At Seven Weeks and In the Big Coop

We moved the left-over new flock outside into the main coop. Put our three remaining hens into an A-frame coop which they are none too happy with that move, but will put them back out in the main coop when the others are big enough to stand their ground in a few more weeks.

Today, we planted 25 Norway Spruce trees. Of the 50 we planted last year, only 4 survived. Ugh. These trees are taller than the ones I bought last year. All bare root and in the ground. Hoping we don't have another summer like the last two summers. These long, hot and dry summers are hard on our attempts to get the Christmas Trees a going.

One of the ducks is limping today. Will try to catch her tonight when it is bedtime. Easier than chasing her and the others around the field in the middle of the day. By putting them to bed in the coop, we can then grab her in a confined space. Need to check to ensure that she isn't getting a sore on her foot.

Meat Chicks will be arriving on Wednesday, and then we will be a step closer at getting our chicken meat raised for the year.

And that's the update for the first week of April, 2023.

Major Chick Update April 2020

We have more chicks now, than ever.  We had the original four Rhode Island Reds that are six weeks old, outside, really, outside, in the sun, in their run and making the adjustment from coop to being in the grass. 

Plus, a bit of a tragedy yesterday.  One of the 1-week old Rhode Island Red chicks died.  Actually, two of them seemed sickly when we picked them up.  My bad.  I received a call on Wednesday night that the RIRs had arrived at the store.  I didn't realize that the store had called, and so the little RIRs sat there until Friday morning.  The Barred Rock did arrive Friday morning.  I know better than to let chicks stay at the store in shavings and under a heat lamp for any length of time.  They will eat the small shavings and will also get too hot and get dehydrated.  A lot these "store chicks" will get pasty butt too, meaning that they are dehydrated/too hot. Although none of the chicks that I picked up had pasty butt, several of the RIR were lethargic, were not eating or drinking well, and they were stretching out their little necks while opening up their mouths really wide as though there was something stuck in their crops. So my bad for not checking my phone for calls from the store this past week. 

Sensing that we were going to lose at least two of the six new RIR chicks, we kinda went into panic mode trying to figure out what we were going to do.  Called the store only to be told that all chicks were sold from that batch they received in. That come Monday morning they MIGHT have a few left that people might not pick up.  Rather than risk it, I put in an order for three more chicks to arrive in early May.  Then we found a farm on the other side of town that had some three week old chicks, both RIR and Barred Rock. As we were arranging to drive across town to pick up some, the store called me back to say that they had three of the RIR's from the batch this past week.  Did I want them.  Yes, thank you!  I picked them up and they seem fine. Then, headed over to pick up a couple of the 3-week old Barred Rocks from across town. 

When they first arrived, I thought, no way that these are three weeks old.  Perhaps two weeks.  But, now that they are out and moving around in the quarantine pen, they do appear to be about three or four weeks old. In a few weeks, we can either put them out into the coop with the older RIRs. or mix them into the large flock in the brooder pen. 

So, yep. We have a LOT of chicklets right now! Oh, and by the way, the other RIR that seemed sick and we thought might die, is doing much better today.  Eating, drinking, pooping and running around with the larger flock. That means we now have eight 1-week old Rhode Island Reds, four 6-week old Rhode Island Reds, two 3-week old Barred Rocks and six 1-week old Barred Rocks.  This should be interesting for the next few weeks into June! 

2 6wk Rhode Island Reds Outside	2 other 6wk RIRs Outside
The 2 3wk Barred Rocks	2 3wk Barred "Plymouth" Rocks
The 1wk Mix of RIR and BR	Peeps digging in the corner
1wk Peeps	More of the 1wk peeps
And Peeps Just Hanging Out

RIR Chicks Moved to Coop Early 2020

The Rhode Island Red Chicks (4) that we picked up last month are in their new home. They are in the 3x4 coop designed for four hens. They will have a lot of room to wander around until they get bigger and actually grow into the space.  I hooked up the light in there on a timer for a few days until they are comfortable with going outside. I also included the tall brooder warmer for them 'cause we are likely to have a few cool nights for the next few weeks. Their food and water is inside the coop with them until they are bigger and better feathered.  

It worked well to get the meat chickens early in the season, got them processed at seven weeks, clean/bleach down the hoop coop and moved the three year old Welsummers into that coop on fresh ground. Since the hoop coop does not have a nesting box, I improvised a nesting box out of a five-gallon bucket.  The first few days, we had some issues with that, and ended up wiring two buckets together so that it looks like there are two nesting boxes for them, and they are much happier. The first few days involved a lot of broken eggs and eggs being laid outside of the buckets.  Now they seem much more content with the set up and no more broken eggs.  

