4 brown

Monday 1 brown, 1 brown cannibalized.

Imperial Oatmeal Stout (Solomon's Oatmeal Stout - first made on my son's birthday)

15 pounds belgian pale ale malt
1 pound steel cut oats
1 pound roasted barley
1 pound chocolate malt (british 400 degrees L)

mash 4 gallons 140 degree water
Sparge 8 gallons 170 degree water

Boil to 6 gallons
Hop with 35 gm Chinook 12.1 alpha acid 45 minutes
Boil to 5.5 gallons

1056 american ale yeast

o.g. 1.082

2 brown

Saturday 2 brown

2 brown

Thursday 2 brown.
Caught another skunk. Small scavengers/omnivorous mammals seem to have had a good year for population expansion. Unfortunately they also get some increased mortality due to predation on my flock. If their range did not impinge on humans and livestock I'd be happy for their increase in numbers. As it is they are a pernicious nuisance.

1 brown

Tuesday 2 brown

Monday 2 brown

2 brown

Saturday 1 brown. Have a cold, will not be swimming outdoors in 40-50 degree rain.
Friday 4 brown.

Imperial oat stout Saturday or Sunday - depends on when I can get the beer cooler.

Inaugurator Bock beer.

13.5 pounds belgian pils malt. 2 pounds great western Munich malt (organic).
4 gallons 140 degree water - mash for 45 minutes, add 2 gallons 160 degree water, remove 1.5 gallon of initial mash water, to raise mash temperature to 150+ degrees. Continue mash for 45 minutes.

Sparge with 7.5 gallons 170 degree water.

Boil to 6.5 gallons. 42 gm Hallertau 75 minutes
Boil to 5.5 gallons. 14 gm saaz 20 minutes.

Wyeast 2487 Helles bock
o.g. 1.072 f.g 1.015 (estimations)

Ferment in old beer refrigerator initially. New beer cooler for secondary fermentation.

new 6 foot 1 inch poultry wire fence put up on Thursday, may keep birds in their yard.

electric fence on coop has lower circuit strung, need to place insulators for return to fence charge, and for the initial run from the charger. I've been reluctant to fool with it much due to rain.

1 brown Thursday
1 brown Wednesday.

Pale Ale

10.5 pounds belgian pale ale malt
3 gallons 140 degree water
sparge 8 gallons 170 degree water.
1 hour 30 minutes 21 gm chinook (2001) 13.1 alpha acid
25 minutes 13 gm cascade 5.0 alpha acid
dry hop 10 gm saaz 3.4 alpha acid
1056 american ale yeast
o.g. 1.052

I think my new mash tun and sparge system difficulties were due to not boiling wort down long enough. I racked zot d'amour wit beer today and I ended up with a bit over a gallon of extra beer. Boiled a bit longer on today's beer. I may cut back a little on the amount of sparge water next time, although my next 2 beers will be big alcohol contect - Inaugurator bock (target 8.5% ABV) and Imperial Oat stout (9.5% ABV). Grain bill is 14 pounds pils malt (+ crystal and black patent adjuncts) for the bock, 16 pounds pale malt (+ chocolate, roasted barley and groat adjuncts) for the stout.

2 brown.

americauna was on the roof of my house late in the day.

13 brown. I've not posted a count for some days - was out of town, and the continuing massacre of my flock has been big news.

The masked marauder was terminated with extreme prejudice last night via a low noise projectile. He had come around at 7:50 PM, I was preparing a meal for myself and heard the hens distress cries, went to the window and saw him attempting to enter the coop from the roof. THe first projectile convinced him to go elsewhere, second one dropped him from the top of the fence, whence he ran a short distance wimpering and expired. I think that the raccoon is responsible for the major portion of the massacre of my flock.

I got up this morning and a skunk was in the live trap. It also got the low noise projectile treatment. I hope this ends the problem. Coop will be electrified regardless, but this could be the end of the predation crisis.

Flock has 9 hens - I'd been counting them in the coop when I closed it up in the evening, one enterprising hen saw the continuing murder of her coop mates and effectively said, "screw this noise I'm outta here" - she's been roosting in a tree.

Flock is
2 wyandotte lacewings
1 americauna
1 golden sexlink
2 barred rock (young)
3 RI red... if I counted accurately, minimum of 2 of which are young hens.

Flock is down to 8 chickens, 1 duck. Less than half as many birds as I had at the beginning of November (actually it was right before Thanksgiving that the marauder began its predation).

electric fencing is a necessity for the long term, and will be purchased and installed in the next 2 days.

lost an americauna last night. I'm sad, I think she was the chicken that crossed the road.

2 brown

(Masked) marauder has been in and out of the trap. I put the last killed bird's carcass in for bait, it's been outside the trap in the morning every day. Interesting thing today trap was sprung with bait out of trap. I'm not sure how it is managing that one.

Flock has been closed up in coop at night since last bird killed on Friday morning. So far this has worked to keep marauder from getting another bird. I'm out of town for a couple of days, have a friend staying in guest bedroom which is right next to coop. He'll hear the marauder if it is molesting the flock.

3 brown on Sunday.

1 brown

Swam usual.

I was up in the chicken yard during the period I got the call Friday morning (3:30 AM until 4:30 AM). No sign of marauder.

Did a count of my flock this morning:
2 juvenile RI Red
3 Juvenile BR
1 old BR
2 old Wyandotte lace wing
2 americauna
1 golden sexlink
1 old RI Red

12 hens. 1 duck.

This puts next year's chick order at:
3 RI Red
2 silver laced wyandottes
3 americuana
2 gold laced wyandotte
2 buttercups

adding 13 hens, retiring 7. flock would have 18 birds if no losses.
Unless I share chicks at feed store this is a single order, 13 laying chicks, 12 meat birds.

Just over a week ago I had it as:
2 americauna
2? barred rock juveniles
1 old barred rock
5 Rhode Island Red juveniles
2 old RI Red
2 lace wing wyandotte
1 golden sexlink

I must have double counted a RI Red (Minnesota election anyone ?) and not counted a juvenile BR. since then the RI reds have had 2 lost... and 1 old RI Red.

I secured the chicken coop in the evening. 2 hens were out in the yard in the morning anyway. I'm not going to fool myself that closing up the coop is going to end predation, but it will give a bit more time to catch the culprit.

Was kind of cool sitting and listening to the highway 100 yards away, watching a pair of mule deer run up the road at 4:00 AM. Chilly out.

