Foxhollow Poultry Farm

With a week's worth of elbow grease and 12 hour days we have finally created a space clean enough to call our hatchery. The walls are white, floor is epoxy painted, vented heater, lots of lights, incubators, hatcher,new work counter and eggs!    The space began as a dirty dusty, cob webby, collect all storage space that hadn't been used or cleaned in several years. The difference now is nothing short of amazing.                                  

                                                        

This weekend we will move in a desk, books, and file cabinet to be able to keep records of all of our hatches. This new room will finally supply a great place to do paperwork for our poultry business as well.

 We set over 100 heritage turkey eggs and 300 chicken eggs for a sample run. It is so difficult to wait for the 3 weeks (chickens) and 4 weeks (turkeys) to go by. I feel like a kid at Christmas...waiting. Waiting for the eggs to hatch. I've been told I am worse than a mother hen. Okay, I can live with that...probably pretty close to the truth anyway.

Our hatchery has a capacity of up to 1200 eggs total in a full batch, depending on what type and size of eggs are set. Needless to say we will have chicks and poults for sale to local area customers this year. All of our poultry will be born and raised right here. We will no longer have to drive hours and endless miles to pick them up. We should have no bad surprises opening the boxes upon our return home. No need to order in chicks and create stress for them. They will go directly from the hatcher into the brooder with food and water available immediately. From the brooder they will go onto grass and hoop houses. Less stress for everyone...myself included. As my friend Ken said "Time to get cracking!"

 

 

Wow! What a season this has been. It looked perfect on paper and started without a hitch but then....Torrential rains plagued us all summer. We had 2-3 inches of rain every other day.  One 3 day stint accumulated 13.5" of rain. That's right. In 3 days! Needless to say it was more difficult to raise our poultry on pasture this year. The rain caused some losses of birds that was unavoidable. Lessons learned and we are praying for better weather next year. Fall however was unusually mild and has let us have extra time to work on projects such as insullating the chicken breeder house.

Other challenges this year included my father falling and breaking his second hip, pneumonia, anemia, etc. He was in and out of the hospital all summer and fall. As my mother does not drive it was up to me to take her to the hospital, nursing facility and shopping, etc. This took at least 4 hours every day (travel time of 2 hours) but we got it done. Dad is now at home barring any more problems. We also had about 50 white turkeys taken from our field. That was the only conclusion we could come to. No signs of predators...and it was all large turkeys. None of the younger smaller ones were gone. We have been through every scenario possible. Very strange and sad to my way of thinking that someone might actually do that. Times are tough for some I guess.

Turkey season has wrapped up for the year except for about a dozen turkeys that will go to process the week before Christmas.  We had exceptional luck with our heritage turkeys and had over 120 to sell to customers. We are planning on hatching even more next year and even have some local farms that are interested in buying poults next season. Our old Humidaire 50 incubator finally gasped it last hatch. We are planning on installing a new on-site hatchery to help us in the effort to become even more sustainable for 2011. It should be able to hatch over 1200 birds at a time. Some of our turkeys are starting to lay eggs already! We will post photos and give more information about this exciting project in upcoming blogs. Many new and interesting ideas taking shape and turning into the planning stage for next year. Will post again soon!

Just about over our last push to get our poultry schedule wound up for the year and then a break.........oh, no that's right we have to start planning for an increased schedule for next year.  We are adding another 20 acres for birds next year. This season has proven even better than I thought it might with the addition of  more restaurants to our customer base and our regular customers ordering more frequently. Heck of a good year.

The turkeys are going to market next Sunday and that will be our final meat birds for the season. We have made 2 trips to the processors already.  Can't wait for this to be over as it is a LOT of work moving the turkeys until they reach their final destination. Each turkey gets moved about 6 to 7 times from the field to the grocers shelf or customer's arms. I think I have lifted at least 7 tons this year already.That's a lot of turkey.

We are now Animal Welfare Certified for our meat chickens as well as our turkeys!! It always makes me feel good to achieve that certification as it indicates that we are doing a good, humane and sustainable job of raising our birds.

Follow us on facebook (foxhollow farm) and twitter (foxhollows) as well. The posts are much more frequent on those social networking sites.

Will post more after Thanksgiving if our arms don't fall off first.

 

Our pastured poultry hoop house is finished. Photos show the completed project with the electric poultry netting, and the chickens.  The chickens are about 3 weeks old and are really enjoying their new digs. The houses seem to be a good design, wind resistant, rain proof, predator proof, provide shade and are large enough to house our flock without being too heavy to move every day or two. I like this idea better than the Salatin type pens that are moved daily where the chickens are on grass, but caged. This design allows for shelter and protection, but also allows the chickens to range in the grass and dust bathe away from their shelter. All in all I think it is the best way for our farm's poultry to be raised. 

