For the past few days there have been two chickens hanging around at the front of the coop. Every so often one of these hens would start cackling and go back to the flock.

Something told us that they were laying but could never find out where.

Well, today the nest was found and it appears as though the hens have been telling each other about the best nest.

The only reason that their nest was discovered was the wheelbarrow was needed to put away the feed order. Isn't it a beautiful nest!
Sent on the TELUS Mobility network with BlackBerry

The other day was very sad. We lost our dear friend Scrufflechook. Scrufflechook was a very special chicken. She was part of our original flock of Chanteclers. There was nothing special about her until one day last fall when we noticed she was cowering in the corner of the pen, and that her neck seemed twisted. We took her in, (something we should really never do if we want to be "real" farmers) first into the basement then she slowly made her way upstairs into the office, my office. SHe spent most of the winter in a large dog crate, being fed a diet of broccoli and kale. Her bent neck never quite was right again but other than that she seemed fine. One of the sheep, we thought, had knocked her down badly when coming out of their barn. She did after all like to hang out and lay eggs in their side of the barn.

Over the time she was indoors Scrufflechook became very friendly. She would say hello and talk to us, take food from out hands, and generally seemed to enjoy human company. She got used to the cats hanging around, and even Beauty our large dog. Scrufflechook had become very much a pet and friend. She was slowly reintroduced into the outside world. First in with the silkies, which didn't go very well, and then out into the chicken coop. She made trips into school to teach the Urban Chicken course and was a hit with everyone who met her, she was the chicken that liked to be held.

Although she was still low on the chicken totem pole she made the best of it. Slowly she was accepted again and she seemed very much to enjoy herself. At one point this summer she had even seemed to NOT want to be friends with us anymore. More chickens came and went and was just fine. There was a point where she was being picked on again and thought she would go for a walk about. So we set her up in the Aark so she wouldn't be harassed, kept checking her crop to make sure she had been eating. After a few days of that and letting her in a different part of the garden she settled down and seemed happy and active again.

Last Thursday, October 14, a day after the second urban chicken course in Guelph she took poorly. Nothing really serious, she was just acting a bit strangely. It is the time of year that our chickens are molting so she looked pretty scruffy. She also seemed to have a good time at the urban chicken class on Wednesday. She was alert, eating, calm, moving around a bit but generally more interested in preening herself than just about anything.

On Thursday during the day she seemed fine, walking around and eating. It wasn't until closer to evening that she changed. She wasn't moving and had stopped eating. She had that hunched up look that chickens get when they are not well. I put her into the Aark as she knows it and has seemed comfortable in there. We went out a little later to check on her and weren't happy with how she was doing. She was sitting inside the Aark and just ill.

Out came a small dog cage, tarp, feeder, waterer, and anything else that we thought would have made her comfortable. She settled into the cage on the Thursday evening just fine. On Friday morning she had forgotten no better. We knew his was not good. Scrufflechook was put down by our vet last Monday, the 18th of October. Neither of us could face chopping her head off. She had been too good a friend to do that. Our vet is a wonderful lady, and understood that chicken or not, Scrufflechook was a pet and should be treated with dignity.

We'll miss you Scrufflechook, you won't be able to be replaced.

In total we caught a bunch of chickens in the dark or near dark. Tim and I didn't have headlamps so we had to put the light in the barn on. We then stumbled around trying to catch a few ducks. Catching ducks is like trying to run down a really angry two year old. Once held they flail and writhe for their life. Of course in this case it really is their life as they are going off on the final trip. Even getting the ducks into the crates was hard as they spread their wings as far as they can, trying to flap away and beat you simultaneously.

Next was the turkeys. Luckily there were only 4 turkeys and they were quite easy to get. A dog crate was their home for the next little while, they were all far to big for the chicken crates. They were quite beautiful to see up close. Niether Tim nor I have really seen turkeys up close and they really are lovely birds. Finally it was the pastured barred rocks. Luckily it was still dark so catching thirty onlt took a matter of minutes. Trying to determine size and sex was a challenge thought, they are black and white birds that visually read as grey in the dawn.

Around 7:30 we left the farm for a small scale Mennonite poultry processor, one of a handful left in the area. We chose this one as it came highly recommended by other farmers. After seeing them we would have to agree.

We arrived there just after eight and we were about 6th in line. Tim talked to some other people in line. We got our green slips and waited. Most people do a white-rock-cornish cross bird for meat. These birds are bred for meat and grow can grow to 10 pounds in around 10 weeks. At least that is what we are told. Most of these birds cannot fly and do not seem to care about much of anything around them. What they do do is convert feed to mead very well. Our birds took 28 weeks to get to 6 pounds. Of course our roosters weren't meant for meat, they were meant for eggs and we just had too many roosters. After a while the inspector came round and said everything looked good.

