Attack!

Hunter headed out to do his harvesting of the Frost bitten plants for pig feed today only to find a sad sight. A group of a few neighbor dogs had slipped into the garden through the squares in the fence and we're actively attacking the chickens. Not chasing, attacking. He soon discovered several dead chickens laying around. They are"sport attacking".

What does that mean? Well, like it or not, birds are the natural food for dogs. A dog's natural instinct is to attack birds in some form. A pack of dogs, easily falls into natural herd behavior to hang up on birds and attack for the sake of attacking, not for food, but for sport.

It's not the dogs fault, it is their instinct. It is what a dog is. Sure, it's possible to train it out of them, but puppies come with a natural desire to Chase and kill birds. It's just reality.

Today, Hunter succeeded in chasing the dogs off, but damage was done. 3 dogs had already killed 3 chickens, wounded 4 more unrecoverably, and 2 more were simply missing (feathers but no body). These same dogs had killed 2 or 3 more chicken earlier. A total of 12 birds.

Birds and dogs are a challenge, because dogs kill birds unless their training is stronger than their instinct. That's just how it is. But don't get me wrong.. I love dogs. Yet with any animal we must keep in mind that they are animals, driven by instinct that is molded by training. Still, down inside, they are dogs.

posted from Bloggeroid

New Chicken Resortland

Summer is here!
And with summer came... southern oregon heat
And with the southern oregon heat came... stressed chickens
And with stressed chickens you get... NO EGGS!

well, significantly lower production.

So we set about this weekend to design a new "resort" for the girls, a place where they can live comfortable in the shade and soft winds, safe from predators but not confined.

The idea is to create a single "complex" from the four coops, arranged into a square. The center area covered with a tarp tied to each of coops in the corners. This provides a huge open area that is sheltered from predators yet allows for free airflow and solid shade. One of the coops is dedicated to the "watering hole" which will eventually be a shallow "pond" that they can stand in to cool off. The nesting boxes sit at the edges of 3 sides to provide more shelter while giving a cool spot to lay those eggs.

 Here is the result!

South entrance, this is the largest opening, on the downwind side. 

West end. The coop on the left is the watering pond (right now just a waterer left to overflow with continuous slow water flow.)

North end, mostly blocked by a nesting box pointed inward.

Inside on the east end. the nesting box to the left is the one blocking the north entrance.  The long feeders sit in the middle of the shade. 

Inside, on the west end. In the very center is the "stand" which is an old sprinkler covered with a greenhouse bucket. This holds the tarp up in the center.

This will obviously not work once the rains start, but then by that time the need for shade diminishes greatly.

Summertime chicken soup

This may be the world's best tasting chicken soup ever. Not to mention healthy!
It's a tad complex to make, but worth it!

Yum!


Chickens simmering in water


The veggies being sauteed


Ingredients:

2 heritage little sprouts farm chickens
2 TBS organic apple cider vinegar
2 TBS organic balsamic vinegar
1 tsp organic chili powder
1 TBS organic mushroom powder
1 inch organic Ginger root, chopped
2 organic onions, sliced
6 organic carrots, sliced
1 tsp organic oregano
1/2 stick pastured butter
1 can full fat organic coconut milk
1/2 head raw organic garlic, chopped
1/4 cup Organic olive oil
Redmond salt to taste

In a large stock pot, cover the chickens with water and simmer until done.

Meanwhile, place all other ingredients EXCEPT the garlic and olive oil onto a large skillet. Saute everything together until the onions and carrots are tender. Once done, remove from heat and stir in chopped garlic and olive oil.

Meanwhile, debone the chicken and cut into bite sized pieces. (Be sure to keep the bones for bone broth later).

To serve: you now have 3 separate components... Chicken meat, chicken broth, and sauteed vegetables. Just combine the proportion desired of each into serving bowls. Salt if desired. For a spicy twist, add a few drops of organic jalapeno sauce.

