An Incredible Journey

They’re here!  It’s been 48 hours since I brought these little chicks home to live with us here on the homestead.

Three or four weeks ago I decided to order 50 chicks from Murray McMurray Hatchery.  My dilemma was how do I get enough Cornish Cross chicks to feed us without paying more in the long run than I would to just buy packaged chicken at the grocery store?

My preferred method is to raise 12 chicks and starting when they’re 6 1/2 weeks old, begin harvesting a bird every 3 to 4 days to meet our needs.  That gives me a window of time between 6 1/2 weeks and 11 weeks to harvest those 12 birds.  If they reach 12 weeks they have gotten very large.  The last bird I harvested from the last batch dressed out at 9 1/2 pounds.  When these birds begin to get too large, they begin to have health problems with joints and heart.  That’s not good for either of us.

I have all sorts of reasons why I prefer to harvest the birds on an “as needed” basis.  The first being that it is less traumatic for me.  I can be more present, during the process and there is less stress for the bird.  Another reason is that all the birds we eat are fresh.  If I take multiple birds at once, I have to package them in plastic and find room for them in my small freezer.  I don’t want to rely on a freezer.  That method of storage can fail.  I don’t want to generate plastic packaging because, then what do I do with it when I’ve finished with it?  I can’t compost it on my land (or anywhere else for that matter).

In the end, I decided to order 13 Cornish X in order to ensure that I would get the full dozen I needed.  Any more than that is too many for me to handle.

I wanted to order at least 25 birds.  25 birds are better able to stay warm and safe on their journey through the mail.  But 50 birds was more affordable for me due to the cost per chick.  I wasn’t expecting sales tax, but there is was since I live in a state that has a sales tax.  Now other states are charging sales on items shipped to our state.  That is definitely new and adds to the cost.  Since I think of these birds as food, I have to adjust my thinking to paying sales tax on food now.

Having decided on 50 birds, I needed to order another 37 birds.  Transitioning to a dual purpose bird has been my plan since I first began raising Cornish X, but I knew it would take time.  Cornish X are the fast food of chickens.  Dual purpose birds as layers/meat birds grow slower.  Having taken this into consideration, I ordered 37 unsexed Buff Orpingtons.  Good layers, good meat birds, and best of all, good moms.  Getting a flock that self replicates is my main goal.  Chicks through the mail is not optimal for me.  It causes stress on both the birds and myself, it costs more than is practical for me to pay, and it uses more resources.  Plus until I started raising Cornish X, nature took care of increasing my flock.  A hen goes broody and hatches chicks.  She tends them and they get a good start in life.  No brooder boxes, no heat lamps necessary.  The hen does all the work.  Most of my flock was killed off in a Coyote attack, and my young rooster was killed and the older rooster was injured.  The end of the line for my flock.

So I settled on 13 Cornish X and by the time they are all harvested 12 weeks later, the Buff Orpington roosters should be large enough to begin harvesting.  I will save out one or two of the best roosters for breeding and can harvest the rest of the males as meat birds.  I will also save out a dozen hens to begin laying eggs.  I won’t need more grown meat birds for another 10 weeks or so.  By which time I hope to have gotten a second batch of birds raised to fill that need.

I am hoping in the final analysis, to receive only 3 orders of birds through the mail, while I build a flock on the homestead that will meet our needs.  Moms raising staggered batches of chicks will allow me to provide my family with the eggs and meat we need, and maybe even to have a surplus of eggs to sell.

More Complications

After trying for several days to contact the nearby hatchery I wrote about in my last post, I realized that they were not going to be an option.  When I called the only number listed on their website, I got a recorded message that said, the number was not set up to take calls.  What??  After two days of that, I sent an email.  No reply there.  Then I did an internet search for an alternate phone number.  I found one, but it was for a construction business, but at the end of the message they gave a local phone number for the hatchery.  I called that number only to get the message that the customer had not set up a voice mail box.  As a last resort, I called the number for the construction company.  I wanted to at least try to leave a message and maybe get current information for the hatchery through that other number.  However, the voice mailbox for that number was full.  After 3 days of trying to get in touch with the hatchery, I had to move on.

Starting over, I began “shopping” hatchery websites.  There didn’t seem to be anything near me that caters to “back yard” chicken production.  I finally had it narrowed down to three well known hatcheries.  The prices were all going to be much higher than I had budgeted for, doubling the price per pound of my birds.  Now I had another decision to make.

