What can I say? I love my little guys, like I do all my children. All of them are growing up way too fast. These are photos of my little guys and some of their animal pals from the past couple of weeks
I’m about as proud of my boys/children as these puffed up turkeys! 
I wanted to add some new photos of the chickens in their new home and of our turkeys, for those of you interested. I wish I had my phone or camera when we let all the turkeys and chickens out this morning. They loved stretching their wings, flying, puffing up and the chickens especially enjoyed foraging. While we move their coops every day or two depending, we don’t get them out enough, especially the turkeys. Electric fencing runs around $500 and we’ve been trying to hold off on that expense a bit longer…It was fun to watch the “barnyard” full of poultry. Of course we had to keep Padfoot tied up so he couldn’t cause any trouble.
Our Buff Orpington rooster went at our youngest daughter, Blondie, today because one of the hens she was holding made a noise. Blondie was more frightened than hurt. She said he pecked her on the back but there wasn’t any marks at all. He’s still alive and I am at a loss what to do because by all rights he should be on a platter, but the girls reminded me that we want to raise our own chicks and they have decided they want Buff Orpingtons. Without a rooster no baby chicks. A slight dilemma.
I was very proud of Peanut and Jumpy for catching the turkeys and getting them back into their coop. The younger children are quite adept at chicken catching too.
We have some very happy chickens and turkeys…take a look:
The turkey that is above all the rest in the photo below is our largest turkey and he’s also the one that was the hero the other night when a predator came a-callin’.
So many posts to do and so little time…
It’s been an interesting weekend. Half of our family went to Mr. C’s farm to help process his broilers (meat chickens) yesterday, while the rest of us remained at home. The crew that went to Mr. C’s had a full day of catching chickens, cleaning the innards out, plucking feathers, helping get the barn ready for a load of hay as well as helping Mr. C’s daughter with her chores. Everyone came home tired but pretty happy, had learned a lot and were excited about farming and expanding our fledgling farm.
New Home
Upon returning they also brought a new home for our laying hens. It’s bigger, can hold 25, but I think we have 27 in it. It has 8 nesting boxes, which is a blessing since our hens should start laying any day now. We are anxiously awaiting for the arrival of their yummy fresh eggs. As it was, today when Mr. C came to pick up the trailer he brought us two chickens that had not been picked up yesterday and we ate them today. I don’t think I have ever eaten meat that fresh, I mean it’s barely a day old. At least not since I was a kid when my parents bought fresh pork and beef from friends who were local farmers. That’s just how it was done. Back to the chicken, it was so moist and flavorful. The most delicious chicken I have ever tasted. Seriously. And all we did was roast it in the oven. We didn’t do anything fancy with it. All I can say is I can’t wait to raise our own broilers next year and have a freezer full for our family.
The new moveable chicken coop isn’t anything fancy. We had to clean it out a bit before putting new shavings in the nesting boxes. The coop is actually modeled after Joel Salatin’s, who is the owner of Polyface Farms in Virginia. He’s written several books that we highly recommend, even if you aren’t a farmer. He is very entertaining. Our girls love his books and have read some of them more than once.
Of course, what’s living on a farm without a trailer ride….(and yes, after the photo was taken I was on the trailer with the children)
Today we moved the hens into their new home. I did not get photos of them all moved in. I’ll try to remember to add some tomorrow. It was a little nerve wrecking to put three breeds of chickens together. They’ve been all in separate coops since they’ve been outside. Our hens are beautiful. They are healthy. They don’t have missing feathers. So to see the roosters and a couple of hens establishing pecking order was a little new to me. Thankfully it was established within seconds and not one chicken was hurt.
Chickens and Turkeys
We love our Buff Orpingtons. They are sweet hens. Though the rooster showed a different side when he charged at my oldest daughter last night. First time that’s happened and let’s just say that I let our pup to teach him a lesson. No blood, but definitely a fright. No rooster is going to attack my children. We didn’t kill him or allow the dog to kill him, though I was sorely tempted too. He has another chance because he is good to the hens but if he ever does it again, I’ll enjoy seeing him on a platter now that half the family knows how to butcher a chicken.
Our poor chickens and turkeys had quite the night last night. We went out to feed them this morning and found feathers near every coop. Then we noticed our largest turkey had blood on its neck and the chicken wired bowed out on one side of the coop. We believe a predator actually got into their coop and bless that big turkey for saving all of them. We had to staple down the chicken wire to make it more secure. We hope to sell half our turkeys, keep three to eat and keep two to mate and raise our own turkeys. That’s the plan right now. My husband actually sold one turkey yesterday to one of the other guys processing chickens…and he says he’s not a salesman!
We still have to figure out winter housing for the chickens and the two turkeys we intend to keep, thankfully we have a bit more time to do so. So many things to do and so little time…
My husband came home from work to discover a snake (he says it’s a garden snake) on the road in front of our house. Initially we thought it was dead, but it was still alive. We think it’s injured though from a close look at certain stuff coming out of it. Our children all ran outside to see the snake and being the blogging mom that I am, I yelled, “Take the phone and get a picture! That will make a great blog post!” lol! 
I’ve seen snakes before and am not overly fond of them.
Ok, be honest who’s afraid of snakes?
It’s been a while since I wrote a Motivation Monday post, so that’s why I titled this “Catch up Time With Motivation Monday” because it is time to catch up. So much for taking some time off from blogging this summer, this past month just seems to be so very busy. Not just for this blog, but also for my VA business. When it rains it pours, but it’s a blessing to be busy, to have work and to be healthy enough to work. It’s just stretching my time management skills that’s all. Ha!
Not to mention all the events and promotions we have coming up for our Young Living business and our fledgling farm.
