Recent content by flyingtnh

We've had Muscovy ducks for about 3 years now, and probably a couple hundred ducklings hatched. In fact, one of our hens got a bit off-cycle this year and hatched a clutch a couple weeks ago with snow on the ground. Every year, we'll have a few ducklings get what we call "Floppy Duckling...

The guy who we bought our farm from raised emus. He had four 8x8 sheds (one is 16x8 because it has an attached feed room) for nesting pairs. We've converted one to a coop, another to a duck house, and a third to a goat shed when we need to separate the flock (it may become our ram house). The...

Their patterns are starting to develop now that the wing and tail feathers are popping. I've posted some updated pics on the blog. We're pretty sure on 2 of the 3, and have a good guess on the third. http://flyingtnh.wordpress.com/2013/01/17/mystery-chicks-contest-update-2-5-weeks/

Ours don't do much flying. We have EEs, Barred Rocks, RIRs, and Australorps. All doing just fine, but son decided to start specializing in BRs this year.

We surprised our 8yo "chicken-man" (our son, who runs the egg business on the farm) by adding 3 hatchery-choice chicks to his last order. I've posted pics of the mystery chicks on our blog and am running a just-for-fun contest to allow folks to guess the breeds. Feel free to join in...

Our 8yo son received 32 new chicks this morning to replace the older girls this Spring. 28 BR females (included a "mealmaker" and 2 extras added by Meyer), 2 BR males, and 3 hatchery choice. 100% live arrival. Kids are having fun now trying to figure out what the 3 mystery chicks are. Will...

Been a while since I've checked in, but I thought I'd give a relative newbie report on our experiences free-ranging. We started our first chicks in early 2011, so we're approaching 2 years with them. Since the first ones hit about 6 weeks or so, they've been free ranged - the auto-door locks...

Just finished our new brooder for use in the garage - temps dropping to 0F with 30ish chicks arriving. We'd been using a dog kennel before, but with a larger number of chicks (and plans for meaties this year), I'm building two of these guys, with plans to stack them. We may also use them to...

The boy and his bird!

Pics and details to follow once we unpack, but kids' results from the Hopkinton State Fair in NH: - 8yo son was too young to enter in 4H, so had to compete in the open class. His Barred Rock roo won Best Standard Cock in Show! - Daughters both won 4H "Grade A" blue ribbons for their muscovy...

We are very sure that free ranging is the right answer for us (I guess we're not 100% free-range, as our coop auto-door locks them up at night), but it comes with risks. We've lost (surprisingly few) birds to predators. We don't get full egg production because some of the hens find ingenious...

I thought some other goat folks might find this useful. We had a hard time finding a goat stand that we could pack up for the 4H shows/fairs (and still afford), and when I looked for plans on the net I didn't find anything quite like what we wanted. So I designed ours from scratch to...

We've got just a few left, but I wanted to add some explanation about what we mean when we say "local pickup only," and why we say it. Sorry it's wordy, but I've gotten a few "interesting" inquiries and propositions, so here goes: What we mean: We won't ship. Period. We can make...

Our girls took photos of some of the remaining Juvies from our first flock that haven't been sold or reserved for their 4H show this fall. They're on our website (www.flyingtnh.com) under "Livestock for Sale," but here are a couple pics. Midnight hatched another 16 last week! Two...

We have posted pictures of our available Muscovy Ducks on our webpage - www.flyingtnh.com - check out the "Livestock for Sale" page. The barred (our girls have named her "The General") is still available.