chasingmychickens-blog

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Idyllic moment....loving the sunchokes in full bloom! 💚

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Friday Night Feast

 We decided that after a long couple of weeks that we needed a pick me up of sorts. The way to a man’s heart may be through his stomach (ADAM), but it is also the way to mine. Especially potatoes.

Included in our feast are locally grown potatoes mashed with local, raw, milk and batch churned butter, locally grown carrots and zucchini simply steamed, and extremely locally raised chicken (that’s one of ours). It feels so incredibly good to eat food you know was raised or grown with sustainable practices. Another benefit of eating locally is that most times you actually get to meet the farmer, or at least someone who works on the actual farm, at the markets. Get out there and meet people! Buy their food, hear their stories, and grow community!

A moment of gratitude for all farmers out there!

(This is my plate, dominated by potatoes!)

We recently invested in a new chicken cooker. Made by a local potter. We thought it was awesome and it worked wonderfully! It may not be traditional, but neither are we! :)

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Predator Pressure

More bad news. After getting over the sour crop incident and a sort of tornado of personal problems, things were beginning to look up again. And then on Sept. 16th, we’re bringing Rose up for her morning walk when what do we find?!

Our little chicks, wandering about the pasture, around the fence, just basically not knowing where they are or how they got there. And so, Rose got hooked up to the other fence (away from these little guys so she couldn’t reach them for a snack) and we began to collect them and place them back into their tractor.

So...problem solving time. How the heck did they get out?!

Step 1: Check the tractor for damage.

It may be difficult to see, but there is a rather large hole in our fencing. Definitely a bad sign.

Step 2: Look for signs that something besides chicks were around.

Above you will see ‘scat’. This is a sure sign that something was near....and when I say near, I mean right outside of the tractor near....and no, this did not come from Rose.

Step 3: Look for signs of predation.

Those are feathers. From a chick. And there were 2 other bits of feathers around.

After doing a count it seems as though whatever decided to come get a morsel from our tractors, got 3 of them. Luckily for us, it was only 3. We patched up the hole, stuffed some more scrap wood around the sides and have been safe so far!

I suppose that I jinxed our beginner’s luck!

While I have you here, this is a good example of disobeying the list. This all occurred first thing in the morning right before we do morning chores. Obviously, we had to handle this situation before we could carry on with our day, and we had to fix the hole properly or we could have sent other chicks to the big chicken coop in the sky that next night.

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Sour Crop

(I will first say that I am adding a photograph of a deceased chick and for those who do not feel they wish to view the chick should maybe just be cautious about continuing on. The following occurred on Sept. 13th)

I am writing this post regretfully, as we have lost a chick to what I am now certain is called “Sour crop”. We made it through the first night without predator damage to tractors and all chicks still inside. However, one chick was looking extremely ill. As the others ran to the food, this one simply sat where it was, and its breathing seemed agitated.

As I picked it up out of its pen, it did not make any fuss at all. For all of you who have ever picked up any chick before, you know that no fuss is not a good sign. Adam and I decided it was to be isolated and brought back into the barn (the original place we had the chicks) in attempts to rehabilitate it.

We made sure it had plenty of water and in case it was simply cold, we put the heat lamp on to try and aid in its recovery. Sadly, we did not figure out what the problem was until post mortem. It only took about an hour or so from when we moved the chick to when it passed.

Right before its death, we noticed that the poor thing looked like it was vomiting up a strange brown liquid. We had initial thought this to be some sort of respiratory illness due to the agitated breathing. However, once the bird was gone, we inspected it and found a rather large squishy area on its right chest area. We did not know if it was fluid in the chest, lungs or what. We hadn’t noticed the sack before and it was a shock to see it when we flipped the bird over.

After some fervent research, I came to the conclusion that our chick suffered from sour crop.  Although it is treatable, it seems that we caught ourselves in the midst of it without having any clue as to what was happening. I truly am learning something new every.single.day. Possible causes for this to have happened include long grass and lack of grit consumption (both of these variables held true since the day before this happened).

