Planned Turkey Arrival

Turkeys!

Plans were made today for the new additions to the farm to happen tomorrow.

Cluck Acres will be home to 8 turkeys, 5 Sumatra Chickens, and 10 Brahma Chickens tomorrow evening around 5 p.m. That will bring our total of "birds" up to 92. 

It is always exciting to make additions to any farm. We have never dealt with turkeys and this will be a new experience for each of us here at the farm.

I am curious to see how Sally, Daisy, and Charleston will react to the new additions. I hear goats normally get along well with chickens and other fowl so we are hoping for the best. As we learn new information and have that trial and error period we will keep everyone posted on what works, what doesn't, and how things are going.

I was able to get some photo's taken and uploaded today. Hope you enjoy them!

The Great Eggscape

Everyone who follows my blog knows just how tickled pink I am when I get eggs. Yes, I know, I get them every day and the eggcitement should have worn off by now. Well, It hasn't.

I was so excited about getting my ducks enough eggs for them to set on. Yesterday there were 4 wonderful eggs in the nest by the end of the day. Today there are only 2 in there and there should be between 5 and 7. 

I was curious about it most of the day.

Tonight as we went for a drive there was a copperhead in the road. My husband does the justly thing, of course, and runs over it. A mile or so down the road we see a rattlesnake in the middle of the road that someone else had already run over.

It then dawns on me that the temps have been cooler at night, the snakes are on the move for warm, comfortable places that will also afford them a nice meal.

I believe they found my eggs. Especially since we have found 2 rat snakes in our home this summer. 

I am not completely sure how ducks work as this is my first time with them so I am going to have to do some extended research but the ducks are rarely in the nest where the eggs are so I can't imagine one of them eating them. Tomorrow I am certain I will be finding some information to figure out if ducks, like chickens, on occasion, will eat their own eggs. 

Heading out on an egg search to make sure the other eggs weren't hidden in a strategic place for me to find.

Wish me luck!

28 Heritage Rhode Island Red eggs and 9 duck eggs, all nestled in a friendly, warm incubator.

2 eggs are in the duck nest. I am leaving them there to see how the ducks respond. They are all new layers and so I am curious to see how long it will take them to figure out that they are suppose to actually set on them. I am also curious which one will prove to be broody.

The Cochin pen has an egg today, too. How exciting. I love my Cochin chickens. They are always ready to be mommies and never mind setting for long days on the nest. I hear a lot of people who just don't care for broody hens, however, I rather like them. They are good foster mothers as well and they will take good care of all the chicks. I would much rather let a hen be a mother than incubate babies. Hens do a much better job of mothering chicks than I could ever do.

Have you ever seen a mother hen? It is the most amazing thing. The chicks depend on her much like our children depend on us. The mothers spend every moment checking on their chicks. 

Although it is actually fall the weather has been in the mid to high 90's here and the chickens just aren't sure what is going on. Last week we had several cool days and the birds were really active. This week they look at me like I am the mean weather woman.

Some of our hens have decided to molt. Naturally this was a tad bit aggravating since I haven't been getting eggs lately. I suppose that it is actually a good thing. As much as I love eggs I prefer that they go ahead and go through their molting process. Get it all over with at one time!

This weekend we will be adding 8 turkeys, 5 Sumatra's, and 10 Brahma's to our wonderful. I have never had turkeys so I will be doing some reading over the next few days to figure out what we should be doing and how they react with other things.

Well, my chickens, ducks, and goats are awaiting their dinner so I must go for now. Let me know what your favorite breed of chickens are and why you like that breed so much if you have a chance. 

Free Furniture, Compost, Duck Eggs! Oh MY!

So much is happening at Cluck Acres today.

We had a sleigh head board and foot board given to us, for free, from a friend today. It needed to be sanded down and readied to stain. Morgan has been working on getting it sanded down. It is a gorgeous, antique bed. Although we do not own a full size bed to use with it I have so me special plans for it. Our daughter, Melissa, is going to be turning 18 in May and I assume she will be moving so I plan to use this headboard in that room as a guest room.