Actually watching the kill line was disturbing, but having said that...there was a person at every step of the way. The kids picked up the birds and flipped them around with ease. One, two, three, fours, five into the stocks. The next kid with the electric knife would then grab hold of their neck and cut it. It wasn't graceful but it did appear immediate. The little chicken body was now stained red, it shook a bit and was done. The next step was the scalder to break down the proteins in the feathers to make it easier to pluck the birds, then into the Featherman plucker and onto the next stage inside the building. It really was, in many ways amazing to watch.

The chances of a chicken getting injured and wandering around for too long is very low. Of course, that exact scenario happened while we were there. One of the chickens, not ours, came out of the stocks and landed on the floor. It was a bit dazed, but in no time it was picked up and killed. The site really bothered me, but people are people and can make mistakes.

Of course our birds were not docile meat birds and can fly. The Mennonite kids had to be told of this. They were very good about it and only had one, occasionally two birds in the stocks. They also kept a hold of the birds so they couldn't go anywhere. Once again it was all over very fast.

Watching anything be killed is not a nice site. For us the entire process was somewhat traumatic. The thought of a mobile abattoir is wonderful because the worse part of the whole thing was catching the birds. Once they were in the cages they settled right down. The drive was okay too as they were well protected by the trailer and tarp. But, if we want to sell our birds legally this is what has to be done. After watching the entire process I can see a reason for having docile birds willing to accept their death.

We left and went home to tend to the rest of our animals, have a shower, and get a bite to eat. We went back to the plant to pick up the birds in the afternoon. At the end of it all we have ten chickens in our freezer along with one duck for our friend. We have made another collective step towards knowing we can produce some mre of our own food. Now we have to find out how much all of this cost!

(download)

Click here to download:

Chicken_day.zip (280 KB)

Canadian Thanksgiving has come and gone. Family get togethers with lots of food and fun was had. Of course there has also been lots of work too. Mother nature gave us one last hurrah. All weekend it has been sunny, warm, and generally picture-perfect autumn weather.

Tim gave the lawn one last cut and collected all the clippings and leaf mulch in a pile where the next forest garden is supposed to be. I have cleaned up the gardens for the final round of plants along with getting out the agribon garden fleece to keep everything that little bit warmer. We have made a small hoop-house over the kitchen garden with hopes of prolonging the pepper planted there.
Sent on the TELUS Mobility network with BlackBerry

  
Cathy

(download)

Click here to download:

Grass_fed_beef_take_care_of_th.zip (824 KB)

With the weather cooling down there are a lot of things to think about. A big one around here is what to do with the fish in our aquaponics setup out side.

This is something we had been mulling over all summer. Well, the temperatures are now in the single digits which means fish need to come in, now. So this afternoon we have transplanted the fish to our living room, pond and all.

There is a bit of a concern about the animals' reaction. Maybe we'll create a self-serve cat grass station.
Sent on the TELUS Mobility network with BlackBerry

Today we received the first egg from our Copper Maran hens. It is smaller than the older Chantecler eggs, but that is normal for the first few eggs from all breeds.

This is good as some of our Chanteclers are molting and not laying.

This year in many ways has been pivotal. We have added to our chicken flock, had our own homegrown chicks, and brought some animals to slaughter, with more to go soon (damned roosters)! A full life cycle has taken place here. We really didn't know how we would react to all of this birthing and dying. At times it has been traumatic (Mr. Tufts) but also fulfilling (our first lamb roast). All in all we feel that we want to continue raising animals for more than pets.

Of course this means that we had to think about how we were going to have more lambs and chicks. Well, we kind of have the chick thing covered, but the having more lambs is a more complicated thing. It seems that loaner rams are not common here, and likely they are not as common in England as they once were either. this is due to transmitting diseases between farms, not something that anyone really wants to do. So, we took the plunge an got a ram.

Because our ewes are of small stature we had to make sure we did get a small breed. Of course a Shetland ram is the logical choice, so that is what we looked for. Of course we had determined what kind of animal we needed: white, male, good fleece. Luckily we managed to find the perfect ram at the right (a.k.a. as low as possible)price down near Sarnia. Tammy has been breeding Shetland's for a number of years and wanted to reduce her flock. She had a ram available that suited our needs perfectly. So we looked at Thomas and decided he was the one for our girls. Unfortunately his original home had cut his horns before they had fully turned outward so he has a few maintenance issues that we need to address. But other than that he is very good and gentle with the girls.

We had Tammy deliver Thomas here as we didn't think our hatchback was a good way to bring him home. S far everything is going great and he has settled in beautifully. We have noticed that the girls are no longer afraid to go to the end of the pasture the way they were when there was just the two of them. Now we just hope he is going to do his ramly duties!