So what is sour crop? Sour crop happens when previously consumed food does not pass through to the rest of the digestive system and begins to ferment. Typically a yeast type infection occurs. For some, you can save the bird from this, but you have to know what to look for and take action right away! Basically one has to massage the crop until the fluid is released ( essentially making the bird vomit). Once cleared, you can treat it with yogurt and/or apple cider vinegar (hello again ACV, our old friend).

Regretfully, we had no knowledge of what could have happened and what to look out for when it comes to illnesses. And so I’m writing this post as a warning, a lesson, and to reach out to others looking for what went wrong with their chicks with the knowledge that no, you are not alone.

And now I will add a picture of the deceased.

Aside from looking rather bare of feathers... the bird is on its back so you can see the area of the crop enlarged. It was completely soft to the touch. It is difficult to see anything else really, but hopefully this helps with an idea for what to look out for....lethargy, vomiting, and an enlarged crop.

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Up, up, up!

And so the day has come, our first batch of chicks headed to pasture! There are many benefits to pastured poultry. One huge benefit, in my mind, is that chickens raised in this way are allowed to be a chicken. They are allowed to feel the sun, the fresh air, the grass and the dirt. They are able to forage and consume whatever resources they innately want to eat. They also get a good amount of space to stretch out those legs and build muscle naturally. 

There are a couple of ways to raise pastured poultry, but the system in place here at the farm is a method called chicken tractors (see? I told you I’d tell you more about these later). Chicken tractors are portable pens that were developed into a profitable system by a man named Joel Salatin. We use his model and methods as the basis of our knowledge of care for the chickens throughout their entire lives. The chicken tractor is an enclosure that has no bottom. This is the area of which the chickens are allowed to forage. Part of the tractor is covered for inclement weather. Once the chickens have foraged through the patch of grass that they’re on (usually a day or two depending on their size) we lift the tractors and move them to a fresh patch. As the birds move on the greener grass (ha!) they leave behind their droppings, which in turn fertilizes the pasture allowing for healthier soil for the grass to grow back in for the next round.

Once the tractors were situated how we wanted them, it was time to fly the coop...so to speak. We carried the chicks in bins up to the pasture ( I say up because it is literally on a hill) and divided them into 5 tractors. So it ended up being 20 per pen, with one exception of 22 because we actually have 102 chicks. 

Did I mention it was a beautiful misty morning? Well it was :). 

After we put them all in, we gave them food and water and hoped for the best! We were diligent about checking on them throughout the day. We went up once and found one chick out of the tractor! Immediately we set out to look for a hole to repair. Luckily for us, it was only one tractor being on a small ditch. We “patched” it by stuffing a piece of scrap wood into the space between the tractor and the ground.

Go chicks, go! Forage and poo all over that plot of land! Here’s to fresh air, fresh grass, and soil fertility!

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Meet the Family

I’ve suddenly realized that apart from the chickens, it may be unknown that this farm is actually home to quite the menagerie!  Here at the farm we have the chickens we are raising for meat (the star of this blog so far), laying hens, geese, ducks, alpacas, goats, dogs, cats AND a rabbit. Let’s have some introductions shall we?

Meet some of the laying hen flock. They’re numbers have evidently dwindled do to their almost too free range lifestyle (they tend to cross the road...I haven’t asked them why yet....) and if the dogs escape they have developed the taste for fresh chicken. This has its challenges some days. In any case, we have 19 currently.

Next on the line up we have the paddock gang. This includes a flock of domestic geese and ducks. Also included in the paddock gang are the goats and alpacas. Here’s a large group shot:

The alpacas are Drumlin (white), Ricochet (black), and Oberyn (brown). They’re pretty silly animals. A bit clumsy and very skeptical of our existence in their lives. Here’s a better shot of them.

Next we have our adorable goats. These gals are so sweet, playful, and curious. Goats are hilarious to watch. Nikki (brown) seems to be a little more cautious than Jezebelle (grey-ish). Jez has found herself in a few predicaments in her life already, whether it be an unfortunate encounter with the dogs or getting her horns stuck in the fence. These small setbacks haven’t seemed to stop her curious nature. She’s always the first to greet you!

And Nikki in the great pine tree:

Hilarious goats!

