Welcome back!

Well its been a while since I posted here.

In fact, life got away on me and I kind of avoided the blog.

It was just about the very last thing I had energy for...

But that doesn't mean I wasn't still thinking about posts and content.

Life gets busy, as we all know.

This year has been pretty great so far!

We started off by getting new chicks to add to our flock.
They were a LOT tinier than we were expecting.

We haven't had chicks that small before...
so it was a learning curve at first.

It was so much fun to watch them learn how to chicken.
Seriously...I could watch them for hours.

I volunteer at a few plant sales in my area.
I also grow seedlings inside my home for the sales.

Our living room became a small greenhouse for a while.
This year was excellent for my heirloom tomato seedlings.
Varieties this year include;
Anna Russian (Oxheart) - a robust girl with bright pink flesh!
Black Krim - a beefy stock with a deep purple flesh and green shoulders.
Aussie Heirloom - the one I'm most excited to see...reportedly yields 2-3 lb sized fruit.
(let that just sink in a minute...)
And of course our ever popular Roma...ours grows to be about the size of your fist.
Still full of great flavour but lots of flesh for sauces and salsas.

Then the actual helping at the sales took up a fair chunk of May.

Then we became consumed with our garden.

This year...

We are on top of our garden.
(surprisingly)

Partly due to crucial things I learned while working at the farm last summer.

I was introduced to my trusty girl Lola the Hoe.

This is a shuffle hoe purchased at Lee Valley.

That is not shameless promotion....I just bought it there.

I also mention it because I think everyone should have one of these.

Seriously.

(Hello...Lee Valley?  Looking for a spokesgirl?)

Just look at our walkways!

They are spotless this year...and I love it.

Another thing I learned was about trellising the tomatoes
so we can FINALLY get them off of the ground.
(more on that in a later post)

You can kind of see the steel T bars on the left hand side.

Not to mention the side garden beds not shown in this picture.
(Main garden shown...manly husband also shown)

This year has been rolling along just grand.
(Drought conditions in our area notwithstanding)

Can't wait to see our harvest at the end of it all.

How are your gardens doing this year?
How do you deal with water scarcity?
Sound off below!

New additions to the flock 2015

Another unexpected bonus to working at The Kitchen Garden was the part timer!

She is a skater boarder/bird breeder living in Erinsville.

You can find her on Instgram under the name The Real Farmacy.

It sounded like her homestead had a lot in common with ours...

so we thought we'd head out for a visit!

It was a short drive for my son and I one sunday morning

back in July I believe.

She breeds turkeys.

Big ones.

She has a flock of laying hens.

And a whole lotta chicks!

My son was very taken with the baby turkeys (Poults if you want to get technical).

They were pretty sweet.

Aw who am I kidding?

They were freakin adorable!!!

Luckily we only came home with 3 hens.

Two Ameraucanas.

One Jersey Giant.

A JERSEY GIANT.

Not sure what I was thinking...

but I'll be sure to post a picture of her when she is all grown up!

I'm super excited to see how these new babies make out with our flock.

I'm also stoked to see how the giant turns out!

That brings us up to 12 hens.

Still perfectly acceptable.

No crazy chicken ladies here.

Nope.

SUPER SAD UPDATE:

Two weeks after I wrote this post...a raccoon grabbed two of the new chicks.

Killed them both.

And the orange necked ameraucana in the bottom of the picture above survived.

She's a scrappy lil thing but she was pretty traumatized by the whole event.

I was devastated by the loss of the two chicks.

It was our first attack on our hens.

For better or worse, we shot the raccoon the next night in a 

wave of anger and a feeling of protecting our flock.

Not sure how I feel about it now.

I'm still an animal lover...

and its not like we go sport hunting raccoons all of the time.

We've lived here happily for 4 years without having to kill off the local wildlife.

I would like to think the next time we'll use a live trap.

Then I saw a big turkey vulture flying very close to our yard...

and thought...

why would I deprive such a majestic bird a well deserved meal?

All I know is those sweet lil chicks aint growing up.

And I was pretty pissed about that fact.

Another Update:

We took in 3 of my sister-in-law's hens.

One died mysteriously shortly after we took them in.

The other one didn't integrate very well.

She developed a head wound that would not heal.

We separated her from the flock on numerous occasions.

Each time we tried to re-introduce her...they would attack her all over again.

