Those of you who followed our blog last spring -- our first "in the chicken business" -- might remember me bemoaning the weather (see our April 2010 archive ). I'm looking out the window watching it snow/slush/sleet (whatever it's doing) and praying we don't have a repeat performance of last year's chilly, snowy spring. Not lookin' so good, at the moment. My eager daphne, daffodils, crocus and violets are buried under wet, gloppy snow, with more continuing to fall. Sheesh!
Even as weather-focused as farmers are, I wouldn't bring it up if it were warm and sunny, but because we ordered the first batch of chicks yesterday, it's on my mind. We're much better-prepared this year, of course, with new tricks and all sorts of know-how under our belts to help mitigate the inconvenience and stress caused by frigid outdoor conditions. For those of you just tuning in, the reason this is a big deal for us is that we raise "pastured poultry". We're committed to getting the chicks out on pasture as early as possible (our mid-summer arriving batch goes outdoors at 3 days of age). That's essentially impossible when the grass is snow-covered or rain soaked. The chicks are much too fragile to handle such conditions until they're at least a good two weeks old, which is a lot of a life that only lasts 9-10 weeks. So, current conditions being what they are, we expect to keep them indoors for at least a week. Let's hope it warms up soon; I don't think anyone will dispute we've seen enough precipitation for the season.
Rain, sleet, snow or shine, the chicks will be here this coming Wednesday, March 23rd; 105 little cheeping balls of yellow fluff. Well, five will be a slightly different color of fluff. We ordered the usual 100 White Cornish X ("Cross"), which is the typical meat-bird breed. We then ordered five Red Cornish X, which is still a meat breed but more of a heritage type of meat chicken.
We decided to get the five Red Cornish X birds as kind of an experiment. "Heritage" meat is really gaining attention within foodie circles, but the average palate doesn't always appreciate the more richly flavored, darker meat. These birds also have smaller breasts and overall darker meat. Our plan is to see how these five Red Cornish X chickens ultimately compare to the White Cornish X. We will compare feed conversion, weight gain, dressed weight at 9-10 weeks (when we butcher the whole batch), appearance of the dressed bird (these don't have the white skin people are used to seeing on the typical broiler/roaster), and of course, flavor.
We'll keep you all posted on how it goes, starting off with some photos of the chicks when they arrive.
Showing posts with label weather. Show all posts
Showing posts with label weather. Show all posts
Friday, March 18, 2011
Wednesday, April 28, 2010
Another Snowy Morning
Some of you may notice that a recurring theme around here is the weather. My sister recently forwarded me an email from Coon Rock Farm, the CSA from which she orders produce in North Carolina. Here's what they had to say about it:
"I (like most farmers) have a fascination with the weather. It’s really the one thing that we have no control over on the farm and it is also the thing that probably has the most impact on whether we can produce a crop or not."
Well said. This is why, when I woke up to a snowy landscape this morning, a sight I usually enjoy, my heart filled with dread. How did the chickens fare through yet another unseasonably cold and wet night? How would they do once again moving them to now-not-just-wet, but snowy new pasture? Weather-wise, we wish several times a week we had waited to start this venture until May. Then again, who knows?! We have no control over it! The weather has been pretty wild this winter/spring, so what's to say we won't have a really bizarre summer, too?
This time, they all made it, and with an extra heat lamp (something we thought we had dispensed with after nearly a week of nice, warm, sunny weather), they're even surviving the wet grass. Whew!
"I (like most farmers) have a fascination with the weather. It’s really the one thing that we have no control over on the farm and it is also the thing that probably has the most impact on whether we can produce a crop or not."
Well said. This is why, when I woke up to a snowy landscape this morning, a sight I usually enjoy, my heart filled with dread. How did the chickens fare through yet another unseasonably cold and wet night? How would they do once again moving them to now-not-just-wet, but snowy new pasture? Weather-wise, we wish several times a week we had waited to start this venture until May. Then again, who knows?! We have no control over it! The weather has been pretty wild this winter/spring, so what's to say we won't have a really bizarre summer, too?
This time, they all made it, and with an extra heat lamp (something we thought we had dispensed with after nearly a week of nice, warm, sunny weather), they're even surviving the wet grass. Whew!
Thursday, April 15, 2010
More Snow!
Chores are chores and have to be done no matter what the weather! These photos were taken April 5th. The chicks aren't quite 2 weeks old.
Chicks in the Sun
We had a few rays of sunshine last week and a few again today. What a relief for all of us -- the chickens and the humans, too!
These photographs were taken March 31st. The chicks are one week old. That big, orange contraption is our wood chipper. As Joel Salatin says, "If you say you're organic, show me your carbon piles." We've got a few around here...
