Poultry Farm Happenings...

So hurricane Irene came and went and we sustained no real damage. We did experience some pretty strong winds, and got a measly 0.3 inches of rain.. which I am thankful for, as it is the most we have had in a month or so. Usually a hurricane brings several inches of rain, which is what we really could have used. Otherwise things have been going well. The layers are coming of age and we are starting to get a few small eggs each day. In full production I anticipate about ten a day. Two of our "hens" turned out to be roosters! Alas the first one liked to wake me up pre-dawn with constant crowing... he also was a bit rough with the young ladies... he crows no more. His predecessor, also a very similar appearing Light Brahma has better early AM manners, or is blessed with the fact that the sun is coming up more around 06:20AM now instead of 05:50AM. Or he saw what happens to un-mannerly roosters... he seems a bit gentler on the young ladies so far, but perhaps his hormones have not truly kicked in. Time will tell.

"Chicken and Herbs"

Hens dusting in the compost pile... this is the day after the hurricane.... dry, dry, dry!

Our new meaties ( Colored Rangers, or Freedom Rangers) are about 4 weeks old now. They should be at harvest age in early November. I like them so far, they are pretty active, supposed to be better foragers then the Cornish Cross we did previously. We moved them to pasture by hand this weekend, one or two at a time. We could not get them to move on land...

I think the chickens have been like pet therapy to Ethan, he loves holding them, watching eggs come out, making the rooster crow, mate, etc..

I took our last sick turkey into the local vet school diagnostic facility this AM. They will sacrifice it and do a necropsy( like an autopsy). So hopefully I can find out what I was dealing with. I had a preliminary call from the poultry vet who thought it might be a viral transmitted liver cancer. Waiting on the histopath results.

And finally the barn is getting a new roof this week, this I hired out, as I won't be much good with a broken back, leg , etc. Our kind neighbor came over on his Bobcat and saved me a week of back breaking shovel and wheelbarrow work by digging down the foundation sight for the future chicken coop. I plan on putting it on a full slab, with a low block foundation wall. I am sure we will get some good rain in the next couple days... now that the barn roof is torn out...even then, it would be a welcome sight.

The problem with free range turkeys...

We finally had a little break in the weather,.. upper 80's instead of upper 90's... which was a welcome change. I thought I would let the turkeys out to see what they would do with some open spaces. Turns out instead of wanting to roam the 4 acre field they felt more comfortable sticking around the human folks. They spent hours roaming about the yard, hanging out with us while we sipped a cup of coffee out in the yard Sunday morning. Later, when we were inside they came knocking at the front door, I guess wanting us to come back outside to play!

It all seemed real cute, later we saw them perching on our cars,... later we discovered those big claws can put some big scratches on the hood of your car!! Oh, well... that is one good thing about having an 18 yo car!

We recieved our 56 meaties (colored rangers) they are currently stinking up our screened in porch in the wading pool brooder... which needs to be cleaned out daily and woodchips replaced... that many chicks produce a lot of chick poop, which will hopefully enrich our garden next year. I am sure I will have picts of them after I get them out in the chicken tractor in another week or so.

We are looking forward to the cooler weather. It will make it so much more enjoyable doing things outside. We are anticipating a new metal barn roof in a few weeks, and building the chicken coop soon after that. I found a local saw mill that will cut the rough cut siding for our barn at a decent price. The problem with that is we may end up having to dry stack dry it for several months before we can hang it. Sounds like a spring project. Though it will go up on the coop this fall?