3 brown

lost an older bird overnight. neighbors called about ruckus in chicken yard, i went out and culprit was gone. 4 or 5 chickens were not roosting, saw blood on ground where chicken was likely caught. Carcass was warm when I found it. I'm going to stay up, will terminate with extreme prejudice when the culprit comes around.

It looks like next year's order for laying hens will be bigger than I'd planned. 3 aracauna, probably some rhode island red and/or barred rock (want a minimum of 3 BR, 5 RI Red) and possibly a more exotic brown egg layer. Flock should be 14 strong laying hens for spring 2010, which may be a year with no chick order. Ultimately I'd like to have 5 year old hens being culled as replacements reach 1 year old. Vagaries of predation, etc may mean flock drops as low as 6 hens over a winter... I also need to give consideration predator control - maybe build a new coop that is unfriendly to predators. Electric fence is probably a good idea.

5 brown.

One of the ducks succumbed to a predator overnight. In addition the bait was missing from the trap. New bait in trap tonight. I'm pretty unhappy about the predation that has happened in the past week. 3 birds lost.

I will edit the first post when I have the true o.g. for the ESB. My recipe gave estimated o.g. - not from a recipe book... there is some learning to do as I've changed my mash set up - I had been using a 5 gallon pot for a mashtun, then duming the hot mash into a 5 gallon bay marie pan that I had hundreds of 1/8 inch holes drilled in the bottom. Bay marie pan sat in a 7 gallon plastic tub with a spigot. New mashtun is a 10 gallon water cooler with a perforated false bottom and a ball lock valve fed from below the false bottom. My estimations of sugar conversion are going to need some revision... I appear to not be getting as good a conversion as previous method. Some of that may be that the malt was crushed back in June, but I've used old malt before with the previous setup and don't see a strong correlation with conversion efficiency.

Will also give the hops alpha acid level. I generally do not calculate IBU or HBU from this info, but there are certainly calculators out there for those interested... I just go with experience and an idea of what I'm after. Since I've been brewing over 30 years, all grain for over 14 years... well I've got some idea what I'm doing.

Racking the wit beer (Zot d'Amour wit) Saturday. Will keg ginger porter and imperial stout then as well.

Brewing ESB
10.5 pounds belgian pale ale malt, 1# 40 degree L Crystal malt.
3.5 gallons 145 degree F water - mash 1.5 hours
sparge with 8 gallons 170 degree F water.

Boil to 6+ gallons
14 grams hallertau tradition 6.2 % alpha acid whole hops 1 hour
21 grams fuggles 3.2% alpha acid whole hops 15 minutes.

estimated o.g. 1.056 actual 1.050
Thames valley ale Wyeast # 1275

Another chicken lost to predation Tuesday, found late Tuesday after hearing a ruckus in the chicken yard after dark... went out to find a juvenile barred rock on the ground acting injured (scared?) I picked her up, found no obvios wounds or missing plumage, put her in a perch. Then discovered the remains of a juvenile rhode island red. I disposed of the carcass (it was cold, I probably missed it when I checked for eggs and had bee killed Monday night). I reset the trap for a raccoon, was attentive to noise from the chicken yard the remainder of the evening.

Haven't caught anything.

Wednesday 3 brown. Found outside of chicken yard. New fencing to keep birds in coming by end of day Friday.

3 brown

Found clutch of 14 eggs of unknown age - from juvenile hens that have been getting out of hen yard. I'm in process of clearing brush prior to getting a beer serving and lagering cooler which will need to be brought in via back door.

I think I will begin doing brewing blogging here too. Made a wit beer last week, ESB and pale ale planned this week. Lagers coming when new cooler is operational - 2 pils, one bock. Will be experimenting with recipes for lagers. Cooler is going to be awesome, room for 16 5 gallon kegs, 4 fermentation vessels from dimensions I was given. Will have 3 tap towers each with 3 taps - 2 nitrogen mix taps, 7 CO2 taps. 7 taps for beers, 2 for home made soft drinks - 1 root based, 1 fruit based soft drink. Going to be interesting experimenting on this as well. Will be getting sassafras from Indiana for some of the root based drinks. Possibly some Indiana ginseng as well. I think initially I'll be doing 3 gallon batches of soft drinks.

Monday no eggs

Sunday 1 brown

2 brown

Friday 1 brown.

No losses after raccoon transported.

Thursday 2 brown

Lost a juvenile barred rock overnight - most of thigh meat was missing, body was eviscerated. Some meat still on breast. Flock is currently 16? birds.
2 americauna
2? barred rock juveniles
1 old barred rock
5 Rhode Island Red juveniles
2 old RI Red
2 lace wing wyandotte
1 golden sexlink

Trap baited for raccoon will be set for the next few days. I'm hoping that a raccoon is the culprit. Caught raccoon first night I set trap.

2009 juvenile flock additions:
3 americauna
3 brown egg layers - golden laced wyandottes? Buttercups?

2009 Year old flock of 5 RI Red, 3 Barred Rock. Egg production in summer 2009 should be about 2 dozen every 4 days. 2010 production would bring it to 2 dozen every 3 days.

2010 additions - 3 brown egg layers. 2011 begin replacing RI Red and Barred Rock.

2 waves of meat birds - Cornish X Rock 8-10 birds 4 weeks apart. Will be thinking about other meat fowl.

Thanksgiving has me thinking about raising a couple of turkeys. Which has me thinking about space needs for my various flocks.

Right now I have 17 chickens plus 2 ducks in a side yard. Ducks should be slaughtered, but so far I haven't done so, and there is something to be said to have one as a sentinel to deter raccoons.

Larger fowl take space. Looking at hatchery catalogs ... 15 bird minimum - there's a combination package of 2 goslings, 7 ducklings and 7 turkeys available... I'd want to raise them for 10-17 weeks. Keep 2 goslings, 4 ducklings 3 turkeys, see if I can recoup some feed and cost by selling 4 turkeys and 3 ducklings. so 9 birds... +16 chickens for meat.

I'd keep a female duck for eggs, possibly two... existing ducks would be sausage/gumbo. Both geese cooked. 2 turkeys in freezer or on table for thanksgiving.

No egg collection today - no eggs as of 2:00 PM, didn't go out to check after dark.

3 brown at least 1 laid Monday.

2 brown.

Visited with my sister linda for a while, picked her up in SF, drove down coast to Moss Beach, had lunch at distillery there.

