What's happening around the farm.
Posted in Chickens, ducks, geese, General on Jul 19th, 2010
Until the last couple weeks, all the rain went around us and we were extremely dry. I am grateful for today’s rain, though it put a halt to field work. We butchered chickens this morning, starting at 5:30, finished about 10, except still have to put stuff away. They are chilling/draining in the cooler so [...]
Posted in Chickens, ducks, geese, Vegetables on Apr 7th, 2010
Well, the chicks awaiting part is actually ducklings awaiting. Mama muscovy has gotten serious about setting, but in about 35 days we should have baby ducklings. At least one goose is pretty serious. I say pretty serious because she is very protective, but not setting tight all the time yet. Our first batch of broiler [...]
Posted in Chickens, ducks, geese, Vegetables on Mar 29th, 2010
Here is a link to a recording of the sounds trees make as water moves inside. The sounds attract insects, which in turn attract birds. Fun and interesting, and read the information before listening. The Sounds of Trees Popping – Boing Boing
Posted in Chickens, ducks, geese on Mar 19th, 2010
Well, the weather is about to turn around, but it has been enjoyable. Since we were waiting on a tractor part, I did not get to take advantage of this weather to do any field work, but did stay busy. I visited/worked on two vegetable farms yesterday. These are very well run farms, whose owners [...]
Posted in Chickens, ducks, geese on Mar 1st, 2010
I was just referred to an excellent blog post by a poultry grower in Washington state explaining his costs. He is pricing out live birds, not broilers. Bottom line: his cost to raise an egg layer from chick to laying hen is $15. He explains it very well.
Posted in Chickens, ducks, geese on Feb 28th, 2010
We found our first duck egg of the year this morning. This means we need to keep the ducks in later in the morning. When a duck gets serious about hatching some eggs, she will build a nest and lay her eggs in it. But when she’s not serious about making babies, she just drops [...]
Posted in Chickens, ducks, geese on Feb 24th, 2010
The hens pretty much stayed inside today – they don’t like fresh snow. Even the ducks weren’t happy about the snow, but they decided lots of space out in the snow was better than cooped up inside. When it is above freezing we hook hoses up and give them swimming water. The really enjoy it. [...]
Posted in Chickens, ducks, geese, Vegetables on Feb 2nd, 2010
Last December before the price went up I bought 3 sling bags of Vermont Compost. They came today (no it was not poor service – I told them I didn’t need them until February). These are big, heavy bags as you can see by comparison with me standing by them. The shipping paper says 5000 [...]
Posted in Chickens, ducks, geese, Vegetables on Jan 29th, 2010
I went out to the hoophouse at 9:45 this morning and pulled the row cover off to let light, air, and heat into the plants. Outside temp was 5F, inside was 32F. Soil around the edges frozen. Didn’t get back out to harvest until noon – outside was up to 14F, and inside was a [...]
Posted in CSA, Chickens, ducks, geese, Vegetables on Jan 9th, 2010
Sunny – the spinach is actually growing well. If I had had more patience I would even have harvested some. I started out digging and transplanting some to space them out better, but will not be surprised it the disturbance causes them to go to seed. I realized I have LOTS of spinach plants, so [...]