning to build this room 6'  tall. The "roof" will allow for storage of extra hay and straw for the animals so we can take advantage of sales without cluttering up the rabbit barn. Buying 5 compressed bales of straw and hay for the critters severely limits the area our bunnies have free to scamper and play in. It also hampers our ability to catch them after free play is over. This is even with the almost 6' expansion of the rabbit barn.

The rest of this side of the 24' length will be for lumber (8x4) and large garden tool storage with a much smaller shelving unit (2x2x5) for storing sacks of perlite, bone and blood meal, Epsom salts and small hand tools and gloves. The large garden tools have a place in the space between the door and runs along a 2' of the walkway between the wall and the platform for the workshop about 6' wide.

As I said before, everything will have a designated space. The yearly cleaning out the barn will be history. There also will be no more hiding spots that Patches, my mouser cat, or Herbie, our rodent hunting dog, can't get to. Although neither of them like snakes very much, they will alert us us to their presence. Patches may play with smaller ones. Both have permission to kill whatever is in the barn. The beauty of this is we'll be able to close the garage door when it doesn't need to be open. Right now, it stays open even in winter.

We may eventually have a barn that really is a barn.  All the livestock we have already have their designated areas so it isn't necessary. But for now, we are using what we have for optimum use.  We even have space to drive the yard tractor in to get it out of the weather. What a novel concept!

The infrastructure plans include a goat area to be built beside the current barn. We'll set up a milking station at the garage door opening and fence off an area between the shelves and the storage room as well as a walk thru area that's the car park area for this purpose. The goats won't mind the sloping area between the barn and the orchard. They might even enjoy it. So long as their house is fairly level ground. There's about a six-foot wide area between the barn and the slope for their house. We can set up other areas for them to play in also on the property. I'm only talking about two or three dwarf Nubians or Nygoras not a full herd of  10-20 goats.

Like this one

The infrastructure future plans also include a chick /chicken grow out area just beyond the well house as soon as we clear it. Not huge, but space enough for ten to twenty birds at a time to be healthy and happy until slaughter. The plan is to raise up these chickens twice a year.

We always insist that our animals be healthy and happy no matter what their eventual disposition may be. Housing our chickens for slaughter needs to be everything they could dream of. Happy, healthy chickens mean a healthier end product for us to consume. We'll also know how they were treated and fed.

That's it for now. ***Please use the contact firm to subscribe to our weekly newsy emails.***

Y'all have a blessed day!

Lessons Learned in Homestead Gardening

For March, the weather is basically wonderful outside. Coolish, near freezing temperatures at night but up in the 60s and 70s during the days. It makes me want to plant the garden outside, but I know better. Just as soon as I put the plants out, it will freeze hard for several days. Just long enough of a freeze to kill whatever I've planted. It hasn't failed to do so the past two years I've been here.

With the warmer weather, Mother Nature has fooled plants into flowering. The roadsides and yards are full of Daffodils and tulips. All the peach trees are in full bloom. Our peach trees last year were in full bloom in April when an arctic blast dumped six inches of snow on us. The result was no peaches. None for the squirrels either. Usually, the squirrels hit my peach and apple trees very hard each year, but not last year. It was slim pickings for all of us.

This year, I've bought some small smudge pots in the hopes of fending off some of the damage these late freezes cause. When we get the 1/4 acre orchard planted we'll be looking for the larger ones, but for right now, these will work. We'll really be working for an abundant harvest this year of fresh fruit from our existing trees. I've invested in bird netting to protect the fruit from birds and maybe a few squirrels. I've also bought a gross of nylon stocking the bag out apples with to prevent the caterpillars and moths from munching on the developing fruit.

New to the orchard this year is the 3 1/2' x 3 1/2' raised pallet herb beds. Mel has been busy constructing these as I type. We are using commercial feed bags from the rabbits to line them before putting our soil mixture in them. Our soil mixture is 2 part native clay soil, 1 part peat moss, 2 parts compost, and for extra drainage we add 1 part sand. Herbs don't like standing in water. As far as "chemicals" go, we add 1/2 cup bone meal, 1/4 cup rock dust, and 1/4 cup blood meal. We'll add additional compost during the growing season for the herbs. This mixture is only added to our newly built beds. Last year's raised herb beds get a thick top dressing of compost. We use the underneath of the raised beds for making compost by layering leaves and rabbit/chicken used bedding.

