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Moose Manor Farms

Moose Manor Hives Inspection

7/16/2013

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This year we embarked on our first bee adventure.  We bought 2 complete hives and one package of Carniolan bees from our good friends at AzureB in Marbury, MD.   The single leg on these homemade hive-stands makes it easier to keep out hive pests like ants and beetles by giving them only one route which we can guard by wrapping it with tape (sticky side out) and liberally applying cinnamon at the base.  They're also tall enough to make it comfortable to manage the bees with out a lot of bending and, most importantly, to keep skunks from scratching and eating bees at night.

We also ordered a nuc of Russian Bee's from Pristine Valley Farms in Harford County, MD in order to try out two different races of bee's and see which overwinters better.  Eventually, I suspect we'll end up with just one race and we understand that there's a possibility that it will be a hybrid of the two.  All I really care about is making sure I have strong, healthy bees that are sustainable without chemicals and thrive in my specific ecosystem. 

Here's the photojournal of our recent hive inspection to see how all the ladies have been doing so far:


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I'm Moonlighting as tour-guide

8/28/2010

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Mom & Me on the Mall
This week my mom and her friend came out from California to visit for a couple of days so, of course, we three played tourist for a bit.  The only time I really get out to see the sites is when I have guests in town... otherwise it's just the daily grind and then home again.   It's always fun to get out there and revisit the interesting stuff we have in DC.  I mean, I see the Capitol Building every day on my way into work.... but it still never gets old.  And the memorials are great - the Korean War Memorial is my favorite followed by the FDR Memorial. 

Korean War Memorial
Korean War Memorial

I don’t know if it’s because I’m a patriot or if it’s the newness of living in our nations capitol, but I never tire of seeing the monuments. It brings our country’s birth into perspective for me every time.  Seeing that small seed of our independence  planted by bold, intrepid, and strong willed people building a new life in a new place; watching the historical timeline to see it germinate; and follow our

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FDR Memorial

founding fathers trial and error while they tend its frail leaves with their own brand of hard hewn and hard headed individuality until it grew into the strong and vigorous grove it is today.  It's amazing to me every time to see how we got from there to here.

And the monuments always pull at the heartstrings.  It’s important to remember that they aren’t dedicated to the celebration of war but as a remembrance to those who gave their lives so that we could remain free… or so that other nations could live free in a republic (for which it stands, one nation, under God, with Liberty and Justice for all). 

We saw all the monuments on the Mall but there wasn’t time to take them to Arlington – which isn’t something you breeze through.  We visited a sampling of the 9 Smithsonian’s that DC has on offer, and had a wonderful dinner at the house with my closest friends.  It was a lot of activity to pack into only 2 days but I had a great time.

Bread Line
                                                              Breadline at the FDR Memorial

Mom got to spend some time with the granddogs and Savannah Kitty who she hadn’t seen in a long time.  And she  was finally able to meet the chickens, ducks and geese and see my little operation.  Buffy the Orphington had just hatched out her second brood of the season so I had 10 brand new little baby Silkies, Ameraucana’s, and Naked Neck Turkins to fascinate over.

The ducks were skittish because something scared them pretty good the first day she was here.  I still don’t know for sure what’s terrorizing the birds but the ducks and geese stayed in their duckyard or very close to it for those few days.

Today I was out there catching up on chores all day and after I chased them out into the barnyard for exercise, sunshine and fresh pasture they decided that it was safe as long as I was out there walking around so there were a lot of happy little chortles as they found the tastier bugs.  I reckon we’re back on track and I’m glad to see everyone acting like they should.
Pretty Girl Muscovy 8/28
Pretty Girl mostly recovered

The Muscovy have spent the last 3 weeks in “sickbay” after a really horrible hawk attack in early August.  All 5 were terribly maimed and I wasn’t sure 3 of them would even make it through the night.  I did lose Freckles on the second day but everyone else miraculously pulled through and all their wounds have healed up so well!

When I found them after the attack, I got them all cleaned up and then I applied new dressing on their wounds  twice a day and got them on vitamins and probiotics (Rooster Booster is awesome!).  They all stayed in a little corner of the barn sleeping most of the time for the first few days.  Then when they weren’t hanging out in the barn, they were confined to a relatively small yard covered with bird netting and salted with straw to keep them all clean.  Pretty Girl took the longest to come out of the barn and to heal but her wounds were the worst, except for Freckles.  Eventually, I gave them a pool to swim and get themselves cleaned-up in with a good dose of vinegar to keep the bacteria in check.  I was really amazed at how quickly and thoroughly they recovered… you can hardley see any scaring, it's totally amazing.

Today I took down their portable fence and let them free into the barnyard… they were so happy to roam and hunt for bugs and I was happy to see them enjoying that again.  I’ll miss Freckles though.  She was so friendly and would come running up to me when I came out in the barnyard. 

