Tonight's menu...

Here is a look at tonight's menu at the farm...

For starters we have a selection of fresh baby greens, a variety of green plants and weeds from the garden. Succulent, just picked with roots and all.

Then we move on to the main course... Our own mix of soaked, sprouted, and fermented grains. Not one grain... but multi grains. And when we say sprouted... We mean really sprouted with 1 inch tails!

Then to finish, a dessert of another batch of greens (weeds).

These guys eat well!

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Poultry Bedding, well almost!

Here is a quick pic of our poultry bedding... we make it ourself!

We collect brush as goat feed. This can be tree trimmings, landscaping projects, etc. As long as it is grown organically and good for goats to eat, we collect or accept donations and let them have at it! Great source of minerals and nutrition for the goats in milk.  

Once the goats consume all the leaves, small twigs, and bark.. the branches go into a pile to dry. Then through the chipper and into bird bedding!

Please remember to contact us when you are trimming trees, to see if it makes sense to collect it!

The Chicken Transport!

What do you do when you need to haul over 300 chickens?  Build a chicken transport!

Thats what we did last weekend... we ran across a golden opportunity to acquire a set of over 300 laying hens that met our standards, so we purchased the entire set to jump start this year's egg harvest.  But getting them home on short notice was quite the challenge.

So....

I turned the stock trailer into a chicken transport with few 2x4s, some pallets, two pieces of vinyl house siding, 2 sections of vinyl lattice, and some bailing wire.  the whole process took about 2 hours and worked beautifully! There are now two floors in the trailer, upper and lower.  And all the wind and escape routes were blocked while providing just enough ventilation.

Here are some pics!

The drivers side finished. The grey is the vinyl siding to block wind and escape route. Right below the siding is the top of the pallets that form the second floor. 

Looking into the rear door. Yes, the door still opens! Across the back is the lattice for ventilation, and a 2x8 to fill the gap (scraps dont always match the perfect size!). Below that is the pallet of the second floor, seemingly hanging in mid air. 

You can see the 2x4s that stretch across from left to right and hold up the pallets. The 2x4s actually just go right through the center of the pallets to hold them. Then 1x1 strips screwed on the inside hold the 2x4s in place. 

View of bottom floor looking from the rear door. The 2x6s on the floor are for when we transport grain pallets, allowing them to slide across the wood floor without hurting it. 

Here is the roomy second floor! Three pallets make this floor an almost perfect fit. Look closely on the edges and you can see the 1x1 strips that hold the 2x4s in place. 

Here is the support setup. 2x4s slid through the window, then 1x1 screwed across them to hold them from sliding in either direction. This provides solid support with no holes in the trailer!

One little patch of lattice covers the leftover hole in the front beyond the siding,. Then.. the ultimate.. a chicken ladder from the bottom to the top made from 2 wire shelves. 

The whole odd setup performed extremely well! We were able to transport about 250 chickens safely and comfortably without any double stacking of passengers. They all made it home perfectly fine.

Sad to dismantle this crude work of art, but it's use is over. Perhaps I will store the pieces away for use in a couple years ?  Who knows!

Quick Update on things for April

Sorry, no pictures on this post. Quite honestly... we have been a bit too busy to keep up with reporting on things.  So here is a quick update:

1. The fave beans are sprouted, reasonably well. Not as good as hoped, but not bad. The week of warmer rains might bring a few more to the surface... hopefully.

2. We did manage to get the entire main garden tilled this week, just in time for the rain. As always, the plan is to till as soon as dry enough, then let it sit through a warm rain (at least not cold) to sprout initial weed set, then a light till when it dries again and plant.  We have the first tilling done, now waiting for the rain, sprouting, retilling and planting. For the curious, the main garden this year is right at 1 1/2 acres in size.

3. We have 2 more areas hoping to get planted before summer, the old goat pen and the present pig pen. Those two are well fertilized and ready to go. But, the goat pen is much too muddy yet and the pig pen is.. well.. housing pigs yet! Plus the pigs totally tore down one side of fencing, held up by a pallet, so that must be replaced.

4. There are 2 more potential areas to plant this year... one has been housing horses for several years, and the other is the original winter garden spot. both should grow well.

5. The goats are almost all into milk now, ready for the season.  It has meant some serious restructuring of the barn to accommodate the bulk of the herd all at once, but it is slowly coming together.

