Tag Archives: chickens

Progress on the coyote front

Posted on June 7, 2015 by | Leave a comment

Good news: shooting the coyote is now a back-up plan.

We found Animal Damage Control Agent Heath, a local from the area, to help us with our problems. We were able to pick his brain on a few things about the coyote, who we feel is most likely a bitch with a litter of pups, and have a solid plan for trying to keep her at bay until they move on to their winter den.

Agent Heath suggested using “human smells:” perfumes, soaps, cleaning chemicals like ammonia and bleach…things that the coyote would normally associate with people. We’re going to try picking up from dryer sheets – something we haven’t bought in nearly 6 years now – and see how that works. We’ll be able to tie them throughout the perimeter of the property, making a stinky boundary line. Based on his suggestions, we’re also going to try a movable scare-crow dosed in some sort of deodorant spray or some such.

As an absolute last ditch scenario, if the coyote starts coming out when it shouldn’t and proves dangerous, Agent Heath will come in and hunt it. He doesn’t believe in using foot traps in the area that we’re in for the same reasons we don’t want to use them: too many domestics, other wildlife, and children in the area. He also said that a live trap, while it can work in some cases, will probably not prove to be efficient.

This makes us feel so much more at ease. We have someone to work with who believes in putting animals first and doing everything necessary before removing them from the area. As much of a pain as it has been losing chickens, and it really hurt losing Edith, we know that we need to find some balance with the predators that are out there. This is part of finding that balance.

Leave a comment

Posted in Animals

Tagged ,

Day 12

Posted on May 31, 2015 by | Leave a comment

Most people who incubate their own eggs tend to candle them on day 5 to see if there are any fertile ones and to remove those that may rot and cause a catastrophic explosion. Not I. Not being able to find the appropriate flashlight seemed like an impossible task in this house, which is hilariously frustrating given how much of a flashlight-bug the Hubster is.

So…if I finally got to candling the eggs, why aren’t there any pictures? The simple answer is this: the best flashlight was on my phone, which has become primarily my camera more than anything else. It worked better than I thought it would, too. I was able to have a large flat surface to hold the egg on and I didn’t have to worry about cupping my hand around the light or any other interesting movement that could easily result in a dropped egg.

We’re proud to announce that, with only 9 days to go, 6 out of the 7 eggs that we set are fertile with little jumping beans in them! This is awesome! We lost out rooster, Gimp, to the local coyote this past Thursday (along with young Lucy and our matriarch, Edith), so we’re hoping we might have a boy out of those six. Even more exciting is the concept that one of the eggs I’m certain is Edith’s, which means we might have an off spring to two of our lost sweethearts.

If things go well, we’ll have:

1 Barred Rock x Rhode Island Red
1 Comet x Rhode Island Red
4 Easter Egger x Rhode Island Red

Obviously the first two would continue to be brown layers, but the last for would most likely than not be GREEN egg layers given the cross. Very exciting! I don’t know if we’ll keep all the chicks, as we’ve given someone who helped donate to the incubator the option of taking her pick of the first batch, but we also have a good assortment of layers that are a little over a month old (3 Black Australorps, 2 Blue Andalusians, 2 Silver Laced Wyandottes, and 2 Buff Rocks).

Needless to say, we might even be attempting another clutch after this batch is hatched in a bid to make sure we get one of Gimp’s boys. We’ll see.

Leave a comment

Posted in Animals

Tagged , , ,

And so comes spring…

Posted on April 23, 2015 by | Leave a comment

A lot has changed in the past two months since I have had time to update here. Personally, I’m suffering the set back of having to extend my Master’s work yet again, but this will be the last time, thankfully! The time that I’ve had to devote to my writing, the mental prep and planning for planting season, and the physical exertion of growing another farm hand has left me with very few chances to get onto the blog. I’m stealing a few minutes to update everyone about what we have going on and what’s changed.

We decided to rehome our white crested Polish rooster, Jovi. No sooner did we than his immune system apparently shut down on him. He passed away only after a week of living in his new home. It killed me to hear that he had moved on. I just hope that depression and being away from us did not exacerbate his health issues. His new owner did say he didn’t seem to be in pain when he passed. It’s hard, though. You can say as often as you want that you won’t get attached to the live stock – the breathing beings that provide you with food – but it’s hard not to.

Our only rooster now, Gimp the Rhode Island Red, has been dealing with some health issues of his own. At a later date I will do an entry on both of the specific ones he went through and how we treated each, as it’s very important information that I feel many chicken owners, including myself, tend to over look. Needless to say, he’s lost half a toe and two toe nails due to frost bite issues and is allergic to hay.

We’re also looking to rehome a few of our hens who just aren’t fitting into the flock as well as we would like. they are great layers and barely a year old, so I can’t see just sending them to freezer camp. We have a few people interested, we just have to decide when we need them gone by.

