I’ve shown it before but if anyone has any questions – about the brooder or any other aspect of our poultry operation – fire away and I’ll come back and answer 🙂
Next week Tuesday the birds currently on pasture go to the processor. And the very next day the birds in this photo will go out and take their place in the pasture. And I will get my garage back. Until it’s time for fair pigs again, anyway.
Hoo. Rah!
I mentioned in my last post that ’tis the season to stock up for winter. Same goes for the livestock around here. Matt’s been piecemealing a stockpile of hay for the cattle for winter – alfalfa hay for the stocker calves, grass hay for the cows & bull. We’ve also got straw in the barn for winter hog bedding. Come fall we’ll also stock up on cornstalk bales for winter cattle bedding.
That rig in the picture doesn’t belong to us. Matt hires another farmer friend of his to help haul hay for us. At this point it doesn’t make sense for us to own a large flatbed (and the larger truck needed to pull it). Maybe someday…
3 years ago:
2 years ago:
1 year ago:
Buff says, “You are not going to believe this one!”
Have I got a deal for you! This Saturday at the downtown Charles City farmers market they’ll be serving lunch. For TWO BUCKS – yes, you read that right, TWO BUCKS – you get a Sugar Creek Farm hamburger or bratwurst on a bun, a slice of melon, lemonade and dessert (a cookie, I think). I believe the melon and dessert, and possibly the bun, will also be from market vendors. I know! What a great deal, right?
The market runs from 9 a.m. to noon. I’m not sure what time they’ll start serving exactly, but come on down. There will also be a seed spitting contest – with prizes!
Now I hate to mention the “F” word – Fall – but with Labor Day upon us it’s time to start thinking about stocking the freezers for winter. So please get in touch if you’d like to reserve some chickens for September or October; one or more quarters of beef for November; or just some beef or pork cuts a la carte from our freezers here at the farm.
Email sugarcreekfarm (at) osage (dot) net
3 years ago:
2 years ago:
The sun is coming up, across the bean field to the east. I walk down the driveway, Ike on leash, and head down the road to the west end of the pasture.
“Good morning, Fred.” “Good morning, Fred.” All of the broiler chickens but 1 are named Fred.
Number 6 (which is actually her age when we bought her, not her number) and a calf. I’m not sure which calf this is, or even whether he belongs to Number 6 or not.
I unhook the poultry netting from the electric, and Ike and I get to work. He walks the perimiter of the chickens’ range area, sniffing for trouble and marking his territory. I fill feeders and waters.
And then this peaceful scene dissolves with the appearance of this guy:
Wouldn’t you be intimidated if all that was standing between you and him was 42″ of unelectrified string? Or am I being wimpy?
I hold my breath and hope he doesn’t get a whiff of chicken feed and decide that’s what he wants for breakfast.
This is the scene when I leave and head for home. Chickens eating breakfast, grazing cows (and a grazing horse butt), and a dog who still looks at me in disbelief. If he could talk he’d be saying, “Are you serious?!? You’re making me chickensit again today?!?”
2 years ago:
1 year ago:
(with apologies to Julie Andrews)
Fat hens on clutches
and big roosters crowing,
black and white pigtails
and girls that do mowing,
bumpy red face warts and white splash on wings,
these are a few of my favorite things.
When the pigs die,
when the bull breaks,
when I’m feeling sad,
I simply remember my favorite things
and then I don’t feeeeeel soooo baaaaad!
1 year ago:
Even though the county fair has been over and done with for about 6 weeks now and fall is definitely in the air already, our front yard still feels like summer.
A trio of barrels are still set up.
The pieces needed for a home version of the Flag Race are also out there.
And this photo of girl + horse is a favorite of mine.
I snuck up on them having a girl + horse moment, and neither one even noticed I was there.
3 years ago:
2 years ago:
1 year ago:
chick feeders at the ready
I picked up the fourth and final batch of 150 chicks this morning. The most I’ve ever done in a single year was 300. Last fall I had lunch with my friend and mentor, Penny, and she advised me confidently, “Oh, you need to double that for next year.” That took a bit to sink in. Could I really sell twice the chickens I’d ever sold before?
