• The majority of our fruits, veggies, and herbs are growing well.

• Farmer John planted one side of the goat’s field with a grass mix. It’s finally taking off. We’re going to let it grow a bit more, though, before letting the goats graze on it.

• A bird I have never seen at our house showed up. I believe it is a Yellow-breasted Chat. He is quite the chatterbox.

• The lavender is in bloom and I love it. I am conflicted about whether to cut it or leave it. I want to make an herb craft with the cut lavender, but I love the way it looks in the garden. So, I hate to cut it. Decisions, decisions.

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• A pile of feathers is never a good sign. Somethin’ got one of our free range roosters. From the way the feathers were spread out, I’m guessing it was a bobcat. They tend to leave piles of feathers in various places as they’re carrying the bird away.

• Lots of goodies are off to an early start in the greenhouse – like the Mexican Sour Gherkins.

• The swallows are still busy darting around. Love them.

• A few weeks ago Farmer John cemented posts in a bucket for me. However, once he learned I wanted to plant herbs around them he decided the pressure treated boards weren’t the best option. So, he redid the buckets with metal posts.

• The first mowing of the year was needed.

• We had a four legged visitor this week while our friends were off soaking in the rays in Hawaii.

•  A number of our hens are going broody. When a free range hen goes broody, we don’t tend to disturb her. However when one goes broody in one of our coops, it tends to throw off egg laying for many of the ladies. So, the broody’s have been relocated to the chicken tractors.

• I’ve been pulling weeds by the bucketfuls. I am never caught up, but every little bit helps.

• 2 white leghorns just chillin’ midday.

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• I’m fighting with Canadian thistles in all my flowerbeds. They are definitely my least favorite weed and unfortunately are quite prolific around here.

• Meanwhile the garden is battling with a broadleaf weed. They are just as difficult to get rid of as the Canadian thistle. They just aren’t pokey, so they don’t tick me off quite as much.

• Farmer John tilled a section in the garden, so we moved a few of the seedlings I started to that plot. Also planted were onion starts and a few seeds.

• I gave the rye grass fodder to the chickens. They devoured it.

• The ajuga is blooming in my favorite color.

• Bugs are coming out like crazy. The kids & I spotted a bug we haven’t noticed before. I thought it looked similar to a dragonfly, except it looks mean like a wasp.

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It’s already here. The 15th of the month. And that means it’s Bloom Day, a day to show off the beauties in our flower gardens.

It is raining like crazy this morning, and will probably not let up ’til May. But, I did manage to get a few pics the other day before the flowers got soggy.

FRONT YARD

IN THE GARDEN & ALONG THE GOAT FENCE

BIRD VILLAGE

Sharing this post at May Dreams Garden

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Saturday was the Oregon Fall Poultry Swap in Corvallis. This was our first time being a vendor at the Fall Swap. Although, earlier this year we were vendors at the Spring Swap.

OUR BOOTH

OTHER VENDORS

WHAT WE BROUGHT HOME

Farm Kid2 bought a Muscovy duck from a vendor across from us. He also bought hatching eggs from the vendor right next to us. The 3 light brown eggs are Seramas & the white egg is an Olandsk Dwarf. Ooh, I hope they hatch.
Update: Day 6 I candled the eggs & all 4 looked to be developing. I was so excited. However… about day 14 we were in town all day & sometime early in the morning our power went out. By the time we got home the eggs were cold & had been for a number of hours. Our power didn’t come back on until the next day. They never did finish developing.

The day went very well. My only complaint is that going to the swap as a vendor, I don’t have time to look around at what everyone else is selling or take part in the other activities. Last year at the Fall Swap I had a great time browsing & taking pics. Whether going as a vendor or a customer, though, the event is fun. I’m sure we’ll be back next year.

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Our birds are not American Poultry Association show quality birds. They are, however, fabulous backyard birds for egg laying & meat purposes.

Chicks

Adolescent Stage

As with any chicken, this is not the time they look their best.

Pullets & Cockerels (less than one year)

Hens

They are good foragers.

Taking a good dust bath

Roosters

This is a decent looking Rhode Island Red cock. His comb, wattles & face are bright red. His legs are yellow. His sickle feather is greenish black. His feather coloring is not great, though. He’s not as dark as the APA Standard lists. But, none of our RIR’s are show quality dark. There is also a difference in color in his breast and under body compared to his back, neck & saddle feathers.

