4th of July in Texas

http://www.101july4th.com/history.html Happy 4th of July

Please visit Texas; there is so much history and lots to do. Here is a link to help you get started http://gotexas.about.com/od/festivals/a/FourthofJuly.htm

 

http://www.texasescapes.com/TOWNS/Greenville/greenville.htm

I live in east Texas, northeast of Dallas, near Greenville with a wonderful, reclaimed and restored downtown. Also the Audie Murphy/Cotton Museum  is a great place to visit. 

Going just a little further east puts you into the Pineywoods, and believe me there are pine trees thicker than grasshoppers.  There are many logging operations in east Texas; you will see semi flatbeds loaded with loooong pine trees, already limbed, on their way to a sawmill.   There are lots of small towns who have reclaimed their downtowns and made them into charming destinations.  Greenville has successfully done this.  So has Marshall, Lindale, Mineola, and others.  Look for downtowns with antique stores and usually it will be a successful, thriving area.  The thriving courthouses on squares mean there are plenty of attorney offices surrounding the area and is a busy beehive of activity during the week. On the weekends it is quiet and enjoyable to wander through the stores.

 

A fantastic area to visit south of Dallas is Elm Mott, 8 miles north of Waco. You must visit Homestead Heritage Village, working craftsmen, a huge barn moved here and restored, an on-site deli.  They have a working gristmill producing their  flours. They were commissioned to build President George W. Bush’s ranch house in Crawford.  They were also commissioned to build some furniture for the White House that remains as a Texas tribute before President Bush left office.  They have pics and documents on their wall.

http://www.homesteadheritage.com

 There is lodging nearby

 http://www.homesteadcraftfair.com/campingandlodging.html

and a map to get there

http://www.homesteadheritage.com/contact_us.html

and links to their furniture, barns, gristmill, trades schools, and natural range-fed beef

http://www.homesteadheritage.com/contact_us.html

Another great place is south of Dallas near Palestine.  An historic steam engine train makes round trip excursions from Palestine to Rusk and back. Make a reservation and enjoy.

http://www.texasescapes.com/TOWNS/Palestine/Palestine_Texas.htm

Safely enjoy the holiday weekend and remember to fly your flags.  http://www.usa-flag-site.org/

Those crazy chickens

I loooooove my chickens. I’m not personally attached to any, but I just love hearing them clucking, the silkie bantam rooster crowing, the guineas squawking when they see something unfamiliar, and drinking out of the alpaca’s water buckets. (The chickens have their own water fonts, but for some reason they like to hop up on the old tire that sits around the 5 gal. Tractor Supply buckets and swig away).

I was absolutely petrified about keeping them but then decided what have I got to lose (except maybe a few if I was a real klutz about it). I did my research to see what kinds I should have, and that went out the window when Ideal Poultry had a special on rare breed chickens package (all pullets). I love my rare breed chickens. I also love, love, love the Partridge Silkie bantams. They were a risk as they were straight runs (not sexed, you could end up with all males), but I was extremely lucky and had only one male. Of course you don’t know until they are full grown what you have.

I got a total of 30 (10 Silkies, 10 rare breed, 10 guineas). From zero to 30 is quite a leap but I wanted to have enough that if some did die I would have some left. I lost 3 after several weeks had gone by just because I think they were not thrifty. The others graduated into the coops just fine. Then, recently, with warm evenings, I was keeping the chicken hatch doors open on the coops and that’s when disaster struck. I found one guinea and one chicken dead on separate days (headless, the birds were apparently too big for the hunter to carry off). Then I started counting and found 4 of my Silkies missing (no scattered feathers, so I assume they were small enough the hunter could quickly snatch at night and carry off). Now I do close them up and everything has been fine.

We designed our own coops (very simple A-frames to economically utilize materials and enable good air flow from low venting up an out the top screened vent gables). If you would like more info on the design, let me know. If you need any support in getting started, I have some books and hints that can help you. You can contact me. The only thing is to first check your zoning laws if you are in the city limits, and also your homeowner assocation laws or property deed restrictions.

I advertised on LocalHarvest and got 2 regular egg customers that ends up paying for the feed which is just fine. I’m not looking to get rich, but if it helps pay for something it helps. I sell them for less than the store and one buyer has a co-worker who puts in an order and she takes to her. Local Harvest is the best place to advertise. Selling at farmer’s markets requires some paperwork and I am not quite ready to get out that early and sell yet. You can also find chickens to buy if you don’t want to go through the dependent chick stage. Get a chicken breed that fits you best; do some internet research. Ideal Poultry has a section on breeds descriptions. Give it a try and you will love it

A Surprise in the pasture

Lovey dovey

Where'd the milk bar go?

