Spring has arrived!

The long winter molt is finished, and the hens are laying like crazy!  Each day we're getting between 15-20 eggs, and we've added several new egg customers.

Our Cream Legbars and Swedish Flower Hens are back into full production, and so we're selling hatching eggs again.  Although the past few days have been unseasonably cold, we're all excited about spring and the warmer days ahead.

We've got eggs in the incubator.  I'm hoping for a flock of Lavender Araucanas.  I've tried twice before with no luck.  This time, though, a lot of eggs are showing growth.  Keeping my fingers crossed that we'll have a great hatch.  I also have Cream Legbars and Swedish Flower Hen eggs in the incubator.

And speaking for myself, I'm thrilled that Daylight Savings Time is back.  I love it!  Here are some recent photos of our chickens:

Slacker Chickens!

I've been calling my flock the "Slacker Chickens."  Over two months into this molting business, and we are getting sometimes only 2 or 3 eggs each day.  This is from over 25 hens that should be laying.  I've got ten young pullets (females) growing up and they'll be laying age in mid-Spring.  So by summer, we'll have way more eggs than we need for all our customers.   But for now - we barely have enough for ourselves and our customer who "won" the silent auction at Franklin 4 the Cure for a dozen eggs a week for a year!

Egg Laying Slows Down for the Winter

For the most part, my chickens have either stopped laying entirely or have slowed down so considerably that we're getting only two or three dozen eggs each week.  That's not nearly enough to satisfy our regular egg customers.  I'll be contacting my egg customers this week to let them know that we will suspend egg deliveries until egg production is back up.
Last week I bought 12 female day-old chicks.  They will be added to my layer pen in the spring.  Hopefully getting the new layers will keep us from experiencing the severe drop in egg laying next winter.  We also have a few older pullets that will be reaching laying age over the next couple months.  So the future is looking brighter for egg laying here at Dogwood Trace Farm.

Pickup and Pumpkin

We were sad when our cat, Troy, disappeared.  He was such a faithful little buddy around our farm.  A predator must've gotten him during one of his many hunting expeditions through the woods surrounding our home.

When it was obvious that Troy was gone and not coming back, I asked my Facebook friends if anyone had any cats they'd like to re-home.  I was fortunate to immediately learn of a mother cat and one of her kittens that were available.  The mother cat, Pumpkin, had just appeared at the home of the mother of one of my friends.  The mom had taken care of the pregnant cat until the kittens were born. Then when the kittens were old enough she started finding homes for them.  She found a home for all of them except one.  So we were lucky enough to get Pumpkin and Pickup.  Ron named Pickup.  My friend's mother named Pumpkin.  She has an orange pumpkin-colored spot on her head.  In the photo below you can see the spot on Pumpkin's head.  Pickup has four white feet.

 The photo below shows Pickup "playing" with the chickens.  Pickup jumps at them, they squawk, and then she does it again.  They try to ignore her most of the time.

And here is Pickup sitting on top of Jake.  I think Jake just has a "What're you gonna do?" attitude about it.

Pumpkin and Pickup have settled into life at Dogwood Trace really well.  Since Pumpkin was accustomed to living on her own before being adopted by my friend's mother, she stays away from the house most of the time.  She likes to prowl through the woods.  However, when I go out to feed them, she's always right there.  Pickup, on the other hand, has already become good friends with Jake - taking up where Troy left off - snuggling with Jake - and even standing on top of him!

We miss Troy, but we are happy to have Pumpkin and Pickup as our resident mousers.

Fall at Dogwood Trace

It's the first day of Fall - or is it the second?  Either way - it's fall!  I'm so glad for the cooler weather.  The chickens here at Dogwood Trace are thriving.

Right now we have some Lavender Araucana eggs in the incubator that should be hatching soon.  We also have some Cream Legbar egg from our own flock in there.  The next few days should be exciting as the hatching begins.

