Tuesday, June 19, 2012

HAPPINESS IS...

Happiness is...


a fanning peacock.

Happiness is...


a flight pen full of bobwhite.

Happiness is...


cage-free coturnix.

Happiness is...


an empty goose pen.

Happiness is...


a cleaned up breed cage.

Happiness is...


no birds in the feedroom.

Happiness is...


being able to park in the garage.

Happiness is...


two new adorable kittens!

Monday, June 18, 2012

THE BABYSITTER


As if he didn't have enough jobs around here - alerting us to visitors, guarding the house, chasing Big John around - Tribett has taken on another role: babysitter of the devil chicks.

I've started letting the Ameracauna chicks out during the day. What started out as a dozen cute, cuddly fuzzballs has turned into a dozen loud, obnoxious screamers. Hence the name Devil Chicks. They are awful! Lucky for them they'll lay blue-green eggs. That's about all that is standing in the way of them turning into chicken and dumplings.

Ever since their first day in the playpen, Tribett has taken a keen interest in these babies. At first, I thought he was just curious - I even worried he would try to hurt them. But instead, he has appointed himself their guardian. Whenever they are out, he's close by, keeping everyone else at bay. When they get into trouble, wandering where they shouldn't (which is often,) Tribett lets me know. If anyone or anything gets too close to his chicks, his head goes down and his neck comes out, and he takes care of the problem!

Tribett the babysitter ... I love that goose!

Sunday, June 10, 2012

I USED TO HAVE A FEED ROOM...

Once upon a time, long ago in a far away land, I had a feed room. It was a beautiful feedroom, with saddle stands full of saddles, bridles and halters and leggings hanging on the wall. It had buckets of feed and the showboxes Daddy built for me to use at the Fair.


Yes, I used to have a feed room. And I loved it.

Okay, you can see where this is going - the same way the garage went ... to the birds!

Today we moved around some week old birds. Last weekend we put some coturnix and bobwhites - then week-olds - into a temporary pen in the feed room. They'd outgrown the brood boxes, but weren't yet ready to be without heat. We just mixed them together, as they were the same age, and it worked really well.


So today, because we are running out of room again, we sectioned off another part of the feed room. We divided the bobwhites (above) and the coturnix (below.)


We put some more coturnix in with the ones from last week. All are very happy and doing their own thing. The bobwhites stay in a tight circle, facing out, ready to flee at a moment's notice.


And the coturnix just enjoy life, all spread out, eating and flapping and digging in the shavings.


It's unbelievable how differently these two varities of quail behave. The coturnix, bred as a meat bird, just lay around and get fat. The bobwhites, still very wild, have one goal - stay alive!

We got a good start on the new shed/flight pen, so maybe it will be ready by the time these outgrow the feed room. 

PEACHICKS HATCHING!


Two peachicks hatched this morning! These are the first of the 11 that we set - ones that Kristi gave me. They seem to be doing well and are the cutest little things. They are gigantic, compared to the bobwhite we've been hatching lately. It will be fun to have something different to try. Check back to see how the others do!

Wednesday, June 6, 2012

UPDATES - LONG OVERDUE!

It's only been about 10 days since my last post - but it seems like 10 weeks. So may things have been going on here at the farm. It's been just a whirlwind of activity lately. Here are the updates on the multitude of projects we've got going on ---

QUAIL: Big John made his first sale!! Woo hoo!! We've started advertising, and he's had several inquiries. It's only a matter of time before word gets out and we're sellng like crazy. We're still hatching quail, with the next batch set to start popping on Friday.


We currently have about 190 two-to-four day old bobwhite and coturnix in the large brood box in the garage. There are almost 200 10-day-olds in a temporary brood room in the feed room.


The five-week-old bobwhites have hit the jackpot! They've been released into the flight pen to live high on the hog with the adult birds. We were a little nervous about combining them, but it seems the young ones didn't pose a threat to the big birds. They're all doing really well.


AMERACAUNAS: My newest chick have gone from this -


to this -


to life in the pigeon cage -


to now life in the brood pen in the chicken coop! They're growing like weeds and are as wild as can be. It must be a breed trait, because the Ameracaunas I had previously were just the same.

Yesterday, I put the chicks out in the playpen for their very first outing. As is always the case, everyone came over to investigate.


The chicks had the time of their life - running, flying, eating grass and bugs, and getting their first dust bath! It was such a sight to watch!






At first, I thought Tribett was just curious. He always checks out the newbies.


But he took a particular interest in these Ameracauna chicks, becoming very protective of them.




He spent several hours watching over the chicks, chasing everyone away who got too close, and even alerting me when a couple of them escaped from under the cage.


 Good job, Tribett! I love that goose!

BUILDING: Big John and I put in a concerted effort over the past couple of weeks to get going on the building. We've been sidetracked with gardening and birds, but managed to get a lot accomplished recently. We focused on the commercial kitchen - canning is in full swing, and it would be incredible to have that 10 burner stove with 3 canners going at one time! We put up the tin ceiling.



And laid the floor.



We even had time to start on the window and wall trim. It's looking good!!





OTHER NEWS: We got a good start on a new bird building and flight pen. Hopefully it will be compelted this coming weekend, so we can move the coturnix into a new home.

Pea eggs go into the hatcher tomorrow, and should start hatching this weekend! I can't wait to see what we get. 

The garden is in full swing. We started the Saturday Market last weekend, and sold very well. We'll be back there again Saturday morning, weather and hatches permitting!

Stay tuned for more farm news. Hopefully it will be raining next time I post!