These photographs were taken March 31st. The chicks are one week old. That big, orange contraption is our wood chipper. As Joel Salatin says, "If you say you're organic, show me your carbon piles." We've got a few around here...
Saturday, April 10, 2010
March Madness: Snow And Chicks Don't Mix!
The crazy weather has made for crazy chick duties here at Sojourn Farms. Needless to say, we're learning a lot! We have a list of improvements planned for the next iteration of run and hover design. 
Our initial design catered to more mature birds in more friendly conditions. We weren't quite prepared to care for chicks in gale force winds, icy rain, hail and snow from all directions! We scrounged around the farm for ways to protect the chicks from the wind, which was the worst for them. The wind whipping in would suck all the heat out of the hover and cause it to swing on its hangers. You can see what we found -- tables, chairs, boxes, boards, an old door (left).
The weather also forced us to clean out the shavings and re-bed the chicks' "nest" under the hover. Our design didn't "plan" for this -- we intended to move the whole run, hover included, to a new patch of grass with a new nest all set up in the right place. But, with the grass covered with snow, that wasn't an option. So, in Milan went. Talk about a nasty job, huh?
Our initial design catered to more mature birds in more friendly conditions. We weren't quite prepared to care for chicks in gale force winds, icy rain, hail and snow from all directions! We scrounged around the farm for ways to protect the chicks from the wind, which was the worst for them. The wind whipping in would suck all the heat out of the hover and cause it to swing on its hangers. You can see what we found -- tables, chairs, boxes, boards, an old door (left).The weather also forced us to clean out the shavings and re-bed the chicks' "nest" under the hover. Our design didn't "plan" for this -- we intended to move the whole run, hover included, to a new patch of grass with a new nest all set up in the right place. But, with the grass covered with snow, that wasn't an option. So, in Milan went. Talk about a nasty job, huh?
Outdoor Chicks
We are so glad for the last few days of sunny weather! What a break for us and for the chicks. The forecast shows PM showers again tonight, with rain tomorrow and the next day, and the next day, and the next day...
From that first morning when it was pouring at 4am (read about it in "Got Chicks!"), the weather has really proven our biggest challenge and hassle factor. Our original plan was to have the chicks on pasture from the moment they arrived home, but putting day-old chicks on wet grass is sure to result in a high mortality rate. Most chicks are kept in a brooder for at least three weeks. The brooder is usually set up indoors -- somewhere out of the wind, rain and cold. It also needs to be secure from predators: from coyotes and raccoons to weasels and even large mice, which have been known to kill small chicks.
On Sunday, March 28th, the chicks were four days old. We got a little break in the weather and decided to go for it. Here, you see Milan and his dad bringing the chicks out
and placing them in the run. The white structure inside with the shiny-underside door is the "hover". It's essentially an outdoor brooder. There are heaters and a heat lamp affixed to its ceiling. The whole hover is attached to wires and suspended from the ceiling of the run. It can be raised and lowered for cleaning, and also to accommodate the chicks' height. We placed an old sheet of 4'x8' plywood underneath the hover and bedded it down with dry shavings. We put down all the shavings and turned on the heaters before leaving for church so that it would dry everything out and warm it up before putting the chicks inside.
So, if other operations leave their chicks in the brooder for 3 weeks or more, why were we so eager to get ours out, especially considering the weather?
First, our research found that to successfully pasture-raise chickens, especially this breed of chicken (Cornish X, or "Cornish Cross", the classic, white chicken raised for meat),
you need to get them on pasture as soon as possible. Getting the chicks out on grass early helps them become comfortable on pasture and learn how to effectively scratch and peck. If they spend three weeks in a brooder, that's a lot of time their instincts for pecking and scratching aren't kicking in. It's also three weeks they don't get the nutritional benefits of legumes, grass, bugs and worms, and the physical benefits of room to run, exercise, and good, clean, Oregon air and sunshine. Well, maybe not the sunshine just yet...
Second, they were clearly a little crowded in the horse trough we set up for their initial homecoming. We were adding pine shaving bedding twice a day to deal with the smell and keep the chicks warm, dry and clean, but it was clear that unless we set up another trough situation, they were going to outgrow it really fast.
So, at four tender days of age, out they went. Milan's dad came and helped move them while
Jack and I manned the camera. It sure is fun having a wide-eyed, interested-in-everything little tyke around. He daily reminds us to marvel at things we probably wouldn't notice or spend much time thinking about.
You can see from these photos that it was still pretty wet outside. We got the chicks out between rain showers. We knew they would be warm under the hover, but the weather the week following their outdoor placement definitely put the whole run and hover design to the test.
