It's has been a crazy year, 2020. Pandemic of Covid-19. Unusual weather patterns. Devastating wild fires. And through it all, we have been experimenting on the farm.
It's officially winter and we still have all the birds. We will try again in January 2021 to sell them as layers since they are officially starting to lay eggs. Yes, in Winter on the shortest sunlight day of the year, our producers are/were still laying.
Some updated photos of the green/PVC tractor pen design that seems to be working fairly well. We have the ability to move it without the tractor, but pulling it up hill is a work out. Every once in a while, a bird will get too close to the edge, when we are pulling, and will get a leg/foot stuck that requires us to go lift and extract. No injuries while the ground has been so wet and sloggy. It usually works best if someone is on the inside chasing the birds away from the sides OR if we have them all locked up in the coop. If we use the tractor, we must have them locked inside the coop or they freak out from the rumbling of the engine and they injure themselves. Getting them inside the coop before dusk is it's own crazy task.
The waddles and combs are developing on the younger pullets, and the pullets have adapted to the bossyness of the older layers.
The Blue Plymouths are quite attractive and if I can't sell them, I'm more than happy to keep them in the flock although they are rather squawky and a bit flighty. They are not as calm as my Barred and Rhode Islands.
Greenhouse dill and lettuce are growing very well. Have it all set up to cover them if a deep freeze blows in. The potatoes that I planted in July did not do well. I thought I would experiment by moving them into the greenhouse, but the lack of light in October seemed to do them in. We had a ton of tiny potatoes, but they just quit growing. So, that was an interesting experiment, but not a very productive one.
