Free-Running Chickens................
With the nicer weather, the hens get a break from the run and can forage to their hearts content in the garden. Its good for them and it takes some of the poop-pressure off the coops! If you have chickens
This really is a short-lived opportunity for them this year. Normally, they get two-three months in the spring and two-three months in the fall to forage. But this long and early winter really cut into their "free-range" time! They have a large run ..... 30x50 ... two coops..... and all the weeds, kitchen scraps, grass clippings they can eat. So they are definitely "free-range" chickens...... maybe not as "free" as they would like to be!!!!
But I make my living by selling flowers and the girls like their floral greens! So they are banished from the yard once I start planting. Hens ... like my cats ... can not be trained to stay out of the cutting beds. Fortunately, the cats do less damage!
We do have a few free-range birds..........
This is Max ..... he is an Easter-egger roo ....... supposedly. I have never had that coloration before and I'm lovin' it! He is one handsome boy!
Roosters, for some reason, do not tear and dig in the gardens the way that hens do. So Max and a couple of other roos are being sent to do Japanese Beetle duty in the raspberries this year. We will see how that goes!
The ducks have free range all the time. Ducks are great buggers....... can be very sociable and just are a joy to have around. Most of the time. This group has been great. But not very sociable .... oh, they will talk to me. And most of the time, they will come when I call but not "Walter-friendly". Of course, they also don't stand on my porch and poop. Aloofness has its advantages!
Unfortunately, free-ranging poultry has its disadvantages. If you are sharp -- you will notice that my blue crested duck is missing. Cindy Loo Who met her Grinch in the way of a fox. She put up quite the fight ...... but she lost.
So that is all from the farm today..... I am off to make buttermilk and then make sour cream from that. I am teaching a breakfast class at Scott on Monday night ..... so a good farm breakfast it will be! Tuesday night -- I am teaching a canning basics class. So if you have never preserved anything before..... lets get you started. Its all about equipment, safety, and where to begin. And we will be making an instant freezer jam or two.
Life on the farm is good.
This really is a short-lived opportunity for them this year. Normally, they get two-three months in the spring and two-three months in the fall to forage. But this long and early winter really cut into their "free-range" time! They have a large run ..... 30x50 ... two coops..... and all the weeds, kitchen scraps, grass clippings they can eat. So they are definitely "free-range" chickens...... maybe not as "free" as they would like to be!!!!
But I make my living by selling flowers and the girls like their floral greens! So they are banished from the yard once I start planting. Hens ... like my cats ... can not be trained to stay out of the cutting beds. Fortunately, the cats do less damage!
We do have a few free-range birds..........
This is Max ..... he is an Easter-egger roo ....... supposedly. I have never had that coloration before and I'm lovin' it! He is one handsome boy!
Roosters, for some reason, do not tear and dig in the gardens the way that hens do. So Max and a couple of other roos are being sent to do Japanese Beetle duty in the raspberries this year. We will see how that goes!
The ducks have free range all the time. Ducks are great buggers....... can be very sociable and just are a joy to have around. Most of the time. This group has been great. But not very sociable .... oh, they will talk to me. And most of the time, they will come when I call but not "Walter-friendly". Of course, they also don't stand on my porch and poop. Aloofness has its advantages!Unfortunately, free-ranging poultry has its disadvantages. If you are sharp -- you will notice that my blue crested duck is missing. Cindy Loo Who met her Grinch in the way of a fox. She put up quite the fight ...... but she lost.
So that is all from the farm today..... I am off to make buttermilk and then make sour cream from that. I am teaching a breakfast class at Scott on Monday night ..... so a good farm breakfast it will be! Tuesday night -- I am teaching a canning basics class. So if you have never preserved anything before..... lets get you started. Its all about equipment, safety, and where to begin. And we will be making an instant freezer jam or two.
Life on the farm is good.
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