Successes and Failures

Last spring I had many hopes and ideas for creating a backyard homestead.  Some of the items on my list were:

1.  raise chickens
2.  build a chicken coop
3.  build raised garden beds
4.  plant raised beds
5.  plant a couple berry bushes
6.  can my bounty
7.  dry my own herbs

The idea was to start small and add on each year.  Almost a year later, only one item has been completed.  I have chickens.  Not the nine I started with, but six beautiful hens.  Three of the nine turned out to be roosters.  The two silkie roosters were ornery.  I can't say that I'm upset that they're gone.  My other rooster was one of my partridge rocks.  He was handsome and I do wish I could have kept him.  With three roosters in the backyard getting their crow on was a bit noisy and I was nervous that the neighbors would complain.  Fortunately it was summer and every house had the windows shut and air conditioner running.  

Winter is now at its end and a few mild days have me thinking of spring and new beginnings.  Those hopes are budding anew and I'm ready to pick up where I left off last year.  I've done some research over the winter about having a chicken friendly yard/garden.  The girls completely destroyed the few plants that were already in the yard last year; though I'm confident they will come back again this year.

I love this time of year when everything seems possible.  I have no idea what I will accomplish this year towards my dream, but each accomplishment puts me one step closer.

Back in Action

I have not posted in quite some time.  We've had several setbacks including weather and health issues, but things are moving right along now.  The chickens are SO big and are outside in their temporary coop.  Temporary coop?  Yes,  with our setbacks we had to build a smaller coop just to get the girls outside.  They had outgrown the brooder and we needed to get them outside as soon as possible.  We've had a very productive week will the full size coop and hope to finish it over the holiday weekend.

The past six weeks...

New Arrivals 4/4/12

Settling In

4/11/12

Australorps 1 week

Light Brahmas 1 week

I liked that these two are yellow as chicks, but you can see

their white and black feathers coming in on their wings.

Partridge Rocks 1 week

Blue Silkie 5 weeks & Splash Silkies 4 weeks

On April 26, we took the chicks into the yard for the first time to let them explore and forage.  They were timid at first and preferred staying close together.



One of the brahmas stretching her wings.

The girls.

The feathers are filling out on the brahmas feet.

The last time you saw my coop it looked like this:

This morning, it looked like this.

When we stopped working for the night the roof was

almost completed, but it was too dark to take pics.



The hens absolutely love being outside.  They get excited when I let them out of the coop, so they can free range in the yard.  They run around and flap their wings.  It's so fun to watch.

Happy Hens

Splash Silkie 10 weeks



Partridge Rock 7 weeks

Light Brahma 7 weeks

Guess what?



Chicken butt! 

Preparations

My laying hens shipped yesterday and should be delivered tomorrow or Thursday.   I cleaned the brooder today and set the heat lamp lower for the new arrivals.  The breeder I bought the Silkies from suggested a starting temp of 100 degrees.  I rearranged the brooder, so the Silkies would have room away from the light, since they are now acclimated to a lower temp.  I am hoping that the chicks will all do well together.  If not, I will need to make a second brooder.

The coop is coming along slowly.  We've had weather issues, and a busy schedule lately.  Another week or so and things will slow down some and we will start back on the coop.  My husband did build the trusses the weekend before last and worked on framing the window and the coop itself this past weekend.

 Last week when I cleaned their brooder, the weather was really nice, so I took them outside for a bit to snap some pics.  I was really nervous the whole time.  I kept looking for hawks.  I think I overreacted a bit, but I was just protecting my babies.  :)  They all made it back inside safely. 

Blue Silkie at 3 weeks.  Splash Silkies at 2 weeks.

I went out of town over the weekend and I can't believe how much the chicks grew in just a few days! 

Blue Silkie at 4 weeks.



They are really starting to fill out and get fuzzy.

The chicks are very active and run all over their coop.  They are also VERY loud.  I keep them in the basement and can hear them on the main floor of the house.  I can't imagine what it will be like when I add the 6 laying hens.





