Posts Tagged ‘chickens’

On Remembering to Appreciate Life


2010
07.29
 Black Japanese Bantam Hen & Chick
Black Japanese Bantam Hen & Chick

When the work schedule gets a little crazy and I spend more time in my office than on my farm it is easy to forget how lucky I am to have the life I’ve got.

Case in point: here on the farm we have two hens setting right now and in order to keep up with births and such I keep a fairly detailed calendar.  According to that calendar, one of the hens was due to begin hatching eggs today.  Our human calculations can only take us so far and sometimes Mother Nature needs to remind us that she’s still in charge.

When I checked in on the Black Japanese Bantam hen at lunchtime yesterday, I saw a tiny head poking out from under her.  In that instant it was as if the stress of the day had disappeared as I was once again caught up in the wonder and beauty of the natural world.

That moment reminded me that for our own good, sometimes we just need to shut the hell up and breathe.  For all the good that has happened over the years thanks to technology, nature can still take care of itself.  Chickens will lay eggs, hatch eggs and perpetuate their species.  Plum trees will grow and produce fruit.  Of course some of any species are going to die, that’s how things happen.  We can step in and try to help Mother Nature and sometimes we can be successful while other times the results are not what we would have hoped.

It is good to remember that life will go on without us.  For me, that knowledge pushes me to appreciate my life and the life around me just a little bit more.

made the mistake of praying for patience


2010
07.20

The destroyed raised bedIn the previous entry I lamented the problems of the dog running through the new raised bed.  On second thought, I kinda wish that was all he did, but a few days later and this is what I woke up to.  As you can see I did end up with a picket fence panel on one end, unfortunately it wasn’t enough to stop the bed from being completely dug up.

As if that was not bad enough I awoke this morning to the same dog digging his way underneath the brand new chickgloo (chicken tractor) that is home to the week old chicks recently purchased to be raised for meat.  There were 25 of them until this morning, and now there are 20.

Here’s the chickgloo yesterday:

the chickgloo

And here’s one of the chicks.  His name is Pecker:

 Pecker

Don’t pray for patience.  Just don’t.

The Romas are Coming! The Romas are Coming!


2010
06.10

The Romas are Growing!

This crappy photo from my Blackberry shows just how well my Roma Tomatoes are established and producing.  Before long I’ll be firing up the slow cooker and making gobs of tomato paste.  There are 11 Roma plants so I look forward to being exiled to the kitchen for many hours soon.

In other news, the Black Japanese Bantam hen has started to lay again, which means there are four layers on The Farm at present.  Take a look at this shot of her egg side-by-side with one from an Americauna hen:

Eggs

A Funny Thing Happened While Building a Chicken House


2010
06.08

One of the first orders of business after relocating to the farm was to design and begin construction on The Aviary; a fancy name for the chicken house which will also play home to pigeons and pheasants that are already residents.  The weather hasn’t played nice all that often but the basic structure of support posts and lean-to roof is in place so far.  Here are a couple of progress photos:

The Aviary

The roofing material is reclaimed industrial metal roofing that will easily keep the birds dry while simultaneously serving as a great surface to feed into the rain barrel that will be the source water of the new automatic watering system that I hope to have in place in the next few weeks.

The Aviary

The Aviary will consist of four apartments.  The first will be situated along the back of the barn and will be home to the pigeon loft.  The remaining three apartments will run perpendicular to the building and will open to the rear shared yard.  Of course I will share more photos as the project is completed.

In the rafters of the barn / garage  was found an interesting hand made farm implement that I can’t figure out.  It is beautiful in its simplicity but the weight and shape of the thing make it seemingly impractical by my standards.

Unidentified Farm Implement

Does anyone have a clue as to what this thing is?  It seems to have had only one blade along the left side.

Mystery solved thanks to a keen-eyed friend. This is a scythe, also called a grain cradle. Read more about this device here.  Another photo here.

Unidentified Farm Implement

Here’s a closer look at the handle:

Unidentified Farm Implement

My Eggs, Let Me Show You Them


2010
06.04

Americauna Blue Egg

I’ve been out of pocket for a few days while completing the move and then dealing with a shoddy Internet connection that is – for the moment – working.  Here’s a quick cell phone photo of my first blue egg from one of the Americauna hens.  Of the two, only one seems to be laying but as I’m not entirely sure of their ages I can’t say that I am too surprised.  There are four pullets that will be laying fairly soon so I won’t have to be without fresh eggs for too long.

On the top of today’s agenda is to put together a makeshift composting bin.  My kitchen scraps notwithstanding, the chicken and horse manure needs somewhere to go so I’ve got to get that project handled as soon as I can.  If the weather holds up (we’ve been getting rain every day), I need to plant some okra and beans. 

There’s always something to do!

06/08/10 UPDATE:  Here’s a story I found that makes me happier than ever that I am raising my own eggs. [LINK]

A New Beginning


2010
05.18

On June 1, 2010 I will embark on a new chapter and a new challenge in my life when I move from my home in Northwest Atlanta to a 10 acre homestead in a decidedly rural area of another state.  It may seem ironic to learn that one of the authors of a book about urban gardening is abandoning the urban environment entirely just months before said book is to be published, but anyone who knows me knows that while I have done quite well for myself in the city, I was born to be a homesteader.

As a child I started breaking the rules early on when I talked my parents into letting me raise chickens in the back yard of our suburban home.  My grandparents had instilled a love for the garden and for growing your own vegetables and I was taught the ins and outs of home canning before I could even ride a bicycle without training wheels.  Now it is time for me to return to those roots and combine that knowledge with my desire to live a more sustainable lifestyle.

The Farm

Barred Plymouth Rock Rooster

The Farm is currently home to a small flock of chickens of various breeds (A Barred Plymouth Rock rooster and 5 hens, 2 Americauna hens, a White Japanese Bantam rooster, a pair of Black Tailed Japanese Bantams and a pair of Golden Sebrites).  A few more hens will be added in the coming weeks as well as building the new and improved Aviary for all the birds.

While the gardening season is already well underway, I hope to grow enough to do a respectable amount of canning for the winter so I will have my work cut out for me upon my arrival at The Farm when I start marathon gardening in early June.  With nothing more than two dozen tomato plants in the ground now I can only hope there is enough time with everything else that remains to be done this year.  Raised beds still need to be constructed for my herbs and lettuces but with the supplies already on hand, building a raised bed will not take any time at all.

As a way of continuing to share knowledge whenever I can, I plan to document this journey and share it with you every step of the way in blog posts, articles and videos.  Thanks for stopping by!