Yesterday I picked some carrots, tomatoes and peppers from our garden.  Ron had plowed the larger garden.  The vegetables I picked yesterday were from the boxes.  We plan on planting a fall garden - and we need to get that done ASAP.  Some lettuces, cabbage and other greens - maybe some onions and other root vegetables.  I hope we haven't waited too late.

We got a great crop of pears and apples from our little orchard this year.  And the fig tree I planted in the spring has grown like crazy.  I've canned lots of pear jelly, pear sauce and pear preserves.  Ron peeled and chopped apples for me - then put them in the freezer.  As soon as I have some time, I plan on making apple sauce, apple butter and apple pie filling from it.

We went to Georgia and picked muscadines at Ron's mother's house.  The muscadine jam was so good that when Ron had to go down there a couple weeks ago, I told him to pick as may as he could.  He picked THIRTEEN gallons.  So I've been busy making muscadine jam and then processing other muscadines to freeze for other recipes later.  We still have 3 gallons left in the refrigerator, and I plan to get those processed this weekend.

I learned to pressure can this year!  I canned about 20 quarts of tomatoes from our garden, along with about 5 pints of green beans.  I've already used lots of the tomatoes in chili and other sauces that I've made.  I use lots of tomatoes in my cooking.  So I doubt I could ever can too may tomatoes!  Now that I've learned to use the pressure canner, I intend to do more foods.

One of our favorite times of the day is the last hour or two before dark.  We sit in lawn chairs by the chicken coop and let the chickens free range under our supervision.  It's a pleasant time to enjoy being outside, to relax and reflect on our day.

We are loving our little "hobby farm" in Tennessee.

Baby Swedish Flower Hens!

Blackie brooded eight Swedish Flower Hen eggs. When we got home from vacation on Saturday evening, there were three chicks hatched. Another chick had hatched, but it had died. I really believe the 100 plus degree weather for the past two weeks had something to do with it. Either the baby got too hot or it smothered. Then by Sunday another chick hatched. Monday morning I checked the three remaining eggs - one had never developed at all, another developed partly and then quit, and the third started hatching but died before making it out of the shell.  So our hatch rate wasn't as good as when Onyx brooded eggs.  However, Onyx didn't brood during an all-time record-breaking heat wave.  The very next time I have a hen go broody, I intend to save more SFH hatching eggs to put under her.

Here are the four healthy and thriving chicks.  

I like the variety of colors.  There is the one yellow/brown one in the top part of the photo.  Then there are two mostly black & gray chicks, and then a gray and white one.  I am eager to see whether they develops crests, too.  With the rooster and two of the three hens having crests, it is likely that most of them will have crests, too.

Some people breed against crests, but I love the crests.  So I'm excited that these chicks will probably have crests.

In the pen with the rooster and three hens are two younger pullets - 16 weeks old now.  So in just a few weeks, I'll have five layers.  I'll look forward to seeing what the pullet/cockerel count ends up being with these four new chicks.

Away from the Farm for a Week

We are on vacation - and while I'm loving the beach and being with my children and grandchildren, I still keep thinking of my chickens.  In our part of Tennessee, the temperature has been over 100 for much of the past two weeks.

Poor Blackie, our 15-month Jersey Giant started sitting on 8 Swedish Flower Hen eggs almost three weeks ago.  She's in the broody pen in our coop, and I worry about how stuffy it is in there for her.  I miscounted the days - and I put the eggs under her a day earlier than I should have.  With this heat, the eggs will likely hatch early.  So, instead of having the eggs hatch on Sunday as I'd hoped, almost certainly the chicks will start hatching tomorrow - and I won't be home until Saturday.

I'm just hoping everything goes well - that the coop isn't too hot and stuffy for the baby chicks.  And, since the pop doors to the coop have remained open all week, I'm hoping that the run has continued to be secure and that chickens have been safe, cool and happy for the week that I've been gone.

We have had a trusted friend take care of our animals while we've been gone.  But he will only go by once each day.

I'm really anxious to get home on Saturday and see that everything survived okay for a week with me.