Colorado

[Pozees]

Sounds like a positive thing. Cold, foggy and I am eating fresh rhubarb cake because I was chilled from being in the garden planting things and raking.
Guess I'll sunbathe tomorrow.....

Rhubarb cake? Recipe?

Ok CO peeps, get your creative caps on... we need a farm name!

Some info ...
The land is 5 acres, mostly open land with wildflowers.
We have chickens, 3 dogs (jasmine, basil, and barley), a cat (rocky), and plan to get a couple horses, a dexter cow, and possibly a goat.
My daughter loves owls and I love dragonflies (though I don't think we'll have either around).
Street name is Arrowhead Trail
I am part cherokee. DH and I are both German. I'm also Belgian and Irish, and he's also Italian.
People have a hard time pronouncing our last name so that's out.


Some of the names we've thought of:
3 Owl Farm
Wise Owl Farm
Dragonfly Farm
Sweet Peep Farm

Ideas? Have a favorite of the above?

Owlfly Farm?

 

[Mtn Margie]

This is the one that I made. Pretty tasty! - even if you leave it in the oven a bit too long because you are out playing baseball with the kids and your son in charge of watching the oven forgets to tell you that the timer went off....

caramelized the top a wee bit.
http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Rhubarb-Cake-I/Detail.aspx?evt19=1


Hey Minchi, glad you stopped by and said HI! Cute babies.

 

[Pozees]

Thanks! Our rhubarb has not been especially productive this year but I should be able to harvest enough for this

 

[BoogieBird]

I've been a looky-loo over the last few years and am just now getting into this full force!

My daughter loves to hatch and hand-raise her chicks! Her current project involves English Orpingtons that are 11wks. She is trying to sell some to raise money for her dream: to own a horse. She has:

4 Chocolate UK (in-between LF and Bantam) - 3 pullets, 1 cockerel
1 BBS English (LF) - 1 Black pullet

vaccinated, from a NPIP certified farm in Ohio.

OMG they are so sweet and soft. I'd love to keep them all but we are out of space here in Denver and can't wait until late summer when we move to our Strasburg farm. The adult pic is where they came from, the pullet pic is at 9 weeks.

In Ohio they sell young pullets at $80 and 4wk pairs at $100+...make a reasonable offer (willing to split)?

Anyone interested??? Maybe for 4H, Fair, or Show?

Thanks!
Bonnie

 

[Mtn Margie]

I've been a looky-loo over the last few years and am just now getting into this full force!

My daughter loves to hatch and hand-raise her chicks! Her current project involves English Orpingtons that are 11wks. She is trying to sell some to raise money for her dream: to own a horse. She has:

4 Chocolate UK (in-between LF and Bantam) - 3 pullets, 1 cockerel
1 BBS English (LF) - 1 Black pullet

vaccinated, from a NPIP certified farm in Ohio.

OMG they are so sweet and soft. I'd love to keep them all but we are out of space here in Denver and can't wait until late summer when we move to our Strasburg farm. The adult pic is where they came from, the pullet pic is at 9 weeks.

In Ohio they sell young pullets at $80 and 4wk pairs at $100+...make a reasonable offer (willing to split)?

Anyone interested??? Maybe for 4H, Fair, or Show?

Thanks!
Bonnie

Wow! Those are some very nice chickens. Hooray for your daughter and I hope she gets them sold.

 

[maggiemo]

Beautiful birds. Maybe post on the for sale section here too?

 

[maggiemo]

Can you guys look at this set up and tell me how many birds I can put in here? I got this A-frame chicken tractor on craigslist, and the roof too. The tractor is 8' X 4'. The fencing is 100 feet X about 80 feet. The roof is, I don't know, 12' X 14'.
I just want chickens out here in the summer to keep the weeds down in the orchard and kick up the mulch to help aerate and fertilize the trees. I have my old girls out here now, 5 of them. I am wondering if I can get a few more or is this about capacity? I know there is lots of room everywhere but the tractor. What do you guys think? How many birds in this situation?
Thanks.
mo
ps. the little structure in the foreground is an attachment for the tractor to give them more room to graze. I think they have enough room, it just serves as more shade.

 

[Pozees]

Can you guys look at this set up and tell me how many birds I can put in here? I got this A-frame chicken tractor on craigslist, and the roof too. The tractor is 8' X 4'. The fencing is 100 feet X about 80 feet. The roof is, I don't know, 12' X 14'.
I just want chickens out here in the summer to keep the weeds down in the orchard and kick up the mulch to help aerate and fertilize the trees. I have my old girls out here now, 5 of them. I am wondering if I can get a few more or is this about capacity? I know there is lots of room everywhere but the tractor. What do you guys think? How many birds in this situation?
Thanks.
mo
ps. the little structure in the foreground is an attachment for the tractor to give them more room to graze. I think they have enough room, it just serves as more shade.

Excellent job! Between the tractor and the roof, if the roof structure would be used as sleeping quarters, you have room for 50 adult LF, assuming 4 square feet per bird interior. The grazing are you have fenced is 8000 square feet, and giving 10 feet per bird grazing you could theoretically range as many as 800 birds, but there wouldn't be enough room inside the structures.

My fear is always birds of prey, but I swallow my fear and let out each group I have to free range several times a week once they have reached laying age, and the benefits outweigh the risks. If I was losing birds to predators I would change my mind, but so far the only bird I've lost free ranging was the Blue Cochin hen taken by a neighbor's dog last year, protecting her chick. I still feel awful about that. She was a wonderful bird and we miss her.

 

[maggiemo]

Thanks for the reply Judi.
I should have been more specific. I am using the tractor for sleeping and laying. THAT is where the problem lays.
I am not too worried about predators, a little, not a lot. The entire 2 1/2 acres is fenced with either 4 or 6 foot high fencing and THAT has electric fencing on it. We have three dogs. I haven't ever seen any evidence of predators since we electrified the perimeter of the property.
I am hoping to get maybe three more birds in here? Does the small area of the tractor negate the large other areas?

 

[Pozees]

Thanks for the reply Judi.
I should have been more specific. I am using the tractor for sleeping and laying. THAT is where the problem lays.
I am not too worried about predators, a little, not a lot. The entire 2 1/2 acres is fenced with either 4 or 6 foot high fencing and THAT has electric fencing on it. We have three dogs. I haven't ever seen any evidence of predators since we electrified the perimeter of the property.
I am hoping to get maybe three more birds in here? Does the small area of the tractor negate the large other areas?

No, if you are only using it for sleeping and laying, you have 32 square feet and that means 8 adult LF. If you use the add-on, even more. Truthfully, you could probably put 10 or 12 out there and they will be comfortable as long as there is plenty of ventilation, which most of those A-frames do have. It is not uncommon to see 2 square feet recommended for coop space per bird, and I think that's too snug (although in winter the birds may beg to differ LOL). You should be fine adding another 3.