• Products
    • Meat
    • Hatching Eggs
    • Table Eggs
    • Livestock For Sale
    • Order Form (Babies)
  • About Us
    • Contact
    • Garden
    • Reviews
  • Newsletters
  • Waterfowl
    • Waterfowl Breed Chart
    • About American Geese
    • About Muscovy Ducks
    • About Ancona Ducks
    • About Cayuga Ducks
    • About Runner Ducks
    • About Khaki Campbells
    • About Welsh Harlequin Ducks
  • Landfowl
    • Chickens >
      • Chicken Breed Chart
      • Colored Egg Layers
      • Chicken Management
    • Turkeys
  • Recipes
    • Cooking with Duck Eggs
    • Egg Recipes
    • Muscovy Recipes
    • Goose, Duck & Wild Waterfowl Recipes
    • Chicken Recipes
    • Mics. Recipes
  • Farm Events
    • Seed Swap
    • Workshops
Moose Manor Farms

Meet Reilly the English Shepherd!

3/6/2013

0 Comments

 
PictureReilly at 8 weeks

After putting in a request to Wrights English Shepherds and waiting over a year for her, Miss Reilly the Farm-Pup has arrived!   She's a tri-color girl with interesting markings and some really cute freckles on her snout. Born on a horse ranch in the Shenandoah Mountains of Virginia, she and her sister, Korie, came home with me this past Saturday.  Korie is a very pretty clear-sable color with a nice blaze on her forehead and a bossy attitude to go with it!  She'll be going to live and work on Kelley Creek Farms in Birmingham, AL where she'll be managing horses, chickens and geese... we will keep up with her activities in the blogosphere.

While Flynn The Wonder Moose Mastiff girl has been a very good protector here and she makes her rounds of the fencelines like a good guardian should.  However, I'm very excited to have a traditional farm dog to help me work the livestock and look forward to doing some farm-trials herding ducks with Reilly also.  I know that she'll very quickly become an indispensable part of getting the work done around the home-place!

The girls together their first week at the farm:


Read More
0 Comments

Sharpsburg Poultry Swap June 8th

3/1/2013

0 Comments

 
I'll be there peddling ducklings, hatching eggs, and anything else I can shove into the Subaru.  My friend Erin Moshier sent this great information about her swap.  Don't miss out! 
Picture

Hi there, peeps.

Now that we're seeing some warmer days, the farm animals are having babies and eggs are fertile and most breeders are hatching like crazy.  Spring is here! Our spring swap meet has been scheduled for Saturday, June 8th 2013 
http://mdpoultryswap.blogspot.com/. 

Along with the Huge sales area filled anything farm related, homemade, handcrafted, used, recycled, vintage, we will also have fun stuff for the whole family.  Kids will enjoy pony rides, a poultry show, the moon bounce, ice cream and aisles of bunnies, sheep, goats, peafowl, chickens, baby chicks, turkeys and more.  We will also have a pig roast, concession stand and a live bluegrass band playing from 10-2.  

Anyone is welcome to participate as a vendor.  It's a $15 flat fee to sell.  There is no registration necessary but, there are a few regulations regarding the sale of livestock. Please check with our website for more info!  Show up before 7:30 with your tables/chairs/canopy or just tail gate with you items.  Folks selling poultry with 5 birds or less can sell for free.

Vendors: Please contact me with what you are planning on selling so I can compile THE LIST in which I use for advertising purposes.

New this year:  We are now charging $2 per person for admission.  Kids 17 and under are free.  Due to us getting bigger, we are now in need of traffic control as well as parking attendants and this helps to cover those costs along with logistics, entertainment, advertising and kid's activities.  I hope you understand.  Camping is always free for swap goers (shoppers and vendors) 

Homesteading Days Flyer
Also new this year:  On Father's Day weekend, we will be hosting "Homesteading Days."  This weekend will be filled with seminars featuring many aspects of sustainable living.  Learn about goat soap making, canning, bread making, dutch oven cooking, harvesting rabbits, poultry processing, wine making, gardening and composting and we will have a seminar on "prepping." Experts in their field will be traveling to Green Hill Farm to share their knowledge and send us home with some goodies.  