For all my calculations, I had never considered the value of my time in raising these birds.  The savings in USD alone made it well worth the time I was spending.  And I enjoy the experience.  But now I would have to factor in more than just “paid out”, because if it was just a matter of cash outlay, I could buy chicken at my local co-op for the same price per pound that I would now be paying to raise birds.  Maybe even less, depending on any chicks lost in shipping.

Weighing cost against cost, tilted the scale in the favor of not raising birds.

Weighing environmental and ethical questions tipped the scale in favor of raising birds.

Adding my time to the equation tipped the scale back in favor of not raising birds.

But in the end, adding considerations of quality fresh food raised with love, and the fact that I do enjoy raising chickens helped me to decide in favor of continuing to raise meat birds.

Now the question became, how can I tip this very balanced scale more in favor of continuing to raise chickens?  In other words, what can do to make it much more economical again, and less time consuming, since those were my two biggest debits on the ledger sheet.

The answers to those questions came down to design, and flexibility in my budget.  I’ll leave those topics for the next post.

The Beat Goes On

It’s Springing into Summer around here.  Things are growing and the weather is warm.

I got too busy to post much more about the chicks.  The Cornish X are at about 9 weeks now.  The average cost per pound for these birds is about $1.57 / lb.  This includes grain, pine shaving bedding and water.  I harvested the first bird at 6 weeks and it weighed 3 pounds, 10 ounces.

My system has me picking up a new batch of 12 chicks every 6 weeks and raising them with love, and organic non gmo food.  They have plenty of room, and a good healthy life.  This breed grows quickly, so by human concepts of time, they have a short life.  They are fully grown at about 8 weeks, and are large enough to feed a small family by 6 weeks.  A 6 week old bird will make many meals for us, and feeds us for about 2 1/2 to 3 days.  I harvest birds as needed, so that means one every 3 or 4 days from 6 weeks to 11 weeks.  I don’t package my birds, and I don’t freeze them.

Anyway, that was my system.  I got some bad news from the farm I get the chicks from.  After 5 months, they told me they won’t be selling chicks anymore.  As of this moment.

The best laid plans...

I was stunned, I will admit.  I knew this arrangement would not be permanent, but I was really wanting it to at least last through the summer.  Stage two of my chicken raising plan was to phase out Cornish Cross (which are complicated hybrids, which I cannot create on my small place), and to phase into a dual purpose heritage bird.  After a little research, I had settled on raising Buff Orpingtons.  Good moms.  They go broody often.  And I need birds that can keep the flock going naturally, if this is to work.

I was planning on raising the Buff Orps over the summer and getting them established, while continuing to raise Cornish X.  My place is small, so I can’t just get 50 birds all at once, I have to do this gradually.  I expected the time line to take somewhere in the nature of 9 to 18 months before I could stop ordering Cornish X chicks.

What’s more is that I’m already 6 weeks behind where I wanted to be.  I had some renovations planned for housing them, and had hoped to avail myself of my dad’s experience.  At first we settled on April, then he needed to pushed it back to May, but life happens and as it turns out he’s needed elsewhere right now.  Finally I just had to admit to myself that I’m just going to have to figure it out on my own.  Thank goodness for DIY videos.  I have to power through somehow.

So that’s complication number 1.

Complication number 2...I found a nearby hatchery back in February, that seems perfect.  I would have ordered the Buff Orpingtons from them back in March, but the housing situation wasn’t ready yet.  With this latest development, I’m glad I didn’t.  And here’s why...

In order to get the same price that I’m paying now for chicks, I have to order 25 birds.  But I can’t possibly deal with 25 Cornish X with my current system.  For one thing, I would have to start packaging and freezing the excess birds.  After 11 weeks, they’re already too big.  Their bodies can’t take the stress.  It wouldn’t be humane for me to keep them longer, that’s why I would have to package and freeze the extra birds.  That is simply not an option for me.  I won’t do it.  So now what?

I decided that the solution might be to have 12 Buff Orps and 13 Cornish X shipped together.  I have to talk to the hatchery, but if that is an option, then I’m good to go.  In 6 weeks, I can have another shipment duplicating the first, and then see where I’m at after that.

If nothing else, it gets me closer to fulfilling the plan.

I’m off to call the hatchery.

Talkin’ Trash

7:23 am Sunrise.