2 brown.

swam.

5 brown

Was out of town Monday through Thursday, neighbor collected at least 2 eggs during this time.

Monday 3 brown collected before travel.

Saturday 5 brown. One may be older, was under straw and could have been missed.
Swam Saturday.

Friday didn't collect eggs.
Thursday 1 brown
Wednesday zero.

2 brown.

Monday 2 brown
Sunday 1 brown

Looks like the seasonal production fall off is in effect. Stewing hens in December/January. Still have quite a few frozen spring chickens.

3 brown, 1 small
Friday 2 small brown
Thursday 3 brown, 1 small
Wednesday 2 brown

2 brown

Was out of town again for my mother's Memorial service... 9 eggs collected by neighbors, 7 eggs there Monday morning when I checked and 2 additional eggs at the end of the day.

3 brown

Thursday 3 brown, 1 small

2 brown, 1 small


Tuesday 5 brown, 3 small. Looks like all the first cohort are producing.

2 brown, 1 small... 1 small cannibalized.

Sunday 4 brown, 2 small. Swam.

3 brown, 2 small.

Old flock is molting heavily. Ameracaunas are completely non productive, brown egg layers are low production. New flock isn't coming on line as fast as I was expecting. No quichee so far.

Friday 2 brown.
Thursday 1 brown, 1 small.

1 brown, small
Tuesday 1 brown, small.

Monday 4 brown 1 small
Sunday 2 brown.

Swam Saturday and Sunday.

3 brown, 1 small.

Out of town for a week.
Friday 2 brown, 1 small.
Thursday - no eggs
Wednesday 3 brown, 2 small.

2 brown.

3 brown (1 small)

Swam routine.

2 of the young hens are laying. 2 more should start in the next week or so. The other 5 sometime in October.

I moved the young birds into the coop to roost on Thursday night. Will check to see if they are roosting in the coop or reverted to roosting on fence. Slaughtering a couple of older hens will make the young birds less stressed in the coop. Young birds aren't really developed enough physically to move up in existing pecking order.. removing a couple of non producing hens will shake up the order and might have the two younger hens that have started to lay move past other old non producers.

It seems pretty clear that there are 3 or 4 older hens producing brown eggs - collecting 2-3 brown eggs daily and regular production is about 1 egg/36 hours... 4 hens laying over 6 days should be 16-20 eggs. So 3-4 older birds are very erratic or not laying. I need to identify which two of the old flock need to be processed for stew soon. Will cull the entire old flock as new hens come into production and their eggs get larger. My guess is the 2 americaunas will stay through next summer, 2 - 3 productive brown egg layers will stay into rainy season, perhaps all the way until spring.

Next year I want to do one order of chicks - 3 americaunas, 2 brown egg layers and 20+ meat birds. Would like to have meat birds finishing in mid June - chicks arrive April 5? that would give 9 weeks until June 7, 11 weeks June 21. Process 4-5 per week. If my feed store wants some 3 day old brooder chicks I may do 2 orders ... 14 layers, 10 meat birds, then 10 layers, 14 meat birds. All the second cohort of layers would go to feed store at 3 days...spread the cohorts by 3 weeks. Which puts some additional meat processing June 28 - July 12.

longer term I think 20 meat birds a year. Keep laying flock at 10-16 hens, with a preference for the low end of the range. so 2010 would be meat production, perhaps brooder chicks to feed store.

1 green, 3 brown (1 small)

3 brown of which one was small. Small egg was near laying/brood box and not on top of the feed can.

Thursday 1 green, 4 brown (1 small)

Wednesday 1 green, 2 brown

Tuesday 1 brown.

3 brown, one of which is small.

3 brown, one of them was small and likely from the 4/20 cohort of hens... for now I'm saying the RI Red I saw acting broody near the first (warm) medium egg on Friday. I think the other 2 RI Reds and the BR from that cohort will be producing very soon. So 4 young hens should be producing by early October. Second cohort is 4 weeks behind, probably will have all 9 young hens producing before election day.

Swam routine.

1 green 1 brown. No small eggs - tomorrow maybe another, although hens can be erratic for their first few ovulations.

1 green, 4 brown.

One of the April RI Reds apparently has laid an egg, at least I found a small brown egg on top of the feed bucket with her sitting there, and the egg was warm, as though fresh from her body.

Thursday 2 brown

Wednesday 1 green, 2 brown, 1 brown cannabalized
swam Wednesday night.

1 brown

Monday 1 brown. Went to a networking event Monday night, didn't swim. May have new work out of the networking, which is good as working for stock in a privately held startup is starting to be untenable.

1 green, 3 brown.
Swam.

Saturday 2 brown.

3 brown

Thursday 1 green 2 brown

Wednesday 1 green, 2 brown.
Swam.

Tuesday 3 brown.

1 green, 2 brown.

1 green, 2 brown.

Swam.

3 brown.

swam routine.

1 green, 3 brown.

1 brown

Wednesday 3 brown, swam.

Went to another doctor for about pain and lack of mobility in my right thumb. I'd seen an orthopedic surgeon attached to my primary doctor's clinic on august 15, got a cortisone shot into my thumb joint. New doctor is a hand specialist, confirmed tendonitus disgnosis, gave me a second cortisone inject when I asked for it and fitted a splint for me to wear the next month. Will have a follow up visit in early October, see how I'm doing. Surgery is something I'd like to avoid, and I'll be asking about alternative treatment modalities (acupuncture, PT) if the current cortisone, ibuprofen and immobilization regimen doesn't help.

1 green, 3 brown

3 brown

1 green, 2 brown

swam normal routine.

1 green, 3 brown.
Swam new routine.

Friday 3 brown.

Thursday 1 green, 1 brown.
Out of town previous week.

1 green, 3 brown.
Swam new routine.

Monday 1 green, 2 brown
Had shot of cortizone in thumb, didn't fix problem, although I do think the diagnosis of tendinitus is probably correct.

Sunday 1 brown - swam new routine

1 green, 2 brown

Friday 1 green 3 brown

Thursday 1 brown

1 green, 3 brown.

Swam new routine.

3 brown,

swam new routine. made appointment to see doctor about wrist/thumb pain, will see if there is any help possible.

1 green.

processed the final 4 meat birds today. My son did the scalding/plucking and didn't get weights.

Sunday 3 brown.