Best served with a glass of ice cold raw goat milk.

posted from Bloggeroid

More chicken and turkey parts in the store!

We spent the afternoon processing some more chickens and turkeys. The first batch is already just about sold out! But don't worry... If you missed ordering, there should be enough now to last the 2 weeks for the next order.

Customers in Medford, Jacksonville, Central point, eagle point areas can still order for delivery tomorrow!

What is available? Here is a quick rundown:

Heritage chickens and turkeys -these are not at all like the store bought chicken like products, and not even like the "meat chickens" raised by most farms. These are just plain ole chickens like Grandma's day. They are small ( average 3 to 4 lbs each) but the meat is so flavorful and nutritious, plus the bones make the best bone broth possible. This is especially true of the turkeys. Our favorite is to roast a turkey low and slow on a smoker or oven, pull off the meat, then cook the bones for the best turkey bone broth you ever tasted!

Heads and feet - primarily used for stocks. Just boil a head or two with a few feet, maybe add some onion and black pepper cons, a little salt... Strain and yum! It makes a very light but highly nutritious stock that you can't buy on the store. The flavor is amazingly smooth and subtle, but it packs a mighty punch of nutrition!

Gizzards and heart - organ meats..
Super nutrition! These are best simmered for several hours with a little onion and bay leaf, then strain the liquid for chicken stock and chop the meat up small. You can then add the nutrition of organ meats to almost any meat dish and no one knows it is there!

Necks-. These are the magical component of plain ole chicken stock. Just boil the necks in a little water for a few hours (don't boil dry!) And strain. Sometimes it is possible to pull some meat off, but either way this is drinkable chicken broth.

As usual, all of these products are :
Soy free
Heritage breed
Pasture raised
Organically and nongmo fed
Humanely treated and processed


Head into the online store now to reserve your selection!
https://csa.farmigo.com/store/littlesproutsfarm

posted from Bloggeroid

Heritage chicken in a pot

A crock pot that is.... Here is tonight dinner, two heritage chicken slow cooked all day with salt, pepper, and bay leaves. Simple and delicious.

And that broth... Mmmm!

posted from Bloggeroid

Chickens and turkey available now!

We finally have both whole chicken and whole turkey in the online store ready for ordering just in time for this coming delivery. And not just whole chicken and turkey, but also all the extras like necks (for the best stock in the world) gizzards, liver, hearts, heads, and feet. Brose through the online store to pick out what you would like for this week.

What to use everything for?

Head and feet make very healthy stock... Just boil, maybe a few onions, garlic and peppercorns.

Gizzards and hearts are great for inclusion in any dish to add super healthy organ meats without overwhelming flavor. I like these in dressing!

Liver.... The most popular organ we offer. Chicken and turkey liver often disappears as fast as we can get it into the store.

The chickens are sold by the bird and weigh in about 2.5 to 3.5 lbs. Heritage chickens are slimmer, tastier, and healthier than conventional ( highly breed for profit) birds. The meat is an equal balance of white and dark and actually has texture like meat should. The bones make excellent bone broth.

The turkeys are sold by the nearest half pound. These weigh in between 6 and 9 lbs. Just like the chickens, equal light and dark meat, excellent flavor and texture. If you have not tried heritage turkey, you have a pleasant surprise waiting! These birds are a totally unique culinary experience.

And as always, all these products are fed organic, soy free, nongmo feeds, plus pasture raised, naturally bred, humanely treated, and heritage breed.

Products will be in the online store by Sunday night and stay listed until sold out. And as usual.. any subscriptions will he filled first.

Enjoy!

posted from Bloggeroid

Chick Days at Little Sprouts!

It's HERE!     It's HERE! 

The chicks have hatched! Right on schedule. Well over half arrived by tonight, and the rest should be hatching tomorrow, at 21 days. So far, there are 109 chicks running around tonight in the indoor brooder, and another 24 drying in the bottom of the incubator.