Having a cup of coffee before I liberate the flock from their nightly accomodations.  It’s raining lightly.

Today is trash pick up day in my rural neighborhood.  Our last trash pick up was the first Wednesday of the month, November 7th.  Our last recycling pick up is today.  It’s been a long time since I began my quest to xtreme low waste.

About 4 years ago I made a commitment to engage in a plastic free July.  It made me realize that even though I thought I had been doing pretty well avoiding plastic packaging,  single use plastic sneaks into my life in unexpected ways.  Even when I am making a conscious effort to avoid it.  That’s the world we live in.

Never one to beat myself up, I adopted a “do the best I can” attitude and made some conscious changes in how I deal with my trash.

One of the first tools I adopted was a plastic yogurt cup that wound up in my house through a guest.  I covered it with some pretty scrap paper and stuck a label on it christening it Tiny Trash.

It helps to remind me how much actual TRASH I generate.  (TRASH meaning non compostable, non recyclable materials like most plastic).

Over time I have evolved my methods, until I realized that I wasn’t generating enough trash to pay for pick up.  For the past year, I have had my trash picked up once a month, but even that is too often.  I estimate, that it would take a year to fill my small trash can enough for pick up, at my current usage.  And the recycling bin is even harder to fill, because it’s so huge.

The thing that helps me keep my trash production low is engaging in homesteading.  Growing food, equals less packaging and allows me to compost almost everything, including some of the paper that I used to recycle.

I still have a long way to go.  I still buy some things packaged in plastic which I’m not producing, like cheese and butter, packaging which I can’t compost, and have to treat like actual trash.  That stuff doesn’t go away and I know that.  It’s this awareness that keeps me seeking new ways to provide for my own needs without generating that kind of waste product.  But today I’m celebrating my last day as a “waste pick up customer”, and that feels good to me.

March On The Homestead

Sunshine at 27 weeks old

Neverland Homestead sits on just under a half acre of land, which includes the house, buildings, gardens, trees, and of course the chickens.  My flock has slightly more than 1/8 of an acre or 5600 sf in which to range in the winter.  When planting time comes, their territory shrinks by necessity, down to 4000 sf.  

But with the extra birds, I have finally run out of forage in their range area.  There are still plenty of rodents, and worms and trees, but it's time to let the plants recover in the hen yard.

I decided it was time to start rotating the flock through the remaining space within our boundaries and to replant forage in the now fully primed soil within the hen yard.  I decided to plant bee forage plants, which will grow lush and be ready to receive the flock again in early Autumn.  I like housing the flock in this area during Winter because there are enough larger trees to shelter the flock during rain and snow as well as a metal shed which acts as a day barn for them to stay dry in.  Though they refuse to sleep there, they love to socialize and lay most of their eggs in that building.

In August I was introduced by my broody hen, Blossom, to 5 newly hatched chicks, three of which turned out to be cockerels.  As you can imagine, you simply cannot have 4 roosters within the confines of 4000 sf for long.  I had separated the youngsters from the flock for about 3 weeks and then opened up more land to them and reintegrated them.  This worked for another few weeks, but eventually the hens were being run ragged, and the fights among the male population were escalating.  Too much stress on the flock!  I had considered keeping one of them to start a new flock with, but it has become increasingly obvious that I simply don't have enough land to house two separate flocks.

In the end I chose to harvest two of the cockerels as food and keep one until I can no longer afford to.

Economics

One of the deciding factors involved in making this decision was that we have for a long time lived on a shoestring, to coin an old phrase.  Meaning, we manage to exist on very little money.  Currently, I buy grain for the flock as their main food source.  Good quality, organic, non gmo grain.  And I am lucky enough to get it for a really good price.  My cost is 17 cents a day per adult bird, or with 14 birds, $2.38 per day.  My seasoned Papa Rooster, and his predecessor before him always seemed to eat very little, putting the hens needs before theirs.  But my three hooligans were chasing the hens away from the food, and gorging themselves.  Also they were constantly trying to mate with the hens, and at times, 3 males on 1 female.  Sparky, my head rooster was run ragged just trying to keep the hens from being beat into the ground by those little ruffians.

I simply didn't have the time or the resources to manage 4 roosters, with only 10 hens.  It didn't make sense.  It wasn't good for the hens, it wasn't good for Sparky and it wasn't good for me.  So even with all that room, it just wasn't working out.  Plus I had to separate the cockerels at night from the flock, because I was afraid of the potential damage.