Here I am!

There just isn’t anything cuter than new babies of any kind. We were not expecting any so soon! Sunday, Father’s Day and the first day of Summer, we walked out into the pasture to check on a couple of new chicks our broody hens had hatched. Some movement in the pasture made us look and there was a little alpaca! Where did that come from? It was from our pregnant girl, Dash of Flash (Dash for short) who we thought was due sometime in late fall. We were shocked and amazed that she gave us no clues she was ready. These animals are really hard to observe as being in a pregnant form. They just don’t get really bulky. Her baby girl weighed in at 17 lbs. and we surmise that she was only an hour or so old. We discovered them about 6 p.m. hanging out in the pasture. Dad is in the pasture next to them, Hershey Surprise.

A little background: first of all, it’s a good thing I didn’t know she was due now or I would have been really nervous since this is our first on-site birth. Her first cria a couple years back at another farm had been a stillbirth with difficulty and Dash almost did not survive but she did and we gave her a long rest, not breeding her until last year. Their gestation is 11-12 months. We did not think her first breeding to our herdsire last spring was successful (we are novices at this and they were not real thrilled to be in a pen together).

We then decided to pasture them together for a week. We thought this was not successful, but apparently at some point it was. We tried them together again in the fall and they did not like each other so we pastured them again (again, novices. We were not aware at that time she was probably pregnant). We started back into the breeding again this spring with all 3 girls and Dash was spitting off the male immediately so we knew then probably she was pregnant from the fall breeding, and it would be a fall birth. The other 2 girls bred with Hershey just fine.

Our herdsire looks to have the ability of one breeding equals success, as our other two girls appear to be pregnant for next spring births. I am keeping more precise records now and know when he was successful with the girls. We also have gotten 2 10×10 catch pens (one for the girls side and one for the boys) since last Fall which is much better keeping them in a more confined space for a short time while breeding. And we also know if they don’t get together pretty quick, try another day and relieve them of the additional stress of being together when they are not interested. Dash can be rebred 2-3 weeks after birth, so we will have hopefully 3 new crias next spring.

Summer Surprise is gaining weight and running around, has learned to use the poop pile (they have a communal dung pile; easy to keep the pasture cleaned up), and she is so curious she will drift away from mom to investigate the wandering chickens or wild rabbits running through the pasture. An occasional burst of energy sends her bucking around the pasture. Her dad, Hershey Surprise, is a stunning mahogany brown with dense fleece and I hope she will have his good fleece qualities. My original goal was to have grey as a color emphasis, so all of our animals do have strong grey backgrounds. Hard to know what color she will end up as they tend to change a little from the color they are born with, but right now she has medium brown with smoky grey tipping all over and more around her face and neck.

The temps are reaching 100 this week so making sure they have cool clean water and hose down their bellies makes them happy. The big barn has good cross breezes and the fans are running during the day to help move the air around.

http://www.alpacanation.com/alpacaspiritranch.asp

The vegetable garden

I am so afraid of failure that I don’t plant much in the garden. This year I expanded from last year’s two tomato plants to six this year. They are flourishing and have blooms on them now. Can’t wait for those flavorful vegs.

I did not like them when I was young and could not understand my father holding one like an apple and biting into it, exclaiming how good it was. Yuck! But now, I understand. I have been buying them at the grocer’s since late November just to have something red in the salad, but not really tasting like much.

And also, the green peppers this year. None last year, and six this year. I have these planted in raised beds but will have to get chicken wire put up to keep the bunnies out. (Even though the beds are raised, they easily get in. I have found nests of little bunny babies during the winter.) The green peppers are super expensive (most recently, over $1 each!), and more recently the quality has gone downhill and the price has also, but so has the size of the pepper.

I might just try my hand at carrots and lettuce when planting time rolls around again. I have one more raised bed I can use; right now I have sown wildflower seed in it so I can have some flowers in the summer for cuttings.

I do have alpaca manure and the chicken coop litter I use for fertilizer. I also am using the Epsom Salt recipe for the vegs to add important minerals to the soil. http://www.epsomsaltcouncil.org/

My fingers are crossed that bugs or bunnies don’t devour the plants before we can sample our vegs.

