Predator!
This week we had a predator attack on the chickens!
I came home from work one day this week and saw that the rooster and hens/pullets were acting oddly but couldn’t see a reason why. I did think “Why did Oscar put the rooster’s coop at such an odd angle?” and walked away shaking my head.
The next morning, when he said he hadn’t put the coop in that spot, we investigated further and determined that a predator had a go at the rooster’s coop and, besides relocating it by several feet, very nearly chewed its way in.
Friday, my next door neighbor stopped me on the road and said three neighborhood dogs had attacked the coop. The mystery of what it was is now solved. This morning (Saturday) I heard a racket in the back yard and chased a Visla away from the coop. Now I know one of the dogs involved, but not which neighbor to fuss at.
Electric fencing was not in the budget but guess what I’m going to have to buy. Sigh.
In the meantime, Oscar will set up the trail cam to gather evidence in case it’s needed. We moved the rooster’s coop so that the damaged side is against the chicken run to provide a little more protection.
We are crossing our fingers this will be enough to protect Road Runner until we can get the electric fence.
New to Grass
The pullets are just over 14 weeks old and finally large enough to spend time outside the run in the evenings. They are loving it!
There’s nothing so fine as scratching around in the grass!
The concept of getting back in the run through the doorway escapes a few of them but, hopefully, that won’t last long.
Self-Reliance & Technology
I have been working on one aspect or another of self-reliance and preparedness most of my adult life. The difference in what I’ve been able to accomplish the past couple of years compared to previous times (besides having Oscar here to do the heavy lifting) is the availability of Google and You Tube. They have become tremendous tools.
While I’ve spent a good portion of the past 40+ years haunting websites for information, knowledge, and entertainment, a whole new world has opened the internet even wider with the progression of smartphones. Now, rather than waiting until I get to my computer at home and hoping I remember the question I had, I can say “Hey Google” and get the answer right away.
I’m sure my assigned Google-angel (there’s someone on the other side of the phone feeding info to me, right?) is feeling sorry for him/her self when, for the hundreth time, I’ve asked, “Hey, Google, can chickens eat….” In fact, I frequently ask the same questions over and over because I forgot what I was told, or I don’t like the answer so I ask again, in a different way.
Now, rather than scour books and websites when I need to learn how to do any kind of task, I can watch a You Tube video. I spend a lot of time on You Tube as I work to develop my homestead. I’ve learned a lot and have found some online communities that have helped develop my knowledge and skills.
Relying soley on Google, You Tube, or the Internet is a dangerous mindset. When the electricity goes off or your Internet connection is down, “Hey, Google” is met with silence and you are on your own.
I need to create a hard copy Google – a compendium of all things gardening and chickens and pest control and pruning and building and Everything Homesteading.
Over the years, I’ve bought books, torn articles out of magazines (or printed them from a website), saved handouts from classes, and gathered information I might need in the future. Unfortunately, when I need to re-access the information, I can’t find it or, even worse, I don’t remember that I have it.
I don’t know the answer to this dilemma. I just know I need to come up with an alternative means of retaining the abundance of information I need for this endeavor.
In the meantime, “Hey Google …”
Fall Garden Progress
With time off from work last week, I made good progress on my fall garden.
Monday, while Oscar was also off from work, we got the frame and hoops together for the 8′ x 12′ hoop house greenhouse. We placed it over the galvanized steel raised bed we had put together and filled with soil a couple of weeks beforehand.
Tuesday, I planted that bed with Snow Bowl Cauliflower, Early Wonder Beets, Easter Egg Radishes, and Scarlet Nantes carrots. By Saturday, the radishes were already coming up!
After picking and gifting my last zucchini of the season, I cleared out the brick bed and the big green planter. I would like to plant the brick bed for fall but that will happen only if I can come up with the resources to build a lid over it to act as a cold frame.
