Easter eggs

Instead of the normal five eggs we get each day, today we got seven and a weird little bonus huevo.

Cabbage Patch Chickens

Lately we have been having some problems with the birds in our main coop. Since they weren't free-ranging during February, they started eating feathers and picking on each other. As soon as we noticed the injuries, we dressed them with WoundKote and started searching the Internet for ways to remedy the stress and boredom brought on by confinement.  

Chicken run, March 2012

You may recall that we used to have a 10x20' chicken run attached to the coop, which provided the birds with shade and space to explore. But the coyote that massacred our chickens last year made short work of breaking into the run before digging under the concrete footing of the main coop. So in desperation we tore down the framework of the chicken run and threw ourselves into fortifying the coop.

The coop is now a ferro-concrete fortress, but the girls crave time out in the world with bugs and dirt and seeds and grass. And when they don't have access to those things, they can develop some really bad habits, like feather-eating and picking.

The easiest and best solution is let the birds have long periods of time to free-range, but that isn't always a viable option. Because of all the problems we have had in the past, we don't let them out of the coop except when we are working outdoors and are nearby to deter predators.

Since the picking started, we have made a point to let them out for at least a few hours each day to explore nature.  Time outside the coop has definitely helped, but the best discovery we made is a simple and inexpensive chicken toy that is also a healthy treat. 

In our neck of Texas, green cabbage will usually cost us about $0.60 per pound, but the entertainment value is priceless.  Hanging whole cabbages in the coop provides a fun food source that will keep the girls occupied for hours.  The cabbage has the added benefit of improving their nutrition, which means they produce a higher-quality egg, too.

We have always given (and continue to give) kitchen scraps to the girls, but living in a desert environment limits the fresh plant material they can eat, even when they are on the range. The can't eat most of the native desert plants, and the grasses that they can eat are limited, and only available some parts of the year.

So I suppose this means that the girls may be getting their own dedicated cabbage patch in the garden next season!

Mini Egg

Seriously, I have been to ski slopes with less snow on them

Update:

The birds are all OK, a little frosty and bedraggled, though. We boiled some sugar-water to thaw the drinkers, which they appreciated.

Driving was surreal, but we had plenty of traction in Big Red, which has two new tires and 4WD. The visibility is almost nil, so I'm hoping that folks aren't driving around today.

We're really glad we drained the water system yesterday, because everything could have frozen. Temperature is still below freezing, but thankfully the breeze is pretty calm.

Ski Terlingua

You really could 'Ski Terlingua' today! At least, in our neck of the desert you can.  We got over five inches of gorgeous powder last night. This is the most snow we have ever seen out here, and it is amazing.  Naia is loving it, and Wrinkles won't go anywhere near it.

And we turned our satellite telephone off to conserve power, by the way. You'll be able to call us when the sun comes back out (which looks like tomorrow)!

We opted to spend the night at Cafe Colando yesterday evening, and it is a good thing, too. Having a house on stilts is great most of the time, but when there is bad winter weather those stairs are deadly! Now we are headed over there  in the 4WD pickup to check on the birds. I'm sure the Buttercups are miserable, but the Brahmas are probably fine. They are hardy in all sorts of conditions, whereas the Buttercups prefer mild weather.

Will report their status soon. Over and out.   ;)

Drizzly day

We visited our friend Dennis today and picked up 12 battery cores he donated from his defunct bank.  We also got to check out his latest project, repainting the dome exterior using this fancy 'Koolcoat' additive.  Supposedly it can add up to R2 insulating with these tiny foam beads (think fluffy grains of superfine sand).

In other news, we have been letting the chickens out to scratch and explore a few hours per day. But because of our tenacious coyote, these outings must be closely supervised!

Soggy

At the end of the rainy day, we had accumulated an inch of rain for this storm (that's across two days).  Everything is soaked pretty thoroughly, and the creeks (and roads) were flowing.

The presidio gallena was holding water, though the birds didn't seem to mind.  Some fresh wood chips took care of the problem, and gave the birds some new stuff to scratch and peck.

Bachelor Pad

Got home yesterday to find all our animals healthy and happy! Nacho and Corazon are just as rambunctious as ever, and a little bit bigger, too.  We owe a huge debt to Dan & Jess, and Regina, who took care of the critters while we were gone! 

The chickens' new waterer worked perfectly, and they only used half of the 100 gallon reservoir in the three weeks we were gone.  That's just 0.15 gallons of water per bird, per day.  And there is no algae growing in the tank, the lines, or the bucket.  The new waterer is a huge success!

We also decided to separate the extra male chickens from the girls, to give everyone a little more room and a little less stress.  The chicken tractor has 64 square feet of free space now that all the meat birds are in the freezer.  When the birds become sexually mature, we'll build breeding pens and hopefully have some hen-raised chicks.  

The boys' club.

The Dark Brahma cockerels are easy to distinguish because they are almost entirely black, whereas the hens are penciled brown/black.  The Light Brahma cockerels are harder to distinguish, but now that they are almost 15 weeks old, the saddle feathers have come in. The saddle feathers on a male Brahma are longer and narrower than on a female.  Other than that, they look identical at this age.

