The hay is cut. We have four days ahead of us with sun, and not too humid. I have even taken a picture of the weather forecast for you so you can see that I am not imagining it. We have had so much rain lately that seeing sunny days ahead of us is a treat.
In the bad storm the other night, when tornadoes were seen and even touched down not far from here (we were very lucky we only got the wind and two inches of rain), a friend of mine lost all her field chickens. The ark they were in was picked up by the dreadful wind and dragged right across the field killing all her broiler chickens. The rain hit like waves crashing up against a bank, trees came down, power went out, and all her chickens died. And she is only about 8 miles from here.
So there is an equation here. Pasture raised is better for you, higher in Omega 3, leaner and healthier, free of the bacterias collected in a shed, all those good things. We all want to see it on our restaurant menu. But they are also vulnerable – exposed. The natural way is not always the safest.
We can lock them up inside where no predator can get them and they cannot be battered by the weather, but then they get sick and what kind of life is that. Even a short life should be good. But there is always a pay off. I am just grateful the bad wind did not reach across to here and that the mink has not discovered my field chickens.
You will remember that the second batch of chickens are white ones. I am not happy with them. They are sluggish and grubby. I am never seen such filthy chickens, I cannot work it out. They are only a week old, I have decided that they do not have enough oil in their feathers. They poop as much as they eat and their quarters need constant cleaning. I think it is the feed though it is good medication free expensive feed. But they should not be making this much of a mess. 
Triple T helped me move them off the verandah into the stock trailer so they could have a little more room and more air. The verandah gets so hot. But still they just lay about. So I got some left over rice, a slice of salmon and a banana and sprinkled it through their feed. It was like a bomb went off, they leapt up and grabbed bits of fish and rushed to and fro in high excitement. Fish is good for poultry. I am going to start them on the whey and boiled eggs like the bigger birds. 
Then I am going to go to my feed mill tomorrow and see if we can come up with a batch of chicken feed that has a higher protein. But mixed for me so I know what is in it. I need kelp and so forth but that is hard to find around here. They loved their salmon!
After all this rain the mud where the cows stand is just awful. I frequently get my boots stuck in it, and rock about like a sailor trying to extricate myself while the dogs and Daisy watch. 
The cows are filthy too, they have an entire field but they choose to stand in the muck where their heels are cooled.
The Tall Teenager helped me raise Tima’s house up a level. Her house is an old stock water tank, that developed a leak. I turned it upseide down and cut a door in it. It sits, on a pallet now, under the apple tree and is full of straw. 
She sleeps in there every night very close to my bedroom window.
I hope you all have a lovely day.
Your friend on the farmy
celi
The Kitchen's Garden 
43 responses to “Chicks and Chicks”
That little pig is just so cute, I want one!
I totally agree! That little pig is cute. I don’t want one, I don’t think I could handle that sass. You see it in her eyes.
I try to put the dog food up when i let her out, and she rushes to the verandah to checck every time. If it is down she has at it, and as I come around the corner and shout No Tima she will smack the bowl ON PURPOSE, hard with her massive head, scattering dog food everywhere, one eye on me and growling, then she and I race about trying to pick it all up! Sassy indeed. I think you and a Tima baby would be a fine match! We deliver to France you know! c
oooOOOooo. A gal with strategy. I like it.
A very cute pig, she looks a lot like the wild pigs they have in Germany. A few summers ago my brother took care of three little babies that he found in the forest without a mother.
Our Cornish X’s are cold brooded in a 4′ x 8′ cardboard box. They are messy, but are active scratchers, especially when I throw them some grub. I use 30% protein feed, and feed them less.
I am finding it hard to get 22%..I can only get 20% so far. and mine don’t scratch at all, just sit, OK I am on the hunt for the higher protein rations, thank you!!
I use Purina Startena… Game bird starter… But even the 24% chick starter has my meat birds active.
Hmm, mine is a purina too, we will have to order the better stuff, which takes 10 days .. sigh!.. c
The 24 percent is dumor
Thank you..
