Death on the Farm

Just as I was sitting down to write about the chicken slaughter, the power went out. I called hydro and they don't know why - they're working on it - but it means that the pump in the aquaponics turned off (so the water isn't getting oxygenated). I rushed outside after calling Nathan but one of the fish was already dead. Now the generator is on and the pump is plugged in. That fish was the first accidental farm death - pretty good considering we have (had) 17 chickens, 58 fish, 4 sheep and a llama.

I was going to comfort myself by baking a cookie with the dough in the fridge but the oven has no power (duh). I really hope the power comes back so that all of our labour from yesterday isn't wasted in the fridge and freezer.

An hour later and the power is back!

We did it: Our first chicken slaughter and butchering is complete. We killed our two biggest meat roosters and our landlord's buff roosters. I didn't actually feel as sad as I expected to - we killed the roosters quickly and it has been in my head since before they arrived that they are for meat. Tomorrow night we'll see how our free range, 'happy' chicken tastes. They ended up being over 4 lbs each at 12.5 weeks. We learned a few things during the butchering experience:

1 - when you're killing the chickens and dealing with the post-death convulsions, you'll probably get blood sprayed on you no matter how careful you are. Make sure you wash that blood off of your light blue t-shirt (..and face..) before you rush into the house to get the pot of hot water...where your visiting parents are eating their breakfast and pretending that slaughter 101 isn't happening outside.

2 - also pertaining to visiting parents, when you choose a location to perform the slaughter you should worry more about whether they can see you from the dining table than whether your other chickens can see you. Your other chickens won't notice. Your parents will.

3 - when you scald the chicken to make plucking easier, you actually need to keep the water at scalding temperature. Any cooler and plucking is extremely difficult and time consuming. The skin tears, the feathers break and you end up with a porcupine chicken.

4 - you will spend a lot of time bent over and plucking feathers so your table should be at a comfortable height for doing so...otherwise you end up hobbling around rubbing your back for the rest of the day.

5 - when you're poking and prodding the chicken trying to get all of the feathers out, any pressure on the carcass will agitate the vocal cords and cause the chicken to 'squawk' in a very disconcerting way through it's headless neck. The internet tutorials never mentioned that...

6 - when you grin at your boyfriend as you're wrist-deep, eviscerating a chicken and say "I'm actually having a lot of fun!" he may look at you strangely.

7 - don't freeze the chickens as soon as you're done...they'll be in rigor mortis. Not only will they be extremely difficult/impossible to fit in to freezer bags, the meat will also apparently end up tough. You're supposed to let them 'rest' in the fridge for 2 days. Oops. We will have to let the one that we froze 'rest' when it's thawed prior to roasting.

Abby and Ryan were happy to eat their share - the feet, kidneys, livers and hearts. I accidentally threw the gizzards away with the intestines. Lucy wanted nothing to do with the meat. If you look carefully here you can see Abby under the table with a chicken foot in her mouth.

Working at our too-low table.

Bagged and ready for the freezer (should have been the fridge). 

All in all the process went smoothly and I really am excited to taste this chicken.

Clearly the hens weren't too traumatized by the morning's events. They were very involved in helping Nathan jump start the mower. After a dead battery, a dead battery charger, no gas, a hidden 'safety' switch that was on, and an equal number of things wrong with the weed wacker, we finally got the lawn mowed.

Look - the first aquaponics cucumbers! Speaking of cucumbers, the pickled cukes are delicious - very garlicky and vinegary which I love.

The greenhouse is becoming a jungle.

Today I'm going to make Thomas a halter. He really enjoyed being brushed yesterday and wasn't interested in ramming me. I'm not sure if it was because of the brushing or because he only goes after testosterone...

I think Mother Clucker is looking in the wrong place for her new man. The worst part of the whole chicken slaughter was that we took Buff away from the hens. Maybe they'll choose one of the other roosters instead.

Yesterday was Ryan's first successful time moving the ewes! We let them out into a larger paddock behind the one they're in now, and after they'd grazed for 20 minutes or so I went in with Ryan and sent him out. He went around them and pushed them back through to their original paddock. Good boy! He lay down when asked and he was relatively calm (no barking, at least, and his tail was down) about it. 

Lucy went home with my parents but before she did, she had one last hurrah....chasing Zeb all over the place. That poor "guardian" llama looked like he couldn't believe he was running from an 8 lb terrier. Back and forth across the field they went until we finally got Lucy back...I guess she's feeling better after her toxic plant mishap!

Bathtub Hoarders

The seedlings spent their first night in the greenhouse (in pots on the ground) and all are good this morning! I think we'll leave them in pots until the danger of frost has passed, and then transplant them. It's actually warmer in the greenhouse though, even overnight, than it is in the front room where the seedlings were.

Starting some more seeds to use in the aquaponics system.

Yesterday we went to do some errands in the morning and stopped by a hatchery to take a look. Nathan asked if they had any extra tanks that they wanted to sell/give away and luckily they had a huge tank sitting in the back that they'll give us! It's about 6' x 6', so bigger than necessary, but it has a drain and it will be good to have. Later on we pulled over to look at a truck for sale and happened to find a free bathtub right there. We are either hoarders or the lucky new owners of an aquaponics set up...

Mop top. 

Her name is Meghan...and she's apparently getting a bull 'friend' in the next few days.

No trespassing or you'll get whacked. 

We spent an hour yesterday mulching the orchard. There are apples, plums, pears and blueberries.

We also continued to tackle the side yard. This is the mess that we started with. Maybe there were goats kept in here at one time? 

We tore down the entire lean-to and then carried the hutch/coop (from next to the house) into the yard. Carrying it was difficult but manageable until we got to the gate (you can see one of the posts in the photo above). Nathan instructed me to simply do a deep squat, grab the edge of the hutch/coop, then lift with a shoulder press and "we'll get it over the gate, no problem". 

Ha.ha....we had to get Jim (the horse and cow owner) to help us.

 The original location of the hutch/coop. We took this little yard apart. Apparently it used to house a neglected chicken.

A tiny (1") egg that Nathan found while weed whacking. Wonder what kind of bird it belongs to?

One of the chicks sounds congested today. Maybe it's just starting to make 'adult' sounds instead of peeping? I hope that's it, but I think it's too early for that. Some online advice is apple cider vinegar in the water, or a course of antibiotics. I'd like to avoid jumping straight to antibiotics, so I'll clean the brooder first to make sure it's nice and dry in there.