Moving on......the dogs! So far all you’ve heard of them is that they like to “play” with the farm animals....I promise you they are not vicious creatures. They might kill you with their affection though. Let’s start with the matriarch of the “pack” Rose (brown and white). She’s a stubborn lady, but loves laying on the couch and getting her butt scratched (but who doesn’t really? teehee).

Next we have Winston (yellow/white) and Strzalka (black). These two are littermates. Winston is so full of love and energy, but we’re working on the IQ level with him (think Dug from the movie “Up”). Strzalka is adorable. She’s got tons of energy but loves nothing more than to cuddle up on the chair and be with people.

Last but certainly not least, litte miss Nel (tanish brown). This pup is the lankiest creature you’ve ever seen. Still growing, she kind of flops around. She’s such a sweet heart and makes noises that would make you certain Chewbacca is in the living room. All in all, they’re a handlful and a half but can’t help ourselves from falling in love with them all!

Now onto our feline friends. We’ll start with the 2 true residents of the farm, Ares and Fern. These two are littermates and Bengals. If you’ve never heard of a Bengal cat before, they are wild! These guys have huge personalities, are super affectionate and talkative! I firmly believe the two here are trained ninjas, but I have to gather more evidence to confirm this. Given their high energy, it is extremely difficult to get a good picture of them. The smaller of the two with the darker coat is Fern. She’s a sweetie. Ares is the bigger one with the spots. He is a ham, and also a fan of butt scratches. The two farm transplants are my personal cats. Acer and Betula (Betty for short). They’re such troopers, just about a year old and have lived in 4 homes. They rock.

^That’s miss Fern.    

In this picture, you can see Ares in all is majestic Bengal self, Rose, and my trouble making boy, Acer (inside the media set).

And Betty. She is such a little diva.

We also have a rabbit! He has no name. Perhaps we can get a poll going for that some day. In any case, he is moody and reminds me of the rabbit from Monty Python. He’s an interesting character and I sadly have no current picture of him.

Harmonizing with this many critters is quite the endeavor, but I, personally, have found a place for them all in my heart (even the rabbit). And now you all know more about what we’re doing all day long here! There’s a lot of animals to keep alive here! It is so worth it and dare I say we may be getting more in our future? I dare say yes!

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Moving On Up!

Last time we met, we were busy not following lists while little chicks were still living inside what we call the barn. Well, those little babies are still rocking that thing called life and doing well! We’re happy to announce that our survival rate is stellar! Beginners luck? Good genes? Who knows really, but we’re incredibly thankful.

Here at this farm, we’ve got the small boxes inside the barn for when we first get the chicks, then we’ve got a small barn with a nice big run attached to it for the in between stage. Can you guess where the chicks are now? BINGO! The outside barn with the run!

In order to do this, we first had to prepare the barn, clean it of dust, debris, and put in fresh bedding, food, and water. We also had to secure the netting over the run to protect them from predatory birds. This is important, I’ve heard horror stories about crows and ravens having a blast feeding on the poor little chicks. This is Adam fixing the netting.

There were also some patches to fix on the bottom of the run. This involved sawing some wood to size and screwing/hammering it into place.

Those two hard at work are the newest additions to the farm. Brett and Belle. They’re a duo bursting with energy and excitement, much needed after the month and a half Adam and I were here getting this place back and running alone. Yay for friends!

After proper preperation was complete, we carried the chicks to their new home. And they love it! It seemed that almost overnight they grew twice their size. Must be something about fresh air and sunshine!

So far they have been in their new home for about a week. This is day one. (Side note, we used the heat lamp, this day and this day only. Go figure we have a heat wave when we’re supposed to be lowering the temperature the chicks live in. Typical. )

This was the first day they left the barn and experienced the beautiful world! They can’t get enough now!

That little guy in that’s all dirty, is taking its first dust bath!

I will admit that it is so incredible to watch the chicks grow and see their instincts come into play. There was no mama chicken to show it how to give itself a dust bath, it just knew. It’s truly amazing and humbling to understand just how precocious these little birds really are....think about it! At 2 weeks old what are humans doing? Not a whole lot. I tip my hat to you, chickens!

