Category: Homesteading

Growin’ Up

The chicks are fully integrated into the coop. The barrier has been removed, the food and water are outside, the chicks leave the coop during the day and return to perch at night. The first day they all went outdoors, 6 of them perched in the smaller part of the then divided coop with the big girls and only 4 isolated themselves. Now they mix it up on the perches, so fun to see with big and littles all scrunched together.

I was still having some concerns about the king and queen of the coop as the Olive Egger was picking on the chicks and Cogburn without most of his harem was beating up on the two Buff Orpingtons hens. Tonight after coop up time, Jim and I went out and shook up the pecking order a bit. We moved the 3 red sex link laying hens back into the coop and removed the king and queen to the cull pen and chicken tractor. Cogburn will have 4 hens and the coop has 5 hens and the 10 nine week old pullets. Once the pullets are laying and son comes to run freezer camp, Cogburn will likely be returned to the coop and the red sex links may be removed. The Olive Egger only gives us about 3 to 4 eggs a week and though it is fun to find the green eggs, she may go to camp. Maybe by removing her and the roo for a while to allow the Buff Orpington hens some rest and the chicks some time to grow some more, they may both be returned to the coop. That will have stirred up the pecking order and may drop her down a peg or two.

It is still exciting to check the nesting boxes in the evening and bring in 7 to 9 varied eggs. The sale of the extras to my knitting group generally funds my dinner at coffee shop where we gather.

Life is an adventure on our mountain farm.

May 7, 2014
Fiddle-dee knit

My crafting has been slow of late. The knit project that gets the most of my time is Lola Shawl by Carrie Bostick Hoge published in the most recent issue of Taproot magazine, issue 9::Breathe. The shawl as published is a triangular shawl knit from either fingering or worsted. I wanted a heavier, larger shawl than I generally make and selected Quince Lark a worsted weight yarn to make it. After about 1 skein of knitting and looking again at the photos in the magazine, I decided that I didn’t like the way the edge on the shawl lay and feeling adventurous, frogged what I had knit and started over, making the shawl a mitered square shawl instead, using the border that was on the Lola pattern. Yesterday while we were on our road trip, I decided that the stockinette part was sufficiently large and I wanted to save two skeins for the leaf pattern border. The lace pattern is an 18 stitch by 18 row pattern and to keep it a mitered square, I needed to keep my increase pattern going, breaking up the border into 3 sections instead of one continuous border. Row 1 was a piece of cake. Row 2, the wrong side row is purled and has a P2tbl stitch. No matter what I did, it didn’t work out right. Instead of looking it up, I plodded along and realized at the end of the row that it couldn’t be. This morning, I tinked the entire row of about 300 purled lace stitches and after a well doggie vet visit for our 210 pound baby, I watched a You Tube on how to do the stitch and started again. This is the most fiddlely lace pattern, but I am determined to make it work.

At night I have been spinning. I finished a little more than 2 ounces of Tunis singles in a color called Sebastian.

This is going to be plyed with a Finn/Jacob that is being spun.

I’m hoping it is going to make a tweedy yarn. There is enough of the Tunis that I hope to make enough yarn to knit a rib warmer.

The other task of the day was transplanting the tomato seedlings deeper into larger pots. They are getting a few hours of filtered sunlight each day and spending the rest of the time under the grow light. Another couple of weeks and the peppers and tomatoes will go in the garden.

May 5, 2014
Sunday Wonderful

Wow, a gorgeous day and not to be wasted indoors. Jim wanted a roadtrip to buy a riding jacket that is more appropriate for the warm days. His vintage look leather jacket is fine with the vents open up to about 70ºf but he came home last Sunday and I thought he was going to pass out. He had struggled with the bike on our gravel road and driveway and basically walked it downhill the .4 miles and was so overheated it was dangerous. To make our trip, we checked out various rides he could do or had done that keep him off of the Interstate which is so heavy with semi trucks that it is dangerous. Between the driving and the shopping we were gone for nearly 5 hours and I saw some beautiful countryside that I had never seen before.

