My morning farm commute

01 Mar 2013 4 Comments

by Sharon Biggs Waller in Chickens, Garden Veg, Goats, Horses

Most people commute to work, but since I work at home, my commute is short, to say the least.  I thought I’d share the usual sights I see along the way.  Here’s a few pics from this morning.

Time to let the chickens out, feed, water, and gather eggs. I hope everyone looks healthy and happy. Last week I found our second rooster, Brutus, dead under the perch.  : (

The reason why you should count your chickens before they hatch.  I didn’t realize I had three non-industrial Leghorns.  One is a rose-comb (the one in back). They are too fast to count them, so I thought I just had one.  That Araucana looks weird leaning down like that.  Is she okay? Luckily, she jumps off her perch when Russell Crowe, the rooster does. Wow, that’s a lot of chicken manure to shovel out come spring.  Sigh. The cinder block usually holds their Flock Block (it’s this compressed seed and shell block they peck).  I need to order another one. I think the Leghorns are wondering where it is.

Three Non-industrial Leghorns.

Three Non-industrial Leghorns.

Betty Draper, our silver-laced Wyandotte, is fluffed up against the cold.

Betty Draper, our silver-laced Wyandotte, is fluffed up against the cold.

Mabel says good morning.

Mabel says good morning.

Mabel, our Americauna hen, found a great place to lay in a bag of wood shavings.

Mabel, our Americauna hen, found a great place to lay an egg.  In a bag of wood shavings.

I leave the chickens and go over to the barn, passing the veg/fruit garden on the way.  I wondered what my husband was up to yesterday.  Turns out he was squaring the compost/manure pile. Nice. The heat off this pile is epic. I used my trusty laser thermometer on it last week and one section was over 100 degrees in 10 degree weather.  Way to go microbes!

The trellis fence is looking good.  Almost (sort of) done.  Everything on a farm is almost (sort of) done ALL the time.

Artistically rendered manure pile.

Artistically rendered manure pile

Good morning, horses!  Tully and Drifter greet me with a friendly nicker.

Tully and Drifter say good morning.

Tully and Drifter say good morning. 

Valentine says good morning, too.  She lives with Tully.  They are besties.

Tully's stablemate, Valentine, says good morning!

Tully’s stablemate, Valentine, says good morning!

I open the goat door to find this tableau.  Not sure why Barley is standing in a bucket.  Not sure why Clover is standing by the wall like he’s at a pub waiting to be served. Goats are nothing if not hilarious.

Clover, Barley, and Dulcinea.

Clover, Barley, and Dulcinea.

Looks like we have plenty of hay to last for a while…

Hay stores

Hay stores

Which is good because the pastures are covered in snow.

Pastures of snow

Pastures of snow

Everyone is fed and it’s time to go back to the house.  But first, a look at the blueberry patch. Can’t wait for fresh blueberries in July! (The little house in the back is my summer writing studio)

Blueberry bushes

Blueberry bushes

Breakfast time for the farmer! Thanks for the fresh egg, girls!

Farmer's breakfast

Farmer’s breakfast

Chicken Breeds Magabook

28 Feb 2012 2 Comments

by Sharon Biggs Waller in Chickens Tags: , , ,

My latest magabook, Popular Farming Series: Guide to Chicken Breeds is out!  It has 90 plus profiles and color illustrations as well as articles on feathers, anatomy, and breed history. Read all about it here:http://www.hobbyfarms.com/popular-farming-series/chicken-breeds.aspx

I think my favorite breed in the book is the Long Crower.  The Long Crower is a very rare bird and it does what it’s name suggests: crows for a long, long time.  Up to 25 seconds.  Not a bird to have in your coop if neighbors are nearby. Check out the YouTube video:

Dave Mizejewski

01 Feb 2012 1 Comment

by Sharon Biggs Waller in Chickens, Uncategorized

On Monday I had the privilege of interviewing Dave Mizejewski for my livestock Q and A for Hobby Farms.  Dave is a media personality, author, blogger and a naturalist with the National Wildlife Federation.  You  may recognize his name from Backyard Habitat on Animal Plant and from his appearances on NBC’s Today Show, The Martha Stewart Show and Good Morning America.  And of course now you’ll know him as a guest source for Hobby Farms!

