Chilly Morning

And Mama Hen is hard at work under the heat lamps giving a little extra boost of warm comfort to the 9-day old chicks.

See the 2 little chick heads sticking out from under the Mama Hen? There is another chick on her back. 

First Snow

The morning after our first snow of the season the chickens were reluctant to come out. When a few did venture out, they flew, hopped and hurried under the hen-a-bago to stand on grass rather than the strange, cold, white stuff. You can see a few in the shadows under their home.

Guarding the chickens

We recently lost a pullet to a red shouldered hawk from this flock of New Hampshire Reds so we moved Sofie, an Akbash Anatolian mix livestock guardian dog in with them for a few days.

Later in the afternoon we discovered the hawk had gone to a different flock on the opposite side of the farm and helped itself to one of the barred rock layers so we moved Josh, our other livestock guardian dog, into that pasture, leaving the goats to fend for themselves for a while.

Because our flocks roam within the limits of movable electric fencing they are protected from most predators. Aerial predators such as hawks have an advantage though they are usually not a problem. Colder weather is here and apparently some of the small rodents and snakes that comprise the hawks' diet are not as readily accessible

Straw!

Straw is the stalk of a grain plant after the grain has been harvested.  Hay is made from any of several types of pasture grass such as fescue, timothy, alfalfa or orchard grass.

We use a lot of straw on the farm. Some of it we use to mulch our garden to hold moisture in the soil and to suppress weed growth. Most of it is used to provide bedding for the chickens. The straw provides carbon which helps to absorb the moisture of the chickens' poops thus keeping the air quality in the hen-a-bago pleasant and healthy for them. It makes our work more pleasant too.

Charlie picked up a load of 120 bales of wheat straw on the trailer and 10 in the bed of the truck. We are grateful to find a farmer who grows grains organically.  By using straw from his plants we assure that as the straw decomposes on our pastures and in our gardens it is not depositing any genetically modified components or the residue of toxic pesticides, herbicides and/or insecticides.   

Lots of tie downs kept the straw bales from falling or blowing off on the journey home.

Trailer's empty.

Pole barn is stacked with straw once again.

In about 3 months we'll do it all again.

Pastured Poultry Workshop

Our County Extension Agent invited us to host her Pastured Poultry Workshop.  It was held yesterday, May 13, 2014.  It was unseasonably hot but at least we had no rain.

We pulled 5 birds from their flocks to be used in Dan's demonstration.  They
were happy to go home again when the show was over.

Here are some photos of the well-attended, informative event.

County Agent for Livestock and Forages, Lauren Langley, setting up the registration table.

Our friend, Farmer Mike, arriving to help us with parking.

Dan Campeneau, Poultry Agent, teaching about conformation
or how to determine a good layer from a cull.

Learning about mobile housing from Charlie and Dan.

The next workshop will be held September 30th on the topic of "Small Flock Health."  Location TBD.

New Babies!

Some of our White Plymouth Rock pullets went broody so we set eggs under two of them.  Almost all of them hatched!

Can you see 3 little yellow fuzz balls peeking out from under this mama?

Day 2 and they are out of the nest and wandering about.  Mama is clucking at the chicks and puffing up to make herself look formidable in case we get any ideas about bothering the babies.  At night we put them in a large tote with a weighted screen top to protect them from black snakes.  Snakes really like to eat baby chicks and we really like to prevent them from doing so.  There are 13 babies in all.

Ice Storm, part 1

The skies began spitting icy rain about 5 p.m. yesterday and during the night we lost power (and sleep) while listening to trees (or parts of them) crash to the ground under the weight of the frozen precipitation which pounded the roof all night, coating everything with ice.

Morning chores were to begin early so we could catch the train to DC for a weekend with family but in dawn's dim light it became obvious we could not go anywhere.

The view from the back door shows one pine that fell during the night and another atop the first one which uprooted early in the day when the  over-saturated ground could no longer hold it and the weight of the ice coating its limbs and needles. The small oak tree, bending under the ice's weight on the right of the picture, has since been uprooted and fallen to the ground also. The two white horizontal lines are the ice-coated clothes line.  Not a good drying day today!

We moved the vehicles to an area out of reach of falling trees.  The ice on the branches is lovely, but treacherous.  The chickens' feather net fencing is so coated with ice it has fallen under the weight and our multiple attempts to upright it are futile as the precipitation continues.  So many tree tops have come down since this picture was taken this morning that the skyline is less full now.  The white on the walk is slush from accumulated sleet and freezing rain.  We haven't had snow, yet, though we do have 2 1/2" of precipitation in the rain gauge.