The best mother's day gift is probably a relative thing dependant upon the particular mother in question. My best mother's day gift was made for me this year by my husband. It is a hoop house that we will use to pasture our poulet rouge chickens with the addition of electric poultry net. The photo below shows the work in progress. Although it is now finished and will be loaded with poultry in a few hours, the photos do not show the completed house. We added tarps, automatic waterers, feeders and a door on one end. Will update it when I get more batteries for the camera. (Now I dont run out of film, I run out of batteries!) Here are the pictures.

 

This weekend we put up the portable poultry netting in the rain. It was a simple process that took a minimum amount of time and made our chickens really happy. They didn't even care if it was drizzling rain, they just roamed around all day and enjoyed their new grass. We will move the fencing as necessary to keep them all on fresh grass all season long. It is electrified to keep out the predators.  Here is a picture of the hens enjoying their new pasture.

We finally started working on our website. It was an easy process although it is not finished. The main problem I have is trying to get google to index it and list it. I have submitted the Url for their perusal and made sure that it was search engine optimized, etc, but as of yet (1 week later) it is not listed on a search. Any suggestions?? How long do they normally take to index a site? I am impatient I guess.  http;//www.foxhollowpoultryfarm.com.

We started cleaning out coops again and building some "rooms" or dividers in the broiler house this weekend. Some progress has been made, but never as much as we schedule. Things seem to take twice as long as we think they will.

Daylight savings time has caused some upset for us, but not for the chickens. They know when the sun comes up and exactly what time it is no matter what the clock says.

 

Happy New Year to all! Hope everyone had a beautiful holiday season.

The start of a new year brings the promise of a new beginning. I can imagine abundant crops blooming, chicks hatching, ducklings digging in the mud, and turkey poults following their parents around the yard. In reality the gray cold dreariness outside has got me to sit down and get the ordering of seeds and livestock done for this year. I must admit it has also given way to helping me daydream a little bit about the garden plan for this season. I can imagine the dark earth, the smell of it as it heats up. I can imagine the seeds having been planted weeks before, starting to grow and flower. Notice I didn't say I was thinking about all of the work that went into the garden in this daydream. All of the gardens I plant start as a daydream sometime in January when I know I must order seeds for the next year. I must admit that the gardens in my mind are exceptionally perfect and fine. Not a curled leaf, bug bite or bug is found. You would never see a garden so perfect anywhere, not even in a seed catalogue. The daydreams do not include the real life adventures like we had in 2008, of torrential rains, consequent flooding of corn fields and shallow roots on all plants which became weak and spoiled for water, late frost, later freeze, blight on tomatoes, potato bugs, cabbage loopers, caterpillars and even a small but very destructive tornado that went through our farm and garden. The tornado removed part of our chicken house roof this year and killed quite a few of our layer flock. Then our processor closed before we could get our chickens inspected to sell to customers. Boy it was a tough year at the farm. We like to call it a year of character building. Do we have enough character yet??? As I order the seeds and create the farm plan for 2009 I see none of this. I simply see the hope that lies in every seed and every egg to be hatched for a bumper crop year. My husband calls me Mrs. Sunshine.  We have to have a sunny disposition to do what we do.

 I have finished our order for seeds for crops to be grown for the next season. The list is long after considering everything that has been requested by our customers. We have added some new and some slightly experimental things as well. We have also added a couple of acres into production so we can provide more volume to our customers. We will be offering State Inspected quail for sale in late June or early July. Poulet Rouge chickens will be harvested about mid June. We will be starting ducklings in the spring for fall orders and we have added a lot more heritage and standard turkeys for Thanksgiving due to the large demand we had in 2008. Hopefully we can fill all requests for turkeys this year. If you are interested in a turkey you might drop us an email asap so we can put you on the list.Our new flock of Animal Welfare Approved layers is scheduled to start laying again in the spring so we will again have those beautiful, tasty eggs that you all say you miss so much. We should have pullet eggs (the tiny ones) starting about April. The quail are still going strong with egg production now. Thanks to all of our customers for their support and praise for 2008! Here's to a fresh new start, promise and hope of a new year, and to the gardens in our imaginations. We wish you all the best that the new year can bring.

Christmas is coming. Time is zooming by at a sonic rate. One more farmer's market to do. December"s coop drop off. Quail egg and Jelly tasting at the Gateway Market. Broilers to go to the processor. Several birthdays. Gifts to buy and wrap. Two christmas meals to cook, cards, decorating........whew! It makes me appreciate the time I spend out in the chicken houses, where I guess you could say it is a type of quiet serenity somehow amidst all of the cackling, crowing, gobbling, flapping, and honking. The animals all have their regular routines. I guess I find comfort in that. Every morning it goes like this in the broiler house. I knock on the door, Cy Snoodles, the Tom blue slate turkey gobbles and drums, the geese start their noisey cacophony, the rooster crows. I open the door and am greeted by Two Feathers (a three year old ameraucana hen from our last flock that became the favorite hen of all the roosters in one day and consequently had only a handful of feathers left before I rescued her from the little beasties). Two Feathers flies up and lands on my hand. Shadow the little black cochin bantam does his dance for me and follows me around for attention until I pick him up and talk to him for a minute. The 6 week old broilers all come to me for today's treats of corn, veggie peels, or scratch grain. This morning something is different. Goldnplump, our buff cochin is sitting on a pile of 50some, three week old broiler chicks keeping them warm. Makes me chuckle. Needless to say she can't cover them all and they spill out in a wide white circle around her. An occasional little white head pops out from under her buff wing and then snuggles back into the soft warm feather pillow. When she sees I have treats she comes over to get some as usual, but this time she is clucking and showing the baby broilers that this is a good thing to eat. Ha ! Like they really need instruction on eating! She snatches a piece of grain in her beak and delicately drops it in front of a baby chick. It is hilarious. I love to see this type of maternal behavior.

