Stretch Out Your Wings and Fly!

Yesterday I was in a large home improvement store for a meeting and I looked up and saw a male cardinal flying around frantically in the store.  The poor fellow undoubtedly flew in when one of the doors opened and now was hopelessly trapped, flying from aisle to aisle looking for a way out.  That's how I feel when I have to go shopping, too, except I can find my way out through the exit.  I don't know if the cardinal found his way out.

Last Sunday when we drove back into the garage from church, there was a bird in our garage.  With two large overhead doors, you'd think he'd be able to find his way out.  He couldn't.  He was fooled by those darned windows!  He kept flying into one and Benjamin and I went and scooped him up.  He was just fine.

It was a little dove - certainly a cute little guy. Just like the cardinal in the big box store, he was trapped and just needed a little help - help we were glad to give him. We admired him for a bit.  I think he is a mourning dove.  In the mornings or late afternoons, you can hear them with their haunting sounds.  This little dove was in mourning after running into the window in the garage numerous times.  He's okay now, though.  Benjamin took him out of the garage and gave him a gentle toss and he was up, up, and away...

He flew up into the pear tree...  And a partridge mourning dove in a pear tree...  And then he was gone.  Unlike the cardinal trapped in the store, this guy had his freedom.  He stretched out his wings and flew away and never looked back.

It reminded me of Noah and the dove he sent out that never came back.

Genesis 8:8-12 James Version (KJV)

8 Also he sent forth a dove from him, to see if the waters were abated from off the face of the ground;

9 But the dove found no rest for the sole of her foot, and she returned unto him into the ark, for the waters were on the face of the whole earth: then he put forth his hand, and took her, and pulled her in unto him into the ark.

10 And he stayed yet other seven days; and again he sent forth the dove out of the ark;

11 And the dove came in to him in the evening; and, lo, in her mouth was an olive leaf pluckt off: so Noah knew that the waters were abated from off the earth.

12 And he stayed yet other seven days; and sent forth the dove; which returned not again unto him any more.

Maybe there's a morale in the story about the cardinal and the mourning dove. There's life to be lived out there - life outside of the big box stores and cramped garages and even arks.  Freedom! Why, there are blue skies, fresh air, and trees adorned with leaves.  Sometimes you need a little help.  Sometimes you just need to stretch your wings out and fly.

2017 Meat Birds - 9 Weeks Old

Tonight is the final Wednesday night installment of the Magnificent Meat Bird Weigh-in as this Saturday, the birds will be slaughtered.  We'll be setting up the different stations for Butcher Day 2017 on Friday night so that on Saturday morning, we can wake up and get things started.  I'll have to remember to sharpen the knives and purchase ice on Friday.  Friday afternoon they will receive their last meal as we want their digestive tract empty.  It makes butchering a lot cleaner.

Let's see what the scale says tonight.  Like last Wednesday, I picked up two random roosters and the first hen I saw.  Remember we are shooting for a 6 pound bird as that yields a 4 1/2 pound carcass.

Rooster #1

He weighed 6 pounds 12 ounces...  He is well past the weight we were shooting for.

Rooster #2:

He weighed 7 pounds 3 ounces.  I don't think we've ever had birds that broke the seven pound barrier before we butchered them.

The Hen:

While not exactly light, she felt  a good bit smaller when picking her up to place her on the scale.

She weighed 5 pounds 1 ounce.

So the roosters average about 7 pounds and the three birds together average about 6 pounds

Here are the results from Week 9:
*Week 9 2017:  6 pounds
*Week 9 2016:  6 pounds 5 ounces
*Week 9 2015:  5 pounds 1 ounces

To summarize, last week they weighed on average 5 pounds 2 ounces and this week 6 pounds. That means they gained almost a pound over the last week.   They are 5 ounces shy of where they were at this age last year, and about a pound heavier than what the 2015 birds weighed at this age.

They are ready for processing as they have hit our target weight.  Once we've butchered, we'll tally up all the detailed information that we always provide and will compare with previous years.

Potatoes

I read a couple of interesting things about potatoes tonight.  First, potatoes are not mentioned in the Bible.  No french fries.  No baked potatoes.  Certainly no potato chips.  They say it is because potatoes are a New World thing.  Sir Walter Raleigh is credited with bringing potatoes (and tobacco) back to England with him after returning.  Others say that the Spanish beat him to the punch with both potatoes and tobacco.

We'll have potatoes in less than a month now.  The weather has been perfect for spuds with just the right amount of rain.  I planted potatoes on the high side of the garden and that helps, too.  A few years ago, we caught some untimely rains that caused many of the potatoes to rot in the ground. By the looks of it, we should have a bumper crop.  Benjamin was asking me when they would be ready to dig this evening.  He always likes digging them up.  They are like buried treasure.