It’s also chick season around here. We bought 6 Black Australorps pullets from Aubuchon’s since we couldn’t get the from the hatchery. While there, I entered for their Chick Days drawing, which ws a chick starter kit. For once in my life, I won something! Not only did we get a tote with all the fixings (water font, 2 feeders, heat lamp and bulb, treat stick, and themometer), but it came with six free chicks (one mystery chick and then I chose the rest), a bale if shavings, and a 25 lb of feed!

We now have the 6 Black Australorps, 5 Jersey Giants, and one mystery chick (most likely a Brown Leghorn or Welsummer roo) in one brooder box. The other brooder box has 10 Buff Rock roos, 2 Buff Rock pullets, 2 Blue Andalusian Pullets, 2 Silver Laced Wyandotte pullets, and a mystery bird, which I’m pretty sure is a Cochin. Our basement is very lively right now!

We also have expansion plans for the gardens and will possibly be adding in blueberry bushes this year as well. Oh, and let’s not forget fiddlehead season is in a few weeks! Let’s hope this waddling mama doesn’t fall into the Sandy Brook when fiddlehead picking!

Leave a comment

Posted in Animals, Foraging, Garden, House

Tagged , , , , , ,

Feather Cysts

Posted on February 6, 2015 by | Leave a comment

One of the issues that we’ve been dealing with this past month or so has been feather cysts. Jovi, our white crested black Polish, is our first crested chicken that we’ve ever had. Back in the fall he was attacked by another rooster that we had tried to keep. (Needless to say we found the other rooster a new home.) After the attack, I didn’t dare pull out all of the broken feathers in Jovi’s crest as I didn’t want him completely bald for the winter. I took a gamble and left them in there.

The problem with gambling is that there’s always the possibility of a bad outcome. In this case, it was feather cysts. A feather cyst is like an ingrown hair on a bird, only it’s a feather not a hair.

FeatherCycstPreCleanup2015.jpg

Feather cysts normally form when a broken feather shaft is left in and blocks the new feather from emerging. Sometimes the broken feather will fall out and let the new ones work through, but it’s a rare occurrence.

There are a few different ways to treat feather cysts. The first step that we had to take was to remove all the broken feathers that were left in hopes of avoiding another cyst.

FeathersCystCleanUp2015.jpg
The next three days we used a carbon paste to pull at much of the puss from the wound as possible. We also pricked it open with a pin to drain the puss. On the fourth day there was a scab that we were able to peel off to reveal the feather underneath. I didn’t take any photos of it, but after I pulled out everything from the cyst, and full feather measured about an inch long.

He’s had two more cysts since then, but both we’ve been able to pop and let come out on their own. This one was by far the worse. While I feel awful that he had to go through that, it was a great learning experience for us and now we know how to stop them before they start.

Leave a comment

Posted in Animals

Tagged , , , , ,

Tough Days Make Us Tough Birds

Posted on November 16, 2014 by | Leave a comment

IMG_0018

It’s difficult to live on a homestead. While we don’t slaughter out own birds – yet – the emotions that you go through packing them into the kennels and loading them into the car, driving to the butcher’s and handing them over, picking them up an hour later, and bringing them home to the freezer, it’s a roller coaster ride.

You’ve held these birds in your hands since they were a day old. You fed them, cuddled them, loved them.  You give them your attention, your time, and your devotion. In return they give you education, experience, and sustenance. It’s never easy to see anything come to an end, much less the life of an animal, even one that has been born and raised with the sole purpose of giving your family food.

We’re asked often why we raise our own birds if it is so hard to see them go off to “freezer camp.” There are so many ways to answer this, but it all boils down to the fact that it is by far healthier for us and for them. They have room to grow, are not debeaked, and are not kept in an area the size of an iPad. These birds have been tended to for every wound and illness, from pasty butt to bumble foot, to torn combs. Each rooster has been held, named, and identified as a living being, not a “production unit.”

We eat meat because we are carnivores. But that does not mean we need to become heartless about it. Our current industrialization of animal husbandy that has formed concentrated animal feedlot operations (CAFOs) have let the US become such a heartless, unaware society as to where our meat comes from that many no longer realize their food as once having been a living animals. We, like all homesteaders, fight to close this gap. We long to be connected back into our food chain, giving each animal we consume the best life possible until it’s time for their ultimate destiny as one of our “farm hands.” As a family we’ve decided to raise our own meat birds, buy local beef, and purchase additional meat from the local farmers’ market. Is there more that we could do to strengthen our connection? Yes, but raising our own chickens for slaughter is the first step.

I could wax political and spiritual for hours on this topic. It’s a job we don’t take lightly, raising our own food, but it’s one that we readily take upon ourselves instead of taking it for granted. It is rough. It leads to tears, sleepless nights, early mornings, and deep meditation, but Gods above is it worth it. We know where our food comes from. We know each bird was happy and healthy. We know we are making a difference and raising our children to know where their food – their life source – comes from. I will never give up that opportunity.

 

—–

Hoping to have this post featured on a blog hop! Check out other great blogs at The Easy Homestead’s Blog Hop on every Wednesday!
Rooster sitting in a barn on a rural farm

Leave a comment

Posted in Animals

Tagged , , , , , , , ,