Tag: chickens

Olio

Olio: a miscellaneous collection of things

Today the post is all over the place. First, chickens are mean. This is the result of the hens establishing pecking order.

One of the hens has pecked the upper wing of several of the others, plucking their feathers, but not drawing blood. The shake up has allowed the feathers to begin growing back in.

Her bare back is the result of the over zealous rooster. He is picking on the hens in the cull pen now and this gals feathers are coming back out as well.

Go away and give me some privacy! I’m trying to lay an egg.

The lace on the shawl on which I was working, did not win! I did. The shawl was completed this afternoon as Jim watched the last rounds of the football draft. I am pleased with the finished product. It is fairly generous in proportion, the color is rich, and the leaf lace border is interesting. It is currently being blocked with hopes that it will be dry to wear with a skirt to Mother’s Day Brunch at Mountain Lake Lodge tomorrow.

It is pinned to a double bed to give you an idea of it’s size.

This afternoon, our daughter sent an adorable picture of her daughter and she gave me permission to share. I particularly enjoyed the photo because when our daughter, our second child was born, I was excited to have a little girl to dress up. I took a smocking class and made dresses and bonnets. As soon as she was old enough to assert her opinion, which was quite early, she always wanted pants, sweaters or t shirts and mismatched socks. I would buy her skirts for school and she would pull out pants instead. She was an athlete, playing soccer for years and softball in middle school. When she found out she was pregnant for the second time, she told everyone that if she had a girl, she would not put her in pink. She decorated the nursery with a musical theme in greens, blues, teal and brown. Now that this little princess is old enough to assert her opinion, she chooses skirts and dresses. This is her afternoon outfit.

Life and good, I love being a Mom and a Grandmom.

May 10, 2014
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
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
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
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
Sore Muscles, Stink buds, Silly puppies and Showers

Our beautiful 3 days are over and rain is expected for the next two days followed by cooler weather for a week, maybe winter cold weather. It is probably good that it is too wet to work outdoors today, my sore achy muscles need a recovery period. Though we have a treadmill and hand weights in the basement rec room, I am much too sedentary during the cold months, enjoying walks in the snow or on a crisp clear day, but certainly not getting the exercise that I get during the growing season.

We have had the chickens for just over a year now and it has been about a year since we put the coop in place, unleveled and poorly fenced. Late last spring, eldest son came to do some work with us and he helped me level the coop the best we could using car jacks and a 6 foot pry bar to raise it up on blocks. The fencing has evolved from a small square of poorly erected garden fence to the present design of a much larger rectangle with 4 foot wide runs that extend down two sides of the garden, forming a large L at the end of the rectangle, welded wire fence on heavy T posts. After the coop was in place, I saw a design that ran a 3 foot wide run all the way around a garden with the coop and the compost bins at one edge. Unfortunately, the coop couldn’t be placed where that would work at the time and now that the area is leveled near the bins, the coop can’t be moved, so it will have to be as it is, though that design also serves to keep deer out of the garden.

Every fall we are invaded by these nasty pests and a few wasps. They manage to get inside in spite of the windows being shut and locked and all winter I capture and destroy them until I think that most are gone, then April arrives and they crawl out from under window sills, behind baseboards and who know where else and again we are over run. They are a major pest in SW Virginia and seem to be getting worse. You can’t squash them and vacuuming them can only be done with a vacuum with a disposable bag as they live up to their name, Stink bug. Last night I must have captured at least 20 and several more this morning. They don’t fare well in soapy water and can easily be knocked into a paper cup of it to be flushed away. They are an invasive species and seem to have no natural predators here.

This is our 210 pound puppy’s favorite position. His breeder says that his father does the same thing. Such a silly dog. Surprisingly, the German Shepherd in the background chose to gnaw on a bone instead of attacking him as she usually does when he rolls over like this and she can get the upper hand.

Today is going to be a quiet day of rest and recovery. The dog hair needs to be vacuumed, but other than that I am going to read, go to my spinning group and fix dinner. After 3 long days of hard labor, I think that is enough.

April 3, 2014
A Spring? Morning

The morning sight. Yesterday we awoke to it snowing and quickly providing ground cover, but not so much on the roads. The temperature hovering right around the freezing mark, thick gray clouds and we were driving an hour east to take my Dad who had been visiting for a few days, back to meet my step mom and her cousin who had been in a hotel there for a Garden Club conference. By afternoon, the sun was breaking out, the snow melted, but we continued to have bands of heavier snow that really weren’t accumulating. It was still near freezing at bed time and the mountain wind had picked up. Apparently it decided winter wasn’t quite over yet in spite of the calendar, because this morning we awoke to the snow cover and this

It is supposed to be springlike again by week end with rain and thunderstorms, but today is a winter day. Yesterday the chickens would not come out of their coop until they could see the ground and then they fled back in when it started snowing to come out back out with the sun.

This morning, they were confused and again did not want to leave the coop. I kicked around the straw so they could see it and since their ramp was clear, most of them came out to get food and water. When checking for eggs, I found this

The Delaware on the bottom, trying to lay her egg and a huge Buff Orpington trying to move her over so they could share the box. Maybe she thought they would be warmer that way. There are 5 other boxes, but interestingly, the 9 hens often all use the same box or the one at the opposite end of the row, rarely is there an egg in one of the middle 4. Crazy chickens.

Life is always an adventure on our mountain farm.

March 26, 2014
Productivity

The short spring of this weekend allowed Jim to take a 175 mile motorcycle ride. While he was out enjoying the weather in a way he enjoys, I got to work outside, which I enjoy. My chickens’ run expanded from 50 linear feet to 175 linear feet. The main body of the run more than doubled and I created a 6 foot wide attached run that goes down one of the long sides of the garden. My hope is that they will help keep the weeds and bugs down from that difficult to mow area.

The main body of the run now also provides a fence half way along one of the shorter sides of the garden and gives them access to a pile of old compost. They spent a good portion of the afternoon dust bathing in that pile and digging for bugs. I wonder how long it will take them to make this area barren of grass too. Putting weeds from the garden will be a much shorter walk now.

After coming in totally worn out, I stopped and unpacked my new spinning wheel. I was so glad to see that as a folding wheel, it came mostly assembled and already packed in its travel bag. There was very little assembly to do and I was soon able to take it for a short spin with a bit of undyed Shetland wool. There are 4 ounces of it to be spun, dyed and turned into something beautiful.

I love life on our mountain farm.

March 22, 2014