Anyone who knows me, really knows me, knows that my very favorite season is Autumn. Since this past Thursday at 9:21 a.m. marked the beginning of Fall, you an bet I'm one happy chiquita! I love the colors of fall. I love light of a fall sky. I love the smells of fall....go ahead, close your eyes and just smell the air. Tell me you can't smell the cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, pumpkin...all the spices of fall. I'm already planning fall cookies, pies for Thanksgiving and Christmas, fudge (I've got a great recipe for caramel apple fudge that is downright sinful and so stinkin' easy - 2 ingredients).
I said last week that I would tell you more about a chicken tractor. But first, I want to show you the baby chicks as of yesterday. Here they are, our 37 and our neighbor's 52...they weight about a pound each and they have almost all the feathers they need to be transferred to the chicken tractor. John says they need a few more feathers on their heads and that will probably take place next week. Then they will stay in the chicken tractor for another 3 - 4 weeks before going to Freezer Camp.
And here is a chicken tractor. The far side has wheels at the bottom and the near side has a tall piece of wood that acts as a handle. Once the chicks are placed into the tractor, John will move them the length of the device each morning to allow the chicks access to fresh grass and bugs...then move to another spot the next day. At 6 weeks, they will then be moved twice a day since they will be getting exponentially bigger and bigger and they will need more and more bugs and grass. At 8 weeks old, they are ready to Freezer Camp. The chicks are a Cornish Cross breed that have a larger than normal breast to afford more white meat (which I like). If they aren't butchered by 9 weeks, some of them will probably fall over and die from heart attacks - really! Talk about top heavy.
I hope you all have a wonderful Fall...here in the Ozarks the temps are starting to drop a bit and the humidity is getting less and less. John is outside mowing for one of the few last times of the season...it takes him about 6 hours to mow the property. He doesn't mow all 10 acres cause we have the cows to do those 5 acres...but the other 5 acres are a never-ending 'chore' - if you can call sitting down on a riding mower and listening to music on your headphones a chore.
Thanks for stopping by.
1 comment:
Lucky you, heading into autumn......we are heading into (hopefully not too hot!) heat. So that's a chicken tractor, what a clever idea!
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