Wednesday weigh-in for the meat birds is already upon us. It is the once a week time we check in to see how they are growing. Let's talk about feed. We do have the birds out on fresh grass that we move them to each and every day, but we also feed them. We are now feeding them an 18% Protein Chick Grower.
There are several methods of feeding. Some people keep feed available to them always from 7 AM to 7 PM. In doing this, many experience problems as the birds will grow faster than their skeletal system, and this causes crippling because the legs simply can't handle the weight. I feed them three times a day between the hours of 7 am to 7 pm.
Last week a neighbor down the road stopped in the driveway and threw me three 60 lb sacks of milled rice for free! He has a cousin that works at one of the rice mills in Crowley. Periodically they have what they call "sweepings" that they bag up and give away. My neighbor, God bless him, shared with us some of his windfall and blessed us with some free rice. To me, it looks good enough to eat, but we'll run it through our chickens.
I mixed the milled rice half and half with the Chick Starter and it'll help 'stretch' the feed and save a little on our overhead cost of feed. I'm sure the protein percentage is lower than the chick starter, so it's a dangerous experiment. Maybe it will slow down their growth and weight gain? I've been mixing it in the feed for a week now. We'll see...
Let's check out the weight of an average bird sitting out there in the chicken tractor. I picked one up, a hen this time. I can tell it's gained weight since last week, but how much? To find out, I put the six week old chicken up on our kitchen scale:
And here we are. At the end of week six, the bird weighs 5 lbs 2 oz. or 82 ounces. Last Wednesday the average bird weighed 4 pounds and 3 ounces (or 67 ounces). That's a weight gain week over week of 15 ounces - almost a pound.
Last year at the end of week 6, the birds weighed 5 lbs 4 ounces. So we are off by a nominal 2 ounces. This is the first time this year we've fallen a little below the weight of the previous year. It could be the rice, but we're still not far off from where we should be at this time.
Summary:
At the end of week one:8 ounces
At the end of week two: 20 ounces
At the end of week three: 33 ounces
At the end of week four: 49 ounces
At the end of week five: 67 ounces
At the end of week six: 82 ounces
As we near the home stretch of a goal of an eight pound bird at the end of 8 weeks, we are within striking distance. Tune in next Wednesday to see how things progress.
This weekend I heard a story of a little boy who wanted to make breakfast for his dad on Father's Day. The boy made a big mess in the kitchen, but the thought was there and he made a bowl of Cheerio's and a cup of coffee for his dad. He brought it to his Dad's room and sat the tray on the bed. The dad said, "What's this?" "Well, it's breakfast in bed, Dad," the boy said. Milk and cheerios were all over the tray and the coffee didn't look too good, but the Dad didn't want to discourage his son, so he began to eat and drink. The coffee was horrible! The dad was forcing himself to take more sips of the terrible brew while his son watched. The boy said, "Drink it all, Dad. There's a surprise at the bottom!" Well, that scared the dad as he carefully sipped to the end. At the bottom of the cup lay two plastic toy soldiers. "Son, why are there two soldiers in the bottom of my coffee cup?" the Dad asked.
"Because Dad, the best part of waking up is soldiers in your cup!" A 'dad' joke for sure.
Truly the best part of waking up is eating a big heaping plateful of the free range, pastured eggs from our laying hens. Take a look at this breakfast! The yolks are a dark yellow from all the grass they are eating out there, along with bugs, worms and other stuff. Store bought eggs don't hold a candle to the taste of our hens' eggs. You can taste and see the difference!
Our hens put out some delicious eggs which we cook in a cast iron skillet covered with fresh grown peppers and onions, tomatoes and cilantro with a slice of hot, buttered sourdough bread on the side. Forget it Wheaties. THIS is the breakfast of champions. Our hen population is down to about 20 now and they're all getting older. As the days get shorter, we're only picking up 8 eggs a day. As soon as we butcher the meat birds giving us space in the brooder/chicken tractor, we're going to raise some replacement laying hens to freshen the flock and keep these delicious breakfasts coming!
We have quite a few breeds currently out free ranging on the pasture: Rhode Island Reds, Golden Comets, Aracaunas, Black Stars and some leghorn crosses. I'd like to get some Barred Rocks and maybe try some Jersey Giants this go round. It usually takes roughly 24 weeks until they begin to lay, so I hope our 20 hens keep laying until the reinforcements arrive and mature.
On October 20, 1990 Tricia and I were married in Corpus Christi, Texas. Hard to believe it's been 36 years!? We're kind of simple folk and also sort of routine driven people. We don't necessarily do fancy things to celebrate and sort of do the same thing year after year, but it is special to us - Our annual anniversary picnic luncheon.
