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Moose Manor Farms

Crazy Birdy Bedtime

5/7/2012

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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!       

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The American Goose Egg

3/9/2012

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American Goose Eggs

Today my American Blue Goose hatching eggs arrived from my friend Kim Kelly!  She even tossed in a couple of bonus Sebastopol eggs...

This will be my first time attempting to artificially incubate goose eggs.  I have a Muscovy girl who looks like she's giving a great deal of consideration to going broody but hasn't really committed herself to it full time yet.  That's a bummer because I was hoping to remove the wooden eggs from her nest and slide these wonderful works of goose art right in under that warm, feathered bum of hers.  Wouldn't she have been pleased to sit 5 days less than her own would've confined her?  Oh well... I can certainly put that fluffy bottom to work on other duties once she gets herself settled.

These eggs are HUGE!  I had to take some pictures just for posterity. I knew they were big but until you actually hold one...

This is one of the goose eggs next to an average sized, grade "large", chicken egg -  one of my Marans eggs to be exact.  Just look at the size of that goose egg!  Wow.

I can see how it's often said that a goose egg is a meal for two - LOL! What an omelet, eh?  And I know, I know... when you compare the size of a gooses body to the size of a chickens body it does make sense - it's just - how often do you hold an egg that size?

Cross your fingers for me that I get a good hatch so that I'll have a reliable supply of these enormous eggs of my own.  I'm hoping for a minimum of 2 girls from the Americans and a pair from the Sebbies (that'll be a wonderful stroke of luck!)  A girl can dream...

What a fun project I'm embarking on tonight... I'll try to post pictures of their progress over the next 30 days. 
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Goose vs Chicken
Yes, that's actually the true color of the chicken egg. French Black Copper Marans lay a pretty chocolate brown egg. Neat, eh?
And, of course, there will be a meeeellion photos of the babies once they hatch out.  Who doesn't love baby goose breath?
Egg Comparison
Egg comparison: American goose, Muscovy, Cayuga duck, Campbell duck, Marans chicken
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Muscovy Babies at 4 Weeks

1/23/2012

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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.


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Christmas Babies... Muscovy Style

12/14/2011

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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:

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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!
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Here's a little video of them exploring the barnyard:
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Spring is Sprunging!

4/2/2011

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Farmer Jackie
Farmer Jackie digs worms for the Muscovy
The cherry blossoms are a bloomin’ and the Canada Geese are honking overhead… time to get those early tomatoes started!

I’m getting a better early start this year than I did last spring but I’m still two months behind.  I guess it-is-what-it-is but I do soooo disapprove of lateness.  Just this past weekend I (with the help of wonderful friends) was able to get my market garden plowed for planting and build out my duck breeding yards.  I’m way behind on my spring duck production!  I’ve currently got my Welsh Harlequins and my Black Cayuga ducks sectioned off for breeding.  At this point, it looks like my Cayuga harvest won’t be until the end of July *bleh*.  I should have had them in their yards by the first of February instead of the end of March.  *sigh*  Next year…

The Muscovy will be a staggered harvest this year since one of my hens couldn’t decide if she wanted to set that giant clutch of eggs she’d laid or not.  Little Miss Queeny went broody in December but I wouldn’t let her brood any duck eggs until February (so she wasn’t trying to raise warm weather Amazon waterfowl babies in January).  I replaced them all with infertile chicken eggs instead.  By February I think she was just tuckered out and sick of being inside all the time.  I’m crossing my fingers now… she’s gathered herself a clutch of 15 eggs in a new nesting spot and for the past two days has been more committed to them than the last batch.  If this is the real deal then I’m looking for babies in 35 days.

Big Boy Muscovy
'Big Boy' Muscovy drake is a sweetie
My Pretty Girl Muscovy has been broody since November!  Oh my, but that girl is committed to the nest… In February I ordered eight American Blue & Lavender-ice Goose eggs for her to set but it’s turned out that not a single one was fertile (sure hope I can find some more this year).  Poor Pretty Girl.  She’s been such a good little momma-wannabe that I broke down and ordered 15 Muscovy ducklings from Hoffman Hatchery in Gratz, PA for her to raise.  I’m hoping they’re able to fill my order this week so I can get them to her… she deserves to have some babies for goodness sake!  I’ll keep two girls from that hatch to add to my breeding flock and harvest the rest at 12 weeks.  Looks like a mid-June harvest.  I’ll have my Cornish chickens arrive to correspond with that harvest and do them both together.