Next Friday, the chicks that we already have presold will arrive and we will raise them until June, in time for them to be picked up by their new owners and transported to their new homes. So fingers crossed, all will go well.  A component is that with the Coronavirus (Covid-19) Pandemic, a lot of people want to try to raise some of their own food, but we all know how hard it is to raise chicks successfully.  So we will do that and make a little money on the side, in the process. Not a lot, but mostly to help people out in this middle of these crazy times who want chickens but don't want the mess and fuss of trying to raise chicks. 

Garden business here.  Most of the broccoli (11) and cauliflower (5) starts came up.  We put them into the new garden bed and have them covered to keep pests away.  The cover worked really well with starting the onions and garlic while it was still super cold and rainy outside.  Hoping it works just as well on the broccoli and cauli. The surviving tomato and pepper plants are starting to get their "real leaves" on them, so that's good.  I also picked up some clones that will at least start producing before my starts will.  So hopefully, between the mixed groups of starts, we will have an abundance of plants.  We can chop up the bell peppers and freeze them for use in stews, sauces and pizzas. Tomatoes can be pureed for sauces and paste in the freezer.  We really should have plenty of tomatoes this year for storage into the winter and spring of next year. That's the plan. 

Also, we are going to start a mini plant startup so that we can have more selection without having to wait and then go looking for the plants we want. We have ordered a grow tent that we can use to start our veggies and herbs indoors, then sell them from our driveway in the spring. We can advertise on the weekends and sell them to folks who need a few starts in the spring.  We're looking around to figure out which are the best and most popular for our area.  Thinking tomatoes, bell peppers, lettuce, broccoli, cauliflower, onions, garlic, and a good variety of herbs that are our favorites to grow and use in cooking. We can see how this goes in conjunction with the eggs that we already sell. 

No photos today.  Later in the week, maybe. 

Rhode Island Red Chicks - Week One - 2020

So the Cornish Cross (Meaties) are outside enjoying the grass and the sun.  We acclimated them to the coop, while still in the garage, last weekend (March 14) and moved them out while the spring temps were in the mid to high 50s (F). Today is probably the last warm day and most of next week will be rain and probably blustery. 

Cornish Cross in the Hoop Coop Pen (1 month)

The Rhode Island Red (RIR) chicks arrived on March 20.  We had been given a black Cochin by the store that was in critical condtion to see if we could save it.  But, it died on Saturday morning.  It would not eat or drink. The four RIR layers all seem to be quite healthy, eating and drinking well, along with many mini poops. I just switched out the "cloth" that we use under the brooder warmer so it is all super clean at this point. I use this method because helps them to stay cleaner while they are sleeping and snuggling under the warming plate.  

I took a few snaps of the brooder pen layout this morning.  For the meaties, I had used a piece of cardboard to keep them confined in the "front" of the pen for the first week.  I had the heater set up on a block in the corner and prayed that they did not knock the heater over on themselves during the first week.  (It is a safety heater that shuts off if it falls over.) I got to thinking about the small wire panels that I have and so we ziptied them together and clipped them to the opposite edges of the cage to do the exact same thing but, allows the heater to be on the other side, safely away from the chicks for a week or two.  These gals will grow a bit slower than the Cornish Cross.  For the first couple of weeks, as long as we can keep the ambient temp at about 80F, we are good, along with the use of the brooder warmer. 

So this is our new layer flock that will start laying in the fall. 

RIR at 5 days - Hatched 3-17-2020	Rhode Island Reds First Week Wings
Chick Pen with Safety Wall	Brooder Warmer in Chick Pen
(:  Just a little Peep  :)

Potato Starts and Nine Cornish Cross Outside

The nine Cornish Cross have been in their "outdoor" coop for two weeks in the garage. So they are sufficiently acclimated to it and will be easier to herd back to it in the evenings.  Three are pullets and the rest are roos so most are quite large already. They are five weeks of age, and we will process them in about three to four more. With the extra mouths of "over eaters" we have gone through more feed than I anticipated.  Looks like we will be going through over a 100 pounds of feed this spring! 

Today, we moved the coop outside and they are all outside in the day run enjoying the sunshine, lots of bugs and worms and, generally being all chicken like.  I wish we could have moved them out sooner, but our spring, truly, is just now setting in. 