I love older wood and furniture. The sturdiness and the beauty of well made furniture makes for a wonderful addition to any style home decoration. My plan is to stain the head board and foot board with a dark Mahogany stain. I love the darker woods and find that they really go well with any other decorations in the room.

I plan to start a quilt that will go well with this bed once it is able to be placed in the guest room. I haven't decided what pattern I will be making on the quilt but it is going to be one that matches the era of the bed which should be early 1930's. 

On a much different note I am having a chicken pondering issue. In the pen with my Heritage Rhode Island Reds I have just one rooster and two hens. Both hens laid brown eggs when we first got them. The hens are not very old and are in good condition. However, after the fowl pox spell one of them is now laying white eggs. Her eggs are a tad bit larger than the other hens but they are definitely white compared to the other ones being a medium cream color.

Three of my Khaki Campbell Ducks laid today and for that I am truly happy. I had gotten an egg everyday so I wasn't sure if it was one or more of them laying. Today there were three wonderful eggs waiting for me to find. I see that they have made a nest in a little box thing I made for them so I am thinking I may leave the eggs and see if I can get one of the girls to go set. Duck eggs have a much greater, richer flavor than chickens. They are wonderful in baking and the taste of food is absolutely wonderful. I am not sure for the reasoning behind this but I didn't believe it until I cooked with them.

We got just two eggs so far from the barn yard mix hens but we use those just for eating. We have consistently gotten two eggs per day for the last week. I have some Arcana hens in there and none of the eggs have been green so I know those two aren't setting yet, but I am glad that the others have completely recovered from the fowl pox and are on their way to being much healthier. 

So many problems can happen that cause chickens to have a slower egg production. With the triple digit heat we had for 47 days, plus the fowl pox, plus going into molting I believe their little bodies were just overwhelmed.

Lately we have given all of our hens and roosters an unlimited supply of crumbies (aka layer feed). We have not hindered how much they have eaten. In the heat they ate very little other than the frozen fruits and veggies we placed out for them. They are still continuing to eat the fruits and veggies but have been really drawn to the crumbies. I believe they have built their protein levels back up and that has allowed the egg production to begin again.

I know many people who limit the amount of food each particular chicken eats. However, I have learned that the stronger birds will sometimes eat the weaker birds food and I learned once I put out enough for everyone to get completely full that they eat until they are done and there are crumbies left over. I prefer to feed this way. Besides crumbies, I do feed a chicken scratch mix in the evenings. My chicken pens have straw in their runs and pens so they enjoy looking for the scratch. When I clean the pens out every week I am able to put all of the cleaned out stuff into the compost pile. Nothing goes to waste. If there is a vegetable peel left over then it doesn't hurt to throw it in the compost. The straw, manure, vegetable and fruit peels, seeds, and other things that go in the compost is a complete mixture and therefore my compost never has a smell nor does it have flies. I have found worms who have lived in my compost, which makes the compost even richer, but have never had an odor or varmint issue. Here is a photo of one of the feeders that Morgan made for my pens. It is a simple feeder. A piece of wood on bottom and then some small cuts of wood that we had from a different project. It didn't cost us anything to make because it was from left over wood from other projects.

Any compost that has the correct mixture of things will not cause odor. Here is a photo of my compost pile. It actually had started growing squash from seeds that were put in it. By the time of harvest I had as much squash from the plants in the compost pile as I did from the ones we planted in the garden. Of course, all the excess is now in the freezer and goes into the flock block that I make for the chickens.

My name is being hollered from the kitchen so I am sure my crew is ready to eat and wondering what is going to be for dinner. 

Do you have a compost pile? How much success have you had with yours?

Return of the Eggs

The eggs have returned.

I believe we are finally over our Fowl Pox issue and are now seeing production again.

We currently have 17 Heritage Rhode Island Red eggs in the incubator along with 2 Khaki Campbell Duck eggs.

My barn yard mix hens have left me a glorious 3 eggs in the last 2 days. There are twelve hens and two roosters in that particular run and pen so I should be seeing a huge rise in production in a few days. These poor hens were hit with a very bad case of fowl pox and after coming out from that decided to molt.