My mother grew up in this part of the country and I often heard stories about the counties and towns, but had never seen them. I had my camera, but didn’t think to take a single photo. Near the last part of the drive, we rode for 45 miles along a beautiful creek lined with cabins and homes.

When we got home, I went over to check on the chickens, collect eggs, and give them a treat of wild mustard greens and discovered an empty coop.

For the past several evenings, there have been 3 or 4 of the chicks out at dusk, but the rest remained steadfastly indoors. Today they are all outside, merrily pecking at the grass or dust bathing in the shade.

The littles totally being ignored by the adults, much to my delight. They still segregate at night and so I am leaving the partition in place for a few more days. We are due for a couple of days of rain, so there may be more in coop time, especially for them. On Friday, they will be 9 weeks old and I think the partition will come down. I’m still at a quandry about Cogburn. I really want a self sustaining flock, but since he only has 3 hens in with him now, he is wearing them out and their backs have almost no feathers on them. They make “saddles” to protect them, but I don’t want to go that route. If I remove him, there won’t be any coop chicks unless I am able to quickly get some Buff Orpington fertilized eggs quickly when a hen goes broody. I really don’t want to do the heat lamp brooder bit again, though I know that I will have to for the meat chickens. Maybe I should just accept that is the way it will be every few years as we replace the older hens. If we had electricity out there that would run the heat lamp, I would just build a brooder coop with separate run, but we don’t.

At least, this time, I have successfully raised and introduced 10 chicks to the mix with no fatalities.

Life is an adventure on our mountain farm.

May 4, 2014
Rainy Wednesday

This is the 4th consecutive day of rain and we are sitting in the middle of an area showing the potential for some very severe weather this afternoon. We should start seeing some sunshine again tomorrow, I hope. The coop is nasty and the hay is wet, so I can’t add more. The wind blew the tarp off the round bale just before the rain started. It will have to sit in the sun for a few days before it will be dry enough to add to the coop.

Each morning as I put my rain jacket and boots on and slog over to the coop, I find all 10 chicks in the smaller third with Cogburn and his Queen, the Olive Egger and the two Buff Orpington hens in the larger 2/3 section. This amuses me because as soon as I open the pop door, several chicks are pushed out to the ground by the two adults trying to get out. Usually one of the BO hens comes out too, but the second one seems to have difficulty returning to the small side to exit and needs help. The chicks then all come over to eat, including the ones who were pushed out. They gather in the pop door and poke their heads out, but still won’t venture outdoors on their own.

The runs are muddy, thus the eggs are dirty each day. The garden is soggy. I hope we aren’t facing another cool wet summer like last year, I really want to get a good supply of tomatoes, salsa, pasta sauce, chili tomatoes, pickled peppers, beans and hot sauces canned this summer for next winter.

The wet weather has turned me to books and spinning. I discovered a local author and am working his newest book after reading his fourth book last weekend. One was great, this one is too dark, but both are set in our area which makes them interesting.

Spinning is progress on the 4+ ounces of red carded Tunis wool that I purchased at The Olde Liberty Fibre Festival a few weeks ago. This is my first experience with Tunis and I think I like it. I am debating plying it with the Finn that I bought at the same festival, creating a red and dark tweedy yarn. We will see. That would give me about 6-7 ounces of yarn with which to knit.

Tonight is Knit Night and I will go if we aren’t under a tornado warning.

Life is an adventure on our mountain farm.

April 30, 2014
I LOVE SPRING!

Even high in the mountains, we are beginning to see the squirrel ear leaves. Because of our very cold winter and spring, everything is blooming at once, all of the trees that normally stagger their blossoms and pollen are exploding at once. Fortunately, neither Jim nor I seem to be seriously bothered by it.

