It has been a long, hot, crazy summer and fall

It has been a long, crazy, busy summer and fall!!
Okay I've been slacking a little with my blog page. Life has been a whirl wind of birds. Speaking of Whirl Wind we have a new addition to the farm, Dorothy our "Mother Plucker". I'll talk about her, more, later one. Now where to begin for a recap of the past 4-5 months, sigh, how time flys (no pun intended).
Our yard is a sea of ducks, chickens, turkeys, geese, guineas and what a fun sight it is to see! Slowly over the summer we have been ramping up our duck population (home grown from my girls eggs). Nero, Quackers and Jeremiah (who we fondly call Gigandor), have contributed greatly to this effort. The sleek Cayugas gracefully graze next to the crazy, energetic Khaki Cambells, along with all those slow and watch full Muscovys. You can not sneak much past a duck but Muscovy's keep a keen eye on everything, all the time!
Nothing will put a smile on your face faster then watching ducklings darting past, chirping with their little wings flapping. The best was turning around in my work kitchen to find about half dozen ducklings that scooted into the back door and where sneaking across the room to me. As soon as I turn, noticing them, they madly jump in the air spinning around, squealing out chirps and on their giant little feet ran back out the door. This comical mass of tumbling fuzz would then stop just outside the door expecting apple or cucumber treats to be tossed to them immediately. While eating their special treats, you could then pet the little buggers as they climbed my feet or legs gobbling down any thing they could get their bills on. You have to realize this treat was for fifty, not just a few ducklings but fifty hungry, fuzzy little babies.
Then they grow up, poop everywhere, sigh.
Of course then there are my geese, the bane of my existence. These majestic creatures have finally calmed down, turning into giant, white beauties, terrorizing the yard at a slightly calmer pace. Yes, terrorize about sums it up. My lovely gentle, little goslings what would play in my lap; eat out of my hand, follow me everywhere are hoodlums. I can't wait for next spring to have more! The girls are practicing; we keep finding giant white mystery eggs all over the yard.
Our turkeys are filling out nicely, not to small, not to large. I keep giving them little pep talks and they watch me intently, probably wondering how to get my eye ball out the socket. Winston did attempt to take a chunk out of my ear, he just couldn't resist. Most days Winston a Narragansett turkey waits patiently outside the back door hoping that I will pass him special treats. Then after treats he goes for a ride around the yard on my shoulders. We also have Bourbon Reds and Sweetgrass. I'm still amazed at their feather coloring. To watch them grazing over the hillside by the grape vines, blending into the fall foliage in back ground, they almost disappear. Nature is sneaky, camouflage is a wonderful thing.
One of our most crazy and wild additions to the farm this year has been the Guineas. These energetic little birds turn up everywhere .So far the head count is 12 large guineas and 3 smaller mystery guineas. The mystery guineas are very tiny and seem to disappear a lot; lately more so? This does not bode well for this little rag tag team of tiny things. The large 12 are thriving, keeping to the yard, seeming to realize that there is safety in numbers, restraining from flying over the perimeter fencing. Yes, the yard and fields have a perimeter fencing to keep out predators. The area is so large most of our birds never wander to the farthest point of outer fencing.
All my old girls (egg layers) seem to know winter is coming. The newer hens are care free, staying out past dark, running wild with the ducklings. Not my experienced hens, they tuck themselves in long before dusk with their roosters; Zilla, Pepi, Freebird. These girls stay in the first coop that we built. Only the privileged hens or roo's are allowed to roost in this coop. All others are chased and squawked at until they vacate the premises. Eventually all the other hens go inside, roosting in the newer pens along with all the fatties (meat birds), turkeys and ducklings. Coco the only Frizzle bantam hen left goes into her "Chick Chalet", all by her lonesome. Over the summer, unfortunately her friends, Zelda and Lola were snatched away from us by a fox. It is very hard to convince independent little bantams to not venture through the fencing. I'll be heating the Chalet soon to keep Coco warm and safe on those cold winter nights.
Our Red Rangers that we raise for Label Rouge meat have decided that toes are tasty. Every time they see me, they come running like crazy, beg for treats, and then try to eat my toes when the goodies run out. Rangers are one fast, smart bird, retaining all their instinctive skills for foraging, fighting and flight when in danger. In the spring we are going to try to let them breed their own eggs for hatching. Don't tell Bruce, he will start twitching. I almost put him over the edge when we moved all the Quail breeders for the winter into the barn.
Coturnix Quail are a beautiful tiny bird with a huge breast full of delicious meat. Yes I know that’s terrible but man they taste yummy. This breed of quail can not be exposed to the freezing temperatures of the Great Northeast. Keeping them nice and cozy with extra lighting will help them to continue laying eggs through the winter. Quail are very good at doing two things, first is eating and the other I'm sure you can figure out, crazy little birds. Did I mention we have lots of Quail Eggs and Meat???
At this time the barn is over run with tiny field mice, which I'm remedying at this moment with traps. Chester our new kitten will soon be out in the barn hunting, hopefully. It seems Herman our four year old barn cat has decided to retire to the main house, abandoning the barn to the birds and mice. When poor Herman does go out back, he hunches his shoulders, pins his ears back and does a slow march out to the barn; with 100 plus fowl happily tagging along. For some reason this bothers Herman, of course I'm crying from laughing so hard watching this fowl spectacle, poor Hermi.
We are hunkering down, preparing for the winter, hoping it is a mild one. I could go on forever but I'll end this update for now.