Please see our website for pricing and how to attend.  Prices vary due to equipment needed and cost of googie bags.  There will be free camping during that weekend for seminar goers.. so feel free to help in the garden, help feed the animals in the morning or just relax.  You can build a fire and cook outdoors and just enjoy the day.  http://mdhomestead.blogspot.com/

If you have any questions, don't hesitate to ask,

Erin Moshier
Green Hill Farm
5329 Mondell Rd. 
Sharpsburg, MD. 21782

0 Comments

Crazy Birdy Bedtime

5/7/2012

0 Comments

 
share
So I'm out locking up the birds for the night and start, as usual, with the duplex broody coop but find Mama Cochin and her 20 rowdy chicks (who've just started free-ranging this week) missing - uh oh!

Mama Cochin is sharing the duplex coop with my broody duck (due to hatch this week) so I peek in on the adjacent apartment occupied by Miss Blush, my Welsh Harlequin duck and her 10 eggs, where I find 5 fat baby chickens snuggled in there safe with her - LOL!  These two apartments share a single attached yard so those chicks must've figured cranky Miss Blush was better than cold, plain straw next door.

As I lock all the doors on all the various houses I search with my flashlight for Mama Cochin inside each - she has to find a suitable nighttime house for her babies. Just as I start to think I'll be covering a couple acres this evening hunting under prickery holly bushes for my Mama Cochin, the last house to be closed up is where I find her... she's taken over the doghouse my fat goslings are living in!  The small goosy-gooses are outside in their pen instead of in bed where they usually are after dark, so I herd them inside where I see my Mama Cochin tucked into a corner... many tiny heads poking out, curious as kittens, from her fluffy feathers.  Everyone safe and warm this windy, chill night.

Wonky but satisfying social dynamics you don't typically consider: Baby chickens shacking up with my broody duck (poor Miss Blush!); Mama chicken and her hooligan brood bedding down with baby gooses... and one adult Khaki Campbell duck (Miss Faith) who somehow ended up sleeping in the barn with my newly broody Muscovy girl, Lumi, this strange, mixed-up night.  Everyone completely tolerant, if not downright companionable, with the other.  Only at Moose Manor, eh?

Well, everyone is locked up tight and all babies are accounted for and pleasantly cooing while warming with a fluffy mama of some stripe.  It could certainly be worse!       

0 Comments

The Goslings Have Hatched!

4/18/2012

0 Comments

 
Picture

On Easter Sunday 3 little baby goslings were coaxed from their satin shells into the world.  My mama Muscovy, newly named Gåsmer or "Mother Goose" in Swedish, has been such a wonderful broody, and now caretaker, of these fat Buddha goose babies.

Of the 6 eggs I put under her she hatched 3, and based on the notations Kim wrote on the shell, I now have 2 Sebastopol and 1 American Blue goslings.  It would appear that the golden baby pictured above is a white Sebbie and one of the dark & yellow fluffers is a Saddleback Sebbie.  The other dark gosling is my new little American Blue.

Picture
Miss Gasmer & her troup

All 3 are very sweet and friendly.  When I open the door of their little house in the morning they meet me right away with their tiny necks craned out and their little baby goosey sounds peep peep peeping through.  One especially, my tiny Curious George, really does like to snuggle a moment every morning and chew on my hair.  GoldenChild is the least happy to be picked up but, honestly, doesn't seem to mind that much.  I've been handling them quite a bit to keep them friendly, although I'm not sure, in my experience, that there's a true correlation to the amount of handling they get as babies and their level of friendliness as adults.  I'll say for sure that some handling is helpful but once they mature I see a big difference between behavior as a baby compared to their level of trust as an adult - in opposing directions most often.  One thing remains constant: their response to the sound of my voice.  All my birds respond positively to the sound of my voice but each respond differently to my nearness.  So, all that said, I think a moderate amount of stress-free handling is important when they're small, but don't expect them to still be eating out of your hand in 2 months.