A tree line runs along our property line on the north side of pasture one.  As you can see the trees are literally on the line, the fence line.  They have taken down part of the 6-strand high tensile fence and just missed the flexible feather netting.  They also just missed the cedar fence post buried under the branches.

We'll be cleaning up from this storm for a long time.  More pictures are coming so you'll see additional posts as I get out and about to take pictures.  We, and all our neighbors, have lost power.  We're using a generator right now, until the gas runs out!  Tomorrow our forecast is for sunshine and a high of 65!  What a difference a day makes!

Snow!

This winter has been unusually cold but until yesterday we hadn't had any snow accumulation.  With this storm (named Pax) we've experienced rain, snow, sleet, and freezing rain.

The chickens don't seem to like cold feet.  Here's one barred rock who braved the elements and  is heading back to the shelter of the hen-a-bago.

The view from our front door the morning after the storm began.

None of the chickens would go outside this morning. I had to move a feeder closer to the hen-a-bago, rake a path through the snow, and cover a small area of ground with straw to entice them to come out for food and water. Apparently hunger and thirst were not sufficient motivators.

The snow stopped late in the afternoon and the sun finally came out just in time to set in a blaze of color.

Surprise!

When I opened the nest boxes to gather eggs at Henabago 3 this afternoon I found a surprise awaiting me.

In the far left box, a shiny black . . .

. . .rat snake was coiled.

I got Charlie's snake catcher and he met me at the henabago.  The snake escaped as Charlie was walking with it to the "donkey" cart and it headed straight back to the chickens and their eggs.  

Charlie caught it again and we set off to a distant part of the farm with the snake along for the ride.  As you might notice, rat snakes are constrictors and this one was wrapping itself around the pole in an effort to get away.

We hadn't gone far when the snake's efforts to free itself worked & it dropped to the ground, trying to pretend it was dead so we'd ignore it.  The chickens were not only unperturbed by the snake in their midst, but they all ran down to stand at the edge of their fenced pasture to watch Charlie capture it. Who knew we were a spectator sport for chickens!

Here we go!  Charlie has got the snake in a tighter grip.  It seems to be getting tired.

This time the snake dangled at the end of the pole where it was held firmly in a rope noose.  Charlie commented on how heavy it was as he held it out of the cart and up in the air so it wouldn't scrape on the ground and be injured.  

Finally we reached our destination and the snake was released.  It slowly glided into some nearby underbrush.  

 Rat snakes are beneficial critters on a farm as they consume a lot of small rodents.  Unfortunately, they also have a taste for eggs and baby chicks so we do try to keep them out of the chickens' spaces.  This one was between 5 and 6 feet long.  They can grow to 8 feet in length. This is the second time in the past 10 days we've found a snake dining on eggs.  The farm has plenty of mice for them to eat and it would be helpful if they do so!.

Moving the Hen-a-bago II

Hen-a-bago II attached to the tractor

You might have read about our newest Hen-a-bago II being built and then moved out to pasture. We relocate  Hen-a-bago II once or twice per week to a new section of pasture.  Changing pastures often improves the health of our chickens by giving them new grasses in which to forage for insects as well as "salad" greens.  Rotation also is a form of parasite control as it disrupts the life cycle of many naturally occurring yet undesirable organisms seeking to find a host site in the guts of our chickens.

Chickens riding in Hen-a-bago II

Guineas and Chickens

The guineas and Dottie the chicken roosting together

The three guineas that remain from our original six have taken to living with the various groups of chickens on the farm. They spend their nights in Hen-a-Bago II and their days generally wandering with the group of chickens free ranging near our house. We have had a few close calls with the road being nearby, but no accidents thus far.

Guineas poking their heads out of the Hen-a-Bago II

Guineas in the chicken roost

They still haphazardly wander around the farm making lots of noise, but, until recently, always found their way back to the chicken coop for the night.  For some reason they've decided to roost outside again.  At first they alternated between a large cedar tree and the fence-top around the coop.  Now they choose to stay in the vicinity of the stationary coop near the tool shed and, so far, they're surviving.

Guineas wandering the lane

Comparing Soils

Soil in the field where the chickens were not pastured

We have been tilling up some new fields on the farm for planting this spring. One of our fields had the chickens on part of it last year and the differences are amazing to see! The photo above is of the area of the field where the chickens were not penned up. The photo below shows the soil where the chickens had been for part of last year. Note the richer color of the soil nourished by the pastured chickens who truly benefit the land on which they graze, consuming nutrients from the insects and plants in an area, thus enabling the chickens to produce delicious and nutritious eggs.  You can taste the difference!