Nothing goes to waste on our homestead and because of our limited space, everything does double or triple duty.

We've also got the beginnings of our raspberry and grape trellis system being built.  It's slow going with the hard packed Georgia clay. Mel is digging down three feet and placing 4x4x8s in the ground. We actually got the raspberry plants to go into the beds. I know, I know the trellis should have been built first, but I got some heritage canes on sale.  I'm still waiting on the grapes though until the trellises  are finished. I've been drooling over some blueberry plants too. This will complete the first 75' terrace. We've seeded the other terraces with a combination of orchard grass, clover, rye, and diakon radish seed. The rabbits and chickens will be eating well. I may leave a few diakon radishes to grow for me to eat too.

I love making pickled diakon and kim chi with diakon radishes. Yummy for my tummy! I'll even tempura fry the radishes instead of potatoes. They have a bite to them and hold up better like turnip roots. I also use diakon in soups and stews. Okay, I know. I'm making you hungry. I'll stop. This is another example of double or triple use. By seeding the bare soil, it prevents weeds from forming. Or at least, I'll grow the weeds I want.

I also plan on sowing dye flowers and plants in this for now empty part of the orchard. I may even plants some vegetables, I'm not sure yet. I don't expect much from the orchard area this year. But anything is better than nothing. Any plant life will enrich the soil by adding nutrients and help break up the hard clay. Why not let Mother Nature do the work for us if we can? It sounds like a win-win situation.

I know I'm not the only one who looks at huge expanses of gorgeous lawns around town and think, what a waste of space! Sure it looks nice, but other than that, where's the benefits? You could be having an edible food forest on that same landscape. Rip up even half of all that grass and you would never go hungry. Am I right? It only makes sense. I mean you have to weed it, fertilize it, and cut it to keep it looking nice. To me that's empty labor. I'd rather eat. Even when you have an expanse of green lawn, how about some sheep or some goats. They would cut it and fertilize it for you. Even chickens will dethatch it and fertilize it. You will have to do less work and they'll feed and clothe you except for maybe the chickens. I'm all for less work and more benefits. Maybe, it's just my cockeyed way of looking at things around me with a homesteading biased mind. Yes, that sounds better than crazy, doesn't it?

This week we've been revamping the bunny barn. All the cages were taken down and scrubbed. We do this twice a year. Not that we don't clean them in between, we do. But nothing beats a thorough scrubbing. Even the water bottles and J feeders get a once over. It's also the time we give our Angoras their summer crew cuts. Each rabbit is sheared of its fur. They also visit Madame Mel for their manis and pedis. Their ears are treated with mineral oil for treatment and/or prevention of ear mites. This is a quarterly thing with our rabbits. An intense trip to the beauty shop for their makeovers. Not that we don't groom them throughout the year, but this is labor intensive and takes both of us a full week for them all. When you have this much hair, trips to the beauty shop are essential every couple of days. These bunnies only weigh about three pounds with their summer crew cuts, but close to double that fully coated.

We are gearing up the chicken run to give them a constant source of green food. Yes, they'll still get the leftover fodder that the rabbits don't eat, but I was watching YouTube and they showed how to build a feeder out of wire inside the run. How neat is that?  Anyone that has chickens knows that wherever they are kept is devoid of any living plant in short order. So how to keep my hens happy and healthy, while protecting my garden, give them greens in their run. Since I ferment seed for them, it will be nothing to soak a cup or two extra to keep them in constant green food stuff. Even soaking scratch grain will work. It will also give them an activity to do. An unlimited salad for their pleasure. So that's the plan for one corner of the chicken run. But unlike the video, I'm going to build the framework out of 2x4 lumber. These birds weigh greater than five pounds a piece, I can see them crushing a wire set up rather quickly without the extra support. Let's see if Mel will let me build something?

That's it for this week.

Y'all have a blessed day.