Hatching Baby Quails (Quail?) . . . .

My friend Caleb (an 8th grader at CMS) has been raising quails now for over a year now. He has about 15 mature adults, and he has over 40 in the incubator due to hatch next week! If you've never seen pictures of these babies, look through my older posts. They are the size of a big piece of popcorn with legs. SO CUTE!!! If you've ever thought about raising your own quail (quails?), let me know and I'll get you in contact with Caleb.

News on the Farm

I haven't posted in some time, because sometimes I let my perfectionist notions get in my way. If I don't have ALL those chickens, am I really doing anything special?

YES! Every morning when I get up I open my blinds to see my happy chickens grazing around in the yard, and it makes me happy. I see the little goaties milling around in their pen and it makes me smile. Then I look out the other window to see the remaining Silkie Bantam and his companion - a blue cochin bantam hen - and make sure they are doing well. I get 5 or 6 eggs every day, and that is plenty for the seven of us in my house!

I know the chickens would be safer in their pens, but they are SO happy scratching around freely in the grass, under the trees, in my front flower bed. Daniel is my Buff Orpington Rooster, and he is VERY friendly. He would intimidate anyone who didn't know him, because he not only approaches you, he won't really go on and mind his own business until you PET him, yes . . . pet him like a dog. He prefers to eat out of the bucket you are holding or out of your hand to eating out of the feeders in the pen.

I named the Rhode Island Red rooster Cap'n Barbosa (Annie thought that was the best choice for him, and he IS the boss of the entire flock). So, I named the bantam rooster Jack Sparrow. The gorgeous Silver-laced Wyandotte rooster is named Scutt Farcus, because his personality is as pleasing as that character on "A Christmas Story" who bullies all the nice kids. However, Cap'n Barbosa, Daniel, and the Barred Rock rooster (that I haven't yet named) keep ol' Scutt on the run most of the time - especially if he gets to close to me! I don't ever turn my back on that one, though.

As for hens, I have 2 Buff Orpingtons, 2 Rhode Island Reds, 2 Barred Rocks, 2 Gold-laced Wyandottes, 2 Silver-laced Wyandottes, and 7 Aracaunas (blue-green egg layers.) I have male and female French Black/Copper Marans, and 2 mixed bantam hens (black with some gold feathers) who are my best setters.

I've allowed the hens to hatch 2 sets of eggs, and although their hatching percentage(30 - 40%) isn't nearly as high as mine in the incubator (80 - 90%), it is SO sweet to watch those hens with the babies! I've lost 4 of babies that were out with the hens to predators - probably hawks, so their brooding success rate is low.

Right now, I'm not interested in raising more baby chicks - last winter was very harsh for this neck of the woods, and I can't take the heartbreak of finding "deadies" in with the babies. :-(

Thank you!

Thank you to my special blog readers who have ordered soaps! They will ship out today (mocha latte) and tomorrow (lemon verbena). Thanks to you, I have $32.50 to sent to the Verbena Historical Society!

The Chicken Plan: fresh eggs & pure-breed chicks

We have implemented the plan we "hatched" for the farm. Through advertising in the Mule Trader and The Bulletin Board, I have sold many pullets to happy fresh-egg-wanting "chickeners." Through other means . . . (don't forget that even though we are very "green" and animal-loving - these are EDIBLE creatures) I've pared down the chicken population on our farm (while filling the freezer). (Oh, STOP IT! I didn't do it myself!) I have now 2 hens and 1 rooster of each of the following breeds: Buff Orpington, Rhode Island Red, Barred Rock, Silver-laced Wyandotte, and mixed-breed bantams. I'm getting an Aracauna rooster (for my 6 original hens) and a Gold-laced Wyandotte rooster. Now I can hatch my own pure breed chickens whenever, and have fresh eggs all year round. I also have a breeding pair of White Silky Bantams and French Black Copper Marans that should begin laying soon. WHEW! That was a long 7 months with all those chickens - over 300! It feels good to know where we're headed with this!

The farm is going commercial!

It's been 3 months exactly since I posted here on Pioneer Stock. Monty and I are very busy working at our computer repair company in Clanton - The Nerd Guy. Also, I've been substitute-teaching in hopes of landing a job at some point in my chosen career.