Tomato Seedling from last year
Heirloom tomatoes are a coming!
As far as my veggie garden is concerned, I plan to get my peas in the ground and get everything else into their peat pots ASAP.  By the last week of April I should be able to get my pole and snap bean seedlings in the ground along with my short season tomatoes and beets.  Maybe even a few others depending on how much my plastic mulch and cold frames are able to raise the soil temperatures.

Permaculture is the word here at Moose Manor: chickens, ducks & geese are all welcome in the garden at the appropriate time for each of them to do their happy little jobs. 

Chickens first.  They scratch, scratch, scratch at the soil.  Dump in the spring cleaning from the poultry houses and the chickens will spread it all around for you.  They'll also scratch up weeds, eat weed seeds and bugs; all the while depositing nitrogen rich fertilizer right where you need it.  You can use a chicken tractor or just fence them in.

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Harlequin duck on the hunt for bugs
Waddle, chortle, quack! Plant your seeds or seedlings out of scratching range!  Once fully established, trade those chickens in for some ducks (I'm sending in the Indian Runners).  Those broad billed bug busters will keep all the slugs, snails, cutworms, ect. and their eggs from eating your garden before you get a chance to.  No need for chemicals or even hand picking... the ducks are more than happy to help.  You can just dump their wading pools right out on the veggies... duck poop soup is the best fertilizer around!

What's good for the goose is... good for the lazy gardener!  It's also unnecessary to weed if you bring in a few geese.  They'll eat up your weeds for you.  Careful with your cabbages and lettuce though... they'll scarf that up too.  Just herd the geese to the pasture once your strawberries start to ripen so they don't ruin your plans for pie!

I reckon the agenda for this weekend is to move the chickens into the garden plot, clean the duckbarns so I can spread all that nutrient rich composted manure and straw around for the kickin' chickin's to till in, and get my farm-stand signs made for the Moyaone Market (3rd Saturday every month at 2311 Bryan Point Road, Accokeek, MD). 

I’m very excited about the veggie selections I’ve made.  I hope Mother Nature cooperates and that my California green-thumb has accompanied me the 3,000 miles to the mid-Atlantic!  I’ll keep you posted.



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So long, Indian Summer... ya'll come back now, y'hear?

12/20/2010

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GoodbyeSummer
Goodbye, Summer... I'll miss you. Our time together was too short.
HelloWinter
Hello, Winter... please play nice this year. I have no beef with you.
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Flynn loves snow. Look out chickens! She's saving us from vicious, man-eating squirrels.
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Time to break out the DIY water anti-freeze devices (40 watt light bulb works like a charm)
DuckDuckGooseHennyPenny

The ducks are mad that their pools are frozen and the chickens really hate walking around in the snow
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I worry about the Muscovy since they're from South America. Saw Big Boy shivering today.
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Who moved my cheese?! The snow has thrown off the waterfowl routine - they hate change!
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Got the woodstove installed in the barn - Cozy warm now. (ignore the pile of boxes in the corner).


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Tales of the barnyard pecking order

8/31/2010

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My chickens are bossy.  

No… I mean it.  And the Rhode Island Reds are especially ornery little hens.

On any typical day the chickens are running around the property here there and everywhere.  Getting into stuff they’re not supposed to, eating the dog kibble (which is a lot more expensive than chicken kibble), and generally making a nuisance of themselves.  The dogs completely ignore them so their uppity attitudes are lost on my hounds, the cat steers clear of them because she can recognize a troublemaker when she see's one, but they get pesty and stubborn with me on a regular basis - stamping their feet and hunkering down in their mulish little way, forcing me to actually pick them up to remove them from off-limits places (like my hay bale stack).  But their most favorite pastime is to torment the ducks and geese.

Chicken & Muscovy Brawl
RIR's still ready to rumble and Big Boy has his forehead hackles up

This morning I heard a ruckus in front of the barn and went to have a look… my Cornish Rock chicken had puffed herself all up and was guns-drawn on my 14 lbs Muscovy boy who outweighs her by a dozen pounds.  He's normally pretty zen but Weheheeellll, lemme tell ya, he is NOT gonna let some chicken push him around so then when she rushed him he charged her.  That (previously sweet natured) chicken fought back like a fully feathered Calamity Jane and it was ON!  He got ahold of a big chunk of her neck feathers but before he could pull her down all the way to the ground she beat him with her wings pretty good.  He hung on and they tussled like that for a moment before the whole barnyard waddled and ran over to see the fight.  The other chickens jumped into the frackus with wings beating and Big Boy was outnumbered.  He pinched a couple of them when they got close enough and it was all over in 30 seconds.   I had my camera but by the time I switched it on the whole thing was done except for a little post-game chest thumping (pictured above).  I still don’t know who schooled who or which started the fight (I suspect the chickens tho).  The Muscovy all gathered up together and did that crane and bob thing they do in solidarity, all the while trilling and huffing what I’m sure were piercing chicken slurs at the retreating hens.  Now they’re out there with their duck-chests all puffed out, strolling among the chickens daring them to stick just one chicken toe across the line.

