3 little piggies

I went and got our three little piglets on Sunday - and boy what an adventure that turned out to be.  Dragon-Momma Miss Piggy led a jailbreak, so it was more challenging than expected to get the piglets separated from her, and there was one little shoat (uncut male) we could not catch.  In fact, Frank said he didn't finally catch that little monster until this morning.

Meanwhile, I had a front-row "seat" to learning how to castrate pigs ... I had to hold them because Caroline took a wrong step the day before and had a swollen knee under her knee brace.  Castrating pigs is a lot like caponizing chickens; just no rib spreader needed.

I got picks of the litter, since Frank and Caroline plan to eat the remaining pigs, including Miss Piggy.  I picked the solid, heavy black gilt (baby female) as soon as I netted her.  She ended up breaking the net frame, she's so heavy compared to her siblings.  Even without catching the one, I am sure she is the biggest of the six.  Her name is Cerridwen (pronounced "Kerr-a-dwynn", the Welsh goddess who sometimes appeared as a big black sow).  I compared the red gilt to the spotted gilt, and saw the red one was wider through the body, so that was my second girl and I named her Annie Sue, from The Muppet Show.  As for my newly-cut barrow (pig equivalent to a capon), his name is Boston Butt.

3 little piggies
my only somewhat-clear pic of Boston

Cerridwen and Annie Sue,
each trying to HOG the food

Right now they are in dog crates, with Boston being by himself until his incisions heal.  This also keeps them from running too far away from us until they get more used to us, and realize we are the source of food, water, and yummies like eggs and whey.  The other reason they are in the dog crates is because hubby is still working on the pig pen.  He'd like to get it right the first time, and when Lynn brought the cattle panels down on her flatbed truck, she had some advice ("Dig it in a lot deeper than that!") which hubby is incorporating.  Here's where he's at today:

working on the pig pen

Finally, a goat picture ... just because.  Usually, there are four or five lined up on the downed tree, but every once in a while when it isn't too crowded, Flora lays down on it.

Molly, Flora, and Tangie

I'll need to get a pic soon of Flora standing up.  She's just gone through another growth spurt.

Ground broke for pig pen

So while I was stir-frying up some zucchini and leftover rice, Caroline calls.  The piglets are pretty much off the teat and eating solid food, to Miss Piggy's disgust, and four of the six are getting out regularly.  They were finally able to sex the piglets (Miss Piggy is from the school of dragon-mothers) have a half-and-half litter, with the spotted one, one red, and one black being gilts (young girl piggies).  When she called me, they had just picked up the bander and bands for all the boys.

the piglets and Miss Piggy, mid-July

The piglets sunning themselves, mid-July

So hubby and I - being King and Queen of procrastination, respectively - went out with the tape measure, six sections of PVC pipe, and the rubber mallet and began seriously discussing where the pig pen will be.  Hubby only wants to build it once, and I fully agree on that sentiment.  We also briefly discussed the layout and concept, and that is a go at this station.  The main difference of opinion was which side of the property to build it on.  I insisted it be on the southern side, where it is always shady to keep them out of the heat.  Hubby prefers the northern side, where it will be much more protected from predators, although that is also where we have the solar charger for the fence due to the sunnyness.  A little bit of haggling, and it is set up on the southern side, but we'll be getting another section of fence to put it inside the goat perimeter.  We'll also be moving the grape vine that was here when we bought the place, and Lynn has commented that it doesn't produce because it's in far too much shade.

I am buying two gilts and one barrow (cut male) as "quality control".  I am not certain which I am getting just yet, but I suspect Caroline will want to keep the spotted gilt judging from how she talked about that one.  One red and one black are fine with me, and I shall name them Miss Piggy and Annie Sue.  Annie Sue was the younger girl-pig on The Muppet Show in the second season.  I think I'll let hubby name the feeder boy.

Progress for today is the pig pen laid out, measured, and six fence post holes dug in the right places.

Condemning seeds, aka planting

Yesterday, I decided to condemn some more seeds to being buried (hopefully!) alive.  I planted some beets and parsnips in the garden box where the chard used to be, until we buried it with a bed-load of compost from Lynn.  We cannot keep up on making enough compost here on property, so until I decide we have enough planting beds, we'll just supplement via Lynn's nursery.  She even has a couple Bobcats to turn the stuff easily (and load it into the truck).

Funny thing: I saw movement out the corner of my eye while planting, so looked up and there were ten of the twelve guineas, having hopped the perimeter and strolling over to see if I was doing anything interesting.  I was quick to brush dirt over the seeds, so my rows probably won't look very straight when they come up.

