Kristen’s Chickens and Farming Ventures

[BY Bob]

Ok I’m going to have to break this up into two posts, because there’s just so many pictures! And videos... so my new Rooster “Roostie Roo” the meat boy is pretty good with his ladies, but he’s been taking advantage of Goose’s lack of mobility a little much by the change of color in her back feathers. she also has a small peck wound on the top of her head. After taking these pics, as I was leaving, he hopped up for another go then big Red started pecking the top of Goose’s head, so she’s in the Rooster box within the meat tractor for protection during the day now, with some food and water. View attachment 1903667

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Sammy and his Ladies now follow me everywhere outside, constantly! And the water already tastes better in someone else’s waterer, much like the dry grass on the other side of the fence must be more tasty! Sammy just had to get his ladies drinking from my Bachelor Pen’s water, right in front of them no less, as I was refilling it. Then Croppy spotted something even better... and this time I even got some of it on film!View attachment 1903666

We also had Teen pregnancy the bovine edition... last year I kept asking if maybe we should separate Ebony from Gus now that she was over 1 year old (She’ll be 2 this December) well the answer should have been “yes” not “it’s ok, she’s still too young for him to be interested in her” because apparently she went into heat 9 months ago. She had this Beautiful baby heifer on Friday, we found her as we were heading down to set the eggs in the incubator. As a first time (and such a young) Mama, we had put her in the big field with some sheep to keep an eye on her and the calf once it was born. She has some really nice grass in there and is doing a great Job of mothering so far!

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I also set 20 eggs on Friday over at Wayne’s, I’m going to have to do a bit of work to clean up the building some for chicks, but hey... I’ve got almost 3 weeks to do it... it will be fine! I’m going to be last minute scrambling again, I’m sure!

We had our worst Market so far this Saturday, with $150 in sales. Of the 12 BBQ’d sausages we sold, 8 were standing orders or to other vendors. And we had the best take by far!

Andrew is in on an emergency town trip today to pick up more casings for sausage, as his aunt surprised him by telling him she told an Abbatoir customer that “of course” we could turn her Mutton into sausage for her, which would have been fine except we were short on casings because we hadn’t planned on 150 extra lbs of sausage this month. Not complaining about the work, because we can use the extra funds, just the “surprise” nature of it and the $100+ ferry fare to go get more casings for it. So yesterday, we were making sausage, and tomorrow we will be as well in the evening, once the meat cutting is done.

We have a processing date set for the cockerels from my June/July hatch of October 3rd. If they turn out heavy enough to cover costs ( but not too optimistic on that) then we might have the last Hatch done up for sale as well, if not then they will be done at home for personal use only, and I will just figure that cost into a savings on our food bill (because if I wasn’t growing chicken, I’d need to be buying it as it’s one of our preferred meats)

Great video of her chasing the grasshopper. My goofy EEs lost 2 crickets that I rounded up for them tonight. Croppy could teach them a thing or two.

 

[BY Bob]

Does anyone have any idea as to why my cat is obsessed with chicken bum-bum water? So, in all honesty, I do need to clean my eggs a little. The girls occasionally poop in the nest box, or make their feet filthy, or even worse randomly lay in the run/dirt! (All the clean ones are heading for a hatch!) so I do “wash” with warm water and nothing else, as necessary. What confuses me is why my cat wants to drink the egg washing water, poop and all! Has anyone else encountered something like this?

I absolutely have never had this happen. My cats have no interest in egg water.

 

[BY Bob]

So Monday I put “Roostie Roo” (Andrew wants to rename him Bob) into the hospital tractor for the evening, as I wanted to supervise his integration with the meat ladies to make sure everyone is safe and happy together. He spent much of yesterday in the “good rooster box” (renaming that too... positive reinforcement and all!) next to his prospective ladies. It was an entertaining walk from the hospital tractor to the meat girls tractor with him not exactly enjoying the ride and me needing both arms to carry/restrain him with Sammy trying to incite an incident, and dogging at my heels, but it worked out in the end! The girls seemed fairly receptive and he seems like a very well mannered boy.

