Kricklewood Farm

We’d been planning for some day old chicks for Spring since January and finally the big day came.   Dark Brahmas, Buff Orpingtons, Golden Laced Wyandottes, Silver Laced Wyandottes, Barnevelders, Silver Grey Dorkings, Cuckoo Marans and more Ameraucanas made up the order from Performance Poultry near Belleville.  They specialize in heritage and unusual breeds so if you want something more than the basic feed store offerings this is the place to go.

Here they are in the box as they arrive home.  It was a bumpy
2 1/2 hour ride for them but they all arrrived fine.

The first order of business was to get them into the brooder with water and food and heat.  Without the mother hen they need extra heat.  They also need to be taught how to drink by dipping their beaks in the water.  They all seemed to be eating and drinking within a few minutes but they need to be monitored to make sure that they are all getting what they need.  The yolk sac will keep them going for a day or two but beyond that they are on their own.

The variety of colours is amazing and will get more interesting as they grow. We chose the breeds for variety of egg colour too,  some will lay dark brown eggs to go with other shades of brown, green and white.

Of course there’s always one trouble maker who has to stand in the food and make a mess of things!   More photos to follow as they start growing.

The chicks and Mama Hen made their debut in the chicken yard yesterday!   I think the Mama was ready as she was climbing out of the box that had been home for the past couple of weeks.   We’ve had some nights near freezing this past week so decided to wait for things to warm up.

It was quite a sight watching them discover the outside world, never straying too far from Mama.  The other chicks and ducks were curious but she wouldn’t let them near her charges.

The first job was to find them some food and show them
how to scratch for themselves.

They quickly got the hang of it and gobbled down
pretty much everything they could find.

We’re not sure what caused them to get scared but they seemed
to feel more comfortable under or on top of the Mama Hen!

We were amazed at the mothering instincts that she showed.   As it got darker she rounded them up and took them into the dog crate that we had put out for her.  The door was locked and she and the chicks spent the night in the coop with the rest of the flock.   This morning they were ready to go and start discovering their new world all over again.

I’m not sure how the Easter Bunny got into the chicken coop as it’s locked  at night.  In any event, this is what we found Sunday morning!  I’m just glad Rusty, the mean rooster, didn’t attack.  If he did, she may not come back next year! 

We finally got a good look at the chicks, they are just a few days old but active and I presume eating well.   The mother is protective so you don’t see them eating but bits of feed on their beaks says that they are getting fed.  I presume she taught them how to drink too so that lets some of the pressure off.  If you get day old chicks from the hatchery, they have to be shown how to drink by dunking their beaks in the water until they get the hang of it on their own.

These photos were taken in less than a minute as the mother hen is
quick to puff up her body to scare me away and take them under her wing.

Right after this was taken, Shirley, Lorraine and Helga all disappeared under the mother hen.  We’re hoping that they are all grow up to be hens, hence the names.  I realize that these are not common names for chickens, but there is some reasoning…however, the person after who they are named may not appreciate the honour so we’ll leave it at that to protect the innocent!

It’s been a tense few days around here… the hen is now officially a Mama! We’ve been nervously watching her and when the first one was hatched we brought her inside and made her a separate space using a large box from the appliance store.  The issue is that the coop is not ‘chick-proof’,  it’s scaled for chickens so little things like the size of the feeder and waterer become a problem for tiny chicks.   This way she’ll have a warm and safe place for a few days while they hatch out.  There are about ten eggs under her, whether or not they are all fertilized we won’t know until she’s finished.

Getting photos of the new chicks has been a challenge, most of the time I get close enough to them, this is what I see: a protective mother worried that I’ll harm her chicks and wondering when I’m going to leave.

I was worried at one point as when I approached she seemed to be pecking them in the head. I thought, that can’t be good! It turns out she was trying to tell them to get under her for protection.

I did manage to get a few shots of the chicks but mostly hidden from view.

It’s amazing how the hen gingerly rests on top of the eggs and the chicks.

After these photos were taken, a third chick was discovered
so hopefully we will get a few better shots in the next few days.

This past winter has been a mild one but I for one am sure glad Spring is finally here.  It’s not so much the cold as is it the short days and long nights.  It’s nice to have a few hours extra in the afternoon but the bad news is that the chickens don’t want to go to bed!