I moved the green planter into the greenhouse, filled it with fresh dirt (I dumped the old dirt into the brick bed so the planter was easier to move), and planted lots of Sugar Prince Peas in it.
The Greenstalk was disassembled and moved into the greenhouse, too. The top two layers are still working on Mini Bell Peppers, a last Cowbell pepper, and several Serrano peppers. We have a couple more weeks of 90 degree weather which should be just about right to finish these off.
I cleared the last remnants of plantings in a couple of the Greenstalk layers and planted various lettuces which, I hope, will produce well into winter and provide the chickens with greens. Once the peppers are done I will plant more greens in those top two layers.
To finish the greenhouse, I need to purchase plastic to put over it. That will have to wait until early October. I would also like to put two more pots in there, but we’ll see if finances can accommodate the wants.
All in all, I’m pleased with the progress made on the fall garden last week!
Crossing the Rainbow Bridge
Chrissy died this morning.
Chrissy was the sweetest chicken I’ve ever met. She was no bigger at fourteen weeks old than she was at six weeks old because her cross beak inhibited her development. Oscar is taking it hard. I warned him from the start that I did not expect her to live but he spent a lot of time hand feeding her, so it makes sense that it hurts his heart so much.
If you’ve missed previous posts about Chrissy check out this and this and this.
Rest in Peace little chick.
Believe in Yourself
A bird sitting on a tree is never afraid of the branch breaking, because its trust is not on the branch but on it’s own wings.
Outside of the Zone
This past week, both Oscar and I took a walked outside of our comfort zones.
Thursday evening a pipe burst at the house. Without being coached, Oscar turned off the well and checked out what had happened. After making his assessment, he called his dad who told him what supplies he needed and the next steps to take. By the time he returned from the store, it was dark out so we got some lights to work by, he crawled under the house, and fixed the pipe.
Now, if you don’t know, under the house is where all the creepy crawlies live. ShUddEr. Oscar is just as creeped out by walking through spider webs and having bugs crawling on him as the next person, so this was not a place he would normally visit. Nevertheless, after sitting for a full five minutes in front of that hole going under the house saying “I don’t want to go in there,” he took a deep breath and did it!
He fixed the pipe and saved the day!
I didn’t tell him until a few days later that I would have peed in a bucket before crawling in there. Just speaking the truth here.
I decided next year’s big project on the homestead will be to raise meat chickens. We’ll convert the hoop house we’ll be using as a greenhouse (for the fall/winter and spring garden) to house them. They would have eight weeks of daily fresh grass at which point they would be sent to freezer camp. Twenty-four chickens in the freezer = a good place to start this next endeavor.
That meant, of course, I would have to learn how to transition them from grass to freezer. I had watched several videos but knew I needed hands-on experience. So, Saturday, I took a chicken processing class!
I went to Moore Generation Farm, about two hours away, and learned how to do every aspect of the process – dispatch, pluck, disembowel, chill, part, and package chickens.
I learned a lot more from the experience, too.
I learned not to process 105 chickens in one day. Yes, they were experienced and fast but, oh my goodness, that was a lot of chickens! They were still at it after I finally gave up and went home.
I learned I need some different friends. Besides her husband and young daughters, Sabrina had friends and neighbors helping. I loved the sense of community and that they enveloped me, a stranger, into the group. Of the people with whom I currently socialize, only the folks at Wilding Acres Farm would consider helping me process chickens. Everyone else, including my family, would look at me with horror if I invited them over for a freezer camp party.
I learned at what points in the process I can break the job into more manageable sections to work within my abilities. I function best with short spurts of physical activity, but, Saturday, I managed to help for nearly 9 hours! Toward the end, I was taking more and more frequent breaks to try to ease the spasms in my back, but hey, I hung in there for a lot longer than I expected. I’m sure some of it was because of the sense of community – gotta get back in there and help the team – but, overall, I was pretty pleased with myself.