A veritable sea of chicks!

This little guy seems to be somewhat in charge, keeping watch over his brothers and sisters and cousins.

 This hatching is the first of likely three hatchings this year. This is the start of our new approach to raising chickens for both meat and eggs.  More on that in a later blog post!

These will also serve as the winter egg layers! The eggs were collected in mid February from hens that needed no extra light to lay through the winter. In theory, they should be more consistent layers during short days in winter when they mature.  Next we will do a summer set of hatchings to get hens comfortable laying in the dry heat of summer.

I'll explain more in later posts.

Brooder Setup

We are trying a new "indoor brooder" setup this year. The weather is a bit wet and clammy to send these newborns right out into the night air, so they are going to stay inside for a week or so as they get strong. But by tomorrow night, there will be 200 chicks if all goes well. How do you keep that many little feathered friends warm and dry ?

We used to use the eco-glow heaters from Brinsea.  They are wonderful heaters! But as you may recall, most of ours burned up in the chicken coop fire a couple of years ago. They are quite pricey, so we opted not to replace them. Instead, we switched to homemade brooder heaters using ceramic screw in heater elements.  These elements come in  50 to 250 watt varieties, produce no light, and provide a decent even heat without much waste.

So the design is simple, a plywood base with 7 screw in light sockets mounted underneath. Each socket then gets a 50 watt heater. The base is 34" x 34" with 350 watts of heat. Then we put legs on the corners that are adjustable height.  It is a decent homemade version of the EcoGlow heater.

The sides are 8 inch tall plastic panels from an old bed frame. Underneath is a piece of greenhouse plastic to protect the floor, covered with a few layers of newspaper. Tomorrow we might add a few shavings.

For extra safety this first night, we added Styrofoam panels to hold in heat and insulate a bit. Probably not necessary, but don't want to take any chances!

This little guy looks like she is basking in the sun at the beach in mid summer! The black circle above him is the ceramic heater element.

Winter Chicken Flock in the incubators!

Today we put the new winter laying flock into the incubators. a total of 158 eggs!

The incubator on the  right is the one without a working door this year... If you recall, I left them out int eh summer 2 years ago and the front doors warped so they would not seal. We replaced 2 doors and mode those useable, but the third is not working yet.

Unfortunately we had a little mishap.. I washed the incubator egg trays in the dishwasher on the "sanitize" cycle. Nice and clean but.. yes.. warped! Now we can only fit 36 eggs per tray, like turkeys.  The rest we put on the bottom and will manually turn them until the first candling. 

The exciting part is.. this is a winter flock! These hens layed eggs without light. The means their offspring are much more likely to lay in the winter consistently, even without light.  We will have a steady supply of fresh eggs all next winter.  

When summer comes, we will hatch another flock in the middle of summer. The offspring from summer laying hens are much more likely to lay in the heat of summer. 

In theory, we will have a fairly steady supply of eggs year round!

FINALLY! - Chickens available now in the online store for immediate delivery

After long last.. our chicken operation is recovering from the fire that wiped out our entire flock 2 years ago. We have the first products available now from the new flock.

Roasting Chickens!

This is a new heritage breed that we chose to go forward on.. Buff Orpingtons.  These birds are a nice blend between meat birds and egg layers.

Buff Orpington Hen

Buff Orpington Rooster

The hens will start laying very soon and we will have eggs, but for now we have frozen whole chickens for sale. Not stewing hens, but chickens that can be used for most any chicken dish.

We will start filling subscriptions first, and offer individual frozen birds for sale in the online store as we build up a stock.

