Wood Stove, NPIP testing, and a sprained ankle

The week flew by from the last time I posted.  Probably had something to do with the 2 15 hour work days I had at the beginning of the week.

We had our chimney inspected on Monday, and it looked great so our stove is now installed and ready for the cold weather that is hitting us this weekend.  We had to actually start a fire on Monday to burn off all the excess paint, sealants, etc and boy did it stink!!  so glad it was warm enough to have all the windows open.
Last night and today it was nice having that fire burning when we came in from taking care of the animals.  We don't have enough wood to get thru the whole winter but i think we have a pretty good start, don't you?

So Thursday Afternoon i was walking out the back door to go and feed the chickens some treats and check the mail, when Tempest (our little lab puppy we decided to keep to continue Mac's blood lines going) ran right under my feet and I fell spraining me ankle.  OUCH!!!  thankfully I was off from work the next day, and one of our friends had crutches and a walker for me to get around with.  I ended up with the walker bc I am so clumsy and it was just dangerous to use the crutches. I am still on the mend, and can now hobble around with out to much help or Hunter being afraid I am going to fall again.

Friday 9/30/11 was a big day here around the farm.  We had a representative come out from the NC dept. of Agriculture, and perform a blood test on all 67 of our chickens, to certify them NPIP (National Poultry Improvement Plan).  We passed 100% and will hopefully be also certified AI clean as well (the test has to be mailed off instead of getting instant result).  We have picked out our incubator and we finally are getting a 

good number of eggs as well.  We have gotten some breeding trios from one of my http://www.backyardchickens.com/ friends HenThymes, and we will hopefully have all our other different breeds and colors separated by the end of October.  I am also hard at work on getting our website up and running...so stay tuned for that.

Fall around the farm.

Well ladies and gentlemen, I think it would be safe to say "Fall came early this year" and brought with it, allergies, cold damp weather, and just the over all blahs that normally don't hit us until much later in the year.
With the upcoming fall season, there are lots of changes happening around here.

 A big one, involves our decision to get a wood burning stove.  We stop running the AC around the beginning of September, so that helps with our power bills, but then it starts getting cold and we have to run the heat.  We have a gas furnace, so not only do we have the gas bill, but also the electricity needed to pump that heat thru out the house.  The house previously had a wood burning stove, and all the existing chimney is still there,  on the recommendation of several people we are having it cleaned and looked at to ensure we are able to safely use a wood burning stove.  We also decided to buy one brand new as opposed to getting a used one off of Craigslist, not because there is anything wrong with the ones on CL, but because the government is offering a tax credit on all EPA certified stoves.  Plus the one we got is extremely more efficient than a lot of the older models.  Hunter has already started splitting wood. As soon as it is up and running I will post some photos.

Its finally time to build the coop.  After lots of planning, and budgeting we are finally ready.  And it could not have come at a more opportune time, as my chickens have started laying eggs.  I need to get them separated, to produce pure bred eggs, and chicks.  I am very excited about this venture, and am very grateful that not only does Hunter support my craziness over all things chicken, but he also enjoys helping me hunt for eggs, and hand feed them their "treats".  We have also decided that we will be raising broilers in the spring/summer/fall of next year, using a "chicken tractor".  We plan on having 16 birds at a time, which means that any "chicken" needs you may have can come from our "farm fresh free-ranging happy (for ML)" chickens. (these chickens will not be named or personalized)  We will be processing them ourselves which means we can't sell to the public, but would really like to not only sustain ourselves but share with our families as well.  Speaking of providing for our families, how would you all feel about a farm fresh Turkey for Thanksgiving?

There is a lot more going on that I will hopefully be able to share soon, but its time for dinner...and I'm hungry.

To hang out with Chickens...

So I often post on Facebook, that I am hanging out with my chickens. And my brother continually asks me, What does that mean? How do chickens hang out?  so I am here today to explain how one (mainly myself) hangs out with chickens.

First you must wear comfy clothes, that you don't mind getting dirty.  You also need a chair, towel or old blanket (I generally use a combination of all 3).  And then you need treats...any small yummy substance will work, my chickens are particularly in love with dried cranberries and cut up grapes.  Then you go and sit or lay down (I recommend sitting or squatting while feeding).  You become one with the chickens.  You talk to them in soothing tones. You gently stroke them when they come near.  You hug them and scratch under their wings or on their back.  After a while the chickens lose interest in you, and go about their business of scratching the ground, taking dust baths, or sunning themselves.  This is where I either A)get my camera and take photos B) read a book while still outside or C)go about my day as well.

and here are some photos for your viewing pleasure:

Whats new...

I first have to apologize for not writing in what feels like forever...but things have been extra busy lately.  We have had a ton of storms lately, causing lots of clean up for Hunter in the yard.  We also still have the 2 litters of puppies from Maddie and Mossy, which altogether makes 11 puppies, that need to be fed and changed several times daily...September 17th can not get here fast enough.  