The chicks have been in the coop for almost two weeks separated from the 4 adults by a frame and net wall. Yesterday, I pulled back one edge of the net which would allow the chicks to move to the outside of the coop and into the run, but the hole was too small for the adult birds to pass into the secure part of the coop. It seemed like it was going to work. The chicks moved about within the coop and the adults left them alone. I suppose I should have waited a week to see how that worked out, but I didn’t and this morning, I removed the partition and netting, opening the entire coop including the blocked off nesting boxes, added fresh hay and the chicks seemed to enjoy the additional space. I removed their food to the run, hoping that they would venture outdoors on their own. Only one was bold enough to do so and she was promptly attacked by Cogburn and one Buff hen who merciless attacked as I ran from the garden in through the run to rescue her. One of them had pecked her head to the point it was bleeding and she was desperately trying to squeeze through the fence wire to escape. She was cuddled and soothed, brought in to have her wound cleaned and treated and taken back to the coop. One of the hens was inside the coop intimidating the chicks. I know they have to establish a pecking order, but the pecking was a bit too severe, so I went back to the garage, brought the frame back out and modified it to allow the chicks to move throughout the coop, but making the access too small for the adults.

By adding another vertical I was able to attach two boards so they can move through the narrow “door” and pulled the partition a few inches away from the pop door so they can squeeze around the edges. Hopefully no one will be injured again. I also gave them back their food inside for now. I guess they need a few more weeks of growing so their size is more similar before I try again.

Today is cooler than the past few days and it is windy, but still a nice day to be in the garden. The peas are growing nicely, the garlic looks healthy and today I added 8 cabbage plants, 8 curly kale plants and 8 rainbow chard plants for some greens.

After planting and watering them, I attempted to put a row cover over them to keep the cabbage moths from laying their eggs on the leaves. It is up, but not well. Once the wind dies down, I will have to go out and try again. The laying hens benefited from my efforts by getting a box full of weeds and grubs to enjoy.

It is so nice to be out in the garden, digging with my bare hands in the warm rich soil. Nope, I don’t bother with manicures.

Now I am off to fight with a cellular phone company over my Samsung galaxy 3 that gets so hot I can’t carry it in my pocket and only holds a charge for 4 to 5 hours even with the data use turned off. This is not acceptable as we only have cell phones, no landline. Then on to knit night with my friends.

Life is an adventure on our mountain farm.

April 23, 2014
Planting Day, Spring at Last

My first seed start of this year was an epic fail. First, I got anxious and started them way too early, knowing that I can’t plant any tender plants until at least Mother’s Day, and as usual, I gave them at least 8 weeks head start, knowing from past experience that they would get pale and leggy before planting time. Second, I planted them and put the grow light and heat mat in a back bedroom, not out where I would see them and remember them. Third, I planted them just as my 91 year old Dad came to visit, we took a day trip to meet some friends, and I spent a week in Northern Virginia babysitting the eldest grand. Sure enough, I monitored them until just about the time they sprouted, then promptly forgot they were there, so no grow light, no removal of the moisture cap, no watering. I remembered them while I was in away and by then it was too late to salvage anything. The tray had dried out planting cubes and 4 to 6 inch long dry threads of plant stems. My decision was to just go to the nursery and buy pepper and tomato plants this year. Today as I was running other errands, I looked at the plants. They wanted more than $3.50 each for them. The selection was terrible. Instead, figuring I still have about 4 weeks before they can go out, I started over at home.

Started are 8 Jalapeno, 4 Habanero, 4 Anaheim, 4 Cayenne, 4 Bull nose Bell peppers. Also 8 Hungarian paste, 4 Brandywine, and 4 Heinz canning tomatoes. In pots, I started ginger, tall basil, and spicy globe basil.

When the basil sprouts and gets a few inches of size on it, I will transplant some of the seedlings to peat pots and once warm enough, I will put them in the garden, the pots will contain a plant or two and stay on the deck for a quick cutting when I am cooking or making a salad. The ginger looks pretty in a pot on the deck and it does enlarge the root, so that you can dig part of it for household use. Unfortunately, the one I started last year stayed outside a bit too long before I brought it in and it didn’t survive.

All of these efforts were set up in spaces where I will see them and remember them this time.

The grow warmer and light are on the kitchen counter below my daily dishes. The pots are in the south facing window in the laundry room where we feed the dogs and through which I pass each time I go to deal with chickens or to put garbage or recycling in the containers in the garage.