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So at not quite full dark last night I went out with Andrew and we put him in with the ladies, and transferred the box to Goose for extra protection, she’s trying hard to make a comeback, and I did have one downed ranger girl that was able to stand again with a little TLC and a few weeks of rehab, so I’m going to give her a chance. As of this morning everything is looking good, he’s tidbitting for the girls, and seems polite. Of course they still outweigh him by about half again as much, so it could just be a good sense of self preservation.

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He is two days older than his girls at 22 weeks. I was surprised at how small he is for his weight, though he is nowhere near as heavy as the curvy girls, he’s easily more than double what even Mr Marans and Chickiehawk weigh! He’s got really thick legs and I’m super happy with my decision to save him from becoming “Roastie Roo” as his previous owner was going to eat him, then he thought of my attempted meat bird breeding program and decided to give him a few days grace.

Also on Monday when I picked him up I got to check out the other farmers set up, and see my Barnvelder boy “in action” herding his 30 ladies over to look for treats! He’s got a large free range set up with almost no predator protection, a 3 walled roosting spot, as well as a large fully enclosed run and rebuilt trailer as a grow out/meat bird area. I also got to see his pig set up which is combined with the free ranging birds (apparently the pigs will drive off eagles almost as well as dogs). I got some good ideas for what I would like to do in the future with some silvopasture and integrating different animal groups more effectively.

I’m snagging some coffee and a snack before heading down for my favorite chore, shoveling gravel! This time not for the road, but inside our house forms, so I’ll get some pics of those, as they are coming along well. Would be coming along better if anyone could stand to work with FIL, he’s supposed to be going to town today, so the coast should be clear for me to go use the shovel “incorrectly” (due to the old shoulder injury) at the site!

On the family front... Still not speaking with FIL, don’t have to deal with BIL (as he’s currently in prison for missing either a court date or a bail check in), not impressed at all with the treatment from the Aunts, and proposed a lease for at least the house area for our future security to Andrews cousin. That we are pushing forward, despite all common sense, can only mean one of two things; either Andrew and I are both completely insane and unintelligent, or we are far more committed to farming than we should be or is sane. Either way, I suppose by continuing to hatch chicks and procuring more roosters, I’m further committing myself to this place.

I think Bob is a swell name for a rooster. Just saying.....

 

[drumstick diva]

You just can't have too many "Bobs."

 

[BY Bob]

You just can't have too many "Bobs."

I say that all the time! Right @rjohns39!

 

[Kris5902]

So as to our current Water “situation”... it’s just petulance and childish behavior for the most part. For the last two years we have been running off the same house spring that has supplied the farm with water for the last 30 years. This Spring season they installed an additional 1000 gallon holding tank for fear of the spring being drained dry and losing the siphon on the supply lines. This was in part due to some “user error” of a toilet (which Andrew and I replaced with a foolproof push button one) last year after the two incidents (FIL and BIL, go figure) where the flushing lever was struck violently enough that the flapper was knocked loose on the inside and the toilet would “run” all night.

So, this time it was a faucet left running all night long in the Abbatoir... moral of the story don’t drink and cryovac leftovers (his Aunt, again not Andrew or I) so the tank worked and the spring liner stayed full, but the Tank emptied. Andrew, my mother, and I may not use water again until the tank has filled completely. That’s going to be a few more weeks to a month by my best guess, until then we are buying our water or trying to fill up our jerrycans at friends places.

As for the chickens... they are being watered from the Draw. I carry 5 gallon buckets down, walk out on a log, and scoop water then carry it back up the hill and out to them. Only the youngest chicks are getting treated water still.
Here are some Photos and a quick Video of the Pond.

The water is usually up to almost the top of the log in the last photo, and about 2/3 to 3/4 up on the log in the second to last pic, which is where I would normally dip from in the spring or fall.

 

[drumstick diva]

We've had lots of water (rain) this year we could send you some.

 

[Kris5902]

true, you just can’t have too many Bobs, Especially with the ones I’ve been meeting lately I just think it’s more Suited to my Barnvelder Boy over the Meat Boy!

 

[BlueBaby]

That pond look's like it has a lot of algae on it.

 

[Kris5902]

That pond look's like it has a lot of algae on it.

Duckweed, not algae thankfully! If I ever get around to harvesting it, it’s a great source of plant protein when dried, especially for the cattle and chickens... with a decent filter or boiling it is drinkable for people as well. It is both spring and creek fed. Not our planned spring source for our house, but a good backup for livestock and fire control