This handsome guy has a growth on his wattle making him not good for showing or breeding.

Eggs

They are great layers of a lovely brown egg. Often times even during molting and cold weather they continue do a good job of laying.

Chicken Stories

This poor guy was nabbed by a bobcat. Farmer John went outside and scared the bobcat. Thankfully, the bobcat dropped the chicken in the process of running away. There were feathers everywhere and his backside didn’t look good for awhile. But, he survived.

A few years ago, our kids left a small rubber chicken outside. The real chickens were intrigued by it & caused quite a scene as they fought over the silly toy. Of course, they can’t eat a rubber chicken so Farmer John took it away from the ladies.

A Great Overall Bird

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We’re still hatching chicks. We have one more Marans batch in the incubator now, then I think we’ll be done for awhile. I’m hoping by October we’ll be able clearly identify all the pullets from the cockerels. The pullets will come with me to the Fall Swap. Some of them should even be laying by October.

A couple months ago we got another incubator. It was a last minute decision & we needed it right away. So, I ran to the feed store & bought the same incubator we already owned. To keep things straight in my records, I’ve named the incubators. The original incubator is Wilma. I named the new one Betty.

For this hatch the eggs were set in Wilma. At lock down I separated the Easter Eggers & Olive Eggers from the Rhode Island Reds & Marans. I do this because many of our OE’s look similar to our Marans. After the Marans hatch I place a band on one leg to identify them.

HATCHING!

On one side of Wilma I placed the Olive Eggers. These eggs were layed by our EE hens & fertilized by our Splash Marans. On the other side of Wilma were the EE’s & OE’s. The Easter Eggers were fertilized by our main stud of the farm, Mo. The Olive Eggs were fertilized by Roost, our OE rooster. In Betty were the Rhode Island Reds & Marans.

CHICKS

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EGGS IN THE TURNER & CANDLING THE EGGS

CHICKS

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SHADE GARDEN

FRONT YARD

BACK YARD

BIRD VILLAGE

I can’t wait to see what colors next month brings.

I’m sharing this post at May Dreams Gardens.

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On Saturday a friend & I were vendors at the Oregon Spring Poultry Swap. This was our first time as sellers not buyers. It was a long, yet fun, day starting with my alarm going off at 4:20am. Most of the chicks we’ve been hatching this year came with us to the swap. I was wanting to also bring a few laying hens that hatched last spring, but there was no room in my car for them. Bummer. Maybe next time.

OUR BOOTH

This was our first swap & a good learning experience. I learned our company sign rests perfectly on the legs of a particular table we have. I learned people really enjoyed the sign I made listing what we were selling.

I layed our booth out in an L shape trying to give us more table space, expecting people to come in and look at the other table. They didn’t.

So, we moved one cage from the back table to the top of the dog crate. That was perfect. The cage then was up front & at eye level. I constantly moved birds to that cage as the ones in the cage sold. We got many questions about the nipple waterers.

I also tried selling hatching eggs & my friend brought vanilla extract. FYI, the vanilla is fabulous.

Chicks we brought were:
Rhode Island Reds: ages 2 days & 1 week
Marans: ages 2 days & 5 weeks
Easter Eggers: ages 2 days, 5 weeks & 10 weeks

I brought a couple crafty things just to see if they would sell. They didn’t.
I made small garden signs out of pallet wood. They are painted with outdoor paint & sealed with a clear coat.
I also brought 2 of the cement leaves I made last summer.

OTHER VENDORS

This swap was set up in two different barns. We were in the goat barn with most of the vendors selling animals. The sheep barn was mainly for the craft vendors.

It was such a good time. The day started out slow. But, once it picked up we never slowed down until close to closing time. My crafts didn’t sell, but I sold most of the chicks. People were just as interested in the 5 & 10 week old chicks as they were the 2 day old chicks. I’m sure I would have sold a couple laying hens, too, had I been able to bring them. Many vendors had Marans & Easter Eggers & many customers wanted them. Not many shoppers were interested in the Rhode Island Red’s. I’m not sure why not. They are great layers & a fairly calm bird.

All the shoppers were friendly & great to talk chicken with.

The only downfall of the day was that I didn’t get to do shopping of my own. I would have liked to look around more than I was able. But, it’s hard to complain when the reason I couldn’t leave our booth was because there was usually customers at it.

My friend & I decided it was such a good time that we signed up for the Fall Swap.

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