Finish up in May

Can you believe May is almost over?  We are still battling the rains. Recently they have been more of an inconvenience than anything. A few days of bad weather, then it breaks long enough to dry out the top layer of soil before it rains again. Our neighbor was busy getting the first cutting of hay in. I am not so sure about his wheat; it is looking less golden and more grey so it may be lost which is unfortunate because it was a beautiful field of gold before all the rains.

A couple of the alpacas pastures are looking rather soggy and the grass does not seem to have come in well. I may need to see about doing some seeding in there before the hot weather hits.

The chickens have done just fine. I did find a nest of eggs under some tall grass next to the chicken coop. Now I know where to watch and also keep that grass trimmed down so they can’t hide. They have been laying real well and I have one regular customer and a couple of others who have contacted me. If I can sell most of the eggs it will at least pay for their feed with a little extra left over to go towards the alpaca’s feed.

Enjoy the week. We are getting more rain this week with a hard rain already today, but the sun is shining brightly right now.

Chicken coops and predators

We have our coops  near each other but in 3 different fenced alpaca pastures; the chickens scratched a low spot under the fence lines so they could travel to the other coops and pastures to visit each other. 

It is interesting because none of the chickens has scratched under the perimeter fencing and gotten out.  They are safe in the alpaca pastures because they are securely fenced with hotwires on the top and bottom along the exterior.   There has been the occasional snake out in the pasture but the guard llamas really pay attention and pester them until they find a way out of the pasture.  I have not had any chicken losses in the past year since they have been free ranging.  Their coops are raised on concrete blocks with a ramp up to the chicken door into the coop.

I cannot explain why this would be other than the perimeter fencing was installed close to the ground and is pretty tight along the ground and thick with grass we keep trimmed under the wire.  When they are roaming the pastures they are finding things to eat and there is no reason to leave for “greener pastures”.  I have been glad they have not wanted to leave their secure yards.

Hungry Hungry Chickens

I love to look out and see the chickens swarming over the pastures.  I know they are getting rid of nuisance bugs for me.  I am thinking of bringing a couple over into the house yard and keep them  secured in an empty dog house at night and let them out during the day, but I have lots of flowers and don’t want them to munch on those, but I would like to get grasshoppers eliminated before THEY devour my plants. 

I haven’t seen them yet, but seems like the population just explodes overnight and all of a sudden, there they are.  So I will have to see how to go about that; maybe after all my little flowers are bigger and bolder. I just don’t want to lose all my seedling flowers.

The Sun Will Come Out Tomorrow

How appropro that the name of this song from the musical Annie is what we have been singing the past few weeks.  So much rain, we are just mush around here.  The pastures have not had so much standing water since I can remember, and we have been here 4 years now.  Finally, this week, we are supposed to have sun each and every day.  We need to mow the pastures to get some weeds down so we can see grass, if there is any that hasn’t drowned.

I have to call USDA and get someone out to look at the pastures and get us on some kind of yearly program to maintain through whatever means to keep the grass in good form and the weeds out.  A couple of pastures have good grasses and few weeds; the other two pastures really are weedy and alpacas don’t eat the coarse weeds generally like goats or sheep do.

So, this week, before the Memorial Weekend, we are crossing our fingers that there will NOT be any rain and we can enjoy some time outside in the sun. The alpacas are loving it; I look out and seem them spread out on their side in the sun, not moving, except for maybe an ear to follow a sound.  We all missed our sunshine these past few weeks.

Spring is for the chickens

I related in a previous post that I have never ever had chickens before I got them last June as day olds from Ideal Poultry.  I had a fear of failure that made me very unsure of keeping them. But I have 27 that happily run around and are a blast to watch.   But if I can do this, anyone can, and it just takes some preparation, education and dedication.  I have listed 5 things to do BEFORE you get your  first chicks.  It is tempting to get in a hurry and order those cute little fluffy things, or pick them up at Tractor Supply before you are ready.  But please be ready first.  Here are my top five THINGS TO DO in advance:

1.  Get ALL  the family members on board with the idea.  It will require some time and effort from everyone.  Your husband may need to build something for you and them; your kids may need to help feed and water or change litter. The first few weeks will require being at home (no week long vacations) and dedicating yourself to overseeing the health and welfare of your chicks until they are ready to be outside on their own, usually around 8 weeks of age.

