Paradise in Disguise Hobby Farm Blog

Remember that post about Lydia's daughter Matilda & how I'd put two eggs under her that the duck had started to incubate? Well, they never hatched but I set 6 more eggs on Nov 15th. I hadn't counted out when they should be due, but this morning when I checked on Matilda, there was an empty egg shell in front of the nest. Sure enough, a little chick was underneath her. Here are the photos I took tonight: If you look closely, the chick has feathered feet! Since it hatched from a "khaki green" egg, I presume its mother is  one of the Bielefelder "Bob" & Catskill Homesteader  "Susan" pullets ; the father would be one of the Swedish Flower Hen & bantam Millie fleur Cochin crosses. What a little cutie & hardy as one day Matilda didn't return to the right nest & I found her at night on the wrong nest. It was below freezing & all the eggs were cold, but obviously this little chick survived! Last night moved the...

For 4 days in a row, I couldn't find any eggs from the SFH Coop, and wondered first, where they might be hiding them and second, if they just all went on "strike". Then, last Thursday 9/24, when I was looking for something else, I went on the outside of the SFH fence & looked between the two round bales of mulch hay. Lo and behold, there was the hidden nest. Once I got a separate egg carton, I had to reach my hand & arm through the 2"x4" welded wire (yes, that was slightly painful), and grab those eggs. When all was said & done - there was 13 dirty eggs in that hidden nest. Needless to say, we ate those eggs, I wouldn't sell them, even if they were only a few days old. There was a little "tunnel" through the hay, where they'd obviously come through every day to lay their eggs. Crazy girls! Once inside, I looked at them carefully to determine who were the "culprits". Three of the eggs were bantam, so obviously that...

I have a few minutes before heading out to do the "critter chores", but it's 39* out there, so I don't feel like there's any rush to go "freeze". Yesterday was productive. Started out with showing Mom & Dad the morning routine here at the hobby farm in preparation for when I got on vacation for a week in October. Recently, the Lord has been guiding me to make certain changes to simplify things, as chores here at the hobby farm were too much for one person. But since simplifying & reducing the amount of feed that I'm fermenting, and increasing the amount of dry feed available 24/7, it's reduced the time each day needed for chores. And if anything, the animals are getting more feed than they were before, since their dry feed is now the main source. Granted, it's not as "digestible" as the fermented feed and they waste some on the ground, but spending an average of 3 hours every day just on feeding, watering and preparing their...

Well, here it is the end of another day, September 21st. Time flies by so fast, and autumn is now upon us. The leaves are falling, and so are the chicken's feathers. It's that time of year when chickens molt. The old feathers fall out, and new feathers grow in. While this process in going on, many of the hens stop laying eggs and most look like they're having a "bad feather day". Usually the young pullets are exempt from this, but the adult hens get this "make-over". In past years, I've always had a light and timer in each coop to maintain 14 to 16 hours of "light" year-round, which helps keep the hens laying throughout the shorter daylight hours of the fall & winter. But, this year, I decided that some of the hens deserve a break, so while they still have lights & timers, I'm reducing the hours they are on, so they can take their more natural break. Yes, that'll mean less eggs during the colder months, but I also have young...

Trying to get caught up on this blog, so here's some snipits from the last few days, some of which I wrote on BackyardChicken Forum, so just had to slightly modify it for here. My brother & I went into town on 2/21, as I had an overflow of eggs so I sold them to the local food co-op, plus got the rest of the supplies for making the coolerbator. I wanted to get more heated water bowls, but TSC was all out except for the heated 3 gallon buckets. All four of the breeding coops have ones for their water, but I need 3 more for their fermented feed, as it just keeps freezing. So, I have to bring in the rubber dishes at night to defrost, then take them back out in the morning. Hence, they're not going through the fermented feed as fast, but since they also have dry layer mash, they're going through that faster than normal. By 1pm when we came back yesterday, they snow was coming down & blowing all around.  So even though I'd let the chickens out in the morning, th...

Here's what I wrote to a friend when she asked how everything was going with the hobby farm, and what my plans were for hatching chicks, etc. Be warned - it's a "book"! I'd like to hatch chicks for BackYardChicken's 6th Annual Easter Hatch-A-Long, which sets eggs March 14th. I don't have a set number right now, except that I usually operate a full incubator, which holds 42 eggs; though last year one of the hatched, I added a "few" extra to allow for non-fertile, quitters, etc. Like last year, I plan on doing several consecutive hatches, and if I get orders, then I will increase accordingly. That's the reason why I'm starting the website, to get "pre-orders" and so I know how many people are interested in, so I know how many hatches to have. Part of what I'm planning to do is build a hatch-er out of an old cooler, so that I can move the eggs on day 18 of incubation out of the incubator, so I can set more! (Hatching r...