At this point none of my other hens, including my Old English and my Cochin hens, have returned to laying but I am hoping in a short time they will all be feeling back up to par and giving me some wonderful eggs to place in the incubator.

Sallie Mae, the latest Boer Goat doe that we bought has been loving on Charleston, our buck. They are both around 9 months old at this point and should be playing the mating game. Daisy Mae, also 9 months old, seems less interested in the idea of mating with Charleston and more interested in beating him to the feed trough.

Our goats graze at their leisure and we also supplement with sweet feed, oats, and hay. It is amazing to see how fast the goats grow and how well they thrived through the hot summer. They seem to be enjoying the cooler temperatures and I often find them in the mornings playing in the back part of the pasture. 

We are working on getting the side area tilled so we can get our fall garden in the ground. We are several days past due on this. Here is hoping that the weekend is a productive one rather than a destructive one. You know how that works. You go to use something and it falls apart even though it worked fine the very last time you used it? I like to call it farmer aggravation. 

I am interested in hearing what you other hobby farmers are planting in your fall crops and how your family of animals is doing! 

Tonight I will leave you with a photo of Daisy (left) and Charleston (right).

8 First Place Wins With Duck Video

I apologize for the time away from the blog. We had been preparing for the Carter County Fair as well as working on some buildings and getting some things ready for the fall season.

We did fairly well at the fair. Our Heritage Rhode Island Reds won first place for Rooster, Pullet, and Hen in their class. 

Our Khaki Campbell Ducks won first and second place respectively for each pair. The younger pair placed first while the older pair placed second. They also won first and second place for singles in their division.

Daphne, our Pekin hen, won first place in her class. She was able to get out of her cage several times during the school time showing and let the kids pet and handle her. She did very well and didn't seem to be overly upset about the whole ordeal.

Our pigeons, Duke and Di, won first place for male and female. They did not seem to enjoy all of the noise like Daphne did but they did well in their class of birds and for that we are grateful.

We brought home a total of 8 first place ribbons, 2 second place ribbons, a fourth place ribbon and a fifth place ribbon. We were very proud that every single bird we entered placed in their division. 

After a full day at the fair and several other days of going to town and caring for the birds during the viewing and judging we, as a family and our birds, were exhausted when we arrived home at 10pm last night.

An hour of putting up birds, checking our other birds, and making sure everything was secure made the day seem longer but every single minute of it was worth it.

The ducks were very happy to be home to their pond. There isn't water for them to play in at the fair but I was still rather surprised when we put them back in their pens that the ducks headed straight for bathing time instead of nestling in for a good nights sleep with their pals. 

More exciting news is that we added another Boer Goat to put in with Charleston and Daisy Mae. Her name is Sally Mae and she is quiet active. I haven't been able to get a photo of her yet but hope to add some in the next few days. She, like Daisy and Charleston, was born in January. This means that we have a good start to a breeding set of goats that are all around the same age. Sally Mae has already come into heat (we only figured that out once we put her in the pen). If the breeding "took" we should have a kid on the ground around February. 

I am leaving you tonight with a video of some of the ducks. We have added 3 more since this video was taken but I love to watch them! Forgive my daughter and her loud talking! Somehow she didn't realize that recording was on while I was taking the video.

Frugal Farming

Today deemed itself to be a happy hen and rooster day at Cluck Acres!

We made a new pen and large run for our "barn hens"....each of our "barn hens" are actually full breed chickens but they have been put into a pen together because we love watching their personalities together and we do not hatch their eggs. They are our eating eggs and so it doesn't matter what the breed of the egg is. We have Buff Orpington's, Araucana's, White Leghorn, and a Game Hen.

Our Heritage Rhode Island Reds have been moved to the older barn hens run and pen while the Silver Duckwing's took over the Heritage Rhode Island Red pen. 

For those small time farmers, like us here at Cluck Acres, add to and rearrange our hens we often find that they have a short time of not laying. The changing of pens and normal daily behavior affects how a hen lays.

So often, people believe that you must have high dollar pens, coops, watering systems, and this and that to raise chickens, goats, and gardens.

