Last night we took our 2 remaining turkeys and 5 roosters to the processor. The roosters were all Barred Hollands from the batch of heritage breed chickens I ordered in the spring. I had high hopes for the heritage breeds but the Barred Holland is not a winner in my book. The roos are very aggressive, much like the Barred Rock rooster that we gave away to our neighbor last year because he was beating up all the other birds. I watched them for quite awhile during feeding and the Holland roosters would grab feathers out of the other birds for no reason at all. The Buckeye hens were taking a real beating because they are so docile. I’m very happy with the Buckeyes and the Buff Chanteclers so far, more on that some other time. I googled how to cut up a chicken and studied several of the results. Last time I attempted to cut up some hens it didn’t go well. This time I removed both legs and both wings, then I cut the birds through the ribcage on each side. I discarded the back and neck and kept all of the other pieces to make canned chicken
Continue readingCategory: chickens
They’re chickens, not ducks!
So the chickens are drinking so much in this hot weather that we drug the hose right out there. Every few days we drag it back and fill the other animal’s big tanks. Tonight I went out and watered the chickens… then I came back up and we worked on the fence for about 3 hours. We finished it and weaned the lambs by putting them out on pasture and leaving the ewes in the garage. I’m hoping their milk will dry up this week – they won’t get any grain and will have only old hay this week. The babies are crying but the moms don’t seem to mind much right now. Once the hard work was all done Brian went up to grab a pail of water for the lambs. Guess what? I had left the hose water on. For. 3. hours. Brian suggested I go check and see if they needed a life raft. They didn’t, since there shelter was there raft surrounded by 2 inches of water on all sides. I knew I put a floor in that thing for a reason!! Too bad the flooding wasn’t Mother Nature’s fault instead of mine. What a waste.
Continue readingPoultry Update – Cattle Panel Shelter – Pics
Well, the eggmobile sits empty. Part of the reason we finished it when we did was because the rooster was getting so mean I could hardly get the eggs anymore. Once the birds were out on pasture I could easily gather them at least once a day. Sadly, the hens must have learned to eat their eggs during that week when I wasn’t collecting them very often. I first culled the rooster and one hen that I suspected as being the culprit. Unfortunately, the eating continued and we were forced to cull the remaining 5 hens. I am very glad that this happened with such a small flock and not the large one that I hope to have in the future. Lesson learned here: no matter what – get those eggs!! So, now we have around 121 chickens and no eggs! I haven’t decided yet if I’m going to buy a few layers to get us by or just get our eggs from a friend for now. If I bring in new layers now I’ll have to mix them with the heritage breed flock when they start laying. If I don’t get any now then I’ll have to stop trying
Continue readingCattle Panel Chicken Shelter: Part 1
This have been a bit crazy around here lately and I plan to update y’all soon. In the meantime I want to share how we’re building another great (hopefully) chicken shelter. I used treated 2″x4″ lumber for the base. The two side boards are 10′ long and the three in the middle are 12′ long. Place the 10′ boards on the outside on the 12′ boards as shown. You’ll need 3 sheets of 4’x8′ treated plywood to make the floor. There are plenty of good designs out there for shelters without floors. I have too much money and time invested in our broilers to risk losing them to predators or flooding, thus I want a floor. With the 2″x4″s set up the way I have them the plywood will not fit perfectly. I did this on purpose to provide as much floor space as possible. Position the plywood in from the edges the width of the 2″x4″. There may still be a small gap but the sides angle in enough that I don’t think it will cause any problems. Or, if you’d prefer, you can frame it to fit exactly. Here you can see the cattle panels on and the
Continue readingBuilding An Eggmobile: Part 2
This is a follow up post to Building An Eggmobile: Part 1. I apologize for not taking pictures of each step this time. We were both wore out and just wanted the thing done! Tall side: We went with a chicken wire front here for ventilation with intentions of a roll down tarp to cover the front if needed. The door is split with a small door at the bottom. This was easier than making separate little doors for the chickens. One end: You can see the black soot from the fire. We salvaged all the siding from the shed that burned. The front end with the hitch. We’ll use the four wheeler to move it around and prop it up so it will sit level. The rear aspect: This is our favorite part!! No more squatting down to reach for eggs while Mr. Rooster plans his attack on your hind end. The egg door opens downward so you don’t have to hold it up while gathering eggs. I put a little straw in the boxes for now but would like to switch to washable mats. Umm…a little privacy please!? Here’s what is left to do:Secure a board across the
Continue readingThe Chickens Have Moved In!