October is just a beautiful month. The weather finally moderates with cool mornings and comfortable afternoons. That's why we usually go to Lafayette and go to a Fresh Market grocery and load up on all sorts of specialty grocery items. Gourmet olive mix, bruschetta and brie cheese, kombucha, two bistro meals with sides and a tuxedo napoleon cake for dessert. We load that into a picnic basket and heat out.
Not far away is a lovely park called Moncus Park. We lay out a picnic blanket by the side of the lake. Tricia eyed suspiciously bubbles that were coming up from the lake near the bank and asked me if, like on Swamp People, there was an alligator about to charge up out of the lake at us and eat us. It would be a shame as that would put a severe damper on the day, but alas, it did not happen. We ate our meal and enjoyed our time at the park in relative peace.
We sat out and talked for the longest time and watched other people enjoying the great weather and beautiful scenery at the park. We ate until we were SO full!
It couldn't have been a more perfect afternoon until we figured that we had left out an important part of the meal that would've really gone well with the tuxedo napoleon cake - Coffee! Fortunately, right down the road was a coffee spot called Jet Coffee that we had never tried, so we drove through for two Cafe Americanos. Properly caffeinated, motivated, and rejuvenated, it was time to head back home.
What a day! Celebrating a beautiful marriage of 36 years with my beautiful bride.
Last Monday I turned 60. Sixty is a number that kind of wakes you up - jars you a little bit and makes you think. 60 trips around the sun. I sat there and thought how could this be... For a moment there, I became very introspective. I don't really care about the grey hair or the decline in stamina or muscle tone. That's just a given in aging. Some of the things I care about are the following: Have I accomplished what I wanted to in the past 6 decades? Are there still meaningful things to be done in the days that follow? And while I'm thinking about this, what about all the stupid, bone-headed things I've done in 21,900 days that I regret? Or the things I should've done but didn't?
I don't often go down the rabbit hole of regret. I think regret is a fool's errand. Regret, in my opinion, is only good if there is still time to do something about it to make things right. I think Lucille Ball said it best in talking of regret when she said, "I'd rather regret the things I've done, than the things I haven't."
You know, it's funny how sometimes when I am thinking about something, coincidences happen. Thinking about regret for both things I've done and things I haven't, I was listening to a podcast where the host was asking the person he was interviewing what his top 5 favorite country songs were. That made me curious and I turned it up. The person answered and most of the songs he brought up, I had never thought of. The only one I knew on his list was "Don't close your eyes" by Keith Whitley.
This gentleman that was being interviewed is a lyricist. He writes music and pays close attention to lyrics and song meanings. He said that his favorite country music song was "A Lot of Things Different" by John Conlee. Now I know John Conlee. I've sung along with him on the radio while listening to "Rose Colored Glasses" on my truck's radio turned up loud. But I had never heard "A Lot of Things Different." The guys on the podcast were saying that the lyrics on this song are hard to get through. They are meaningful, emotional and raw. You can feel the genuineness as he sings about doing things different. So I couldn't resist and pulled it up to listen to. Wow! (I think I'd endorse every bit of what he's singing about, except maybe the part about skinny dipping with Jenny Carson. Nothing good's gonna come of that!)
Anyhow, grab a box of tissues, press the arrow in the middle below and have a listen. I've also posted the song lyrics farther below, but the words are easy to hear and understand. John Conlee says he'd a done a lot of things different. Me too! How about you? If you still have time to do them, there's no better time to start than today.