Geese high tailing it to safety
Geese and ducks high-tailing it out of the pasture

A few weeks ago I was out in the yard and noticed the ducks and geese were happily grunting and chortling and digging their little beaks around in the grass, not paying much attention to anything other than tasty bugs hiding in the greens.  The geese tend to stand sentry duty around the flock while they forage and were taking turns eating grass and keeping an eye out.  The chickens were busily running all over the yard in a hurry to get from one very important chicken task to the next.  As one of the RIR’s was wandering her way past the ducks I noticed her do a little second take at one of the geese's backside (I could almost see the wheels turning in her malicious little chicken brain)… just as the goose bent to nibble some grass that chicken goosed him!  That poor Goosey-Goose jumped 4 feet in the air and let out a big old rusty honk.  The RIR just carried on like nothing had happened.  I would have to say the chickens firmly believe they're running the barnyard... goosing the goose?  Are you kidding me?

Queeny Girl Muscovy
Queeny is actually a very calm & sweet girl

Another time, back when Duck Dodgers had 5 Welsh Harlequin girls all to himself (I’d just harvested the other 3 drakes), he must’ve been feeling like he was the big man on campus and his little ducky britches got a bit too big for him.  I was walking across the barnyard to get from one chore to another and out of the corner of my eye I saw Duck Dodgers make an opened beak threatening gesture at one of my Muscovy girls, Queeny.  I stopped to watch just to see what would happen.   At first Queeny pulled her head back in surprise, then a moment later she narrowed her eyes, craned out her neck and huffed her quiet Muscovy trill at him, like, “don’t you dare talk to me like that!”  Duck Dodgers held his ground so she charged him!  He ran, she chased and finally when she caught him she jumped on his back, dug in those pterodactyl claws, mashing him into the dirt, grabbed the back of his neck and hit his head against the ground a few times.  He managed to get away and she chased him just a second longer.  When he stopped and turned around she advanced again and he boogied it on out of there while she huffed and trilled and bobbed her head at him.  He went back to his girlfriends and fluffed up his feathers, then resumed leading them to grazing.  He didn’t mess with the Muscovy girls after that.

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Big Boy with his girls
The four Muscovy prefer to flock by themselves.  They’re a bit like a flock of 3-year-olds: very curious, get up to a bunch of hijinx, and like to explore on their own.  They have their own pecking order and prefer that the other ducks maintain a little distance but they’ve generally allowed the Harlequin to hole up in their barn with them when they catch sight of a predator and run for the nearest safe portal.  

The Muscovy have all been sequestered for the last 3 weeks in a smallish run while they heal from hawk wounds, but I let them out into the barnyard this weekend where they encountered the geese face to face for the first time.  There’s always been a thin wall of fencing between them, but they’ve interacted many times through it without any trouble.  I reckon the geese decided the Muscovy would be easy to bully and came right over to lay  claim  to  the  water  dish the  Muscovy  were  using.  My  two  most  timid Muscovy hens high tailed it

Goosey Goose chasing someone out of the pool
'Queeeeeeg? Out of my pool!'
out of reach but Queeny ignored the goose and continued to drink while Big Boy wouldn't be bullied either and did the Muscovy huff and puff.  Everyone stood their ground for a moment but it looked like a draw to me since they both went their separate ways.  Then later that day one of the geese wanted to push Queeny away from the waterbowl again but she ignored the goose… until he stuck is long neck out and made his rusty gate sound “Queeeeeeg?!” (you dare disobey?!).  I could tell from her body language that the goose was about to get it.  She stretched out her own long neck right back at the offending goose, who didn’t back down, so Queeny reached out and got herself and nice fat bite of goose chest meat in her big, pinchy beak and twisted hard… and hung on tight!  The goose started to back up – all the while honking in a panic – and she hung on like a pit bull until she was sure she got her message across then she chased him for good measure.  That big ol’ goose had learned a valuable lesson: don’t mess with Queeny the Muscovy girl!

