Still kicken it

 

 Here is my Welsummer pullet that hasn't been feeling quite right. She hasn't died, but she is still not well. I put her back in with the chickens after she perked up inside. I thought she'd jump out of her box at night and start wandering around so I brought a kennel in for the night. When she was moving around the next day I put her back in with the other birds. I've been dipping her beak in water with garlic and herbs and she has been getting some of it down. When I enter the coop she has been resting in the nesting boxes. Once I start paying attention to her she runs outside and mingles, but there are a couple hens picking on her. I've seen her eating. She is obviously uncomfortable, all hunched up with she isn't moving, and I've seen her falter while walking. She feels light. Does not have the runs. Hasn't laid an egg. Egg bound??? Not broody I don't think. If she was she would put up more of a fuss when I went to pick her up or touch her, and she doesn't have that broody attitude. Something is wrong. Still alive is a good sign.

"What do you want now?"

Last Day of February

Avery is napping and Noah is playing quietly with legos, so what better time to sit and write a bit (much more tempting than scrubbing my stove top which is in pieces and soaking in Dr. Bronners, baking soda and borax). Today is the last day of February. The sun is shining on me and all throughout the house. I just checked for eggs and noticed that for the first time since October, the sun is shining on the doe pen. Xanadu and Rose were both standing in the sun nibbling on spruce boughs. 

In other news, I have a dying chicken in the hallway. I noticed her this morning all crouched and sunken in to herself. She wouldn't drink water and barely opened up her eyes. I know enough by now that she probably isn't going to make it. But she is one of our three Welsummer hens, and you know how much I love those hens and their beautiful eggs. I told Dustin I was bringing her in and he reminded me of my last attempt to bring a chicken in, (she convulsed and made quite a noisy, stinky, messy and disturbing departure). I pointed out that I did remember and had learned a lesson, this time I had put the sick bird in a disposable cardboard box with hay, instead of a large storage tupperware that would have to be cleaned out afterwards. I was hoping that I could get some water and herbs into her and she might make it. I added a drop of echinacea root tincture, a drop of grapefruit seed extract, a crushed clove of garlic and a large pinch of ground herbs (fennel, wormwood, garlic and black walnut) along with a little molasses to her water). Dipped her beak and she wouldn't drink ( I probably wouldn't either). So then I pried her mouth open and got part of a dropper full down her throat. I'll try again in another hour and continue over the course of the day. 


We have had two injured chickens this winter but they were perky. So for days I carried them to the waterer and they would drink, then I'd put them in a low box out of the way with a handful of food. They both are up and moving around now. Whenever I've seen a hen this unresponsive, they've always died, and fast too, probably by the end of the day. I hadn't noticed any suspicious behavior yesterday morning, and D had done night chores and not noticed anything. 

Noah and I started our first tray of seeds for the spring. I know it isn't time yet, for us Alaskans anyway. I do this every winter to hold me over, I start a few lettuce greens and herbs with the intention of transplanting them into a few pots and placing them in a window. This way I'll have little snippets of chives, basil, parsley, cilantro and greens here and there throughout the spring. It will be time to start tomatoes and peppers in a couple weeks. I did start some slow growing and germinating herbs (lavender, oregano and chamomile). If they get too big I'll transplant them before they make it to the garden. 


I have seeds on order from Peaceful Valley and thanks to a comment from another blogger, Fedco. I had never heard of Fedco before, but after checking them out, I am very excited about their prices and ethics. All I have yet to order are a few odds and ends, mostly onion, leek and shallot sets. I managed to stay away from most impractical temptations like melons, specialty peppers and most late season varieties. I allowed myself to go a little crazy on beet, turnip and rutabaga varieties, because they do so well here.When I told Dustin I bought several types of turnip and rutabaga seeds, he said as long as I wasn't feeding them to him... we are not big fans so it may seem silly to be growing them. One of the blogs I regularly read has been posting on feeding root vegetables to livestock, a practice that use to be common, but has since been replaced with high amounts of grain. I thought that I'd experiment a bit with adding a small amount of root vegetables to the goats and chickens diet and go from there. I already have quite a collection of early tomato, squash, pea, bean, kale, broccoli and green seeds. But I did find some new, or I should say old perennial greens that I had never heard of before that I had to check out. I also bought edible edamame for the first time, as we love it as a snack and I thought I'd make some space for it. I was excited to find an Alfalfa hardy down to zone one! As far as I know, no one grows Alfalfa up here because it doesn't survive the winters, so we'll be trying this hardy variety. 

