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To those gentle souls who have been dreading the inevitable post about harvesting chickens, be warned, this is the one. Don't worry, I won't post any blood and guts photos, though.

The plan last Sunday was to butcher 5 chickens and learn how to do it quickly and humanely.
Saturday night when the chickens had gone to sleep and were easy to catch we went out with a flashlight and nabbed the five largest roosters - the White Giants, which Rog and I have been incorrectly calling the Foghorn Leghorns - and closed them in the rabbit hutch (Death Row) until morning.
The meat chickens are Cadence's project and she is taking full responsibility for the harvest. [The irony is that Cadence announced she was a vegetarian when she turned 12, and she strictly followed that decision until a couple years ago when she was 19 and traveling in South America. Now she eats meat and believes that if you eat meat, it is important to know that the animal lived a good life and it is appropriate to slaughter it yourself.] She penciled reminder notes to guide her through the steps.
The inverted chicken was placed head-first into the restraining cone. When a chicken is upside-down it gets very quiet and still. With a sharp knife, Cadence cut its throat and let it bleed into a bucket. Next, she dunked the dead chicken into hot water to release the feathers. Then, she held it over the rotating chicken plucker, which zipped the feathers off in a moment. At this point it looks pretty much like any chicken you buy in a grocery store to roast. She cut off the feet and carefully cleaned out the insides.
Here is the chicken a few hours later, after being grilled for our dinner. It was amazingly tasty. Sara and Cadence agreed that harvesting the chickens did not make them feel bad; it felt right. Despite how big it looked, this first chicken turned out to only weigh 2 lb. 15 oz. after being dressed. We decided to wait a couple weeks to harvest any more so they get a bit bigger. So, the 4 other chickens on Death Row were set free. Little do they know.

A Fur and Feather Report

The farm critters are a never-ending source of entertainment. Lately, one of the free-range roosters has claimed the column at the bottom of the steps as his pedestal.
The pigs have created an awesome wallow by repeatedly dumping out their watering containers and rooting around in the resulting muck. On hot days they like to sink deep into it.
Afterwards they turn into bi-color pigs. They really love to be scratched and petted, but I have to admit I don't touch them as much as they would like because they are usually so muddy.
Cadence's second 100 broiler chickens are getting big and handsome. As soon as the first 100 chickens are harvested (next week!) they will get to leave the chicken tractors and be free range. A few have gotten out prematurely when we have moved the tractors, such as this barred rock who is outside the pen, but they seem to stick pretty close to the flock.
Lariat, the Dexter cow, has also managed to get out a few times. Either she is a master escape artist or we are pathetic fencers. Probably the latter, but we are gradually figuring out how to make cow-proof fences.
We have been using the movable electric fence with the solar charger and pasturing the cows in the front yard intermittently. They seem to like a change of venue. And new trees to nibble on.
Supposedly Dexter cows are very hardy and prefer to stay outside, even in the depths of winter. Our Dexters must be unusually wimpy. They choose to hang out in the loafing shed when it is barely even sprinkling. Lasso, the steer calf, loves to lie in the manger so I have nicknamed him "Little Lord Jesus."
The turkey chicks are now three weeks old. Somebody wrote that they must be getting ugly as they grow up. They are a bit gawky, but still rather cute, I think.

Every morning after they eat breakfast the dogs take off to explore the marshy ditch and the tall grass prairie. They return an hour or so later-- filthy, wet and exhausted, but with big grins on their faces. Here's Cocoa...
...and here's Nutmeg, happy and soggy after one of their morning forays.