I'd have spent a lot more time out in the pouring rain
Without an umbrella covering my head And I'd have stood up to that bully when he pushed and shoved And called me names but I was too afraid
And I'd have gone on and seen Elvis that night He came to town and Mama said I couldn't And I'd have gone skinny dipping with Jenny Carson That time she dared me to and I didn't
Oh I, I'd have done a lot of things different
I wish I'd have spent more time with my dad When he was alive, now I don't have the chance I wish I had told my brother just how much I loved him Before he went off to war but I just shook his hand
And I wish I'd gone to church on Sunday mornings When my grandma begged me to, but I was scared of God And I wish I would have listened when they said "Boy, you're gonna wish you had, but I wouldn't"
Oh I, I'd do a lot of things different People say they wouldn't change a thing Even if they could, oh but I would
There was this red dress she wanted One time so bad she could taste it I should have bought it but I didn't She wanted to paint our bedroom yellow Trim it in blue and greens But I wouldn't let her, wouldn't have hurt nothing
Oh, and she loved to be held And kissed and touched but I didn't do it Not nearly enough and if I'd know That was going to be our last dance I'd have told the band to play on And on and on and on and on
People say they wouldn't change a thing Even if they could, oh but I would
Oh I, I'd have done a lot of things different Yes I, I'd do a lot of things different Oh I, I have done a lot of things different
According to the normal plan of butchering after eight weeks, we're more than halfway through. This week we lost a bird. I arrived to feed them in the morning and one was lying breast up dead as the proverbial door nail. Curious about the "dead as a doornail" phrase, I had to look it up. The saying dates back to the 14 century. When craftsmen were building big, solid doors, they wanted them to last. They drove a long nail all the way through so that the end of the nail stuck out the other side. Then they would hammer the protruding end down, making it impossible to pull the nail back through. A nail bent like this couldn't be pulled out and used again, thus it was dead. Just like our chicken. We've never had one die at this stage. If they are going to die, we want them to die in the first couple of weeks before you've fed them. We don't know what killed this bird, but it wasn't a predator.
In the photo below, I wanted to point out that the chicken tractor is on wheels and is pushed daily to fresh grass. They quickly clip all the grass down and eat it, leaving a barren square littered with chicken poop. That poop will grow some green grass come spring. You must be very careful pushing the tractor as the birds aren't smart and are prone to getting run over. Yet another way to kill them. I learned that lesson the hard way over the years. Note the barren squares where the tractor has been.
On Wednesday night weigh in, I open the door and scoop up an average sized bird. They move toward the door thinking it is time to eat, making the task of catching one very easy.
Here is the average sized bird for tonight's trip to the kitchen scale. This bird is a hen. You can tell by its comb. It the photo above you can see some roosters in the mix, identified by their redder, larger combs on their heads. We purchase straight run, meaning they aren't sexed, so you get a mixture of males and females. Roosters grow much faster, so its a good thing to have more roosters as they'll gain more weight in the same period of time.
Up on the scale the bird goes. I watch it closely as I don't want it pooping on our scale. I also don't want it jumping off the scale and work bench and getting hurt.
Let's see what the chicken weights tonight...
4 pounds and 3 ounces (or 67 ounces).
Last week: And at the end of week 4: 49 ounces (3 lbs. 1 oz.) This week: At the end of week 5: 67 ounces (4 lbs. 3 oz.)
That's a weight gain week over week of 18 ounces or 1 lb. 2 oz. At the end of Week 5 for last year's crop of Cornish Cross birds, they weighed exactly 4 lbs., so we are right on target!
Summary:
At the end of week one:8 ounces
At the end of week two: 20 ounces
At the end of week three: 33 ounces
At the end of week four: 49 ounces
At the end of week five: 67 ounces
We'll be weighing again next Wednesday with our goal of butchering a bird weighing 8 pounds at the end of 8 weeks.
Canning. Pickling. Freezing. Lacto-Fermentation. Dehydrating. Some of the ways that we preserve the harvest when we can't eat it all at once. It's a good thing there are all these methods of preserving for us. As it turns out, some things will save for later when it comes to the four-legged animals on Our Maker's Acres Family Farm - like hay.
October is historically a dry month, but this year so was July, August, and September. The grass has died. It crackles underfoot. Normally, the grass is still growing, even if it has gone to seed. The cows and goats rummage around out on the pasture and try to find something to eat, but there's nothing to be had. Normally, there's grass out there for them until the first frost in late November.
Two months ago we picked up 75 square bales of hay that we put up in the barn loft. The loft is like a pantry or a root cellar for the cows. The hay sits up there until the cold fronts blow through. The creaky sounds of the weathervane spinning up on the roof of the barn signals the arrival of fall or winter. And then, at the urging of the gentle moo-ing of the cows, square bales are lowered from the loft into the stalls and rationed out over the winter.
We also purchase round bales, 10 per year to be precise. We cover them with tarps to keep them dry as they sit right outside the pasture. Actually, it's not really a tarp. It's a used vinyl billboard that gets recycled when it fades and comes down off the big poles on the side of the interstate, and it works perfectly. We just turn the tarp to the other side so the ad for the ambulance chasing lawyer is facing downward.
Normally, we don't roll out bales of hay until December or maybe even January, but this year? Well, I've already rolled some out for the hungry cows and goats that can't get nourishment from a drought stricken pasture. From the 10 bales we bought last year, there's four left. I have called Mr. Broussard and reserved 10 more round bales for delivery in November or December. The cows hear the creaky gate open and watch from afar as I roll a bale into the pasture. Then they run as quickly as they can to the spot under the pecan trees where we feed hay.
