The Freckled Farm Soap Company

Tag: Chickens

  • What’s up Wednesday – 2/12

    Another snow storm is headed our way. In fact, it is supposed to hit us early evening, go until afternoon Thursday, and bring between 8-12 inches of snow. I’m hoping for a lot less though. I’m over doing farm chores in the snow and I have a wedding to photograph on Saturday. The snow is just a nusance at this point. I’m so ready for spring!

    Last friday I scheduled to have UPS deliver our new chicken coop. I got a call from the freight service asking if a tractor trailer would be able to make it up our driveway. Anyone who has been to our farm knows that the answer is no way! I had no idea what to say, and was trying to imagine how big these boxes had to be that they needed to be delivered on a tractor trailer. After I practically worked myself into a panic, worrying that it wasn’t going to be delivered at all, the man asked if we had a pick up truck that could just meet the delivery man at the bottom of our driveway. We do, so I scheduled the delivery for Monday and had Kevin drive my SUV to work so I could use the truck. When the time came to meet the delivery man I put the kids in the truck, Breckin brought his measuring tape just in case we needed it, and waited at the bottom of the driveway. Breckin bounced up and down in the seat every time a truck drove by. I tried to explain to him that it was going to be a BIG truck and his jaw nearly hit the floor when he saw the huge UPS 18 wheeler pull up. I desperately wanted take a picture as our boxes were loaded off this huge truck into the back of our little F150, but I thought the delivery man would think I was crazy. I did  snap a few pictures once we got  back to the house though… I still don’t understand why it had to be delivered by such a huge truck. I can’t wait to start assembling it!

    Coop Delivery

    Coop Delivered

    The girls have 5 more weeks to go in their pregnancies. Now is the time that we start preparing them. They will have their CDT shots and dewormer in the next week and we will start to set up their birthing area soon. They should also really start to show before too long. Both have a little bit of a tummy and waddle, but 75% of the growth happens in the last 4 weeks of the pregnancy, so they should really start to “fill out” over the coming weeks. I promise to post pictures as they really start to get big.

    On a final note, the My Courthouse Market has been canceled for tonight due to the weather…. did I mention that I’m over winter yet?

     

  • What’s up Wednesday – 1/29

    More snow… Can winter be over yet? We have really gotten good at managing the fire in our stove and have had a few days where I was able to keep the house at 70 degrees, even with it in the teens outside. I’m a person who loves heat, so the hotter the better!

    The animals are wishing for spring as well. The goats and llamas are spending most of their time in the barn, making the daily clean up fun, and the chickens only leave their coop for a few minutes during free range time.  On Monday we had a little warm spell and the animals ran and leapt through the pasture, acting crazy and having so much fun. I guess cabin fever is getting to all of us.

    Last night we ordered new chickens. They are scheduled to be shipped on March 10th! We are down to 5 laying hens and they are not enough to supply us with all of the eggs we need for our family of four. Our girls are getting up there in age and will start laying less and less, so we have decided to purchase a second coop (instead of building another one from scratch), put it in the pasture with the goats and llamas, and retire our current girls there so they can free range all day and live out the rest of their days happy and unrestricted… except my the pasture fence. We are hoping they will also keep the bug population down in the pasture. With this order we got two breeds of chickens; Easter Eggers and Black Copper Marans. We ordered 3 female and 1 male Easter Eggers, and 7 female and 1 male Black Copper Marans. The plan is to put the Easter Eggers in with the “retired” chickens. The Black Copper Marans will go together in the old coop that Kevin built. This will keep the roosters separate and allow us to have pure bred fertilized Easter Egger and Maran eggs if we want to expand our flock or sell the eggs.

    We also got 3 male Buff Orpingtons to meet the minimum shipment requirement for this time of year. We plan to use these guys as meat chickens since My Pet Chicken doesn’t offer actual meat chickens. We had to go through MPC because they offer the lowest shipping requirement (we do not have space for 25 chickens at the moment) and had the breeds we wanted. This will be our first experience with butchering and we are very nervous about the whole situation, but we have friends who have promised to help us. If all goes well we will do a full batch of actual meat chickens later in the spring. This is a subject I have struggled with quite a bit. It’s sad that I am so detached from our meat source that it is painful to think about butchering an animal to feed my family, but I have no qualms with purchasing meat from the store. I know I can offer our own meat chickens a much better life. I have been told that I have built it up in my head too much and that I will be fine after the first butchering. I know it will feel good feeding my children healthy meat that was humanely raise (spoiled, really).

    On another note, we are SO excited to announce that we have been accepted to the My Manakin Market Saturday market for this spring and summer. We have also been extended at the Wednesday My Courthouse Market in Goochland through the rest of the year. We have loved being apart of the market group!