Meanwhile, back at the farm, the chickens and goats still need to be fed. So, we are selling lots of fresh, vegetarian-fed eggs. As soon as I'm sure the dog fence is secure, I'm going to allow them to range every other day and they'll be laying GRASS-FED eggs! (Otherwise, the dogs will be chicken-fed dogs!) These eggs are healthier than eggs at the grocery store. Here is a link to an article on the nutritional value of grass-fed eggs: www.grassfedeggs.com and look WAY down the article for nutrition info. I reuse people's styrofoam egg cartons to keep them out of landfills, only buying paper ones from the feed store when I'm out. The eggs are $3 dozen and we keep them in the fridge at The Nerd Guy. The eggs are delicious and the farmer is trying to be a good, "green" farmer. ;-)

We are (once again) selling pullets locally and selling hatch-able chicken eggs, too.

Seemingly off-topic, I enjoy making soap. I'm selling that now, too. My favorite recipe up until a few weeks ago is "Mocha Latte" with coffee grounds and cocoa. Made from oatmeal-base soap with lots of added moisturizers, it is a wonderful soap! Guys - it looks manly, but it's rich, un-perfumey smell and exfoliating texture make it a favorite of ladies, too. It's also great for sensitive skin!

Recently, in honor of an upcoming musical festival in my hometown of Verbena, Alabama, I decided to make "Lemon Verbena Soap." This is a wonderful combination of the same oatmeal-base soap with lemon essential oil and crushed Lemon Verbena. It's delightfully light citrus smell combined with ultra-moisturizing ingredients makes this a wonderful soap for every bath! Through the festival on May 1st, all proceeds go directly to the Verbena Historical Society.

Check out my event announcement on this page, or look up Verbena on Facebook!

This concludes all commercial announcements for today.

19 eggs a day . . . .

6 aquas, 10 dark tans, and 3 ecru eggs, freshly laid by my lovely hens, await me every day in the nesting boxes! Even lovelier is a dozen eggs in a carton, a nice mix of colors, all polished and ready for sale to those organic egg connoisseurs. It is a marvel!

My hens are not "pasturing" during these cold/rainy spells. They are in a LARGE open space with roosting limbs and nesting boxes and a dirt floor covered with clean straw. They can be called "free range" because of all that space. When the weather is better, I let them out in the pasture to forage and I can call them "pastured" or "grass-fed" chickens/eggs. MotherEarth News says there is evidence that this changes the nutritional value of the eggs. Click here to read the article and be SURE to click on their graphic of the nutritional differences they found. Therefore, during this weather, my eggs are PRETTIER than store-bought, but I wouldn't claim that they are nutritionally better. My hens are treated QUITE well in their shelter, and they're safe from predators there, but they seem even happier when they get to roam and scratch and peck and chase flying bugs. BTW, they eat LOTS of bugs and I have NO more grub problem in the garden or the yard!

The funny aside is now - with all these eggs - I sound a bit like Bubba talking to Forrest Gump: "We're gonna make fried eggs, boiled eggs, egg salad, deviled eggs, eggs Benedict, Egg Foo Yung, egg-drop soup, egg custard, . . . . " (how many things can I think of to make with eggs?!) I boiled 19 eggs last night and made egg salad for us all for lunch. Delicious! By the way, fresh eggs don't peel well when boiled. You need to let the eggs sit for 2 weeks or more so that the insides have shrunken a bit away from the shell. I boiled those fresh eggs yesterday, and peeled away about 1/8" to 1/4" of white with every eggshell! So buy your Easter eggs in advance so they'll peel well.

Right now I'm collecting the bantam eggs to put into the incubator. I need some regular bantam hens to accompany my roosters. I only get one egg every other day or so from my two hens, but I'm hoping they are fertile and will make cutie baby chicks.

The silkies, two white and one grey, are just gorgeous. And I was right - the wire-bottom cage is PERFECT for them in that it helps their foot-feathers stay clean and fluffy like the rest of them. The French Black Copper Marans are very big birds - one rooster and one hen! I couldn't have asked for better. The six Aracauna's are doing great, but are showing no signs of maleness or femaleness yet. I'm going to have to just PRAY I got hens that will lay blue-green eggs.

Thinking about the garden . . .

I've begun putting thought into what I'll be putting in and when in the garden. I think I'll chat with Rachel and see what her Master Gardener inlaws are doing and just copy them! They seem to have this whole timing thing worked out pretty well.