I have another bucket load of compost in the back of the pickup again today, and we are also waiting on lumber delivery this afternoon.  I had hubby make me a list, and went into town yesterday to pay and arrange delivery.  With 30 2x4s plus some 3/8" plywood and a couple 1x6s, he should have plenty of wood to build me broody/nesting bases for most of the tractors, plus a rabbit cabinet to get the bunnies' cage up off the two pieces of scrap 2x4 it is currently sitting on.  He used up the last 2x12s to make the current box awaiting fill dirt, which I think I may just fill up with carrot seeds.

Since my gardening attempts have had only limited success so far, I have decided this year I will plant by the signs ... yes, of the zodiac.  The feed mill up in Lake Butler was handing out calendars that have that info on them, along with sunrise/set times, moon rise/set times, phases of the moon, and notes for which days are favorable for not only planting, but working with livestock, including specific days to set eggs.  If conventional methods aren't working as well as desired by themselves, then it time to augment with a little magick.

I cut down one broccoli plant that had not given us even a little sprig yet, and cut it into three parts for bunny treats.

Final note: hubby ordered a computer thingy to fix my picture issue, so I ought to be able to do pics again by next week.

Coop repair

Yesterday we found some big gashes in the wire of our chicken coop.

I spent yesterday until about 5:00 pm (1700)

working on the coop. I started by removing the face boards, at ground level, and the "offending" wire.

This was done to 4 panels. each roughly 6 foot tall and 3 foot wide.

I wasn't sure I would be done in one day, the damaged wire was spotted just before Noon.(1200)

Katrina went to get the new wire while I got to work.

I decided to finish the job this morning. I could imagine myself rushing to finish.I knew I would be tired and very likely make a mistake in my rush to finish.

This morning i got started just after 9:00 and was done before noon with several short brakes. 

I found these pictures and thought I'd share them.

These were taken whike the coop was being built in 2013.

These was a year later.

And these are from this morning once the work was complete.

I have a few more plans to really finish the coop up but I have no problems putting the chickens back in there coop. 

I discovered a lot of problems that I will need to correct with the coop.

Mostly I am seeing where wood is rotting and boards are sagging.

I had never built something like this before and it's been a learning experience.

I should have a short video to add to this in a few days.

Thanks for reading!

Solar oven prototype

Hubby and son put this most of the way together last week, and I put the foil in this morning and now it's in direct sunlight to see how warm it gets inside.  I have an oven thermometer in it.

prototype solar oven

Right now, this is only a cardboard box inside of another cardboard box, with the lid of a display case on top and aluminum foil on the inside.  It's not as if we don't still have plenty of cardboard moving boxes out in the shed ...

I didn't blog much last week, due to my son's week and a day visit.  Of course, the weather was a little less than ideal, but it was great having my kiddo around for a short while.  He and hubby also put together another chicken tractor, and helped me pull some larger weeds from the back of the house.  For most of the week my back was iffy ... which probably made me a bit less fun to hang out with, but I was really trying not to be too grumpy.

More building for chickens

Here are a few recent building projects.  Hubby (aka "Household Seven" because he makes things happen around here) has been a busy working man, and of course he has been eating like a working man to boot.  Small price to "pay" for this much labor, so I am happy to cook for him.

putting the rubber fingers into the bucket plucker

This morning's project was the bucket plucker, which I'll probably do an individual post on after we try it out tomorrow morning.  It is like the WhizBang automatic (motorized) chicken plucker, just without the large steel tub and motor.  Since we usually do only one to three chickens at a time, this sounded like a much more feasible idea, both economically and in terms of effort.

Feyd, Goldie, Mula, and Ninny inside their new tractor

We emptied the original half of the rampart, and Feyd and the hens seem to like having grass under their feet even if it makes dust bathing a bit more of a challenge.  We're happy because we have not needed to mow yet.

new door on the rampart

The biggest reason we needed to empty the original half of the rampart was the chicken wire on the door had rusted through and broken and was scratching our arms when we went in and out.  Hubby took the door down and replaced the poultry wire with hardware cloth, and then he dug out the dirt floor about a foot deep and brought in a huge pile of leaves.  We'll be using this half as a brooding area, since it is too hot in the daytime to use the shed this time of year.  The brooder tubs will go in by the center wall, and have heat lamps on the end, and I won't need to worry if the adventurous little monster escape the tubs because they will still be enclosed!  Chicks are due to arrive Wednesday morning from Missouri, and I am getting excited about that.

Chicken City!

We've been working on the gardens and chicken "housing" for two weeks now. We've planted beans and corn. We've started two new compost piles or maybe it's three. Our first compost pile (Or is that oldest?) was flattened out for the corn. They really seem to like it.