I have acquired more chickens, which meant that we needed to expand our chicken house (I can't really call it a coop yet as we are still working on the permanent one).  We are using some of our dog kennels put together in a larger configuration, than what we had before.  This allows me to separate the LF (large fowl) chickens from my Bantams (miniature chickens) as well as give everyone much more space.  We set it up as one large kennel with different dimension stalls, 1 is 5x10, 1 is 10x10, and 2 are 5x5.  Also in the world of chickens, we have adopted some "Show quality" chickens from a friend of mine in Newton, NC.  They are LF English Orpingtons, and they are HUGE.  Hunter refers to them as his Giant Chickens...we have a trio, meaning we have a roo and 2 hens.  These birds take longer to develop than my other chickens because of their size, so we probably won't begin seeing eggs until later this year, maybe even next.  I also have attended my first "Chicken Swap"  in Lincolnton this year, where I traded some of my Polish juvi's for some gorgeous Silver Laced Cochin Bantams.  I bought a breeding pair of Partridge Color Silkies (George and Henrietta), and I also got some more ducks.  My mom has also allowed me to bring each of these new additions with me to her house, as I always seem to go down on days when other family is in town to visit.  Thanks Mom, the chickens all love hanging out under your tree.  I really enjoy my chickens and getting to know them all individually is very entertaining as they all have little quirks about them.  One thing they all have in common though is Treats, and how much they LOVE them!!! We feed our chickens with Purina Layer pellets and crumbles mixed together (it seems to make it last longer) as well as letting them free range from about 8 or 9 am til dark, but their favorite time of day is when they see me coming with either the compost bowl, or a bag of dried cranberries.  They go absolutely nuts for cranberries!!  I literally have them all eating out of the palm of my hand, and at times have to remind them to mind their manners, as they get pushy to get just one more.  We are also still only getting 3 eggs today, 1 brown one from Tillie Millie, a miniature white one from Mrs. Frizzle, and a lovely blue one from Amelia.  Amelia and Mrs. Frizzle share a small dog house as their nest box, but Tillie Millie is much more creative in where she lays her egg.  We had stacked bales of wood chips on our back porch , that had a rolled up hose on top..similar to a nest.  She chose to start laying her eggs there.  Then Hunter moved the hose, and she kept laying eggs there.  This made for a huge mess of eggs rolling off the bales and smashing onto the porch, so we got a nest box and secured it up there.  Well then we needed the wood chips and other chickens were starting to lay, so I moved the nest box back to the coop, and Tillie Millie stopped laying until we put this UNC Carolina chair on the back porch in that same place.  Now she lays every single day in that chair...and raises a huge fuss when we move it, so we don't.  

There is so much more to say but it will have to wait til next time...

Another Year Older plus happenings on the farm

So tomorrow is my 27th birthday.  I am both happy and sad about this.  Happy because I am another year wiser, sad because it puts me one year closer to 30.  My parents are coming up and taking us (Hunter and myself) out to dinner, as well as bringing my bed I have had since I was 10...(it was temporarily living at their house while we decided where to put it) 
We renovated the chickens living space, to be 1 5x10, 1 10x10, and 2 5x5 kennels.  This allowed us to separate the bantams from the regular chickens, and the new LF english orpingtons we got last weekend(as they are SQ or show quality birds and can't risk messing up their feathers)  we are also up to a few more eggs each day...Tillie Millie is laying a brown egg, Mrs. Frizzle a tiny off white egg, and most recently Violet has started laying a beautiful blue egg.  (That's right I said Blue)  now if only the other hens would start laying.  We have 4 buff orpingtons (in addition to the 2 new orpingtons), 6 americauna hens, and 4 Rhode island reds.  That gives us at least 16 regular sized eggs a day...if you add in the Polish and the other bantams you are looking at another 15 -20 bantam eggs too.  That is a lot of eggs!! luckily its not all at once

Don't give up on me yet...

Well as I warned all of you when I started this blog, there was a possibility it would end tragically like my other one.  This is not the case, in fact I really enjoy writing this blog and sharing all of my happenings around the farm.  I am however extremely busy at the moment, and can't seem to find the time necessary to sit down and write.  I am currently managing 3 Subway stores (2 in addition to my normal store) and this is now taking up a good chunk of what used to be my free time, we have a new litter of puppies (1 week old yesterday), and another litter due any time now.  I am now spending my free time with my chickens (they are my stress relief), giving Hunter a break from puppy watching, and sleeping.  I have completely lost my tan that I worked so hard to get at the end of spring, my hair is a mess and I am falling behind on my writing, but I am happy as well so I can't complain too much. 

In other news...
We have finally started getting some eggs from the girls...one Orpington (Tillie Millie) and my Frizzle (currently named Frack (her mate is named Frick) are both laying eggs and taking turns hiding them from us, but I am up to 4 so far, almost enough for us to both have omelets

We decided to keep one of the chocolate females from the Mac and Rachel litter.  Her registered name will be Twilight's Witchy Woman, with her call name being Tempest.  She is a very sweet little girl and she absolutely loves to snuggle (and snore) on the couch or bed with us.

Thats all the news for the moment...maybe I will have time for a picture update tomorrow.

Lots of new things!

<p>So we found some Cayuga ducklings on craigslist 2 weeks ago, and we met the lady in Winston Salem to pick them up last Monday.  There are 4 of them, one which will be crested, one that is smaller than the rest and 2 that look just alike.  We have them in our "chicken room" at night but they get to swim all day in one of our old puppy pools.  They really enjoy swimming and playing in the water! 
We also have gotten some yummy produce from our garden, including corn, okra, lots of squash and zucchini, as well as cucumbers.  Lots of veggie stir frying going on at our house!  The other new and exciting thing is that we found our first egg today, and are pretty sure it was from one of our 4 buff orpingtons.  Hopefully the rest will follow suit soon.