More Yard Work To Be Done

No matter what we do we have help, more help then we ever need. There is always a creature underfoot, inspecting, assisting and suppervising our work. After all it has to be up to their specks but there is always one slacker.

Muscovey Permit and Regulation Update

I have received a few questions about the Muscovy duck issue and permit regulations in the U.S. I have been keeping track of what is going before the implementation date of the new regulation, since we raise our own Muscovy ducks for meat and eggs.

At this time the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is in the process of reformatting their permit regulations that became effective March 31, 2010 for the List of Migratory Bird Treaty Act. It seems they really did not realize the extent of the market for Muscovy duck meat. They are genuinely concerned with how invasive the species is in the southern states.

Lets put this in easy terms. Thanks to an article in this months Back Yard Poultry, I have the answer and actually understood what they are explaining. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service did not realize the huge market for Poultry Farmers raising domestic Muscovy's as meat or show birds. Most farmers do not know Muscovy is an invasive species to the U.S.The U.S Fish and Wildlife Service does not read Back Yard Poultry and most farmers do not read the Federal Register.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service will not administer the new permits or enforce their new regulations. They plan to amend those regulations in the very near future. Legally we can raise and sell our Muscovy's without any issue, at this time.

If any one has more questions about this issue I can scan and send the article from Back Yard Poultry to you. They have a very good question and answer section to help explain the issue.

The Lawn Mower Pit Crew

Bruce has a new pit crew for his mower. Our baby geese get into everything. They are very curious and follow us everywhere.

More Ducklings Hatching

We have new ducklings hatching this weekend! Penelope is hatching out her 10 to 14 eggs she has been sitting on for roughly 34 days. The doors to her large private pen is now closed off from the other birds while she is going through this stressful time.

Yard Work

While I was doing a little yard work look what I raked up. There is no such thing as "a little yard work" on our farm. I'm very much Anti-Pooh which means we have to clean up "behind" everyone continuously. It is all worth while; knowing all our creatures have a clean, well fed, humane life style. Maybe a little to much "style" is going on some days, which is the fun part of our farm.

A New Crib for my Peeps

Lola, Zelda and Coco love their new Chick Chalet. Here you can see Lola doing a little gardening on her front porch. They have not had time to finish painting yet but they love the lime color on the one side that is painted. The interior is finished off in early wood chips with a roosting post and cathedral ceiling for ventilation on those hot summer days. The new heating system will keep them toasty warm in the winter also.
A few of the other hens are a little jealous but every now and then a hen will pay a unexpected visit to the Chalet, squeeze through the door and leave a house warming gift behind!