5-27-2015

! bunch turnips
1 bag red romaine lettuce
1 bag Mild Spring Greens mix
1/2 dozen Free Range Chicken eggs
1 Loaf Homemade light bread
1 bunch curly leaf parsley

May 20, 2015

so here is what you can get today
bunch red romaine lettuce
bunch turnip greens
bunch mustard greens
bunch of kale
small bag of spinach
pint of green peas
spring onions
half dozen eggs
broccoli rabe
a sprig of sage

Nancy and Yoda

Nancy had a little billy on Thursday. The kids named him Yoda because of his small head and large ears. They were taken and penned in the barn because of our little coyote problems. I watched them extra carefully since Maisey let her baby die. Nancy seems to be a real good momma. Yoda is growing real good and is always busy jumping around and exploring.

Other news, our little bantam hen just hatched out 10 biddies. One died ,I think it hatched before the others and for some reason she kicked it out the nest. If my hens will hatch their eggs I let them. I prefer they take care of the biddies and not me. I do still have some in the incubator from the big hens. They haven't tried to sit on their eggs yet. Yesterday I had one quail hatch out, about 3 days early. Nothing else has hatched I'm not sure why this one did. I have him in the house in a box with a light waiting on the others.

Two of our beagles are missing.  They went hunting rabbits on Wednesday and haven't been home. Not sure if they just got lost, caught by coyotes, or shot. We miss them very much.

 Got some seed started indoors. I actually find that it doesn't save me much time as far as getting things to harvest faster. Seeds that I sow directly in the garden will usually be ready about the same time as the plants I started in the house but I just have to start planting, I just cannot wait so I start them in the house. This year I did buy a grow light and hung in under my kitchen cabinets so we will see if the plants grow better. I usually just put them in a sunny window and turn them once a day. The plants are usually tall and week and when I put them in the garden they just kinda stay that way for a while before they finally decide to grow.  I have great hopes for this year. I hope I didn't just waste $24.99 on a light.
  My oldest daughter wanted in on the action. She saved all the cantaloupe seeds from last year. I didn't actually plant them last year but some how the seeds got to the garden (I'm not naming names Abigail). Casey loved the cantaloupe so much that she wanted to plant some this year. I let her plant her seeds, I don't know if any will come up but she has planted them. I told her with that many plants she will be able to sell her cantaloupe. I hope her plants do well.

 Got my husband to disc the garden under. I planted winter wheat for the first time at the end of last season as a cover crop and for organic matter in the soil. Of course my hens went to work right away ridding the garden of any grub worm. Whatever my husband didn't get turned under my hens certainly will.

 My new pregnant nanny Maisey wasn't happy in the field with the others.  She is very far along so I put her in the  pen with the pig we decided to fatten out. All his brothers and sister were just sold and he was lonely and scared. They seem to really enjoy each other. The nanny will not let anything close to the little pig and the pig lays with the goat and they eat hay together.


UPDATE: Maisey had one nanny on Friday while still in the pen with the pig. She would nurse the pig but not her baby so I pen them separte in the barn. While I was out there she would nurse the baby but if I wasn't there she would not. I didn't realize she wasn't taking care of it until to late and she died on sunday night after I stayed up most the night trying to bottle feed it and keep it warm.  Maisey was turned back out to the feild where she sits by the hog pen with the baby pig.

Coming soon...March 10, 2012

Got the incubator full of eggs, Chicken and Quail. I don't hatch any during the winter because winters here can sometimes be harsh and I am not going to take care of biddies all winter long.  I am also excited that I have a new broody hen. She is sitting on ten. We haven't had a broody hen since the first year we moved here.  We had always had free range hens at the other place so I didn't have them in a pen and when they went to sit something would get them. So we built the pens for their protection but I had already lost my good broody hens.

Spring is in the air

 My young hens have started laying again and needed nest boxes. I am not good at building so I had to improvise. I had an old box step out of a trailer sitting in the yard so I took it and nailed two nails in each end of the step. I also put a nail at the top of the chickens lean to spaced apart the same length as the step. using a chain, I hung and secured the step at the same height as our other nest box. I nailed a board across the front and put three creats inside that I filled with shredded paper and leaves. The chickens love it and I am rewarded with 3 big brown eggs a day

 I haven't been able to till the garden yet due to rain, but we couldn't wait any longer to get started. Last year my husband built our son a small raised garden bed. He planted tomatoes in it last year but they didn't do very well. This year He is going to try his had at carrots. He planted the seeds then covered with a light layer of leaves to keep the wind from drying them out.

We also transplanted our garlic to a raised bed so the rest of the garden can be tilled to get ready for spring planting.

What is happening to the chickens?

 The day before yesterday I found feathers in the yard. Now chickens lose feathers all the time especially when they are, but to have that many in one place usually means something happened.  I counted and one was missing so either something happened, or she went to sitting, but with all those feather I am betting on the first.  It has been a couple of days and she is still missing. It is kinda strange because if she was got at night then the feathers are usually under the tree she roost in but the feathers were between the house and the garden. Plus we have four dogs, they don't usually let anything in the yard.  It could have been a hawk.

Yesterday evening my husband brought home some turkey eggs.  While cutting hay he ran over a nest and the hen was killed.  We usually either hatch the eggs in an incubator or under a hen.  I had one hen sitting that had lost 2 other nest but was trying for number 3.  We were going to put the eggs under her this morning because both her eggs and the turkeys were about at the same point in development. I went out this morning and she is gone. Her nest is destroyed and feathers everywhere.  Still the dogs didn't bark. This time I know it wasn't a hawk. I am beginning to think it is one of our dogs. I am going to set up one of those game cameras to find out.  We now have only 3 laying hens.