We are Growing The Old Five Notch Farm!

We are so excited to start working on the next step of our five year plan to expand and diversify our little farm.

First on the plan is to build a new chicken/guinea/turkey coop! 

We recently purchased 10 beautiful new Golden Laced Wyandotte pullets/hens to add to our flock and we need to add some coop space to accommodate them as well as give the new guineas we bought this Spring a little more room to roost too. 

A couple of the new ladies enjoying a treat of scratch grains, black oil sunflower seeds, fresh oregano, rosemary, lemon balm, and mind herbs, some pumpkin seeds, mealworms and marigold blossoms.

Meet Ms. Itty Bitty!  She is a little spitfire.  She is almost round in shape and smaller than the other hens, but don't let that fool you!

The new ladies have been in quarantine for the past four weeks and have not shown any issues or illnesses.  They can now be moved to the new coop and run....well, once we finish it!

First we had to deconstruct the turkey pavilion we had built.  When we built it, it was perfect for the turkeys! Open and airy in the hot summer with the addition of nice box fan and a misting system and during the colder months we would enclose it on three sides to block the wind and provide a warm, straw filled shelter for the turkeys.

We decided to raise the top of the pen back in April and in doing so the turkey pavilion was going to be hard to enclose for the winter months.  We added 10 new guinea keets and now 11 new hens, 10 from some sweet folks we met and one hen we hatched here on the farm, so we needed more coop space. So....time to build a new coop with accommodations for the big birds too!

We had to make a trip Lowe's for the lumber so we could start the rebuilding! So thankful for the 5% discount when you use your Lowe's card. The trick is paying it off when the bill comes due so you don't pay any interest. If you pay interest over several months you have just lost your 5% discount and possible even more.

Just part of the materials needed for the new coop!

Deconstruction....

I didn't get a photo before my farmer man had the roof off, the rafters are to the right of the photo, and floor had been removed.  He works fast!

 Bless his heart....he continued working even though he started with a bad sinus infection and upper respiratory mess on Friday evening. He took the week of Thanksgiving off so we worked half days because it was just so hard for him to even function.

My Sweet Farmer Man squaring up the floor under the supervision of "Rei"...one of rescued kittens.

We have the framework for the foundation!

Floor joists going in!

Front wall and first wall going up!

We were taking a break to go eat some lunch and our rescue turkey "Timmy", who is very shy, wasn't shy about checking out the new turkey house!

So what do you think "Timmy"?

Back wall with nest box holes going up!

Front wall, back wall and floor are in!

Our little supervisor, "Rei" telling us he is watching from above.

"Baby Girl" aka Inspector 12....checking out our work!

We had to take break and run to town and pick up some more lumber and another new addition to the farm....

Two hundred and twenty four little Murray Cypress Trees!

We picked up our order of Murray Cypress trees from the South Carolina Forestry Commision Taylors Nursery while we were out.  These little trees are another step in our five year plan.  We will be planting them in two, staggered rows across the front of our property, where we had cleared, to serve as a natural wind break, natural fence line and natural privacy fence. We encourage everyone to check out the South Carolina Forestry Taylors Nursery to see what trees are available.  They ship trees as well as allow pick up at the nursery.  If you do not live in South Carolina is encourage you to do a search for a nursery run by your state's forestry commission.  You can purchase beautiful, healthy trees for a great price!

These Murray Cypress are similar to the Leyland Cypress, but are more disease resistant, and grow even faster than the Leylands.  Given the right amount of fertilizer and adequate water, these little trees can grow four feet a year!

Once these little trees are about 8-12 feet tall we will be moving on to the next step in our five year plan....removing the old Virginia pines and cedars from the front of the property in preparation of the next step!  We want to wait until the trees provide a break before we take out anymore trees so we want them to grow as quickly as possible.  We will be installing an irrigation system to help us provide the needed water for these trees.

We continued to work on the coop this past week, taking a break on Saturday to enjoy a nice day with family celebrating the Thanksgiving Holiday and the many blessings we have.  We love sharing our little farm with our family and friends!

 I will post another update as we continue to work the coop and pen.  We are hoping to finish it up by this weekend so we can move the new girls into the new coop and pen for a soft introduction to the rest of the flock.

Stay tuned as we check off our list on our five year plan!