It pushed our potato planting time back by two weeks.  We planted California Whites (12 starts) and Pontiac Reds (24 starts). This is double the amount of potato starts we normally plant. I plan on planting the onion starts tomorrow. I have not yet started the spinach.  We had some mold issues in the greenhouse over the winter with the crazy mix of a hot January, and a freezing frosty wind-whipped February. January did in my carrots that I had wintered over in the greenhouse.  I was pretty disappointed to be throwing out a beautiful looking bunch of carrots into the compost pile! I should have harvested them as soon as January started to warm up. Garlic is doing okay. I was worried with the January.  I threw a bunch of leaves on, as mulch and frost protection.  I need to get more fertilizer on them. And I guess that's about all I can report on, for now. It's TRULY Spring 💗❤💗💝😁

Pre-Spring Chicklets Arrived

Nine little fluff balls arrived this morning.  We have them in our small cage with high sides for now, to make it easier to control the environment.  We have the brooder warmer at the low height and they are all piled under there as they adapt.  Since the garage is on the cool side right now, we have added a space heater to blow a little warm heat in there.  Of course, we also have the cage covered with a sheet to cut down on drafts with the one foot wide opening at the far end of the cage (away from the chicks) to ensure that they are in a warm, but not too warm environment.  If it is too cold, they won't leave the brooder warmer for the food and water. It can be quite the task to find just the right temps on these cooler winter days as we head into spring. 

These are only the Cornish Cross - meat chicks.  No layers this year.  We will replenish the layers next year. So, it's the start of the new flock. 

Cornish Cross huddled under the warmer.

Late Winter Arrival 2019

So it has been a while since I last posted last fall.  We had an incredibly warm winter with a lot more sunshine than normal. We did something different this winter. Rather than put lights in the coops, especially while the Welsummers were recovering from moult, we decided to wait to see how long, in the shorter light days, the Rhode Islands would lay eggs.  Unlike our previous pullet breeds, the Rhode Island Reds continued right through December 21st laying two to three eggs per day. So we never bothered to install the timers and lights.  We wonder if a part of that was because of the warmer and sunnier winter.

The first of the Welsummers just started laying an egg every other day on January 28th. She seems to be the only Welsummer laying. 

The last part of January, the Mid-West and East Coast started dealing with a Polar Vortex, while we continued with our warm weather. Then, the last few days of January, we got some colder nights with snow and ice. Not much to speak of. About two-three inches of really wet snow, and I didn't even bother taking pictures because it was mostly gone within a day.  The ice stayed, and each morning was a little too cold to keep water out in the coops. We have been pulling the waterers out of the coops each night so that they don't freeze.  At night, temps have been dropping down to the low 20Fs. 

Rhode Islands are still laying every day, unfazed, so far, by the cold nights. 

Tonight we are supposed to get significant snow for the weekend and possibly into Monday or Tuesday. Because all of my coop covers are iced over, I could not move them into place. OY Vey. I cobbled together some covers with plastic, canvas tarps, bricks, and even a folding dog pen.  I just hope they all stay in place. This could prove to be the wrong strategy.  Hoping it lasts at least through the night until I can get the rest of the family members to help me pull in in better covers.

Update - Last night's snow accumulation. About 5 inches of snow.

Looking Northwest at Coops	Changed Light Filter
My Magnolia Top	Magnolia bottom
Greenhouse looking Southwest

20 Week Marks Maturity for Rhode Island Reds

While different breeds of chickens mature at different rates, the Rhode Island Reds are showing their maturity with right red combs and broader hips.  I don't have photos today and it is a cloud filled day, so the photos typically don't turn out well on overcast days. I will get some photos soon.  The pullets have been moved into the smaller coop (the one designed for three large hens) and are adapting to the new space.  They had a lot of space while in the hoop coop because, of course, that was originally designed for two turkeys. 

So the Rhodie's space is now about one-third of what they originally were maturing in. I will also take photos of the new feeder that D purchased that is designed to keep mice and rats out of the feed. His intent is to pick up another one if this one works.  The rats and mice are thick in our fields, so it is always a battle to not feed them. The feeder is designed to close down when ever a mouse/rat pulls on the lever to get into the feed. I have a mini-cam that I will also be putting out into the run to see if this thing is actually working. 

He purchased it last winter, but the Welsummers were not smart enough to figure out how to get their food out. He decided to wait for the Rhodie's to mature to the right height to see if they would figure it out.  And they did, within minutes of it being set up.  Go figure? 