I went outside one evening to "manage" the flock into their separate buildings, and found my white rooster Sunshine, was pink.  He was covered in blood from fighting, and though not badly wounded, he was a mess.  In order to give him time to heal, I separated him from the flock, and he seemed content, but I began to notice he was always shivering with the cold, and that he was losing weight.  I could see that he would not be the logical choice to keep.

Meanwhile, the Weasley Twins (which is how I had begun to think of my two redheads with their vivid plumage and ability to get into trouble), were still with the flock.  It became clear to me that Sparky had less tolerance for Sunshine and Robin, then he had for Oliver.  For some reason, Oliver was not getting attacked, and while he was my last choice to keep for breeding stock, I decided since he was being tolerated, that he would be the one to stay on for a while longer, until planting time, when I began to rotate the flock through other "pasture" on the homestead.

So on the 1st of March, two of my young roosters fulfilled their last mission, and became food for the cats, us humans, the flock, and the land.  I had approximately $20 apiece into each of them, and they saved us further cost in grain, plus having to buy a chicken for the cats and us for a week, since we get it locally it typically costs us almost $40 for a bird weighing just over 6 pounds.  I have my reasons for spending that much for one chicken every week.
1.  It's local, so my food miles are ridiculously low,
2.  We have worked it out so that I don't have the bird packaged in plastic.
3.  I support a local small farm.
4.  I used to be able to trade services for it, although that option has recently changed back to trading for money.
5.  I know how the birds are fed, raised and treated, and have seen them harvested with my own eyes, so I know they are as humanely killed as death can be.  It is very quick and done gently and with respect.
6.  My cats are eating raw organic local chicken-and I have more quality control over their diet.
7.  1/2 the bird goes to feed my husband and self every week.

I just want to add that I have a very close relationship with my flock.  I love them, I respect them, and we have a partnership.  I provide shelter, food, and a place for them to live as naturally as domestic chickens can on a homestead.  I have had to be guardian to two broods hatched out here because their "mums" were finished with them after two or three weeks.  And I try to stay out of flock dynamics and not over manage them.

They in turn provide me with eggs, fertilizer, pest control, composting,  and light tillage.  Above all, they provide me with deep joy and the chance to know and observe them.  They are better teachers than any farmer, or online source of information, and I say it again.  I love them.  For anyone who can't understand how you can love and respect an animal and still kill and eat it, I can not possibly explain it.  All I can say, is that you can not know the answer to that, until you have lived life in this way.

Oliver (left) and Robin (right)

February on the Homestead

The Kale feels confused! 

With a bit of warm weather, it had started growing new leaves again.  

Now - another cold snap!

But Kale assures me, it can take it!

Why Homesteading?

I almost can't believe that I've lived on this piece of land for nearly 17 years.  When I first found it, we were desperate to find a place to buy.  We grabbed this place, because it was on a half acre lot, and we could afford it.  I had visions of growing my own food, keeping chickens and bees.

I was used to having fertile land to work with.  We always had gardens when I was growing up.  Even as a renter, I could grow food.  But this place!  The soil was like nothing I had ever experienced. It was like trying to grow food in a dessert.  And I'm not just joking.

It's the Maritime Pacific Northwest. The land of rain.  But the water would only penetrate about an inch into the soil.  Further down...dry, dry sand.  Hydrophobic sand.

I didn't find out how to deal with it until I got chickens.  After that, a soil miracle occurred.

I thought, my number one reason for Homesteading was to grow food, it turns out that my primary reason for homesteading has become, to heal the land I live on.  And it, in turn, is providing for many of my food needs.

A secondary reason, but every bit as important to me, has grown out of my desire to be a more conscious consumer.  My evolution of awareness has gone from, organics, to fair trade, to ethically sourced, to food miles, to the curse of plastic packaging.  I hit the wall with zero waste.

I realized immediately, that I couldn't fool myself with delusions of zero waste.  Because I couldn't see how I could live a zero waste life unless I was living a life in nature, like the birds, fish, animals, insects, etc. Nature doesn't generate waste.  Humans get to take all the credit for that practice...aren't we cleaver?

My plan then, has to do with meeting as many of my needs on this little piece of land as I possibly can, thus reducing my reliance on anything that may come packaged in plastic.  It's my goal to run this as an experiment, and see what can be grown-right here.  I want to find out, what can be substituted and what I can do without, if I can't find a way to provide it plastic free.

