Harp Turkey Ranch

The chicks are now 24 days old. They have been such a pleasure raising, compared to the Cornish X's. They are alot more active. They are all starting to feather out real nice. 

  I'll be giving a whole farm update in the next day or two with pictures.

 

I thought i would post a couple pictures of a few toms strutting around the place. They know it is about time to start breeding and they are showing off for the hens. They have not stopped gobbling since last week. They gobble about 4 times a minute from about 6am - 5 pm and they are starting to establish pecking order. I'll be finishing up the breeding pens today and tomorrow and get the separated out before they start breeding. Don't mind the bronze's tail feathers a dog had pulled them out.

Wishard Bronze Tom - Weighs 32 lbs - 10 months old

Bourbon Red Tom weighs 33 lbs - 34 months old

 Moltted Black - Weighs 30 lbs - 18 months

 

Just wanted update the 2 week progress of our broiler chicks. only 8-10 weeks to go !!

The biggest chick

 

The Smallest Chick

 

The broilers will be ready first part of April and they are going pretty quick. These are not your normal Cornish X's. These are the broilers that are used in France, they are a slow grower. Meat has much more flavor and the meat is firm not mushy like Cornish X's. Visit our local harvest store or website and pre-order yours today before you have to wait another month for the best chciken you have ever tasted.

Here is the pictures I promised of the pigs old area that they cleared out nicely. All I have done so far in this picture is start pilling of the debris that was left over from the pigs to burn.

The chicks are doing great. They have already grown. LOL 

 Before

After - 3 weeks later

 We have started taking orders for Turkey Hatching Eggs and Poults. The poults are for local pickup, we don't ship live birds. Also don't forget that our pasture chickens will be ready soon and your holiday heritage turkeys they are going fast so you better reserve yours today. You may visit our website to buy eggs and poults. 

 On to the farm business....... We started getting the hatching area set up. getting the incubators and hatcher set up for the spring turkey eggs. Moved the pigs last week to their new area. I was impressed with the area they just finished up. They have now cleared an 1/8th of an acre of brush, roots and all in about 2 months. Doesn't sound like much but when added up over the year that will be alot of work that has gotten done mostly with out me and it has a healthy layer of fertilizer on it, spread and everything even tilled. The goats have not been slacking either. They have now gotten about an acre cleared of all brush and ferns. They don't do as good of job as the pigs but never the less they do a good job. I made a few phone calls to some freinds to help out alittle before spring. I offered all the bbq and of course beer they could consume after they where done helping of course !!! I need help where the goats have been picking up all the sticks and cutting the brush left overs down and piling it all up in a pile to get burnt here real soon. Hopefully we can get all this arranged for the weekend after the Superbowl weekend. After that is done then we will be able to start to plant the rye and clover mix to grow this spring and help clear what weeds will try and grow this spring. It will also provide excelent forage for the turkeys,chickens & pigs. Then latter in the summer/Fall the goats can come back over it and get what weeds and brush did grow back and help control the new grasses growing. With the clover and rye mix at a 75% white clover & 25% rye it should produce about 18-22% crude protien, perfect for the growing poultry and animals around here. Also with this mix it will handle a heavy grazing and bounce back fast. I will be updating with pictures of the hatchery and the pigs mess tonight or tomorrow.

Got the call this morning early from the post office that the chicks had arrived. I woke up my oldest daughter and we went down and picked them up. All 100 arrived safely. It took them 3 days to adventure across the US, and I mean all the way across from PA to WA. 

Okay here is a pic of the the chicks in the ole' brooder. This one is the 3'x3' model, just right for 100-150 chicks. On the bigger orders we have one that will hold 200-250 which it is 4'x4'.These brooders are great. They hold heat and if using outside you can through shavings on the roof of the brooder (not shown in pic) for insulation. The brooder can be used in freezing weather outside with great success. They are in a shed that is already insulated so the brooder stays about 100 F in the center with just the roof on and about 85-90 F on the outside edges.

 

 This will be our first time with the colored rangers. I was impressed with the way they all went straight for the water. We only dipped about 15-20 in water and the rest just went straight to the water with the rest of them. After about 2 hours I through some food down on the ground in the center and put the two feeders in and man did they just go straight after the food.

And the 2 proud new owners of the chicks.

 

 Well the Boer goats are getting ready to have their kids. They are due between Feb & March. Got them moved to their new area where they are not going to be bugged by the buck and the other goats not ready to give birth. We usually move them about a month before kidding, so they get use to their new home and we can watch over them and start them on a grain diet with a better quality hay so their kids get nice and healthy in their bellies. About the day before they kid we try and get them into a kidding pen built in their pen so they can give birth and not be bugged by the other expecting does. We can also keep alot better eye and control of them this way. After about 2-3 days we will let the doe and her new kid(s) out back into the regular pasture that the other expecting does are in. Will post the pictures of the kids when they are here.

 

 

 

 

 Meanwhile on the rest of the farm everything is starting to get busy. At the end of this week we are expecting our first shipment of Freedom Ranger broiler chicks.They will be ready for market the first week of April '09. April is sure to be a busy Month.