Also on this beautiful day, I enjoyed lunch with a special friend to celebrate her birthday which was yesterday and then once home, I mowed about a half acre around the house and over to the chickens so that I don’t have to wade through nearly knee high grass that seems to have grown almost overnight.

In checking out my garden, the peas that I planted a few weeks ago are about 2″ tall, but the paths are quickly getting overtaken by weeds. I think within the next couple of days, I will attack the paths with thick layers of newspaper and a thicker layer of hay. Most of the beds were heavily mulched with hay over the winter and except for the berry beds, they look pretty good.

The spring and summer garden season is beginning, I love it.

Life is an adventure on our mountain farm.

April 21, 2014
Easter Sunday on the Farm

Today is beautiful, no Easter snow, thank goodness. Bright sun, azure blue sky, calm wind, and grass, oh my it has grown in a week. It must be at least a foot high in the back. It will have to be mowed this week or we will start bringing ticks indoors and I don’t want that. I started the tractor and used it to move some compost and some old wood a few weeks ago, so I know it is running. The lawnmower for right around the house hasn’t been started yet, but it was only used a few times after it was purchased late last summer, so hopefully, it also will run. Fuel is needed for both and since it is Easter Sunday, that purchase will have to wait until tomorrow or the next day, though the little general store/gas station in the town is open today.

The chicks are now more than 6 weeks old and did fine in the coop while I was away, in spite of several below freezing nights. Last night they were all on the perches in the coop, lined up like big girls instead of huddled in a corner. Today they are getting outdoor time.

Though they still sound like chicks, they look like small chickens. They poked their head from the temporary pen into the permanent pen and promptly got pecked. Now the hens and Cogburn have lost interest and the chicks are foraging the long grass for new treasures.

Shadow and the chicks being desensitized to each other. She would lie down quietly by the pen until I moved and then she bolted away. Since the electric fence is now only around two sides of the vegetable garden, the dogs can get right up to the chicken pens and they weren’t used to being able to do that. At first the chickens are alarmed, but I am trying to get the dogs so they don’t activate prey instinct when the chicken flap and run, I would like for the chickens to have some free range time without being chased by the dogs. She did really well and the chicks quickly ignored her. The dogs need to learn that they are farm dogs and can’t chase everything that moves or flies.

And of course there is time for tug-o-war with the big ball on a rope. Ranger was working on drop it and leave it, then I would throw it out into the yard for a chase and tug session.

Life is an adventure on our mountain farm.

April 20, 2014
Home Again, Home Again, Jiggity Jig

Home at last. I love my visits to babysit the eldest grandson. I truly appreciate that they trust me with him so completely and that they appreciate my helping out. I am glad to be home though. After almost 8 years of living here in the mountains, the city makes me restless. At night here, we have total darkness, billions of stars and quiet, only night animal sounds. Their apartment complex has bright flood lights on the end of each building shining on the parking lots, Sodium Vapor lights in the courts, lighting the walkways and the apartment is never totally dark. They live near the street end of the complex with one row of buildings between them and a busy Northern Virginia road, so there are automobile, truck and emergency vehicle noises all day and night. After a few days up there, the city lights and noises don’t bother me as much as when I first arrive, but I am glad to be back in the rural mountain quiet.

It was spring break and the District of Columbia attracts tourists, so grandson’s and my visits to the museums and the zoo were frought with thousands of people. For the first time in the 3 years they have been there, the volume of people was so high that we had to wait in a block long line to get in the Natural History Museum. We had hoped to get a glimpse of the just delivered T Rex bones in the fossil lab, but they weren’t visible anywhere that we were allowed and there were so many other folks there because that display is about to be closed for a 5 year renovation, that we couldn’t even see the displays. Grandson wanted to go to the SPARKS lab in the American History Museum and it is closed until next year for renovations. There is a lot of renovation going on at the Smithsonian.

This was the crowd waiting to get in when we left at 2:45 p.m. on Friday.

We stayed so busy that I never even opened my spinning wheel, knitted, or took my carders out of my suitcase. I did read a book and a half though.

