Canadian Acres
Farming in the North
Warmer Weather
March has arrived and with it, warmer weather. At least today. I have spent most of the day outdoors with my critters enjoying the sunshine and thought you all might like a peek into our funny little world.
Wyatt and Sake have been working on their relationship…
The cat’s ratings went up when Wyatt noticed she could get ONTO the barbecue. The plot, as always, thickens.
The chicks are more active everyday as well as their Mama. Dad came in to see the babies for the first time, and although Josephine wasn’t stoked, she tolerated him a lot better than everyone else.
The chickens are happy for the sun.
I hope you all are enjoying March so far, just keep in mind.. in like a lamb, out like a lion. Or in my case, in like a chicken, out like a Wyatt 🙂
~Katy
The first babies on the farm
If you have ever felt the urge to get nothing done in your life, I suggest you hatch chicks under a broody hen. It has been 23 days since I set Josephine and Georgia on clutches of eggs and the last few days have been busy. And I haven’t gotten a lot done… well, I guess if you count judging 4-H speeches, going to a job interview and taking the dogs on a ski with mismatching skis nothing, then yeah. But the remainder of my time has been spent in the coop. On the floor. Staring at Josephine.
Thursday night around 9 pm I heard a faint chirping noise coming from Josephine’s nest. WHAT!? I was so excited, I promptly sat myself down and listened intently for about an hour. Friday would mark 21 days of gestation which is the average amount of time for a chick to hatch. I knew (Googled) that chicks can start peeping from within the shell before they attempt to break on through to the other side, so it was really happening.
I spent pretty much all day Friday in the coop, although didn’t get to see anything. I still heard chirping and knew we had at least one little chick on it’s way.
Saturday brought a busy day, but I rushed home to check on the situation. I sat on the floor and hunkered down for a few hours of staring at Josephine. Don’t worry, I had company.
Then, I finally saw our very first baby on the farm. It peered out from below Mama hen, took one look at it’s audience and scurried right back to whence it came.
I feared it was dead, but it started to chirp at me
Well, three days later I’m proud to report Josephine hatched two more little ones. To my surprise, Georgia got off of her nest this morning, and as I walked by, I noticed a wee one who had literally just come out of the shell. A light colored one to boot! (I have an inordinate amount of black chickens) Georgia seem uninterested in returning to her nest, even though I tried to set her back on it a few times. I was aware that with it only being 40 degrees in the coop, it was a critical time to keep the chick warm. Then, Pearl decided she wanted to lay her egg in that nest and started pecking at the baby. Well, Katy to the rescue. I scooped up the little one and sacrificed my hand to place it under Josephine hoping she wouldn’t be too upset and reject it. She was upset, but just with me. She tucked the little one under her wing, gave me the goose eye and proceeded on with her day. Good Mama.
So all in total we have four hatched, one that died on it’s way out of the shell, and one that is still “cooking”. I originally set fourteen eggs so although not the greatest success rate, I’m pretty impressed with my two broody gals. Over the past three weeks we’ve had temps down to -20 so they did their job well.
I candled the remaining eggs and found all of my orpington (brown) eggs didn’t even seem to be fertilized. I guess we know who Beatrix prefers… those beautiful Olive Egger ladies. Which I’m stoked for because I just love my green eggs.
I’m still hoping for that last egg to hatch, but am over the moon about four new additions.
We may still have snow and ice, but it’s sure starting to feel like springtime around here.
~Katy
Wild Wednesday – Coyote Hunting
This past weekend brought warm (very warm) temperatures and blue skies. In February. We weren’t complaining (too much). What’s good for the spring yearning is bad for our farm road. It’s such a love hate relationship with that damn farm road. But we persevered and are back to cold weather, a frozen road and grey skies. I guess you can’t have it all.
Clay has been itching to get out and hunt some coyotes. He hunts coyotes for a number of reasons, mainly of which is to keep the predator population down on the farm to help protect our deer populations and our precious chickens. He also said he would someday make me a coyote blanket, which is awesome because I will then be straight up Game of Thrones Winterfell legit. Eat your heart out Ned Stark.
Anyway, we had some friends join us on Sunday for a lovely snowshoe, some unsuccessful hunting and overall a perfectly gorgeous afternoon.
We saw four coyotes, three moose, a bald eagle and copious amounts of mule deer.
I must say, being able to snowshoe, hike and hunt on our very own property with views like this is probably one of my favorite parts of our lifestyle change.
What did you do this Sunday?