I have been starting tentatively with some easy things, and hope to work my way up to bigger things that have so far, been harder to overcome.

I have this land to work with, and I am beginning to grasp some concepts which may help me reach my goals.

First Experiment

Mike's Birthday was last month.  Once a year I make him a cake.  I've been making cakes from scratch for the last 15 or 20 years.  But even though I am not generating plastic trash from a box mix, I have been buying ingredients that may come packaged in plastic.  I say may come, because even though I buy many ingredients from the bulk bins, I don't always see how they came to the store in their original packaging.  One thing I do know is that, even if the bulk sugar isn't coming packaged in plastic, the powdered sugar I use to make butter cream frosting, most certainly is.  A very thick plastic package with a zip style closure.  I was determined to make that one change if nothing else, and it occurred to me that making powdered sugar wasn't rocket science.  Confectioner's sugar has been around a long time.  It must be something anyone can make.  

And so it is.  Simply put, regular sugar pulverized in a blender is powdered sugar.  However, it's much sweeter because factory powdered sugar is mixed with corn starch to keep it from sticking.  So in future I will use less in the butter cream frosting.

I had a little powdered sugar left over, and it has been sitting on the shelf in a bowl with a plate over it for 3 weeks.  I thought it might have gathered moisture and clumped, but it is still the same as when I first made it.

Second Experiment

I have the option of buying bread packaged in a brown paper sack, which I did for a couple of years.  But Even though it is a local organic sourdough bread, it has just never really agreed with me.  Another local organic bread which comes packaged in plastic does actually agree with me.  But because of the plastic packaging, I was avoiding it.

I don't know how it happened.  Maybe I just got too busy to pay attention, or maybe it was an issue of convenience, but somehow, I started buying the brand of bread that comes packaged in plastic.  Three or four months went by before I noticed I was building up a huge supply of plastic bread bags.  Yikes!  Somehow, I had closed my eyes to this for the sake of convenience.  I immediately stopped buying bread.  The bread in the paper packing is not sold in my neighborhood, so I have to drive across town to get it-which is probably how this all got started in the first place.  The more food I grow, the less often I need to make that trip across town to buy groceries at the co op or the farmer's market.  Now what do I do?

I've tried making sourdough before, and even though I had good luck with it, it didn't agree with me.  I was determined to try a different sourdough method.  The process on the new recipe was so involved, that I realized what my issue had been.  The recipe I was originally using was too quick.  The starter was too quick, and the bread recipes I was using were too quick.  If that wasn't enough, I was leaving steps out to make it even quicker.

I remember seeing Bill Mollison talking about being a baker when he was younger.  He talked about how the leavening times were regulated by law for bakers.  In other words, in order to be digestible, bread needs to go through a longer process before baking.

In hearing people talk about old world bread making, they always talk about a very long process.  I've heard of bread from that era taking anywhere from two days to two weeks to make.

I am in the process of making the sourdough starter right now.  It is very cold in my house, and so it has been taking longer to get to the point where it's ready to make bread, but I can see that it is very much alive, and I think the starter is almost complete.

Today's Experiment

Today I made my monthly trip to go grocery shopping.  I have been really wanting ice cream even though it's been really cold out.  Finally, I decided on this trip I would buy ice cream.  Then I remembered the packing.  There is a thick plastic tamper proof rim around the lid of the carton, and that deterred me.  I did my two pints of cream though, so when I got home, I was making a little whipped cream to go on my coffee, and I decided to experiment to see if I could make ice cream just by putting whipped cream in the freezer and giving it a stir now and again.

The answer is yes.  Whipped cream, with some left over homemade powdered sugar, and some powdered vanilla bean, makes lovely homemade ice cream. Mine was a very small batch to keep in manageable.  I put it in the freezer and gave it a stir with a spoon every 20 minutes until I couldn't stir it anymore.  Deluxe!

I won't apologize for buying cream in a paper carton that most likely is lined with plastic.  It was a plain carton, and didn't have a plastic pour spout, which is at least something.  I hope to one day find a local source for cream.  It's my go to dairy product.  I can live without milk, but I love cream, and creamy yogurt, and butter, and just about anything you can make with cream.

That is my goal.  To find local raw organic grass-fed cream in sustainable packing.  I know its time is coming!