2 green 4 brown. I'm surprised at 2 greens two days in a row - both ameracaunas are producing obviously.

2 green, 1 brown.

Swam new routine.

3 brown

Wednesday 3 brown, 1 green.
Swam new routine.

3 brown, 1 green

processed 4 more meat birds. 4 to go, next Tuesday.

8 lbs 14 oz -> 5 lbs 4 oz
8 lbs 8 oz -> 5 lbs 3 oz
8 lbs 6 oz -> 5 lbs 3 oz
7 lbs 8 oz -> 4 lbs 8 oz

Monday 2 brown

1 green, 2 brown.

Caught skunk in live trap. Footprints of original egg thief were raccoon, no question. So will be re setting trap to catch raccoon.

2 brown, 1 green.

Have a live trap for the raccoon. Will release a few miles away. So no judicious application of a .22 short.

3 brown.

Swam mile. Actually I did change my routine a bit on Wednesday - I previously had been kicking along with arm strokes 1 length of every 3. I'm now kicking the entire first lap, then on the return length of every lap - that is I've upped my workout to kick over half the time.

5 brown, 1 green.

I swam usual Wednesday.

1 brown

Tuesday 3 brown.

Processed 3 meat birds
Live weight quartered weight
8 lb 8 oz 5 lb 5 oz
8 lb 5 lb 1 oz
6 lb 4 oz 4 lb 4 oz

1 brown, 1 green.

Raccoon problems. Probably will require a judicious application of a .22 short.

2 brown.

One of the meat birds is getting pecked on her thighs. This is a worrisome development as it means the birds have tasted blood and may begin cannibalizing her. She should be slaughtered soon and a close eye kept for new pecking by/on the other birds.

Sunday 1 brown egg canibalized

Saturday 3 brown.

2 brown.

One of the three older RI Reds escaped, I put her back in the segregated area. Feed consumption is way down since the slaughter on Tuesday. That 9 pound bird must have been eating a lot of feed, and he's gone as well as 5 other meat birds. I only need to refill feeders once a day... still topping off water twice a day, but water consumption has also dropped a lot, waterers still have some water in them when I top them off.

Current flock is 12 meat birds (Cornish X Rock, Cornish Roaster), 3 RI Red, 1 Barred Rock from early cohort, 2 RI Red, 3 Barred Rock from later cohort. I believe all the meat birds are from the second cohort.

I have yet to slaughter a duck or a stewing hen. It's on the agenda eventually. I'm also meditating on this year's brooding experience and thinking about next year's chicks... 20 meat birds,4 RI Red, 3 Aruacauna + free exotic is likely a single order - arrive end of March (memorial day BBQ chicken!)

5 brown

Wednesday 1 brown, swam usual mile
Tuesday 1 cannibalized brown.

Slaughtered 6 meat birds on Tuesday. live weight from 6 # 4 oz to 9# 6 oz. That was one big chicken. I have the dressed weights on the ziplock bags the meat was frozen in.

new flock is down to 12 meat birds + 9 new layers (unless one of the layers turns out to be a cockeral).

3 brown.

Swam usual mile.

3 brown

Saturday 3 brown.

3 brown.

4 brown, 1 green

Swam usual today.

Wednesday 2 brown.

5 brown

Swam usual 36 laps (35 + length underwater, + 1 length)

3 brown

Sunday 3 brown

Didn't record Saturday and Friday.

thursday 3 brown.

Aracauna that had been trapped is back to crossing the road again.

Wednesday 3 brown, 1 green

Tuesday 1 brown

3 brown.

Talked with neighbors, they'll do head count henceforth. proper amount of feed for young birds didn't really get addressed, I told them the run rate was less than half what I expected. As for the confined hen I thin one of the other birds must have knocked the lid on top of her. She's recovering, but the pecking order is definitely upset. i gave her an egg to help her recovery, had to keep other birds away and give her chance to eat it. Bad precedent, but she needs food and fluids to recover her strength and egg is pretty good food.

5 brown on Sunday.

I'd been away from Monday-Saturday. Neighbors were "taking care" of my livestock and cat. They weren't doing well, perhaps by ignorance - one of the Aracauna hens somehow was under the lid of a feed can (I use trashcans to store feed, plastic lid was covering the hen). She smelled bad, had been stuck in what amounts to a sauna for an unknown number of days - 3 eggs there with her (one had been eaten) so I'm guessing 3 or 4 days. Today she appears to be recovering, yesterday the other hens saw a chance to change the pecking order and were challenging her in her weakened state.

the juvenile birds were underfed, and had no water when I got home on Saturday. I've been going through about 80 pounds of feed per week, only 30 pounds had been fed during the time I was gone. In addition one of the Cornish X Rock birds from the first cohort had leg problems - I'd called to check on Wednesday and was told no problems... that bird was not able to easily get to food and water (not that there was enough of either) due to leg weakness - Sunday it was attacked by other birds and died - I don't butcher chickens that I didn't slaughter as I have no good way to tell how freshly dead they are in that case, and salmonella, etc can proliferate in short order.

So I will need to either get the neighbors to learn how to really care for live stock or find a new caretaker for when I travel. thankfully next time I travel my son will be here. He knows how to take care of chickens - his mom had fowl in Alaska when he was in middle school and high school. In addition the flocks will have merged which will make some things easier.

The Buff Cochin (exotic) chick was killed by local fauna and partially eaten. It was not in the chicken yard. I saw a rat eating carcass, but this could just be opportunistic on the rats part, although I do think a rat could kill that a chick that size. I will secure the chicken yard to keep the young chicks from foraging today. I hope that takes care of predators.

Slaughtered 3 chickens today.
Live weight -> dressed weight
8 lbs, 4 oz -> 6 lbs, 3 oz
6 lbs 11 oz -> 4 lbs, 7 oz
6 lbs 5 oz -> 4 lbs , 2 0z

Having 3 fewer large birds should take some pressure off the younger pullets. I think the older cohort of pullets will be going into production in the next month... will be moving them out of segregated area soon.

Saturday 5 brown eggs.

3 brown

Thursday 1 green, 2 brown.

It's been hot. Slaughtering 3-4 meat birds early Saturday so as to be able to stand the scalding water used for plucking. Should see some decrease in feed intake from the other birds... remaining meat birds from the first cohort will be slaughtered next week.