Soon enough they will make their way up to the pasture area where they will be enclosed in what is known as a “chicken tractor”. More on this topic in another post....

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Disobeying the List!!!!!!

The List. The omnipotent list. You know what I’m talking about, the to-do list. That prioritized list of things that you want to get done...TODAY. You’ve sat down in a moment of serenity, placed your pen on that beautiful blank piece of paper, and away you and the list went. You sit back, take a look at the work you’ve done, proud of yourself and feeling empowered. This is YOUR list. Anything on it is possible....

So off you go, you and the list, and the daily tasks get checked off one by one. Diligently crossing lines off as you smoothly accomplish each one. You’re on a task crossing off sort of high now....look at how great you’re doing! Maybe you should have made this list longer today...

Then disaster strikes. What happened? You moved on to the next sweet task. You just gathered all your tools necessary for the task “Clean alpaca poo”, loaded it into the wheel barrel, up the hill you go and BAM! Chaos erupts! The shovels go flying as the wheel barrel spills over to the right, chickens freaking out and dogs barking at the commotion! Everything stops. How could this happen? Did I tip this over? The crushtration settles in (Definition? Crushed + frustration. Get it? Mary Poppins would approve). Next step? You need to take that list and look at it with sorrow, knowing that you may not get to the rest of your tasks you two had artfully woven together. You must break up with your guidance for that day, cut the cord.

Once you have come to terms with the emotional parting of your list, you can make room for a new task. This particular situation would be seeing what the cuss is wrong with the wheel barrel and fix it!

This scenario is a typical day in the life of a farmer. To do lists have become something more like reminder lists. The problem that arises is always one that must take precedence over that task you meant to be doing. You might just try to work through the problem, as human tendency tends to sway us to persevere and stick to the game plan. However, if it isn’t solved properly, the issue will inevitably present itself at some other inopportune moment. It really just makes your life easier to handle it then in there, teaching us kids some sense of responsibility.

If I could sum this up in a sweet little quip, it would be: Dance With Your Day, let it lead you through it’s melody. Let the crushtration in and then let it out!

OK all, on to the next task.... ;)

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Pasty What??

Alas, a week has come and gone with those little chickypoos! And poo they do! Once upon a time I worked at a veterinary clinic and we hosted a number of baby animals. This, in most people’s minds might sound like a dream, in part yes, it was. However, baby animals means lots and lots of poo, everywhere, with no regard for feed or water dishes or each other. I was paid the big bucks to clean it, wherever it lay. Poo just happens, and babies of all sorts do it.

Hopefully I haven’t grossed you all out just yet, because this post is actually all about poop. There will be some icky pictures along the way, so I’m warning you with the weak stomach in back! So prepare yourself (or don’t continue).

The topic at hand is a condition called “Pasty Butt.” Why is this a big enough deal to write about? Pasty butt is a life threatening condition. In chickens, there is one hole that they use for defecating, egg laying, mating, and whatever else that they’d like to use that for....anyway....this hole is called the cloacal vent. When chicks are in their first few days on this brilliant earth, their mama’s make sure that their vent stays clear of debris. Sadly, their mama is not here to do that and thus some of their little bottoms became sealed or “pasted” closed. If you’re exit was sealed up, you can imagine the sort of health problems you would then endure. And so, we searched the internet (as all good kids of our generation do) for a reliable source (or 10 sources with matching information in my case) to tell us how to handle this situation. Thank you to all of those sources that helped us out here!

So here’s what we did. First off, we had to prep our kitchen counter. This mainly consisted of doing the household chores we’d been putting off the past couple of days (cleaning dishes, putting them away, blah blah blah...). Next I put a couple of small towels into the dryer to warm them up for the chicks post butt cleaning. We grabbed an old cardboard box to put them in after they were done, and a cat carrier for the transport from the barn to the kitchen. And then we were off!

We collected all the chicks that looked like they had pasty butt and put them into the cat carrier, there were about 15.

Off they went on a great adventure.

Then came the assembly line of sorts where Adam so graciously took the job of cleaning their poo covered bottoms and I dried them off!

