GOT TREATS?

GOT TREATS?

Every day they come up the deck stairs and look in the sliding door hoping I will have treats for them. Today it was black oil sunflower seeds.

Day 8 - December Photo Project

happy day!

MR. ROOSTER

December Photo Project - Day 4

MR. ROOSTER

always keeping a watch on the hens.

happy day!

HIDE N SEEK EGGS

We have to look everywhere for our eggs! It's a game of Hide n Seek!


Today Matilda, our Silver Polish hen, was laying amidst the daisies. I almost missed her as I walked quickly by.

They all seem to have their preferences, where they are most comfortable. It could be the barn, the duck house, under the front porch, or nestled somewhere among flowers and leaves. 

One hen, a Buff Orpington, is sitting on eggs in the barn behind some hay bales, and has been for over fifteen days. She leaves once a day to eat and drink. Perhaps we'll have some baby chicks in another week.


Now off to find more eggs!
                       happy day!
 Linked to Farmgirl Friday

ONE WORD WEDNESDAY

~ sitting ~

(Please feel free to join in One Word Wednesday, just leave your link in the comments). 
                                              
                            happy day!

PROTECTING THE GARDEN

Do you have helpers in your garden ?

" I see you have been out in your garden", visitors say as they comment on the raked areas throughout our flower beds and raised bed garden. 

But it wasn't me, it was them! My helpers.

But there comes a time that I need to say, Thank you but no more! No more eating the earthworms and other beneficials deep in the soil of the garden. 


I fill up the raised beds with our rich compost. . . 

 and then protect it from the chickens.


 I lay chicken wire, or other wire I have on hand, over each raised bed and secure it with a rock, heavy branch, or piece of lumber. 

The hens will still try but will be easily discouraged and move on their way.

Once I start planting, I set up a temporary fence so they can't get in the garden at all, but for now it's just the raised beds I protect.
  
I'm not willing to keep my chickens from free-ranging throughout our land, so there are extra steps I need to take to protect our plantings. 

A tip when putting in transplants, in an area that is not fenced in, is to surround the actual plant with rocks, right up to its stem. Flat rocks work best.


I learned the hard way. All my transplants were tipped upside down, with roots facing the sky, as the chickens made their way through the yard. Something had to be done.


The rocks protect the plant from the hens scratching. They still can scratch nearby but the transplants stay in place. Once the plants grow and their roots are secure in the soil, the rocks can be removed and growth can continue.

happy day! happy gardening!

Linking up to BARN HOP #5

and 

 Hearth and Soul Hop

BYE BYE FLIES- BARN HOP #3

Warm weather approaches and with that comes other challenges, mud from the melting of the ground, and flies, who can now exist in the spring temperatures.

The mud is short lived as the ground firms up and dries out, but the flies are here to stay until the first frost, which is the end of October around here.


If you own animals, or have wet areas on your homestead, you will have flies. Even if you don't but a neighbor does, you will, because flies can travel over a fourth of a mile.

We have wet areas and animals, Horses, Rabbits, Chickens ,and Ducks, and have kept the flies under control for the six years using Fly Predators, a natural way of fly control.

Fly Predators are parasitic wasps, a beneficial insect, that eat the larvae of flies, keeping fly reproduction under control. They don't harm people or animals, are minute in size, and  come out at night to do their job. We order our fly predators from here.


They won't kill the adult flies though. We just have to wait out the 30 day life span of the adult fly, and in the meantime, we hang fly sticky tape in the barn and in the chicken coop, replacing them quite often. It works well and they are very inexpensive.


Of course, we also have to do our part by keeping animal habitats clean, by removing manure and any damp shavings or hay to the compost pile.


The fly predators come in a clear sealed bag in larva form. They are not released until some have emerged and are moving around in the bag. Then you simply sprinkle them near animal areas. They can travel about 150 feet.

We put them in our horse manure compost pile. We make a small hole, just a few inches deep and gently cover it up. They will emerge when they are ready and come out at night .


We also have to be careful where we put them and try to hide them because they are delicious treats for birds, hens and ants. We also hang the bag on a nail behind the barn and outside the chicken coop and they can fly out when they are ready.


It's an easy and natural way to keep the fly population under control.


Check out the others at the Barn Hop #3 .

happy day!

WHAT WE EAT - PROJECT GENESIS

   We are not considered vegetarians, but as time goes on, certain members of our family choose not to partake of meat when the plate is passed. I also notice we buy less meat. I tend to plan meals and not base it around a meat dish as I used to. It has been a gradual shift.

And when my daughter starts thinking aloud about how we kill animals, end their lives so that we can eat, her eyes tear up and there's a lump in my throat.

 This is not to condemn people and farms who do. I have a great respect for families who are self-sufficient and can provide for their meals all their own. Just call me a whimp, I guess.

Is it because we are so connected to animals and nature on our farm that we are feel this way, or is it because we are becoming more aware and want to be increasingly aware of  where our food comes from, and know exactly what we are eating?

There's been a upsurge of information in the media and that's a good thing, for knowledge IS power. There has also been in increase in concern of how animals are treated on the farms that provide the meat. 

 I love fruits, veggies, beans and grains.I could survive quite well without meat, but not all members of my family could, at the present time.

  Since I still need to purchase meat for my family, not only do

I want meat that is all natural preferably organic! ), without antibiotics and hormones, and fed a non-GMO diet, but I also care about the life that animal lived and how it was treated.

Have you heard of the Global Animal Partnership, concerned with farm animal welfare? 


From their site:
"The numbers are astonishing.

According to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, more than 60 billion land animals, are raised for meat each year around the world.