I like to watch the cows with a new bale of hay. When a fresh bale is out, they circle it, and then start rubbing against it with their necks. Finally, they'll start eating from the very center of the bale. I figure that to a cow, the center of the hay bale is like the center of a cinnamon roll for humans. Yum!
There's an outside chance that we could get a rain shower or two that might perk up the grass and get some growing, but in the next 10 days, the forecast only shows 5% chance of precipitation. It looks like from here on out, it will be round bales of hay, square bales of hay and the occasional trough of sweet feed. Almost forgot, we'll be harvesting sweet potatoes soon and we'll feed them all of the sweet potato vines. Cows absolutely love that! I'm also going to be planting a large patch of turnips. Once January comes, the cows will enjoy the turnip roots and greens.
I normally post Sunday night, Monday night, Wednesday night, and Thursday night. Last Thursday night, I was 'radio silent.' We had a big project going on that occupied my time and by the time I settled behind the computer, my eyes were heavy, and I headed to bed. I'll tell you about what we had going on that required a lot of organization and planning tonight.
We attend a small country church outside of Jennings. On any given Sunday, we'll have between 25-30 people - hardly a mega-church, more like a family of different people drawn together! The demographics of our church represent a common issue across our nation in that we're aging. We aren't being replaced by a large populations of active, involved young people willing to pick up the torch and serve. To serve our community with good, wholesome family fun, we decided to put on Fall Family Fun Day on Saturday with all welcome and everything free.
We began praying that God would send us families that we could love on and minister to. We launched a social media campaign to advertise the event and made up banners that we put up around town like at the Feed Store and community bulletin boards. Of course we invited family, friends and neighbors. We also made up signs, copying the Burma Shave roadside advertising done in the 20's, beckoning travelers with "Fun Jumps," "Free Sno-Cones," "Free Pony Rides," "Free Hot Dogs," and the last one a big arrow with the word HERE on it near the entrance of the church. We erected the signs on the main road both north and south of the church.
The day finally arrived! The event was scheduled from 10AM - 2PM, so we got there at 7AM to begin setting everything up. It was a beautiful, blue-sky day with highs only in the 70's. We were so busy, the following photos were mostly taken before the crowd showed up, because there was no time for photo taking with all that needed to be done. We had a registration table and passed out tickets as we had door prizes that congregants made/bought to be given away including homemade pie, $25 gift cards, homemade gifts, local honey, toys, crafts, etc. We offered prayer and information about the church and passed out tracts. Popcorn was popping, sno-cones were being made along with hot dogs and drinks.
The wind was gusting at 20 mpg, so we were a little worried about the fun jumps. Fortunately, they were anchored down securely with stakes and kids bounced with reckless abandon inside the bounce houses. Games were scattered around and smiles and laughter were in no short supply!
Since our church is small and elderly, neighboring churches like East Ridge Baptist Church in Lake Charles (who sent their youth group), Immanuel Baptist Church in Lake Charles (who brought horses for pony rides), and Bethany Baptist in LeBleu Settlement who all arrived to help out. It was a blessing to see the family of God helping out one another. Kids got a kick out of the pony rides, being led around the church property in a slow walk. You should have seen their faces, some riding time after time.
We had a sound system set up playing music and every hour we'd call the kids and adults to a central area for the door prize giveaways. Each hour we had fun sermon illustrations where the Gospel was shared and we prayed with our guests.
We had over a hundred people in attendance, not counting the volunteers and church members. When it was done, we gave thanks that we were able to pull this off. We hope we were able to be a blessing to kids and adults in our community. We give thanks to God and all the glory goes to Him!
Years ago, I followed a blog by Herrick Kimball called "The Deliberate Agrarian." In THIS POST, Mr. Kimball laid out his Agrarian-Style Economic Self Defense Plan. In this beautifully written essay, he laid out his plan. The #7 item in his plan (the last but not the least in his list) stated the following:
Find community and get involved. Get yourself into a small rural church where folks care about and will help each other. Country people look out for and help each other. That’s always been the case. It’s not going to change when times get bad. But they won't be paying your mortgage for you.
And that's what we found at our little church (Cornerstone). People love one another and pray for one another. They bring food when you are sick. Fresh vegetables are grown and brought to services and given away on our way out. The Word is taught and a strong spirit of Christian charity is practiced. Herrick was right! I hope you can find the same!
