April Snow Showers bring Cold Temps!

The weather the past few years has been so unpredictable. Last year, on April 11, we had over 6 inches of snow on the ground, killing some of my freshly planted berries and almost killed the grape plant I had planted the first of April (2022) on the assumption that the freezing was behind us. It also killed  a few of the baby trees I had planted. I was none too happy.... but, then, the heat in the summer killed most of the rest of the trees. Ugh.  

This week, the temps yesterday were pretty typical and wet.  We even ventured out a few days ago to replant some of the tree starts.  But today, we are likely to have freezing temps again, and some snow flurries. The Day Old Cornish Cross that we ordered in February, arrived today, and yah, this is what we are dealing with. Have them in garage with a space heater under their brooder and towels over the top of the mesh, trying to hold some of the heat inside. It has helped to warm the inside of their brooder warmed up to 65F, so that's not too bad. Using the large brooder warmer to ensure that everyone (25) have a place to get warmed without needing to feel distressed. Have pushed the feeder and the waterers up close to the warmer so that they don't need to get too chilled in order to eat and drink. Normally, at this time of the year, we are warmer, but, yah. This seems to be our new normal.

Oh, update on the duck. Brown duck (Diega) has been limping the past few days. I did end up catching her yesterday and she has two calluses on each foot. I brought her inside the house, which obviously was stressful as she pooped down my coat and onto the kitchen floor. Then pooped again when I put her in some warm water to soak her feet in epsom salt solution in the laundry sink... ugh! I don't see any redness or black, so that's good. Have put some grass hay on the ground in their coop to hopefully help minimize the foot stress for her at night. Don't want this to turn into bumblefoot. May try to catch her again in a day or two, to put some oil on her soles to help with healing.

Ahhh... Spring!

Four Weeks and Counting Until Ready to Go Outside 2023

This is the MOST chicks we have ever attempted brooding at once. We planned on 50, and ended up with 59! All survived which is really quite extraordinary. 

We really needed another brooder for all these chicks, but we worked our way through.  We started brooding in the house the first two weeks in large boxes.  Started with two large boxes, and within a week, we needed to add another large box to handle their growth.  We had the freezing temps with much cooler than typical end of February weather. We moved the chicks into the larger, four-foot square brooders during the first week of March. We had 29 chicks in one brooder and 30 chicks in the other brooder.  This was fine at the start of the month, but now, two weeks in to March, it is no longer feasible.  Typically, we can keep about 20 chicks in our brooders from week one to week six. Um.... yah, we really needed one more large brooder. 

We decided, since 26 of the chicks will be leaving for their new homes in a couple of weeks, that we would divide them in half (based on their respective mini-flocks) to give them the added space for the next two weeks.  This helps with their flock bonding experience by reducing the stress because they won't be crowded at all for the next two weeks. We placed the other 33 chicks into our larger six-foot square pull pen.  Typically, we use this pen while pasturing and growing out our meat chickens. The chicks are small enough (at the moment) to have plenty of running, chasing around, and flying space in this larger pen for at least the next four to six weeks. We will be selling most of the rest of our chicks by that time as "left overs."  We bought extra of all breeds to ensure that if any died or any were roosters, we would still have some of each breed available for the people we presold for this winter/spring. 

We already have people interested in our 10+ week leftover pullets.  So I'm fairly certain that we will be able to sell all those extras before spring is done.

Fresh Chicks Mid-February 2023

We are starting chicks earlier this year. We received 51 chicks this morning that traveled about 2400 miles shipped on Wednesday from the hatchery.  Excellent crating and shipping services. USPS tracking never was updated until after we received them. But they arrived in great shape and on-time. The clerk at the PO said a batch of chicks that arrived at their station yesterday from a different hatchery was not in such good shape and many of their chicks had died en route. That's just sad :( 

The New Chicks Are Coming, The New Chicks Are Coming!

Just now starting the new chicks for spring, 2023. I did some special order chicks in addition to the ones that I ordered from the hatchery a couple of months ago.  I picked up a couple Olive Eggers, Cream Legbars, and four Lavender Orpingtons. With the temps still fluctuating in the garage, we decided to start the chicks in a large box in the house. We have two more large boxes ready to be used when the other chicks arrive next week. Normally, I use a smaller red water base (non-drowning) base, but I didn't have ready access to them and needed to get water going.  These little girls have done just fine with this base. 

The chicks are now three days into being at the house, and seem to be doing well.  They will be a week older than the rest of the chicks that arrive next week.  We will merge them based on the situation and health of the newer chicks.  If the newer chicks bounce back quickly after they arrive, we will quickly merge this little group with the larger group.  On the other hand, if the new chicks don't bounce back quickly, we will assess the strongest chicks that we can merge with the first batch and work to nurse the weakest back to health as quickly as possible. 

Am very excited to learn more about the new breeds that I requested.  The chicks that I listed for pre-sale were reserved very quickly this year. Now to just wait and see what arrives. 

