october 13, 2016

Good morning, I was talking with a fellow at Market this past week and he was wondering if our egg production was down. I assured him it most certainly was. The property has drifts of feathers every where. As of last Saturday I told him though that so far there were no totally thread bare hens. That was true until this past Sunday when I let the hens out. There was a hen that was totally nude except for a single pathetic tail feather with a ton of pin feathers just emerging. She just made me want to itch.

Our parrots like us to scritch their heads when the pen feathers emerge. Most of the time their eye balls roll back into their heads until I find a very tender one which ends the scritch session. Or at least for a moment when they bow their heads back down for more rubbing. They are never a walking pin cushion like some of the hens. It just makes you want to scratch.

I so hope that the turnip greens help with their protein needs. I have also sown some clover that is high in protein too. Molting is a huge energy draw. With our older hens this is when we loose most of them.

We have a duck hen that is setting on 8 eggs. I am beginning to think they may not hatch. She was in a extreme broody state when I found her sitting on the eggs. She was hissing and very protective of her nest, so I erected a fence around her that I could open each morning so that she can eat and drink. This started at least 3 weeks ago. Hatch is exactly 28 days. I think we are very close to that if not over. My willingness to let her stay on is because there was one night I neglected to close her gate and I was woken at midnight with her very animated quaking. So I let her into the duck box. She was off the nest for a few hours (too long?). Anyway in the morning she went back to a nest of eggs. This surprised me that there were eggs there after she got chased off by a predator? Life”s mysteries. Soooo here we wait.

All the summer veggies are slowing down but ther still are some squash, chilies, eggplants and okra being harvested but very diminished quantities. Although I am harvesting the last bed of Sweets. It has been nice to not have had a rodent eating on the tubers. It looks like the Azagard has helped to keep the nematodes at bay. There just are not as many culls as I have had in the past. Maybe?, I have started to deplete my resident population? One can only hope.

Other than turnips and mustard greens there will be a wait for greens. I feel it will all come together though. Transition time can be a little rough.

Any way I do like the slower pace..

Production is off. Please make a request and I will see what I can do. It is all about that transition thing. Thank you for your patience!