6. We did manage to get the milking barn rebuilt, cleaned up from the winter, and useable again.

7. The new chicken flock is doing well, we ended up with right at 150 young birds that look healthy and happy. They will be coming out of the brooders this week and into their first job of fertilizing one garden area.

8. The new guinea fowl arrive this week, which means we will be retiring the old flocks to start anew, providing some excellent meat and organs for sale.

9. We have tested last year's home made "feed" of dehydrated zuchinni and greens. It stored exceptionally well! opening the buckets after 6 months revealed perfectly dry, aromatic, well preserved vegetables! The chickens were the first recipients of this marvelous free feed and they love it as long as it is ground a bit into smaller chunks. And their eggs... WHOA! the best eggs we have ever produced! Thick orange yolks, well developed whites, perfect aroma and a beautiful soft flavor. These are , in my humble opinion, the best eggs I have ever seen! And that is without the bug barn in operation, just zuchinni and greens! It looks like the experiment is a smashing success!

10. This week with the rains we hope to spend time finishing the barn insides and getting the chickens moved into their spring positions. Then it's office work! We have lots of paperwork to do to support the new may announcements!

I think that's about it for now. Please forgive us for not keeping up with emails this week, the pleasant weather break meant some long days, and enough hours in the sun to build a nice sunburn! The rains means that things will settle a bit and we can get back on top of things.

Thanks for all your support!

New Product! Healthy Hen Supplement!

This month we are releasing another new product, this time for chickens!

Here is a pic of the new mix. You can see the DE covering most of the grain and grubs giving this a frosty white appearance. 

Healthy Hen Supplement!
This supplement has everything in it that chickens need, but it often missing from their feed.... even the best feeds! Anyone can use this supplement to provide better health, but it is especially important for confined hens and hens fed inexpensive soy based feeds.

Turn "cheap feed" into a reasonably healthy diet by adding this supplement to the normal chicken feed once or twice a week. Watch the egg quality to see how often your hens need another boost. The difference should be evident in the eggs within a day or two of feeding!

A closeup to show the individual ingredients! 

Here is the list of ingredients:

• 3 grain scratch
• Organically fed Black Soldier Fly Larva
• Healthy Chicken Herb Mix
• Oyster Shell
• Chicken Grit
• Food Grade Diatamecous Earth

A Run Down of the Ingredients and Benefits

3 grain scratch Organic Wheat, Barley and Oats:
These organic non-gmo grains serve as a base to hold the DE and to create enough volume so that the first chickens do not consume all of the treats restricting the intake of others.

Organically fed Black Soldier Fly Larva:
The chicken's natural source of protein, bugs! These bugs are grown on organic food scraps in the pacific northwest and freeze dried. They make the best source of fat and protein we have ever found! Just a few of these in the chickens diet will improve health and make deeper colored, richer eggs!

Healthy Chicken Herb Mix:
this is a unique mix of organic dried herbs that provide a foundation of health for chickens.  The herbs in this mix are the ones used to treat problems, included at a level that is preventative of those same problems!

Oyster Shell:
Extra calcium is necessary for chickens to create good hard thick egg shells. Most layer feeds have just barely enough calcium for actively laying chickens. Adding a bit more usually improves the egg shells dramatically.

Chicken Grit:
Grit is tiny hard rocks that act as a chicken's teeth, grinding the food within their stomach for better digestion. Without grit, a chicken can not digest food properly at all. Chickens that are contained to a pen will often pick the ground clean in their pin early on, leaving them at a loss for grit as they age.

Food Grade Diatamecous Earth:
 DE is used to treat a variety of health conditions including parasites. Just a little DE every so often will provide a layer of protection and health to keep problems from developing.

You can order this feed supplement in the online store with your regular order.  It comes in 1.5 lb and 4.5 lb bag. The 1.5lb bag will feed about a dozen chickens once, 6 chickens twice. Adjust proportionally for the 4.5 lb bag. We recommend starting by adding this to their feed once a week, and see if you can tell a difference in the eggs. If the egg quality goes visibly up and down (color and consistency of yolk, whites, and thickness of shells), then feed more often. Every set of chickens and feed is slightly different, so explore and see what your chickens need.

Little Sprouts Eggs improving!

The good news about our required reshuffling of the animals is an improvement in egg quality!

As you may recall, we purchased a young flock of birds to add to our existing flock, effectively doubling their number. Unfortunately we didnt have time to think through where to put all these birds in a pinch, so they all went together in the existing egg laying spot.