I learned I need to plan my chicken processing for spring and/or fall. Their set-up was really nice. We were in a covered area, open on the sides, with fans blowing. We weren’t having to work with the sun beating down on us and it was a pleasant, not hot, fall day. They told me about their last processing day, in the middle of the 100 degree days we had this summer. Nope, don’t want to do that!
I learned that they borrowed the processing equipment from their county’s Cooperative Extension Office. I need to see if Alamance County does that, too. The equipment is very pricey, into the thousands of dollars. Even the smallest setups can top a thousand dollars. Spending that much would make the price per chicken beyond reason. Yes, there are cheaper alternatives, like hand plucking, but my hand-strength is not sufficient to do that. If I can borrow or rent the equipment from the County Extension Office, that would remove another barrier to progress on the homestead.
One of my favorite sayings is “Life begins at the end of your comfort zone.” Well, that’s where growth is, too.
We did some growing this week. I’m pretty proud of both of us Chickens!
Prepare to Protect
Since 2004, National Preparedness Month is observed each September in the U.S. The intent of National Preparedness Month is to raise awareness about the importance of preparing for disasters and emergencies. This is a time to get focused on, to improve upon, to practice, or, if you’ve been sliding, to reboot your family’s preparedness efforts.
The theme for 2021 is:
“Prepare to Protect. Preparing for disasters is protecting everyone you love.”
Emergency Preparedness is not a new “thing.” It’s been the mindset of forward-thinking people who realize disasters and emergencies can happen, and have happened, without warning, at anytime, anywhere, to anyone.
Emergency Preparedness is not just for a few people. Everyone needs to realize that the government is not going to rescue them during or after a disaster, that first responders are quickly overwhelmed and may not be readily available during a disaster, that grocery stores will not have food available when delivery trucks can’t get through during or after a disaster, that you can’t nuke a frozen dinner when there’s no electricity to run the microwave oven. Everyone needs to become more prepared to take care of themselves during and after a disaster or emergency.
Having lived in Alaska, I know the short- and long-term chaos created by an earthquake. Having lived in the West, I understand a wildfire can spring up and get out of control in a flash, requiring evacuation. Now, living in the Southeast, I have learned that hurricanes and ice storms can mean living without electricity for many days and that a hurricane in one part of the region can create fuel shortages for the entire region.
So many things can go wrong to interfere with a well-ordered life and people who haven’t prepared to take care of themselves when emergencies happen, put themselves at risk and are a burden on those around them.
Keep an eye on the menu at the top of the blog – I will be adding a Preparedness tab in the next little while where I will put Preparedness-related reference materials for easy access and retrieval.
In the meantime, if you want to learn more about how to prepare, check out Ready.gov. If you want to practice your preparations, check out the 7-day Emergency Challenge the folks at Food Storage Made Easy does each September. Leave a comment if you know of other websites that do interesting and useful things to support those who want to prepare for emergencies.
For My Next Trick …
My second attempt using my new Nesco Smart Canner did not go much better than the first.
I tried pressure canning potatoes next. I’ve canned potatoes before so I know I can do it successfully. Since my faith in myself was a bit shaken by Saturday’s magnificent failure, I read my canning book and watched a You Tube video to be sure I had everything right. I read and re-read the instructions for pressure canning in the Nesco Smart Canner. I even used disposable lids instead of the Tattler Reuseable lids.
Everything went as expected until Step 8 in the Nesco manual. “The pressure canner will automatically countdown from E10 to E0. Once the … Display shows a blinking E0, the canner will beep once….”
It didn’t beep once, it beeped three times.
“…the Pressure Limiting Valve is set to Airtight…the canner resumes, the Control Panel will beep again.”
Well, it didn’t resume, it shut down!
Because the canner shut down and did not process the potatoes under pressure for 35 minutes, they are not preserved for the shelf. They are simply jars of boiled potatoes sitting in my refrigerator.
I emailed Nesco customer service and am awaiting a reply.
Two Chickens Homestead 
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