RePrint - The importance of what your food eats

This is a great article, we have reprinted here in entirety instead of just a link, becasue it is so good.  The link to the original article is :

http://www.cavemandoctor.com/2016/02/08/4938/

Alchemists and Animals – The Importance of What Your Food Eats

Caveman Doctor > Nutrition > Alchemists and Animals – The Importance of What Your Food Eats

cavemandoctor February 8, 2016 0 Comments

Nutrition

alchemist chicken, cage-free eggs, david perlmutter,free range eggs, healthy eggs, omega eggs, pastured chicken, pastured eggs

Alchemists and Animals – The Importance of What Your Food Eats

The Alchemist Chicken

During the Integrative Health Conference in New York City several years back, I participated in a debate regarding the optimal human diet – vegan, paleo, or Mediterranean. During this debate, Dr. David Perlmutter, author of Grain Brain,used the term the alchemist cow. He was referring to cows that are fed a poor diet, given antibiotics, and stuffed in a small space – yet we somehow believe that their milk and meat would still be as healthy as a cow that is raised appropriately. Click here for the entire debate.

Alchemy is the ancient practice of trying to transform metals into gold. Even the mega-genius Isaac Newton thought that he could perform alchemy. However, as he and others found out, it does not work.

We cannot make gold out of nothing. We cannot feed animals garbage and treat them poorly and expect them to magically be healthy.

When contextualizing to humans, the difference in health between a stressed out person, stuffed in a cubicle at work, never exercising, never sleeping well, and never eating versus a stress-free, healthy counterpart, the health differences become obvious.  Yet, why do we ignore this when it comes to animals?

Enter Tina and Cassandra…

Tina and Cassandra

Meet Tina. Tina lives in an empty 300 square foot apartment. Tina’s cubical at his work is so small that her elbows touch each wall and her head is a couple of feet from the ceiling. Tina is part of typical corporate America and her boss screams at her all day long causing her to be stressed. Tina’s constant level of stress causes the habitual release of a hormone called cortisol – often called the stress hormone – which causes her blood sugar to skyrocket many times throughout the day.¹ Tina’s body is frequently releasing many catecholamines (like adrenaline) that are linked to an increased risk of experiencing a heart attack, high blood pressure, and a stroke. The barrage of cortisol puts her at an increased risk of heart disease, diabetes, cognitive impairment, and a poorly functioning immune system.²

She sleeps terribly at night because of her stress level and is at an increased risk of cancer.³ To make matters worse, she is fed Boost and Ensure every day at work (link article), both foods that are quite foreign to her body.

All of these issues leave Tina sick quite often. She has to take antibiotics regularly, and sometimes even gets antibiotic-resistant infections. She has even been given hormones to help build some muscle on her paltry frame.

Man, Tina’s life stinks.

Meet Cassandra. Cassandra lives on a 15-acre plot of land. She sleeps well and wakes up with the sun. She actually works at home taking care of the land. She also finds food on the land around her home, which she freely roams. The majority of her day is spent running around this land. There is much vegetation around Cassandra’s home and she gets her daily vitamins and nutrients through her healthy diet and she even finds time to hunt. Sometimes she has to supplement it in the winter, but this is a last resort. The animals around her property provide her with the fat, protein, and nutrients she needs.

Cassandra gets stressed here and there, as we all do. However, overall she leads a very happy life. She exercises everyday by walking around freely. She rarely gets sick and has a strong immune system.

Man, Cassandra’s life is awesome.

Meet Tina and Cassandra

Tina and Cassandra are actually chickens. Tina is stuffed in a cage for her life, as she lives in a confined animal feeding operation (CAFO). She can barely move, eats unnatural foods, and is constantly stressed, secreting hormones like cortisol into her eggs and meat. Much like a stressed human mother, her offspring are unhealthy.

Tina spends all her life stuffed in her “cubicle.” Image courtesy of koko-tewan at FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Each and every day of Tina’s life is pretty terrible…

Cassandra, on the other hand, lives in a farm where she is raised on pasture. In other words, she runs around picking insects out of the ground and eating grass – her normal diet.

Cassandra spending a typical day running around and foraging. Image courtesy of suwatpo at FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Cassandra’s life is pretty awesome. Cassandra health is pretty awesome. The eggs that Cassandra lays are pretty awesome too.

