Kristen’s Chickens and Farming Ventures

[rjohns39]

Morning Kris

 

[BY Bob]

there are two hayfields out here, the one that worries me is the smaller of the two... and yes they only grow hay in it... it’s used for pasture in the fall and winter though. There are also two large fields of pasture out here on our side of the draw, a pond and ravine with a little stream heading to the ocean and a large wooded section then another large clearing out to the ocean. The hayfield that was harvested is coming back fine and green, it’s just the dried up dead grass in the one that they elected not to mow that’s a big fire risk, I think we also just went to the extreme warning level not on a complete equipment ban yet, but it’s probably coming in August...

So, here’s an outline of the farm, duh I have a phone that I can edit pictures on... sometimes I forget these things! The red squiggle is the ridge/cliff, and there’s a little strip of national parks on our southern property line, we have most of the clearing by the beach as our property, but some of it is also parks.
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The field I’m worried about is the red one, black dot is our house site, purple dot where our water tank will be, blue dot is our undeveloped spring. The trailer is where the map blue dot is. Purple line where I ran the meat birds along the tree line. Yellow rectangles are two fields of pasture, green is the hayfield that was mowed mid June and is coming back decently green. The draw with the stream is the wooded area west of the trailer dot. Blue squiggle is parks-ish. I forgot to mention just north of the mowed field are the logs from clearing the fields some 40+ years ago. Which is used as firewood. I think this beats my hand drawn map from a while ago

It’s funny how much a picture helps to better understand what you are talking about. I may just print this off and carry it with me for future reference! Just like a map in a book that describes a famous battle somewhere. Very handy! Thanks!

As per the dry field. That is very close to living quarters. I can’t imagine that it would be easy to get equipment to it if it started burning. I feel your anxiety all they here in PA. Do the tourists ever traverse that field on their way to the coast?

 

[Kris5902]

It’s funny how much a picture helps to better understand what you are talking about. I may just print this off and carry it with me for future reference! Just like a map in a book that describes a famous battle somewhere. Very handy! Thanks!

As per the dry field. That is very close to living quarters. I can’t imagine that it would be easy to get equipment to it if it started burning. I feel your anxiety all they here in PA. Do the tourists ever traverse that field on their way to the coast?

Our road runs past it... if I catch tourists smoking on our property

 

[Kris5902]

Morning Bob! Made soap today with my little helper... and discovered what I think might be a crop issue

Morning Kris

 

[rjohns39]

Morning Bob! Made soap today with my little helper... and discovered what I think might be a crop issue

Twocrows has a ton of crop experience...

 

[BY Bob]

Our road runs past it... if I catch tourists smoking on our property

That is what I was afraid of. Otherwise you were talking about something weird like a dry lightning strike setting it off. Odds of that are pretty slim. Of course, what are the odds of getting 2 EEs that both lay brown eggs? I should not be talking.

 

[Aussie-Chookmum]

Jealous! Again, what I’m aiming for with my poultry is straight from his books for a large part... there’s just some additional challenges with being on an island (importing chicks is $$$) and convincing firmly anti chicken people that poultry can be integrated into a pasture rotation as a net benefit to the land as well. The area I ran my meat tractors over has greened up so much! Different sides of the fence line:
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There are some big pasture issues going on, some of which are actually creating a fire hazard out near me. The pasture wasn’t well grazed, a hayfield has been left to crisp (it’s not “worth” mowing it because it wasn’t fertilized at the end of May). I really have to wonder. Sure, I am not a professional farmer, but I read/own several books on grass management from different sources, and none of what’s happening out here seems to fit into any category of good management.

This field absolutely terrifies me as a fire hazard! And it’s right between to our trailer and our house build... yet my chickens are an “insurance problem”?

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I really like the square patches of green here, you can see where the chickens were easily, the other spots were too rough for the tractor.
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When we had the yard in the city I was originally wanting a small scale food forest design, but ended up with a terraced Raised bed system instead

That's an amazing contrast between the green and brown pastures. Have the in-laws noticed? They sound kind of "set in their ways". Any chance they might learn a thing or two against their will from your results?

I should also do a bit more of an update... I missed the ordering window for the 100 planned chicks... so now I’m looking for another meat chick supplier with available stock and decent pricing... so I’ll have to wait until next year for my big push on meat chickens anyway. I hope Chickie Hawks boys are big in the meantime!

View attachment 1846197 View attachment 1846198 View attachment 1846200 View attachment 1846201 Hoppy has basically adopted the 29 Babies from my last hatch, I guess all that listening to them chirping in the barn got her thinking in the family way! She stopped laying a week or so ago, no longer wants anything to do with Sammy, and after frantically leaving the tractor full of chicks this morning to go check the brooder in the Barn, she returned to the tractor and has been behaving nicely to them ever since.

Here are my four bowling ball sized meat ladies, still not appreciating the forced dieting.View attachment 1846202

And, I am happy to say that the latest re-design on the roll away nestbox seems to have worked! I got 7 eggs so far today, as opposed to my recent average of 2!
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First I added a 1x3 to the bottom of the nest box insert that extended out the back about 4” and a 1x3 to the top of that to protect the eggs, it has a cut up old jean fringe to block the sight. It was propped up by an additional 2x2 in the front with a plywood floor.

This failed, they just stuck their heads through the fringe and ate the eggs anyway! So, I added an additional 1x3 to the inside with a second fringe, but this slowed the eggs down too much and they caught on the fringe, the front went up another inch to increase slope. Then the eggs were cracking when they got to the bottom and hit the back or another egg. On went the brown foam fringe and some more jean material for cushioning.

Then my sapphires decided they want to lay standing up tall and high and dropping their eggs onto the plywood, so in went my cut up rooster kitchen mat for padding, which was not appreciated by the chickens at all! They tried to scratch it out, roll it up, pooped on it multiple times (it really is stain resistant)

In the end though, I triumphed over the feathered egg eating little scoundrels, and have gotten seven eggs to prove it. I didn’t have to catch them as they were being laid, or run out as soon as I hear an egg song only to find That I was too late and they are actually celebrating their snack, so now I can get chores done and still get eggs throughout the day... now I just need to make two more for the other tractors!

Well done out thinking your chickens! Wait... that sounds a bit insulting... Well you know what I mean.
Congrats on the successful roll away nest box!

 

[rjohns39]

Morning Kris

 

[Kris5902]

Morning Kris

Morning Bob I sold my first chicks yesterday $50/4 with 1/3 a bag of starter... and made three little kids very Happy. I’m now down to 54 Chickens here... with a dozen eggs and waiting on some more for setting up the incubator again. Just heading out to check on my under the weather girl in the barn... she’s the one I was concerned about potentially having de-pluming mites, I don’t know if it’s previous diet issues, or what... I gave her a dose of ivermectin, just in case there’s something I’m not seeing parasite wise, and will be inspecting her more throughly today.

This was her crop yesterday before she left the roosting box for feed, it felt full and a little solid... she is also missing a lot of feathers. I’m hoping it was just diet issues during her molting before I took her on.

 

[aart]

I sold my first chicks yesterday $50/4 with 1/3 a bag of starter

Dayum!!
How old were they?
Congrats!!