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Babies, Babies, Everywhere

October 24th, 2018

Each summer I try to only let one variety of fowl hatch out little ones. This year, I had a turkey mama that hid a nest in the woods until it was too late to break her off. Luckily she wasn’t sitting on very many eggs. She hatched out 6 turkey cutlets, there are four that have survived (two were nabbed by a raccoon one night).

Earlier in the summer we let two different muscovies sit on a few eggs each. We ended up with eight ducklings in two different clutches, they’re almost adults now and the same size as the adult ducks in the flock. Since the turkeys and ducks more than doubled the amount of birds we had in the coop, it seems like there are birds everywhere.

Add to these the 25 chicks that are now miniature chickens and we have quick the flock living in the one of the coops. All these birds are very entertaining and provide fertilizer for the garden, eggs for our table, and entertainment for us.

What new life are you enjoying this summer/fall?

All Grown Up (well, mostly)

October 17th, 2018

The tiny little chickies that I got from Murray McMurray back at the end of August are pretty much all grown up. Typically I let one of my broody hens hatch out little ones, but I’ve been wanting to add a wide variety of colorful eggs to my egg cartons. The folks that buy the eggs get all excited about the colorful batches. For a while I had a nice selection of olive and blue eggs, but those chickens have all gotten too old to lay or have been nabbed by predators.

Since chickens don’t start laying eggs until they’re 3-4 months old, I decided to get chicks in the fall so they can start laying straight away next spring. Most chickens don’t lay very well during the winter months when light levels fall below 12 hours of daylight.

These little nuggets hatched on August 26th, they’re just over 6 weeks old, still months away from laying, but they should be just maturing to kick off late winter laying in style.



For my selection, I ordered: Whiting True Blue (blue eggs), Whiting True Green (green eggs), Black Star (brown eggs), Single Comb Brown Leghorns (white eggs), and Black Andalusians (white eggs). I will still add a few red production hens to the mix next year, they are great layers of brown eggs and lay better through the winter than many of these other breeds. It’s always a challenge to try to have hens producing eggs throughout the year in the quantities needed for the egg customers and for our household.

Do you purchase eggs from a local source? Any colored ones in the batches?

25 Piece Nugget

August 29th, 2018

If you’ve been reading here for a while, you know I have chickens (ducks & turkeys as well). We keep a nice flock of layers and I sell or barter the extra eggs to help cover the cost of keeping birds. Our chicken flock has been ravaged by foxes this year, we lost 10 over the course of the summer (some were taken by an owl). They are all old and reaching the end of their lives, they no longer lay many eggs. Typically, I let a couple chickens hatch clutches each year, this year we lost our rooster early in the spring and didn’t have any fertilized eggs.


That led me to order chicks from McMurray Hatchery (which came highly recommended by many friends). I ordered 25 chicks: Andalusians, Rose Comb Brown Leghorns, Black Star, Whiting True Green, and Whiting True Blue. These should give me a nice mix of colored eggs, which all my egg customers LOVE (and I do as well).

Hopefully these little cuties will be full grown and laying eggs next spring.

What fun things are happening in your house/garden this week?

ZZZZZZZZZ

July 17th, 2018

Bog D sure knows how to relax. Sometimes I think I need to take a cue from him and take a bit of a cat nap in the afternoons.


We put these chairs in a shady spot under the old apple tree and there’s pretty much been a cat or two in them since we put them out. Clearly, they think we put them out for them.

Hope you can take some time to catch a cat nap today!

Lazy Days

July 2nd, 2018

Now that the days are getting warmer, I find the cats lounging around the gardens quite frequently. The other day, I went outside to find Littles and Big D just lounging in the grass. It’s like they were chasing each other, got tired, and just flopped over. Which probably isn’t that far from the truth.

I hope you’re enjoying the beautiful summer weather as much as these two are.

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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