Kristen’s Chickens and Farming Ventures

[Kris5902]

Little furry lunatics! Lol. I tried to get a shot of the moon, but it just didn’t work. I had to put it behind the tree for the camera to behave. I really should look into a “real” camera...

 

[Kris5902]

As to the hatch being “successful” if no major deformities, deaths, or issues is the criteria then this one was 100%. A 60% hatch rate is ok, but if you consider the 41 eggs I initially set, that’s a 14.6% hatch rate... not so good. But there were some clear fertility/viability issues, I’m guessing with the cold weather and just getting started after winter?

 

[BlueBaby]

I’m getting a little tired of eating eggs!

Two and a half days collection, not showing the four I held for hatching, and three or four I just fed straight back to them...
View attachment 2046075
The dirty ones are all going back to the girls, and that should be solved when I put in the nest boxes again... I do two egg collections a day (or more) usually, but having been out all day yesterday there was a bit of a pile up, and they got more dirty than usual... scrabbling, rolling them under the roosts, pooping on someone else’s egg for spite?

Better watch out for letting those egg's build up. The squabbling and rolling could end up breaking egg's, and then they will discover how delicious that they are. I thought that you were going to be selling some of them.

 

[Don 27]

Hi! And welcome @Don 27 you’ve asked lots of great questions there. The land was originally bought for agricultural use, and quite reasonably priced, due to the economy at the time. They basically bought the entire south side of the island and it was water access only (still technically is). It was logged and cleared as much as possible (we are still using some of the last logs from the 80’s? for firewood!). So, they made very good money on the timber, and created the pasture and hay fields at the same time. We are a meat farm that has primarily focused on beef and lamb. Sadly a good amount of the acreage is taken up by a fair sized ridge. This is the farm, with the red area being mostly vertical. View attachment 2045406
This is what it used to look like before the family falling out that led to the sale of what would become the vineyard (it was really nice pasture) DH’s grandmother’s brother had a “falling out” (read huge argument) with DH’s grandfather (his sister’s husband) and the sale was, to put it politely, a big f-you to him. So now we have neighbors...
View attachment 2045413
The blue area was purchased in the 90’s by my husband’s aunt, it’s an old horse farm with decent hay. But it’s on the far side of the island.
View attachment 2045414
The land that was sold to Parks Canada was sold for a premium (it’s just a tiny strip along the southern edge of the property), and it isn’t highly useable for farming anyway as it’s mostly very rocky sandstone cliffs. We can also still graze our livestock on it, as we are a “fence out” area and it’s perfectly legal here! Aside from “lost” (lazy) trespassing hikers with dogs leaving our gates open and annoying the animals and us (do I walk into your backyard topless and filthy in sandals and a man bun, with an unleashed dog to harass your pets? No. So why is it okay for you to do that to us? ) it’s not really a problem, and then it’s mostly in summer.

So we are mostly hay, pasture, silvopasture and livestock oriented. With a reasonable garden for primarily personal use.View attachment 2045440View attachment 2045435View attachment 2045436View attachment 2045437View attachment 2045438View attachment 2045439

nice farm! I enjoy field work to.. also I Appreciate all the areal photos.! Amazing place it is always interests how man can turn a bunch of woods into a huge beautiful farm. Looks like you have a good harvest . I'm glad people like you still farm with animals and pasture. Most people around here get their meat from factories that's why all the hay fields look like this.

That fields is full of young trees that would be a big job to clear out by hand but that's nothing compared to clearing it by hand when it was a forest . The pastures near the barn looks even worse . A lot of the farms around here are going away. Each farm with its old hand made house and barn dating back to the 1800.s ..


Jeez those people at the park don't sound considerate at all. (That's so annoying). .it least you still get to use some of the park land.
Correct me if I'm wrong but it's you're husband's grandmother's son who wanted part of the farm, so he bought what is now called the vineyard?. That's to bad it was nice pasture. ... (What huge argument)? That's a good sized garden as well .here's a picture of the farm I live on not long after it started to get developed..

the woods in front of the first new house with in the white line near the road use to be the cow pasture. The white line circles what the farmer use to own 60acres. the house Across the street was built by the original farmers brother back in the 1800s. Both farmers built their houses and barns diagonal with Each other . But Over the years the two farms have went in different directions one add on to his barn and pasture while the other parceled off. I got to talk with the farmers great great grandchild or so he says he is, the guy must have been in his 80s, but that's how I know so much about the farm. He said the land has been in his family forever.


Thanks for taking time out of your day to tell us about your farm !

 

[BY Bob]

So about those chicks....

So far I’m quite happy with the way this staggered hatch is turning out. Of my 10 eggs 6 have hatched and are doing well. I’ve got three Sapphire Marans, two black and one yellow. I think the black ones may be sex linked, in which case I have one male. Chickie Hawk has another two daughters (hopefully), and Bob is a daddy, the mama was the old HyLine. That chick had some issues, mainly with turtling in the incubator. I think she was trying to dry her belly fluff out or something? After six flips I decided to just move her to the brooder. Once I transferred her into the tote she stayed in a normal upright position. I love the Brinsea EcoGlow heating plates! Probably my best chicken decision in this whole experience so far.