A Dark Brahma hen

My little Light Brahma cockerel is full of piss and vinegar, which makes sense because he is smaller than the other males but still maintains dominance over them.  It is also annoying, because he is the only bird I've ever had that bit me.  He better make some beautiful babies, or he will end up in freezer camp.  

See the long and narrow saddle feathers?
The top cock is the only one to keep his sickle feathers. 

Prep work

We finally finished butchering all nineteen meat birds today.  Now we have nineteen whole, skinless birds, and as many necks, hearts, and livers.  I also cleaned a few gizzards for my mother, because last time I told her I was butchering, that was her first question: "Did you save the gizzards?"  

Just for you, Mom, I did this time ... and they are pretty nasty things to clean, by the way.  

But what I really want to have someday is a chicken plucker, a la 'Whiz-bang.'  What could make a young and tender bird even tastier? A crispy, delicious skin ... yum!  And southern fried chicken just isn't the same without that crunchy, breaded skin.  But plucking by hand is a huge chore.  It takes forever and if you don't do it right, you can leave bits behind, which will make your dinner guests squeamish.

After the birds were cleaned and put away, we started in on our 100 gallon waterer project.  This project uses a bucket, some poultry watering nipples ordered online, some tubing, and a float valve.

The chickens learned pretty quickly that pecking at the nipples causes water to flow, though a few stubborn ones refused to try until we removed the other waterer.  This new system will hopefully ensure that the birds have an ample supply of clean drinking water for a long time between refills.  Since it is a closed system, the birds can't poop in their water, it won't evaporate as quickly, and debris won't block the flow.

We have no idea how long the 100 gallons will last with this new watering system, but hopefully it will make it easier for humans to keep the coop supplied with clean water.

Harvest Time

We started harvesting our meat birds today. Unfortunately we got a much later start than anticipated, but we were still able to put half a dozen carcasses in the freezer (the goal was at least nine).

That leaves [lucky] thirteen birds left to be slaughtered.  I hope the delay doesn't make us late on the road to New York!

Before ...

Be prepared!

Hanging the birds by their feet makes cleaning easier.

After.

working title

Sorry for the gap in entries.  Still missing our camera, so this will be another text-only post.

In the week since our last post, we've gotten a fair amount of rain.  Almost every day, there has been a lot of cloud buildup, and while not everyone has gotten rain everyday, it has precipitated somewhere in the area almost everyday this week.

So the desert is as green as it gets, chock full of flora and fauna.

We recently completed our chicken tractor and put the meat birds in for finishing.  The tractor has a footprint of about 50 inches by 16 feet, and is entirely made of steel.  The main body is welded cattle panels, with angle steel reinforcing the center against sag.  The whole framework is wrapped stem to stern in chicken wire, with a 4x4' door panel for access.  It doesn't have its wheels on yet, so it makes a good harrow to drag around.

The birds are all six weeks old, and the meaties will be ready for the freezer in four weeks or less.

We've also finally started setting tile in our bathroom.  We've been sitting on the tiles for months now, and have bought and returned a couple of incorrect items -- a mastic that needed an additive not sold in our area, a premixed mastic that turned out to be much cheaper at another store -- and we still need to figure out if we will use the grout that we have.  

But the important thing is that we have one wall tiled! And it looks great!  Although on the next wall, we will be more diligent in randomizing the tiles.  We had a few too-similar tiles end up too close together.

A few projects are in the planning stages and hopefully we will begin working on them in a few weeks.

The biggest one on the list is routing electricity and water around the homestead.  This will mean purchasing a whole lot of wire and speedy-line. We will also need to rent a machine to dig a trench from the workshop, to the barn, and to the house.

Part of that project will be getting at least one big tank, maybe two, and setting it/them on the north side of the workshop for rain catchment.

We are also eager to install an evaporative cooler in our house, and we think we may have found just the right one for our little 300 square foot space.

Building a porch has been on the To-Do List forever, but recently has made its way closer to the top of that list.

And there is so much more, but we can cross those bridges when we get there...

Thanks for reading :)

Arachniphobia

snake eyes

Been an exciting day so far. In case we had forgotten that it is now the rainy season, nature scheduled a few reminders.

First thing in the morning, we spotted another viper.
This one is a western diamondback, with very pretty markings. Just two feet long with seven buttons (do you count the first, the black one?).






Our chicks are doing well, and this Friday they will be four weeks old.  That's almost halfway to slaughter, for the meaties.

Foxy Lady has accepted her large brood amiably. She has gotten so large now herself, that we worry she may break a leg.

And the rain has been wonderful.  We got a solid rain yesterday evening, a light sprinkle this morning, and another downpour began around 2:30 this afternoon.

Even more rain may be in our future, and we're hopeful for an exciting and lush rainy season.

Desert Marigold

FAIL!

This morning we were stunned to find that the fox (undoubtedly the same one that perpetrated the Massacre) had tried to break into the coop again!

And he/she was REALLY working hard!

The main hole dug by the front door was five feet long. 
After inspecting the paw prints in the dirt piles and the scratches on the stucco, we're pretty sure the varmint is a fox.  

If anyone else has experience and wants to share an opinion, feel free to comment.  
Soon we'll have a wifi camera on the coop, so we'll have definitive proof.

Three other, smaller holes were attempted on the back side, but there was no chance at all of breaking in by digging. Presidio Gallena flipped that fox the bird.