The hens seem to love their new nest boxes!! As soon as I put straw in them they were all about it. There were 3 1/2 hens in one box at one point. Overall, we’re both thrilled with how it turned out, at least so far. I’m not going to post many details tonight because I’m exhausted! Brian and I haven’t been in the house before 10 o’clock since Tuesday night, thus the lack of posts since then. We worked on the eggmobile Wednesday and Thursday nights. Tonight he worked ground while I mulched the garden and cleaned out the old coop. I’ll let it air out tonight and move the new chicks out there in the morning. Have a good one! 🙂
Continue readingChick City and a Rough Night
Well, Becker Farms is now the proud home of 99 Colored Range chicks! They arrived Friday and I was able to get them home from the post office and settled before going to work. I took the above video that morning. Aren’t they fun to watch! I’m thrilled with how vigorous they are. I didn’t have to show them how to eat or drink, they just jumped right in. They do need a bigger space so I’m going to work on the eggmobile today. Right now the chicks are in our basement. Once the big chickens are out the old coop is going to be our brooding space. We did have one fatality yesterday, it was very weird and I still don’t know why it happened. The chick had a bum leg and a sore on it’s belly. Honestly, it looked like a little piece of intestine had come out and wrapped around the leg. It was horrible and I hope it doesn’t happen again! On the plus side, the rest are doing great! Apparently I was super worried about the chicks last night. The night went something like this: 9 PM – Hubby takes a shower, I start to
Continue readingBuilding An Eggmobile: Part 1
This weekend we began building our eggmobile. The intention is to use it for our laying flock during the warmer months, in conjunction with an electric poultry net. I told Brian to pretend it was a fun project. He was not convinced! 😉 I bought the trailer from my Dad for $40. It is made from the bed of an old S-10 pickup. The deck measures approx. 5′ x 8′. First, a little planning… 5×8= 40 sq. ft.Approx 1 sq. ft. per bird = 40 bird maximum1 nest box per 4 hens = 10 nest boxes minimumI also calculated perch requirements but don’t have the figures in front of me… We wanted a single sloping roof to make construction easier. I didn’t want to lose floor space so we added a 1′ overhang to the floor on one of the long sides, thus making a nice spot for the nest boxes. First we put on a base made of 2×4’s. Brian drilled in to the metal frame and bolted the boards right to it. We salvaged the 2x4s from pieces that didn’t burn on our shed, so they didn’t cost us anything. That means I spent most of my time
Continue readingA Few Turkeys!
Last year at this time I brought home some chicks from the feed store so I could gain experience with egg layers. After having them all year I felt confident enough to order some heritage chicks that will arrive next month. I think that someday I would like to offer turkeys to our customers, especially around the holidays. Of course I want to raise a heritage breed but they are very expense and usually have minimum order requirements. I’ve heard turkeys are much more fragile than chickens but have never raised them myself. So…today I brought home 3 Bronze White turkey poults from the feed store. They’ll be good to practice with and maybe we’ll even have our own turkey dinner next winter! In the meantime I’m just going to enjoy how cute they are and pray that the cat does not break in and eat them since they are currently living in our basement. I’ll keep you posted on how this project goes! Any turkey advice to share?
Continue readingVisitors!
I just love it when people come to visit our farm. I hope people take me seriously when I invite them out because having visitors is one of my favorite things about living on the farm. Especially when the visits include children. I get a kick out of their reactions and how their eyes light right up. Today we had our good friends over with a whole group of little ones. The smaller children were a little leery of the lambs at first but I think everyone petted them eventually. Of course the mama sheep were more than happy to be bribed with all of the corn the kids fed them. Next, I brought out a hen for them to feel and passed out eggs to the older kids. That didn’t last too long because of the potential for breakage but they were pretty excited to hold them for a few minutes. Then, everyone trudged out in the cold to pet the horses. Pooh Bear and Pistol stole the show but I believe they were wondering were their treats were. I invited them all back in a month or two when we’ll have baby chicks to see. How fun! Do
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