But I trust Penny. So I told myself, “If you raise them, they will come.” And come they have. The first 2 batches sold out in short order. The pre-orders for this last batch are nearly all spoken for. And pre-orders for the 3rd batch (on pasture now) are rolling in. I expect once we get past Labor Day people will begin to think about stocking their freezers for winter and the birds will be gone in no time. (So email me asap if you want on the list!)
I’ve been trying to figure out if there’s a business lesson to be learned in this experience. But I haven’t come up with anything concrete, except maybe get a good mentor! It also helps to have a back-up plan. If we would end up with a bunch of extra chickens I know that the store that carries our beef and pork would like to sell them, and there are a couple of winter farmers markets that we could sell at.
A few weeks ago Matt did the Charles City farmers market, and a woman asked him where we get our chicks. He told her at Hoovers, and asked her why she wanted to know. She chuckled and said, “Well I own the hatchery!” It’s great to do business locally 🙂
2 years ago:
1 year ago:
Remember Shakespeare? He’s growing!
The cows, they like to mess with me. When I go out to feed chickens in the morning, the cows are usually grazing right around the pen. As soon as I unhook the electric so I can get in the pen, the calves are right there messing with the fence. They use the posts to scratch themselves, and they nose the netting. I go over and shoo them away, and so it goes. When my back is turned, they’re right back at it.
But today the bull decided to mess with the fence. As he scratched up and down against a corner post he ripped it right out of the ground. Then he stepped on it. Then he got tangled in the netting. I tried shaking my water hose at him and shouting “Go away!” but he just looked at me, amused. Then I shouted, “I hate you!” I wonder if our neighbors heard that? They must really wonder about us sometimes.
Matt: You should have hit him with the hose.
Me: And where would I run out there if he decided to hit back?
Matt: Good point.
At that point Mr. Bull sniffed interestedly in the direction of the freshly-filled chicken feeders. And at that point I decided to get the heck out of there. I quick battened down the can holding my feed bags, so that he wouldn’t eat the whole thing, grabbed Ike, and we headed back to the house. Once I saw that the cows had moved on to another part of the pasture we went back and I fixed the fence as best I could.
1 year ago:
Busy little bee
Pollinating the ditch weeds
Hope you don’t sting me
And a bee poem from a real poet:
Against Idleness and Mischief
Isaac Watts
How doth the little busy bee
Improve each shining hour,
And gather honey all the day
From every opening flower!
How skillfully she builds her cell!
How neat she spreads the wax!
And labours hard to store it well
With the sweet food she makes.
In works of labour or of skill,
I would be busy too;
For Satan finds some mischief still
For idle hands to do.
In books, or work, or healthy play,
Let my first years be passed
That I may give for every day
Some good account at last.
1 year ago:
Where in the world
So far we haven’t experienced last year’s hawk problems. But a couple of weeks ago, our neighbor warned us that he’d seen a pair of hawks with 2 babies in a nest near our fenceline. So when this batch of chickens went out to the pasture this past weekend, Ike went with them.
Like last year, he cries when I go to leave him in the pen in the morning. But as soon as I’m out of sight he seems to settle into his role of chicken protector. When I return in the late afternoon, this is the scene:
Notice how his butt is touching the electric poultry netting. All of that hair insulates him, apparently. Good thing he’s a good dog and doesn’t challenge the fence.
This afternoon while I was out there I saw the hawk circling overhead.
It circled, and screeched. A most eery sound. It reminded me of the Wicked Witch of the West. “I’ll get you, my pretty! And your little chickens, too!”
It finally landed on top of a power pole for a bit, then took off towards our house. It circled up there a bit then headed back, presumably, to its nest.
As I watched it I thought to myself, I’ll bet it’s been snacking on ducklings. Sure enough. The 2 ducks I’d tracked down in the pasture a couple weeks ago showed up near the chicken coop when I was picking up eggs. The one that had 6 ducklings was down to 5. Not too bad, really. But the one that had 10 ducklings was down to 1.
Hawks. The nemesis of our pastured poultry operation.
3 years ago:
