Around four weeks ago, the county quarantine was lifted and Farmer J brought our hens home, via our mini-van, that is just yearning to be a farm pick-up truck. And not a day too soon. It turns out that our hens were quite nasty to their foster hen family. And we were getting sick of having to buy eggs!
Since the hens return, we have run into a few chicken farming related problems.
First, our new home had no chicken coop. J made a temporary coop that keeps the chickens safe, especially from the looming hawks that love to fly over our property. The coop is located under a lovely Mulberry tree, which the hens fully appreciate as it provides shade and tasty berries; however, the new make-shift home didn't have a place for the hens to lay their amazing eggs. So once again, Farmer J went to work and made some temporary nesting boxes. Within a few days, we were starting to find eggs in these potting containers-- instead of all over the ground within their new coop/run area.
The eggs are just as delicious as we remembered but the outer shell has signs of the Mulberry tree all over them (from the chickens stepping on the highly purple/blue berries that have fallen on the ground, that leave their feet the same color. The hens walk into their nesting boxes with their purple tinted feet and some of that color is left on the white, brown and blue hued eggs). Their poop is also much darker in color- likely from the Mulberries-- in case you were interested!
Our second issue with this move is we had, at first, decided to keep the hens in a small fenced in area. The reason for this was simple, the hens didn't know this new farm and we feared they would meander near the highway, be eaten up by a hungry hawk, or simply get lost within their new surroundings. And, to be quite honest, I was sick of free range chicken poop here, there and everywhere.
But, after a few weeks of having the chickens cooped up in their fenced in area, Farmer J and I decided to let the girls run free.... and for good reasons. First, we live in a state that has one of the highest incidence of ticks and Lyme's disease. And if you are a faithful blog follower of mine, you know we have ticks on our property and have found them, eerily, crawling on our body-- and worse- attached to our body. There is nothing like seeing a tick stuck to your skin, while in the grocery store check out line, to make you reconsider your priorities... poop vs. ticks!
You may be wondering how free range hens can help out with our tick problem! Well, these hungry birds, that peck at the ground all day long, eat ticks- and will devour lots of them. We had no problem with ticks at our last farm-- and I now wonder if that was a direct result of our free-range birds.
So we are back to having our hens free ranging. And things have been going well. The birds have been staying away from the road, we can close the gate to our back patio so the hens can't poop on my wood deck, and no one has been eaten up by a hawk. There is poop on my driveway and I did step in a big ole poop dropping when I was walking through our garage, while wearing my work heels, (note to self to close the garage doors more frequently) but I still feel like we are making the right decision having the gals free range. It's great for the hens, great for getting rid of ticks/bugs and I like seeing them scuttle about the property, happily clucking away.
But this is where the third issue comes into the picture. One thing that does complicate life with free range, laying hens is that they don't always like to lay their eggs in their coop nesting boxes- but sometimes prefer to find their own private place for egg laying. And since they have full lay of the land, their eggs can be almost anywhere. Luckily for me, Pickle and his little eye, I spy-ed this clutch of eggs, while we were walking the farm yesterday.
A few weeks ago, we realized Baby boots was laying her eggs in a bush.
This move, on Baby Boots part, was very smart, as her eggs were hidden from us (the nasty farmers who take her delicious eggs and eat them) and hidden from predators. When we finally found the eggs, we had no idea how long they had been there- which made eating them potentially unsafe. So, very sadly, I took the eggs from her secret spot and chucked them in the woods. My thinking was that if Boots laid eggs there, from now on, I would know they were fresh and could collect them... and eat them. But, of course, she caught onto my plan and didn't lay anymore eggs in that secret spot.
Our last situation with the hens has been less of an "issue" and more of a sad story. In the last week, we have lost two hens. Farmer J found one hen dead. The reason for the death is not completely known but we think from "natural causes" as no "fowl" play (sorry, I couldn't help myself) was suspected. The most tragic loss was Famer J having to "put down" my favorite hen, The Hurt Chicken (who used to be named "Cheeks"). Again, my most faithful readers will recall how J saved this chicken from imminent death two years ago.
See this blog post here:
http://thewaryfarmwife.blogspot.com/2013/07/weve-got-piper-chicken-down.html
Yesterday, while on the same walk with Pickle around the farm, Pick noticed that the hurt chicken had lots of flies swarming around her 'bottom.' As the hen walked away, I noticed lots of bloody/brown discharge. I won't go into any more details, but trust me, it was gross and I immediately realized that "The Hurt Chickens" wouldn't be with us for much longer. When J got home, my littlest farm hand told his Dada the unfortunate news. Before dinner, the hen was out of her suffering (and don't worry, we didn't eat her!) To stop the potential spread of infection, both chickens will be burned and then buried. Thank goodness Farmer J takes care of all these necessary farm tasks. I find some solace in the fact that J gave this bird two more good years of clucking, pecking and egg laying.
The ups and downs of having a farmette will keep coming just as frequently as the sun rises and sets.
Regardless, we love this life. And we are far from the only ones that are living close to the land. Since we have moved to this little farming community, I found out my new hair stylist, vet and yoga instructor have recently started little farms.
And these hard working and passionate farmers (see link below) are doing it full time... or at least trying to! Check out this short documentary, "To Make a Farm". If you have Amazon Prime-- it's free to watch! Even without Prime, I think it's worth the money.
http://www.amazon.com/Make-Farm-Steven-Suderman/dp/B00CRWJTDI/ref=sr_1_1?s=instant-video&ie=UTF8&qid=1438116174&sr=1-1&keywords=farm
**Lastly, thank you for your patience with my fewer blogs and picture heavy posts. Unpacking, children on summer vacation and no cable internet has made blogging more difficult-- but things are looking up!
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