Trying to be like the original example of a homesteading woman:
"She's up before dawn, preparing breakfast for her family, and organizing her day. She looks over a field and buys it, then, with money she's put aside, plants a garden." Proverbs 31:15-16 (The Message)
I was humbled yesterday at my naive confidence that reading a few books and websites were all it takes to become a chicken farmer. We don't have a hen house built, but we made a nice little area for our chicks to brood. I even extended their run out from under the canopied protection of tarps so they could explore and eat lots of bugs. 50% of our yard is covered with tree canopies. I felt that I had done everything to make the chicks safe...the cat couldn't get in and the dog wouldn't try and she would keep other varmints away. I even made my 2-year-old grandson stop jumping at them to see them run, in case his toddler balance failed at the wrong moment.
Yesterday morning as I calmly sat reading in my sunroom, a chicken hawk scooped out of the sky and killed one of my chicks. It didn't get away with any because I went screaming out the back door yelling like a banshee. But I was too late for the chick. The poor thing died from talon punctures to it's back. Needless to say, I needed a time out after that. My dd1 could see that I hadn't stopped shaking after 20 minutes and gave me a long and comforting hug.
I spent the day watching the skies and waited for my dh to come home with ideas for guarding the chicks. He found netting at a local hardware store and we put that up. It makes it difficult to get in the pen, but the package lists one of its uses for predator deterrent. So I'll put up with mussed hair every time I need to get in and the plans for the chicken coup now include a six-foot high covered enclosure. Somehow, that doesn't fit with my ideas for free range chickens, but my ds pointed out the direction he had seen a hawk's nest. It is just up the mountain aways across the creek behind our house. I'll have to modify my plans or stand watch every time they are loose.
That was a tough lesson to learn about pride and foolish over-confidence.
Here are a few pictures of our new flock of brown egg layers and my four month old Rhode Island Red, Lucy. I'll have to wait till they're a bit older to identify the individual breeds.
Day 1 - July 9: In the pool my grandson outgrew.
Day 4 - July 12: In my grandson's new pool. They started jumping up on the sides of the other one.
This is Lemon Chiffon (and me). She's the brightest of the four yellow chicks.
Like Nana. Hunter wanted to hold a chick "on my body."
This is a Turkan. It is has a bald neck and bottom. McMurray Hatchery has a large flock of these.
We got 3 of this breed, each different. This one's name is Fluffy.
Another Turkan, called Brittany Spears (see the resemblance to recent media photos?).
The third Turkan was sleeping when these were taken. She looks just like this one only black.
We call her Ruth Buzzy because she is so funny to watch.
Naptime.
Like me when I'm on a diet, "Jenny Craig" is dreaming of the next meal.
Remember the earlier pics of Lucy? This her at one week old hitching a ride on Penny's back...
Lucy today, almost four months old. She seems to want some of the attention the new chicks are getting. To appease her Heather is giving her a little taste of their starter feed.
Sort of like a toddler wanting just a taste of the new baby's food.
Hunter and Lucy.
For those of you receiving this in an email, here's the link to see the pictures: http://www.homesteadblogger.com/morninggloryfarm. Just copy and paste it into your browser's address bar. And my other blog is Typing One-Handed at http://patriciamariewarren.blogspot.com. Mom, don't forget to save the addresses to your favorites.
My chicks arrived Monday in full health. They are a mixed variety of brown egg layers plus one "free rare chick." I'm not sure if the rare one is male or female. For that matter, I'm not sure which one it is. I've been able to identify with a bit of certainty only 8 chicks: 5 Rhode Island Reds and 3 Turkans. I'll post pictures soon. The connector from my camera to my computer has gone missing. My sister took a picture of me holding a bunch of the girls (I mean chicks...I say "hello, girls" every time I go to the pen). Everyone commented on how they already think I'm "Mother Hen." They were soon climbing to my shoulders to take a nap. It's so much fun having chickens! I highly recommend a small flock for every homestead.
Lucy, my 4 month old Rhode Island Red, is curious about the newcomers. She takes a peek whenever I let her in the pen...only when I am able to watch her closely. She's a bit territorial and has already tried to peck at them in their little purple pool (my make-do brooder).
My flock will be quite big if I keep all of the chicks. 27 chickens are a lot for 1.5 acres. A friend of mine offered to buy all the ones I don't keep to get her flock back up to size. She doesn't want to do the brooding part. I think the Rhode Island Reds and maybe five of another breed (I have eleven of them - possibly White Orppingtons) may be getting a new home in a couple months.
My dear husband doesn't think I'll be able to part with them since they're already getting names according to their personalities or particular looks. (One of the Turkans has a tuft of black feathers on top of her head above her completely featherless neck and is quite funny to watch. She has a sort of buzzard look, so my sister suggested Ruth Buzzy.) One of the those I think is a White Orpington tends to fall asleep with her head on the feed trough. I'm calling her Jenny Craig, since food is apparently on her mind a lot. (If you're like me, diets only make food the prominent thought in your brain!)