Happy Spring!

It was a busy weekend at our house.  We spent the entire weekend on the chicken coop.  First we had to level the area where the coop will be.  This area of our yard is very uneven and this ended up taking a lot longer than we had anticipated.

By the end of the day, we had the support corners level and all four walls assembled. 

We called it a day after that and headed in for some St. Patrick's Day fun.

My son and his girlfriend.

We had a huge downpour during the night, so on Sunday we spent even more time leveling the four corner supports.  We pretty much had to start over. Even with all the frustration, we considered it a successful weekend and are looking forward to next weekend when we will be starting on the roof.

Chicken Update

We have had the Silkie chicks for a week now.  They have noticably grown and are a lot more active now.  If they are not sleeping, they are eating and they move about the full length of their brooder.  They are also considerably messy.  They have started to make huge messes with their water.  I'm not sure how they are doing this, but a large area around their waterer will be soaked at times.

I completely cleaned their brooder today and gave them fresh cedar shavings.  While I had them out, I took a few pictures.  This was kind of tricky since I had them on my dining room table and they are more active now.  With the help of my youngest son, we were able to keep them corralled in the center.







My Blue Silkie is a week older than the other two.  His wing feathers

are a little longer than before and he has a tuft of fuzz on his posterior.

The two Splash are now getting their wing feathers in.



This little one was falling asleep before we finished.

Backyard Homesteading

This year I am venturing into backyard homesteading. Raising chickens is part of this venture.  I am also adding a couple raised beds for vegetable gardening this year. We've all heard the stories about "pink slime" and "meat glue."  This and other food news really got me thinking about what is in the foods that I eat.  The short version is a lot of sugar, sodium, and chemicals.  I decided to make an effort to eat more naturally made products with fewer ingredients.  Food self-sufficiency is one step towards this goal.

The Backyard Homestead suggests considering the types of food we eat most.  Salsa was the first thing that came to mind.  We go through an unusually large amount of salsa in our house.  I eat a lot of salad.  I added spaghetti sauces to my list, since the same vegetables are used as in the salsa.  My final vegetable list included tomatoes, hot peppers, sweet peppers, onions, garlic, several varieties of lettuce and various herbs.  For fun, I added a few tea herbs.  This is where I started, with the idea that I would expand a little each year.

So on Tuesday, my husband woke up with a migraine and didn't go to work.  By afternoon, he was feeling much better and I put him to work building the raised beds. And yes, I did help.  :)  Things didn't go as smoothly as we had planned, but then most projects don't.  We did get all the wood cut and the bed partially assembled before we had to quit for the day.  We plan to finish the first bed tonight.

Chicken Momma

I brought my first chicks home on Monday afternoon.  We loaded up the whole family, dogs included, for the two hour drive to Bloomington, IL for Silkie chicks.  I had already ordered my laying hens online from chickensforbackyards.com, but was undecided on the Silkies at that point.  After more thought and a trip to Niabi Zoo where I spotted a Silkie in their aviary, I knew I wanted a couple for my flock.

A quick search on Craigslist connected me with Diane Weer who raises show quality birds, including Silkies.  We boxed up two splash, which are grey, and one blue chick.  I was concerned with keeping the chicks warm on the long drive home, so we cycled the heat on and off all the way home.  It was in the 70's on Monday and extremely warm in the van at times.

The chicks arrived safely and we settled them into their new home.  I made sure they all took a drink of water and showed them their food.  They nibbled a bit, explored their new space, then fell asleep.



All evening, I never saw the chicks drink again on their own so I was a little concerned.  The next morning I checked on them first thing.  They all got up and walked over to their water and drank, then headed to the food bowl to eat.  No need to worry.  They were adjusting just fine.

One of our cats, Puck, spends a lot of time downstairs with the chicks.  We're not sure what to make of this.  He likes to sleep on a dog bed that is laying next to the brooder.  When we take the lid off, sometimes he'll poke his head over the top, then lays back down.  Hmm...