And that is some of the day on the farm. More fencing was completed and the last pen was cleaned. On Tuesday when the dump is opened again, the debris from the yard will be taken away in preparation for winter. I drag a pallet around the bird yard to even it out, break up the poops and clean it, but the birds are going to the processors on Thursday (chickens) and Tuesday (ducks and geese), so will wait a few days. Then the goats and sheep left to sell will go to the auction on the third Monday of September. After that the animals will need to be relocated to their winter pens and the babies separated from the adults for weaning. Whew! So much left to do before the snow flies…..
You would think it was spring on the Fat Ewe Farm! The crazy guineas have a huge nest with too many eggs and likely nothing will hatch, because three of them are sitting on that nest and they do not cover all the eggs so some are getting cold and will have arrested development. They are in the little brush between the Inn and the south fence. Boy, do they squawk when I come near. I cannot tell which guineas are female and which are male, but at least one is male because the chickens hatched some guinea keets. The nasturtium flowers are in full bloom. This one is a beautiful salmon orange colour. They are planted to attract bugs in the garden with the idea that they will leave the tomatoes alone. I eat them in salads too. The Muscovy sisters finally hatched 9 ducklings. There were 6 more eggs not hatched and three pipped, which means the babies had poked their beaks out. One died, but the other two were alive. Since they were abandoned, I took them in the house, used very warm water to wash them out of their shells because they were dehydrated and cold, and I put them in a towel under a heat lamp. I dampened the towel and the remaining eggs too. The mother duck provides a lot of natural heat and moisture and while the heat lamp provides heat, it dries rather than adds humidity. The two are alive and well and there is another egg that has pipped, but it may have gotten too cold and the baby may be too weak to make it out. I will try to return these two to their mothers tomorrow. And here is Freddy, the bull calf that was bought as a replacement for the beautiful little heifer that was lost in the mud where she died. He is a large boy and wants to suckle Elsie, but she still does not want to have anything to do with him. I have to tie her leg so she does not kick him and tie her up so she stands. He is not great at nursing. I thought it came naturally, and likely does, but he was already bottle fed a few days when I got him, so apparently he forgot how to nurse. I also have to milk Elsie. She is not producing a great deal of milk for some reason.
And that is some of the day on the farm. More fencing was completed and the last pen was cleaned. On Tuesday when the dump is opened again, the debris from the yard will be taken away in preparation for winter. I drag a pallet around the bird yard to even it out, break up the poops and clean it, but the birds are going to the processors on Thursday (chickens) and Tuesday (ducks and geese), so will wait a few days. Then the goats and sheep left to sell will go to the auction on the third Monday of September. After that the animals will need to be relocated to their winter pens and the babies separated from the adults for weaning. Whew! So much left to do before the snow flies…..
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The first hatch is underway. The cost of keeping birds is much less than buying hay for sheep and goats, and the eggs, chicks and adult bird sales far outweigh their upkeep. That is not so with the other animals on the farm, but at least something breaks even! The incubators are not mine, but belong to two different friends. I am splitting the hatch with one friend and the other gets his pick of the birds, so it is a win win situation for me and for them. About 40 mixed duck eggs, Rouen, Saxony, Ancona and Khaki Campbell, plus Muscovy, and 15 Standard Bronze turkey eggs, 18 mixed geese, Tufted Toulouse/Embden/Pomeranian, and chicken, Ameraucana/Partridge and white Chantecler and a few others plus bantams are all in the incubator with the chicks due on April 26 and the waterfowl on May 3 and 5. Muscovy ducks take the longest to hatch, followed by the geese then ducks and chicks the shortest, at 21 days. Some of the hatch has been presold already. About the same time, or a bit later, the farm will be receiving an order from Performance Poultry with specialty birds so there will be waterfowl and chick brooders set up and ready to go. Three separate hatches will be made, with approximately 80 eggs per hatch. After that, if there is still interest, the hatch will be set by order only. Unclaimed birds will be raised and either sent to the processors or kept for layers or for sale as adult birds. In the summer the feed bill is very low because the birds free range and basically feed themselves. This year, the numbers of adult birds are too