In all honesty, we have bought 2 rolls of wire for goat fence, and 1 roll of chicken wire since we began our farming endeavor almost a year ago. All 3 rolls of wire we bought at a discounted price (and just recently... until the last 3 months we used scrapped material and items we had on hand or given to us) because either a piece was rusty or a corner piece was messed up. We went to our local farm and ranch store, saw the wire, asked the manager to mark the price down. He gladly accepted and marked each item down to 50% off of what it originally cost. 

For all of our goats and chickens we have spent about $100 on materials. This is for more than 200 chickens, 3 goats, and 7 dogs. We have kept our eyes out on Craigslist and our local Freecycle websites for items that were free (fencing, wire, barns that needed torn down, wood, etc) and have been able to make a decent farm life for ourselves with very little out of pocket expense.

We don't have amazingly awesome coops. We have functional coops that are well made, by us, and that we can work with and change around if need be.

The belief that a special coop, a fancy water holder or feeder, or amazingly built runs is NOT how things HAVE to be. You can do this with a few hens, scrap wood, scrap wire,  gallon buckets, a little bit of straw and some elbow grease and muscle.

If you can use your imagination you can find ingenious ways to make things work!

What ideas have you come up with that make your coops, pens, and farm frugal?

The Measure Of A Goat (Photos)

Ahhh, the heat of summer and building goat fences. They are not something that I like going hand in hand...however, when you own a farm, especially a small one and must do the labor itself, it just has to be done when it needs to be done.

Morgan, my husband, Dakota, my son, and Melissa, my daughter, fenced the back part of our acerage this afternoon so that the goats could get out of their pen and enjoy the grass, weeds, and brush that have grown there over the last year or so.

This will allow Choco to range with the two bigger goats. Choco, a Buck Boar that we got and bottle fed, is still small for his age. He is adorable and loves interaction with others. He follows me around when he is out of his pen and if I bend down he will give me kisses.

Choco enjoys hanging out on the front steps.

Charleston, calm on his ride home from Lawton when we bought him, was a little testy upon trying to get him out of the Yukon.

Morgan was finally able to help Charleston to understand he needed to get out of the Yukon.

Charleston didn't really care for me touching him when we first got home.

Daisy Mae (left) and Charleston (right) are pretty good buddies now. They do most everything together. They should be out in their new fence this evening and enjoying lots of grass and weeds.

There is always so much to do when you own a small farm. The job is certainly hands on. I enjoy every minute of it and just love the fact that my animals enjoy seeing me on a daily basis. They have become parts of my family and I never realized how fond of them I would become.

My goats, like my chickens, just need someone to take care of them. They don't ask for much. Food, water, a place to sleep, and a big ole open heart. I never would have dreamed that a goat would show love, teach patience, demonstrate compassion.....however, mine do (and I am sure mine aren't the only ones that do). Something happens when a person opens their hearts to allow animals. Lessons are learned that may have never been learned any other way. I just think it is amazing.

An Eggcellent Sunday Find

Good Evening!

Actually, I suppose I should say Good Night....as it is nearing 11 pm and the farm is still bustling with the chirps of babies.

We hatched 5 Tennessee Red Quail today, another Heritage Rhode Island Red (I expect the final one to showcase it's beauty tonight as it is pipping), several more BB Red Chicks, and one more Blue Red chick.

The Tennessee Quail are just so tiny. It seems unreal that they are even big enough to survive. They are all nestled in their little box with the heat lamp on and learning how to move around and even play a little.

Above are the Tennessee Red Quail. I have never seen anything this tiny hatch before. They look enormous compared to their egg size but so little compared to anything else we have hatched.

We have been considering adding some different breeds of chickens to our farm. We already share our lives with 29 different breeds but have wanted to expand a little and add some more standard size chickens.

Today at the Sulpher Trade Days we found a lady selling hatching eggs for $1.50 a dozen. We were impressed with the price and went ahead and got 1 dozen Welsummer eggs and 1 dozen Standard White Leghorn eggs.

