Life on the Farm – Page 7 – Crack of Dawn Farms

The Crazy Coop Dance

Six. Count 'em... SIX hens in the coop! — Six. Count ’em… SIX hens in the coop!

For those of you who have been following our progress, you know that my two original hens, the “old guard,” have been choosing to sleep in our beech tree instead of on the fine roost inside the red roof inn that we built them. Well, I finally have ALL parties locked in the coop, and it was no easy feat!

When I brought the new pullets home Saturday, I decided that we would put them in the coop and lock ’em up for a few days so they’d learn the proper sleeping habits. I was mostly ok with the two originals staying in the tree.

That seemed like a good idea, until Sunday morning when the two old guard started pacing like a woman in labor! I had hoped they’d just find another place to lay, but that was not going to happen! 🙂

I am going to try to relate this story the best I can, but I know I can never do the scene justice! You’ll note there are not too many pictures of the craziness because, well, it is hard to take pictures at the same time as catering to the laboring needs of your hens. You’ll have to bring your imagination to the table for this post.

The Dominique was first – up on top of the nesting box (with Atlas sitting staring like she was crazy). I don’t think I can accurately paint the picture of this bird pacing and clucking back and forth. She was up on top of the coop (over 6′ high) at one point! She went in the dog house for a while, but I don’t suppose it was good enough as she came out and left no egg. Finally, she hopped on the skid at the side of the coop and was craning her neck like she was trying to figure out if she’d fit in the little crack between the ramp door and the coop.

I decided to open it, standing guard to keep the others in in case they decided to make a break for it. She hopped right over to the opening – and did a double take before going in – I think she wasn’t expecting company 🙂

I quickly closed the ramp door and did a little celebration dance since now we just had one to try and get in.

Later in the afternoon, the red hen started the same dance… on the egg box, in the coop. I’ll spare you the details since they pretty much mimic what happened with the Dominique. Except that the first time I opened the ramp door, the red hen didn’t see me, and in the delay the wily Dominique escaped! I did manage to get the red one in though, and we resolved to get the Dominique in after she was asleep.

When we were getting ready for supper, I got worried a bit about our prospects for hen retrieval… she was in her tree but easily 14 feet up!

Yeah, I heard you guys talking. I'm going way on up here. Just see if you can get me now! — Yeah, I heard you guys talking. I’m going way on up here. Just see if you can get me now!

By the time we wrapped up for the evening and we’re ready to go catch her, she had moved down considerably. Jerry was able to get her easily on the normal ladder.

They have spent all day today in the coop, and I plan to let them out tomorrow. Everyone will have had at least 2 nights in there, and the newbies 3. I didn’t really like leaving them locked up today – I know the old guard especially must be missing their bugs. I did get them some meal worms and cracked corn to scratch at and they seemed to like that. Just doesn’t seem right to have them cooped up with all this yummy yard in which to forage.

Side note: we did get an egg from each of the old guard after all the crazy antics of the morning!.

Just hanging out here enjoying my yummy bone while I have a little guard dog vacation.

Atlas did get a tasty pork femur to keep him occupied while he’s having some time off from his livestock guardian duties. I think we’ll all be glad to find our new normal tomorrow!

To Bid or Not to Bid?

To Bird or not to Bird?

Those were the questions of the day today.

The boys and I were up at the crack of dawn to head to the Robertson County Fair Pullet Auction. After having discussed the “2 egg a day” dilemma at length with Jerry, we decided that we could, in fact, handle 6 pullets in addition to the 2 layers we have and the 6 juvenile birds due in mid-September. Why not?

After all, the 6 juvenile birds won’t be reliable layers until early Spring, and we do have room for plenty of birds now without having to worry about coop expansion projects. These ladies got the red roof inn of coops for the first version. Besides the 2 “old guard” are still not even roosting in the coop at night.

So, having gathered a little intel on how much these things typically go for, I figured I could toss my hat in the ring to try to get us some soon-to-be-laying birds to help sustain our fresh egg habit. I was looking forward to see what our local 4-Hers had done, especially those in our Clover Club homeschool 4-H club.