Green and Growing

It's hard not to compare gardens and suffer from a bit of garden envy sometimes. Down the road a piece is a retired farmer whose immaculate small garden is so far ahead of ours--His squashes are covered with blooms and his tomato plants are chest-high. So, I was heartened today to find our first squash growing--a yellow zucchini, about two inches long.
Many of the tomato plants are starting to set fruit, too. Because of our greenhouse disaster we don't know what plants are what varieties, but I suspect this might be Early Girl.
We keep discovering the things previous owners have planted. Gorgeous yellow Asiatic lilies are growing on the north side of the house!
On Wednesday, Cadence and I drove the truck and trailer to Plainview and picked up 500 pounds of corn for feed and 15 bales of straw for mulch and pig bedding. Rog and I got the tomatoes and potatoes mulched that evening just before the rain.
The snowpeas are terrific and prolific. We have been eating them every night and have frozen a lot -and still many more are coming.
One of the good intentions I did not accomplish this spring was planting the sunflower seeds along the barn. Darn. However, some thoughtful bird planted a few from the feeder along the east side of the house --one will be blooming soon.
Linden trees make fantastic honey and I have been wanting to plant one for my bees. Last week I found one on sale. It's not the greatest time of year to plant trees, however, and as I debated about whether to purchase it or not a honey bee landed on my hand. I took that as a message to go for it. Since bringing the linden tree home it has burst into bloom. It also attacts butterflies and moths. I think this is a ctenucha moth (don't ask me how to pronounce it, though!)
The lettuces are recovering from their severe pruning by the ducks and geese -- a new crop is almost ready. This is the trout lettuce. Couldn't resist a couple of fragrant carefree shrub roses on clearance at the grocery store!

Flashback

One morning after we moved the cows to new pasture, Cadence settled herself down in the wheelbarrow and petted one of her geese. I was suddenly transported back 22 years -- I remembered a photograph I had taken of Sara when she was a baby, bathing in the bathroom sink with her rubber duckie. After much rummaging through old photo albums I finally found it:


Sometimes I think we were always meant to do this farm thing.

Another Arbor Day

When we estimated the costs of maintaining this farm we included expenses such as painting outbuildings, replacing roofs, veterinary bills, and fencing. What we totally overlooked was tree care (trees seem so self-sufficient!) Our beautiful, mature trees have turned out to be a considerable, recurrent expense. Last week we dealt with the huge maple that had fallen across the fence into the pasture and a large branch that had fallen precariously on our barn. Amazingly, the bottom of the branch had caught in the crotch of the tree, preventing damage, but it was threatening to come crashing through the barn in a strong wind.
The only way to safely remove the limb was to lift it off with a crane.
One fearless and surefooted young fellow on our tree crew worked on the roof (tied to a tree on the other side of the barn for safety) cutting off the small branches and attaching the limb to the crane.
The limb was gently lowered to the ground. It had the diameter of a good-sized tree.
The tidy crew even swept the tree debris off the barn roof afterward.

Vibrant Veggies

Fourth of July morning at the Rochester Farmers Market was rather gray, except for the produce. The first couple hours at the market were pretty quiet so I snapped photos of the veggies, which were colorful and bountiful. Happily, the crowd did eventually show up and we totally sold out of our breads, pastries and sprouts.

Chuck Dickens Ditches Ducks, and Other Fowl Deeds

When you order 100 chicks you receive a "bonus exotic chick." Both of our exotic chicks have turned out to be little bantam chickens, dwarfed by the 100 big heavy-body roosters Cadence ordered to raise as broilers. When the heavy-body chicks began picking on the first little banty, we moved him in with our two black runner ducklings. They became inseparable friends, even when the ducks rapidly outgrew him and towered over him. He is a chick who seems to believe he is a duck, and thus we named him "Chuck Dickens."

Chuck uses the ducks as his personal body guards. Whenever the other chickens attack him, and they do often, the ducks rush in and protect him. The ducks even allow Chuck to sleep between them, keeping him warm.

So, this afternoonm I was surprised to see Chuck cozied up next to one of the Toulose geese! Maybe Chuck realized the goose is a bigger, better body guard than the ducks. We have a pair of ducks and three geese--maybe Chuck and the odd goose feel left out and are banding together. Curious.

In other chicken news, the first 100 free-range chicks are nearing rooster-hood and beginning to crow - they sound like 100 New Years Eve blow-out party favors! They are also becoming obsessed by my laying hens. The white leghorns (Rog calls them the Foghorn Leghorns) seem to have matured first and are unrelentingly stalking my Aracauna hens. Their rooster, Chagall, must be exhausted, vigilantly protecting the hens. The day of chicken reckoning is soon at hand -- and those obnoxious Foghorn Leghorns will be the first to go!