FINALLY... broody-less chickens

For months we've had a broody chicken, Blackie.  You've seen her before on our blog.  This is the second time she's gone broody.  The first time was for several weeks, then one day she just hopped out of the coop as if nothing happened.  She stayed out a few weeks, then went broody again and has been ever since.  It's been at least a month or two.  We actually started discussing butchering her.  After all, the purpose of a hen is to provide eggs and well, she's not.  To make matters worse, she seems to have taught two other hens how to be broody... one of our Buff Orphingtons and an Ameracauna went broody also.  Fantastic! 

So last weekend we started disucssing butchering again.  Then out of the blue, Blackie started coming out of the coop a little bit.  So we watched and held off butchering.  Then she started coming out each day just like the other girls.  And it seemed that if Blackie was going to come out, the Buff and the Ameracauna didn't have any interest in staying in the coop either, so they've been coming out every day too!  FINALLY! 

That's not to say she/they won't go broody again, but 1) we can hope and 2) at least our egg production will be up in the meantime.

Farm takes backstage

Today I'm 39-weeks pregnant (9-months for you non week-to-month converting folks) and had my weekly prenatal checkup.  I've been having some pretty miserable pregnancy related side-effects and just last week was told Samuel is a tad big and they want to keep an eye on his size.  Today I told my doctor all of my woes and how one in particular - severe itching all over - is unbearable.  I expected him to say something like 'it will all be over soon', but instead he said 'I think we need to deliver this baby'.  WHOA, say what? After a few minutes of discussion, I agreed.  So, tomorrow night at 8pm (yes, PM!) we go to the hospital to start the inducement process.

My point in telling you all of this is because there will be less going on here at the farmstead than normal.  Well, let me clarify... Dan will be doing a lot over the next week since we still have to get coops and pig-pens setup at the farm and ultimately need to move 5 pigs, 23 hens and 10 roosters, oh and the rest of our furniture.  However, since I'm the designated blog updater and will be busy the next few days giving birth, then afterward learning how to care for a newborn... all the while trying to ensure I don't get peed on while changing diapers... it's safe to say blog updates may be sporadic.

Dan and I are so blessed to work for a great company that gives 3-months fully paid maternity/paternity leave to Mom's and Dad's.  This is of course supposed to be time to bond with your baby, which it will be.  But it will also give us time to bond with our new farm.  =)

This past weekend

This past weekend Dan and Brian processed 29 broilers.  I stood by for moral support, fetched supplies and packaged the birds after they cooled and rested a bit.  This batch of broilers were Red Broilers, which aren't as genetically modified as the Cornish X's we raised last time.  Although this makes us feel better, they sure were small birds.  We discussed trying Cornish X's again from a different supplier and butchering them a little earlier then we did last time, so they don't get to the point of having leg/joint issues.  We'll see.  We're still trying to decide if this will be the last batch of the year or if we want to squeeze one more in for a late fall processing.  It will probably all depend on whether we can get the brooder and chicken tractor moved to the new farm in time. 

Stay tuned....

The new and improved Thayer Family Farm!!!

One week ago we closed on the new and improved Thayer Family Farm. We are so excited to finally have found a property that we both love.  I love the house, which is where I spend a good portion of my time.  Dan loves the 60 acres of land.

Moving has presented a bit of a challenge since I'm 8 1/2 months pregnant and Dan has to do most of the moving by himself.  Our goal is to get as much as we can to the farm before Samuel gets here, then we can move the rest later.  However, we need to get the current house on the market as soon as we can, so we can't dilly-dally either.  We'll be sure to get pics of the farm up as we get coops, pig-pens, etc set up.  Here are a few general pics that we have though.

Front of the house...

Barn, where some of the animals will be housed near...

One of the many pastures....

2-weeks ago....