Good morning, c. I am so glad that you weren’t hit by those winds. Very frightening, but good news about a few days of warm sunshine. We have sunny days here also, and not too hot, which I find very uncomfortable. I had breakfast on the patio this morning, and Peder joined me after seeing how lovely it was to enjoy a coffee and yogurt in the sun. Complete bliss.
Enjoy the sun! Hopefully it will dry up the mud. It is pleasantly warm here today, around 75 F, and it’s lovely to be able to sit and eat meals outside.
I’m sorry to hear about your friend’s chickens. How awful.
I hope you have a good day! It’s nearly afternoon here in my part of the world and I have chores to do, so I’d better get off WordPress.
We are looking at some milld weather too, it does make the work day so much more pleasant!..c
What are the things, like discs on the keys, on your keyboard? Love the little pig’s house…:)
The disc things are the letters worn OFF with too much typing.. it terrifies anyone who wants to borrow my computer!! c
My Cornish did great on 21% protein but I did remove their feed every night. They were very active which surprised me as all I heard was they are lazy bums. They loved it when I moved the tractor—busy, busy, busy scratching and checking out the new grass. None developed heart or leg issues so I was pleased. We processed them ourselves (first time for me) and that went well, also. My husband and brother-in-law built an automatic chicken plucker and it was awesome!
I look forward to getting them out on the grass.. yes.. that will make the difference I think, only a week old yet! c
An automatic chicken plucker? Now, that’s a nifty thing to have around the house! I can’t even imagine what they would look like….hmmm…interesting.
It was amazing to have. Plucking is the most time consuming of this chore. you can check out the picture on my blog post http://theblondegardener.com/2014/06/08/i-did-a-dessie-2/
Tima is too stinking cute!
Don’t forget I am going to be breeding them Beth Ann.. just imagine!!.. c
“Even a short life should be good.” Great philosophy, Celi.
Looks like you’ll have lovely cool weather too! That’s wonderful! That Tima is just too adorable for words! xo
Think about it Di! A little Tima following you and the dogs about!. c
Perhaps Daisy and Queenie need a cow (car) wash machine 🙂 thought of you last evening watching video clip of the tallest building in Chicago being hit by 3 huge bolts of lightening – impressive and scary. Laura
Daisy will let me hose her down now, which is good, as the deeper the mud gets the closer her udder gets to it, her clean up takes as long as the milking..but this is how you get grass fed milk!.. c
Yes the storms have been fierce!.. c
Don’t put too much fish in the feed – chicken and eggs can take on the fish taste. They used to feed battery chicken and pigs on fish in this country (before people realised that free range was better all round) and a fishy egg or bacon is quite horrible 😉
Too expensive too! But it was an interesting experiment to see if the added protein would wake them up. It did too! Fishy eggs do not sound nice. What is the protein they use in feeds in the UK now? I am going for roasted soy.. c
Fishy eggs when you expect eggy eggs is really quite revolting. I’ll ask the farmer or the free range egg lady, on Sunday, about protein if I remember… 😉
I agree and don’t forget the litres of brine injected into the bird to increase the sale weight of bird $/per kg! Laura
How wonderful to have the extra help from The Tall Teenager. My Tall Young Man (he’s not a teenager any more) is due home from Boston this evening. Six months since I’ve seen my boy and I am beyond excited.
So sad about your friend’s ark. What a thing to wake up to in the morning, unless she actually witnessed it which would be even sadder. I’m glad your chickens did okay. They have grown so much in only a week since I left! They really are very pretty chickens. Open a bag of black tea and sprinkle it on their feed. That will get them jumping! (just kidding, of course) I hope you get their feed figured out and they get cracking..no pun intended.
That little Tima is so adorable, it’s like she poses.
You share such a unique perspective I don’t often hear Celi, and I appreciate what you have to say. I am certainly very glad to know you were spared damage in the most recent storms–I did hear of them and wondered if you were nearby. I honestly can’t clearly envision all that you must think about in defending the health and safety of all your animals, but you do give me a good glimpse, and I have grown to care about all of you. As for weather, perhaps we on the west coast in our two-year drought complain a little too much. I’d love some rain, but at this point our concerns run to mostly inconvenience. Safety isn’t an issue. All to say…I learn so much from you. ox