 Will be starting to build the Turkey breeding pens hopefully this week. These will be temporary. We were going to build them else where but time is of value and will not be able to build there temporary one till later. They will be let out of there pens once a day after lunch time. This will ensure that they have laid all their eggs before getting out and laying somewhere else.They will be out for 1-2 hours to eat grass and stuff. They will be only let out 1 breeding set at a time, so there will be no fighting.

Just wanted to say Happy Holidays to everyone. And thanks for the great year of support. After the holidays it will be a frantic rush to get the farm ready for the new year coming in 6 days. We have got a lot of work to do to get the farm ready for the new turkeys. Our hens should be laying eggs in late February or early March. We have a couple Boer goat does that are due right around that same time. In April Max the pig has a date with the meat market and Pinky the gilt should be ready to get bred at about the same time. With all this and the new kids,new poults,the kids (human) and everything else it will be hectic. Just sounds like spring to us :)

  With our nice  winter weather that blew in on Friday night can not do much on the outside of the farm. The snow finally stopped falling last night and we wound up with 6-7". Suppose to get another dose of snow on Wednesday. Now the temps are in the high teens. So after an hour in the mornings and after noons of refilling frozen water with warm water and feeding animals I have nothing but time to plan for this next year. We are going to grow out some Freedom Ranger chickens this year. They are a meat bird that is used in France for their Label Rouge program. You can click on the link to learn more. I have read alot on this program and we are going to raise our meat chickens to this program this year. Even though we raise our birds pretty much the same as the program with just a few differences. After alot of searching I have found a hatchery to buy these chicks at. I don't understand why we in the United States don't have something like this program ?? 

   We will also offer hatching eggs from our Heritage Turkeys this year and our Heritage Delaware chickens in the late spring/summer. This will be the first year that we have offered our eggs in a mail order before.Should be an exciting year !! Stay tuned for more details !!

 Winter Tree Scene

We usually don't get much snow in these parts. But a bad winter storm is coming through the Pacific Northwest  and bringing temps to a low of 12 deg. and a high of 30 deg. Around here that is COLD !! I went out feeding the animals and letting the turkeys out for the day and got some pics of them investigating the snow. This will be their first snow they have ever seen or been in. Except for my two old Narragansett hens. All the rest of my breeding stock is from this last springs hatch or last years spring hatch.

A Few Turkeys Checking out the Snow

 

Today was the day to get the pigs moved to their new pen, as they are done in their first pen. The new one is a little bit bigger with more brush. I guess you can say we are really putting them to the test now. LOL First I strung the new polytape on the poles to get the perimeter of the their pen. Now it was time to move 'em. It's not easy moving a pig if they don't want to go. Max (male) I showed him the food in the dish and raised the polytape up high  and after a little hesitation he went through. Pinky (female) she didn't want to go for nothing.I chased her around the old pen and finally caught her, and had to actually drag and push her as she was screaming bloody murder once I had her on the other side she ran straight to the food dish and everything was okay and it was like nothing ever happened. Their new pen is 40'x40', the old one was 24'x48'. They are already busy at work starting to get it pig clean.

NEW PEN 1

 

 NEW PEN 2

 

Sunset at the Harp Turkey Ranch

Went out today to rake the pig pen out and they are ready to move on. Here is what they have done in about 3 weeks, and they are now about 80lbs. Amazing how fast and good they work. Raising them like this there has been no smell so far. And I have not had to start the tractor since they have been here. Next weekend we'll be trying to move them over to their new pen. It is about the same size maybe bigger but alot more brush and debris for them to turn to mulch.

BEFORE

 

 3 WEEKS LATER

Wow what a feast we had this Thanksgiving. I just could not stop eating every time I said to myself I'm full I would be making another roll filled with turkey,stuffing & mashed potatoes. This combo after the initial dinner is great to me ?? We had a 20lb standard Bronze turkey,stuffing,sweet potatoes,candied yams,mashed potatoes and gravy,green bean casserole, rolls,etc. This year everybody brought a dish or two to the dinner so of course their was plenty and it was all great. Hard today to go out and do any work around the farm. 

You can reserve your bird for next year by going here.

Thanks again to everybody for their support and localharvest for putting a site like this together !!

We got all of our Heritage Turkeys back from the butcher and most of them into our customers hands this weekend. Can't wait till Thanksgiving Day - Food,Family & Football. Wednesday night and Thursday morning will be hectic around here as we will be trying to get ready for the holiday feast with food preparations. 

 This weekend was able to fence off another 100' x 175' section for the goats to knock down. They should be done right about the perfect time to plant with grasses and grains for the summer and fall next year. The winter rye is growing good where they where just at so hopefully that will turn out to be a good crop this spring and early summer for the turkeys to be eating. Our native grass around here seems to grow fast and anywhere I clear out seems in a month or two it is thick with new grasses and no seeds where ever spread.

 THANKS TO EVERYONE THIS YEAR FOR THE SUPPORT

Please visit our website