My grainmill is somewhere in transit, on it's way here. I've used up all my old stale wheat, rye and spelt flours in anticipation...

I'm working on our second Azure Standard order, which contains more fun groceries than our first mostly bulk grain order. I'm ordering some beans and legumes for sprouting and grinding along with some specialty sea salts, and sugars (rapadura and maple), and lots of odds and ends I either can't find locally, or are cheaper in price and higher in quality.

I've been thinking of what defines spring here in interior Alaska. We don't tend to pay much attention to the official first day of spring, first day of summer etc. Spring is not green shoots of grass, mud, and especially not daffodils blooming (at least outdoors). Once we have mud and grass, well that's practically summer or the week before summer. Spring is the sun rising higher in the sky and shining with an intensity that warms my skin and lights the room, revealing the layer of dust that has been hiding in the dim rooms all winter. Spring is setting up plant racks, hanging lights and planting seeds indoors, the first touch and smells of soil - indoors. Spring is weather warm enough we can get out and play in the snow. Late spring brings goat babies and chicks. By then the seed starting rack is overflowing onto the floor and nearby level surfaces. By then we are too busy to debate, is it still spring or do locals sporting shorts and buying starts in a frenzy constitute the beginning of an arctic summer?

We've got about six weeks until kidding season begins and ducklings arrive. I'm looking forward to a few more cold weeks where I am more than happy to be around a wood-stove, baking bread, making soup and doing all those indoor projects (scrubbing and dusting) that won't get done till the slow days of next winter, or is it spring? 

Now I'm off to feed a hungry awake Avery, scrub my stove, make a smoothie for Noah and I, bake banana bread, force some liquid down my sick chicken and prep a whole thawed chicken for dinner. All the while enjoying the sun streaming into my dusty but well lit house, ah. 

Chicken Feed Pictures

 

I just downloaded pictures from mixing feed this weekend, so here they are, mostly self explanatory.

 

 Sun on coop and my shadow

  

 Grain storage/ green house. Works very well, although in this photo it is rather disorganized

  

 Tubs for mixing and ingredients.

  

  

 A beautiful finished product and some rather content chickens. They pick the whole grains out.

  

Chicken Feed

A year ago we started mixing our own chicken feed using mostly whole grains. We have fed the same mix to our layers, starters (I ground it up for the new chicks), meat birds and ducks. I thought that I would continue to research this topic and after observing our birds, make slow changes to their feed recipe. The birds have been thriving so I hadn't ever revisited the feed recipe or done any further research, until now.

Recently I started trying to figure out exactly how much our chicken feed recipe was costing, the post is here. You can see my original chicken feed recipe and the sources I used to come up with it here. I've been wanting to get a better idea of the nutritional content of the different ingredients and how they work together. Conclusions that I have come to are that our current recipe is too expensive, too high in corn and not diverse enough.

Here is the recipe that I have been using for the most part of this last year, if you check out the original recipe I began with, you'll notice it has changed a bit. This totals to about 80-85 Ib and lasts us about two weeks. I often make a double batch, one batch per tub side by side. If I don't have to move bags of feed, the process of dumping, mixing and moving the feed into lidded garbage cans takes less than a half hour. I usually mix it on a weekend so I can crack a beer and mix in peace (without assistance from the kids who would double the time) which makes for an enjoyable and rewarding experience.

1. 30 Ib cracked corn
2. 20Ib whole wheat berries, white or red, winter or spring, or a mix
3. 10 Ib whole barley (local)
4. 10Ib whole oats (local I think)
5. 4-5 Ib alaskan salmon meal
6. 3 -4 Ib flax seed
7. 2-3 Ib kelp meal
8. 1 Ib salt
9. 1/4 - 1/2 Ib herbal vitamin supplement

Changes I made this week are that I added 5 Ib sunflower seeds and 5 Ib split peas.


Other things we feed the chickens regularly:

1. kitchen scraps: veggie, bread, dairy and meat scraps that are not spoiled
2. kombucha tea ( provides beneficial yeasts and acids, immune boosting, detoxifying)
3. kefired raw goat milk (when in season, most the year, not now- beneficial yeast and bacteria in a symbiotic relationship - takes the place of dried yeast and probiotics)
4. grit and oyster shell  provided at all times
5. wormer and anti parasitic herbal formulas as needed
6. Brome and occasionally alfalfa hay
7. As of this past week I've started sprouting various grains and legumes and have been feeding the chickens several cups of sprouts a day. I hope to continue this practice at least through the winter until the chickens can get out and forage.

