Hey hey friends! Whoa! Where has the time gone? All I can say is that I have been very, very busy. And I’ll tell you all about it. There’s some good news and some not so good news. But we’re all good here on the homestead, mostly.
Eggs
There have been lots and lots of eggs here on the homestead! I have to catch up from the past two weeks. So I collected 37 eggs from 4/12-4/18/2021. I collected 40 eggs from 4/19-4/25/2021. I went on a trip (which I’ll tell your more about below) so I don’t know who laid what egg on what day (not that I keep track of that here, but I do in my egg collecting app). And then I collected 36 eggs from 4/26-5/2/2021.
Anyway, it’s time to tell you about a not-so-good situation. I came home from my trip to find a chicken in respiratory distress. My initial thought was that they have some sort of respiratory thing (virus) that would pass through the flock and actually end up killing my whole flock. So I put her in isolation (it’s Winifred the Wyandotte) and then I thought it was an egg issue. And since I couldn’t figure it out I called a local vet who knows about chickens. As it turns out, it was indeed a respiratory issue. So she’s been in isolation and on antibiotics since Wednesday. So far none of the other chickens have shown any signs of any respiratory distress. I’ve started putting Winnie in the run in her crate since she has to be separated for at least 3 weeks. I don’t want to have to reintroduce a chicken into the flock, especially as I’m introducing the babies at the same time. I think Winnie is going to be okay. And now I have a closed flock which means that I will not be able to bring other chickens in or send any chickens out. Including incubating eggs or hatching out chicks. I guess that part of my homestead is done. And I’m okay with it. I have the flock that I have been hoping for and we’re all set!
Speaking of babies. They are doing so well. They are officially out of the house and into the flock. They’re still really little so they aren’t fully into the flock but we are basically coexisting. And that’s all I can hope for for now. As for how I introduced them to the big girls, I decided to go the route of having them in a crate in the run. They started out completely in the crate for a couple of days and then I started opening the crate up for a couple of hours. The next step was to put them outside in the crate with the door open and let them decide to leave the crate. Then I took the crate away and was bringing them in at night. Except for the night they put themselves to bed in the coop. The next day I took the crate away completely and left them out all day and night. And they are officially official. It took less than a week for the process. It went much smoother than I thought it would.
And, did I tell you that I was incubating eggs for a fellow homesteader? Showing her the ‘ropes’ so-to-speak. We put 10 eggs in the incubator and had a mishap with 2 of them. We discarded one early on so that left 7 to try to hatch out. Well! 5 of those 7 babies hatched! And they were so stinkin’ cute!! She picked them up and whisked them back to her farmstead to finish growing out. I can’t wait to see how they develop and feather out! I definitely think she’s addicted to incubating eggs now too. But, as you can imagine, that is my last incubating session for a very long time. I’m happy I got to incubate more eggs and I will miss it, but I’m also happy to have my pantry back from the birds. HEHE.
Garden
Since the fishing guides have officially moved back into the house, I’ve had to start getting creative with my veg plants. I’ve moved them outside under plastic, but I’m afraid they are not going to make it. I’m not sure starting from seeds is in the plans from here forward. I just don’t have the room to do it properly. I really need a greenhouse so I don’t have to keep shuffling them around each year.
As for the actual garden, it’s been a very long process. I hired someone to do it for me so it would get done in a reasonable manner, but that hasn’t actually happened. I hope it will get done this week and then I can get in there and get it really moving. I’ve been so frustrated. Urgh. I won’t go into details, but I do want to keep a record here so I can look back and see the progress and frustrations. But. We’re down to the gates and the fence getting put up permanently. The hay wagon has been moved. And the two plots plowed up. That’s about it. After weeks and weeks of trying to get things moving. That’s all we have folks. Shaking my head.
I was able to straighten out the raised beds and move them closer together. I ordered 25 more plants for the strawberry patch (that I still need to install). And then I need to fill the beds with dirt and get the garden planted! It’s still too early to actually plant but I want to be ready once it’s time. I lost track of what I planted and what germinated. I’ll try to get that info for next week, but I know I planted two types of tomatoes and a bunch of flower seeds. So check back for those deets.