Hatchling #1 (you can’t see the white dot on his head here but.... maybe a sex link?)
View attachment 2045760
And here with his new sisters

The other eggs don’t look promising, but I will leave them in until the next lockdown cycle happens on Tuesday. That includes the CX, one pure double laced Barnvelder, one from Chickie Hawk, and One sapphire Maran which had a very lopsided aircell at day 14 candling. Here a photo of it I was going to post last week before things got so busy.
View attachment 2045759

Yesterday was long, very long. But profitable. Morning chores and then off for cleanup landscaping work from 10-2:30. DH did 10-1:30 so about 8 hrs total at $25/hr then it was off to work at the pub 2-8 for poor Andrew. I walked down after I finished up at the rec center to change shoes, try to update my phone and computer over their (“best on the island” WiFi) had lunch and a beer. I got DH’s tip $ from last week, borrowed his phone for some music, and walked up to the store and back to kill some time, it’s about an hour... (@aart will love this...) leaving my laptop and phone unattended/secured near the back door of the pub to finish the update. The Corey isn’t on the island . We also had about $2000 of landscaping tools/machinery, DH’s laptop and a case of beer I added in the unlocked truck. “You might be an islander if...”

What was really annoying is this is what I returned to for my phone, and there’s some sort of I tunes update my computer just can’t seem to get installed. It’s a 2009? (Maybe 2010?) 18” MacBook Pro, and an iPhone 7 or 8 Plus.
View attachment 2045763

So I decided to walk home, with a nearly full moon I didn’t even need a flashlight. All together I think I had about 3 1/2 to 4 hours of walking, and some fairly steep hills. I wish my phone camera could take better nighttime/low light photos, because it was absolutely beautiful despite the light rain.
View attachment 2045761
View attachment 2045860
Red dot: Pub Green dot: Store
Yellow dot: Farm house/utilities
Blue dot: Trailer/house build
Orange line: my walk, (purple lines are steep hills)
And the shaded “parks” are very rough indications on this map (especially where it borders the farm!)

You are so cool. Just take a 4 hour walk home. No biggie. You impress me all the time.

The chicks are so cute. I love our heat plate. I would not do chicks without one.

 

[BY Bob]

Same with Blossom. As if she's ever been let her out after dark.

I think Isabel killed Davis' mouse friend last night. She can blame it on the moon. The mouse was in the middle of ther living room floor. As a reward I let her sun herself on ther dining room table. Not bad for an arthritic 17 year old cat.

 

[BY Bob]

Little furry lunatics! Lol. I tried to get a shot of the moon, but it just didn’t work. I had to put it behind the tree for the camera to behave. I really should look into a “real” camera...
View attachment 2046163

That photo is spectacular! Nicely done Kris.

 

[rjohns39]

Good morning Kris

 

[Kris5902]

Better watch out for letting those egg's build up. The squabbling and rolling could end up breaking egg's, and then they will discover how delicious that they are. I thought that you were going to be selling some of them.

I’m selling, and the market will pick up again in a few months for sure. I’ve now got a deal for 4 dozen a week at the local cafe. And I’m giving the pullet eggs away whenever possible to people who need food (we have quite an economic divide on the island). I pulled the eggs out of the roosting boxes, but hadn’t gotten to packaging them. Only the pullet eggs built up in with the chickens overnight. No way was I crawling into the back of the 2’ high meat tractor/grow out pen/temporary housing in the middle of the night!

 

[Kris5902]

nice farm! I enjoy field work to.. also I Appreciate all the areal photos.! Amazing place it is always interests how man can turn a bunch of woods into a huge beautiful farm. Looks like you have a good harvest . I'm glad people like you still farm with animals and pasture. Most people around here get their meat from factories that's why all the hay fields look like this.View attachment 2045629 That fields is full of young trees that would be a big job to clear out by hand but that's nothing compared to clearing it by hand when it was a forest . The pastures near the barn looks even worse . A lot of the farms around here are going away. Each farm with its old hand made house and barn dating back to the 1800.s ..


Jeez those people at the park don't sound considerate at all. (That's so annoying). .it least you still get to use some of the park land.
Correct me if I'm wrong but it's you're husband's grandmother's son who wanted part of the farm, so he bought what is now called the vineyard?. That's to bad it was nice pasture. ... (What huge argument)? That's a good sized garden as well .here's a picture of the farm I live on not long after it started to get developed.. View attachment 2045670the woods in front of the first new house with in the white line near the road use to be the cow pasture. The white line circles what the farmer use to own 60acres. the house Across the street was built by the original farmers brother back in the 1800s. Both farmers built their houses and barns diagonal with Each other . But Over the years the two farms have went in different directions one add on to his barn and pasture while the other parceled off. I got to talk with the farmers great great grandchild or so he says he is, the guy must have been in his 80s, but that's how I know so much about the farm. He said the land has been in his family forever.


Thanks for taking time out of your day to tell us about your farm !

That is really cool! I love the history and traditions of farming and the rich past in so many states. And some of the old pole barns! Compared to that we are a relatively new farm. There’s a book on the family somewhere here, that was locally published, and it goes into some depth. If I can find one I’m going to read it. Of course it doesn’t cover the whole juicy family gossip that led to some of those decisions. It’s DH’s family farm, I’m just a silly city girl with a passion for farming and working with animals and gardening. They literally owned the entire south side of the island to start. Then his Grandmother’s brother had a disagreement with Grandmother’s husband, and sold off most of “his” share of the farm to an outside party. This became a vineyard and a housing strata. There aren’t many actual farms on our island, most just do the minimum to stay in the better property tax bracket.

There are a lot of vacation homes, many well to do retirees, and the permanent resident population is about 350, now heavily skewed to the baby boomer generation. I’ll be 38 this month, DH is 46 and a December baby. We are considered youngsters. Farming being such a glamourous lifestyle, his cousins are chomping at the bit to leave their careers and sign up for a retirement filled with hard labor. Everyone loves the pastoral beauty, but when it comes to a week of back breaking haying, culling a sick baby lamb (that could have been saved had someone called us in earlier ) or OMG... handling the bull?!? Suddenly the helpers aren’t so eager.