Chicken Tractors.
Right now we have 8 tractors we finished two yesterday and moved some of the birds from other tractors and hutches into their new homes.  It's funny how terrified they are just to be put into a spot, more or less, just like the ones they left. But it all worked out ok. We also set up the extra Electric Netting I think each net is about 164 feet long.  It took a little bit to get it sorted out.
The tractors are all in a row now except for one which is still out of place right now. We have to rake more of the future compost out of the way to clear a path for it. I started that yesterday.

We have parts for two more tractors which I will start next week we should have them done in two weeks, I'm not planning to rush them out. But they will be ready for the new chicks to move into next month.
I feel like I am always behind schedule, there's always more to do.

Enjoy the pictures!

the Keepers, most still need names

Chicken City view from the shade

All chicks outdoors

Hubby just finished up the second new chick tractor, and we moved the mixed suspected pullets out into it, after moving the mixed suspected cockerels out yesterday afternoon.  Pic bomb time.

mixed cockerels

suspected cockerels hiding in the shadow

suspected mixed pullets, out in sun

suspected pullets

Now, for the best I can do of a pic of Azar.  The Wyandotte "kids" aren't exactly cooperating ... again.

5-week-old Wyandotte cockerels

Now, to goof off a little before the rain moves in this evening or night.

Chicken update 14 Feb 2015

I haven't done a chicken update post for a little while ... and there won't be too many pictures this morning as it is cold outside and the bird-brains are not posing for the camera at all.  It took me four tries to get an in-focus pic of Beardie.

Beardie, the Easter Egger cockerel at 15 weeks

As for the pullets in the tractor with him ... they had no interest at all in having their pics taken.  All four are doing just fine though - Penny, Darkie, Goldie, and Bright Eyes.  These five are the last of the Halloween chicks.

The Wyandotte "kids" I bought in Alachua County from Luanne are doing well also.  I separated the cockerels from the pullets, and have four boys (one a single-combed).  One of the cockerels is very noticeably larger than the other three, so I have named him Azar ... he is a "Big Boy!"  Yes, I know that in some areas Big Boy restaurants have a different name than Azar's, but those can be for future cockerels who are obviously faster-growing.  No pics of them or the five pullets, as they were hiding in the shadows.

The sorta-birthday chicks are also thriving, with the crew still in the brooder shed zipping around the tubs a bit too fast this morning to get anything but colored blurs in pics.  The Gold-Laced Wyandottes are getting in some very pretty feathers, while the red broilers are growing and growing and eating like gluttons.  Not quite like the Cornish-Rock broilers, but very close!  I brought thirteen of the most boisterous boys out of the shed the other day, and they are still adapting to their new surroundings ... there is still way too many blades of tender green grass.

13 boisterous and rowdy red broiler cockerels outside

The rest of the young chicks will be moving out of the shed in the next few days, as hubby has been building two new large triangle chick tractors.

new chick tractor in progress

new chick tractor up on sawhorses for finishing

I will move the Wyandotte cockerels and the rest of the red broiler cockerels out when the first is finished up (probably today!) which will leave the Wyandotte pullets and two or three broiler pullets in the shed.  I have very few pullets, and have called up Lynn to see how many she has.  I will happily trade her cockerels for the pullets just to have more of a choice in which to keep to hatch out half-broilers.

I slaughtered the last three cockerels from the Halloween assortment, and like the red cockerel these were mostly feathers and attitude.  I now have four carcasses to pull off the large meat for canning, then simmer down the rest with the giblets.  Hubby really likes how tender and flavorful the canned chicken meat come out, especially the dark meat.  I continued practicing the caponizing procedure on the already-deceased cockerels, and felt like a bull in the china shop for the first two.  I took a break, had a little more coffee and a cigarette, then went out to try a third time.  That one went a lot better than the earlier two, but I am still not feeling confident enough to practice on anything other than a carcass.  The learning curve is very steep for caponizing!  The good news is, I have plenty of red broiler cockerels coming up.

Chicks at six weeks

So I have had these chicks for six weeks now, and the nuggets are getting some good size on them.  The two chick tractors are working perfectly now, with the little feathered gluttons grazing in between feeding times, and of course the all-they-can-catch-and-eat on bugs.  Hubby is quite pleased with how well they are stirring up the leaves and pulling the grass and in general scratching and pecking just like chickens should.  You can tell in these pics where the tractors were sitting before moving.

assorted chicks soon after moving the tractor over

you can certainly tell where the tractors were

a few of the nuggets tearing at the fresh grass

Oh, we are down to only 23 assorted chicks, as we lost a red cockerel, likely due to rowdiness judging from all the noise they were making the evening prior.

I am thinking of slaughtering ("harvesting"?) the nugget pullets sooner than Christmas.  There are only two of them, and the six cockerels tend to push them out of the way for feeding time so I think they may not be growing as fast.  They are a bit larger than the Cornish Rock "Game Hens" at the grocery, which are actually Cornish-Rock pullets at 5 weeks of age, with no game in them at all.