I still don't know as much as I'd like to about the ingredients we are using, so my current investigation is far from over. Here is a link to Lionsgrip, a site that offers chicken feed recipes and nutritional information. This particular entry is titled Is your feed to corny? The following are a few things I've learned about chicken feed lately:


A high protein diet is important. From chick starter to broiler grower protein levels range from seventeen to twenty two percent. Most processed chicken feeds have a large amount of ground soy meal to the feed, in addition to fish meal. I have declined to use soy in our chicken feed for a number of reasons, partly because eighty five percent of soy in our country is from genetically engineered sources, in addition to containing large amounts of pesticides. There are a number of other health concerns associated with soy products which you can easily look up if you are so inclined.


In the Lionsgrip nutrition article I just linked to, I read about the importance of B vitamins in the chicken's diet. Too much or too little of any of the various B vitamins can lead to deficiency related health problems. The source suggested that most feeds use synthetic B vitamins which are quickly depleted and not as helpful as those directly from legume and grain seeds.The following is a list of the ingredients we are using and what little I know about them:

• Corn: provides energy and fat. Feed more in the winter, less in summer. Often makes up a large percentage of processed chicken feed. Downside is that a large percentage of corn comes from genetically engineered sources. It often contains high levels of pesticides which build up in animal fat and are transferred to the consumer. 9% protein. Low levels of B vitamins and most vitamins and minerals.
• Wheat Berries: There are spring and winter wheat berries, hard and soft. Depending on the variety protein content varies from 11 to 15 percent. Supplies moderate amounts of other vitamins and minerals
• Oats and Barley: oats are 14 percent protein, barley 12 percent. One of my original sources said never to have Barley or Oats make up more than fifteen percent of the chicken feed, whether alone or combined. I feed more than this fifteen percent, but I do check myself when it comes to these ingredients despite wanting to use more of them as they are inexpensive and local, nine dollars for a fifty pound bag. I feed them whole. 
• Fish Meal: May be one of the healthiest and most natural protein sources with the exception of living bugs or worms. 60 % protein. Increases Omega 3 fatty acids in the eggs.
• Kelp Meal: dried seaweed, great source of vitamins and minerals
• Flax Seed: Boosts omega three fatty acids in eggs. High in B vitamins and minerals
• Black Oil Sunflower Seeds: high in fat, minerals and B vitamins

A couple ingredients I've been looking at adding to our recipe are whole or split green peas. They are high in protein and cost about seven dollars plus shipping for a twenty five pound bag. I'm also looking at lentils which are also very high in protein. I guess before the soybean revolution farmers fed their livestock a much more varied diet of legumes. Now it is rare to see legumes of any kind in feed recipes except soy beans and alfalfa. 

I noticed that our local feed store is finally carrying organic chicken feeds ranging from twenty two to twenty seven dollars a fifty pound bag. Most of my feed ingredients are not organic, although I wish I had access to more organic whole grains at reasonable prices. Mixing chicken feed is not rocket science. I do see why people are intimidated by coming up with their own recipes. After reading about B vitamins I started worrying about whether I was giving the birds too little or too much of something. Chickens are resilient, as are our own bodies. I eat too many sweets and dairy, too many red meats and not enough fish or organ meats. I don't pull out a nutrition chart for every meal. Everything is a balance. I am trying to feed my chickens a healthy whole grain diet (natural and local when possible). 

Despite not being formulated by scientists,  I think there is a good chance that my chicken feed is healthier than the processed organic feed sold in crumbles and pellets, primarily because I am using whole grain. Organic or not, processed animal feed is generally not quality ingredients to begin with, and then what nutrition is in the grains to begin with is lost once ground, pressed and sprinkled with synthetic vitamins and minerals before being put in a bag for months. As I make changes in the chickens diet I'll be calculating costs and keeping an eye on the birds health. For now I am feeling pretty good about my chicken's diet, and beings that we eat their eggs and will at some time eat them, I'd say that is a good thing.





 

Naked bottom baby

Noah is watching Sesame Street and eating a blueberry muffin. Avery had just pushed a chair up to the sink, climbed up on it and was looking for something to get into on the counter. When I told her I saw her, she squealed with her success and climbed down and came hurrying over for some attention. Now she is trying to get her spinning top to work. I love watching her play and explore her world. She is quite entertaining. I'm often torn, because if she is playing happily I should be taking advantage of the moment to make some food or sneak dishes out of the dishwasher before she notices and wants to help, but really, nothing is more important than taking time to savor my children.