  • What’s up Wednesday – 1/8

    It was a cold day on The Freckled Farm yesterday… as it was for most of the country. Monday and Tuesday night we closed the animals up in the barn and coop. Normally we leave the doors open to the pasture and run, but we wanted to prevent any wind from getting to the animals and to allow the deep bedding to do it’s job. The animals faired well through the cold weather, although there were points when I was working in the pasture that I could see the goats shivering. They ended up spending the entire day in the barn, only coming out when I was doing farm chores. We have one chicken though who decided that she wanted to molt late in the season and still hasn’t gotten all of her feathers back. I have worried about her quite a bit, but she seems to be doing fine.

    On Tuesday Kevin went out to feed the animals around 5:30am and the temperatures were in the negatives with the wind chill. He closed everyone back up after they were done eating and I went and let everyone out once the sun came up. I had to go out several times during the day to remove the ice from the water buckets. This is my least favorite winter chore. We thought about getting heated buckets, but the breeder of Tina and Hillary told us to avoid them because they lower the goat’s resistance to cold, and if the bucket should break or the electricity go out the cold water could end up hurting the goats. So I trek out the barn and coop every couple of hours to remove the layer of ice that has formed on the water and add warm water. Last year there were only a few days that we really had to fight ice in the water buckets. If we lived in an area that is as cold as what we are dealing with right now all the time I might have consider investing in something else to combat the problem!

    In other news, today is our first day at My Courthouse Market in Goochland, VA. This is an INDOOR farmers market located inside the YMCA in Goochland Courthouse. The market runs from 3pm-7pm. Come and visit us!

  • Getting to Know The Freckled Farm – Our Chicken Coop

    Want to know more about the farmers, animals, and buildings on The Freckled Farm? Every Friday I will introduce you to another part of The Freckled Farm. This week you have a chance to get to know our chicken coop!

    Building of The Freckled FarmThis is our chicken coop. It’s beautiful, isn’t it?! Kevin built it from a picture I gave him. He is quite talented. The floor of the run is sand in order to prevent standing water and mud, which is an issue on our sloped property. There has a ramp up to the hen house, which features two perches widthwise and two nesting boxes. The door to the hen house slides shut giving the chickens extra protection at night. We also have a night guard on the front and back of the coop. It is solar powered and blinks red at night. It’s designed to deter predators by making them think that a predator is already there.

    This will be the last “Getting to Know The Freckled Farm” post for a little while. We’ve now been through all of the animals, and the important farm buildings, but come the spring we will have baby goats, more chickens, an additional chicken coop, and a bigger and better garden, so check back!

  • Getting to Know The Freckled Farm – Cheep Cheep

    Want to know more about the farmers, animals, and buildings on The Freckled Farm? Every Friday I introduce you to another part of The Freckled Farm. This week you have a chance to get to know Cheep Cheep!

    The Freckled Farm - Chicken - Cheep CheepOk, so you might be thinking “Cheep Cheep? How does that go with the theme of sitcom characters?” Well, it doesn’t. Cheep cheep was named by Breckin when he was 2 years old. The day the chicks came in the mail Breckin told me that he thought this one chick loved him and that he loved her. After about a week, once the chicks were stronger and we believed that they would all live and grow to be adults, we decided to allow Breckin to name the one who he thought loved him. I asked him what name he would like to pick and he said Cheep Cheep. I questioned whether he may have thought I asked him what a chicken says… but either way her name became Cheep Cheep.

    Cheep Cheep is a Silver Laced Wyandotte and she is beautifully “laced.” She has a bit of an attitude and can be a little moody. She isn’t going to be the one to let the children catch her for some love and attention.

     

     

    The Freckled Farm Soap Company makes handmade goat milk soaps. Our body care products are all natural and made with love. For more information about our products please visit our website: www.thefreckledfarmsoapcompany.com

  • Getting to Know The Freckled Farm – Daphne

    Getting to Know The Freckled Farm – Daphne

    The Freckled FarmThe picture above does not do Daphne justice. It is from when she was a teenager and now as an adult her feathers are far more golden. She is truly a beautiful bird. Daphne is a Golden Laced Wyandotte. She is a nice bird, but is generally not interested in being handled by humans and doesn’t enjoy running around the yard with the children like some of the other chickens do.

    The Freckled Farm Soap Company makes handmade goat milk soaps. Our body care products are all natural and made with love. For more information about our products please visit our website: www.thefreckledfarmsoapcompany.com

  • Getting to Know The Freckled Farm – Fran

    Want to know more about the farmers, animals, and buildings on The Freckled Farm? Every Friday I will introduce you to another part of The Freckled Farm. This week you have a chance to get to know Fran!