It might sound like there’s one rumble after another in the barnyard but most days all the animals just play and chortle and make their way from the grass to the pool.  Once in a while I catch sight of… well… a sight.  There’s no lack of entertainment around here, that’s for sure!



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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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I've crawled out from under my rock

8/10/2010

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Farm2Fork
I know it’s been a long time since I’ve updated the going’s-on of Moose Manor.  So beware… this one is an extra long post to make up for it. 

The harvest of the chickens and ducks (30 birds total) was exhausting physically and mentally so I took a little break from all but the most basic outside communication (ie; work).  Don’t get me wrong… there are no breaks around here on the farm!  Every day it’s early to rise and late to bed because there is always more to do than there is time to do it.  I just needed some hermit time to reflect, renew, and finally resolve myself to moving forward with preparations for my next harvest.  There are, as always, a lot of things that have to happen between now and November to ensure I’m more efficient at this task. 

Farm to Fork - A recap of the Summer 2010 harvest:

I began the process on April 23rd with 16 unmedicated White Muscovy ducklings from J.M. Hatchery in Lancaster County, PA.  This hatchery uses improved breeding stock from France that produces males weighing 12 pounds in 12 weeks.  I’m happy to report that this is very accurate and the stock was incredibly hardy and healthy. 6 of my ducklings were male.  I lost 1 duckling in week 3 when it got out of the brooder unnoticed and couldn’t get back in; I lost 2 females in week 9 when they were attacked by hawks.  I selected 1 male (the 2nd largest) and 3 females (the largest, the friendliest, and the prettiest) to keep as breeding stock and the rest were allocated for harvest at the 12 week mark while they’re still young and tender. 

When I ordered my Muscovy, I also placed an order for 21 unmedicated Cornish Cross roaster chickens with Meyer Hatchery in Polk, OH.  I requested a delivery date 6 weeks prior to the scheduled harvest date so I could do all the birds at one time.  These chickens are specially bred first-generation stock selected for fast feathering, rapid growth, and nice carcass finish. Meyer states 4lbs average dressed weight in 7 weeks with a 2lb feed conversion and 98% livability. I thought mid-way through that the birds had stopped growing at the appropriate pace (taking a hit in my feed conversion ratio), but there was a spike in growth right at the end.  The chickens preformed as promised, and were in excellent health.  The hatchery sent me 2 extra for normal mortality, I lost both in the first week.  It stormed heavily at the end of week 6 so I couldn't butcher as planned then in the days that followed it was extremely hot and even with a giant box fan and lots of shade and water I lost 2 more chickens to heat just days before freezer camp.  In the future, I’ll move my summer harvests closer to spring so that the Cornish aren’t heat stressed.

Harvest preparation: Several days before the harvest I created an online ordering site where folks who had expressed an interest could reserve a bird.  Within an hour or so of sending out my notification email I was “sold out” of all my birds!  And I still got some email requests... I even sold a couple out of my own pantry – I think I was left with one of each of the 3 types of birds for myself. LOL!

OK… having plucked a few chickens and ducks in my time, I knew that if I was gonna process 30+ birds with just my own two hands I needed to get a mechanical plucker.  I immediately discovered that small plucker machines, like the Featherman, were way the heck out of my price range ($800-$2500).  They work like a champ, getting 3 or 4 birds at a time spanky clean in 30 seconds.  But there’s just no way I can ever justify that kind of cost for my little operation. 

So, being the DIY diva that I am, I’m building a chicken plucker machine instead of buying one (you can see it in action here).  If I’m crafty enough I might get out of the project only $300 lighter in the wallet – that’s a cost I can live with for the amazing speed and convenience of this contraption.  But, as you can imagine, with building housing for the different birds and the regular upkeep of the farm, and, oh yeah... that day job that pays the mortgage, there wasn’t time to get it done before harvest.  Other smallholders have off-set the cost of buying a Featherman by renting it out when they aren’t using it (which is more often than you are, right?).  I found a guy just about a 2-hour drive from me, over in Virginia, who was renting his machine out so I scheduled my harvest date with him.  I was supposed to pick it up Friday evening so I emailed him that afternoon to make sure the time was good… he said it wasn’t back from the last renter.  No Way!  It would be back Tuesday so I rescheduled and took Wednesday & Thursday off of work. 

