Summer tomatoes in February

We froze bags full of tomatoes at the end of the season last year, and we break one out every now and again as a tasty treat for the chickens during a long, cold winter. These (as-yet unnamed) chickens were hatched on the farm, and they're about 5 months old now. 

Covering All the Bases

In an effort to get a head start for spring, we protected some greens--lettuces, arugula, etc.--through the winter by covering a few of our raised beds with plastic. The cover was ripped off the first bed early on in the winter. We fixed it a couple of times, but Mother Nature was very determined. After the plants had been exposed to freezing temperatures a few times, we gave up (you can see the hoops in the background). The second bed fared pretty well until the high winds last Friday pulled off the plastic. That's when we made the unpleasant discovery that it had simply been too cold for most of the lettuces and not many survived. To top it off, chickweed and other weeds were thriving under there! It wasn't a total loss, though. The weeds went to the chickens. Our hens can tell you that chickweed is aptly named. They love it!

Coming Soon: Sugar Snap Peas

 

Sugar snap peas are a cool weather crop that we grow in the spring and fall.  If we don't get a hard frost, we should have some sugar snap peas in the coming weeks.  Eat them raw, pod and all!

Mail Order Chicks

In addition to the various chicks that hatched on our farm this summer, 50 day-old chicks arrived via the U.S. Postal Service!  (They're still nervous around us, so they tend to huddle up in the corner while I'm trying to take pictures.)  The chicks are black and white, but the adult birds will be all black with a beautiful iridescent green sheen.  In addition, the hatchery sent a bonus, unknown breed.  We will have to wait and see what it grows up to be!

They should begin laying eggs in about 5 months.

Homegrown Chicks

Here are two of the chicks hatched out by mother Henrietta.  She took the chicks on their first outside tour today, now that we've finally gotten a break from the rain.

New chicks!

We had eight baby chickens hatch last week! They are zooming all around in their enclosure, and Henrietta (the mother hen), is teaching them all about the ways of the chicken. We'll get some pictures posted soon!

We're Expecting (Again)!

Last week, one of our New Hampshire Red hens "went broody," meaning she stayed on the nest to hatch some eggs. Hatching eggs is quite an undertaking, so hens don't do it very often.  (We've only had three hens go broody in two years!) She sits on the nest for three weeks, getting up only once a day to eat and drink.  She flattens her body out to make sure the eggs are covered, and she turns them frequently--not that easy when you don't have hands!

We moved her to a separate location so she wouldn't be disturbed, and sneaked a few more eggs from other hens under her. Adding eggs is a delicate process. We place the eggs in the nest box near her, and she pecks us fiercely as we're doing it to "protect" the eggs she already has under her. (Gloves are recommended for this operation.) After we back away, she uses her beak to push the eggs under her where it's nice and warm. Timing is also an issue. To move the hen to her separate enclosure, we have to relocate her at night so she'll be too sleepy to get upset. The next day we add some additional eggs, once we're sure she's going to stay on the nest. We want all the eggs to hatch around the same time, so we don't add any more after the first day. 

We hope to have some more little chickies running around here in a couple of weeks.