Dave is one of those people who is utterly passionate about wildlife, and he totally understood that a good many (I’m even thinking maybe ALL) hobby farmers and urban farmers want to have a farm that exists in harmony with the surrounding wildlife.  Not only is having an eco-friendly farm good for the planet, but when predators and prey are in balance, they tend to stay away from your own livestock and plants.  And many can even help out on the farm.  Raptors keep voles and mice out of the barn, bees and other pollinators increase yield, and birds that eat insects keep that pesky population in check.  But sometimes a predator can learn that chickens or other farmyard critters are easier to get hold of (and probably even tastier) than a fleet-footed mouse or rabbit.  That’s the case with my reader’s question.  A hawk had learned to pick off her free range chickens, kill them, and eat them on the spot.  Since raptors are protected by federal law, farmers have to learn to work with a predator instead of against them.  Dave explained that raptors are very smart, and once one learns to hunt chickens she keeps doing it until she fails a few times.  Once she realizes it isn’t worth it, she moves on to other prey.  That means my reader might have to keep the hens off the range and indoors for awhile.  As Dave said, sometimes the total protection of the flock for a little while is worth it in the end.  And for sure, my reader can go back to admiring her resident hawk soaring over her fields dive-bombing field mice. And that’s as it should be.

To read Dave’s entire answer, you’ll have to wait for the May/June issue of Hobby Farms.  But in the meantime, if you’re interested in finding the best tractor or all purpose vehicle for your farm, take a look at my article on the subject (my pro source is the AMAZING Cherry Hill–yes, I know how lucky I am to get to interview people like this) in March’s Horse Illustrated, which is out very soon.

In the meantime, look at this great photo on Dave’s blog.  This will give you a good idea of his sense of humor.  I love the koala’s little hand holding the leaves.

I also want to apologize for the lack of posts on the blog.  I had foot surgery just before Christmas and it’s been healing slowly.  I thought that would give me more time to write the blog, but turns out it’s hard to be inspired when you’re incarcerated in the house for weeks on end.  I couldn’t even walk to the barn to see my animals.  My husband finally brought my boy goats, Barley and Clover, up to the house on Christmas Eve so I could see them.  They bleated when they saw me.  Heart…melt.  Yes, indeed.

Anyway, I have lots to share with you in the coming days, so, as they say in the newspaper trade, watch this space!

Chicken Breeds

22 Oct 2011 2 Comments

by Sharon Biggs Waller in Chickens Tags: , , ,

I’ve been hard at work on my latest project, a “magabook” for Bow Tie (the publishers of Hobby Farms, Urban Farm, and the Popular Farming Series) for the past few months, hence the lack of posts on this blog!  The book is on chicken breeds and will be out in January or February.  I love writing about breeds, and as most of you know horse breeds are my specialty.  I think I’ve written about every equine breed in the world, although now and then one pops up that I haven’t heard of.  I suppose it’s a natural progression that I write about other animals.

I have to say I really like writing profiles.  I suppose it’s because I’m fascinated with history.  I write historical novels in my spare time so I guess there is a link there.  I love to learn about a breed’s history and how or why it developed.  I was talking to Diana Gabaldon last month on her blog and happened to mention the Scots Dumpy, which is a rare Scottish chicken. Diana writes the extremely wonderful and popular Outlander series, which is about a time-traveling nurse from the 1940s who falls in love with a very dishy highlander from the 18th century.  So Diana is technically a historical novelist and like all historical novelists loves all the unusual bits and bobs that are peculiar to a certain era.  I told her about how the Scots Dumpy, a short legged, squatty little chicken, was a favorite of Scottish crofters, and how they were great “watch birds,” alerting people to danger or strangers.  Anyway, Diana was intrigued and said she planned on including the breed in a future story.

I thought I’d share this kooky video with you, found in during research of meat birds.  In the 1940s the Atlantic and Pacific (A&P) grocery store chain announced a contest to find the Chicken of Tomorrow, which would be the best meat bird going.  I really get a kick out of old videos, especially the ones with that 40s sounding guy whose voice is filled with gravitas.  Listen for the part where he says “Say, that makes me hungry.”  It’s priceless.  I also love the bit where they are comparing the chickens side by side. The guy is sort of poking at the thinner chicken’s leg like “look at this skinny thing, sheesh!”

Funny Barnyard pics

24 Aug 2011 3 Comments

by Sharon Biggs Waller in Chickens

My aunt sent me this picture. Now there are broody hens that are fairly determined to raise chicks, but this one puts broodiness in a whole new category. I’m not sure if this has been photoshopped, but the optimist in me would like to believe it hasn’t been. I love the perplexed look on the chick’s face.