The picture we have of our pasty butt does not do some of these chicks’ condition justice, but once we got in a groove with it, we didn’t think to stop for more pictures. Here is a poor example of pasty butt:

That little brown schmear is also covering this little one’s vent. And so, Adam got to work, gently, using warm water and soap on their bottoms to clear their vents.

The chicks were surprisingly calm during the process. (And yes, we used old socks for the job, why not?) As Adam cleaned their bottoms I was busy worrying about getting them dry and warm. Luckily for us, we  discovered that the counter light gets quite hot and so we turned that baby on and put the “clean” chick box underneath it with the warm towels.

You can see the box in the background looking all warm and snug! And so I dried them off as best as I could, being gentle of course. The next step, however, was not into the safety of the warm box. Multiple sources had cited putting some vaseline or olive oil on their vent to help lubricate it, aiding to the defecation process. We don’t have any vaseline so we used olive oil.

We felt using Q-tip would be the easiest way to handle this part. And it proved effective.

Look at them all, clean and trying to get warm!

So that is how we cleaned the Pasty Butts. My next thought was, “Is there any way to prevent this?” There are many ideas that were tossed around out there, but the one we chose to go with was adding Apple Cider Vinegar to their waterers. Adam worked out the proper dilution in his head (he says what he’s doing aloud, but truthfully, math and me aren’t friends so I listen but can rarely follow) and we added the appropriate amount to the water containers.

A special note here: Do not use vinegar in metal containers; plastic or stainless steel only! Vinegar can be pretty harsh stuff, and will erode the metal causing it to rust. Nobody wants to be drinking rusty water.

In case you weren’t sure what the bottle looks like, that’s it. Vinegar, in my humble opinion, is a gift to the world. It is so simple, yet is remedy to many things in life. A moment to thank vinegar for existing.

I’m happy to report that since cleaning/clearing the vents and adding the ACV to the water, they seem to be doing quite well, growing rapidly, and pooing in great abundance. Yay baby animals!

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Jeepers Peepers!

As previously stated, chicks were on the way....well the time has come...THE CHICKS ARE HERE!!! Before we get into detail on the chicks themselves, the journey that got us to this point must be mentioned. This is where chick prep comes in. Chicks are evidently extremely high maintenance individuals. They require specific temperatures, fed, and you constantly have to clear their waterers of debris they feel like kicking in the trough. Rude.

Anyways, the barn area in which the chicks will be spending the next 2-3 weeks needed some serious TLC. Here’s what we started with:

See shovel and cart. Together they worked hard to get rid of that nasty bedding mess you can see (the stuff full of poo!).

Here is the other side:

Note the stuff all over both top and bottom. Also note the hard workin’ lady right there! (That’s me, Amy. Photo cred to Adam) With a little hard work and probably a little too much “dust” inhalation, we got it cleaned out for the chicks to move  in....almost.

This was earlier today. The bedding was clean, but still disorganized. We needed to setup the heat lamps, waterers, feeders, and secure the siding (chicks can catch a draft too).

Inside you’ll see a little mason jar waterer, perfect for these little guys! Additionally, doesn’t it look nice and toasty? Adam configured the heat lamps (there are currently 3 one is on the other side of the L) with the extension cords to a plug that lives just a tad too far away and voila! Looks pretty good hm?

After the heat lamps were in place, literally right after, we got the call from the extremely nice lady at the post office (Thanks Miriam!) that the chicks were in! We jumped in the Suby and anxiously drove to the post office like kids on their way to Disney World! We went inside and could immediately hear the little chirps! She said the box was quite large and to meet her around to the loading dock. At this point, we had no idea what kind or sized box we would be getting, only that 100 chicks were soon to be ours! So thinking that the box might struggle getting into the car, we drove around back. Alas, the box was not oversized and we fit it just fine!

WOULD YOU JUST LOOK AT THEM? JUST LOOK AT THEM!!

Ok enough of that...