We planted five rows in soil heavily amended with rotten leaves and composted chicken litter.  They were mulched with live oak leaves chopped up by the lawnmower.  That serves as a good barrier to keep weed growth down.  It also preserves soil moisture and a haven for earthworms.  Next year it will be part of the soil.

Potatoes are very commonplace and not much to look at, but I think the potato blossom is stunning.  and regal-looking.  Potato plants bloom toward the end of the growing season and that signals me to assemble my potato-digging crew.

It is said that the average American eats 126 pounds of potatoes each year.  That is a lot of potatoes!  It sounds like a lot at least.  I looked at the blog post from the 2016 harvest and read that we dug up 144 pounds of potatoes last year.  We'll weigh them again this year to see if we can beat that record.  This is a new variety of potato we're growing this year, so we'll have to wait to see if the yield is similar to last year.  Lâche pas la patate in Cajun French means "Don't drop the potato." I've heard it said to mean "Don't give up easily" or "Don't let go."  We're not going to give up and we won't let go...  At least until all the potatoes are dug up!

A Long Row To Hoe

The weather has been outstanding.  It was high time to get a little work done in the corn patch in the side yard.  This past fall it was planted in pumpkins (that the August rains obliterated) and purple hull peas which produced nicely for weeks. Now it is time to rotate the land back into sweet corn.  Prior to starting work, I poured myself a quart jar full of sweet tea and sat down on a bench in the shade with a file and my garden hoe and put I nice, sharp edge on the hoe.  Now we're ready to do some work.

First I mowed the corn patch down close to the ground.  In past years I would have turned the entire area over with a shovel, but I'm doing something different this year and will only work it minimally.  I've amended the soil with plenty of composted leaves and cow manure for the past several years and while the surrounding land is hard and compacted, the soil in the corn patch is soft and easily-worked with a hoe.

Working with a hoe and only turning the top few inches of ground is easier than turning it over with a shovel and also doesn't disturb the soil.  While it is not exactly "no-till," I think it is the best of both worlds, working up a nice seed bed while preserving the soil structure and worm tunnels that aerate the soil.  Here I am just getting started...

It was a long row to hoe, but I got it done.  I had to refill my jar of sweet tea a time or two.

Once all the ground was worked, I used a garden rake to level out the seed bed and pull all of the dirt clods out of the way.  There wasn't much weeds to speak of, so I didn't need to weed.

My planting crew, consisting of Benjamin and myself, got busy planting since the sun was racing toward the horizon.  This year, I'm planting Stowell's Evergreen Sweet Corn and Country Gentleman Sweet Corn - two varieties I plant every year. But I'm adding a new variety to the mix this year - Dorinny Sweet Corn.  I've marked out a test plot of the new variety and we'll see how it does in comparison to the others.

At the supper table tonight, we were discussing what our favorite crops were from the spring garden and what we are looking forward to.  I was just commenting to Tricia tonight that one of my favorite summertime meals that she makes is homemade pizza with fresh-picked tomatoes, basil, and sweet corn on top.  We have a ways to go, though, before we even think about harvesting.  The corn has sprouted and is about four inches tall.  It is a little yellow, so I think I'll spray it with some fish emulsion and top-dress it with some composted chicken litter I get out of the hen house.  With the corn planted in the side yard corn patch, we'll shift focus to getting everything planted in the garden.

Happy Resurrection Sunday!

1 After the Sabbath, at dawn on the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to look at the tomb. 2 There was a violent earthquake, for an angel of the Lord came down from heaven and, going to the tomb, rolled back the stone and sat on it. 3 His appearance was like lightning, and his clothes were white as snow. 4 The guards were so afraid of him that they shook and became like dead men. 5 The angel said to the women, “Do not be afraid, for I know that you are looking for Jesus, who was crucified. 6 He is not here; he has risen, just as he said. Come and see the place where he lay. 7 Then go quickly and tell his disciples: ‘He has risen from the dead and is going ahead of you into Galilee. There you will see him.’ Now I have told you.” 8 So the women hurried away from the tomb, afraid yet filled with joy, and ran to tell his disciples. 9 Suddenly Jesus met them. “Greetings,” he said. They came to him, clasped his feet and worshiped him. 10 Then Jesus said to them, “Do not be afraid. Go and tell my brothers to go to Galilee; there they will see me.”  Matthew 28:1-10

Image Credit

Christ Is Risen!

