Portaits of the Farm

Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good; For His lovingkindness is everlasting. Psalm 118:1

June 7, 2012 - Our Babies Are Two Weeks!

Yes, they've kinda hit that awkward pre-teen stage. E won't even go in to see them and you can tell by the look on Z's face that he's not exactly enjoying holding this gal for a picture. They're losing their baby feathers aand some of the adult feathers aren't in yet, but their wing feathers are mostly in. And their feet are huge! Like I said - awkward.

But we figured it was time to try them out in the pasture since they are pastured poultry. We delicately lifted them up out of the brooder.

Put them in their royal carriage a few at a time so that each one could make a grand entrance into their pasture pen where all the grass bowed before them. 

We gave them a delicious gourmet feast to celebrate the occasion.

We even threw grit confetti as they paraded around their new abode.

They were truly honored and grateful for all the fanfare. And now we have happy hens once again!

 Happy Clucking!

ALLISON

May 23, 2012 - Meat Chicks Arrive

The day we've been preparing for...100 Chicks make their debut on the farm.

You know that panic feeling you got when the doctor put your first newborn child in your arms and you thought, "What in the world am I supposed to do now?" It was kinda similar today - 100 chicks and we have no IDEA what we are doing! I mean we've read about it but we all know it's not the same. Good thing they're cute. Ok, let's do this thing!

The chicks came when I was getting milk from the dairy and the post office called Ter to pick them up, but my phone was on mute (always convenient), so he couldn't get a hold of me and had to leave work early and go to the post office himself. Sorry, hun! Anyway, he and the girls got the chicks put into their brooder, dipped their beaks in water and showed them their food and they were all set.

Not really sure what to say here.

We all thought these chicks were just the cutest things and played with them for a long while. Even Bo held them gently...enough. We were surprised to see them still alive the next morning. Success! Now 8 weeks to go.

Happy new experiences!

ALLISON

 

May 19, 2012 - First Hens Moving Day

We have our hens in a portable hen house but it also has a portable electric fence around it so that the hens can move around freely and pick up all kinds of tasty treats from their yard. It's also supposed to deter any predator or curious passerby. But we hadn't tried moving until today...

Saturday was super windy (that would be a strike against us). Multiply that with frantic hens, a curious dog and people who have no idea what their doing and we're in for a crazy mix. :) Of course, we did have a fearless leader so what more could we need.

We finally got all the chickens rounded up and safe inside the hen house. Then we moved the fence around by everybody grabbing a couple posts and moving simultaneously. (Think uncoordinated synchronized swimming.) We got all the posts pushed back into the ground and then we staked the lose ends. After that we tied a couple of spots to tree branched so the wouldn't fall over in the wind.  

See the fencing in the picture above? You can see how much the wind blowing by looking a Bo's hair and how much the fence is curving in between posts. 

We managed to get it up without too many harsh words. The hens seem to enjoy their new space especially around the trees. We learned taht we're not going to do it the same way next time. We're going to follow the recommendations from the fence company (imagine that) and gather up each post while not crossing the mesh fencing and then we'll lay the fence flat in the new spot by laying down each post and then standing then upright when we get it all arranged correctly. (Reading directions is a marvelous thing.)

Happy Boundaries!

ALLISON