More Farm News
My husband and I are still so impressed with the farmer we met on Sunday. True to his word, he sent over all the information he said he would yesterday morning. I have been working on a farm listing, called an insurance agent regarding farm insurance and have a date on the calendar to learn about chicken processing and to process our own turkeys. Oh and we now have upgraded housing for our laying hens – thanks to this new farmer friend! We have been deliberating over what we were going to do since our nesting box won’t fit in their moveable pens, which were just a short-term fix until they started laying. Our laying hens should start to lay soon so we have to pick up the larger moveable coop soon. Our moveable coops were/are for our broilers (meat chickens), which we now plan to do next year. So next year we will be able to do about 100 broilers at a time and do several batches of them, now that we have some networking happening. Funny to think that I am excited about raising chickens when I never thought we’d ever have any animals. Nevertheless, I do find it all very exciting.
Our Midget White turkeys are doing well. Not having raised them before we worry sometimes if they are gaining enough. Then other days when we go out there a couple of the plumper ones make our mouths water at the thought of roasted turkey! Yummy! That’s the difference between my husband and I, and our children – we look at our livestock as food, not pets.
Townhouse Update
All the cosmetic work is finally done on our townhouse. I am hoping to get some new photos and I’ll have to post some before and afters or something. We just loose ends to tie up and we have to finish cleaning out the garage and bring our second fridge and freezers over now that they are nearly empty. Now I have to start marketing it again or we’ll need to list it with an agent to see if we can sell it. Decisions, decision, decisions.
“In every deliberation, one must consider the impact on the seventh generation”
-Great Law of the Iroquois
Today we are hosting our first farm tour and potluck since having animals. A few months ago the leader of Chicago’s Weston A. Price group contacted me after having found our Local Harvest listing. It’s been a little nerve wrecking this week since I have had my normal work load to deal with, that many of the things for the farm tour – cleaning the house, making a couple of dishes to pass, getting things to look half decent in the garden and yard, etc. have all had to wait until the weekend. The yard is a challenge since Padfoot is still chewing up boxes or whatever he can find and making a mess every time he’s bored!
We are really looking forward to meeting this new group of people and allowing them to see what we are doing to provide locally grown, healthy, GMO-free, non-chemical food. They are really interested in our farm and would like to promote it during the winter months, as we have offered them significant savings if they purchase a CSA share from us for the 2013 season. (CSA means Consumer Support Agriculture). Here’s to hoping the event goes off without a hitch!
We really want the farm to be self-sustaining, which simply means profitable enough to pay for itself. That’s our first goal. Our next goal is to make enough money for the children each to earn an income from it. Let’s just say lots of thinking has been going on lately as we brainstorm and try to see what businesses we can create as off shoots to poultry, eggs and veggies.
I’ll let you know how the farm tour and potluck goes a little later….
Update: We had about 13 people out for a session of “know your farmer, know your food”, in spite of the rain. Nice group of people. Met another local farmer whom we learned a lot from, so that was a huge connection as he has some great ideas and only 45 minutes away. AND he’s willing to try processing our turkeys for us, I say try because he’s only processed broilers/meat chickens, so we don’t have to make a 4-5 hour drive to the only processing plant in Illinois! We also have the opportunity to volunteer on his chicken processing day so we can see how it’s done (up close and personal) and help him out.
I was took busy talking to get photos of the actual potluck, so the one above is a fake. Our oldest son wants to know when the next potluck is because he liked all the food….HA!
I’d say our day afternoon was a success.
We added a couple more critters to our ark farm…2 new kittens!
Meet our fluffykins:
Princess Moonstone, a fiesty female!
Severus, a mellow male!
Photos are my daughter’s.
I’ve been trying to get this written and posted all week…
I worked at our homeschool convention with a friend last Thursday thru Saturday as an exhibitor. On Friday I got a text from my husband to call him when I had a chance. When I finally called him he told me he had a visit from Animal Control. I said, “What?!”
You see we have these moveable chicken tractors/coops that my husband made, see below. They are in the field next to the barn and close to the major road that runs by our house. Apparently a concerned, but naive driver called Animal Control and reported that our chickens were sitting out in the sun all day not being cared for. 
(Please note the blue tarps we have on there for shade!) Thankfully the Animal Control officer drives by every day to visit her horse and told us, “This is a joke, but someone called and reported that your chickens are not being cared for, which I know is not true because I drive by every day. Besides I can hear them. Please do me a favor and move your chickens to the back field.” She was very nice and didn’t even look at the chickens since she could hear the “happy” chicken sounds.
What I don’t like is that someone actually reported us and that we can’t even choose where we keep our chickens now. However, it does make for a good blog post. So it does have a humorous side. I had a friend, the same friend I worked the homeschool convention with, tell me that once we got animals we would have lot of stories to tell! She was right as the past two weeks have been chalk full of adventure.
Dead Duck and Dead Bunny
This week due to inexperience our children have suffered some hard lessons and the loss of two animals. Two beloved pets. We have had a sad couple of days. The children introduced our ducks to water for the first time and had a blast watching them go “bottoms up” in the water after who knows what to eat. However, the children left them out while they came inside and our cute, adorable, BAD, normal, puppy got the female duck and killed her.
Today the younger children were playing with the bunnies and again the puppy was loose and the older children came in. I was sitting by the patio door working on my laptop when I heard a child screeching. By the time someone got out there the puppy had got Luna our black and white bunny. Yes, the one that was stolen or lost and returned again.
The children want to get more ducks and more bunnies, but the stipulation is that they pay for them.
Annie’s Homegrown wants your pictures with Bernie the Bunny! They will choose 1 winner each week to win a road trip snack pack. If you one of the early entries you could get a Bernie decal! The contest ends July 31st – Don’t Forget to download Bernie!
Here are our growing farm critters…
All photos are property of my daughter RJ.
