Tag: raising chickens

A Piece of Peace on the Farm

After getting the interior fence in, things have settled down A LOT in the chicken yard. Atlas is much happier with his freedom to run and not be confined to his crate while we are gone or cannot be watching. The chickens seem quite content – although Dominique the Barred Rock decided to take a flight into Atlas territory the first evening when we fed Atlas. She was a little perturbed to not have access to his dish, I guess. LOL!

Two of the Black Stars did find a gap in the fencing under the coop for us. I was so surprised that day when they started carrying on with their distress calls. At first we assumed they had flown out, but when we put them back in we watched them immediately go back to the gap and exit. Noted. Fixed.

One thing the Black Stars escape showed us is that our 50+ pound livestock guardian is still very much a PUPPY. He may not look so much like a puppy anymore, but he sure wanted those birds to play with. My mom says perhaps he just knew they belonged inside the fence and was doing his job. I’m going with puppy on this one.

All in all, it has been quiet and peaceful with the critters. It has made me realize how much more time I have to do things around and in the house when I am not out with Atlas on his leash worried that he’ll have to stay too much of the day in the crate. I’ve actually gotten to clean house (yay!), start – and finish – a sewing project within a week (found some neat rooster-motif fabric at Jo-Ann’s Columbus Day sale!), start making bread for our family, continue working on my quilt that I started in 2002, and take an afternoon to head to out for an impromptu trip to the Nashville History Festival!

We did have a little scare last week with the baby chicks. With all the rain we had, it turns out the CamperCoop™ was not providing the protection from dampness that was needed. The little ladies were struggling, and we were worried about coccidiosis. We brought them in for several days to dry out and give them some medicine. They are thriving again, and we are still keeping them inside at night, but have refreshed the coop and are letting them enjoy these sunny days outside.

I will really be glad for the chicks to be big enough to start incorporating them in the main chicken yard/coop. We made a Pet Porter tunnel in the garage (two of them end to end with a chicken wire pass through) to give them more space when they are in at night. They seem to have taken a growth spurt while they were recuperating… they don’t all fit in one dog crate any more. Ryan has to go in and retrieve them one at a time in the morning so we can move them out, but it is worth it for them to stay healthy!

Until next time… we are staying busy here on the farm! Here are some pics from our adventures of late (and yes, I realize I didn’t include any Atlas pics this time… these are more about non-chicken/dog projects 😉

Too. Much. Cuteness.

Food first (well, water was actually first). Priorities.
Food first (well, water was actually first). Priorities.

Yippee!! Our 4-week old juvenile chicks arrived today. I am not sure I can handle this much cuteness in one location. Add these little chirpers to our too-cute-to-handle LGiT Atlas, and it is almost too much to bear 🙂

I had stopped by the Post Office Monday after I got notification that they had been shipped just to give them a heads-up on what was coming. Karen called me this morning just before 6:00 am to let me know they were in.

Aside: We originally planned that these would be our first chicks. Back when I ordered them, I had no idea I would be gifted a livestock guardian with two chickens, and I certainly never dreamed I would have also already added 4 more pullets! So, today, what were to have been our FIRST chicks actually DOUBLED the size of our flock. My how life twists and turns!

I was curious to see how easy it would be to wake the boys this morning! As anticipated, they rolled right out of bed. Amazing what a little chick anticipation can do for the get-up-and-go 🙂

The P.O. BACK door at the Crack of Dawn!
The P.O. BACK door at the Crack of Dawn!

We loaded up and headed to the Post Office. I’ve never gone to the back entrance before. We rang the bell, and Karen was there ready with our peeping box!

Soooo very exciting! All 6 little ladies were chirping happily away, and we could see that the box was divided into quarters with the 3 Rhode Island Reds in one corner and the 3 Buff Orpingtons in the opposite corner.

Since it was only a 5 minute drive, I opted to just take them on home instead of opening the box to water them while still at the PO.

Chirping package - handle with care!
Chirping package – handle with care!

When we got home we opened the box in the garage since it was a bit warmer, and gave them some water and food. I was so pleased to see how healthy and happy they looked.

To be honest, I was really a bit concerned since it was a full two days since they shipped. The day-old chicks have the benefit of the nutrients they absorb from the yolk just before hatching to help them in the shipping time, but what about the 4-week old ones? I’m a little ashamed to say I never thought to ask!

Not to worry… it turns out the folks (Claborn Family Farms) that raised and packed the little chicks to send to us put cucumber slices in with the chicks to peck on and keep them hydrated for the trip. How smart!!

We're FREEEEEE!
We’re FREEEEEE!

After giving them some time to settle down a bit inside, we took them out to their new temporary digs: the CamperCoop. Jerry got the finishing touches done while we were at karate last night (feeder and waterer hung, roosting pole secured, door latch working) so it was ready for new residents.

Furbys! I wanna play!
Furbys! I wanna play!

Atlas, needless to say, was extremely curious about all this new chirping and – oh, what perfectly play-sized little noisemakers! But, he only pawed at the sides once or twice before finding his way back to his sled and getting scratches from the humans.

As my mom said, “more chickens, ho hum.” I think he’s starting to figure out more of his place in the farm.

 

Boy play is really the best
Boy play is really the best

I was pleasantly surprised how smoothly this day went with our new additions. We got all of our school done AND had time to get Atlas to his next booster appointment and weigh in. He has added 10 pounds since his last visit. At 11 weeks old, he is weighing in at 36.4 pounds!

Jackson modified an old changing table rail to make a cute ladder to the roosting pole, but the chicks seem more content to huddle in a pile for warmth at this point. We added some wind breaks to one of the coop corners to give the little ladies a place to get out of the wind and stay warm. They ate an entire quart feeder container of starter grains today.  Amazing!!

Here is a gallery with some more farm photos from today’s excitement. Just click through to see them all.

I would love to hear how you are liking our adventures. This is my fun way to keep a journal, and I hope that you find it amusing, helpful, or at least somewhat entertaining. Leave me a comment, and subscribe if you like so you’ll get a notification as we make updates (I’m not even going to try to promise any sort of scheduled posting — it has everything to do with what we have going on and when I can steal some time to type 🙂

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
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.