For now, I just need to amend, amend, and amend my soil with composted chicken and rabbit poo. I'm also sure the worm bins are rich in goodies!!

I'm definitely going to devote a goodly area to arugula and a few variety of lettuces. I'm going to try Swiss Chard - AGAIN - and hope it does better in the cold. Potatoes - a must - and my seed potatoes are a-sprouting away and ready to be planted right now.

Broccoli and brussels sprouts are still doing well. I've had one full harvesting of broccoli and I'm seeing if I'll get another. If not, I'm just going to take the leaves and make those "grass patties" that I love so much. I must think of a better name for them, but they look like you stepped in a mound of freshly mown grass and a hunk of it got stuck on the bottom of your shoe. They taste GREAT, but they look like grass patties. Here's the recipe:

A big bunch of radish leaves (a large mixing bowl full) I used Swiss Chard and Broccoli leaves
an onion
several carrots
an egg
some cornmeal
garlic
salt & pepper

Finely chop all the veggies. The leaves will need to be held together with the egg/cornmeal mixture, so the finer the better. Break the egg into the veggies and beat the yolk and stir together. Add 1/4 cup of cornmeal or more as needed to make it hold together. Salt and pepper can be added now or later.

Take heaping spoonfuls and drop them into an oiled skillet and mash into a patty shape. Fry on both sides. Serve hot with salsa or not. They are SO delicious!

Freeze-proofing the Chickens

Yesterday, upon confirming news of a bad cold-weather front hitting the area and STAYING, we decided we had to do a few things to get the chickens ready to hunker down and ride out the cold.

When we went out to feed on Sunday, we had discovered the hose and everything about our water supply had frozen. There is no permanent damage that we know of, but there isn't any easy supply of water either. Our temporary method is carting 5 of our 5-gal buckets full of warm water from the basement laundry sink out there. That gets the goats and the three chicken pens taken care of.

Yesterday, we decided that we might need to install lights for heat in all three pens, not just the hen house where our layers are. The great news is this: because we are using a "deep litter system" in the pens, the deep litter is producing heat all on its own! (ewwwwww!) It was about 15 degrees warmer in the chicken coop than it was outside.

We simply put in a layer of good, clean straw, fed them about half again as much as normal, and they were good to go.

I moved the bantams (in their chicken tractors) from the garden to a less windy place up against the south face of our brick basement. I figured the house would keep the wind down, and they are directly under one of the bathroom vents - so there'd be hot air coming out a few different times during the day. I didn't think about the fact that they are RIGHT outside mine and Jessica's window!! This morning at 5:30 AM - ER! ER! ER! ERRRRRRRRRR! A trio of bantam roosters serenaded me awake! I really love hearing them, but usually the volume is much lower from 50 ft away in the garden. YIKES.

Their water keeps freezing really quickly because it is just a 16 oz coke bottle turned upside down in a little trough thingy. I'm having to give them fresh warm water daily.

The "buzzards" as I have nicknamed the 6-wk old hatchlings, are happily pecking and pooping in the hutches that formerly belonged to our rabbits. This is a perfect housing setup for the silkies and the marans, because they have feathers down their legs and on their feet. Having them walking on any kind of litter is just GROSS. I'm absolutely positive that I have a hen and a rooster of the French Black Copper Marans! That is great news if they make it through this cold snap ok.

Also, of the 250 pullets purchased in September, I have at least one buff rooster, one barred rock rooster, and I already had one Rhode Island Red rooster. Here's the "Chicken Business Plan" for 2010: I'm going to keep 3 or 4 hens of each breed I have a rooster for, and I'm going to order roosters for the Aracaunas and Black Australorps (and the wyandottes if I don't have any). Then, Monty and I will build a small pen (or section off the big ones) so that each breed is kept separate and I'll just hatch my own pure-breed chicks. I'm sure I'll be running in and out of Jones' and buying pullets when they have a buyer fall-through, too, but I don't know that I'll buy from the hatchery much this year. My costs on this last batch was SIGNIFICANT due to losses, and feeding them for 5 months (they'll probably start selling WELL in February) costs a great deal. However, if I sell them as laying hens in February, they will be around $20 each and that will make up for that cost. We'll see how it goes.