~Katy
A Birthday Well Spent
Yesterday was my 33rd Birthday, and I must say, with this new life comes a new set of priorities and expectations. Gone are the days of the wild parties and booze for presents (although, I did get some wine so I’m still keeping it real) and welcome are the days of quiet reflection and a heart full of love. I spent the weekend making new friends, spending time with good friends and laugh-laugh-laughing until my stomach hurt. I spent my actual Birthday on the farm, with my critters and my beloved husband. The love was insurmountable as it came in from all over the globe, and everyone pretty much hit the nail on the head as far as presents go. With this simple life brings a sense of needing, not wanting and an appreciation for life and it’s experiences. Here’s a little look into my day:
The chickens got a pinata, the horses, some oats, the dogs got to go on a ski and the cat on a walk. My husband and I had supper in town and talked about the garden and we are hopeful to start in early April (one month away!) All in all, a very successful day.
I am so blessed and so thankful, and after such an amazing year at 32, I am so excited to see what 33 brings.
And don’t worry, it wasn’t all full of unicorns and rainbows… Maynard had an issue with his… eherm… boy part that Mom had to fix and then we found out Wyatt has worms. Happy Birthday to Me!
Cheers to getting older, growing wiser and enjoying the simple things in life.
~Katy
We’re Expecting!
And by we, I mean the chickens… Why, what did you think I meant?
I hope I didn’t just give my husband a heart attack…
It’s been a very cold couple of days here in Northern BC. We’ve been having a winter storm with temps down to -38 and lots of snow and everyone on the farm has been hunkered down. The dogs rarely leave the comfort of the wood stove, and I bundle up in my Carhartt coveralls to head to the chicken coop. Yes, that’s right… I own Carhartt coveralls. Who would have thought!
Though the temperature has been depressing, you wouldn’t know it if you entered our coop. With the daylight increased, spring has sprung for the chickens.
I had two hens go broody this week. Basically, they are preparing to hatch some eggs. Both Josephine and Georgia were settled down in the nesting boxes at night and when I tried to move them they turned full dinosaur on me. You know, like the one dinosaur in Jurassic park that spit on that guy… like that.
They puffed up, shook their neck feathers and made some type of rattling noise at me. Strange little chooks. Once I picked up Josephine and saw she had “feathered her nest” by pulling out her chest feathers and decorating her nesting box, I knew I had a broody hen. Georgia quickly abandoned her nest after I offered up some treats twice in one day, so I was down to one. Sometimes they aren’t cut out to be mothers.
Well, back to Google I went because I didn’t know what I was dealing with. Do I break the broodiness? Do I let her hatch some eggs? It’s only February so is it too cold up here in the North? So many questions and so many answers.
I had been collecting eggs pretty religiously so I knew she was only sitting on a golf ball, but she was determined as ever to hatch it, so I felt it was a good time to do an experiment and see if we could hatch some eggs. Plus, I didn’t really have the equipment to break her broodiness, so I took the lazy way out. Why not let nature take it’s course?
It takes 21 days to hatch an egg, if everything goes just right. We have cold temps working against us, but I figured I could set up the nursery under the heating lamp to help things out. Google said it was easiest to move a broody hen in the evening so I prepared the nursery yesterday during the day to make sure it was ready. I piled up a bunch of new clean straw in between two feed bins under the lamp and to my surprise, Beatrix my rooster began to prepare the nest for me. It was the darndest thing… and ridiculously adorable. I’ve never seen anything like it. He got right in there and turned and groomed the straw, all the while making cooing and clucking noises. He was very proud of himself. Such a good Dad-to-be. Apparently this is a sign of a good rooster… I knew he had it in him.
After shooing out the crowd that had gathered to inspect the nursery, all I could do was wait until night fall.
Evening came and I snuck out with a basket full of eggs I had been saving. 9 in total – 4 orpington eggs and 5 olive egger eggs. I arranged them delicately in the nest and moved Josephine over to see them. I made sure to wear gloves because broody hens love to peck and bite! She hesitated a bit and had a slight panic over being outside of the nesting box, but then she began to eat a little and I figured I should leave her to it. She was either going to sit on them or not. I don’t know how long she was off the eggs, but when I returned a bit later, she was up again. I scooped her up and settled her on top of them and she settled right in. A good sign.
This morning I ran outside like a kid on Christmas and she was still on the nest!
Chickens stop laying eggs during their broodiness, so I am down a layer but hopefully it will be worth it. I can candle the eggs in about week to see if they are developing and get rid of any eggs that may not be good. Candling basically involves holding the egg up to a flashlight and seeing if an embryo is forming. Since Josephine is a first time mom, she could abandon the nest at any time or worse, kill the babies when the hatch so this is going to be an interesting adventure. But I’m all for learning something new!
Now all we have to do is wait…. No easy task for a over bearing chicken lady and an anxious first time father.
Wish us luck!
~Katy
Canadian Acres 