2017 Meat Birds - 8 Weeks Old

If you've followed our blog posting about raising our meat birds, you'll know that we shoot for butchering a 6 pound bird as that yields a 4 and 1/2 pound carcass. We've found that to be the ideal size for our family.  Our goal has always been to butcher them at 8 weeks old.  More often than not, we have missed on that goal and normally butcher the birds somewhere between 9 and 10 weeks. We've missed the 8 week butchering goal for varying reasons.  Sometimes the birds were sick at some point or the effects of rainy, cold weather that kept them from gaining weight. Other times a cold snap stunted their growth as they expended calories generating heat versus growth.

That's why chronicling the weights by week over the years is helpful.  It is a good barometer of where we are in comparison to the previous week and/or previous years.

Well, let's get right to it.  I wanted to do something a little different this week.  The cockerels always grow faster and are bigger than the pullets.  Each week I've weighed a rooster.  Not the same rooster, unfortunately, but one that I though was 'average' in size.  Next year, I'll find a way to mark a bird so I can weigh the same one.  So, this week I wanted to weigh a rooster and a hen.  It was getting dark and I reached into the chicken tractor and pulled out the first two birds I could touch.

Rooster #1
So this old boy was heavy.  He was lazy, too.  He sat atop the scale, fat and happy at 8 weeks old.

Let's see what the scale says...  Whoa!  Six pounds!!  Old boy is ready to be processed.

So let's check on the weight of a hen.  Except the second bird I picked up was another rooster!

Rooster #2

Same song, second verse.  This bird lounged on the scale as well, but I could tell that he wasn't as heavy as the first one.

He weighed 5 pounds 3 ounces.  So he was 13 ounces lighter than the first rooster. That is quite a difference for birds that are the same sex and the same exact age. What accounts for the difference?  Genetics?  One is a bully and gets more feed? One was sick at one point in his 8 week life?  I just don't know.

So I walked back out to the chicken tractor and intentionally looked around for a hen and brought her back to the scale in the garage.

Hen 1:

She was even lighter than the second bird, but that is to be expected.  Hens are lighter than roosters.

She weighed 4 pounds 3 ounces.  So we can gather that the hens are at least a pound lighter than the roosters.  Interesting information.

So what can we glean from this data?

Well, I think the thing to do is to average the weights of the three birds.  I come up with a little over 5 pounds.  I think that gives a better indication of where we are.

Here are the results from Week 8:
*Week 8 2017:  5 pounds 2 ounce
*Week 8 2016:  6 pounds 3 ounces
*Week 8 2015:  4 pounds 2 ounces

To summarize, last week they weighed on average 4 pounds 1 ounce and this week 5 pounds 2 ounces. That means they gained over a pound over the last week.   They are still 1 pound 1 ounce shy of where they were at this age last year, and a pound heavier than what the 2015 birds weighed at this age.

Since this weekend is Good Friday and then Resurrection Sunday, I think we'll be butchering NEXT Saturday.  That will give the birds another week to grow.  That will give the hens a good chance of weighing more than 5 pounds.  The big roosters may break the 7 pound barrier.  We'll see what happens!  Bottomline is, these birds have a week and a half left to go.

Bringing Back Sally From the Abyss

After rains we catch three or four hundred gallons of rainwater.  I turn the water off that feeds the cows' water troughs and fill their trough with the rainwater until we've exhausted the supply of rainwater.  There is a risk to doing this, though.  By the time I get home in the afternoon, the cows have been drinking a lot of water and have reduced the water level in the trough by about a third. This is not a problem for the cows as they can crane their necks down inside the trough and drink to their hearts' content.

The problem is the chickens.  Normally, they hop up on the edge of the cattle trough and dip their beaks down in the water to drink.  Except when the water level is only 2/3's full, sometimes chickens fall into the water and can't get out.  Most of the time, the dogs will hear the chickens thrashing about and will bark and alert us. Sometimes though, they don't.  One evening I came in and found Sally, the hen, floating in the trough.

I picked her up and sat her down on the ground.  She fell over on her side very, very weak.  She stunk, too.  Wet chickens stink! Even though it was warm outside at around 80 degrees, the hen was cold to the touch and she was shaking. Hypothermia.  She had been in the trough long enough to where she was unable to maintain her body temperature.  We've learned that unless action is taken, the hen will die.

Here's what we do:  We dry her off with a towel and bring her into the garage and put her in a big molasses tub.  This keeps wind from chilling her wet feathers. Then we put a heat lamp over her.  Not too close, but not too far away, either.  At first she couldn't even stand on her legs.  Over the course of about 20 minutes, she was up on her feet!

About 10 minutes later, I heard her clucking and standing erect.

Ten minutes later she had knocked the heat lamp to the side and was perched on the side of the molasses tub, presumably to roost there for the night.  That signaled me that we were successful in bringing Sally back from the brink of death.  She is out on the pasture now eating worms.  Had we not taken immediate action she would be about a foot deep in the garden feeding worms.