Dinner....one evening.

This silver Sebright seems to be developing a food label. Or a nice sized comb. Whateva you want to call it. I have 6 Sebright and 3 of them are developing these combs way faster than the others. This might be nothing. But then again it might mean, that due to the rules of Gulfport, they are fated to be dinner. There are several other bantam in the coop that will be roosters or chicken tenders...Whateva you want to call'em.

5th Ave Farm, to date.

From the street, we're a cute green bungalow. Flower beds, bushes and trees frame the house. As you are walking up to the front steps there is a walkway to the south and the north. To the north is the drive way to the south is the side yard where the excitement is. Taking the southern walk around the corner of the house the walk just ends abruptly because the concrete walk way is a project that I never finished. I ran out of money for concrete and the hot summer hit. concrete is hard on the back anytime of year but especially  during the summer heat.

Anyway, if you don't stumble off the end of the walk you see the largest childs play set known to man in a residential back yard. One can pay $1500 for a prefab play kit or spend less on raw materials and build one twice the size. I did the latter.

Beyond the play set is the farm. Its not yet complete. It's an ever work in progress. But in terms of vegetation it consists of; 12 blueberries bushes, 2 plum trees, 36 square feet of asparagus, and then several raised beds of beans, peas, lettuce, squash, okra, tomatoes, sweet potatoes, banana peppers, onions, chard, and strawberries. I am probably leaving something out.

In the far south west corner of the lot is my favorite: In a coop I built are 6 laying chickens Eloise, Ethel, Granny, Tiny Poppy, and Poofy. Thats around 3 or 4 eggs a day. In a chick brooder there are 24 potentially (some might be dinner/roosters) laying bantam chicks only a couple have names. Then there is also 3 meat raising rabbits: Buck, Funny Bunny(Californians) and Salvia (a New Zealand) and 6 baby dinners...err...I mean baby bunnies. Five of them will grow for 10 weeks before being processed. The sixth one will be Bucks third wife. Some of you clever folks reading this probably picked up on the relational problem with that sentence. It's ok. They are rabbits. Rabbits have a tendency to disregard their own family history in favor of getting it on. So I am going to do the same. (I researched the whole thing)

We also have a guard dog.

We have a potters studio, a painters studio, and a woodshop.

God has blessed us richly.

Chickens, rabbits and kids, Oh my!

Updates:
24 healthy bantam chicks including 6 Silver Sebrights.

We get around 3 eggs a day from the adult chickens (layers)

As I said saturday; funny bunny had her first litter. At least 6 babies have been counted. But they are deep in the nest and hard to see.

And as if the farm is not enough to take care of along with a dog and a 7 year old daughter we have been doing foster care training. So we're about to take on another child. Girl. Eva's age.

God has been good to us. We want to give back. Please pray for 5th ave farm.

2.5 weeks old

It has been a week or so and the chicks are getting bigger. Apparently the Hatchery (www.cacklehatchery.com) read my request when I ordered the "assortment of bantams" that i wanted Silver Sebrights, because it looks like at least 5 of them are Silver Sebrights. they are the ones with white and black feathers.

Two Sick Chicks

I have 2 chicks that are sort of sickly. One has a pasty butt the other has a bad eye.  The thought process of the mother hen (that's me) is funny. I thought, "maybe I should put some Vaseline on it." After all my mom put Vaseline on all my ailments, either that or Vick's Vapor Rub. But then my next thought was "No. It might peck at it, get petroleum jelly in its mouth and throat and die." Then I thought,"I can put one of those cones around its neck (you know like one of those dog neck cones to keep it from licking its stitches) Then I thought of the humiliation and the poor chick saying, "Oh!! The humiliation of it all." I shared these thoughts with Yvonne. She said, "No, cause the other chick has a bad eye."

I separated them from the rest of the chicks and they slept in my room in a rubber maid container with their own heat lamp and food and water. At one point they chirped so loud Yvonne could hear them on the other end of the house through closed doors. Soon they calmed down and tired out and slept through most of the night. Mother hen (me) kept waking up in the middle of the night worried for them. I will be getting antibiotic feed for them this morning.

The black on has pasty butt the yellow one has a gimp eye. They are a pair.

the heat lamp is not on in the photo because it makes the picture look terribly red.

Survival

The chicks made it through the weekend. Technically they are 5 days old, now. I opened the windows for them to give them some sunlight and ventilation. I am questioning this decision, but God willing they'll be fine. On the flipside, I sold five of them to a friend, and unfortunately all five of them died. I feel horrible about this. But apparently she was not a good "mother hen".