One hen has gone broody on us – we’ve never gone through this and I think she’ll pretty much take care of things herself but we’ll see how many hatch and whether or not she has any ducklings in the group.   She’s been on the eggs 24/7 for a week or two now and only gets off to eat and drink and do her other business.

I managed to snap a photo a few days ago when she was off the nest, she has a variety of sizes and colours under her care so we’ll end up with an interesting menagerie when the time comes.  We have chick-sized waterers and feeders so we’ll have to sort out what to do with her and them when the time comes.

Once in a while another hen decides she wants to get in on things.  It gets a
little cramped but the broody one is very patient,  she’ll be a good mother!

One of the projects  for Spring was to build another nest box, we used the existing as a model and found enough old barn wood to make it happen.   For the moment it’s outside next to the coop until we find the best spot for it and we’ve already had one hen use it.   This was a project of my brother and I and it went quite well considering we’re both pretty much all thumbs. Thanks Barry!

We’ve also added to the flock with the acquisition of another 8 assorted young hens:  a couple of Barred Plymouth Rocks, Ameraucanas, a Buff Orpington, Golden Laced Wyandotte and 2 Black sex-linked.   We were told that the Buff Orpington was the queen of her flock and she showed that pretty quickly with our  hens, she is now in charge!   The roosters noticed her right away, she is a pretty buff/blond and was quickly named Blondie, on the right, above.  We’ve actually avoided naming the birds – once it’s named it’s pretty hard to make any rational decisions about harvesting or culling but occasionally one will break the rule.

We’ve also developed a very high tech solution to keeping track of egg production.  Friends from Atlanta sent us a chicken calendar which has some great photos of chickens.    It’s now hanging in the coop and every time we get an egg, we mark it on the calendar.  We’re up to almost a dozen a day and as it warms up and the hens from last year mature, we should get almost double that.  We also have another 25 or so day old chicks set to arrive at the end of April.  By this time next year we should double again to four dozen a day.  Eggs are easy to sell and since each dozen contains a nice mix of white, shades of brown and green, people keep coming back for more.

On the garden front, we got our initial seed starting going a few weeks ago and now it’s time to start thinning things out.    We went with about a dozen different tomatoes, mostly heritage varieties with interesting names like ‘Mortgage Lifter’, ‘Chadwicks Cherry’ and ‘Yellow Brandywine’.   We also started some peppers: ‘Black Hungarian Hot’, ‘Napoleon’ and ‘Marconi Red’ among them, Eggplants some Spinach and Rosemary cuttings.  Most of the seeds come from The Cottage Gardener, a small company specializing in heirloom varieties.

One new thing is to start onions from seed versus sets.  We now have three varieties going, one red ‘Greek Salad’ a Spanish ‘Candy’ and for green onions ‘Summer Isle’.  We’ll do some sets too so we don’t run out next winter.  I’ve been following the guidelines written for our climate by an author near Kingston.  The book is titled  From Seed to Table, A Practical Guide to Eating and Growing Green by Janette Haase.    It’s a month by month format and has garden plans small and larger families so it’s been very helpful.

With it warming up, Pitou and Ty really enjoy the weather,
especially with a little extra scratch behind the ear…

or a rub of the belly!  (and what a belly he is getting – he’s not being fattened up for his bacon though so requests will not be taken…).

One of our goals as small farmers is to help keep the older ‘heritage’ chicken breeds going by keeping a mixed flock of laying hens, including the ‘Ameraucauna’, the one that lays blue/green eggs.  We’ve been building up the flock for several months now and patiently waiting for the first green egg to be laid. Well, yesterday was the day!   This specimen is more of a greenish brown but we have about a half dozen Ameraucanas so we should start seeing more colours soon.    We try to keep an even balance between white layers, brown layers and green layers so that when the egg carton is opened, there’s a surprise even before tasting them, especially for those who only know green eggs courtesy of Dr. Seuss.  Eggs are now available at the farm gate.

We had the first significant snowfall of the season the other day.
it was going to be a whole new experience for the chickens and
ducks who were hatched earlier this year.  It didn’t go well at first.