2.  Evaluate your finances and plan for the necessary housing, litter, feed, and food dishes and waterers.  We built our coops; my husband designed and made them, but they were not ”free”.  If you plan ahead and scrounge around Craigslist or friends or neighbors maybe you can get some free building materials.  There are plans online for making your own food or water dishes that are mostly castoff materials.  The feed and sawdust shavings will be ongoing expenses.  I have 27 chickens; I buy one 50 lb. sack of feed for about $12 that lasts 2 or maybe 3 weeks. The shavings I buy from the farmer’s co-op as needed, but they are about $4 for one compressed bag.    Because they are pastured, I fill the feeders every other day and let them scrounge for bugs and things and I will toss out vegetable and food scraps if I have some. I also buy ground oyster shells since they are laying; I don’t buy grit since they pasture and pick up enough grit that way. Until then you will need to buy it or provide sand or similar. Be sure you get a sturdy tub to hold them while they are chicks.  I used a long narrow stock tank because we had one. Fencing on top to keep out cats, snakes, etc.  

3.  This maybe should be #1, but BUY this book, “Storey’s Guide to Raising Chickens” by Gail Damerow.  READ it all.  Don’t let it scare you away though.  I don’t medicate or worm my chickens; they are healthy.  Our coop was designed so I don’t have to walk into it.  It is only 4′ deep so I open the door and reach in to do any egg gathering, cleaning or litter change out.  If I need to get in, I can.  It’s an A-frame,  8′ tall  in the middle. But not walking in it keeps me from tracking in some harmful bacteria/germ.

4.  Research where you are getting your chicks from, their replacement policy if they do not arrive alive or die shortly after arrival, and selection availability.  If you can, use a hatchery as close as possible to you so shipping is successful.  I used Ideal Poultry in Texas.  Great customer service and all the chicks arrived in excellent shape.   http://www.ideal-poultry.com/  I got to choose the date of delivery that fit my schedule. The post office called me at 6:30 a.m. to come and get those chicks now or they will die.  Be ready for the call and have the facilities, heat lamp, food and water,  ready and waiting.

5.  Research the rules and regulations of the housing area you live in.  Your city/town may have rules or deed restrictions about keeping poultry  and how many and type (no roosters, for example).  If the neighbors complain and you are not in compliance they could confiscate your birds or have you get rid of them.  Call your city code officer or city office for the regulations. If you are not in city limits make sure there are no restrictions in your subdivision.

Yea or nay? The mysteries of breeding

Well I wrote last about attempting to get our 3 girl alpacas bred to our herdsire Hershey.  We have a system in place now, along with the addition of catch pens, that have aided tremendously in having success this year I hope. 

No matter how you look at it, or how you try to deny it, you have to have the right tools to achieve success.  Sometimes you try to do without to save money, but evaluate how well that is working for you.   We did not have catchpens last year and since we acquired one for the girls and one for the boys this year it has improved our processes tremendously.  You have to “catch” them up in the pen to halter them, or groom them, or whatever.    It was just an accidental/unintentional purchase when a nearby farm was retiring and selling everything and when we visited them they had catch pens for sale.  We bought two. 

 

So with spring breeding we have hopefully been successful.  I have my notebook with the girls names on each page and recording the dates they rendezvous with Hershey.  It would appear at this point in time that he was successful in each first time breeding with each girl.  We have done followup rebreeds at one week intervals spaced a couple days apart for each girl  and so far they all are spitting him off (and I mean plastering him with the green stuff, and us as well if we are in spitting distance).  So I will move our “spit tests” now to monthly and see if pregnancies are holding, then have the vet do progesterone tests later on.  I record everything we do for each girl.  We record everything we do for all the animals healthwise, but the breeding requires more detailed notes.  We have been doing breedings in the evenings as it fits better with our schedules.  There have been many conversations about how farms “create” the female cria/baby, and several said time of day made a difference, with evening being high on the list.  We shall see.

After much frustration last year, without catchpens, and trying to get Hershey and a girl together in his fenced in barn space, it just didn’t work well.  There was too much room where she would run away and he would stand in the corner timidly.  We learned the trick is to get them close together (i.e., catch pen) .  The female needs to kush; our guy just will not be aggressive enough to chase.  Some farms I have heard “help” the girl kush to get things going.   We halter both animals and can hook up a lead if needed.  Getting in and holding the girls tail out of the way helped a lot.  We didn’t try wrapping the tail as some recommend.   Hershey also learned what the catch pens were for if there was a girl in there; and was much quicker in getting down to business each time he was taken to the pen. 

I really, really hope we have three successful pregnancies.  I bought all my animals focusing on grey and rose grey and they all have grey, silver or rose grey in their lineage.  The gestation is 11 months to 12 months and I will be very anxious for  successful  deliveries.  I am keeping my fingers crossed we are on the right path this year.