One of the 2nd cohort of meat birds appears to be a runt - growing much slower than its figurative brothers and sisters, in fact it is only slightly larger than the RI and Barred Rock birds, and might be smaller than the buff cochin exotic bird in that cohort. The cochin is supposed to be a poor layer, so it will be slaughtered at 3 months old or so depending on how it gains weight.

4 brown

Haven't posted for a while.
4 brown Tuesday.

Monday 2 brown, 1 green.

Chicks have been thriving... but yesterday one of the RI Reds (2nd cohort) was killed - something removed most of its head - it was under a tote in the chick segregation yard. Thinking about how I found it might have been a rodent.

2 brown, 1 green.

New chicks are thriving. Think some of the older meat birds will be ready to slaughter June 8-12. Still haven't slaughtered a duck, but no new birds killed by duck rape. Will slaughter a duck same time the first few chickens get slaughtered (will also slaughter 1 stewing hen).

1 brown, 1 green so far today. 1 more brown and 1 brown cannibalized.

2 brown Monday. Helped friend move until late on Monday, so no swim.
Got home and RC went out to play, came back with a juvenile rat in his mouth, which he paraded in front of me, then took outside to play with some more. RC Gizmo is living up to his name!

2 brown

Saturday 1 brown, 1 green.

I've been moving the younger meat birds into the Segregated area about 3 per day. No problems. I've put a second 1 gallon waterer out for them. Going to get a second feeder and should have all the meat birds out by mid week. The remaining layers probably can move too.

2 brown, 1 green.

Moved 2 larger second hatching meat birds to the segregated area. They're not much smaller than the RI and Blackplumed birds, much much smaller than the first hatching meat birds. This is something of an experiment, if they thrive I'll be moving 2-3 birds every couple of days.

2 brown

Wednesday 1 brown

1 brown, 1 green.

Everything is copacetic.

2 brown

split the younger chicks into two groups today. Will need a third brood area before they're ready to go into the segregated area.

Older chicks are thriving.

No new deaths.

3 brown Saturday.

1 brown Sunday.

Swam usual mile Sunday.

3 of the new chicks died, not sure why, but the heat may have had something to do with it. 2 meat birds, 1 barred rock.

The older chicks are doing fine.

1 brown.

Chicks are settled in to their yard.

I think I'm going to enjoy eating the meat birds. They're looking pretty tasty already... Hatchery says 6-8 weeks for males to reach weight (3-4 pound dressed) and 1 1/2 weeks more for females. So slaughter 3 birds June 8, and the other 3 around the solstice.

New order of birds has some of a another meat variety - reaches 3-4 pounds in 8-9 weeks, and 6-8 pounds in 12 weeks. So slaughter date is July 19 - August 3.

Swam last night usual mile +.

1 brown today.

Chicks are very happy in their yard.

Current hens are getting fresh straw this may bring them out of their laying funk. I think the shock of 3 hens dying from being raped by ducks put them off ... But the low production is not appreciated.

1 brown egg Monday.

made a segregated area for the new chicks. 6 CX, 3 RI, 1 Black chick in new area. Cat was interested, I gave him a bit of a talking to - told him that the chicks are off limits.

No eggs for past few days. Or possibly eggs are being cannibalized.

Reposting chick stats:
So there are 6 Cornish X, 3 RI Red, and 1 black plumed chick of unknown provenance still.

New order came in today:
11 Cornish Roasters (CR)
7 Cornish X Rock (CX)
4 Barred Rock (BR)
3 Rhode Island Red (RI)
Unknown exotic.

6 cornish X will be out in segregated area of chicken yard with a 1 gallon waterer and a 6 pound feeder. The 3 RI and 1 black chick will go out next week - they're substantially smaller than the meat birds.

Will be having the 2 new chicks in one brooder (30 gallon tote) for 2 weeks, will segregate meat birds May 25 - perhaps they will go out with the other meat birds and the new hens at that time.

1 brown

yesterday 1 brown.

So the remaining flock has had a major production drop. I think the duck slaughter on Sunday may help. I talked with my former stepson about it another time - he gave clearance back in November, but his mother had moved back since then, and if she had been living in the house she bought I thought it was possible she'd want the ducks. Nope, she's living in a town.

So one of the ducks is being slaughtered on Sunday. An enclosure for the young chickens is going to be made - they'll have separate food and water and a place to roost early next week. The next 26 baby chicks come in next week.

I need to get storage for chick starter and a new 12 pound feeder, plus a waterer for young chicken area.

Going to be some yummy chickens in June and July.

Back in California.

2 dozen eggs collected, no idea what day they were laid.

3 hens were killed by duck rape. The ducks have to be slaughtered soon. New chicks coming next week, existing chicks are about old enough to be out in the yard, but not with the ducks killing full grown hens.

Tuesday: 6 brown, 1 green.

Swam usual Monday night. Weds-Tues traveling.

5 brown.

new chicks are eating about a quart of food each day.

1 green, 3 brown.

Swam usual.

chicks are in big growth stage.

6 brown, 1 green.

Pool closed for event today, so no swim. probably will do some dancing at Gogol Bordello show tonight.

chicks are thriving finally. Now if the RI and the black plumed are all hens I'll be happy. Hatchery makes no promise on the "free exotic" chick, and 90% accuracy guarantee on the sexed chicks. so minimum of 2 RI hens.

5 brown.

No chick death.

1 green, 5 brown as of 2:00 PM.

No more chick loss.

1 green, 3 brown as of 2 PM. + 1 brown.

The RI Red that was looking poorly died. So there are 6 Cornish X, 3 RI Red, and 1 black plumed chick of unknown provenance still.

Order for week of May 12:
11 Cornish Roasters (CR)
7 Cornish X Rock (CX)
4 Barred Rock (BR)
3 Rhode Island Red (RI)

If all of the next order survives the flock will be:
13 CX, 11 CR (meat birds for slaughter starting 6/22, then July 13, and July 27 for the roasters)
6 RI, 4 BR (+ 2 araucaunas from existing flock).

New flock will be segregated from existing flock until full grown. And existing flock will still be getting slaughtered during May/June (down to 7 birds week of 6/22, 5 birds 7/13, and 3 7/27)

5 brown

Lost more chicks overnight - the new waterer didn't stay level and more chicks got wet and hence cold. Down to 11 chicks, 3 rhode island reds (actually 4, but 1 of them is looking poorly), 1 with black plumage (barred rock or exotic) and 6 meat birds. Will do another order as this is fewer replacement birds than I want and also fewer meat birds. New order would be 3 rhode island red, 4 barred rock, 11 Cornish Roasters and 7 Cornish X.