We made the choice to end her suffering.

Strangely enough the whole flock calmed down once she was gone.

One of our original flock died of old age.

Then our Silver Laced Wyandotte had a prolapsed vent.

Our flock is now 6...but spring of 2016 will bring way more hen madness!

Stay tuned for the new arrivals... 

Hot Weather and Chicken Keeping

Like most places recently, we experienced a heat wave.

When you have livestock...of any size...you need to be aware.

It's no joke.

A girl I know lost her tom turkey to heat stress.

Even if you provide enough shade...it's not enough.

This past week was 29 degrees C...in the shade.

I saw this post on Pinterest...about putting stuff in ice cubes for your hens.

It cools them off.

It's a boredom buster.

It has healthy treats inside.

What's not to love?

They were definitely curious.

They loved it!

PS.  We left peas out on the counter.

They dried up a bit overnight...not the most desirable for eating.

So I threw them in an ice cube tray along with some old frozen corn from last year.

Why not?

How do you beat the heat with your livestock?

Chickens are happier free ranging...

"So you think you can keep me penned in?"

"Not likely."

"We are far too lovely and wild to be kept in a box."

"See how the sun shines off of my beautiful feathers?"

My divas are so very irritated with me since I've kept them 

in the coop and run during gardening/planting season.

They really do love being free ranged chickens in our swamp.

So I felt so bad for them one night...I let them out of the coop not even thinking.

I watched them (in horror) run straight for our 

freshly planted rows of peas and beans.

You do not.

Touch the peas.

Since then they have been making their displeasure known to all of the passing 

ducks, swans, geese, loons, beavers, muskrats, turkey vultures and crows.

Also, people passing by walking their dogs.

Sigh.

The result?

We fenced in our garden for the first time ever.

It's just chicken wire...

At first I hated it.

It was like my sweet veggies were in some sort of Fort Knox.

That was when the seedlings were just sprouting.

Now the fence has grown on me.

The chickens are back their free-ranging bliss.

And I have yet to hear any flack about it from the divas.

That Foxy Fox!

We have been pretty lucky so far.

We have had chickens in a box in the woods for a year...

and no major incidence have occurred with the local wildlife.

Then one day I saw the beginnings of a tunnel under the door.

The dread came over me...my heart quickened.

We assumed it was the raccoons.

The enjoy our composter...

so it seemed only a matter of time before they discovered 

the white box of chicken.

The next evening at dusk...husband and I were enjoying our deck when who should surprise us...

A FOX.

Not just a fox.

A fox in what felt like broad daylight.

A fox traipsing through our garden.

(This was two weeks ago...you should see the garden now!)

It circled the coop a few times.

Even after I stood up and made it aware of my presence.

It made an extra loop.

I jumped off the deck just to assure it that I would defend my hens.

Even if it was only going to be by waving my arms and hooting at it.

The foxy fox ran away into the swamp.

We reinforced the chicken wire with larger rocks at the base.

We raked the gravel back into the holes and placed large rocks on them too.

A week or so went by and no return of the foxy fox.

Perhaps he's gone to get his friends.

We shall see....

One day a hen made a swing...

One day the weather turned mild.

(This was back in early January)

It was lovely at first.

I let the hens out of the coop to stretch their wings and 

so they could enjoy their second home (aka under the deck)

I was further down the yard, burning out a stump.

I happened to look up.

Oh man!

I thought that Pigeon, our Silver Laced Wyandotte,

had tried to fly from the deck to the coop...

and gotten stuck in the grape vine trellis!

They deal with the snow...but they don't like it.

They try to fly back and forth to avoid walking in the white stuff.

Their landings just aren't graceful at all.

As I walked over to investigate, I noticed she was rocking back and forth.

It kind of reminded me of the summer birds on our clothesline.

They look like they are having fun...more fun than just "trying to keep their balance".

And it appeared as though Pigeon was doing the same thing.

By the time I got close enough, I realized she was quite fine.

She was balanced nicely on the wire we strung to train the vines.

My how your animals can make you worry...

Winter in the Hen House

It's winter here in Canada.

Oh boy is it winter.

Our girls have it pretty good though.

They have an insulated coop, its a recycled 7' x 8' shed.

It's our first winter with chickens, so I wasn't too sure what to expect.

