Backyard Broilers -- Round 2: Week 4

It's been a busy week with the broilers.  The big news is that they have all moved into the back yard.  They are out of the garage!!! 

Last year I kept 11 birds in two chicken tractors.  I had to move each tractor twice a day.  It was a lot of work.  I don't feel like doing it again.  I decided instead to just prop up the front of the tractor with a block of wood.  I've been keeping the feed in the tractor so it's protected from the rain.  I've been putting the water outside, but not too far away.  This has worked out well so far.  The birds seem to enjoy being able to move around.

The dog makes sure they get some exercise.

The birds make a mess under the tractor, so I still end up moving it once a day.  It's easier though, since they aren't generally in it.  

They eat like crazy.

They drink like crazy too.

It took my 15 birds 4 weeks to finish off the first 100 lbs. of feed that I bought.  Since I'm going through all of this effort to raise my own birds I decided to look into a better feed.  I found a person not far from where I live selling soy-free organic chicken feed from Countryside Organics.  They order it in bulk for their own use and sell it to people like me. 

I have no idea if using soy-free organic feed is going to produce a better bird or not.  I'd like to think so.  I figure it's worth trying.  The only down side is the cost.  A 50 lbs. bag is $36.  That's double what the regular feed costs. 

I got tired of refilling the little feeder multiple times a day.  I put the big feeder in there instead.  It should hold enough feed to last them a few days (I hope).

Garden Status for April 2014

April just ended so I thought I'd post some pictures of how the garden is doing.

The kale I planted last fall is going crazy.  I'm hoping to collect seed from it.

Peas are starting to climb the trellis.  On the other side of the bed are beans.

That's leaf lettuce in the corner and pumpkins in the middle.

Tomatillos at the back of the bed and pickling cucumbers under the trellis.

Slicing cucumbers coming in under the trellis and tomatoes along the other side.

I have tomatoes in this bed along with two tiny squash plants and oregano that won't go away.

Here's a wide shot of the entire area.  I don't have anything in the containers on the driveway yet.

I've been following the plan that I wrote down back in January.  As I plant things I mark the date.  It's worked out great.  I know where stuff is so I don't accidentally plant something else on top of it.  I also know if something is taking too long to germinate.  I planted some rainbow chard and 3 weeks later it hadn't sprouted.  It turned out that I had too much leaf mulch on the bed and the tiny seedlings couldn't make it through.  So I had to plant some more. 

I haven't gotten the peppers in the ground yet.  They're still in the greenhouse.  I'm hoping to transplant them this weekend.

Baby Rabbits -- Week 6

This week is more of the same.  The baby rabbits eat a lot and run around.  The only real news is that all of them have been claimed.  We haven't received any deposits or anything, but several people have told us they'll take one (or two) as soon as they are ready.

The weather was lousy today and these guys don't stay still.  So I wasn't able to get very good pictures.

6 weeks old.

Backyard Broilers -- Round 2: Week 3

The broilers have gotten big!  There just isn't enough space for them in my garage.  Even with them split into two groups there isn't enough room.  Twice now one of the birds has escaped.  The other day I found one standing standing next to the cage looking confused.  My son said that the same thing happened today.  It must've jumped out of the tub.

The lack of adequate space leads to a huge mess.  They are knocking over their food and water and they're getting pine shavings everywhere. 

They've scattered pine shavings everywhere.  It's actually worse than what's shown here.

They are 3 weeks old and have most of their feathers.  So I decided that today some of them would move into the yard.  The forecast doesn't show it going below 50* for the next week.  I didn't want to put all of them out there just in case they can't manage when it's that cold.  It's better to lose half than all of them.

I put a larger waterer in there with them.  I need to hook up the one I used last year.

  They seem a lot happier in the tractor.  They certainly have a lot more space. 

It didn't take them long to find the food.  They were scratching and pecking at the ground as well. 

As for the remaining 8 birds...  I split them up between the cage and the tub.  Maybe they'll have enough room with just 4 in each.

 They sure do eat a lot.

Baby Rabbits -- Week 5

Another week has gone by and the rabbits are bigger.  There isn't much new to report.  They spend a lot of time running around and eating. 

 They sure are cute! 

 I just wish they'd hold still for a decent photo.

5 weeks old.

 They'll be ready for new homes in another 3 weeks.

Backyard Broilers -- Round 2: Week 2

I can't wait to get these things into the yard and out of my garage.  They're a lot of work.  They pretty much just eat, drink, and sleep.  I can see why they are the bird of choice for meat. 

I fill their feeder and waterer every night before I go to bed.  When I get up in the morning they are both empty.  I've actually had to refill their water after just 4 hours! 

Up to this point I've been moving them between the tub and the cage.  That way I can clean one while they're in the other.  Unfortunately they've gotten too big for that.  They don't all fit comfortably in either.  So I split them up.  I put 8 chicks in the tub and 7 in the cage.  This also allows me to double the amount of water and food accessible.

They sure aren't the prettiest breed of chicken. 

Nature was kind to me after all.

I wrote a post the other day complaining about a late cold snap.  I am happy to report that all of my plants survived.  They were calling for it to go down to 32* both nights.  Instead, it went down to 34* both nights. 

The picture above was taken after the first night.  I left the buckets in place and didn't remove them during the day.  The picture below was taken after the second night (that was today) after I removed the buckets.

The biggest problem I had was that the plants were really too big to be under those buckets.  The tomato in the picture below looks unhappy.  The top of the plant is going out and not up.  It'll survive.

I really didn't mind waiting until next year to test my new greenhouse climate controller.  Even though I didn't see it come on, it must have worked.  I have the controller set to turn the heat on at 40* and the minimum temperature recorded in there was 39.2*.  So that's good news.  I'm real happy about that actually.