Whether It Is Chickens or People

Few people give thought to Tina and Cassandra when they are buying eggs at the grocery store. Tina’s eggs are obviously much cheaper, as we would expect. It is much cheaper to stuff Tina in a cage and feed her unnatural food than to let her run around eating worms and insects, some grass, and the occasional supplemental feed.

Along these lines, it is also much easier to push Tina and Cassandra to the back of your head, forget about them and Tina’s cruel and unhealthy upbringing, and pay $1.66 for a dozen of Tina’s less healthy eggs from her less healthy body.

Tina and Cassandra’s Eggs

Much like Tina and Cassandra’s health, their eggs are very different from each another. While this seems quite obvious after reading about their daily lifestyle, the differences can be remarkable.

Cassadra’s pastured eggs contain:

1. Double the amount of vitamin E than Tina’s eggs
2. Double the amount of healthy omega-3 fatty acids
3. 38% more vitamin A

Tina’s eggs, on the other hand, contain significantly more inflammatory omega-6 fatty acids.⁴

Much like Tina’s life, Tina’s eggs stink in comparison to Cassandra’s.

Tina’s eggs also contain a much higher ratio of omega-6 to omega-3 fatty acids. In other words, Cassandra’s eggs have much more anti-inflammatory omega-3s, while Tina’s have significantly more omega-6’s. The ratio of omega-6 to omega-3 is closer to 4:1 or 1:1, which is what our ancestors consumed for thousands of years.⁵ A high ratio of omega-6 to omega-3s is associated with an increased risk of diseases like prostate cancer⁶ and significantly higher amounts of autoimmune disease, inflammation, and circulating inflammatory factors.^5,7

Cassandra’s eggs also look better with their deep golden-hued yolks. They taste better too. They are a great addition to healthy bone broth (LINK BONE BROTH) and a healthy part of the diet.

Much like Cassandra’s life, her eggs are healthy and fulfilling.

Tina’s Effect On Us

While it is obvious that the meat and eggs of our chickens strongly depend on the environment where they are raised, the resultant effect on our body is no different. And if the information above is not enough to get you to consider what you eat, then perhaps this information will change your mind.

Eating eggs from pastured chickens and those with high omega-3 fatty acid feeds result in:

1. 22.4% more vitamin E within blood values
2. 55% more carotenoids in the blood
3. Decreased serum C-reactive protein (CRP), a marker of inflammation.⁸

CAFO eggs, on the other hand, increase oxidized LDL cholesterol (cholesterol bound with free radicals) which is a major risk of heart disease and cancer. One researcher has gone as far as stating that omega-3 eggs “provide protection against oxidative stress, inflammation, and acute effects of high glycemic load” with “a unique capacity to transform and concentrate protective nutrients.”⁹ In other words, healthy eggs are nutrient-dense foods that help fight inflammation and provide significant health benefit.

The (Non) Cost Differential

A common excuse to buy less healthy and less ethical eggs is the difference in cost. Right now eggs cost $1.66 per dozen in New York, while eggs from pastured hens cost anywhere from $4.99-6.99. The price is clearly higher and this is certainly a sensitive issue for those families with a limited budget. Eggs are still an incredibly healthy food, and I would not eliminate them based on the information above.

Yet, for those of us that eat 1-2 dozen per week the difference in price comes out to about $256 per year, or half the price of an iPhone, two months of cable television, or two expensive dinners. Many of us can certainly find this money from entertainment spending or other less essential costs throughout the week. Pastured eggs are also larger, more flavorful, and more nutrient-dense, so including nutrition-per-dollar likely leaves that $256 as significantly less.

For those of us with farmer’s markets around, pastured eggs are even cheaper. This may take a little more time and effort, but we can use the time saved from cancelling our cable (along with all the extra cash…). This also follows “voting with our wallets.” If we continue to buy ethical pastured eggs instead of the less healthy confined eggs, prices may begin to accommodate the consumer.

