Here on the farm things are as they are supposed to be in January- cold, frozen. The overwhelming colors of our world are the soft pale hues of white, grays and blues, criss-crossed by the dark brown or black tree skeletons dotting or sometimes filling the view. It’s amazing how much the landscape out in the country changes with the seasons. Or rather, how much we are able to see changes. Karen and I remarked the other day how often we both still notice things that are new to us in our neighborhood, such that we remark “Hey, I didn’t know there was a house back there!” It is both a wonder and a privilege to have an unfettered view of our landscape. Though I will readily admit to a preference for the soft verdant greens of Spring and summer, I am soaking up the rolling hills, the creek beds, and the quiet hush this Winter has offered. Sure, I wish I were sitting on my front porch as I write this instead of on my living room sofa, but everything has it’s time. I reckon that porch wouldn’t feel so delicious if I could do it all the time, would it?
So though we have mostly moved indoors, we still have lots going on around here! The pigs are getting very big and close to their finishing date. They have done just fine during the winter weather, though they sometimes prefer not to go outside, so we try to accommodate them. They are spoiled pork on the hoof. I am very grateful for my own stroke of genius this Fall when I collected the bagged leaves. They have really come in very handy, the pigs LOVE rooting through them, and they have been a key to stretching our supply of bedding straw. I am down to my last bag, and I will make sure to use that up before the pigs go to town. Note to self: next year, get as many bags of leaves as I can! That was an idea that worked out great and was a success.
Frances, our Americauna, or Easter Egger chicken is still the only one laying as far as I can tell. And I can tell, because the only eggs we have gotten are blue green. The other breeds we have all will lay brown eggs. But Frances is laying very well, up to 4 or 5 eggs a week. On top of her ovoid prolificacy, she has a very curious and friendly and confident personality. She enjoys being petted and picked up. And did I mention how beautiful she is? Frances is my favorite chicken ever.
In other chicken news (because this is a farm. You didn’t think there wouldn’t be more chicken news, did you?) I have been very happily engaged in dreaming and planning on ordering chicks for the Spring. This is one of my most favorite dead-of-winter things to do. Now, for those of you who are so unfortunate as to have been chickenless your whole citified lives, let me explain. There are a few ways one can acquire poultry in this world. One could find a neighbor or a friend who has birds you want, and if they will sell some to you, you’re good. That’s a little harder to find than you might think. Go ahead, check Craigslist. One can go to a poultry swap. I promise I will write at a future date more extensively on the wonder of a chicken swap, but for now I will say that a poultry swap or meet is like a flea market except it’s all birds and small animals and their accoutrements. They are a very fun way to spend the crack of a dawn, but one never knows what will be there. Just as you may decide you are definitely wanting to buy a flat screen tv and go to a flea market to look, there may or may not be what you are looking for, or it may or may not be in your price range or condition you want. So that’s a crapshoot. Ya never know.
Then, there are the hatcheries, the best and most reliable sources for many poultry fanciers and havers to find the cluckers they lust after. Anyone who thinks chickens is chickens is well…. Not very well informed. It would be like saying to an orchid fancier that all flowers look and smell the same. While I can’t say I’ve noticed great differences in the smell of chicken breeds, they certainly do have wildly and wonderfully varied looks and characteristics. There are big ones, miniature ones, all colors of the rainbow, flighty ones and statuesque, brown, blue, green, white, and even chocolate brown egg laying ones, ones for meat rather than eggs, some are better foragers and some are more productive egg layers. Some have fur-like feathers, some have bare naked patches of their bodies (on purpose!) why some even have black skin and bones. This is not an exaggeration! I don’t mean dark meat brown, I mean b.l.a.c.k. bleh.
Now, here’s the best part. You can order baby chicks to be delivered in the mail. You read that right. This is a delight! This is why the free world is my favorite place! Baby chicks in the mail, and libraries. Anyway, these mail-order hatcheries put out catalogs, people. You think seed catalogs are engrossing? Ha. Just pour over some pages of a Murray McMurray catalog and read the charming descriptions of a golden-laced Wyandotte or a Sicilian buttercup, and see if you don’t want to make space in your garage for a few adorable peeps scurrying and pecking and likeIsaid peeping their way into your heart and eventually, your refrigerator.
So for some reason I’m stuck on the idea of some buff brahmas, a few more Americaunas like Frances, and perhaps some rare marans. These birds will help feed my kid who is an egg eating machine! The extra eggs can be sold pretty easily I’m sure with a simple sign out on the road, or to co-workers and friends. That’s why I’m thinking easter egg and chocolate colored eggs will have extra appeal. That’s what the Americaunas and marans are for. The brahmas will lay some standard light brown eggs, and they are very large birds. But I love the looks of them, and I know they will be a very quiet and gentle bird to be around, as well as being very good moms to any eggs we decide to let them hatch. So they will be our broody hens when we want some chick-sa’s.
So now all I need to do is decide which hatchery, how many, maybe get together with one or two other folks to combine an order (you have to order a minimum of 25 so they stay warm enough in the box) and just place an order!
Gotta go!
No comments:
Post a Comment