Luckily The Chicken Chick Kathy Shea Morino has been a HUGE help!

This gal has a helpful blog all around...but some GREAT tips on wintering your flock.

Here is Eagle posing oh-so awkwardly in front of the thermometer.

I like to check on it...now and again...just to keep track of how conditions are in there.

For example...today was -10 degrees C with a windchill of -19 degrees C.

Inside the coop...it was -5 degrees C.

Not bad!

We go for thick bedding to keep the cold from coming up through the floor.

I also added an indoor dust bath for the winter.

Oreo checks the weather through the window.

Yup...these girls are doing alright!

*********

Our only issue is water.

We didn't want to put out too much money on a heated waterer...

but our metal waterer freezes up like you wouldn't believe.

In the meantime...I have been rotating the plastic waterer with the metal waterer out a few times a day.

Not the most efficient method...but I don't mind.

It gives me a chance to check for eggs before they might freeze.

Perhaps I'll save up for a heater for next year...or unless this winter cold gets out of hand.

**********

When there is a mild day, we do try to let them outside.

They love getting out...but don't like the snow or ice on their feet.

Strong, cold winds also keep them from making it back to the coop on their own.

They love eating snow.

(We discovered that they love to eat the snow off your boots)

These chickens love getting under our deck and making a great big dust bath.

Guess its like going to the spa...

There are three hens in the above photo...go figure.

They love snuggling while bathing.

How are your animals this winter?

Once there was a boy... ***WARNING: GRAPHIC CONTENT***

Back in the beginning of November, I went to visit my friend in Omemee.

Her and her fella live on a 55 acre farm and raises beef, chickens and has a landscaping business

called Green Side Up Environmental Services.

She told me all about her struggles trying meat hens for the first time.

She went on to explain that she lost some of her laying hens during a cold snap.

Let me clarify here.

She didn't lose the hens because it was cold.

She lost the laying hens because when they all huddled in together...the meat hens squashed the layers.

So she did what most farmers would do.  She ordered more laying hens.

As her new laying hens began to grow...she noticed a few that stood out.

Stood out because they were HUGE!

Their feet, beaks and bodies were twice the size of hens bought at the same time.

They also had very beautiful long tail feathers.

She suspected they were, in fact, ROOSTERS.

While a rooster can be a very good addition to your flock 

(for a variety of reasons, such as breeding your hens, flock protection, managing the pecking order)

my friend's flock already had a rooster.

Here is where we get into the nitty gritty of farms and homesteads.

My friend has a working farm...and the cost prohibits the owning of more than one rooster.

You only need one per flock - and why would you spare the expense of feeding more than one?

She suggested that we try to take one of them...and if it doesn't work out, throw him in the stew pot!

That being said, I figured it was either her stew pot or ours.

Up until now, we considered our flock as pets.

I was so excited to introduce our girls to their new boyfriend.

I was so excited that I just put him in the coop.

Everything seemed great...for a few minutes.

Then one girl went at him with a small snip.

His neck feathers puffed out.

Then her feathers puffed out.

Then it was all out war.

Those girls attacked him with a fury I had not seen from our flock.

I decided to give them some extra room and I opened up the door to the run.

The girls chased him out the door...and wouldn't let him back in the coop.

By 8pm, he was still outside sitting on the tire.

I picked him up and brought him into the basement (aka chicken hospital)

Granite (of course we named him) stayed in the basement for 3 weeks.

During that time, I researched on how to introduce a rooster to your flock.

There are many great online resources to check out.

I found a lot of good info right here.

I didn't intend to keep him in our basement for 3 weeks...it just happened that way.

During that time he learned how to cock-a-doodle-doo and generally seemed happy.

I thought I'd try the nighttime trick (placing the rooster in the coop while everyone is asleep).

The idea being that when they wake up, they act like he's always been there.

Sadly, that wasn't the case.

I watched over the course of a week and a half while the girls kept attacking him.

He crunched into a milk crate all day everyday just to get away from their constant assaults.

They kept him from food and water.

It was torture for him....and torture for us to watch.

Finally, we made the decision to end his suffering.

***********************

Now comes the graphic part.

If you don't want to read about the butchering part...please stop reading NOW.

***********************

My husband is a trained cook.

He has his Red Seal and works in a kitchen full time.

That being said...he admitted that he had never butchered his own meat before.

