Most of my time now is spent cleaning, sorting, and divesting. But last week I added. My ten hens did not have a rooster. I had given the one I had him to Otto so he could have fertile eggs if he got a broody hen. I like having a rooster to protect the flock – and also to have fertile eggs if I want to let a hen hatch. A friend Erin was happy …
Ken has always encouraged broody hens to hatch chicks. A few years back when the price of day old chicks went to $4 each, Ken got serious about hatching out chickens to replace older laying hens. A chick grows into either a pullet (female) or cockerel (male), and then as adult they are hens or roosters. Pullets grow for about six months before they lay eggs. Their first eggs are small and people call them …
After the last harvest on November 16th we saw that cold weather was coming. One of Ken’s late fall tasks is to move the hens into the garden for the winter. This year he has two groups of hens, and they seem happier in their respective coops, so he moved both portable coops to the garden. He also moved a portable structure I call teh hog hilton into the garden for the …
Greetings from the Garden! This week’s CSA box has tomatoes, potatoes, peppers, onions or leeks, garlic, salad and braising greens, sweet potatoes, squash, and herbs. Field notes. This unusually warm weather has enabled Ken to catch up on some outdoor tasks – chimney cleaning, opening up spots in the field for green manures, etc. We took a morning off – together ! – to pick up some grain for the animals. It was …
Ken made a large coop on wheels for our laying hens. Since chickens like to scratch, a stationary coop usually means the area all around the coop gets scratched to bare ground and there is too much concentration of manure. A portable coop allows the farmer to provide birds with fresh pasture and the safety of an enclosed predator proof coop at night. Ken’s “egg mobile has worked so well he could use …
Ken provides sequential pasture for animals here. That means he moves hens and pigs as needed so they get fresh areas to scratch (chickens) or root up ( pigs) Here is the new location for the “egg mobile” that has hens and turkeys in it
Well actually two. Thursday after midday meal Ken was ready to move the pigs, so we did! They had dug up their area and gladly moved to the next. Ken chose a woodsy location so they can stay cool in the summer heat. The geese range through the former pig area – they are gleaning any stray grain along with the wild birds The next morning before letting the …
