All the things!

Hey interwebs! Sorry it's been so long since we last chatted... I was super busy planning a huge event at work + Emma was recovering from her surgery.

Unfortunately, Winter will be here in a blink of an eye. Osh and I have been taking the dogs for walks as much as possible, while the weather holds out. I actually bought us some toasty workout pants so that we can walk the dogs well in to November. (hopefully!) Emma and Otis love adventures!

Speaking of Winter, it's almost time to start preparing the barn for the cooler temperatures.
Typically, we house all of the birds together over the winter, so that they can keep each other warm. This year will be no different, except with the addition of Narragansett Turkeys. The idea of having a heat light in the barn has been tossed around but I'm still unsure about that. There's so much that can go wrong with a heat lamp -- such as a fire which would ruin the barn and probably kill our entire flock. Still weighing out the benefits/downsides... Check back in a few weeks to see what we decide to do!!

This year, we decided to keep about 20 drakes to raise for meat. I have done a lot of reading regarding muscovy duck meat, and it apparently was supposed to taste like beef.... And beef it tasted  like. There's not a whole lot of fat, so cooking it perfectly is key. If you ate this piece of meat, blindfolded, you would probably think it was a really nice cut of beef. We've had muscovy ducks for over 2 years now, I'm not sure why we haven't tried it before. Next year, we will probably raise more drakes for meat, especially, considering how delicious it is!

PS -- If anyone wants to get on the list forr barred rock chicks in the Spring, please let me know around January. Heritage barred rock chicks are $7 each, unsexed. The lines that we have are Woeppel, Guy Roy, & Good Shepherd.

Rooster Troubles

I hatched some heritage Blue Splash Brahma chicks from Carolina Rare chicks line back in February. 

The roosters have started to come in to 'manhood' and Josh has been butchering them a few at a time.  The rooster to hen ratio should be around 8-10 hens per rooster. Right now we have a total of 8 roosters soon to be 6 or 7. So That would be mean we would need 60 hens in order to keep the peace, which we don't have nor really want to have at this moment in time. OH, and I should mention, that these Brahma roosters are massive. Like double the size of an average sized rooster.  In total, we like to keep our numbers for chickens around 40-ish during the winter months.

So back to the Blue Splash Roosters -- this morning Josh went out to open the barn to feed the birds, and found the blue splash Brahma rooster, that we had planned on keeping had broken the neck of a barred rock hen and paralyzed our Barnevlder hen.  It's in a roosters nature to PROTECT the hens, not harm them.  It's hard to say what really happened. I thought maybe he was trying to mate with them and they refused. However, after carefully thinking about the situation, broody hen or not, he shouldn't have harmed them like that. There has to be something wrong with the rooster, so he's gotta go.  It's just not safe for him to stay in our flock any longer. I still plan on breeding them in the Spring but with a different rooster {pending that the last of the blue splash roosters is friendly}

Happier News:

We sold 2 ducks and 3 chicks this week! They went to a home where they will be part of traveling petting zoo. How cool is that?! I'm excited for their adventurous life. It always does the heart good to know they are off to do big things. :) 

 

 

Happy Sunday Y'all! 

 

Muscovies for Everyone!

Well, hello there!

Johnson Microfarm has been growing at a tremendous rate! This year we added quite a few chickens, turkeys, & ducks! Also, Osh put in lots of garden beds. I think there is close to 25 of them.... You could say he went a little garden bed crazy this season. However, next year, things should be much smoother! {We hope!} 

Muscovy Ducks:
It appears as though our muscovies have excellent fertility! This year we were overloaded with baby ducks. We began the season with 2 drakes, Chocolate Man & Alfred & 6 mama's. The only one that has a name is 'Nibbles' for obvious reasons, and the other 5, I just call 'Mama.'  The first few batches of ducks were sold to pay for feed, bedding, and various other chicken-y things. This last batch was sort of a 'surprise' from 2 of the original mama's that like to nest together. They hatched out 21 babies. So if anyone is in the market for a few, let us know!






So lets get in to why muscovies are fantastic creatures to have on your property.

Practical Reasons:

1. Great brooders & mothers to their young.
2. Delicious eggs
3. Amazing natural pest repellents. BUT if we have a really wet year, you literally need like 30+ ducks to make a noticeable difference. 
4.  They are quiet! If you live in an area that you are not allowed to have chickens, I highly suggest looking in to these ducks. They do not quack, the ladies make a 'pip' noise but not often. Muscovies could be a solution for you if you are looking to add a little yard candy without the extra noise. 
5. If you have an allergy to chicken eggs, most of the time, duck eggs will not have the same effect. 
6. They have excellent resilience to cold weather which is crucial in our climate and at the Johnson Microfarm. Our barn is not heated for various reasons, the main one being safety.  I remember going out to check on them many of times over the winter & they would be taking a snow bath. 
7. Beautiful Colors! This could be in either category, but for our reasons, I will put it in the practical category. On our farm, we raise mostly rare colors of muscovies. This year our Chocolate Drake created beautiful offspring! We were even lucky enough to get a lavender barred chocolate female. She is for sale and is currently $40. Super rare color and very hard to find. If anyone is interested, feel free to email me, or comment on the blog. We do not ship any birds. All birds must be picked up on the premise. 

Impractical Reasons:

1. They are adorable. 
2. They wag their tails when they see you. 
3. Get super excited for tomato-y treats.
4.  Companionship {This could really go in either category, just depends on what you're looking to get out of your livestock.} 

We will try to post on here weekly! Stay tuned for more farm updates. <3