To put the farm animal population into perspective, consider this: In the time it takes to watch a 60-minute television show, 5.8 million chickens are slaughtered for meat. That’s more than 97,000 animals per minute.

Each of these animals in agriculture—chickens, pigs, cattle, turkeys, lambs, and others—has the capacity to experience pain and pleasure, fear and excitement. Each one can suffer.

The Global Animal Partnership has constructed rating standards having to do with the welfare of the animal. They have done a two year pilot program with Whole Food Stores . You can go there and buy meat labeled with their 5 Step-standards, so you know exactly how that animal lived their lives.


 If a meat is labeled #5 then it has met all the previous steps first. The step rated products are not necessarily organic, as the steps are concerned more with animal welfare, but many are also certified organic.


See the 5-Step Animal Welfare Ratings Standards:
 for beef cattle
 for Broiler chickens
 for  Pigs

We raise chickens for their eggs. and so far, not for meat. They say if you are going to eat your chickens, don't name them. Well, we haven't named all of ours and I don't think we can eat them anyway.

Beware of labels though, almost anything could be called natural. And free-ranging only has to mean they can walk to their food and their water. It doesn't mention they could be walking in filth and disease harboring droppings in a small emclosed area, or cooped up in a building all day and night. 
It's free-ranging, pastured chickens (animals) that are allowed in the open air in a healthy environment to roam at will.
The Global Animal Partnership is in the process of forming ratings for laying hens.


"Each one of us, in our daily lives and in our own homes, can improve the lives of animals simply by choosing to support those farmers and ranchers who have a commitment to providing higher welfare to the animals they raise."

~Global Animal Partnership

I am linking this post to Project Genesis, hosted by the inspiring Suzan at OLD*GREY*MARE

happy day!

FARM FRIDAY

During a pounding deluge of rain which flooded the paddocks, and wind gusts that bent pines and blew the roof off the small chicken coop, we had to take action.


 The Polish chickens live in that small coop, a large re-purposed doghouse. We had no idea the top could come whirling off . . . think the house in the Wizard of OZ.


Four sopping wet Polish chickens, whose soaked top feathers were matted down and hung down over their eyes, were brought inside the house to dry off for the afternoon.


The Polish, because of their top feathers, shouldn't really be in the rain and allowed to get soaked because the water drips down into their eye and could cause infection. 


We put the four in a large dog crate after we dried them off . One rooster and three hens.

Sure, it was tight quarters but it was for the best and only temporary. 


You don't realize how loud a rooster's crow really is, until he is right in the next room!


The hens even laid an egg in the crate. See the bottom of the picture, a white egg?


Of course if I had new batteries in my camera I could have taken a very sweet picture of my daughter drying each chicken with a towel, one by one, in her lap. But it was just one of those days.


You can see some brighter and clearer pictures of our Polish chickens here and here and here.


All in a day at the farm . Check out Farm Friday, hosted by Wabi-Sabi Wanderings.


 happy day!

{this moment}

"A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember." 

Inspiration from SouleMama:

                                                           happy day!

FARM FRIDAY

 

We have visitors who arrive at our various doors throughout the day, especially in winter when the ground is frozen and heavily laden with snow making it impossible to scratch the earth to find added foodstuff.


 Notice how they are grouped together on the path from the back door? We, as people, tend to do the same. We stay with those we are most comfortable with, those most like us.


A few times a day you will see them arriving at the front door, the back door and the kitchen sliders. They know they can rely on the extra treats we toss to them; organic peas, corn, cut grapes, and sunflower seeds.

They make their way through the snow and up the deck steps for the tasty morsels they know they will receive. And who can resist them? . The children love them and so do the kittens!

And I feel blessed from the gifts they give to us, to know we are eating wholesome, nutritious eggs from chickens who are allowed to roam and forage freely throughout our twelve acres and who are fed organic ingredients.


I never considered myself a bird person until we got chickens and now I couldn't live without them !


I've decided to post weekly about our farm life, and join Farm Friday hosted by Wabi-Sabi Wanderings.


happy day!

ONE- LEGGED HEN

Not really! She (our Black Australop hen) is just resting with her leg tucked up underneath. She's conserving heat.

"Birds’ legs have an adaptation called “rete mirabile”  that minimizes heat loss. The arteries that transport warm blood into the legs lie in contact with the veins that return colder blood to the bird’s heart. The arteries warm the veins. By standing on one leg, a bird reduces by half the amount of heat lost through unfeathered limbs.

from bird note

  happy day!

BLIZZARD

I believe in free choice, but not today.

The snow is coming down heavy now and the wind has picked up speed. The forecast is blizzard conditions that will dump about 14-16 inches of snow in our area of southeastern Massachusetts. 

Noone will be staying out in the paddocks all night or roosting on the limb high in the pine tree. Everyone will be tucked in their own abode to stay safe and warm during the storm.

It took me almost an hour to coax the hens into their coop, Some were taking shelter under the pines or under our deck and didn't want to trek through the deep snow, so I shoveled a path for them. Others seemed to love the weather and wanted no part of going inside.

I sprinkled a trail of cracked corn all the way to the coop ( think Hansel and Gretel!) and little by little, bite by bite, they made their way inside.


The horses tend to stay in the farthest paddock when it snows, as if to say,"Don't even think about putting us in the barn!" 

But once the wind picked up speed they thought it best to stay closer to the barn and made their way on their own.

I was deciding just how long I would let them stay outside when a big gust of wind came, spooked the horses and each one ran into their stall.  

The stall doors were shut and snow brushed off backs. I left them munching their hay and knew I made the right decision for tonight.


happy day, happy snow!