Picture

I haven't determined the sex of these fluffers yet.  I did an initial gender evaluation but it was inconclusive so I'll have to do another after a short instructive video viewing at the Metzer Farms website.  I'm hoping that my American Blue is a girl so that I can finally have a pair... unfortunately, one of my 2 boys will have to find a new home.  Sad but very necessary for pair bonding.

I'm excited that the babies are finally here, healthy and happy.  I'll keep you posted on their progress!

0 Comments

Muscovy Babies at 4 Weeks

1/23/2012

2 Comments

 
Picture

No matter how often I watch them grow, I’m always amazed at the rapid bulk this variety puts on daily.  I’ll peek in the window of the Muscovy loft in the chilly pre-dawn to say good morning to mama Lumi and her brood dozing under the heat-lamp and when I return from work in the evening I see her kiddos have sprouted up during the day!  

In the past I’ve noted that for this strain of French White Production Muscovy the drakes put on 12 pounds in 12 weeks… whew!  They just seem to grow while you watch.

As a comparison to the video I took of their first day out when they were only 2 days old, here’s a video I took of them starting their day on December 29th when they were 4 weeks old:


Muscovy Baby
They’re curious, quick, and sassy.  It’s hard to keep an eye on them all the time, but they do have eyes on them throughout the day.  Unfortunately, only 9 remain of the original 13.  I lost one the first week when it climbed into a chilly duck pond.  That prompted me to keep them separated in their own yard until recently when they began to feather out.  One was born with an issue and only made it to week 2.  After letting them out to range the property again with mama, I lost 2 more over several days to cold pond water… as I said, it’s hard to keep an eye on them all day and this is really the wrong time of the year for baby waterfowl.

This is the first time I’ve let a Muscovy mama raise the babies and, mainly because it's winter,  it’s been a lot of work for everyone!  But I’ve learned so much and hopefully Miss Lumi’s lessons benefit future broods.  A new and improved system will go into place this year so that when my girls inevitably go broody on the cusp of winter we can avoid the major pitfalls.


2 Comments

Christmas Babies... Muscovy Style

12/14/2011

3 Comments

 
Picture

My girl Lumi is a mama!  (“Lumi” is a Scandinavian word for “snow”).  Miss Lumi is only 8 months old now but back at the end of October she and her sister decided to set a couple of nests.  I figured that they'd give up before the required 35 days and I'd planned to gather the abandoned embryos for my incubator... if I got to them in time.  Halfway through, her sister decided she'd rather be playing outside, but Lumi stuck to it (she even rolled her sisters eggs over into her own nest!) and on December 1st she hatched out 13 little babies.

I knew it was gonna be cold when those tiny ducklings hatched out so I was hoping that mom would keep them inside where they had lots of room to run around but temps were slightly more reasonable.  Everyone is doing great, mama Lumi takes her fuzzballs out for a walk about every other day.  But the babies are still unable to climb the long ramp back up to the Muscovy Loft so I usually have to gather them all in a bucket before it gets dark and plop them back inside under the heat lamp.  After spending the entire day trekking all over the barnyard in 40 degree temps, the kiddo’s are pretty pooped and make a big puppy pile under the lamp -  totally crashed out.

Here are some pictures of their outing on day 2:

Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
When the babies can't make it all the way up the ramp into the Muscovy Loft, Mama Lumi frets back an forth up and down the ramp to show them how, then gives up and gathers them under her to keep them warm until help arrives.  She doesn't like me to pick up the babies but everyone is happier when they're back inside after a long day in the cold!
Picture
Picture
Here's a little video of them exploring the barnyard:
3 Comments

Then there was that one time that I ordered 50 broiler chickens...

10/3/2011

0 Comments

 
Picture
Yep, 50.  As my good friend, Kent would say, I now have half-a-hundred of these tiny yellow chicks in the brooder already eating me out of house and home.

Meyer hatchery was running a sale but I had to place a minimum 50 chick order to get the deal.  I called a local farmer friend who raises these same jumbo Cornish cross for meat, usually right about the same time I do in the spring and fall.  She never called me back (it's a busy time for farmers right now).  The longer I wait to place my order, the further I push my harvest out so I wanted to get them growing asap.