    ChicksPoor Fran doesn’t have any pictures of her as an adult. Maybe it’s because she is always on the move. Fran is a beautiful australorp. Her feathers are jet black with an iridescent sheen of green and blue. She is a sweet, quiet bird. She generally follows the rest of flock around and only causes trouble when she runs off with our troublemaker Sophia.

    The Freckled Farm Soap Company makes handmade goat milk soaps. Our body care products are all natural and made with love. For more information about our products please visit our website: www.thefreckledfarmsoapcompany.com

     

  • Getting to Know The Freckled Farm – Topanga

    Want to know more about the farmers, animals, and buildings on The Freckled Farm? Every Friday I will introduce you to another part of The Freckled Farm. This week you have a chance to get to know Topanga!

    The Freckled Farm Soap Company - Topanga ChickenTopanga is a buff orpington, and she is desperate to be a momma, as orpingtons often are. We cannot keep this chicken from going broody. This means she sits in the nesting box all day trying to hatch eggs, none of which have been fertilized. I collect eggs multiple times a day and shoo her off the nest each time. When I am able to get her out of the coop she wanders around the yard puffed out and growling. I have thought about getting her eggs to hatch, but we currently don’t have room for more chickens.

    When chickens go broody they stop laying eggs, which with Topanga is a good thing. We have never been able to get her to absorb calcium well, and her eggs have a tendency to be very thin. They always break in the nesting box, getting yoke all over the other eggs and straw. This is even after giving her oyster shells, yogurt, greens, and anything else we can find that contains calcium. None of the other chickens seem to have this problem, so we know it’s not the overall diet of the chickens.

    Topanga is a beautiful bird and one of the more friendly chickens. She is one of the largest chickens we have and when she is all puffed out she looks monstrous compared to the other girls.

    Chicks

    The Freckled Farm Soap Company makes handmade goat milk soaps. Our body care products are all natural and made with love. For more information about our products please visit our website: www.thefreckledfarmsoapcompany.com

  • Getting to Know The Freckled Farm – Sophia

    Want to know more about the farmers, animals, and buildings on The Freckled Farm? Every Friday I will introduce you to another part of The Freckled Farm. This week you have a chance to get to know Sophia!

    The Freckled Farm Soap Company - SophiaI had a hard time deciding which chicken to highlight first. They all have such different personalities and they are all pretty equal on the ladder. We don’t have a standout leader. I finally decided on Sophia because her personality stands out slightly more than the others. She is the trouble maker! While all of the other chickens happily go back to the coop in the evening if Sophia feels like she didn’t get enough time in the yard she hides and does what she can to avoid me. Many evenings I have chased her around the trees that surround our property, shaking a cup of sunflower seeds, desperate to get her safe in the coup so I can go inside to start dinner.

    Sophia is a partridge rock. She is red with accents of gold and black. She is on the smaller side but is a solid, dependable layer.

    Chick

    The Freckled Farm Soap Company makes handmade goat milk soaps. Our body care products are all natural and made with love. For more information about our products please visit our website: www.thefreckledfarmsoapcompany.com

  • Getting to Know The Freckled Farm – Breckin

    Want to know more about the farmers, animals, and buildings on The Freckled Farm? Over the next few months I will introduce you to a different part of The Freckled Farm every Friday. This week you have a chance to get to know Breckin!

    Breckin and ChickensThis photograph was taken a year ago, but is still one of my favorite Breckin “farm” pictures.

    Breckin, our oldest (3 years), is a true farm kid. His main job around the farm, aside from being a kid, is to help care for the animals, specifically the chickens. One of my favorite parts of the day is watching Breckin put the chickens back into the coop before we go in for the evening. We have trained the chickens to respond to a specific call (“Coop Coop!”), when they hear the call they come running from all corners of the farm. They hop in the coop and Breckin spreads black oil sunflower seeds on the coop floor for them. I love to hear him walking through the yard calling them as he shakes his cup of seeds. He calls them by name if they are being slow and counts them before closing them up for the night.

    Breckin is also a great help in the garden. He will help me pull weeds, but I have to watch him closely because sometimes he will get ahead of himself and start pulling everything in sight. He loves to water the plants and watching as they grow (he even measures the plants). Many veggies he wont eat unless they come out of our garden, like cucumbers.

    Breckin has been known to create mud puddles to play in, to strip down to his underwear in order to run through the hose, to build with any material he can get his hands on. He is so proud of his farm, his animals, and his family. He is the best big brother and son of all time, and he is so incredibly loved.

    The Freckled Farm - Breckin

    The Freckled Farm Soap Company makes handmade goat milk soaps. Our body care products are all natural and made with love. For more information about our products and to read more about the farm please visit our website: www.thefreckledfarmsoapcompany.com