Why I Have Chickens

So I don't have to go to Wal-Mart as often. So I know where my eggs are coming from. Because the eggs are fresh. They aren't any trouble. Not any more than any other pet. You can let them" free range" or put up a easy coop from Sam's or build your own from recycled materials. Using the Deep Litter Method (DLM) you only have to clean the coop 3 times a year. You throw some food at them everyday (just like you would a dog) and you get a dozen eggs a week from 2 or 3 chickens. If you breed and raise them, then roosters make great fried chicken. If everyone had their own we could potentially put the chicken factories out of business. Not to mention the educational possibilities for my daughter (and all children). Consider getting your own.

33 chicks

33 chicks, in their new home. Brooder.

This is the beginning of a beautiful relationship.

I keep them fed; they keep me fed. Satuday, the 4 of 6 chickens laid 4 eggs together. They took a Sabbath then on Monday laid 4 more. If they lay four more today and tomorrow another four I am gonna invest in an egg basket. Espcially since I got a phone call yesterday from cacklehatchery.com, the shipment of 25 chicks should be here on Friday. Woot woot.

Hi! My name is Chad and I am addicted to chickens.

I bought 25 chickens. No guarantee that they will be hens, no guarantee the eggs will even be large enough to bother cracking open. They are called" bantam" and best I can tell so far they are just meant to look purdy. But I ordered them so they are coming. So I built a brooder into the coop. You can see it in the pictures. It is 33 x 26 inches by 14 inches tall. I built it with a hole for the heat lamp and two windows for peeking and ventilation.  I hope the other hens like them.  Any way. That's what I did today. Oh, and by the way, if it crows it be comes that evenings dinner.

Saved the Garden, Saved the Dog

I got home and Yvonne was furious. Shadow our new puppy had dug up a lot of veggies Yvonne was growing. Yvonne was ready to give the dog up. I don't blame her. I was worried about the chickens being stressed out from Shadows presence and Shadow kept bugging the rabbits. Of course Shadow is part Lab and part Pit so she probably does have blood-lust for any thing live in the yard. So I put up a fence. Good fences make good neighbors. They also make puppies better and more well behaved. Therefore I saved the dog. At least for now.

Chicken swing

Give chickens some leisure time and a place to play and they'll produce more eggs....maybe. maybe they'll just swing all day.

The Family That Roosts Together Stays Together.

So tonight on my nightly visit to check on the chickens this is what I found. The funny thing is during the day they fight all the time. I guess they made-up. Yep that is ALL SIX of them on one perch. from left to right thats Tiny, Ethel, Poofy, Granny, Poppy, and Eloise. And my educated guess is that is also the order of their ages too. From the youngest to the oldest. interesting.

PVC Pipe Chicken Feeder

I made this chicken feeder. It is made out of 1 piece of 3 inch pipe 2 end caps and one 90° elbow. I cut a 1.5 foot piece off one end and drilled  1.75 inch holes with a door knob style hole cutter. I fit them together and stuck it through the hole in the chicken wire resting it on the bottom. I attached it to the 2"x4" with a metal strap with a piece of 1"x3"x 4" spacer made of scrap wood. I put a handle on the top of the top end cap.for easy removal and easy filling. Chickens are already eating from it.

Consistency

I am 41 years old. Lack of consistency has kicked my butt for years. It is a battle I am ever fighting. But it is necessary. You can not live life properly and inconsistently. Not that you can't be spontaneous, but some parts of my life have to be consistent. Same God. Same wife. Same family. Same home. And this sounds like it goes without saying to some of you. But look at people who's life is a wreck. What are they inconsistent with? Family and God. Now I have been blessed with these as constants in my life. Praise be to the Lord. But other areas in my life are rocked by inconsistency but need it just as much. School/work disciplines, exercise, time alone in God's word. The list goes on. Being consistent doesn't mean simplifying your life but that can help. A lot! But also adding to your life the things that are important. For me homesteading has been very helpful. Daily chores like feeding chickens and rabbits; home maintenance, etc. A schedule. The" do-it-now" philosophy. All these things have been helpful. I recommend consistency even if you have to fight for it.

Chicken Little? no, I chicken a lot!

I know that I do not keep this blog up and going much, but perhaps that will change...

I have jumped on the homesteading band wagon. I didn't know there was one till I started taking an interested in this stuff. Then, while researching, I came across a ton of it. Anyhow I am in, and i am hooked.

Let me summarize. We have 6 hens, 3 rabbits, several raised beds for veggies, about 8 blueberry bushes, 4 rain barrels, brew beer, can food, and bake breads.

Now let me give you some details. This didn't happen all at once. My memory is horrible so I cannot tell you the order it happened in. All I know is 4 or five years ago none of this was true. Now I have an urban farm. my favorite part this far is the chickens.