Sure he filets fish...

Sure he was trained to carve up meat cuts.

But he freely admits they never walked a cow into the kitchen and had the students get to work

from start to finish.

Makes sense...food establishments aren't supposed to have access to live meat.

Their are strict laws to ensure that all meat was butchered in a sanitary environment.

We have only ever butchered a rabbit once before.

(shot in our own backyard)

We watched a YouTube video on how to do it!

After that event, I decided to purchase a book on butchering meat.

(You know, just in case there is no power...or internet connection)

I selected this book because it had a nice mix of meat including wild game.

I thought the section on poultry was decent...but when Ches read the chapter...he felt he needed more instruction.

We searched online for other resources to help us out.

There was one standout site:

HOW TO BUTCHER A CHICKEN

Bookmark that site for easy reference!!!

Seriously a great site.

I didn't take any pictures of the event itself...mostly because it was dark out.

That, and I wasn't sure what (if any) pictures I would want to show of the process.

Ches took Granite's head off with an axe and I went out to help with the plucking.

I will say that I was totally torn about this whole event.

I wanted to be a tough country chick.

I wanted to be detached and logical about the whole thing.

I wanted to tell myself that we were putting himself out of his misery and feeding our family.

I also wanted to throw up.

The more feathers we pulled out...the more the carcass started to look like what you'd buy at the market.

The less I felt squeamish.

That is, until Ches started carving.

When he wrenched the legs backwards to break the joint and cut...

Oh...the sound.

Is this getting too graphic?

I dunno...I just wanted to be honest about what we did and how I felt about it.

Perhaps I'm not as country as I thought.

Perhaps I should go back to being a vegetarian.

Perhaps we shouldn't eat meat that we've named.

All I can say, is that we made chicken and dumplings for dinner.

It was a delicious recipe...but the chicken...well...I just couldn't bring myself to truly enjoy it.

Recipe came from Martha Stewart.com

 

The Girls...

So its been a few months since we got the new fancy chickens.

I thought you might want to get to know them better!

Eagle

Our first little girl to get injured.

She had most of her tail feathers peaked out in the beginning.

Now she tries to steer clear of the big girls...and often times Pigeon keeps her safe.

Aptly named Eagle, the noises she makes sound very bird of prey-ish!

Still waiting to see what colour her eggs will be!

(she is our easter egger)

*******************

Oreo

(Formerly Dark Rainbow)

A very sweet, shy girl.

She keeps her distance mostly.

I've spent some time just sitting in the coop and she'll come around to peck mosquitoes off of my pants.

You can't really tell from these shots, but she is by far our puffiest hen!

She ended up with a new name as Owen felt Dark Rainbow was too long.

******************

Pigeon

By far, my favorite little girl.

She is very motherly and protective of all of her coop sisters.

She herds in the young ones and alerts them to any approaching big girls.

She is always at my heels.

I'm sure she thinks I'm the mother hen.

On another note...if we were to ever order new chicks...I would

not hesitate to get more Silver Laced Wyandottes.

********************

 

Sun

Our beautiful blonde girl.

Insert blonde joke here.

She is quite puffy but sometimes she doesn't seem to know what to do with all of those feathers!

She is hilarious to watch...quite daft and dizzy at times.

She hops straight up in the air to catch bugs in the evening.

She was the first of the little ones to start getting her mature comb.

Her grown up chicken voice sounds like a goose...it's hilarious!

******************

You're welcome to drop by and meet the girls anytime!

They love visitors...and have learned quickly that people means treats.

All in all, the new girls settled in just fine...

PS.  our hen that rules the coop is Clover...

She is the one hen that lets me pet her without fail.

She is hilarious...

Sadly, we lost one of our first hens.

It was the strangest thing.

She was fine in the morning, but by 6pm, she was struggling to breathe.

It took less than 5 mins for her to pass away, once we noticed she was ill.

Now we have 7 hens in total...and will probably add more this spring.

We were sad about the passing of Birch...

but its times like these when we get to teach Owen about life and death.

Not my favorite aspect of parenting...but how else are our children supposed to learn?

***********************

UPDATE:

Our easter egger was the first of the new girls to lay an egg!

The wee blue tinted egg is on the left...next to one of our regular hens eggs.

The big girls tend to lay an extra large egg per day on average.

Not sure what class she's laying right now...peewee?