The usual rush out the chicken door was quickly followed by what could
be described as ‘chicken brakes’ once they hit the snow.  They felt the cold
on their feet and turned around for the dry ground under the eave of the coop.

Pitou didn’t seem to mind and he proceeded to find the grains under the
snow.  So we went to plan B which was to open the big door for them.

The reaction was about the same, the situation was analyzed,
tiny wheels were turning and decisions were made not
to venture outside beyond the bare ground.

Finally the Brahma’s decided to brave the snow
with a little encouragement with some leftover pasta.

All along, Pitou  seemed unconcerned by the change in weather.
We learned quickly that the main motivation for a pig is food.

We are finally getting some eggs from the hens,
just as it is starting to get colder and turn dark earlier,
and production will slow down for the season but
it will quickly pick up in a few months.
Another reason to look forward to Spring!

It doesn’t look like much,  but for the chickens and ducks, this is a full-fledged ‘Palais des poules’… We moved them from the original spot to this one after a few renovations: insulation, better windows, a new ‘chicken’ door,  more room to roost and a huge outdoor run.  We made sure to include all the necessities of life:

Places to eat…

…and sleep.

The ducks and chickens are getting along as bunkmates. 

Of course they need areas for recreation…

…including a high spot  to get a better view of their domain.

It’s not all fun and games though, they’re here to do a job: lay eggs. 
On the plus side, the nesting boxes have a nice view of the barnyard.

The best part of the new coop has to be the chicken door. 
When the sun is shining, be careful when you open it!

It’s a mad dash to get out and begin the day.

The morning waits for no one..

…well, almost no one.  There are always one or two stragglers
who just prefer to stay in bed a little while longer… sounds familiar?

Welcome to Frankville.  This pretty much sums up the past two months since we’ve been here.  All the neighbors have welcomed us and helped us get settled.  Frankville is a small village of homes at the intersection of Highway 29 and Kitley Line 8 Road, between Brockville and Smiths Falls Ontario.   We’ve learned that at one time there were shops, a  hotel and doctor along with all the other necessities of life. 

The house itself is said to be from the 1850′s.  It’s a classic Ontario stone farm house with  a symmetrical profile  and a newer addition on the back.   The transition between owners was bittersweet – it was a fresh new beginning for us but the end of an era for the owners who had been taking care of it for the past  50 years.   It was a labor of love and the door will always be open to them. 

The property itself is more than we were looking for – 90 acres with 60 in hay separated by hedgerows and the rest in woods.     We had looked at several stone houses in the area, most had 2 or 3 acres and for us we wanted at least 25 but ended up with a few extra.  Walking the fields and following the  hedgerows with Buddy has become a new morning ritual. 

The barn helped sell us on the property.  It’s a timber frame construction with hand-hewn beams put together with pegs.  Some of the beams must be 24″ square.    Things have changed since it was built,  the horses would pull the hay wagon in through one set of doors, family and friends would unload the loose hay by hand down into the hay storage area and the horses would exit through the set of doors on the opposite side of the building. 

We’ve been busy since arriving in Frankville,  producing soap, beeswax candles and putting in the vegetable garden.  We’re starting small with a plot of 30 x 40 full of (in alphabetical order) asparagus, basil, beans, beets, carrots, corn, garlic, lettuce, onions, potatoes, pumpkins, spinach, squash, sunflowers and tomatoes but no room for zucchini.    We also planted a few Nasturtiums, Cosmos and Zinnias here and there so frankly it’s almost impossible to get in and harvest.

We’ve also started the flock of laying hens.  The initial plans were to start with some day old chicks in June but the timing didn’t work out so we’ve been accumulating hens (and a few roosters) 3 by 3 and we are now up to 20 hens and 1 rooster.  We had a rooster return policy from one of the farmers so we traded him in for another hen and threw in an extra rooster for good measure.    We also have 6 Muscovy ducks so the coop is just about full for now.  They have lots of room during the day but the sleeping quarters seem a bit cramped.

Plans for next year include starting up a few beehives, expanding the garden plot from one to four and getting the fencing done around the barn for a few dairy goats.  For now we’ll sit back and enjoy the bounty of this season.