Soil where the chickens were pastured

Goat Bridge

Goats on their bridge

Our goats are currently living near a small stream on our property. We built a bridge to allow the goats to cross over the stream safely so they could eat the brush in an area that was inaccessible to the bush hog.  Apparently, we really built them a new play toy. Of course, with a goat just about anything is a new play toy.  They enjoy the bridge and play tag on it, running back and forth full speed ahead.

Goat bridge

The goats are no longer cohabiting with the chickens. We were unable to keep them from eating the chicken's grain. We put extra bars on the chicken's feeders so the goats could not put their heads into the feeder, but they then figured out how to just lick the grain out of the feeder! The goats also took great pleasure in climbing on the chicken feeder and rocking it back and forth, which frightened the chickens away and kept them from eating.

Gabe, Simon and Tawny

Chickens are Omnivores

Checking out the mouse

Chickens, like humans, are omnivores. They eat plants and grain as well as insects. This variety in their diet as free range chickens gives flavor and nutrients to their eggs. Chickens also eat mice and are capable of catching them though around here they serve to help us "clean up" what would go in the compost pile otherwise.  When the mouse population gets too large, Charlie sets some traps and when he finds a  mouse, he tosses the mouse out to the chickens. Here's a short photo essay of what happens.

Going in for the peck

Picking up the mouse

Swinging the mouse around

What we didn't photograph is what happens when the other chickens figure out that one has a tasty treat.  Then, the chase is on!  Whether the prize is a worm, a bug or a mouse the chicken who is "it" has a lot of running to do before she can actually eat what she's found.  Sometimes the finder is not the one who gets the last bite.

Cohabitation

Goats near the temporary fence between the chickens and the goats

We were in need of putting some of our feather netting around the garden, as our livestock guardian dog takes great pleasure in romping through freshly turned earth. We realized that by combining 2 groups we could free up enough feather netting to surround the garden.  While we moved a flock of chickens into the goats' space we had to put up a temporary fence to keep the goats from wandering away. . .far, far away.  As soon as the chickens were set up and the perimeter fence put back into place, we removed the temporary divider and the goats are now cohabiting with the Delaware chickens!

Fence removed between the goats and the chickens-- goat house in upper-right hand corner

Goats checking out the chicken yard

It'll be interesting to see how these two groups adjust to such close quarters.  So far, one of the challenges is keeping the goats out of the chicken's feed.  As ruminants, goats eat very little grain and what they are given is specially formulated for goats with minerals to meet their specific needs.  The chickens have grain mixed for the needs of laying hens and it would not be healthy for the goats to chow down on the layer's feed or vice versa.  So far, so good.  Both goats and chickens enjoy foraging--the goats eating browse (leaves, forbs, bark) and the chickens scratching for bugs and seeking out chickweed, an appropriately named favorite this time of year.

The youngest goat, Simon (aka Porky), who is always willing to eat, tried to stick his head in the chicken's trough feeder so we adjusted the crossbar that keeps the chickens out in order to keep goat heads out too.  Goats, who like to climb, quickly saw another use for the feed trough--a climbing structure!  All three of them were on it playing "king of the mountain" by the end of the day.  The chickens were not too happy about the goat's game as it frightened them away from their grain source at the end of the day when they are chowing down for the night.

Simon on top of the chicken feeder

Chickens in the Oat Field

Large Hen-a-bago on the oat field

We have moved our large Hen-a-bago up to the oat field we sowed last fall. The chickens seem to enjoy rooting through the greens and picking at the seeds. In the few days they have been up there they have already mowed down part of the field from scratching and picking at the oats. This is a good example of rotating our pastured chickens in order to given them fresh feed, work the soil, and keep our bug population down!

Look just to the right of the grass edge where the chickens have scratched down the oats and picked away at the soil!  

The red roof at the front of the picture covers a dust box Charlie made.  It allows the chickens to have dust baths even on rainy days when the ground is wet & muddy.  Daily dust baths are important for chickens as a means to prevent infestations of mites and other parasites that like to find a host on which to live.  We fill the dust boxes with a mixture of peat moss, wood ash from the wood stove and diatomaceous earth.  We have to refill it regularly as so much "dust" leaves the box in the chickens' feathers as they leap out, fluff themselves and then settle down somewhere comfortable to preen.  It reminds me of children carrying sand from the sandbox home in their shoes.  

Partridge Rock pullets in the oats

And another wandering in search of bugs or a tidbit none of the others has found.