The Alchemist Animal

It is time to think about Tina and Cassandra when shopping at the grocery store or local farmer’s market for chicken or any animal products. The push for ethical and more natural foods may be more expensive, but it may be hard to put a price on the health benefits for us and ethical benefits for the animals.

As Tina knows, there are no alchemist chickens.

References:

1. Smyth J, Ockenfels MC, Porter L, Kirschbaum C, Hellhammer DH, Stone AA. Stressors and Mood Measured on a Momentary Basis are Associated With Salivary Cortisol Secretion. Psychoneuroendocrinology. 1998;23(4):353-370. doi:10.1016/S0306-4530(98)00008-0.
2. Lundberg U. Stress hormones in health and illness: the roles of work and gender. Psychoneuroendocrinology. 2005;30(10):1017-1021. doi:10.1016/j.psyneuen.2005.03.014.
3. Blask DE. Melatonin, sleep disturbance and cancer risk. Sleep Med Rev. 2009;13(4):257-264. http://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S1087079208000786?showall=true.
4. Karsten HD, Patterson PH, Stout R, Crews G. Vitamins A, E and fatty acid composition of the eggs of caged hens and pastured hens. Renew Agric Food Syst. 2010;25(01):45. doi:10.1017/S1742170509990214.
5. A.P S. The importance of the ratio of omega-6/omega-3 essential fatty acids. Biomed & Pharmacother. 2002;56(8):365-379. doi:10.1016/s0753-3322(02)00253-6.
6. Williams CD, Whitley BM, Hoyo C, et al. A high ratio of dietary n-6/n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids is associated with increased risk of prostate cancer. Nutr Res. 2011;31(1):1-8. doi:10.1016/j.nutres.2011.01.002.
7. Simopoulos AP. Omega-3 Fatty Acids in Inflammation and Autoimmune Diseases. J Am Coll Nutr. 2002;21(6):495-505. http://www.jacn.org/content/21/6/495.abstract.
8. Burns-Whitmore B, Sapwarobol S, Haddad E, Sabate J, Rajaram S. N-3 Fatty Acid Enriched Egg Decreases C-Reactive Protein in Healthy Adults. FASEB J. 2007;21(6):A740 – b – . http://www.fasebj.org/cgi/content/meeting_abstract/21/6/A740-b. Accessed February 6, 2016.
9. Shapira N. Not all eggs are created equal: the effect on health depends on the composition. Can J Cardiol. 2011;27(2):264.e5; 264.e7-e8. doi:10.1016/j.cjca.2010.11.010.

Sprouts.. Nutritional powerhouse

This paragraph from the linked article below should catch your eye:

 "A powerhouse of nutrition, sprouts can contain up to 30 times the nutrition of organic vegetables grown in your own garden, and allow your body to extract more vitamins, minerals, amino acids and essential fats from the foods you eat. During sprouting, minerals, such as calcium and magnesium, bind to protein, making them more bioavailable. Furthermore, both the quality of the protein and the fiber content of beans, nuts, seeds and grains improves when sprouted. The content of vitamins and essential fatty acids also increase dramatically during the sprouting process."

Think about that.. 30x increase in nutrition by turning a seed into a sprout!

This is why we feed hogs and poultry sprouts instead of dry grain. Sure... Its more labor to sprout grain every day instead of just opening a bag of feed, especially at 400lbs per day... But 30x is worth it!

Or animals are raised from birth with sprouted grains and organic produce we grow ourselves. There is simply no substitute! 30x nutrition! No factory formula feed can compete with that. And since "you are what you eat"... What farm animals eat determines YOUR quality of health. Most farms buy the cheapest feed they can... Not us. Little sprouts is dedicated to our customer health... You. We won't skimp on quality!