Looks like delivery week of May 12 is available for these. Would end up with a flock of 7 RI Red, 4-5 barred Rock and 2 Araucanas. 13-14 hens, 2 from old flock.

Slaughter schedule -
2 old hens in May,
4 in late June (and 4 Cornish X in late June)
4 in July ( 2 + 8 Cornish X in July)
10 Roasters in August.

Lost 2 chicks overnight - they got into bowl of water and took a chill. Both had dark coloration - One was definitely a barred rock, other could be the exotic or could be another barred rock. I have a proper waterer now, so this shouldn't happen again.

Had another brown egg yesterday.

Monday: 5 brown, 1 green.

Picked up chicks at airport. Gravity feed water bottle isn't doing the siphon lock thing properly, will be checking with supplier in morning.

8 RI reds, 4 Barred Rock, 13 (+1 bonus) Jumbo Cornish Rock X (meat birds), 1 exotic of unknown provenance.

Duck slaughter countdown is beginning.

4 more brown, 1 green by end of day.

Out of town Monday through Saturday night.

Collected 10 brown and 1 green Sunday morning.

Had call that the chicks are at the airport.

Didn't collect eggs Saturday.

By noon Sunday: 2 green, 8 brown.

+ 2 brown by end of Sunday. No new entries until Sunday, traveling.

7 brown.

2 green, 3 brown.

2 green, 6 brown.

Going swimming in a few.

1 green, 5 brown. I hate doing taxes. Getting a fair bit back... but getting all the damn documents and forms together is torture for me.

1 green, 6 brown.

Not swimming tonight. Working on taxes - blech.

4 brown. + 2 brown.

Swam usual.

5 brown, 1 green. 2 quiches last night - broccoli cheddar and Italian sausage, swiss chard, fontina. Yum!

Swam usual 35 laps, 1 length on a breath, then back freestyle. Will swim Sunday and Wednesday next week.

4 brown.

3 brown, 1 green. + 1 brown

Time to change straw in coop. hen party tomorrow!

3 brown, 1 green, 1 brown cannibalized.

No swim tonight - raining.

5 brown.

5 brown, 1 green.

3 brown eggs late in the day. Swam usual set.

I was out of town Friday and Saturday. Feeder was emptied when I checked it Sunday morning - 10 pounds feed eaten in 54 hours.

Sunday morning 12 brown, 2 green.

6 brown, 1 green.

2 brown, 1 brown cannibalized.

7 brown, 1 green.

swam again last night. that makes 3 miles in 3 days!

4 brown as of 11:30. End of the day there was a weird little green egg - about the size of a robin's egg but it was from an Araucauna. Strange.

Sunday 5 brown.
Swam usual mile on Sunday. Saw great show in SF Saturday night - Extra Action Marching Band. Will be seeing another new urban marching band in Portland on Friday night - March Fourth Marching band.

1 green, 7 brown + 1 brown cannibalized.

Swam usual routine.

3 brown.

1 green, 6 brown, + 1 brown cannibalized.

1 green, 3 brown

5 brown, 1 cannibalized brown.

6 brown, 1 green.

2 brown, 1 green, 1 brown cannibalized.
Going for swim now. Brewing pale ale today.

Brewing stout, nut brown ale and ESB this week too.

6 brown.

Swam usual mile. No cramps. 3 miles this week!

4 brown as of 11:30. Plus evidence of a cannibalized brown egg of unknown age (within a coupe of days - found as I was refilling feeder - shell was in the feed can - they've been laying some of their eggs there recently and I check it daily).

+2 brown, 1 green. so another 7 egg day.

2 brown, 1 green - 1 brown cannabilized as of 10:00.

+ 3 brown - makes another 7 egg day as of 3:00 PM.

2 brown

Swam usual 36 laps. No repeat laps.

So 17 eggs over 3 days.

7 brown, 1 green.

WTF?

Production is variable. Age of hens is a factor.

2 brown, 1 green as of 10:00 AM. + 4 brown! total of 7 eggs for the day

I'm going to start picking which old hens are for the stew pot this week. I think the golden sexlinks are the first to go, then a couple of rhode island reds. Want to have flock down to 8 hens by the time the chicks arrive, and will drop to just the 2 aracaunas when the new laying hens go into production.

I feel like home produced, slaughtered and butchered meat is wholesome, and more humane than meat from commercial production.

4 brown.

Swam. I think I swam lap 25 twice... kind of odd that I'm doing an extra lap.

2 brown as of 11:30. + 4 brown by 2:00.

Made an order for 8 Rhode Island Red and 4 Barred Rock chicks - all female, and 13 Cornish X meat birds - straight run. Will arrive week of April 21. This makes some travel scheduling mandatory as I can't have chicks arrive and be out of town. 25 new chicks - I'll need to determine how to keep them for the first 2 weeks - don't want to just put them with the existing flock as they'd be subject to abuse from the dominant hens and the ducks... This kind of gives me impetus to slaughter the ducks and a few stewing hens in the next few weeks.

Coq au vin, flemish chicken stew, duck sausage, ham & duck sausage gumbo coming soon. Yum Yum!

3 brown

3 brown as of 2:00 PM

Swam last night - may have done lap 11 twice - ie an extra lap.

2 brown. + 1 brown late.

hens are escaping into back yard through bottom of chicken wire fence - need to secure that... quite possible that they're laying somewhere i can't find the eggs.

I'll do that today and see if the egg count doesn't improve.

2 brown. New straw, big hen party scratching and moving straw around.

1 brown. They were given another very pointed lecture with repeated reference to the waiting stew pot.

1 brown.

Went for my usual swim.

1 brown.

I'm going to start telling them about the coming stewing hen slaughter, see if that doesn't get them producing again.

New straw should help on Monday.

Feed store didn't have straw, Monday.

No eggs today. WTF?

Thursday: 3 brown. Gave girls a pep talk, told them they'd shown they can be productive, so they need to stay with the program.

They get fresh straw tomorrow. hen party might be all they need to get happy and productive again.

Wednesday 2 brown

Swam my usual 36 laps, final lap down on one breath. cramped in left calf as I was finishing the one breath length. so two times in a row getting calf cramps... Will be monitoring this.

Tuesday 1 brown

Monday: 3 brown

Sunday: 5 brown, 1 green.