high for the small farm yard, so they will out to pasture with the sheep so the dogs can also watch over them. With the new fencing, it will be easier to pasture the birds. The fliers go where they wish anyhow, so basically it is the ducks and geese and a few of the chickens that will need supplemental grazing. The benefits of raising the birds are many from fresh pastured eggs to bug control to delicious dinners. And to think that when I began this venture three years ago, I had a terrible bird phobia and could not touch a bird, not even a newly hatched chick, let alone go in a coop. Now I can, though the odd time, I still get prickles on the back of my neck when the birds fly by my head. I actually like them now, especially the comical ducks. They are my favourites, hands down. The egg pictured is from a Standard Bronze turkey, and I even like them. There are three coops on the Fat Ewe Farm. One is an open hoop shelter covered with a tarp and it even has a window on the south side, a favourite spot of the goose who loves to bask in the sun. The long coop houses the ducks and geese, but the guineas and some of the chickens also hang out there during the day. There is a dust bath of wood ash as a spa enticement, and a dish of oyster shell or another of gravely dirt to go along with the grain lunch. This coop just got a good layer of fresh hay, which the birds eat from as well as snuggle into. The next coop is the insulated pink coop with a window and pop door. There are three rows of perches and a cage which housed the wayward bantams who were locked in at the start of the brutal winter because they preferred to be in the tree. After one froze and fell out, the rest were caught and caged, since locking them in was only good for as long as the door was shut - then they high taled it back to the tree roost. Now they roost ON the cage instead. Gross! The perches remain clean, but the cage is yucky. The guineas, Chanteclers, and bantams live in this coop, plus the Muscovy ducks, who like the climate better than the waterfowl house. This coop has an infrared heat lamp for those who like to bathe in the warmth of the light, and nest boxes in case they are inclined to lay an egg, which the Partridge Chanteclers have done all winter long. The third coop is a hoop shelter half covered with plywood and corrugated plastic. It is not insulated but has a cool design that keeps the heat in very nicely, with the birds providing the majority of the warmth for themselves. The Ameraucanas have adopted this coop, plus the white Chanty rooster and a few of the bantams. They do not mix with the rest of the birds for some reason, likely because they were raised in isolation from any contact for the first 8 weeks of life. They are flighty and unfriendly towards chickens, humans and dogs. I would suspect that their poor socialization is the reason for their self isolation. I plan to keep the eggs and raise a new bunch of Ameraucanas from them and sell these to one who does not mind their unfriendly demeanor. And that is who lives in the Fat Ewe Farm coops. This is day 5 of extreme cold temperatures. The ducks have wads of poop frozen to their butts, because when they sleep, they poop and it freezes instantly to their feathers. Bathing in the icy water does not thaw the poop enough to remove it. If the wad grows too large, the ducks have to be submerged in warm water, brought from the house, to thaw the poop, or it could obstruct further poops. Gross! The chickens roost up higher, so they do not have that issue. The geese do, though, but not as bad as the ducks. Tomorrow the temperature is supposed to go all the way up to minus 25, whoo hoo. I will definitely have to bring warm water for the ducks several times to thaw those bottoms. I noticed the fat tailed Karakul sheep, Dora, has been off by herself the last two days. I did not see anything amiss with her, but today there was some blood near her tail so I grabbed her and had a very close inspection. Her tail, that is the inside of it, was missing - gone!. The skin was flapping without the tail. It is not the way the dogs or coyotes normally would eat a tail and has me puzzled. I think the livestock guardian puppies must have eaten it somehow from the top to the inside, but why would she have allowed that to happen? Dora is a submissive sheep. So I moved Dora in with the Icelandics, away from the pups. I did not see any blood on the pups either, which is strange. I am miffed and so sorry for Dora. How painful that must have been, whatever it was, that ate her tail while she still had it on her. Now, what do I do with the remainder? Oh, yes, and the rest of the animals are doing OK. The three Blue Faced Leiscester sheep have been treated for pneumonia, but one was still shivering today. I will have to call the vet again and see what I should expect from the very expensive drug he gave her. The other Dorset ram lamb that had diarrhea was treated at his farm prior to his arrival, but maybe he was missed. I have been in a dialogue with the previous