The chicks are already trying to jump out of their pool. They grow at an amazing rate. They hatched around 12:50 a.m. on Saturday, July 7 at Murray McMurray Hatchery in Webster City, Iowa (all that information comes on the shipping box). They were at the Wayne, West Virginia post office on Monday morning, just little fluffy puffs of peeps. They now have grown feathers on their wings that are 1/2 inch long. I'm taking lots of pictures to document the speed of their growth. Now if I could just find that connector so I can post them............
So the Big, Bad Bunny got loose this morning. He's been running all over the yard. He even followed Lucy the chicken to my sliding glass door to peek and see if I was up yet. I went outside in flip flops and when he got close I almost jumped up on the picnic table. I'm not afraid of animals normally, but I pictured my son's foot with the bunny attached and really want to avoid that for myself.
I think having a chicken has been one of the best homestead experiences yet. Besides her antics, I love watching the other animals come to her pen and have a snack on the feed she leaves on the ground. So far today I've seen a group of four bluejays arguing over who gets to eat first, a pair of mourning doves gently strolling around the yard like an old married couple sharing a walk and talk, and a cute little chipmunk who runs by the sliding glass door practically under my feet (my desk sits facing the stationary side). He goes inside the cage, stuffs his jaws and then runs back along the house to wherever he lives. A half hour later, he's back for more.
I am in awe of the sweetness of my homegrown cucumbers. I'm trying to decide where else I can plow a patch for more veggies. I want a canning/freezing harvest of corn, peas, okra, cucumbers (for pickles), and broccoli. Is anyone else having a bumper crop of squash? Not summer squash. I didn't plant any. I have buttercup squash, pie pumpkins, and spaghetti squash. The vines are enormous. We can't even get between the rows to weed. There are hundreds of flowers. If they all turn into fruit I might have to set up a roadside stand in the fall unless I can find recipes to use for putting the overflow up for winter use. The pumpkin I'm not worried about...we eat lots of pumpkin products...butter, muffins, bread, pie.
I'm excited about the baby hens arriving Monday or Tuesday. I've got everything I need and I've been reading on what to do when they arrive. I even called the Post Office to let them know they're coming. I sound like an expectant mother don't I? So is it still called nesting when it's a human preparing for chickens?
I can't believe a month has passed since I last posted! I started out trying to organize my bedroom...after trashing 2 additional rooms, I have just a few more things to get rid of and that task should be done. We're hoping to move into our newly constructed bedroom by the end of April. I still won't have closet space until the bathroom addition is done (not even started yet).
I obligated myself to several time-consuming projects...none of which are burdens...they just take up my casual writing time. I have 3 writing/design projects to complete. I got a political commentary piece published in the local newspaper in February. I wrote a Sunday school lesson on 1 Peter 2:1-12. I've written 3 newsletter articles for our church newsletter (more about that in the next post). Somehow I have to find time to focus on my manuscript for a devotional on Proverbs 31 that has been years in the planning.
I've taken on the wonderful task of full-time care of my dear grandson when his mommy's school and work schedule changed in early March (she's training to be a chef and working at the local family restaurant getting experience while she's going to school). I had forgotten how much energy it takes to keep up with a busy 2 year old!
Last Thursday a customer brought 2 baby chicks to a waitress at my daughter's work. She was unprepared to care for chickens along with 2 rambunctious little boys. I wasn't planning on starting my flock until after the end of April. Well, I brought the chicks home, put them in an unused aquarium, then rushed to find all the info I could on chicken care. The March/April issue of the New Harvest Homestead from Lisa Vitello was sitting unprinted in my email inbox. It has a whole section on home flocks (and a funny article on "chicken runs"). God's timing is amazing, isn't it?
Soooo, I had to leave on Friday afternoon to take some of our youth group to a weekend retreat...I spent the morning running to town for chicken feed and a waterer, rushing to pack, leaving instructions for the family on chick care, then my dh drove me to the church where I loaded 9 teenagers on a church van for an hour long drive to Scioto HIlls Camp and Retreat Center. You'll be hearing more about the awesome retreat later!!
When I got back Sunday, my dh told me he had accomplished 2/3 of the tasks I had left for him. They were "take good care of our grandson and the two chickens." One of the chicks choked to death Sunday morning...on we don't know what. I told him that chicks are fragile and not to be upset or worried about upsetting me. I had named them Lucy (a red pullet) and Ricky (a yellow rooster). Well, with Ricky gone, Lucy has imprinted on me...even though I wasn't the first to handle her.
Yesterday, while holding Lucy, I tripped and she got tossed into the air. She fluttered down between some azaleas and my front porch. (Her wings are starting to fill out.) We all scrambled to keep the dog (an English Springer Spaniel---read bird dog here!!) and the 2 cats from getting to her first. She kept running away from everyone else, but as soon as my hand was on the ground she ran and jumped on it. It's very sweet.