Eggs and Cheese

10 Aug 2011 6 Comments

by Sharon Biggs Waller in Cheese, Chickens, Goat Milk Tags: , , , ,

Eggs:

A few people have asked me about the colors of eggs, which I mentioned in one of my posts.  Here is a picture of the daily offerings from my girls:

The green/blue eggs come from the Araucana, which is a really unusual chicken that developed in Chile in the 1900s from an ancient breed kept by natives called the Mapuche.  The Araucana was made famous in the US by Martha Stewart who keeps a large flock at one of her homes (not sure which).  She loves the eggs so much that she has a line of house paint colors named after the Auaucana.  The other neat thing about this chicken (aside from Martha’s sponsorship!) is that when the chicken is bred to another breed, the resulting offspring will lay a pink, green or yellow egg.  Sometimes breeders will call these birds “Easter Eggers.”  This type of breeding also led to the Ameraucana in the 70s. 

Cheese:

I also embarked on a new recipe for cheese.  My friend Chef Didier Durand, who owns Cyrano’s Bistro on Wells Street in Chicago’s River North neighborhood, comes to my local farmers market in Michigan City on Saturdays.  Not only does he bring amazing French bread, but he also brings his cheeses.  He’s great at revamping the ordinary brie or chevre with his own recipes.  My favorite recipe of his is the herbed goat cheese rounds in olive oil.  He makes three different rounds: chives, paprika, cracked black pepper.  Then he packs them in olive oil and olives.  They are amazing, especially on his French bread.   Since imitation is the finest form of flattery, and having (quite a lot) of chevre of my own, I decided to take a stab at Didier’s amazing recipe.  And it looks and tastes pretty much like his:

chevre in oil

If you’re ever in Chicago head over to Cyrano’s Bistrot.  You will love it…and Didier.  His web site is www.cyranosbistrot.com.  The site is fun–and yes, that is Edith Piaf singing in the background.

Chickens, the Gateway Animal

23 Jul 2011 2 Comments

by Sharon Biggs Waller in Chickens Tags: , ,

 

Two blondes: Imelda the Buff Orpington hen and me.

I started out my hobby farming dream with a veg/fruit garden in England, but then we realized a farm isn’t a farm without a bit of livestock.  So when Mark and I discovered we could have chickens in our back garden we purchased a moveable chicken ark and four hens: two Burford Browns (they lay dark brown eggs) and two Old Cotswold Legbars (they lay green eggs).  Both of these are English breeds developed from more known breeds. The Legbars are related to the Aracuana, which trace back to a couple of roosters that survived the boat trip to England but the hens did not, so they bred them to English hens. 

Our first coop in England.

We swiftly discovered that chickens were easy to look after, similar to hamsters but they lay eggs, useful, right?  After one hen went broody, we bought 8 fertile eggs of various breeds, tucked them underneath her, and she hatched and raised four boys and four girls (we found homes for the boys).  We built a bigger pen for our eight hens  in our vegetable garden. 

 

Mark and our second coop in England

When we moved to our hobby farm in the US we started out with 20 hens and one rooster and that number steadily increased to 90 as we ordered spring chicks each year from Murray McMurray Hatchery.  I have a little egg business so the “girls” earn their keep and their rooster Dapper Dan looks after them. 

Our new coop in America

We have all heritage breeds, such as Brahmas, Buff Orpington, Speckled Sussex, Australorp, something that we are very dedicated to doing.  All of our hens lay different colored eggs: blue, green, dark brown, white, speckled.  My customers are always fascinated by the rainbow colors. 

 

I saw that chickens are the gateway livestock to hobby farming because they give the newbie farmer a little taste of the livestock experience, a chance to see if having livestock is doable.  Soon enough hobby farmers move on to a second animal, such as the tasty pig or the useful goat (as we have done). 

There is something really wonderful about producing your own food and knowing exactly what went into that process.  It also gives you a new appreciation for farmers who earn a living producing meat and eggs.  You understand the cost of raising a chicken or pig to market weight–both financial and emotional.  It gives you a new respect for the food that goes on your plate.  And boy howdy, is it ever tasty!  My customers are not happy when the hens stop laying; they love the taste of their eggs so much. 

My chicken hobby led to a new column in Hobby Farm Home, which will debut in November.  And another in Chicken Magazine in the spring.  And just last week I was approached to write a chicken breed profile magabook, out in December.  Who would have thought that first coop of four in England could have led to this? 

Cheers for chickens!

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