This week I’ll expand the primary duckyard, effectively tripling the space to about 250’ x 250’, then put a bird netting roof over the top of it.  I’ll move the Muscovy into the regular duckbarn with the rest of the flock (since they’ve been sleeping in MY barn for the last 15 weeks) and everyone will stay in the duckyard when I’m not home and only come out to range on the rest of the property when I get home from work and on the weekend.  I’ve lost 20 ducks in the last 15 weeks so it’s far too dangerous for them to be out from under cover when I’m not there.



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The Thrill is Back

7/9/2010

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Big Boy in Sickbay
Big Boy in sick-bay
Seems the raptor has found a chink in my armor.  One of my big Muscovy boys was attacked today but he must've fought back pretty hard.  Of course, he weighs about 12 pounds so the hawk (at less than 4 lbs) was certainly out-sized.  Before my duck got away he lost a lot of feathers on the back of his neck, had a tiny wound near his wing and a big "bite" of meat near his chest.  I only really noticed because he looked kind of dirty and these guys keep their white feathers pretty clean.  But the other ducks were sort of pecking at him so I knew something was wrong.  This is the male I planned to keep for my breeding flock so I really need him to be healthy!

I wrangled him up, brought him into the house (under protest) and settled him into the sink for a good cleaning.  He seemed to like to cold water from the sprayer on this hot, hot day, but was significantly less happy about the vinegar I poured over his feathers and wounds.  I got him cleaned up, some Bactine on his owies and set him up in a temporary "sick bay".  OK, I know it's not fancy (it's pretty ugly) since it's all built from leftover parts of other projects.  But it's sturdy and predator proof.

I took Buffy's old broody box and a large wire dog kennel pushed against the open gate to expand the outdoor area and got him set up in there so he could heal up without the others picking on him.  He really started to freak out when the rest of the Muscovy lined up and headed into the barn for bedtime.  So I grabbed one of the small Muscovy girls and put her in there with him.  He calmed down immediately and she didn't seem to mind; plus she wasn't pecking at him.  These birds are extremely social and are always touching each other so I knew it would be too hard on him to leave him all alone.  Once it was full dark I saw that the two of them had gone inside to the nest portion of the broody box... that's a good sign.  I guess in the morning I'll take her out when I treat his wounds again.

A guy on one of my homesteading forums uses honey on his ducks wounds and says they heal up really nice.  My only problem is I can't wrap a bandage on him by myself.  He's a big boy and I need both hands to hold him so I might have to call in reinforcements - who?  I really, really dunno.  Lordy, I need a second pair of hands... Bobby!  Hey, little bro... I'll throw it out one more time, dude.

UPDATE: I kept this Muscovy boy in sickbay for 2 days and checked on his wound twice a day.  I used a lot of neosporin on it and he seems to have recovered fine so I let him back out with the rest of the gang.  This is great news!

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Everybody thought they were missing out on something in there
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The others found something else to do but Big Boy's girlfriend won't leave him
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Chicken Tractor is complete!

6/19/2010

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Chicken Tractor
Well, it was a race against time to get the Cornish out of their brooder before it became overcrowded so I buckled down and spent all my available time designing and building a Quonset hut type chicken tractor.  It had to be light enough for me to drag around the yard, but it had to be strong enough to take the abuse of dragging it all over the yard, and big enough for giant sized chickens to be comfortable in.  I decided I didn’t want any more structures on the property that were “man sized” so I went with a low, squat version of a picture I saw online.  When it comes time to get them out of there I may regret that decision.

This is constructed of one 16 foot cattle panel cut in half, bent into an arc and attached to 2x3’s to create a 6'x8' enclosure.  I stretched poultry wire over the whole thing to keep predators out and attached a tarp to the back portion to give them shelter from the rain.  There’s also a narrow strip of tarp running over the crown of the structure to keep the feed dry when it rains.  I suspended the food and water on a sliding mechanism so I don’t have to crawl in there to take care of that chore and it stays off the ground to facilitate one-step moving.  It’s just a track from bypass closet doors with a couple of hooks attached.  Seems to be working fine so far. 

This is a good beta test to see what I may want to do differently when I house the next batch of Cornish Cross.  I kept that in mind while I wielded the pneumatic staple gun… I may have to disassemble this thing if I feel a need to improve on the design, so I was more sparing with staples than I usually am.  I also still need to attach wheels and a handle to make it drivable (manually, of course) instead of brute force dragging around with a piece of rope.  But I wanted to get these guys out on some grass right away so I'll do that another time.

I had to carry those 21 fat Cornish outside in a Rubbermaid tub 4 at a time.  Man, they’re heavy already!  I felt sorry for them in that stuffy barn, it was pretty hot in there even with several fans going.  And they kept tipping their giant waterer over and making such a mess – I think they were perching on the lip and they’re so heavy that it just emptied out all over the brooder.  I could clean up their bedding but their feathers were still always dirty.  Maybe now they’ll try to clean themselves up.  I’m  just happy they’re getting much  needed fresh air and putting them on grass will cool them off considerably.  I also hung a weather-proof box fan from the back of the tractor to keep the air moving constantly.  They seem a lot more active and far less lethargic from the heat.  That’s good.

Chicken Tractor
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    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.


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