Two weeks ago Dan and Brian butchered rabbits.  A total of 11... 3 adult (stewing) and 8 young rabbits.  Processing rabbit is quite a bit different then poultry and goes pretty quickly.  They had all 11 done in about an hour.  I'm looking forward to having our first rabbit dinner... we haven't decided what we're making yet though.

Oh, and remember our turkey that flew the coop trying to avoid being butchered?  She didn't escape this time.  Now we have 9 turkeys in the freezer.  It's going to be fantastic having antibiotic free turkey we raised for Thanksgiving and Christmas dinner this year!

3-weeks ago....

Sorry there hasn't been a post in quite a while.  To say we have a lot going on is an understatement.  Let me try to get caught up with some of the recent goings-on.

3 weeks ago Dan butchered turkeys.  Except for one that seemed to figure out what was going on and flew the coop.  Literally.  We have a 6-foot high barb-wired fence that separates us from a Girl Scout Equestrian Camp.  The turkey flew over the fence while Dan was trying to catch her.  Later, she realized where her food and water was and wanted back over, but couldn't figure out how.  Finally the next day she figured it out and flew back over.  Since all her turkey buddies were gone, she started hanging out with chickens during the day.  A pretty funny sight.

As far as the butchering, Dan's decided he really likes turkeys better than chickens.  Everything is larger, therefore, easier to eviscerate.  However, he doesn't like that 1) turkeys really aren't very smart and 2) if his truck is left outside, they use the hood as a roost.  One nice thing about the new farm is that the pasture and yard will be two distinct areas, so we won't have to worry about hood-roosting.

Flour Making Time

Last fall I planted a small patch of wheat, and this summer Danny helped me harvest it and Brian helped me thresh and winnow our first batch of it. This fall I plan to plant more wheat, as well as oats, barley, and rye. All three will be ready for harvest early next summer.
In the meantime, we have our wheat, and in order to turn it into whole wheat flour we invested in this here GrainMaker grain mill. It comes with a handle that attaches to the big flywheel on the back. You dump the grain in the top, start cranking, and flour comes out the front. The big shiny knob on the front allows us to adjust the fineness of the flour.
Our initial attempts at grinding were not good. It's a true test of stamina to turn the crank long enough to produce a usable amount of flour. After Brian and I took turns cranking this beast for an hour we were both worn out and had only made about 3 cups of flour; a combination of whole wheat, brown rice, and oats, to be exact. I decided right then and there that this thing would be motorized.After a brief search on eBay I scored a new 1/2 hp electric motor. A trip to the local farm store provided a 1.5" pulley and a v-belt. After a few weekends in the shop I had a stand for the mill with the motor mounted in the lower part of the stand. Now for the test!
I loaded up the hopper with more of our home-grown wheat, and flipped the switch. What a difference! Flour was now flying out the front, and I had a cup of flour in under a minute. Here's an action photo:Next I tried some brown rice, and then some steel-cut oats, with the same result: 1 cup of flour in about 1 minute. Remember, the same amount of flour by hand took a grueling one hour! Hooray, electricity!
The beauty of the grain mill is that we can make just as much flour as we need when we need it, which means it will always taste fresher. Whole grains stored in the freezer will stay good almost indefinitely. Also, it allows us to make whatever types of flour we want. Even if we buy the grain, it's far less expensive than buying flour. For example, at Costco we buy organic brown rice for $1/lb, which means we can have organic brown rice flour for $1/lb, which is far cheaper than any source I've seen online. Our whole wheat flour (organic, of course!) is basically free, since the wheat seed I planted was leftover from a 50lb sack I bought for chicken feed. Some of this year's wheat harvest will be planted for next year's crop, at a cost of $0 (okay, maybe a buck for gas for the roto-tiller). This year I let some of our sweet corn stay in the garden to mature, and once it's dry I'll try grinding it for corn meal. Normally, sweet corn isn't used for flour, but I read that it works well as long as you make sure it's completely dry before grinding it.
Here's a picture of our breakfast; wheat, oat, and rice pancakes. Yummy!