Swam my usual. Had cramp in right calf on the 25 yard on a breath length had to surface and did elem back stroke to finish up.

2 brown as of 11:00 AM.
+ 1 brown

1 green, 2 brown.

Had a nice 4 egg omelet (smoked salmon, green onion, pepper jack) with a likely young lass for lunch today. My hens lay damn good eggs.

I've given away 3 dozen eggs this week. Production is basically back, not as steady as in past. I'm still going to slaughter some stewing hens and replace stock - 8 rhode island, 4 barred rock, and a dozen meat birds in mid March timeframe - main slaughter around Memorial day.

4 brown.

I think one of the aracaunas is laying her eggs where I can't find them. she is an escape artist and frequently crosses the road.

2 brown as of 9:00 AM

Total of 5 brown, 1 green.

2 brown as of 11:45 + 2 brown by 2:00.

5 brown 1 green. production is getting to be a bit more consistent.

Will finally finish sub floor today, get drywall up with a coat of mud. Might sand and recoat mud before bed tonight.

Last week was kind of rough for me. I took the fling with my sweet young neighbor to heart, felt a connection that left me doing a lot of introspection and work on knowing myself. Overall it was a very fine thing. The hallmark holiday probably had something to do with my coming back to it as it put romance front and center in my mind, and the plans I'd made to spend last weekend with her were fresh in my mind.

I'm a fool for love.

Brewing again today. Pilsner, gonna be a first for a lager fermented at lager temperature.

3 brown.

Tub is back in place.

3 brown, 1 green

4 brown as of 11:45... + 1 brown at 2:30.

1 green as of 1:30.

I've got materials for framing new joists under new sub floor. Finishing removal of old subfloor, will be putting new 3/4 inch tongue and groove subfloor down, then 1/4 inch cement board. Old sub floor was 1 inch.

4 brown at 1130 AM. 1 more brown at 2:30. one more brown egg. No green eggs today. Total is 6 brown.

Sub floor did not go in this afternoon. plumbing and structural issues - I need to do some scabbing of new joists perpendicular to the current one. And I've got to deal with the cast iron toilet flange and drain pipe. Blech. Sub floor will be in tomorrow.

1 green, 3 brown.

Wow. Finished some demolition in house - guest bathroom is gutted. Getting the bath tub out was how should I put this... it was a mother fscker. 300 pounds of porcelain covered cast iron that jst fit the space. And the damn rodent droppings under it. I'm really glad to be getting this work done - floor was rotted out completely (partially rotted when I bought the house and then 5 more years of kids splashing didn't help.

Solid 3/4 tongue and groove underlayment. Scabbing onto rotted joists. Schedule 40 drain replacing cast iron (whiskey tango foxtrot - cast iron drains?)

Floor will be 12 inch italian ceramic tile which should preclude future water damage a bit better than the linoleum.

2 brown eggs.

Brewing today, a wit beer - zot d'amour (bastardized flemish/french for fool of love). Hens have left over mash - 6 pounds belgian pale ale malt, 4 pounds organic malted wheat. they kind of freak when they get warm grain in their crops.

Sunday 4 brown plus 1 brown cannibalized.
Swam 1800 yards. First swimming in about 6 weeks, and my time was pretty much the same. Ooo Rah! I've been getting a bit of exercise elsewhere - had a fling with a much younger woman in the past month and that can be good exercise.

Saturday 1 green.

3 brown.
That makes 9 eggs in a 48 hour period. If all hens were laying it would be 24 eggs in a 72 hour period, so we're not at full production, but we do have much better production than a month ago.

My hens are getting with the program again.

1 green, 3 brown as of 11:45 AM.
1 more of each as of 3:00 PM. Half a dozen eggs in one day.

Looks like the pep talk worked. I'll tell them I expect the bar to be raised even higher next week.

Wednesday: 1 brown.
Gave them a pep talk, thanked them for previous day's production and told them they've moved the bar up, they should be clearing that bar by at least 6 eggs every 2 days. Given the changes in the diurnal period that should be easy.

3 brown, 1 green (+ 1 green cannibilized). First 5 egg day this year. Going to be quiche season again soon. I make and freeze em - these are some of my favorites:
Quiche Lorraine
Italian Sausage, sundry tomato (or swiss chard), fontina
Asparagus, smoked gouda
Broccoli, cheddar

I did give the ladies a bit of a pep talk yesterday.

Back to future flock planning - still looking at stewing hens to take current flock down to 2 araucanas, 12 new chicks for laying, slaughter most of the remaining old hens over spring/summer as new hens get their production going...

And get a dozen birds only for frying/roasting - have a couple of butchering days late this spring. If this goes well I may go for another dozen meat birds in the fall.

3 brown.

Looking at a hatchery catalog online today - the dead chicken wasn't a leghorn as they lay white eggs. Must have been a white rock.

I'm still thinking 8 rhode island reds, 4 barred rocks. Might go for 12 Cornish X Rocks for meat production - 6-10 weeks from chick to 3-4 pound dressed chicken depending on sex. Broad breasted with meaty legs.

What's a henweigh?

(bad joke)

2 brown, 2 green.

leghorn died. I need to build a fire to dispose of her, short term she's going in double trash bag in freezer.

The rest of the flock is thriving. I'm not going to do a necropsy of any sort on her, don't see the point.

I'm trying to figure out if it was 2002 or 2003 that Brooke brought in the first chicks.

I'm thinking 2002, she got chicks while Cody and Kami were in Australia after Cody's radiation therapy... Hmm, were there chickens here when Kami came back with us in August 2002? I've got to say no, that chicken care wasn't a concern when traveling back then. so the dead leghorn is a little under 5 years old.

Thursday 1 brown, 1 green.
Friday 3 brown, 1 green
Saturday 2 brown.

Leghorn looks like she is not going to make it.

11:40 1 green, 1 brown cannibilized.
1 more brown egg.

I should note that the hens have been laying on top of a bale of straw, not in their coop. Quite possible that the brown egg was rolled off the bale, broke and was subsequently cannibilized.

Coop is wet from all the rain, I think they're laying on the bale because it is dry.

11:30 AM 2 brown.
Leghorn is a bit perkier, has been eating. It'd be nice to have her healthy again.

10:20 AM, 1 brown. 1:00 PM 1 brown, 1 green. 5:00 1 more brown

so 3 brown, 1 green for Monday. Looks like at least 6 hens are producing, 3 yesterday, 4 today.

