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That Troublesome Turkey

Dino the turkey is up to her usual antics. The other day when we went to close the coop for the night, she was nowhere to be found. We didn’t panic right away, knowing from last time she disappeared that she was probably brooding somewhere, so we started searching. After a while the sun had gone down and all the usual places had been checked, but no turkey had been found. Panic started to set in at this point. More than likely she was fine, but she would not be fine for long if we didn’t find her before the predators did. We’ve lost too many of our birds, sometimes right under our noses during the day, to feel secure with her out of the coop for even a few hours after dark. It really doesn't help that at night time, turkeys (and chickens) seem to lose all thinking ability and just sit there, no matter what's happening. Predators have no trouble walking right up and making a meal out of them, they don’t try to get away or anything. I guess it's the darkness or something, I really don't know. By now it was now plenty dark and my turkey was still not in the coop. I started running back to the house to get a flashlight, feeling my heart sinking. Suddenly, I felt the earth squish under my foot as something let out an indignant squawk. I flew towards the ground, catching myself on my hands and knees. Dino stared down at me, feathers ruffled but otherwise ok. 

She had apparently decided that the middle of nowhere with no cover or protection, other than being slightly hidden in foot tall weeds, was a great place to make a nest. Oh turkey..

She's a looker.

The Mystery of the Disappearing Turkey

Dino, our pet turkey

Yesterday, we learned what it feels like when a parent loses there kid in a crowded area. Our child was a turkey, lost amongst acres of four foot tall weeds, but I'm sure it's a similar feeling. I got home from work, and as soon as I saw John I could tell something was wrong. "I can't find turkey" he told me sorrowfully. The next 30 minutes were a paniced blur, we combed the property, looking everywhere. "Maybe she's hiding with some eggs", John tried to cheer me up. I rejected the idea, she had never even layed an egg before. If she didn't come for the afternoon scratch treat, the worst had to have happened. We called her and searched the best we could within the rain forest of weeds that is currently our property, there was no sign of her. Every bunch of weeds I searched, I expected to find her body, half eaten by a predator like we've found chickens who have gone missing. It would be hard, if not impossible to find any remainder of her amongst the weeds, so we headed back to the coop, giving up.

Well guess who was waiting for us at the coop when we got there? I don't know where she had disappeared  to, but at least she was safe.

Natural World: Farm for the Future; A video intro into permaculture

While wasting time at work one day I stumbled across this video on a website, http://topdocumentaryfilms.com/, that has given me a new perspective on farming. It explains how huge monoculture style farms, tilling, and pesticides are not sustainable methods of agriculture, and that if we are going to feed our ever growing population things are going to have to change. The video teaches how diverse, permaculture farming methods are the the future of farming. My favorite part, the documentary advocates no-till farming, which I am a huge fan of. Watch the video, I promise you'll learn a lot :) 

Natural World: Farm for the Future

Something to make you say "awwww!" - Video of a chick hatching

Here is a video of the chick we hatched out in the incubator after the mom gave up on it. After she dried she went back outside and now we can't tell her apart from the other chicks. Oh, and don't worry, the blood is normal. ;)

Guineas, Weeds, and Hero

The four guineas we've been raising are finally ready to go from the brooder to the chicken coop. We moved them a couple days ago. After a few weeks they'll be ready to be let out of the coop to free range with the rest of the poultry. They've already made a friend; a black sex link has found her way into their part of the coop and is now roosting with them.

Sadly, weeds are taking over as our little lawn mower broke over the weekend. But on an up side we got a new feed bin, we'll no longer have to keep the scratch in the truck. Hopefully this cuts down on the chickens attacking the cars when we drive in.

Hero, our ram, is still getting used to being tied. He still tries to run from us every time we approach him, even though he's eaten many treats out of our hands and let us pet him a bunch of times. But each time we go to catch him to tie him out to eat he runs.  During the chases around the yard we've discovered French Fry, the dog we found and put in with him mainly because there was nowhere else for her and they both needed company, is a pretty good herd dog. She actually helps us by cutting him off when he runs and keeps him in place by licking his face. The other night he came untied, but all we had to do to catch him was let French Fry out and Hero followed her right back into the yard. They've bonded well, but we definitely need to get Hero some sheep friends asap.

This weekend we're gonna do more work on the garden and post some more photos to the blog, check back soon!

New Babies on the Farm

The day the Lord created hope was probably the same day he created Spring.  ~Bern Williams

Spring is here at Clover Leaf Farms! Over the last few days our broody hen’s eggs finally hatched; leading to eight fluffy new additions to the farm. This is the first time we’ve had a hen hatch out eggs, so we’re very excited and a little anxious about it. So far, things are going well. We have them in their own enclosure to try to keep the other animals, mainly the cats, away from them. I also worry that the other chickens or the goose would try to eat them. They can be vicious little things; I’ve seen my chickens rip toads, lizards, snakes, and mice to shreds in a flurry of blood and feathers.  The first time I saw my sweet little chickens rip apart and devour a large toad, I was appalled. I had no idea chickens were so carnivorous. It scared me a little. After the initial shock I got used to it, they are related to dinosaurs after all. 

We’ve lost 2 chicks so far; hopefully there will be no more. Both chicks died shortly after hatching, one was still halfway in the shell. I’m pretty sure that the mom accidently stepped on the other one. It was fine, and then suddenly it was dead. We dug a small grave and buried them. The momma hen got off her nest and started walking around with the babies, leaving 2 eggs behind. The eggs were cold when I picked them up. One of them had pipped, but wasn’t moving and appeared dead. I picked away some of the shell and the chick moved just a little, so we quickly took the remaining eggs inside and put them into the incubator. The pipped egg eventually hatched, and when the baby was dry enough we took it back outside and slipped in under the mom with its siblings. The last egg never hatched, and a small hole I broke into the shell revealed that the egg had never finished forming. So all in all, our first broody hen hatching was a happy success! The little chicks running around after mom is the cutest thing ever, and we have a few more chickens for our flock… One can never have enough chickens ;)