I figured I'd just place the order and if she decided that she wanted them they would already be on their way.  And if she didn't, I'd just sell them on craigslist; wouldn't be hard at all this time of year.

Then they arrived and I started to feel all greedy about them.  I wanted to have them all in MY freezer.  I was feeding more people this year, wasn’t I?  I need to make certain my larder was full, right?  Yeeesss,  you really never know when the lean times are upon you until they’re looming down… and quality organic meat is really expensive.  So I decided to keep them  All.  For.  Myself. 

Yes, all 50.

This is where you might be scratching your head... "how will you harvest 50 chickens with your little operation?"  Well, I figure 25 one weekend and 25 another.  I'll sell the usual amount to offset my cost and put the rest in my own freezer.  Then you so sweetly remind me, "but you haven't finished your duck harvest that the hurricane brought to an early conclusion..."  YesYesYes... I KNOW that.  I'll do it.  I'll do it soon. 

OK… ummmmm... next year I'm only doing the Spring and Fall harvests.  Three is clearly too many for me to handle {she says woefully while holding her head in her hands}.

So sometime in the next 6-8 weeks I need to finish my waterfowl harvest of Cayuga and Muscovy (those Muscovy drakes are on my last nerve and on the short list for the first to go), then 2 more weekends dedicated to sending the jumbo Cornish cross to freezer camp.   We WILL be eating healthy, protein filled meals this winter. 

Now I just need to get the winter veggie garden planted...

You know... sometimes I wish I could get rollover minutes to add to the days I really need to cram more time into my time.

Picture
Unlike this poor womans family, my minutes would never get old enough for me to consider ever throwing them away.... those minutes are still good, man!

Yeah, OK.  So the hurricane… my power was out for several days and all the eggs I had in the incubator were officially a no-go.  Luckily, I was gearing down for the season and only had about 30 set at the time.  And in retrospect, I really don’t need any more chickens.  But I was looking forward to a few more Welsh Harlequin girls for next season. 
.
Day-old Welsh Harlequin Duckling
So I decided that while I had my Welsh Harlequin pair in the garden alone I would put all of Miss Blush's eggs in the incubator to see if I could get a few more girls to add to my flock for next season.  I set every one of the eggs she laid, waiting until I'd gathered about a weeks worth each time. That should give me a week for slow hatching babies before I open the hatcher to put in another set.  I don't expect high fertility on these eggs since it was really late in the season, but I'm likely to get a handful of ducklings from this hatch, which should net me at least 2 or 3 girls to add to Duck Dogers harem.

The first of those eggs came due last week and this little cutie hatched out from the 4 eggs I set on August 31 - looks like a pretty silver phase girl (the black head = silver phase & pink bill = girl). Luckily, the night after this lone duckling was born my 50 Cornish cross arrived and I just popped this little one in with her new bunk mates.  Everyone is getting along perfectly.

I have another set of Welsh Harlequin due to hatch this week so I'm looking forward to a few more fuzzy butts to add to the giant, fluffy yellow brooder bunch soon.

**Update: 2 more WH ducklings hatched on Oct 16!  And based on the dark brown color of their bills, It looks like I have two boys.  One appears to be a silver phase and the other probably gold phase.  I've also determined that Miss Blush's eggs consistently hatch 3 days early... LOL!**

0 Comments

Babies!

8/5/2011

5 Comments

 
Picture
Welsh Harlequin duckling 3-hours old
I've had mixed results in my incubator this year.  The eggs that I'm able to get consistently excellent hatches for are Spot, my single Ancona girl and Blush, one part of my lovely Welsh Harlequin pair.  Those two girls give me an average 85% hatch rate! 

Spot was in my WH breeding yard until I moved Blush and Duck Dogers into the garden last month.  I added her when she hurt her leg and was trying so hard to keep up with the Runners at a fast limp.  Just so happens that Blush was acting like she was getting ready to set a nest and Spot could keep Duck Dogers company for the month that she was broody.  Since Spot and Blush's eggs look just alike, if I wanted to hatch WH I had to set them both. So after carefully marking their eggs when I collect them each day, I discovered that it's really easy to tell who's babies I have as soon as they hatch.