When Avery was born, Noah was two and a half years old. For quite some time, taking care of my son had come with ease. I remembered how much work a newborn was and thought I was prepared for her. What I wasn't prepared for was how having a baby affected my son, and our relationship. Avery is almost one and a half and the kids are starting to play pretty well together. I finally feel like I'm getting back on top of things. I can't say how much more challenging raising two children is than I anticipated. Infinitely more.

I've been having lots of moments lately that I wish I could capture. We have a video camera and I need to start using it. I often think I will remember all the silly or crazy things that the kids do, but I can hardly even separate one image from the mess of cute or silly things that the kids have said or done this week. Noah at almost four has been asking in all sincerity, who we think he should marry. We've been having lots of matter of fact conversations about marriage and husbands and wives etc.

Avery spends most of her time around the house without pants or a diaper on. She uses her potty several times a day, with encouragement and sometimes on her own. She says "poo" for poop or pee...or if she has a wet diaper that she wants off, or if she just wants to run around with a bare bottom.  How many accidents Avery has are related to whether I'm paying attention or not. Often we can get on a schedule and I'll remind her every half hour or so to use her potty and if she has to go she will, unless she is cranky and needing  a nap or something and if that is the case then it isn't an appropriate time for her to be diaperless. The most elaborate misses (accidents) usually come when I'm cooking dinner, frying something, or taking something out of the oven (something is going to burn if I leave for a minute) and then I look over and Avery is pointing and telling me "poo, poo, poo". Immediate intervention is essential and goes something like this:

1.  First, stop child and inspect for poo smears. Make sure there is no poo on her legs or feet getting tracked anywhere. Pick up child and carry to sink if necessary.
2. Step two is getting her to her potty, because more poop or pee often follows. 
3. While she sits on her potty I run to the sink for a warm rag or two or three while looking around to assess damage. Is there a pile , a trail? Were there toys or clothes in the way?
4. Once Avery is off the potty and cleaned up, I try to clean up the mess without her help and then return to dinner or whats left of it, turn off the timer that has been going off.
5. Finally, a diaper at this point is always nice so a repeated incident does not follow. 

You might think I'm crazy for letting my toddler go diaper-less. I think it is crazy that I know three, four and five year old kids still wearing diapers. Kids that when they have to go pee ask for a diaper and refuse to go on the potty even though they are perfectly capable.  In our society we train our babies from a very early age to pee in their diaper.We train them so well that it takes a lot of retraining when we are ready for them to use a potty.

There are many places in the world where diapers are not the norm. There are numerous societies where it is normal and expected that toddlers and even babies communicate their need with their parents.  Parents read their child. They anticipate and expect when their child needs to eliminate; this is called Elimination Communication.  We have practiced this method part time with both of children. They have used the potty with help before they could sit and on their own as soon as they were able to sit on something without assistance. We use cloth diapers at night, when we leave the house and when we have company. 

The best thing about diaperless kids is that they are familiar and comfortable with their bodies and understand what is going on much earlier than full time diapered kids. Avery knows where poop and pee comes from. When she feels the need to pee or poop she anticipates what comes next (she looks down and is starting to make a beeline to her potty). She is not ashamed, embarassed or frightened by her bodily functions. This is success. Besides my days would be much less lively were it not for this naked bottom baby.
 

Drip drip

I just got in from a round of night time chores. As I slipped my boots on I paused contemplating my light weight capri lounge pants that I was wearing. Usually I just put on my farm coveralls over whatever I'm wearing unless it is really cold and then I put on a wool base layer followed by sweats/sweatshirt or light sweater and then coveralls and a down coat. I thought about what I needed to do; toss bucks hay, toss does hay, gather eggs, close chickens in and close ducks in, fifteen minutes, no problem. I headed out. Sure enough, it was warm enough that I could hear the roof dripping onto the ground below and if that wasn't enough, the thermometer read almost forty degrees above zero! Is it really mid February or did we wake up to find ourselves in the wet slushy mess we call April?

With the exception of dripping water following me on my trek up the hill, the night was still and dark with a picturesque sliver of a moon. The goats are all in fine temperament after this long lasting warm spell. The chickens aren't easy to get in even late at night, they want to take advantage of the warm night, some would stay outside for the night if I'd let them. 