This was the coop that we discovered had been leaking last winter.  We got the leak handled, but it did in the flooring. That has been replaced with painted particle board. We bleached down the walls, installed the floor and aired it all out for the new flock. We will paint the outsides of it soon, in preparation for winter.  We have new shade screens for both runs since the weather has been harsh on the one we picked up several years ago. We also need to create some new wind screen boards this summer before the fall east winds kick in. With all the rain that we get, the wood rots and gives out after a couple of years, even when it is painted/stained. 

We had a bit of a scare.  When I was carrying one of the pullets to their new digs, I stepped in a hole and my legs went out from under me. I fell forward, almost crushing the poor chicken. It all happened so quickly, I didn't have time to react to let her go and we both went down together. She is fine and I'm healing.  

Since the RIRs have hit "maturity" time, I have hay and a fake egg in the nesting box to help spur them into laying now. 

Garden is better than last year.  We have several bell peppers already, about four tomatoes on one early plant, the potatoes are ready for the dig out, the corn is about knee high, the onions are starting to grow, the first of the three bean plants is flowering, oregano, basil and dill, plus the carrots and radishes are growing quickly.  The garlic is basically ready for the dig up, although they are smaller than I had hoped, but, they survived the winter, so that's a plus.  I did notice some aphids on one plant, so that's likely to be the next battle. If we can have a relatively unhumid summer, we should have a pretty good crop of the plants in the ground. I am hesitant to mention it, for fear of jinxing anything, but I have not seen any slugs!  Usually, by this time of year, we have massive slugs moving around. On the other hand, we have tons of snakes this year, and it may be that they are eating those slugs for lunch. Hope so.  I would much rather have snakes than slugs in my garden, any day of the week. 

First week of June Gardening Blues

It's the first week of June and, like last year, it has turned off colder than usual. Lots of rain and humidity. Hoping for the best, for the corn. It's hard to keep the soil at "growing temps" when it cools off like this.  It will do what it can do and we will live with it. 

My replant of corn from last week is coming up along with the plants that were already sprouting up last week, so, if it warms up this summer, we should have a nice "micro" crop. I planted 28.  In some spots, there are two that came up. (I always plant at least two to try to ensure that one comes up.)  Usually one pops up, occasionally 2 pop up and some times none pops up.... I soak the seeds over night to try to spur growth, but some seeds just don't grow. Corn is difficult to grow in our region, so when it happens, it is BLISS! 😋  Hey, the basil actually sprouted this year.  Didn't happen last year.  Keeping my fingers crossed that they keep growing. Time to fertilize too.  Corn and Onions need a lot of fertilizer to grow quickly. 

I need to start weeding both gardens.  I need to replant some bush beans too. Potatoes are still flowering which is a good sign!  Typically, the more flowering we see, the more potatoes we get. We don't pull them until the flowering is all done and the leaves start dying. I think we will be getting potatoes early this year!!!

Picking and pickling my mini radish crop this weekend. YUM - love pickled radishes on my burgers! 

We sold our three older Welsummers this morning.  I never ask for "going rate" and I never have a problem selling them to a good home.  I'm disappointed, however, when people try to talk me down to a lower amount, considering I am already asking 50% less than the local rate. But, rather than get upset and throw verbal darts, I just don't reply at all.  They are sold to a nice family that I know will love them as much as we have. I handed over plenty of fresh eggs to seal the deal. 

Next projects are to finish the east wall of the greenhouse to help control humidity and temps, put a new floor in the smaller coop so that we can get the pullets moved, and then work on the hoop coop to shore it back up and put in a larger door.  The plastic zip ties are giving out so it is time to replace those before our fall meat chickens arrive. 

Just a typical first week of June with rain, albeit colder then we would like. Hopefully, this will clear quickly and we can head into summer with a great mini crop this year. I don't want a repeat of last year!

Baby Corn Stalks	The Replants are Sprouting (see circle)
Harpo is Missing the Sun

Christmas Eve White Christmas

Last year, we had a sudden snow storm on the 15th of December that caught us off guard and ended up with snow inside of the chicken pens.  This year, we had the shields in place before the snow started flying.  We did not get as much snow this year and some of it was freezing rain so it was quite the mix between the two.  Yesterday was so blustery that the wind chill dropped to 16F even though the temps were closer to 30F. We even had a few gusts of 40mph. So, yah, it was bitter cold on Christmas Eve.  