My journey home was uneventful, fortunately. The weather was good, the traffic tolerable. My first task after greeting hubby and the pups, and unpacking and checking on the chickens, was to put fresh clean sheets on the bed. It will be a delight to sleep in my own bed tonight and have crisp clean sheets too, they needed changing when I left.

April 19, 2014
A Tale of a Lone Hen Protector

During his sleep last night, the lone hen protector had a terrible dream. Cogburn ruffled in his dream, but couldn’t awaken enough to figure out what was going on. In his dream, one at a time, his ladies were disappearing, until there were only three. But he knew he had nine, what on earth was going on. When he awoke this morning, he was startled to see that it wasn’t a dream at all, his coop only contained three of his ladies and a new wooden structure that obstructed part of his kingdom’s perches. He crowed mightily, hoping that the aliens that had abducted his ladies would return them.

Once the tall lady came out to let him out of his coop and give him food and water, he was even more distraught as the aliens had returned his ladies, but alas, he couldn’t get to them. How was he going to protect them from the shadows in the sky?

Then to make matters worse for him, that tall lady crawled into the coop with strange and noisy objects in her hands that didn’t look like food to him and she made lots of noise and commotion in his castle. When she was done, ten small noisy creatures invaded his castle, but he couldn’t get to them. What had happened? Some nearly invisible force field prevented him from surveying his domain and chasing those interlopers away. His beautiful queenly lady that lays the green eggs entered to survey the situation as well, she has always been a curious sort and as the tall lady had piled deep new hay under her perch, she made a nest, but the tall lady kept fussing at her and finally stirred up the nest she had carefully arranged. When the tall lady stirred up the nest, she was in the coop and this upset her king.

Since his kingdom seemed to be totally disrupted and this tall lady seemed to have something to do with it, he decided it was his noble duty to attack her, but when he rose to strike, she raised this long hard object and pushed him firmly away. Being rebuffed and defeated, he decided the only thing he could do was crow at her until she left.

It bothers him greatly that his other ladies seem to be doing fine without him in the other castle, they are even giving the tall lady their daily gems in the new and foreign nests she built for them. What’s a king to do?

April 10, 2014
Moving Days

We have a streak of warm days and mild nights ahead and the chicklets have gotten way too big for the brooder. They are able to cope in the garage without a heat lamp now and get absolutely frisky if taken out in the sun or on a really warm day. They clearly need more space before they start pecking each other. I hung a “Baby Block” toy/feeder in their brooder to try to help and put two perches in there, but they need more room.

They can foul that cage is less than a day. Preparations were made today to do some moving around.

The coop is 4 X 8 feet inside, discounting the 6 nesting boxes attached to the outside of one wall. Since the plan is to leave only the 2 Buff Orpington hens and the 1 Americana hen and possibly Cogburn, but I am leaning toward removing him as well, I have created a divider that will give the 10 chicks 2/3 of the coop and the 3 hens will have 1/3 with 2 nesting boxes for nighttime and egg laying. After they all go to bed tonight, Jim and I will remove the other 6 hens and Cogburn, maybe to the chicken tractor and temporary run.

This is going to stir things up in the pecking order. I installed two nesting boxes in the chicken tractor today, but I anticipate the girls going on strike and either not laying for a while or laying their eggs on the ground. After the coop is opened tomorrow and the remaining 3 hens go out to eat and drink, I will use the staple gun to erect plastic poultry fencing over the new framing and to close off the 4 remaining nesting boxes and the chicks will be moved into the coop. They will be able to see the hens, but for now, they won’t be able to leave the coop. After a few more weeks and some growth, I will make a passageway for them to leave the coop, but scoot back to safety if feeling threatened. For a while, they will have food and water in the coop with them. Once they are large enough to share the coop and run with the big girls, the netting and framing will be removed and they will share the coop. My goal is for the hens to sit eggs for future chicks, but that will either mean keeping Cogburn or another rooster, or buying fertilized eggs and slipping them under a broody hen for hatching. I’ll have to make that decision before eldest son comes in late summer to put the hens in freezer camp.

April 9, 2014