From that first morning when it was pouring at 4am (read about it in "Got Chicks!"), the weather has really proven our biggest challenge and hassle factor. Our original plan was to have the chicks on pasture from the moment they arrived home, but putting day-old chicks on wet grass is sure to result in a high mortality rate. Most chicks are kept in a brooder for at least three weeks. The brooder is usually set up indoors -- somewhere out of the wind, rain and cold. It also needs to be secure from predators: from coyotes and raccoons to weasels and even large mice, which have been known to kill small chicks.
On Sunday, March 28th, the chicks were four days old. We got a little break in the weather and decided to go for it. Here, you see Milan and his dad bringing the chicks out
and placing them in the run. The white structure inside with the shiny-underside door is the "hover". It's essentially an outdoor brooder. There are heaters and a heat lamp affixed to its ceiling. The whole hover is attached to wires and suspended from the ceiling of the run. It can be raised and lowered for cleaning, and also to accommodate the chicks' height. We placed an old sheet of 4'x8' plywood underneath the hover and bedded it down with dry shavings. We put down all the shavings and turned on the heaters before leaving for church so that it would dry everything out and warm it up before putting the chicks inside.So, if other operations leave their chicks in the brooder for 3 weeks or more, why were we so eager to get ours out, especially considering the weather?
First, our research found that to successfully pasture-raise chickens, especially this breed of chicken (Cornish X, or "Cornish Cross", the classic, white chicken raised for meat),
you need to get them on pasture as soon as possible. Getting the chicks out on grass early helps them become comfortable on pasture and learn how to effectively scratch and peck. If they spend three weeks in a brooder, that's a lot of time their instincts for pecking and scratching aren't kicking in. It's also three weeks they don't get the nutritional benefits of legumes, grass, bugs and worms, and the physical benefits of room to run, exercise, and good, clean, Oregon air and sunshine. Well, maybe not the sunshine just yet...Second, they were clearly a little crowded in the horse trough we set up for their initial homecoming. We were adding pine shaving bedding twice a day to deal with the smell and keep the chicks warm, dry and clean, but it was clear that unless we set up another trough situation, they were going to outgrow it really fast.
So, at four tender days of age, out they went. Milan's dad came and helped move them while
Jack and I manned the camera. It sure is fun having a wide-eyed, interested-in-everything little tyke around. He daily reminds us to marvel at things we probably wouldn't notice or spend much time thinking about.You can see from these photos that it was still pretty wet outside. We got the chicks out between rain showers. We knew they would be warm under the hover, but the weather the week following their outdoor placement definitely put the whole run and hover design to the test.
Friday, March 26, 2010
The Final Hours Before The Chicks' Arrival
With 100 little peeping chicks scheduled to arrive on Wednesday, March 24th, we were scrambling to have all our ducks in a row. Milan's day started at 7am with a teleconference call for the W3C. From there, it was on to a typically-full Nuance Tuesday. At 5pm, he dashed out the door, barely allowing the frozen burrito he grabbed on the way out enough time to thaw, let alone cook in the microwave. Devon arrived a half hour later, his rumbly, black, diesel Dodge announcing his arrival. He didn't stop at the house, but went straight to the shop. That's where the action was.
The two of them spent the evening and most of the night welding the 1" x 1/2" wire on to the sides of the chickens' 12' x 10' run. Here you see them hard at work, with Devon's little Jack-dog looking on.
I took dinner down around 8pm, and cookies and coffee around 11pm, knowing it would be a late night. I went to bed around 2:30am. I heard Devon's rig leave around 4:30am. The next thing I knew, it was 7:30am, Jack was making his typical, I'm-getting-up-soon squeaks, and still no Milan. Yup - he pulled an all-nighter. He finally showed up here at the house around 8:30, wild-eyed and energetic, excited to be "so close" to being done.
Around 10am, our good friend John Harding and his assistant, Kelly, came to mow the lawn (well, the "front yard", that is) and work on the landscaping. Before getting started, we all marched on down to the shop to see this magnum opus chicken run.
It is quite a structure. Talk about being prepared -- Milan spent weeks researching and designing our runs. He made several, major design changes to what you would think is a typical, pastured poultry run. First, it's constructed of steel, not wood, making it much lighter to move. Since it will be moved daily, this is a huge consideration. Secondly, it has a peaked roof, which provides the chickens a sunny "porch", but significantly complicates the design. Here you see the first page of design sketches and calculations. Remember all that math you learned in high school, wondering the whole time who the heck ever uses this stuff? Well, Milan did! Arc tangents, cosines, sines, right triangles... all of it. Wow. I certainly never thought I would ever see these formulas again!