She likes to sit on my shoulder...I've never fancied myself a pirate, but she got interested in the reflections in my eye and gave me a love peck that took all day to recover from. Bird on my shoulder and eye patch...recipe for pirate??? I'm hoping to get a small run built for Lucy this afternoon, so she can enjoy the world outside the aquarium. We've been using a playpen turned upside down, but it's hard to keep my grandson from wanting to join her under it. Construction on the 'real' chicken habitat will begin in a couple weeks. Then I'm ordering the flock of Rhode Island Reds, Silver Wyandottes, and Aracaunas (Easter egg chickens) that I've been planning for 2 years.
On the gardening front, I was picking up some supplies at the building supply store just 1/4 mile from the house 2 Thursdays ago. A long-time family friend was assisting me with my purchase. I asked their price for bundles of hay and he told me he had just sold the last they had. Then he said, "Why don't you go up to my place and get some barn litter? You're practically family. You don't have to call first, just go get what you want." Well, let me tell you....I almost did the happy dance right there in the store!!!! I now have an unlimited supply of 'garden gold'! I called my husband at the post office as soon as I got to my car. I said, "Guess what we're doing this afternoon?" When he got home we hooked the trailer on the van, loaded the grandson and the shovels and headed up to get the mixture of manure and straw. We got about 500 lbs...that's a good start. It's composting next to where it will be spread next week. Our grandson wanted to help unload the "noodles" (he thought the straw looked like spaghetti). It was a very productive garden day!!
When my dh went to work the next day he told his co-workers, "Some women you have to buy diamonds to make them happy. I just have to get Patty a load of poop." LOL You experienced gardeners know just what I'm talking about, don't you!!!
Homesteading begins in the heart. I discovered that after years of packing up every three years when the Air Force had some new job for my dear husband in a distant place. My early attempts at homesteading were little pots of flowers and herbs, maybe the occasional tomato or bush cucumber plant on the patio or porch of military base or rented housing. Those years I yearned for acres and acres of land on which to grow my own grains and vegetables. Each time we moved my longing grew deeper. As of today, our homestead is an acre and a half on the property my husband spent his teen years. But that is exactly enough for me right now. You see, I have discovered the joy of heart-steading…that is living where God has put me and making the most of what He has blessed me with.
My first seed catalogue of the season arrived a week before Christmas. It was like getting an early present! I love spending the cold winter days planning my spring planting. I draw out elaborate plans on cheap graph paper and plot everything carefully. I use raised beds, 4-foot square each. We have three established beds and I hope to add at least that many more this year. My husband is planning to move my beds to the best, sunniest spot in the yard so he can change the way we drive to his garage. I’ve already picked out several new varieties from the Jung seed catalogue to put in my herb bed. I have four little plants that seem to winter over very well in our climate, a rosemary plant, an oregano plant, and two bunches of chives. This year they will be joined by some pineapple sage (wonderful for tea, especially during sore throat season!) and some chocolate basil (just for fun).
We fight the little rabbits, voles, and squirrels for the strawberries in one raised bed. But the strawberries that we get to eat are so amazingly sweet and flavorful that I’m starting another bed using the offspring of the original plants. I need tips on using/growing my rhubarb. I have three plants at the back of my strawberry bed (with visions of strawberry-rhubarb pie dancing in my head). I can’t seem to figure out when I should cut the stalks and they seem to be favorites of tiny little insects that riddle the leaves with holes.
If I can convince my dear son to help, I will get to build my first cold frame in the next week or so. My father has been working hard to turn our carport into a wonderful and spacious master suite. Some of the construction cast-offs are the four brick columns that supported the roof before he put in the outside wall of the bedroom. They broke into nicely-sized pieces when they fell. I saw a great reuse of bricks in a book my mother brought me today and I have all the materials needed to have a bed ready to take early spinach, lettuce, and hardy herb seedlings that I will start in two weeks. Bricks have the wonderful benefit of holding even little bits of heat from the winter sun. I have a lot of old windows to choose from that will serve as the top of the cold frame.
I have to admit, I am an early-bird planter! My corn seed was in the ground three weeks early two years ago. Every time the forecast predicted frost, I had to run out and cover up all the bright green little stalk-lings. I kill seedlings every year because I just can't wait to start growing!
Day 1 - July 9: In the pool my grandson outgrew.
Day 4 - July 12: In my grandson's new pool. They started jumping up on the sides of the other one.
This is Lemon Chiffon (and me). She's the brightest of the four yellow chicks.
Like Nana. Hunter wanted to hold a chick "on my body."
This is a Turkan. It is has a bald neck and bottom. McMurray Hatchery has a large flock of these.
Another Turkan, called Brittany Spears (see the resemblance to recent media photos?).
Naptime.
Like me when I'm on a diet, "Jenny Craig" is dreaming of the next meal.
Remember the earlier pics of Lucy? This her at one week old hitching a ride on Penny's back...
Lucy today, almost four months old. She seems to want some of the attention the new chicks are getting. To appease her Heather is giving her a little taste of their starter feed.
Hunter and Lucy.