Cornish Harvest: Those Cornish were not gonna make it through the weekend with the heat so I had no choice but to do all the plucking by hand.  I got an early start but it still took me 12 straight hours to pluck and process 20 chickens by hand.  And when all the naked carcasses were on ice I still had to dig a 4 foot hole on the back of the property to compost the waste.  At 9:30 that night I finally had everything cleaned up and dragged my tired, smelly self inside to shower and sleep.  I got up really early the next morning to package and weigh my birds so the customers could start picking them up at 9am.  What a job!

So the stats on the dress birds… I lucked out with about 50/50 hen to cockerel ratio (I really didn’t know until I processed them).  They picked very cleanly and dressed out nice.  The consistency of weight was pretty exact: cockerels dressed out at 5 & 5.5 lbs each and hens dressed at 4 & 4.5 lbs each.  I had one that dressed out as a Cornish game hen and one that came in at 3.5lbs (which is what folks were expecting them to average).  I would like to harvest them a little smaller – or maybe grow them in two age groups next time so I have birds running between 6 lbs and 2 lbs.

Well, wouldn’t you know it, Tuesday rolls around and I contact the Featherman renter guy and the machine is still not back yet!  It's not like I can go down the the Rent-all and get a plucker machine!  This is the only guy advertising the rental of just the machine (and not a 16 foot trailer of mobile processing equipment).  I can’t imagine plucking this many ducks by hand… they have 4 times more feathers than the chickens.  No choice now but to get out there and get started since I already took the time off work and folks were expecting their ducks to be ready. 

Welsh Harlequin Harvest: I got started at 7am because it was supposed to be a hot day with a high of 109 and I wanted to get as far along as I could before then.  I had 3 Harlequin drakes that needed to be culled for a better boy/girl ratio in the flock so I did them first.  They each took about 30 minutes to pluck because I had a lot of trouble getting off the tiny downy feathers closest to the skin.  I followed some old timer's advice and used paraffin wax on the first duck… that was a total disaster.  I probably didn’t do it right so I did the other two without.  They were all juveniles and in the light duck class so they dressed out at an average 3.5lbs.  They were nice and lean, half the fat during processing that I had with the chickens (who were a little on the lean side too because I didn't fatten them on corn the last week).

Muscovy Harvest: I had set aside 9 of these ducks for harvest (nearly half were very large drakes) after separating out my 4 breeder stock.  I learned A LOT about harvesting ducks that day. Most important of all is that you don’t harvest these big, strong ducks the same way you do chickens and light ducks, no sir.  I tried the new-fangled European system of pumping inert gas (argon or helium) in a small enclosure to make them sleepy first but that was unsuccessful.  I'm still not sure the best way, personally, for me to do it. These guys were the most taxing on me mentally and every one of them was a challenge. 

Stats on the meat: My drakes averaged 8lbs dressed weight and the hens averaged 5lbs dressed weight.  All were very meaty but extremely lean, there was no fat on the gizzard or heart and zero excess fat to be removed in processing.  The hens, especially, are very active birds so I’m not surprised. 

The duck harvest had to span two days.  I spent 12 hours in the heat plucking and processing by hand and I still had 3 left when it finally got dark – 1 drake and 2 hens.  So I dragged myself out of the house early the next morning for round 3 of processing, which included the only Muscovy that accidentally got a name: Angel Wing.  My Muscovy who I carried out to spend his days in the grazing pen with the Campbells to avoid having his deformed wing eaten by his flock-mates.  The 3 busy little brown Campbells that he considered to be inferior ducks… but they liked him anyway.  I decided to cull the drake first that morning to get it over with.  Before I took him I grabbed the last two hens together so that the very last one wouldn’t be alone for an hour… they get very sad and a little panicky when they’re all alone.  I put them in a large wire dog kennel on the other side of the barn where all the other non-harvest ducks were hanging out.  That way, when I culled the second to last girl, the very last girl wouldn’t be lonely.  I got started on Angel Wing and it was slow going because my plucker muscles were pretty tired from the day before.  After he and the first hen were all dressed out and on ice I headed over to grab the last hen.  I stood there looking at that kennel and feeling like I just could not kill one more living thing that day.  I was at my limit.  So instead of harvesting her, I let her out of the kennel to be with the other Muscovy.  I know… I know… but I was maxed out.  She half ran, half flew over to the little group and everyone seemed appropriately excited.  They were all doing the little Muscovy dance around her.  So now I have a slightly larger breeding stock of 4 hens and 1 drake. 

And she now has a name: Lucky Girl.

.


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The Thrill is Back

7/9/2010

1 Comment

 
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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    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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