So when your enjoying the incredible flavor of our ribs, loins, chops, sausage, chicken.... Rest assured we used every aspect of nature we could to increase the health benefits. Health matters, and everything done at the farm makes a difference on your plate.



http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2013/05/23/edible-garden.aspx

posted from Bloggeroid

Chickens coming soon!

Good news! The roosters are finally at size! In fact, they look good!

Since animals build bone structure first, then meat and last fat... they still need another 3 or 4 weeks to fill out, but when they do these guys look super!

Thanks for your patience. After this in initial startup we should be in a continual cycle to harvest every few months. Remember that real chickens (heritage breeds) take 2 to 3 times longer to grow than todays commercially modified breeds.

These guys look like it will be worth the wait!

posted from Bloggeroid

First worms hatch!

No pictures yet... sorry... but great news! our first worms have hatched in the new bug barn! Levi has been meticulously caring for these little bugs for over a month and.. finally it pays off.  I spied the first baby mealworms in the egg buckets!

We will be publishing some pictures soon of the setup... geared to eventually produce about 20,000 to 40,000 worms per day for feeding our birds. In fact, we are publishing an ebook on how to build the racks we designed to make a small space handle a huge amount of worms.

More details to come.. for now lets celebrate the success of WORMS!

The best ever pasture chicken waterer!

We have tried them all! name it, we have used it... chicken waters come in a variety of shapes, sizes and styles. But finally, we have found one that we truly love!

The brilliant things about these waterers are :

enclosed float under the bucket, out o reach
Easy open top to refill
large size
no need to carry to refill
water inside stays clean

Basically there is a float system under the bucket that lets water flow slowly into the lower ring. It is so enclosed that it doesnt get dirty, plugged, or changed by tiny feet, beaks, etc.  There is no vacuum system to maintain with special rings, seals, etc.  This unit just works!

We buy them from teh local Big R Stores, and have converted all our coops over this year. There is a similiar waterer on amazon and other sites with the same design but only 5 gallons of capacity. This one holds 6.25 gallons.

The New Chicken Flock is Growing!

We moved the new chicks from the brooder finally to the pasture coops. Wow were they happy for the extra space! They have grown so much so fast! (must be that scratch and peck starter!)

We placed these little guys on the new leased pasture right next door. The land there has not had any animals on it for quite some time, and really needs some natural stress and fertilizer.  By this time ext year it will be sprouting with green life!

So far we have the hens in pone coop, and the rooster in the other. Once the roosters mature, we will turn most of them into chicken meat, saving a few for breeders to mix in with the hens.  Then... we will have Eggs for sale again!

Here is the hen coop finished and occupied. You can see the area to the lower left that shows the first plot fertilized by the hens.

These little guys are soooo happy!

Here is a view of all three coops (including hens, roosters, and the older breeders from our special genetics flock) . You can see where we watered the used area behind the coop to help wash the fertilizer into the ground. This speeds up and intensifies the fertility of the soil.

Struggling to keep chicken in stock

The demand for properly produced chicken and turkey products has increased dramatically as of late.   Add a result,  we are struggling to keep up with demand.  It if great to see so many using these health giving products like get,  heads,  organs...  There just isn't a substitute. 

But....  Wet struggle to keep up with demand.  Our apologies if your order was shorted last delivery.  We are working on picking up the pace of production.

Miracle at Little Sprouts!

Ever so often something happens that gives you pause, something so unexpected and unusual that it makes you think there is more here than meets the eye. Today.. is one of those days.

There was a tragic setback in our new chicken flock last night. It got colder than expected, and the baby hens didnt stay put under the heaters. They wandered. They wandered so far that they didnt manage to find their back to the heaters in time. Kaelyn found them this morning, laying lifeless in the corner of the brooder. 18 little hens on the brink of death.

