Backyard Broilers -- Round 2: Week 6

I say it every week.  These guys grow fast!  It's hard to believe that they're going to start going in the freezer in another two weeks. 

This batch of birds has been a lot less work to raise than last year's batch.  Keeping the chicken tractor stationary is a lot easier than moving it each day.

Cornish Cross at 6 weeks.

They still spend most of their time hanging out around the coop.  I have seen them venture into the yard a few times, but they don't stay there long.

They still eat like crazy.  I bought 100 lbs. of soy-free organic feed two weeks ago.  I'm going to need more real soon.  It took them one week to finish the first 50 lb. bag and they're getting close to the bottom of the second bag.

They go through a lot of water as well.  I have a 5-gallon bucket feeding poultry nipples in the tractor along with another poultry nipple waterer on the coop.  In addition to those I keep a 1-quart waterer in the tractor and a 1-gallon waterer next to it.  Believe it or not, I have to fill the 5-gallon bucket and the two stand alone waterers every day (the waterer on the coop is attached to a 60-gallon rain barrel so I don't bother with it).  I don't know if they're drinking that much water or spilling it, or if it's evaporating, but it's going somewhere. 

Well, like I said above, in another two weeks these guys will be graduating to the freezer!  I'm not looking forward to that, but it's part of the process.

Baby Rabbits -- Week 8

Happy 8 week birthday baby rabbits!  Now it's time for you to move out. 

All of the rabbits have been claimed.  They'll start going to their new homes over the next week or two.

 The momma rabbit still makes them look small.  She was actually that size when we got her.

I don't have much else to say about the baby rabbits.  They sure are cute, and they're a lot of fun to watch.  I'm going to miss them when they are gone.  That's OK though.  The two we have will make more. 

8 weeks old.

We had the rabbits in the yard the other day and captured some video.  The dog sure enjoyed watching them.

Using rain barrels for drip irrigation when there's no rain.

I've written about rain barrels multiple times in the past.  I think they're great!  I can't think of another resource that's as free and easy to get.  The water literally just falls from the sky.  You just have to catch it.  (The only other thing that might come close is leaves.  They fall to the ground in abundance, but you have to gather, mulch/shred, and pile them in order to make decent compost.)

One of the drawbacks to rain barrels is that you're dependent on the weather.  The frequency and amount of rain you get can be quite sporadic.  The best way to deal with this is to have a sufficiently large storage capacity to provide enough water between rain storms.  I currently have enough rain barrels to store 590 gallons of water, and not all of it is available where I need it.  It isn't nearly enough water for my needs.

I have 4 barrels feeding the drip irrigation system for my raised beds.  I haven't done any rigorous testing or note taking, but I think it takes about 4-5 days to empty them. 

So the obvious question becomes, "How do I continue to water my gardens once the barrels are empty?"

Until a few days ago I was manually turning on the hose and filling the barrel directly connected to the drip irrigation line.  I shut off the valve that connects it to the other barrels (I only wanted to fill one barrel, not four.)  Manually filling the barrel is a nuisance.  I had to keep an eye on it to make sure it didn't overflow. 

I needed a better solution.  Luckily I already had it.  One of my overflow barrels has a float valve in it.  And since we got rid of the ducks I don't need nearly as much water in the back yard.  It just made sense to move the barrel to the front yard.

Overflow rain barrel.

I moved the barrel from the back yard to the front yard.  I attached a Y-valve to the hose bib and used a short piece of hose with female couplings on both ends to connect it to the barrel that was already there (that barrel is connected to 3 barrels on the other side of the house).

I attached the drip irrigation line to the new barrel.

I attached the hose to the float valve on the barrel with PVC fittings.

• 1/2 in. PVC Schedule 40 Pressure 90-Degree S x FPT Elbow
• 1/2 in. Slip x 3/4 in. FHT PVC Fitting
• 1/2 in. PVC pipe.

I actually glued the PVC pipe and fittings together since I have high pressure water going through them.  I generally don't bother since I normally work with low pressure water.

I put the hose on a timer and have it set to come on 4 times a day for 20 minutes each time.  I didn't see the need to keep the water on all the time.  Although I suppose it wouldn't hurt. 

Here's a view inside the barrel.  The water is quite low.

Here's a view of the water filling the barrel.

Here it is full.  The water rose enough to shut off the float valve.

The next time it rains the rest of the barrels will fill.  Then I can simply shut off the hose, open the valves connecting the barrels and irrigate with rain water.

Backyard Broilers -- Round 2: Week 5

The birds are a week older and they're still doing just fine.  Initially I ordered 50 birds and kept 15 for myself.  The rest were split up among 4 other families.  I've heard from two of those families that they've lost birds (3 in total).  I haven't had any problems so far. 

I decided to move the tractor closer to the coop.  That puts it closer to the shed which is where I keep the food. 

The broilers are quite lazy.  They don't journey into the yard anymore.  I prop up the tractor in the morning and they rush out to swarm the feeder.  Then they spend the rest of the day laying under the coop.

They've gotten big fast.  They wobble around when they walk.  It's kind of funny to watch. 

They get picked on by the layers.  I started feeding the broilers soy-free organic feed last week.  Well, the layers won't eat their feed any more.  They just strut right up to the feeder and force the broilers out of the way.  Eventually they leave and the broilers go back to eating.  Silly birds...

Baby Rabbits -- Week 7

There's only one more week to go until they are ready to leave momma for their new homes!

They just get more and more adorable.

 

You'd think we'd perfected cloning.  He looks just like his dad.

 

I'm ready for my closeup.

 

Snuggle time with momma.

7 weeks old.

The last of the plants are in the ground.

I didn't have a lot of luck getting my peppers going last year.  They eventually produced, but getting them going was a problem.  Anyway...  I was hoping to avoid those problems this year by keeping the peppers in the greenhouse longer. 

I took the peppers out of the greenhouse yesterday and moved them to the driveway.  I thought I'd give them at least one day in their new environment.

A mix of sweet and hot peppers.

I still had a few tomato and tomatillo plants in the greenhouse.  I wanted to get them in the ground as well.  I was surprised to see their sad state when I went in to get them.  Apparently they don't do well when it's 113*.  I watered them and planted them in my back yard.  I think they'll be fine (as long as the chickens don't get 'em).

The peppers went into my raised beds and several containers.

I put four hot pepper plants down the middle of this bed.  Picking them might be an issue.

Four sweet pepper plants went into this bed.

The remainder of the peppers went into containers.

I can almost taste the salsa already.

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).