Right now, hubby is looking at these chick tractors as an end to his needing to mow ... while I look and see composting in place and think the grass will grow even faster than before.  We ought to figure out which of us is correct around May.

Building a better chick tractor part two

Hello!

We finally got the Large chick tractor built and full of chicks, which I'm sure you've already seen and read about! I took a few minutes of video to show how it came out. I know we put in a few pictures but I think this will show the tractor just a little bit better. It has the added benefit of lively little chickens bouncing around.

And a few pictures I took as well.

Thanks for reading!

Building a better chick tractor

Yesterday and today hubby has been busy building an improved chick tractor.

front door, big enough we can crouch in

built-in roosts with roof enough to shield from rain

putting on the above-roost door

I have helped with the seemingly menial parts, like climbing inside and threading the ends of the zip-ties back for hubby to secure.  He says it is twice as fast with my help, so neither menial nor insignificant.  This tractor will be big enough we could also use for goslings, keets (guinea fowl), or even poults (turkeys).  Once finished, it will hold 24 chicks (8 cockerels plus the 16 remaining pullets/maybe cockerels).

Raccoon attack

Our new chick tractor was hit in the wee dark hours of the morning.  Hubby had put a piece of plywood up against it where the chicks were sleeping too close to the wire, but apparently the plywood piece was too light, as he noticed it out-of-place this morning ... then saw the carnage.

First, do NOT try to tell me how "cute" raccoons are.  In fact, it's best to not attempt to tell any chicken owner that ... especially not one who has had to deal with the aftermath.  I knew there was at least one chicken-eating raccoon around, because my neighbor lost all but one hen to a raccoon back in the spring.  I saw the blood splatters on her coop before she washed them off.

The good news is we only lost one chick this time.  The bad news is the varmint will be back, probably tonight.  The ugly news is I awoke at 0200 and 0400 (approximately) because I was having dreams of going out and finding dead chicks.  Ugh.  Next time I have dreams like that, I will be going out to check on all the birds!

Now, for a not-really-bad pic of the poultry wire pulled out in the corner.

corner where raccoon hit, pulling out the wire

Yes, that is blood on the PVC pipe.  A basic description of how a raccoon kills a chick: it reaches its hand-like front paw in through the chicken wire, grabs the head and/or upper neck ... and yanks it out.  The body does not fit through the hole in the chicken wire, and so that stays inside.  This particular coon got a leg also.

So hubby and I are heading into town to buy enough stuff to make a second chick tractor, with the modifications we talked about yesterday.  These modifications certainly do include half-inch hardware cloth!

I guess this can be put down as a hard lesson learned.  Raccoons are stronger than I thought.  I am assuming they are every bit as difficult to catch/trap/kill as their reputation suggests.

Pullets out in the chick tractor

Now the rest of the chicks are OUT of the shed!  This means I can start airing the shed out for a few weeks or so .... someone described chicks as "too stinkin' cute" and the emphasis is certainly on the word "stinkin'."  I'll let hubby write up the stats/specs on our chick tractor, if he's so inclined.

the pullets discovering grass

pullets still mobbing the feeder

door in chick tractor for waterer

shelter and roost end of chick tractor

It may look like a bit of (*ahem*) rural engineering, but it will do exactly what we need it to do: hold the chicks safely while being lightweight enough to move every evening, and by only one person if necessary.

If all 17 of these chicks really are pullets, then I will consider myself very lucky!  I had ordered 25 assorted straight run.

Moving chicks outside

Been a bit busy, but here are a few pics in between rain events.  (Hopefully, no new trees will come down this week! That needs its own post though.)  I have moved the eight Nuggets (Cornish/Rock crosses) out into the chicken hutch, and while they haven't figured out the idea of going *up* into the hutch part, they are enjoying hopping around on the grass.

the nuggets enjoying the great outdoors

I moved these eight yesterday, and this morning I selected the eight biggest and most boisterous cockerels out of the assortment to move out into the old bantie-house.  Four have so far figured out the ramp, while the other four were happy to snuggle down into the pine shavings for some peaceful rest.

four of the cockerels moved out of the shed

three of the four really adventurous cockerels ....
there were four in the frame when I focused the camera!

Finally, hubby has been working on building a chick tractor to bring the rest outside.  It is light enough for me to move, with roosts for the chicks which will be under a roof with hardware cloth as a "floor" of sorts.

chick tractor in progress

When hubby finishes it up, the chicks will be able to scratch and hop around the yard inside it, safe from bald eagles, hawks, owls, and other assorted wildlife that appreciates a chicken dinner as much as we do.