Now.. let me say this before I continue... this happens occasionally for one reason or another. Chicks do not have the capacity to maintain their own body heat for long and quickly "go to sleep" and die when they get cold.  What we do in these situations warm them as quickly as possible by placing the babies into a warm incubator  with light airflow. BUT.. it has rarely worked. In fact, historically speaking, the chances of these chicks living were about 1 in 100.

But you do what you can.. so we placed them into the incubator as usual and waited. The children got together and prayed for the little birds. It was quite a sad moment. We didnt expect many, if any, to make it. They were lifeless, most totally without movement.  The ones that could move would only slowly slide their limp head back and forth. some... were stiff.

2 hours later... I am sitting in my office and in runs the children overwhelmingly excited! Levi is holding the tray in his hands. I didnt know what to expect until they announced "they ALL made it!" Sure enough, looking into the tray, all the chicks were alive, standing, chirping, and looked perfectly healthy!  Totally amazing! So the children ran them back to the brooder heaters and let them get some food. They were running around, eating, drinking, acting like nothing ever happened, all 18!

I have no explanation for this... except that... the children prayed.  God hears the prayers of little ones... and answers.

First chickens ready for delivery!

We finally were able to get started on chicken processing!  We did a smaller batch today,  enough to fill the subscriptions for this week.  We will follow this with another day or two of processing this week so we have enough to last a while.

Thank you for your patience!

Back in the Chicken and Egg Business!

Finally... after more than a year since the fire that destroyed our chicken genetics, chicken business, and egg business, nearly devastating our entire business model and driving us into a yer of "rest".  We are BACK in the chicken business!

We had planned on retiring a few older birds today for stewing chickens and broth but.. early this morning we got the call. Our new chicken flock had arrived a couple days early! So.. we dropped everything and raced around today to prepare the brooders and retrieve the new chicks from the post office.   260 chicks, Buff Orpingtons, healthy as can be. Well, we lost 2 in the shipping, but 2 out of nearly 300 is pretty good.

So here are some pics..  of the chicks, the excited children, and the brooders finally being populated.  In another 6 months, we will have a steady supply of chicken eggs! Then we start our yearly rotation to provide constant eggs, meat, broth, and happiness!

Thank you for your patience,  just a few more months....

Everyone anxiously waiting to open the boxes of chicks!

Empty brooder on fresh green grass

Ok now.. which are males, which are females....

Finally baby chicks!

So exciting! new life! fun!

1... 2.... 3.... 

They are everywhere dad!

Hunter and his chicks

These little girls would not leave my feet!

Ollie getting the water ready!

Levi is checking on those boys

They are so tiny dad!

Here is the finished setup for the girls, 4 flat panel heaters.

And of course , plenty of fresh water

The guys place... 2 flat panel heaters and 2 heat lights. Party all night!

New Chicken breed chosen!

We are back in the chicken business!

As you may recall from a year ago, we lost our chicken flocks due to a tragic fire in winter of 2014. We attempted to rebuild the flock from the few remaining hens, but there just wasnt enough to get us to production size with them. So, after waiting for a year to get to breeding time.. we have chosen and ordered our new flock!

We have decided on Buff Orpington breed.  They are a heritage breed that works well for both meat and eggs. Here is a description of them:

One time years ago at our Hamilton County Fair the poultry judge was asked to describe the correct plumage color for this variety. Taking out his gold watch he said, "That's the color for Buff Orpingtons." And pure gold they are, symbolic of great value and high quality. Introduced from England in the late 1800's, they became one of the most popular farm fowls in this country. These are large, stately birds of quiet disposition. Easy to dress for the table they are white skinned, plump, and juicy, a beautiful eating bird.Their heavy, full plumage make them excellent winter layers, shelling out brown eggs right through cold weather. They also make excellent setters and mothers. These "Golden Beauties" have been one of our most popular varieties for years and years with their glistening plumage and pinkish white skin. Baby chicks are a soft light buff color. 

It will take a while to get back into production, about 7 months from now. But these birds will provide us with a nice supply of eggs and meat and broths.

Stay tuned!