A Trip
So. I went to Boston for the first time. I had so much fun. I loved it. I’ll share a post on just the trip soon, but for now here are a few pictures to hold you over.
The Business End of Things
There’s not much to report in terms of new things with the business. No great leaps and bounds. But rather lots and lots of classes. I attended the Callicoon Earth Day Festival on the 17th. I have a dyeing class upcoming (actually two classes). I am still booking out the ramp classes. And I added the North Branch Inn to my lineup. I am also writing another article for the River Reporter and still partnering with Cidiot and Mat’s podcast. And. And! I was featured over on Discover NEPA’s website. It’s been good. And I love that we are doing more and more in-person classes.
The Rest of the Story
Friends. I apologize for not making my rounds to visit you on your blog. Things have been so crazy (both good and bad. I won’t go into details here but this fishing season has not been off to a good start for me. But I am persevering and trying to not let it affect me. It’s not my crazy this time! HAHA!) And I’m trying to find my new routine which includes exercise since I was asked if I was pregnant recently. I had to tell the person no that I have just gained a lot of weight. Shaking my head. Again. Anyway, here’s to new routines and keeping our head above water and not letting other people’s crazy drive us crazy.
’til next time
-k
xoxo
Daenel T.
I hope Winnifred is feeling better by now…
I don’t know how many eggs chicken typically lay, but that seems like A LOT. Whew!
My son lives near Boston so I was pretty stoked when I saw your pictures. He keeps inviting me up and I will make it. When I do, I hope we can get together. Coffee and an IRL chat would be so fun.
chickenlibrarian
I think we finally turned the corner with Winifred! I was really worried about her there for a while. But all seems to be better now.
Chickens lay an egg every 26 hours but there’s a lot that goes into that as well-heat, light, etc. etc. So they slow down in the winter but they are back in full production mode now! And we have so. many. eggs. HEHEE.
Oh! I hope you get to visit Boston! It’s such a wonderful city! I loved it. It was beautiful and friendly. And just great. And yes! Coffee IRL would be amazing. xoxo
Steph - Elder Oaks Farm
Sorry to hear about Winifred’s recent illness. I’ve been really behind on catching up with friends’ blog posts, so I hope she’s doing better! We also have some unknown intermittent respiratory illnesses in our flock, so we can’t sell hatching eggs, chicks, or chickens either. But we continue to add to our flock as needed, and the new chickens do just fine! I guess technically they get infected by being part of the flock, but we haven’t noticed an increase in losses or anything like that. We just isolate whichever chicken happens to be sick at the time (which doesn’t happen often) and treat them for however long necessary, then stick them back with the flock and everything is good. So maybe you can still add to your personal flock in the future!
chickenlibrarian
Oh Steph! This made me feel much better. I feel like a horrible chicken mama. Winifred has always had breathing issues so who knows how long she’s had this. But she’s on the mend. She’s back out with the flock where she wants to be. I’ll definitely consider hatching my eggs from my flock if I decide to add to the flock in the future. I had been contemplating having a little chicken hatching business on the side but this respiratory illness definitely put that dream to bed. And I’m not sad about it. It would have been one more thing that I needed to focus on and I’m realizing that my focus has been a little scattered lately. I’m happy with my garden and my little flock of birds, my homesteading business, and making the things from scratch. Anyway, thanks again. You’ve made me feel so much better! xoxo
Steph - Elder Oaks Farm
Oh good I’m so glad I was able to make you feel better! I have a feeling that having respiratory illnesses in a flock is more common than we think, people probably just don’t like to talk about it especially on social media for fear of not having the “perfect” flock. Nothing is perfect over here! And we just roll with it! Hugs 🙂
chickenlibrarian
yes!! Agreed! I am beginning to realize that it IS more prevalent, but no one is talking about it. And I think you’re right…it’s because we only show the ‘perfect’ side on social. I guess I don’t prescribe to that method. I tend to ‘put it all out there’! LOL. Thanks Steph ❤❤