Turkey Day

The Turkeys were 9.5 pounds and 12.6 pounds in preparation for dinner.  So they were about averaged size for their breed. The meat was very tender and fresh. Not at all stringy or tough. All in all, it was a success and we will have plenty of meat to last for the week for leftovers, thanks to sweet Luna and Aries.

Layers and Turkeys

We have concluded the the two turkeys are both hens. I thought they were toms, but as the weather got cooler, they developed feathers on their heads and the snood never got any longer. So we are assuming that they are not going to get much larger. Regardless, and we have fattened them to prepare for the fateful day. 

The Orloffs have started to lay again.  When the standard time went back into effect, we put the lights back into the coop to light up at 4:00 in the morning.  The Orloffs are back to laying, but it is sparse at this point. Only one egg every other day, this week. The "layoff" lasted fabout 10 weeks. Little by little.

Welsummers' First Year Molt

The Welsummers first molt began about 10 days ago, and the one Orloff that is with them, is in her refeather mode. One of the Welsummers is not yet in full molt, but the other two look a little like porcipines. Their pen is a be-feathered spectacle.

Black Spanish Turkeys at Twenty Three (Weeks)

At five months, the turkeys appear to both be toms and so, they are Tom Luna and Tom Aries, and plumping up nicely. They love their cracked corn! Looking back at how tiny they were when we brought them home the first week.We certainly can't hold them in the palm of our hands anymore!

The First Welsummer Molt

The Welsummers stopped egg production this week and have settled into their first molting season. Time to freeze up the older eggs for use later over the next month or we will be purchasing eggs again this year, which we did NOT like doing last year.  We have no new pullets becoming new layers, so there will definitely be a production lapse again this year.  

The problem that we encountered last year was the fact that the Welsummers were so slow in their laying maturity, that it caused us to cool our heels. Also, if I remember correctly, the Orloffs went into the molt earlier season last year which seems to last longer, but I could be wrong. Regardless, we need to be more prepared, not sell the few remaining dozens that we have, and freeze the older eggs so that we have a back up eggs to tap into next month. 

When I start freezing them, I will try to remember to take some photos of the process.

The Blending Experiment Failed

The combining of the Orloffs failed. The three Orloffs were pretty cruel to the one transitioning Orloff. They made her sleep on the floor at night, or in the nesting box. She spent most of her day in the nestbox to try to protect what feathers she had left. The brutes were picking all the feathers out of her back and neck. 

The humane solution was to put her back in with the Welsummers, who were all too pleased to have her back. The Welsummers truly missed her as their "dominant" hen. So, yah, that attempt to combine the remaining Orloffs was not successful. 

The Wellsummers are starting to molt, as well.  The egg production has slowed down to one per day from that pen. It will be interesting to see how the Welsummers molt since we have never experienced the molting season with them. They are starting to look pretty scraggly, but not anything, yet, as scraggly as the Orloffs look 

We were talking about transitioning out of the Orloffs this next spring to raise meat birds along with just a few Welsummers.  A small flock of four or five would probably be perfect for our needs. The Orloffs are too easily stressed out with the rains and heat. While they do fine with the really cold temps, the Welsummers also do fine with the type of winters that we have. We may just get a couple of new Welsummers next spring, and thin out the aging Orloffs that have slowed down on their egg production.

Gardening Adventures 2016

This year's garden was definitely different from last year.

Things tried and failed:

• Blueberries - rotted on the stems during the rains
• Planting some of the seeds in the coconut fibre pots (basil, spinach, parsley, peas and bell peppers)
• Onions developed a disease that made them mushy and useless. 
• Onion seeds planted last fall did not make it through the winter. 
• Planting second corn mid-June was not successful. Corn in second planting never matured.
• Green beans were a bust this year. 
• Problems this year with getting tomatoes to actually set on the vines (weather issues)
• Bell Peppers are unusually small this year! 
• Strawberries tended to mold in the soil from all the rain and humidity in the air.

Things that worked:

• Garlic planted last fall thrived and matured by July.
• Planting lettuce and dill in the coconut fibre pots. 
• Planting spinach seed directly in garden soil in early March was a huge success. 
• Starting bell peppers in the green house was successful, but should have been started in February. 
• Planting first corn mid-May was very successful.
• Corn was GREAT by August from first planting. 
• Planting peas in five gallon pots in March and April was very successful. 
• Planting lettuce in garden soil by the end of March was very successful.
• Carrots were GREAT! 
• Potatoes were GREAT! Need to start them by mid February to expand on the growing season but be careful with freezing temps until mid March.  Red potatoes did best this year.
• Oregano did GREAT this year.  Needs to be thinned this fall for next year. 
• Dill plants did great.

Things that need to be addressed for next year:
Slug control needs improvement.
Garden pest panels that we can easily set up and take down to protect from birds, bunnies and mice.
Green house starts were hit and miss.  Some plants need to be planted outside, like peas, beans, basil, parsley (herbs in general) and spinach.  Others that worked were some lettuce, dill, and bell peppers.  Coconut fibre pots were expensive and basically not the best choice of starting pots.
Potatoes need more consistent soil addition, at least once per week to help promote better potato growth, but all in all, our potato production this year, despite the rains, was pretty good. By June, adding more soil was useless, except to protect the potatoes from the sun/heat.