The Welsummer eggs are an amazingly beautiful brown egg. I have never seen such pretty eggs. I loved them so much I ordered 5 more dozen for the lady to bring over the next two weeks. I want to have some time to study up on the breed and learn as much as I can about them while we are waiting for them to hatch.

Above are the Welsummer eggs. The eggs are all of extra large size and have a beautiful color.

The egg above is one of the lighter colored Welsummer eggs in the dozen that we bought, however, because of the size I presume it should hold a double yolk. If it is fertile and is double yolked we will be having a set of twins in a few weeks.

These huge white eggs are the Standard White Leghorn eggs that we got today. These are also of extra large size and should make pretty good sized chicks.

Finding hatching eggs for $1.50 a dozen is almost unheard of so I am thankful we found ourselves a source for some eggs that we could possible be able to expand our farm with. 

I am hoping, in the weeks to come, that I will be able to show some photos of some great looking chicks.

We hope that everyone had a wonderful weekend and that the new week is filled with Eggcitement and Energy.

The Incubator and The Chirp

Over the last few days there has been some serious noise coming from the incubator that we have nestled in the corner of our bedroom. It has an array of different kinds of eggs in it.

Bob White Quail, Heritage Rhode Island Reds, Old English of all kinds, Pharoah Quail, and the list goes on and on. 

There are more than 200 quail eggs alone in the incubator. They are just starting to hatch out tonight so I hope to have some photo's of them. They are so tiny compared to other chicks and it always amazes me that they look way to big to have come from such a small egg. 

3 of the 5 Heritage Rhode Island eggs have hatched. This is a wonderful joy for me as Heritage Rhode Island Reds are rare in the United States. I have a beautiful trio (2 hens and 1 rooster) that I paid a pretty good sum of money for so it makes me happy that the eggs are hatching. Even if only the 3 of the  hatch that is a pretty good hatch rate. I am keeping my fingers crossed that I have 1 roo and 2 pullets.

So far, the rest of the chicks that are having a noise party are Blue Red Old English, BB Red Old English, and Silver Duckwings. There are quite a few of them and they enjoy making noise. 

I love to watch the chicks when they are playing. They use up so much energy so quickly. They often can have a bug in their mouth and be running across the brooder and fall asleep in mid step. They wake up and realize their bug has been stolen. It is as if their reality doesn't grasp the fact that they took a 60 second nap.

The chicks are a joy to watch. I could set for hours and appreciate the playfulness and the excitement that happens inside the brooder.

I must admit that the worst part of hatching chicks is the waiting time it takes to go from egg to chick. The other thing that causes me some anxiety is not being able to tell if they are roosters or pullets for the first few weeks. It is just one of those things that I think about frequently throughout the day. (No I am not sure this is normal behavior outside of obsessive compulsive disorder)

As I close for tonight I will leave you with a photo of the baby chicks that have been hatching.

A Great Idea For Those Who Have Limited Space

Welcome To Our Blog

Welcome To Cluck Acres.

 We are a small farm located in Southern Oklahoma. My name is Barbie. I am about to turn 40 years old (on August 14) and recently quit my job to make farming a full-time endeavor. My husband, Lewis, is a full-time diesel mechanic.

 We currently live on a small plot of land in Gene Autry, Ok. We currently house more than 200 chickens...honoring 29 different breeds...3 Boar goats, 4 Khaki Campbell ducks, 2 boxers, Moose and Rainy, a Pyranese, Spencer, a Rat Terrior, Kisses, a 3-legged Shit-zu, Manly, and a toy Yorkie, Herman.

 We are parents to 5 amazing chidlren, Laci, Tyler, John, Melissa, and Dakota.

The decision to farm and have animals was not one we made lightly. I grew up in a town that had more than its share of crime and things ton do. My husband has always lived in this small town with a little less than 200 people in it.

I have always loved animals and when I finally moved to the country having them just made perfect sense.

I have no idea how my endeavor to be a stay at home mom, wife, and farmer will be but I hope you will follow my journey. I would love for others to share their ideas, dreams, and experiences with me. I am a frugal person and love to make home-made crafts, reuse anything that it is possible to reuse, coupon, and search for amazing deals!

I hope to update daily with photo's and small posts so come back often!