In the morning I am eager to get outside, wake up with the fresh air and get some things done. By late night, I am much more reluctant to leave the warmth of the house into the dark night. Yet once I am dressed and walking, observing the sky, the moon, can I see the stars in the sky or goat eyes looking down at me through the trees? Chana runs ahead, letting me know if she hears or senses anything in the woods. My senses are acute and aware, always looking, noting the tall silver birch trees against the dark night. Tonight there was no crunch of my feet on the snow, no snow outlining the trees against the night, and my headlamp did not catch the glitter of cold ice crystals. When it warms, the snow is dull, the trail slick and the trees naked. 


As I've been doing chores I've been thinking a lot of why we feed what we feed to our livestock and more importantly; why I feed what I feed. It is complicated. We follow current practices thinking the modern day veterinarians and experienced farmers know best.  We try to follow their lead only to learn that maybe they have alterior motives, maybe they don't have the animals best interest at heart. I've been doing some research on feed ingredients, mostly grains. Today I realized I've been feeding too much corn to the chickens. I've been feeding corn because it is at the top of the list when you start looking at chicken feed recipes. Yes it provides energy and fat, but very little nutrition. When compared to other grains, seeds and legumes it is practically at the bottom of the list for vitamins, minerals and protein content. It occurred to me that corn has been a main feed ingredient because it has been cheap. Well, at seventeen dollars a bag, it isn't cheap anymore.


I'm done for the night, but coming soon I'll be sharing what I've been feeding our chickens and why, and what changes I'm planning on making, and of course, why.

Pantry shelves

I woke up in the middle of the night to the loud roar and crash of the roof sliding onto the driveway. The roof on our back porch is dripping and looks like it is going to be sliding today. I am enjoying going outside without hat and gloves. The goats are outside playing and eating breakfast as soon as it is light. Dustin has been out of town this week and he couldn't have left at a better time. I still have plenty of chopped and stacked wood inside and on the porch. The weather has made morning chores with the kids much easier. If it was ten below or colder, I'd be waiting until Avery takes her midday nap before heading out to fill waters and feeders. 

I still have six gallons of frozen chicken stock in an outdoor fridge, I'm going to see if I can fit the cumbersome gallon jars in the top of our chest freezer, but if I can't I'm thinking of canning it.  I try not to can the chicken stock as I don't want to loose all those nutrients. I do enjoy the convenience of just opening a jar on the shelf, rather than planning ahead and thawing the stock before I need it. 


This time of year our freezers and pantry shelves start revealing either what we are hoarding (frozen blueberries, blueberry jam, berry syrup) or what we aren't good at using up, (pesto, kale, not enough sweetener jam, lacto fermented turnips, sun dried tomatoes). I don't know what it is about sun dried tomatoes, pesto and basil concentrate (frozen basil and olive oil). They are ingredients that I enjoy eating, I feel prepared having them around, but I rarely use them. The turnips and seedy not sweet raspberry jam need to go to the chickens. I need to get more creative with frozen kale. I often add it to bean and bacon soups, and that's about it. I see lots of pasta with kale, pesto and sun dried tomatoes in our future as I have a couple gallon jars of sun dried tomatoes.


I roasted up the last winter squash the other day. We made fried bean squash fritters and squash pudding. I bought garlic for the first time since mid summer. I have one bag of our golden beets left in the fridge that need to get eaten up. Other than that, any of of our own produce is canned, dry or frozen. This time of year I am taking advantage of imported bananas, oranges, apples, scallions and cilantro. Some things I feel silly about, like I have a couple gallons of sourkraut to eat up, but I bought a fresh head of napa cabbage at the store yesterday, even sillier; I have bags of frozen broccoli, but I buy fresh broccoli. I do need to get better about making casseroles and soups with our dried and frozen goods.

I am so close to ordering a grain mill. I have been reading comment reviews on the nutri mill, vita mill and wonder mill. I am leaning towards the nutri mill because I can turn it off and back on while it is still full. It can be filled up and closed before turning on, as opposed to pouring in grain while it is running. It can grind super fine flour and course grits. It can grind corn, beans, non oily seeds and most grains. Sounds like they are all rather loud (as a vacuum) and supposedly it is slower than some of the other mills. If anyone has a grain mill that they just love, let me know. As much as I love the idea a non electric cast iron wheel mill, it is just not for me at this time in my life. I've used up all of our wheat, spelt and rye flour and am down to just white flour, as I've been ordering whole wheat, rye and spelt berries. Now we just need a mill.