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Cheep, Cheep, Cheep

April 30th, 2013

That’s what we hear on our back porch right now. On Sunday evening, we picked up 17 chicks from our neighbor who incubated them. They’re a mix of Delwares and barnyard mixes from his other layers. These birds are mostly being raised to be broilers, but some of the females may be kept as part of our laying flock.
chicks 1
How’s that for a bucket of chicken?
chicks 2
chicks 3
My seedling heating mat comes in handy when it comes to brooding tiny animals, if you put it under the brooder it helps keep the floor warm for them.
chicks (1)
I love how they dart around and then the next second they’re passed out sleeping on the floor. They’re entertaining to watch.
chicks 4
It should be interesting to watch these little guys grow up, I’ve never had chicks before. In a few weeks we should also be getting ducklings and goslings.

Have you ever raised birds from chicks?

Quote of the Day: E.B. White

November 11th, 2012

“I also ought to stir the litter in the henpen in the barn where the Barred Rocks are, and in the henhouse where the crossbred birds are; and then fill some bushel baskets with shavings and add them to the litter in the places where it needs deepening. The dropping boards under the broody coops need cleaning and I should do that at the same time, since I will be out there anyway. As far as littler is concerned, a man could take and rake the lawn under the maples where there is such an accumulation of leaves and add these dry leaves to the litter in the houses for the birds to scratch around in. Anything to keep their minds occupied in healthy channels.”

E.B. White (from the essay Memorandum: October 1942 from One Man’s Meat)

We’ve been having beautiful weather here in Maine, perfect for getting all those fall chores buttoned up. Yesterday, I spent the day mowing up mulch to put on the chicken run. The ladies were quite excited with their new digs.

Today I plan on making more mulch and adding some inside the chicken house too, hopefully it will give the chickens something to pick through on the chilly snowy days ahead. I plan on making a pile of extra leaves/grass clippings up by the coop to throw in on occasion to keep them busy in the winter.

We also spent some time getting our electric net fence up for the little ducklings. It will be ready just in time, they’re really outgrowing their other little fenced in area.

What’s on your to-do list today?

To Name or Not to Name

September 26th, 2012

A few folks have been asking about our new chickens, how they are doing and if we are going to name them. You know how it goes with animals like this, you run the risk of losing them to predators. It’s kind of like having outdoor cats, you don’t really want to get too attached to them. Same goes with chickens. A few hours after we were discussing this yesterday, we found out that we had lost a hen and the rooster. We found 2 piles of feathers in the woods by the coop. The neighbor has been having trouble with a fox getting a few chickens, so it’s probably the same issue here.

You may remember my love for 007. We were thinking if we were going to name them, the rooster would be named “James” and his flock of ladies will be named after all of the Bond Girls. Guess if we do name them this guy will be Sean Connery since he was the first Bond and the little lady would have been Sylvia Trench, one of the girls in Dr No. Update: this morning when I went out the coop, Miss Sylvia was there trying to get in, seems she escaped the fox thanks to the heroic efforts of James.

When we arrived last week, there was a note on the table that one of the hens was broody. She had been sitting on her eggs for about 10 days, it said. Talk about jumping in head first! If all goes well, we’ll have chicks soon. I’ve read a lot about chickens, but have never really had one. Luckily our new neighbor knows a lot about chickens and gave me plenty of great advice.

Getting a real farm dog should help. We love the resident Chiots, but she is old and has led a cushy urban life. We’re thinking a Great Pyrenees, Newfoundland or Anatolian Shepherd might be what we add next to help protect our flock and any other animals we get.

This week will find us out cleaning out the coop and setting up an area for the broody hen to keep her chicks safe for a while. Guess having a rooster hatch in this batch won’t be so bad now that we need one! Let’s hope all goes well with the broody hen and her eggs.

If you have chickens or livestock do you name them? Any suggestions on good guardian dogs for us to consider?

About

This is a daily journal of my efforts to cultivate a more simple life, through local eating, gardening and so many other things. We used to live in a small suburban neighborhood Ohio but moved to 153 acres in Liberty, Maine in 2012.

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