Little Chicken Nuggets

It's still January, but we're already thinking about ordering day old chicks and brooding them. Because we raise our chickens on pasture, we can't start ordering our day old chicks until we're pretty sure the worst of the cold days are behind us.  Our goal is to move chicks out of the brooder house at two weeks old but if it's too cold or rainy, they will die. Timing is everything.

Newly hatched chicks arrive in the mail. The people at the post office think it's neat.

This year, we'll be raising Golden Comets to sell as laying pullets. We raised them last year and they did very well. Golden Comets mature a bit earlier than most layers and can start laying eggs as early as 14 weeks.  Most pullets start laying when they're around 20 weeks old.

We'll also be raising Cornish hens and broiler chickens.  Lots and lots of poultry will be going through the farm this spring and summer.  They are so cute and fluffy when they arrive.

Fluffy little chicken nuggets

More chicks in the pasture

Greg finished this pasture pen on Friday before we went to the Apple Blossom Fireman's Parade that evening.  If you're not from the Winchester area, please take note that the Apple Blossom Festival is a huge event for our town. Festivities galore! Luncheons, 10k run, 1 mile run for kids, balls, a carnival, a circus, the world's longest fire truck parade, the grand parade, more, more, more and even more!  All this to explain that we had a big deadline if we wanted to get the chicks out in the pasture before heading to the Bloomin' Mile run for one child and to see the fireman's parade.  But he did it! He finished the pasture pen and we got the chicks out on pasture.

Ideally, we'd have the chicks in the same pasture as the cattle.  The cattle would eat down the tall grass giving the chicks access to shorter grass which is easier for them to eat. And the chicks would also have access to the fresh fly larvae in the cow pies.  The cattle will be on this pasture soon enough though.

Golden Comet pullets... except we have one oddball chick in there. Not sure if it's a male GC or if it's another breed. Looks a bit like a Cornish Cross.

Use everything

The chicks are no longer in the troughs in the garage.  We were left with four troughs filled with chicken litter. For gardens, this is great fertilizer.  Today was cleaning day.

From the troughs to the tractor bucket

And straight to the garden

This is one of the things that I love most about our farming methods -- we use what the animals give us and put it all back into the cycle of the farm.

Ingenuity

Ingenuity- word of the day.

Our 200 cockerel chicks quickly outgrew the makeshift trough brooders in the garage but it was still a bit too cold and windy to move them back out to the barn brooding stall.  After all the work getting through that first cold week, we really didn't want to lose any more chicks because we weren't diligent in protecting them from the cold.

We couldn't turn them loose in the barn stall yet because it was still too cold and windy.  The brooder lights alone weren't enough to keep the chicks warm.  We need to insulate them from drafts.  I had previously put up styrofoam insulation panels as draft guards and to provide some heat retention. Great idea until the chicks decided it would be fun to peck at them until they got to the styrofoam, pulled off pieces and then chased each other trying to grab the styrofoam out of each other's beaks.  We considered putting in the wood brooder dividers we used last year but the chicks started jumping pretty high and we were afraid they'd jump out, get cold and be unable to get back into the brooder and the lights.

I was at a loss for what to do but it was clear they couldn't stay in the garage any longer. We already caught a few testing their ability to jump out of the troughs.

I got to the farm on Tuesday and started hunting around for Greg.  I found him in the brooder stall.  That man is brilliant.  I'll admit I let out a big laugh when I saw his solution, but honestly, it's ingenious!

The back wall is cement with a styrofoam panel, then a piece of aluminum siding nailed to it to keep the chicks from pecking at the insultion.  The other three walls are old doors from a job site that were going to be thrown out.  The roof area is made from the original insulation walls.  I don't know about you, but I LOVE the window door in front!  As soon as we walk up, we can see how the chicks are doing.  Once it warms up enough and the chicks are another week older, we'll take the doors down and they'll have full run of the stall.

It made me laugh but it really is pretty awesome brooder. And it's just redneck enough.