But back to our day.... After admiring Milan's creation, John and Kelly headed off to do the mowing. I returned to my duties as a wife and mom, part of which included preparing lunch for three hungry men, not to mention myself and Jack.
It wasn't until sometime after 2pm that I began to think the Cave Junction post office only gets so many trucks a day; surely they would know what time ours would pull in with chicks on board. I called, and sure enough: had they been coming on schedule, they would have arrived at 8am.
In addition to being completely anticlimactic, the news was disquieting: were our little chicks en route somewhere, only to be stuck there until the next truck left for Cave Junction (which we found out only gets one truck a day -- at 8am)? This whole business of mailing chicks baffled me right from the beginning. I've heard stories about how only the most robust chicks survive to arrive at their destination, and that if they are en route for more than two days, expect to lose 10% of them! It seems rather a cruel and callous way to be initiated into the world. They're only a few hours old when they're shipped.
Thankfully, I called the hatchery and learned our chicks had not yet been shipped. They were scheduled now to go out in the 4pm mailing from Hubbard, Oregon. I then called the postal distribution center in Medford to find out what time they could be expected there. They didn't know for sure, but estimated about 1pm on Thursday, March 25th.
So, one more day to go! It gave us a reprieve in finishing the run and the brooder/hover. After 34 hours straight without sleep, Milan finally crashed at 5pm. I did the evening chores (horses, egg chickens, dog, cat), gave Jack a bath and put him to bed, cleaned the kitchen and headed for bed at nine o'clock.
We were ready... or so we thought.
The two of them spent the evening and most of the night welding the 1" x 1/2" wire on to the sides of the chickens' 12' x 10' run. Here you see them hard at work, with Devon's little Jack-dog looking on.
I took dinner down around 8pm, and cookies and coffee around 11pm, knowing it would be a late night. I went to bed around 2:30am. I heard Devon's rig leave around 4:30am. The next thing I knew, it was 7:30am, Jack was making his typical, I'm-getting-up-soon squeaks, and still no Milan. Yup - he pulled an all-nighter. He finally showed up here at the house around 8:30, wild-eyed and energetic, excited to be "so close" to being done.
Around 10am, our good friend John Harding and his assistant, Kelly, came to mow the lawn (well, the "front yard", that is) and work on the landscaping. Before getting started, we all marched on down to the shop to see this magnum opus chicken run.
It is quite a structure. Talk about being prepared -- Milan spent weeks researching and designing our runs. He made several, major design changes to what you would think is a typical, pastured poultry run. First, it's constructed of steel, not wood, making it much lighter to move. Since it will be moved daily, this is a huge consideration. Secondly, it has a peaked roof, which provides the chickens a sunny "porch", but significantly complicates the design. Here you see the first page of design sketches and calculations. Remember all that math you learned in high school, wondering the whole time who the heck ever uses this stuff? Well, Milan did! Arc tangents, cosines, sines, right triangles... all of it. Wow. I certainly never thought I would ever see these formulas again!
But back to our day.... After admiring Milan's creation, John and Kelly headed off to do the mowing. I returned to my duties as a wife and mom, part of which included preparing lunch for three hungry men, not to mention myself and Jack.
It wasn't until sometime after 2pm that I began to think the Cave Junction post office only gets so many trucks a day; surely they would know what time ours would pull in with chicks on board. I called, and sure enough: had they been coming on schedule, they would have arrived at 8am.
In addition to being completely anticlimactic, the news was disquieting: were our little chicks en route somewhere, only to be stuck there until the next truck left for Cave Junction (which we found out only gets one truck a day -- at 8am)? This whole business of mailing chicks baffled me right from the beginning. I've heard stories about how only the most robust chicks survive to arrive at their destination, and that if they are en route for more than two days, expect to lose 10% of them! It seems rather a cruel and callous way to be initiated into the world. They're only a few hours old when they're shipped.
Thankfully, I called the hatchery and learned our chicks had not yet been shipped. They were scheduled now to go out in the 4pm mailing from Hubbard, Oregon. I then called the postal distribution center in Medford to find out what time they could be expected there. They didn't know for sure, but estimated about 1pm on Thursday, March 25th.
So, one more day to go! It gave us a reprieve in finishing the run and the brooder/hover. After 34 hours straight without sleep, Milan finally crashed at 5pm. I did the evening chores (horses, egg chickens, dog, cat), gave Jack a bath and put him to bed, cleaned the kitchen and headed for bed at nine o'clock.
We were ready... or so we thought.
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