Our last batch of broiler chicks was mothered by our Peahen, Penny.  It is interesting to see that maternal instinct is so strong. It is a deep warm feeling that chases away any cold that this winter might bring. I might add that Goldnplump  is the quintessential broody hen in the typical Cochin manner. She hatched several geese last year for us. Our chickens got their Christmas presents early this year. They all got new heaters for their houses so they will stay cozy this winter season.                          

The geese are indeed getting fat but I might add that all of the turkeys, geese, chickens, etc are safe this year as we are dining on grassfed prime rib.Must get back to the whirlwind of the season's activities. Hope to post more again before the holiday, but if not, we hope you all have a super warm, happy holiday season!

We have finally received our Animal Welfare Approved status. After several weeks of waiting, a farm auditor coming to our place, our processing plant being checked out, and approval by a committee of animal welfare advocates, veterinarians, and others; we have been approved. Our eggs will now proudly carry the AWA sticker so customers know they are getting their eggs from hens raised humanely, with the highest industry standards. It is a great organization that is soley focused on the natural habits, welfare, and conscientious care of farm animals. This also helps the customer know that their purchases are from family farms that raise heritage breeds to the highest standards of animal welfare.  Your buying AWA approved items is a vote for the small family farmer and a vote for humanely raised animals.

Looks like the snow beat us again. No matter how hard we work or how long the fall season extends itself there are always a few things that don't get done before the snow falls. I think we just make the "to do" list longer. It is  not supposed to accumulate, so I guess we still have half a chance before the white blanket rests permanently on the ground for another 4-5 months. Winter seems to get longer every year. Maybe that has something to do with age?

 We have started our new flock of heritage layers that will provide us with beautiful fresh eggs for another two years. The tiny little chicks are so cute right now. All different color bitty balls of fluff. Some of them are asserting their personalities already at 2 weeks of age. We have Rhode Island Reds, Silverlaced Wyandottes, White Leghorns, Speckled Sussex, Black Australorps, Ameraucanas and a handful of several other heritage breeds.  The eggs they produce will be all colors, ranging from pure white, tinted, green/blue, speckled to brown. Laying should begin in April with tiny pullet eggs. Can't wait. This is the first time in 3 years that I have had to purchase supermarket eggs. I can definitely tell the difference and might add that our family has become quite spoiled with all the free range eggs we can eat. No more Angel Food cakes and baked custards for a while. Here is a photo of some of the new layer chicks.

We  have added a "chicken cam" to our list of things to do. We have access to a nice security system with several cameras and are thinking of hooking it up online to give viewers a look at the chickens. Hopefully we will get this figured out and installed in the spring. Should be fun for viewers and give us the ability to oversee how everyone is doing out there especially at night.

Our free range broilers will have a new experience this morning when they venture out into the light dusting of light snow for the first time in their lives. This is the first year we have raised broilers this late in the year so these chickens will have a unique experience. They might be a little shy of the snow at first but I bet they will still venture out in it. They can always stay inside as well, but I have trained them to love to go outside. A handful of treats always coaxes them outside in the beginning; now when I knock on their door they scramble and beat the Peacocks, our 2 lucky turkeys and a few pet hens kept from the last layer flock. Bet they will be surprised this morning to see the white ground. It will probably melt after an hour or two anyway. Just a taste of what is to come. Brrrrrrrr. Already dreaming of spring.  What to plant next year?

We do have some upcoming events such as the Winter Markets in Des Moines on Nov. 21 & 22 and Dec.19 & 20. This will be our first year in attendance and we are looking forward to it. Other things on our schedule for December will include a tasting at Gateway Market in Des Moines of our herb and pepper jellies. I will post a time and date as soon as it is decided upon.

We are also joining the Iowa Food Coop this year . It is a new coop and allows patrons to purchase food from local Iowa producers online. Once orders are placed customers will pick up their items inside Merle Hay Mall. It sounds like a very good idea. We will list our broilers  and emu products now, our jellies and eggs in the spring. What a great idea for people who love locally grown food. Hope it is very successful for all involved. You can check it out for yourself by going to http://www.iowafood.org/

Does anyone have any suggestions on what crops they would like to see available from us next year?  I am going to start planning the garden in about a month and am always looking for new and interesting ideas for produce.

Must attend to the animals. Stay warm.