The meat (Cornish Cross) chicks won't be arriving until April 12th. I was much more careful about timing this year so that we have plenty of time to ensure that all the layer chicks can go outside before we start our batch of meat chickens. The only bad factor here is that these chicks will need to go outside while there is still the chance of freezing temps near the end of March. I try to ensure that the temp in the garage is kept a bit cooler so that they will feather more quickly this year. 

Almost 3 week old Chicks - August 2020

We have had the chicks two weeks now, although they will be three weeks on Sunday, August 16 and Monday, August 17.  The Cornish Cross are almost ready to go outside, but we are going to have a heat wave this weekend and into next week, so we have to wait until that passes before they go outside.  They have no true way to regulate their body temps and they are prone to heat stroke on those hot days. By next Friday, they will be outside until they are old enough to process. 

The other chicks look so tiny in comparison. But they are only a day or two younger. We lost one of the Blue Plymouth.  She didn't eat or drink very well.  It happens. We have had more problems with that this year I think due to the overload on the hatcheries trying to ensure that they are getting enough chicks out.  It is not uncommon for them to sell those chicks that are not as healthy as they could/should be. Unfortunately, that's what happens when people start panic purchasing livestock. The remaining 14 seem to be doing okay.  

We did do a bit of nursing on one of the Blue Plymouth yesterday after it got tangled in one of the threads on the flooring.  We attempt to keep a close watch on them, but things happen from time to time. Thankfully, we seem to have caught it soon enough and after some extra attention, it perked back up and appears to be eating and doing fine now. I put an ankle bracelet on it so that I can keep an extra eye on how it is doing. I'll cut off the band in a day or two to let it blend back into the group.  She is the gray chick in the first column, third down and bottom, of photos below 

Two weeks in, and today was transition into shavings day. New process is always a big transition for little chicks, but they have all settled into the new environment after a few moments of distress, back to EPS (eating, pooping and sleeping). 

Cornish Cross Peeps August 2020

We picked up the Cornish Cross a week ago, and in the flurry of events, did not get first day photos.  They are a week and couple days old now, developing feathers, eating like... well, Cornish Cross, and poohing up a storm! That's their nature. They are the "pig" version of chickens. They have grown quickly.  The order of eight got mixed up, and we only received five, but have ordered eight for the next batch to be delivered in September. While I would prefer to have them all done for the year, it is what it turned out to be. 

They are already double the size of the layer chicks, in their own special crate because they kind of overpower the little ones, and will be ready to be outside in three more weeks. 

August Peeps 2020

We have changed to flock over into the large cage now. The box worked well for a few days to get them acclimated to the warmer, food, and water, but now they need the space. See the wing feathers forming, meaning that they are going to want to move and fly. A box just doesn't cut it. 

Piks included of the posterboard experiment.  I chose yellow for "bright-ness" We will see if this works, or if they just shred it.  I do have what I used last time, just in case. But for now, I think this will help to keep them inside the cage better until they are too big to squeeze through. 

August 2020 - Garden and Chick Updates

July weather definitely helped with our garden, although the last week of July was sweltering. I had to start protecting the tomatoes to keep them from getting sun scald. Aside from that, the tomato wind guard area seems to be working out fine.  While I had originally planned on setting the bell pepper plants in that area, it's just not wide enough.  I will need to rethink it if I do this next year. 

The cucumbers are FINALLY doing their thing.  The first planting didn't survive.  The 2nd planting barely survived, but I didn't think they would, so I did a third planting... they also survived, but we will see it it was too late to get any cucumbers from them. At least we are getting some cucumbers at this point. 

Acorn squash. First try. Finally starting to get female buds.  For about three weeks, there were only male.  I just read that as soon as the male flowers start showing up, to put a dose of fertilizer on the plant to encourage the females to form. Then watch closely, the color of the leaves.  Keep them from turning yellow by regularly feeding the plants. We will see how this turns out. 

Corn survived!  The last time we had a summer like we had in June, my corn did not survive the month.  This year, instead of trying to start them outside, I kept them in the greenhouse under a light and that seemed to do the trick. I pulled all the tillers off this year and this past week, have added a dose of bone meal to help with corn development.  We should have some corn in another couple of weeks!

 

All onion are pulled and most have been cut up and dried. Pulled enough bush string beans to freeze for three meals. Plan to do that with the corn this year, too.  

Have pulled most of the broccoli florets off to keep them from bolting. Cauliflower heads are finally starting to form.  I have not grown cauliflower since the 1980s. I can't remember how long it takes.  This has been a very LONG time, it seems. 

Bell peppers have been attacked by bugs this year.  They are doing better, but not as well as I would like.  I think it is also a weather situation. This photo is a Sandpiper pepper.  Curious to see what it tastes like. 

Basil replant took hold.  I normally can't get basil to come up in July because it is usually too hot by that time. But the June weather really took a toll on a lot of my starts. It will probably be a late August before I can start harvesting dill and basil.  I'll take what I can get. 

The Cornish Cross Chicks came in on Wednesday this past week (July 29).  The last batch of Rhode Island Reds, Barred Rock and the Blue Plymouth showed up on Friday (July 31).  Lots of new chicks and their cute little peeps are in the garage.