The Old Five Notch Farm: May 2013

Thursday, May 30, 2013

We've been busy.........Our little farm is growing!

Wow! A lot of work going on around the farm :0)

We were chosen once again to be a release site for 6 more mallard ducks from Izzie's Pond! It looks like there are 3 drakes and 3 hens :0) They are wonderful for our first little pod of ducks! Our first pod was a little apprehensive about swimming more than about 5 feet from the bank....not these new ones! Right out into the middle of the pond! It wasn't long before pod #1 was joining them. Yahoo! Our ducks have figured out they CAN swim! lol

Here's some pictures of the newest "pod" of ducks enjoying our pond :0)

Happy, Happy, Happy!

One of the new hens in the lillies

The drake is in the middle and a hen either side...he's a handsome young lad!

We are very happy with our new residents!

The chicks will be 6 weeks old tomorrow...hard to believe. They are growing so quickly and we have figured out which two are our roosters "Fred" and "Jerry". "Fred" is buddies with another sweet hen I have named "Woobie". If I go out into the pen or coop and stoop down, Woobie will be on my arm or back instantly and Fred is right at my feet! LOL They are too cute!

Here's a few recent pictures of them:

They have grown so much.

Testing out the new perches Farmer Man made them <3

Breakfast Treats! Soft banana, fresh peas, strawberries and a little Swiss chard!


LOL I thought I'd put a board out in the run so I had something clean to sit on....it's not clean anymore!

We also have added 5 new turkey poults! I asked for 3 and my sweet Farmer Man brought home 5. His reasoning behind bringing home 5 was so we would have a better chance of at least on Tom in the bunch. Well, from the pictures I took today will they were out of the brooder and running around the screened porch, I do believe we have one, possibly two, Toms!

Meet "Tommy"! Isn't he just adorable!!! Just a little over 2 weeks old and already strutin' his stuff <3

"Tommy" the ladies man ;0) Just look at the little, cute tail feather fan!!!

My dear sweetie also installed two 4 foot by 8 foot raised bed gardens for me! We built them together and I stained the outside of them after we got them in place. He went by "Bricko's" in Augusta and picked up some nursery mix soil to fill the beds. I am SO excited to have the chance to have a garden once again!

First raised bed going together!

Viola! Frame completed and installed

Stained, on the outside only...the stain will darken with time...it matches the house ....the corners are pressure treated and will fade to a nice grey color

Tada! Filled and ready to plant. I managed to grow 3 zucchini and 3 spaghetti squash in the greenhouse...not much success with anything else :0/...I'm still trying to figure out how to grow things in the greenhouse...whole different ballgame!

As you can see, we have been busily adding to our farm and working to be more self sufficient. It will be September before the chicks lay eggs, the bees are working away, building comb and bringing up brood to build the colony, the turkeys will be pets, although if we have two Toms we'll probably find another home for one Tom and a Hen leaving us with a nice trio....hoping to breed and sell poults.

We have enough soil left to build a 4 foot by 4 foot raised bed.... Just need a little more lumber. Our dear friends have offered their asparagus sprouts that have grown outside their raised beds so I think that's what we'll designate for the next bed.. Between now and then I'll be working away on the square foot gardens :0) I can't wait to have homegrown tomatoes and green beans!!!

Thanks for stopping in and seeing what we have been up to! I hope you enjoyed a little taste of The Old Five Notch Farm :0)

Sunday, May 19, 2013

New additions, The Chick Inn II update, and the chicks venture outside!

We have 9 new additions to The Old Five Notch Farm! We were chosen as a release site for 9 wild mallard ducks that had been cared for at Izzie's Pond in Simpsonville, SC. I had the privilege of meeting Angel who owns Izzie's Pond this past week. What a wonderful, beautiful place! If you are looking for ducks, geese or swans and would like to rescue an animal and help out a wonderful organization, please consider Izzie's Pond.

Our little mallards are adjusting quite well to their new home. They are so cute and I love just sitting down at the pond and watching them. They are not totally tame so they won't come right up to you, but they won't fly away either. We are hoping with continued contact from feeding that they will stay around our pond.

We are hoping that we will be chosen to take some wild Canadian Geese when they are old enough to be released!

My sweet nephews, Gideon and Patrick, came over last weekend to help out with some construction. Patrick was a huge help while working with Scott on the top of the coop pen. Scott "designed" a cool fence stretcher and Patrick was the force behind it! LOL

The chicks are doing quite well in The Chick Inn II :0) We have finished the nursery pen area and they have now ventured out into the big, wonderful world. They are so funny! They rush the people door of the coop when they hear us coming in the morning. Just as soon as the nursery chicken door is open they all rush out. It's a chicken stampede!

More pics soon of the completed nursery and pen area :0)

Sunday, May 5, 2013

Update on The Chicken Inn II and Our Babies!!

Today is a rainy, dreary day on the farm...a good day to post and update!

It's been too long since I updated the progress on The Chicken Inn II. We've been busily working away on the coop and many other projects here on the farm, but here are the last pictures I have taken of the coop. We have done SO much more since these were taken! I need a good sunny day to get some current photos :0)

The Chicken Inn II coop is all painted :0) Notice the 2 x 4 railing....this will stabilize the fence and provide a good place to staple the fence. We will add a decking board to the top for a nice finish.

You will notice there are two chicken doors....the one in the front will be the Nursery Door and they will have their own little run.


All Posts are In....now to tackle that 200 ft of fence lying here!

Since these pictures were taken we have put up all the 2 x 4 top railing, all the 2 x4 welded wire fence, and the decking board as a top railing to finish it off. We turned the fence out at the bottom to keep predators from digging under and have added cypress mulch all around the perimeter. It looks really nice :0)

We still have to underpin the coop, build gates, and install a top on the coop! More pics to come :0)

Now to the babies :0)

They are now two weeks old and just way too cute! Here's a few pictures I took this afternoon while they were out of the brooder, running around on the screened in porch.