Both girls throw beautiful, healthy  ducklings but Spot's kiddo's are really interesting looking.  She throws Blues, Blacks, Chocolates, and Lavenders... some splash but most bibbed.   One of the fun things is trying to figure out just what Spot's babies will look like when they get their feathers.  Sometimes they lose their baby bibs and sometimes they don't.

On July 13th I hatched out 4 babies from a batch of Blush and Spot's eggs and this time I got colors I haven't had before: one lavender and one chocolate from Spot all with multicolored legs and feet.  All of Blush's babies are yellow with orange legs and they're growing into beautiful Welsh Harlequins, however, the one in this batch is a creamier color than her usual... I'm interested to see what kind of adults I get.

I plan to keep all the WH girls to build my flock and, while I don't need them, I'm tempted to keep the chocolate and lavender from this hatch.  I bet that they grow into stunning birds.  

The pictures below were taken just a few hours after these babies hatched as I was moving them from the incubator to the brooder.


Picture
4 babies only a few hours old and just out of the incubator
Picture
Black & White Ancona x Welsh Harlequin mix
Picture
Lavender Ancona x Welsh Harlequin mix
Picture
Chocolate Ancona x Welsh Harlequin mix
Welsh Harlequin day old
Welsh Harlequin
5 Comments

Ducks in the Garden

7/24/2011

0 Comments

 
Duck Dogers Welsh Harlequin Drake
Duck Dogers, my Welsh Harlequin drake

My garden is growing like gangbusters!  I would describe it as "profuse and delightful" :~)

I have glorious golden blossoms on everything and many of the climbing plants have grown into a serious jungle.  My cucumbers are an enormous mountain of green and gold vines, gourds that I never imagined would need trellising have cascaded over the fence in a colossal drift of squash leaves and tricky sticky tendrils threatening to overtake the nearby shrubs, and the melons have also escaped their corral like wild horses striking fast for the hills.  I love the jumble of cosmos that I planted to line the garden path with cheerful orange flowers to attract pollinators - but have promptly become an exuberent pile of honey colored surge spilling over the lane.  

I've really got to take the time out of my already packed schedule to get out there...

Read More...

0 Comments

The Rooster Who Shouldn't Be

5/13/2011

0 Comments

 
Nocrow

This is Nocrow... he's my rooster. 

Yeah, I know... "I thought you ran a rooster-less operation?" you say.  You're right, I do... I did. Somehow this one has stayed.

You see, when I ordered my fall batch of Cornish Roaster chickens last season, McMurray Hatchery had a little checkbox - right there on that last page of your order transaction? - that says "include a free rare/fancy chicken with my order."  Well, for those of us who are checkstand item picker-upers (Oooo! look, tiny hand sanitizer... hey, what ARE BradJolena doing these days??), it's a given that we're gonna check that box riiiiiiiiggghht before we hit the submit button. Oops, too late to realize that hatchery's don't give away the expensive rare and fancy breeds... unless it's a rooster.  Ghaaaa!


Picture
So here he comes, a tiny black bird packed in tight with my chubby yellow Cornish Roasters.  "What kind of bird is it?" I ask myself when I open the box. "Doesn't matter, he's not staying", I firmly decide, looking away so as not to accidentally make eye contact with the oddball chick.  

Well, he was a daggone friendly little guy: following me around, pecking at my shoes.  And he didn't make those high pitched cheep! cheep! cheep! sounds... nuh huh... he was silent unless he coo'd.

Yep, I was curious - puzzled, even.  He was solid black, was he a Java?  Maybe a  Black Spanish?  Ooooo,  I know!  He's a Black Marans... hmmmm, none of those are it though.  Very peculiar.   