20140830_083021 — Crates of 6 pullets each lined up for early morning judging.

It was really neat to see all the pretty Black Star birds lined up for judging. And the kiddos were so excited to show off their hard work. I was getting more excited about the prospect of bringing half a dozen of these birds home to start working for my family. I was torn though… Do I hope for prices to stay low so I can afford to get them? Or, do I hope that they are high this year since the money raised helps support the 4-H programs? Either way, it was a win in my book, and I knew my max price/bird, so let’s go!

20140830_092145 — Thanks to Sam for letting Ryan help him transfer the birds to the buyer. Ryan was quite entertained getting to hold chickens!

Well, I’ll say it was a good year for 4-H! I played at the auction game (my first real auction experience ever!!). Annnnnd, I went home empty handed. For now. (just keep reading…) Turns out the bids quickly exceeded what I was willing to commit! Like I said… good for 4-H!

But, I came ready (actually more committed than I would have admitted when I left home this morning) to take home more birds, and I was not to be disappointed. A fellow 4-H mom and friend Elaine, who had 2 sons with entries in the auction, offered to have me get some of the extra birds (they only have to turn in 6 of the 21 they raised since spring) from them on my way home. Perfect!

It's hard to see, but these are the ladies chillaxin' in the dog crate on the way home. — It’s hard to see, but these are the ladies chillaxin’ in the dog crate on the way home.

Another win-win. The birds were well within my bird budget, they are from the same “batch” of hens that I would have gotten from the fair, and I only got 4 (my own internal compromise on head-count knowing that the 6 juvenile birds are coming in 2 weeks :-).

Now, if you ladies will teach the other two how this roost thing works, that would be great.

It started raining as we got home, but we got them all situated without getting too saturated. Decided to try getting these started off on the right foot and put them in the coop for a few days to help them know where their safest sleeping quarters are. They immediately went to the roost (to my knowledge, they are the first to actually use it), and seem pretty content so far.

Atlas isn’t sure what to make of it all yet, and I hope that the other gals can remember that the dog house makes a nice nesting box until we either 1) catch them to get them into the coop, or 2) release the newbies from their confinement to free range in the next few days, opening the coop back up for all to use.

When I went to check on everyone this afternoon, it was just business as usual. Here are a few fun pics of Atlas doing what he does best (being cute and playful) and the other hens doing what they do best (scratching and hunting for bugs).

: Cool… a new milk jug!

: Still teaching the boy child to quick tempting Atlas with off-limits chewables.

: One of these days, I’m gonna GET your camera.

: Yep, I’m still cute.

: There’s that square milk jug again.

: Scratch. Scratch. Bug hunting is hard work.

So many new experiences, I love it!!

Until next time…

What a difference an egg makes

Wow, we’ve been busy around here! Started school this past week, and we’ve been trying to adjust to the new schedule. Life on the farm keeps moving, and it has been exciting!

This week, we got our first second egg! The brown/red chicken finally started laying, and none-too-soon 🙂 This family of four (plus 3 extended family in the Joelton Woods) all love eggs, so our roughly 1 a day since we brought the ladies home has been tough.

I know, I know – we aren’t officially even supposed to HAVE chickens (according to the “original plan”) until the week of 9/16, so yes, we are grateful to have ANY eggs at all. But still. Once you start getting a “home grown” egg, it’s hard to eat the “boughten” ones 🙂

TWO! Eggs. We can’t really know for sure, but most likely the smaller one (left) is from the newly laying red chicken.

Atlas has continued to grow in the past week (surprise!). Hard to believe he’ll be 3 months old Tuesday! We learned this week that it is important to get down to visit him and give him some attention several times during the day. Otherwise, his puppiness gets bored and wants to play with the chickens. This, of course, can’t be tolerated. I expect that over the next few months, his guardian instincts will start kicking up a notch. We’ll definitely be keeping the 4-week old chicks in a small pen with only supervised free time until they’re bigger and all parties are used to one another.

Ah, the joys and challenges of life at Crack of Dawn Farms. Wouldn’t trade it for anything! Here is a little album of some more pics around the farm over the past week.