Leghorn isn't changing much, possibly a little bit more alert, but not wanting to get active, content to just stay in warm tote.

Rain supposed to continue all week.

1 brown, 1 green as of 10:00 AM. + 1 green by noon - 1 brown, 2 green

I've isolated the leghorn, put her in a tote with straw, feed, water and a light bulb for heat. Talked with owner of local feed store - I could buy a 200 year supply of tetracycline to treat her (and whole flock). I may ask a friend that is a vet tech if she could get me less than 250 gms of tetracycline, give the leghorn a small dose. I don't want to treat the whole flock as I'm allergic to tetracycline and it could make consuming their eggs problematic for the duration of treatment.

The leghorn is part of the oldest cohort of my flock. I believe Brooke first brought chicks here in spring of 2003 making her almost 5 years old... possibly it was 2002. Wikipedia entry on chickens puts that at the low end of a chickens natural span (5-11 years). I think that she's just old and has an infection that she's having trouble fighting an infection that's not causing trouble to the other birds. Breed may also be a factor as there is definitely one other bird from her age cohort - the barred rock hen is quite vigorous as is the rest of the flock.

It is possible that some of the rhode island reds are from the oldest cohort, but I have no way of telling - I'm going to band the legs of the chicks before they're mature so I know their age. Probably use nylon zip ties. I'll know pre 2008 from post 2008 hens that way. 2010 chicks will get a different color zip tie.

Saturday - 3 brown.

Leghorn is still under the weather - very inactive, conserving body heat and not interested in food or maintaining her prior dominance in the pecking order. One of the ducks was harassing her and she barely peeped. I hope she comes out of this ok.

I've not mentioned swimming since I started posting again. Pool had been closed for maintenance until last weekend. I've had a cold and felt that wet skin and 40 degree temperatures wouldn't help my immune system.

Cold is almost gone. If it isn't raining tomorrow afternoon I should get in my mile.

Monday no eggs
Tuesday 1 green
Wednesday 1 green
Thursday 3 brown
Friday 1 brown, 2 green

Leghorn hen is looking a bit ill from the rain this week. Yesterday she had burrowed behind bale of straw, She's quite spattered with mud as well. I'll be keeping an eye on her through the storms. She's not for the stewpot unless I see her moving with at least some of her prior vigor.

Saturday 1 brown

Sunday 1 brown, 1 green. I have hopes that there will be 5 hens in production by end of January. By the equinox 8 hens in production, 5 hens in stew pot.

Solstice should begin to get production from chicks, by autumnal equinox I should be eating a lot of quiche 6 old hens and 8-10 new hens in full production. Of course I'm counting my chickens before they're hatched at this point, but I feel confident I'll add new hens and slaughter as outlined so far.

Does anyone read these posts I wonder? Comments?

Yesterday 1 brown, 1 green. Today 2 brown.

That's 3 brown egg laying hens in production. And given the escape artist is at it again, I have to wonder if there aren't some green eggs hidden away.

In 2 weeks I think production will be 4 eggs daily. I'll have some idea which hens aren't laying as well and can take appropriate action.

production is increasing. 1 brown, 1 green as of noon. I guess my pep talk had some effect :-)

I talked with the hens for a couple of 2 minute talks telling them that there was a need for stewing hens and that they would be volunteering soon if they didn't start egg production back up. There will still be some slaughtering happening this winter - I expect to be down to 6 hens by the end of March, at which point I'll be purchasing some chicks that will be both layers for the coming 2-3 years and pullets - see inaugural post of 2008 for details.

If I collect any more eggs today I'll note it here.

Well, one of the aracaunas escaped today. Wing clipping time, given the end of molting season and the new feathers it is definitely indicated.

No eggs.

Chickens have fresh straw in their coop, had their usual hen party spreading it about.

One egg today, a jumbo brown one. First egg since I started blogging again.

None of the aracaunas is laying at present, both are fully fledged including their tails. Neither is escaping.

I should relate a chicken story from late summer. I was vacationing in Europe, drinking a fine Belgian ale in a small pub in Amsterdam. I get a text message from a member of my motorcycle club that animal control had left a note on my door about the chickens being neglected. I relayed this to the other patrons of the pub who were surprised that a software engineer from California would keep chickens. I told them everything was going to be OK and returned to my beer.

In truth the chickens had four levels of care givers - my next door neighbors, neighbors both up and down the hill from my house and the afore mentioned mc club member. So he called animal control and told them he'd be personally responsible until my return, I emailed him thanks and let him know that they should have been fine already. Animal control also told him that in addition to the welfare check they had a complaint about a loose animal.

I get back from Europe about a week later. I talk with all 3 neighbors about chicken care and am assured that the chickens had food and water checked at least daily. Late August can be hot, and the ducks could have splashed water. Regardless the hens and ducks weren't going to be suffering from no water as they'd have it refilled within the day.

I called animal control and arrange to meet them. I immediately determined that the officer was friendly and not wanting to be confrontational. After showing him the feeder and water and discussing the caregivers I had arranged I asked about why he had come out. he said that he'd had a complaint about neglected animals, done an inspection over the fence - hadn't seen the feeder, but seen healthy animals that had water. He also had a complaint about a loose (stray) animal. I told him about the escape artist aracauna hen, said I could slaughter her if need be, but maybe not, it might be worth risking a fine to tell a jury about the chicken that crossed the road. We both laughed at that and he said it wouldn't be necessary to slaughter her.

Wow, it's been a year since I posted.

Egg production is very low, there were a few weeks in which there were 0 eggs at all. About 2 weeks ago 3 hens began to produce an egg. Since Jan 1 I've collected 6 eggs.

My hens are all over 2 years old, some of them are nearly 4 years old. I'll be slaughtering half of them in the next 3 months for stew (flemish chicken stew, coq au vin, and chicken tamales). Will be purchasing chicks in March, probably get 8 rhode island reds, 4 barred rock, 4 leghorns. Will be slaughtering some spring chickens when they get up to weight for frying and BBQ. I aim to have 10 good layers by autumn, and probably still have a few stewing hens.

I've got a new kitten, had him since early October. Named RC Gizmo (Rodent Control Gizmo). He earned his name in his first week in the house, and subsequently there hasn't been sign of much rodent activity in the living space. Rodents are a tough problem when you have hens - livestock feeders aren't rodent proof which attracts them. RC is on the job now though!