Once we got them back, we quickly put the feeders together. This included putting some organic chick starter mixed with grit into troughs with little holes and placing them strategically into their new home! Grit is a supplement used to aid the chicks’ digestion. Chickens don’t have teeth, and have developed a different way to masticate their food. They swallow the food whole and it goes down to a special organ called a “crop”. There, special muscles pulverize the food stuffs by squeezing the grit to grind the food stuffs.

While taking out the chicks, we were careful to inspect each one, making sure there was nothing irregular about each one’s adorable little yellow puffy self. While placing each one into its new home, we had to be sure to show them where their water was located. We did this by dipping their beaks into the water. A quick tip on making this easy and taking your thumb and gently pressing the back of its head, and putting the beak in the water. It looks like this:

I know, it looks rough, but I promise we were gentle! On the side you can see part of the feeding trough! In any case, this is a step that is necessary, or they could actual not find the water and die of thirst. A must do! And so for all 103 little peepers, we did this. Impressively enough, there was only one casualty from the trip all the way from Iowa. All the other little guys and gals looked super!

Before we shut down for the night, we were sure that the area was as free of drafts as possible, and that the chicks’ behavior wasn’t indicative of being too cold or too hot. Basically, if they are huddled under the heat lamp, too cold; if they are spread apart and avoiding the heat lamp, too hot.

And so this is the story of the chicks, day one.

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Chicks!

Earlier in the day today we got word that the chicks will likely be coming tomorrow!!! 100 little ones will arrive to the post office at some point. We will have to retrieve the 1-day old cheeping peepers and provide them with care ASAP. We got just about everything prepped and ready to go today so the little guys and gals can have a smooth transition tomorrow. More tomorrow!

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Time Management

I am now in a position where I am working part-time and farming part-time. This dynamic has facilitated to some time management issues.

When at work, you have to work. You must have sustained focus for 8 hours. When at home, you are allowed to fulfill your own personal wants and needs.

Daily farm life for us is categorized like this: 1.) maintenance, feed, water, and provide clean housing for the animals. and 2.) Anything else, could be anything from repairs, turning compost, whatever.

Now we have had no issue keeping up with maintenance. Even though our bodies don’t always want to get up and do these tasks, habit now has its hold on this responsibility. It does become hard at times, however, to continue to want to go, go, go, and do the stuff that needs to get done... eventually.

So then, my advice to a new farmer (or to myself about a month ago...) would be this: Slow and steady wins the race. It takes more time an effort to burn out, then work up motivation than it does to simply do less in the outright.

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3 Weeks in an eggshell

We have been living and working the farm here at Dharma Harvest for 3 or 4 weeks now. I have not posted up until this point because we have not had internet up until now, but from this point forward, you can expect some kind of frequency coming from our end. I will start off by saying that this has been a whirlwind of an experience. We walked in on 3 Alpacas, 2 Goats, ~10 Ducks, ~10 Geese, ~100 chickens, 4 dogs, and 2 cats... AND we brought 2 cats of our own. That’s a lot of animals! And we have to keep them all alive and well! The farm is 3 acres in total, mostly pasture. All of the meatbirds  are in small (10X10) portable pens. The Alpacas goats, ducks, and geese are in the large paddock. The laying hens are free range (maybe even a little too “free”... they’ve been known to frequent the neighbors’ yards). Living here has definitely been a rollercoaster of an experience. We’ve had many successes including: bringing the birds to slaughter, meeting a couple chefs who are interested in our product, selling several dozen birds. And we’ve also had several mishaps: Well running dry, septic backing up, numerous tools breaking etc.

  Follow us as we continue our trial-by-fire into the realm of farming!

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Introductions

I am counting the minutes before the next chapter of life begins. In 2 days Amy (my partner) and I embark on what we hope will be a lifelong journey of farming! 

We are a couple in our mid-twenties trying as best we can to figure out our place in the world. We have both always had a passion to continue the age-old mutualism that humans share with the natural world, a mutualism we intend to strengthen by way of regenerative farming practices.

I will use this blog to document the goings-on at the farm. I will be discussing different problems, solutions, blessings, misfortunes and everything in between.  The ideas are already rushing in. I think my first step is going to be to try and slow down, and enjoy the chickens.

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I think I have 10 spoons in my reserve