OK, so I still don't know what he is but he looks a lot like the rooster gracing the cover of McMurrays 2011 catalog.  The inside cover says that the bird pictured is a Silver Leghorn.  But I looked them up and those birds have white neck feathers, not gold. Besides, Leghorns are small, athletic birds and this boy is BIG.  *sigh* 


Sheesh, what the neighbors must say!  "She's got ducks... AND geese!  Now a rooster?"  Yep, there goes the neighborhood.  I'm sure the language is a bit stronger at... oh... about 5:30am.

Anyway, he's a gorgeous bird - and big! - but I have no idea what breed he is.  I asked the experts at BYC... folks loved him but had no idea what breed he was either.  Pretty rare, eh? I could probably give him to about 20 different people only I don't know about shipping him.  

So, I didn't create a "for sale" ad because I didn't know what to call him... then he sort of grew on me.  Then I decided to put some of the girls eggs in the incubator.  Every one of them was fertile and he threw three quiet little black chicks, just like him.  I don't know yet if they're cockerels but unless they lay eggs, they're not staying!
Just Hatched!
Still wet... just hatched this one in the incubator last week
0 Comments
<<Previous
    Dana

    About Farmrgirl

    Small town Calif. farm-girl leaves the ranch behind for many years of adventure at sea, travels the world, then moves to Washington DC in 2007 where she finds the perfect homestead to settle down: acres of secluded Southern Maryland woods where she goes granola by raising her quality of life, Mastiffs, ducks, chickens, and tomatoes {& one Bengal kitty}... sustainably.


    Our Farm News Delivered Directly to Your Inbox Once a Month.
    Get Newsletter


    +43
    +56°
    +43°
    Washington
    Wednesday, 31
    Thursday   +57° +42°
    Friday   +55° +40°
    Saturday   +54° +42°
    Sunday   +56° +43°
    Monday   +53° +44°
    Tuesday   +55° +41°
    See 7-Day Forecast
    © http://booked.net


    My Blog Archives

    September 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    December 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    January 2020
    October 2019
    September 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    December 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    December 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    April 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    August 2014
    March 2014
    January 2014
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013
    December 2012
    October 2012
    September 2012
    May 2012
    April 2012
    March 2012
    February 2012
    January 2012
    December 2011
    October 2011
    September 2011
    August 2011
    July 2011
    June 2011
    May 2011
    April 2011
    March 2011
    February 2011
    January 2011
    December 2010
    November 2010
    October 2010
    September 2010
    August 2010
    July 2010
    June 2010
    May 2010
    April 2010


    Stuff I've blogged about

    All
    Agri Monster
    Ancona Ducks
    Art I Love
    Baby Animals
    Bee Hives
    Blogs
    Brooder
    Broody Hens
    Building Projects
    Campbell Ducks
    Cayuga Ducks
    Chicken Plucker
    Chickens
    Chicken Tractor
    Cornish Roasters
    Corporate Organics Myth
    Crunchy Politics
    Ducks
    English Shepherd
    Family
    Farmers Markets & Swaps
    First Aid
    Freedom
    Garden
    Geese
    Goose
    Great Articles
    Harvest
    Hatchery
    Hatching Eggs
    Hawks
    Holidays
    Homemade Incubator
    Injuries
    Khaki Campbell Ducks
    Local Food
    Local Wildlife
    Losses
    Mastiffs
    Military
    Moosemeals
    Moose Meets
    Moyaone Market
    Muscovy
    Muscovy Ducks
    Mushrooms
    My Mooseherders
    Patriotism
    Pecking Order
    Prayer
    Preserving
    Runner Ducks
    Sexing Babies
    Snow
    Summer Harvest
    Washington Dc
    Weather
    Weddings
    Welsh Harlequin Ducks
    Welsummer Chickens



    Prices In Real Time

    RSS Feed

Moose Manor Farms, LLC   |  Moyaone Reserve, Accokeek, Maryland   |  (301) 678- 3533   |    All Rights Reserved 2022   |    NPIP 51-582   |  Newsletter  |   Contact

Woman Veteran Owned Business
Picture
Picture
SPPA Member
Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.
Photo used under Creative Commons from cinnamon_girl