Thankfully, Christmas day has been calm, although it never really got much above freezing. The new chickens are stressed by the snow, but the older chickens seem to be taking it in stride. 

We have a gopher this year that has been taunting the chickens, tunneling under their coops and into their pens. The coops have floors, so it's not like the gopher is adding tunnels into their coops, but my guess is that, either the gopher or mice using the tunnels are getting an added food resource this year.  We do not seem be going through feed quicker, so I don't think they are able to get into the hanging feeders, but I know that the chickens do drop food on the ground, giving the field critters access to the spillage. 

Some of the hens are still laying, so we got a few eggs this weekend. Not as many, but some eggs is better than none eggs. 

Facing East	Facing West - Coops, Cars & Hills
Light dusting of Freezing Rain and Snow	New Hens at the Feeder
New Hens Confused by the Snow	New Hens Perplexed in a Row
Egg in the Nesting Box on Dec 24	Dec 25 More Freezing Rain
Freezing Rain on Coop 1 (older hens)	Freezing Rain (and Snow) on Coop 2
Nesting Box lid Warmed by Hens	Egg in Nesting Box on Dec 25
Gopher Hole from the Field	Gopher Hole and Trail to Hole under Coop 2
Close up of Gopher Hole under Coop 2	Gopher Hole on Other side of Coop 2

It is supposed to warm up tomorrow - we will see if that happens.

Hoping we don't have Chick-sicles in the Morning

Today, the cornish cross went outside into the hoop-coop.  It's cooooold tonight, so hopefully they will stay warm enough.  We started with the 50 watt infrared light, but it was barely warming the coop, so we went to the 75 watt.  I just checked on them. It's 45F outside right now, but they are moving around in the coop and not all huddled together, so that's a good sign. We have never tried the fall season for new chicks before, so this is all new territory.  These guys are four weeks old, and have most of their feathers.  Have my fingers crossed that this is going to work.

Update: October 10, 2017
The temps inside the coop dropped pretty low Monday morning, down into the mid 40s(F) and the birds were a bit lethargic Monday morning at 7:30.  Monday  night, we placed a heavy bed comforter and another canvas tarp over the coop. That kept the temps inside the coop about 12 degrees warmer all night. This morning, at 7:30, the temp was 52 inside the coop. We may want to add a blue plastic tarp if it rains tonight, to protect the comforter from getting wet. The chicks were more active and alert this morning, so that's a good sign!

The photos below are from Tuesday morning.  I know it is a goofy look, but, at least it helps to keep the warmth inside the coop.  This coop was originally designed to house two heritage sized turkeys, from spring to fall, so, yah, it is what it is.  To determine the approximate inside temp, we are using a digital terrarium thermometer, with the  readout taped under the flap on the outside of the coop, and the gauge hanging inside, near the middle of the coop, where the chicks can't peck at it.  Plus, in addition to the heat lamp that we have hanging in the coop (a safe distance from the ceiling, and from the birds), we have a 50W LED light on a timer that comes on 12 hours per day to help with the night vs. day situation since the door light, especially on cloudy days, is not enough light for the chicks' circadian cycle.

The chicks are only four weeks old, so they really are not quite ready to deal with the outside temps yet. But they grow quickly into stinky pooping machines, and we could not handle the smell wafting through the garage any longer.

Oh, yah, the white board to the side is the "door cover" to help with a sense of security for the birds at night. The coyotes and raccoons will look through the plexiglass at night, and it scares the birds to see these predators leering at them.  We fasten the board over the plexiglass to impede the view at night.  The coyotes were very active last night in the area, and I had to go check on the birds several times for that, in addition to the cool temps.

Feeling the Sweet Soft Sunshine!

Such a cold and wet winter that slowly slid into spring. Cooler temps are slowing the crops.  Record breaking rain fall, in for the Pac NW! The sun brought a much needed day of Vitamin D.  

The Orloff flock will be sold to make way for the new Welsummers. They are ready to move outside.  I'll post photos when they move. 

In the mean time, it was nice to walk around to check my little crops, and pet the gals as they sun bathed for the first time in quite some time. 

The crops above are 3 different types of potatoes in barrels, spinach around red onions, and walla walla sweet onions.

These Orloffs are ready for sale.

The Clucky Flock	There's Sun!
Any Treats for us?

The Welsummers will stay for one more year.

Looky, we have sunshine :)	Buggs! Yeeha!
The Flock of Four