breeder. If he kept good records, he might be able to tell me more. I will have to take a fecal culture to the vet and find out what his problem is and get it fixed so the other sheep do not contract it. He and his wife are confined to a small enclosure pen away from the sheep, but the llamas are on the other side. They do not have fence contact though. And, the rest of the birds, the guineas and other chickens are just trying to stay warm, which is not easy when there is no let up in the frigid cold this week. Brrrrr. Some days I have the luxury of sleeping late and not doing too much when I do wake up. Today was that sort of day. It was cold last night, minus 10, but the sun was shining this morning and the temperature quickly rose to 14. What a gorgeous day. I put plywood up on the lamb shelter to break the south east wind and enclosed a portion on that side as well. In winter, some of the most brutal winds come from the south east. The sheep do not go into their shelter much except when the wind is bitterly cold and when there is a blizzard. They hunker down in the snow and their wooly coats keep them warm and toasty. In the morning there is a depression in the snow where their bodies have melted the crystals enough to hollow out a portion. The lambs do not do this so much, unless they are by their mothers, but the mothers will be breeding in a month and the lambs are too young, so they will remain separated this year. Lambs and their mothers recognize each other two years after being apart and perhaps even longer. It is a delight to see them celebrate their reunion of love. After that, I hung solar lights on the porch, and tiny ones on the arch way I created with a livestock panel earlier in the day. When the climbing rose is mature it will cover that arch, I am hoping. In between, the dogs got some raw liver, which they gobbled down, or at least Mikey and Joe did. The older dogs were not hungry at that time and lazed in the sun after working all night. It was chicken catching day today because the roosters are scheduled to go to the processors tomorrow morning, but I could not bring myself to catch them. I called my neighbour Dale, a most wonderful man who actually practices what he preaches. He is a Mormon and is the pastor! I am glad to know him and his wonderful family and I know when in need, I can call for help. I try not to abuse that privilege, and would also assist him if he should ever ask. He brought his nephew along and the two men caught the roosters and put them in the large dog kennel for the night. It is in the smart car wagon because the transmission of the truck broke and I cannot afford to repair it at this time. I am grateful to have the smart car wagon for times like this for sure. Dale and his nephew also caught the last 7 chickens that were roosting in the tree and I stuffed them in the coop to be imprisoned for the next 5 days until they know to come home to it at night. I would hate to lose those hens, those wonderful broody hens that raised wonderful chicks this summer. They were hard to catch too! Now they are safe and warm. Snow is not forecast until late November, yay!, a switch from last year, thank goodness, and temperatures are to remain mild until then too. Yahoo! More chores were completed during the day, then the dishes were done when I came inside. I cooked Portabella mushrooms with kale for supper and then had a bowl of popcorn. The moon is stunning tonight, illuminating the sky and the Earth. Isn't life grand? Ancona ducks did not come to North America until the mid 1980's and are related to runner ducks and Dutch Hookbills. They lay a lot of eggs, similar to Khaki Campbells, but are so much calmer. The Campbells are absolutely crazy! Ancona ducks eat hoards of grass and bugs and are excellent free rangers. Being flightless, they stick close to home if they are provided with all they need. Although they enjoy large bodies of water, a simple pool will keep them happy if they can put their feet in and flap themselves wet. Besides all those good traits, they are really attractive ducks. Guinea hens are very interesting. They are much less bred than chickens, therefore have retained their natural instincts, unlike domestic chickens. They brood and rear their own young so that incubating eggs is not required. They forage very well and will practically feed themselves in summer if allowed. The one draw back is they have a very loud cry and will sound the alarm when anything is amiss on the farm. This can be both advantageous and problematic. Sometimes the guineas will alert the dogs and vice versa. Guineas also fly very well despite their somewhat larger size and they enjoy roosting in trees. Guinea eggs are tasty and the flesh of the birds is all dark meat. Welcome to the farm, Ancona ducks and Guinea hens. |
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AuthorFluffy writes daily about the experiences on the farm and with the bed and breakfast patrons. Archives
October 2020
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