Self-taught farmers confidently raising chickens, ducks, geese, and pigs. Our focus is on practices that are environmentally harmonious and respectful to our livestock. We appreciate the beauty around us, clean eating, fermenting, and responsibly utilizing the bounty of the land. If you like thinking for yourself, continuous learning, and connecting with the homesteader lifestyle, check us out.
We value roosters here – as flock protectors (though effectiveness varies by rooster), fertilizers of eggs, and, when we have too many, food. We’ve found, over time, that even roosters that may initially seem mild-mannered can become real jerks and we don’t brook jerks on the farm. They go to “freezer camp”.
With each chicken egg hatch, around half of the chicks will be males. What to do with all of those cockerels? As we mentioned in an earlier post, you must have a plan for them or it can get real, fast: when cockerels’ hormones kick in, they can become a handful.
Continue reading “Slow Food: The Terroir Of Pastured Rooster”
You already know that fermented food is good for people, but did you know that animals can benefit from it, too?
When we went out to do the evening feeding recently, we noticed that a Muscovy duck seemed to be limping as she came up the hill to the feeding area. Limping can indicate a relatively benign injury like a minor sprain or something more serious, like a bumble, so we caught the unhappy girl and took a closer look. What we found was unexpected, and a bit of a shock: her head and bill were bloody. We caught her and put her into a cage in the “infirmary” in the garage for treatment and observation. While you hope that none of your animals ever suffers an injury, in a setting where they free range with the threat of predators, it’s likely that an injury will occur at some point. Continue reading “The Importance Of The Farm (Animal) First Aid Kit”
The first hatch of the year was an unusual one: the bulk of the batch was shipped Cream Legbar eggs – and shipped hatching eggs typically have a low hatch rate (for a number of reasons). We also put in a couple of our own Black Copper Marans eggs – early in the season, for them – and hoped for the best. Continue reading “First Hatch 2018: Final Count And Recap”
It’s hatching time! We have several incubators here on the farm and we like to keep them busy – we typically hatch eggs during spring, summer, and fall, so we’re starting a little earlier this year. We have Crested Cream Legbar (shipped eggs) and French Black Copper Marans (our own stock) eggs in the incubator and they should be hatching in the next couple of days. This point in the incubation process is called lockdown. Continue reading “In The Incubator: Chicken Eggs On Lockdown (Hatch #1)”