Kristen’s Chickens and Farming Ventures

[Aussie-Chookmum]

...or, upon closer inspection, try attaching the ramp to the the floor "lip" below the entrance. That would also lower the angle of the ramp and they would only have to hop over the threshold.

Ramp looks fine to me, angle is not too steep...cleats may be be a bit too tall

I think Aart may be on to something here. Try taking the cleats off or replacing them with smaller pieces like beading?

 

[Kris5902]

Well the meat gals seem to have figured out their ramp, but they still don’t like it. I’ll try reducing the size of the cleats when I get a chance. That might be helpful for them. They can hop or “fly” (look... I’m a real bird! There’s a lot of flapping involved) onto the 4x4 I was using to elevate their waterer, so they are fairly active despite their size They went in of their own accord tonight, but Big Red parked herself with her head in the doorway, so there was still a little adjustment needed. The cleats are the same size as the ones on my other tractors 1x2”, no one else has had an issue with it, but they are all lighter and more agile birds (just don’t tell the curvy girls I said that though!)

Today was mostly cleaning for me, and rendering some fat for soapmaking. Yesterday the cows broke into the barn while Andrew and I were down prepping the Abbatoir for the first Beef slaughter, so there was a lot of tidying that up. They destroyed my work table, brooder tub, broke a couple chicken feeders and peed on the floor, but all the chickens and heat plates came through ok. Sammy was having fits when we got home, but with a little reorganizing and setting the “coop” to rights he calmed back down. One of my favorite steers was spared, as he managed to go through the chute twice, but rump first and backing up through it. Smart Boy... so I will have another month or so of cuddles from him.

We finally got Andrews business cards printed and stamped up, and have been prepping for the market tomorrow. I stripped Mrs Marans of her hen saddle and she has three feathers trying to regrow under it. I’m making a couple more, but it’s slow going sewing them up by hand. I believe that we are going to be giving Mr Marans a fairly solid pedicure, hopefully that will help a little with the wear on the ladies backs.

 

[rjohns39]

Good morning Kris

@Kris5902 I thought that you might find this video of butchering 200 chicken's (1,400 pound's) in one day interesting? Now, that's a lot of chicken!

I learned to process birds watching them do it at Polyface farms. with an 8 person crew, they do 200 birds per hour. But they have all the best toys.

 

[Kris5902]

Good morning Kris

I learned to process birds watching them do it at Polyface farms. with an 8 person crew, they do 200 birds per hour. But they have all the best toys.

I would love to have the opportunity to see Polyface farm one day. The Abbatoirs we have our birds processed at are probably about that speed, but they only have 4 person or less crews. I’m a huge fan of Joel Salatin’s farming philosophy and his writing. He’s also a great speaker.

The market went ok today, not great, but still not our worst day. I’ll be doing our last Candling and setting the eggs into lockdown on Tuesday for our hatch due on the 27th. Today I also managed to hand sew from an old pair of jeans (don’t laugh, they might not be pretty, but they will work) two hen saddles, based on the one I bought online for Mrs Marans. One of her new feathers was broken off and bleeding a bit this morning, but she seem to be doing ok. Here are some adorable froggies I saw yesterday while rendering fat (I had to relocate the little green one to somewhere safer) and my little sewing project.

 

[BlueBaby]

@Kris5902 As long as they work is what matter's. The girl's aren't going to a fashion show.

 

[rjohns39]

Good morning Kris

My babies moved to grass yesterday and the teens moved into their new house. I had one girl escape be we managed to wrangle her back up.

 

[Aussie-Chookmum]

I would love to have the opportunity to see Polyface farm one day. The Abbatoirs we have our birds processed at are probably about that speed, but they only have 4 person or less crews. I’m a huge fan of Joel Salatin’s farming philosophy and his writing. He’s also a great speaker.

The market went ok today, not great, but still not our worst day. I’ll be doing our last Candling and setting the eggs into lockdown on Tuesday for our hatch due on the 27th. Today I also managed to hand sew from an old pair of jeans (don’t laugh, they might not be pretty, but they will work) two hen saddles, based on the one I bought online for Mrs Marans. One of her new feathers was broken off and bleeding a bit this morning, but she seem to be doing ok. Here are some adorable froggies I saw yesterday while rendering fat (I had to relocate the little green one to somewhere safer) and my little sewing project.

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Those froggies are adorable, and so are those hen saddles. They look pretty well done to me!

 

[BY Bob]

I would love to have the opportunity to see Polyface farm one day. The Abbatoirs we have our birds processed at are probably about that speed, but they only have 4 person or less crews. I’m a huge fan of Joel Salatin’s farming philosophy and his writing. He’s also a great speaker.

The market went ok today, not great, but still not our worst day. I’ll be doing our last Candling and setting the eggs into lockdown on Tuesday for our hatch due on the 27th. Today I also managed to hand sew from an old pair of jeans (don’t laugh, they might not be pretty, but they will work) two hen saddles, based on the one I bought online for Mrs Marans. One of her new feathers was broken off and bleeding a bit this morning, but she seem to be doing ok. Here are some adorable froggies I saw yesterday while rendering fat (I had to relocate the little green one to somewhere safer) and my little sewing project.

View attachment 1914502 View attachment 1914503 View attachment 1914504 View attachment 1914505 View attachment 1914506

I find those hen saddles both utilitarian and attractive. I'm sure the ladies will go around showing them off. Check me out!

 

[Kris5902]

Good morning Kris

My babies moved to grass yesterday and the teens moved into their new house. I had one girl escape be we managed to wrangle her back up.

It’s more than time for my littles to move out of the barn and to grass as well. But we are getting pretty heavy rain again, and I need to either build out another tractor or move the teens in with a rooster. If I try to move the teens in with a Rooster then I’ll need to figure out where to put the other two Roosters from my bachelor pen. I want to get them all set up with girls but with just 12 pullets from my June Hatch there’s still not enough ladies for everyone, and I want to make sure they are old enough to hang out with the boys without issues. I’m considering sending my backup Barnvelder Rooster in with the cockerels on the 3rd of October, but that still leaves me with one extra Rooster thanks to my acquisition of Roostie the meat Boy. And I keep looking at one of Chickie Hawks Boys (the one that is twice the size of the others and developed super quickly) thinking “well, maybe just one more isn’t too bad an idea... he’s just so good and large!”

I feel for you on the escapee. Every morning now it seems I spend a good half hour rounding up an escaped cockerel or two. One is a repeat offender (every single day, and he gets smarter and harder to catch each time!); I’m sure his legs will be extra meaty thanks to all the exercise in playing “escape the food bringer”. After the boys are processed I will be able to move the littles out for sure, and a whole new batch can learn to escape! The meat bird tractors may function ok as grow out pens for a while, but once the little guys figure out their wings all bets are off.

 

[rjohns39]

I often feel like I'm living Just in time farming (actually always a little late)