Closing this chapter . . . .

The farm chapter of my life story has been written, and it is time to move to the next chapter.

We love living here and having farm animals and a garden, but life throws you a curve sometimes and you have to make adjustments. With the closing of Colonial Bank (Monty's job), we re-opened our computer repair business The Nerd Guy and lost all our time and energy for the farm. Now that chapter (The Nerd Guy) is closed too, and Monty is working at the Air Force base in Montgomery and I'm teaching again.

I found out that one of my students in Maplesville is a chicken enthusiast and has lots of the same breeds I had, so he agreed to come and gather up my remaining few precious chickens and give them a new home. Spencer the goat passed away 2 weeks ago and we are trying to place Nellie his companion before she gets too lonely.

Then we'll have 2 dogs and 3 outdoor kitties. NO farm, no chickens, no quails, no rabbits, no goaties, and - so far - no garden.

I may be able to pull off a garden yet - we'll see. I'll definitely post about that, but probably on a new blog. Look for it - I'll send out notices on fb.

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.