Downeast Thunder Farm

Total Cuteness

Susan — Fri, 25 May 2012 01:44:59 +0000

It was dark when Hannah closed the Banties in tonight. She panicked because she couldn’t find the baby chicks – they are usually sitting in the corner tucked under Shadow. Hannah flashed her light inside the coop and saw mama on the roost. Then out popped Klee! She’s hanging onto that perch tucked under mama’s wing. Peanut is hiding in there, too. Cute!

Kids grow up so fast.

Weekend Snapshots

Susan — Mon, 21 May 2012 00:43:08 +0000

It was a glorious weekend here. Sunny and seventies. It would have been perfection but for the black flies. Insidious little things. Did you know they have serrated teeth? My legs – a minefield of red swollen bites are proof.

Lots of things happened at Downeast Thunder Farm this weekend.

The Freedom Ranger meat chickens got their first taste of free ranging. With portable fencing we’ve set up a yard outside their pen. When they’ve finished grazing that area, we can shift to a new patch of green.

I prepared my raised garden beds and planted: corn, zucchini, pumpkin, spaghetti squash, radish, kale, green beans, carrots, and tomatoes. When my cucumbers harden off in a few days I’ll add those to the mix. Peas, lettuce and spinach have already been planted and are slowly coming along.

While the potatoes in my potato basket are just starting to take root, the basket itself has begun to bloom! It’s really quite beautiful.

Paul began excavating the duck pond. He’s had the spot cleared for a while, but we’ve had so much rain that he couldn’t get the tractor in for fear of sinking into the clay.

At the end of they day the pond was whopping 18″ deep. He moved a lot of dirt, but I think Paul needs a bigger machine!

A late afternoon peak into the Banty B & B found Shadow being a good mama, tucking her babies Klee and Peanut (almost three-weeks-old) in for the night.

They’re still a bit bashful around me!

Feeding Time

Susan — Thu, 17 May 2012 01:04:28 +0000

The Freedom Rangers just came out of the brooder last Saturday. I get such a kick out of watching Paul feed them – they get so excited to see him!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZfWs5vRJWHI

Flight of the Hummingbird

Susan — Mon, 14 May 2012 01:10:48 +0000

The hummingbirds returned on Friday. I put sugar-water out for them a few days before that, just to be ready in case they arrived early this year. But, like clockwork the hummingbirds returned on May 11 as they do every year.

So on this Mother’s Day, I took my coffee to the porch – the pièce de résistance of my house…

… and took pictures of the hummingbirds.

Moving Day for the Freedom Rangers

Susan — Sun, 13 May 2012 01:31:18 +0000

Today was moving day for the Freedom Rangers. They’ve been with us for four weeks now and things in the brooder were getting a bit crowded. Now that they have feathers they can move outside to their new digs.

Hannah moved the 50 chickens into the dog kennel in two batches and transported them down to their new house and run.

One by one she popped them into their new space.

Here’s the first half of the birds getting familiar with their new digs.

Paul built this new house for the Freedom Rangers. He used left over soffit material donated by a neighbor to side the building. The neat thing is that it’s got lots of ventilation. The house connects onto the fully enclosed wire run we made for meat birds last year.

A Freedom Ranger hen checking me out. They’re not entirely sure what to do with all this extra space.

The nights are still a bit cool, so for the time being we’ll give the chickens a little extra warmth at night with a heat lamp. The happy little glow makes things look cozy at the end of a long day for the little chickens.

Next on the to do list is to fence in a bit of the surrounding yard for the chickens to explore during the daytime.