It didnt take long, and all the green grass and plants were eaten or trampled. Too many birds in a smaller area does that.  But now, with the reshuffling, the birds are back out on green pastures with plenty of grass and weeds, and of course, bugs!

What does this mean? you can expect the eggs immediately to take on a deeper orange color. The color of the yolks is directly related to the amount of greenery in the bird's diet. The more living green foods, the deeper orange and thicker the yolks are. The effect is almost immediate.  So expect to see a change in the next delivery!

Here is the shot of the new locations, if you look way back in the center, you will see the chickens are now placed (in their laying trailer) right between the sheep and goats! There they have access to both pastures freely, and the abundance of bugs that both herds bring.

The grass back there is about 4 to 6 inches tall, so it will last a while!  The trailer will move back and forth within that protected paddock to spread out the "fertilizer" and provide new grass continually.

While there is no verifiable health benefit of eggs that are grass fed from eggs that are grain fed, there is a noticeable difference.  We are going to do out best to keep these girls on tall grass for the duration of the summer. And hopefully bring online our "bug barn" and its designed in supply of 100,000 mealworms per day! (stay tuned on that!)

NEW PRODUCT - Black Soldier Fly Larva (grubs) !

We are very pleased to announce that we are now carrying , in stock, an excellent chicken (or other poultry) supplement.. Black Soldier Fly larva, otherwise known as grubs.

These grubs are sourced from our feed supplier, Scratch and Peck feeds. They come freeze dried in a 3.5lb bag, ready to use but ok to sit on the shelf.  they are a powerhouse of nutrition for birds of all sorts.

You can find them for sale in our online store in the FEED section

Here are some facts, from Scratch and peck:

Description:

Cluckin’ Good Grubs are whole, dried Black Soldier Fly larvae, an environmentally friendly feed supplement or treat to be used in conjunction with our balanced animal feeds.  Our Grubs are a renewable food raised on traceable pre-consumer waste fruits, vegetables and grains that might otherwise go to a landfill.  Cluckin’ Good Grubs are rich in protein, Omega-3’s, and are an excellent source of calcium.  Even more exciting, Cluckin’ Good Grubs are grown in the Pacific NW unlike mealworms, which are predominantly sourced from China.  See our blog post for more information on our Grubs.

Frequently Asked Questions

What are Cluckin' Good Grubs?

The grubs are actually the larvae of the Black Soldier Fly. Black Soldier Flies are “specialists” in recycling spoiled or unused food and are used to supplement animal feeds. Black Soldier Flies do not bite, nor do they buzz around looking for something to eat, making them a useful ally in sustainable agriculture. The processing method of the grubs is to wash, cook and then dry.

What do Cluckin' Good Grubs feed on?

The grubs feed on pre-consumer waste such as fruits, vegetables, and grains that might otherwise go to a landfill. All of their feed is 100% traceable and provides a nutritious diet yielding a healthy larvae rich in calcium and Omega-3s. Most comparable products on the market are sourced from China and have been tested to show high levels of mercury.

Are Cluckin' Good Grubs from China?

Absolutely not! Sourcing the highest quality ingredients directly from local growers is extremely important to Scratch and Peck and our Cluckin’ Good Grubs are no exception. We are very excited about our 100% Pacific NW sourced Cluckin’ Good Grubs and the partnerships we have formed to bring you this sustainable and nutritious treat.

Why are some Cluckin' Good Grubs darker than others?

Different maturity levels of the larvae will vary in color.

What is in the bag with Cluckin' Good Grubs?

The extra content in the bag is small amounts of dried feedstock left over from the separation process. This is not harmful for animals to eat.

Who can eat Cluckin' Good Grubs?

Cluckin’ Good Grubs can be fed to any omnivorous animal who eats insects as part of its diet. They are a perfect treat for chickens, ducks, game birds and we hear some reptiles love them too!

Why should I feed Cluckin' Good Grubs?

Cluckin’ Good Grubs are a great source of protein which promotes feather growth and discourages feather picking. A great boredom buster so they can scratch and peck around the coop searching for more!

What is the shelf life for Cluckin' Good Grubs?

About 1 year.

Chickens chickens everywhere!

Exciting news! We are right on the verge of having the sought after little sprouts eggs for sale again! Its been 3 long years of waiting and working... and the day is fast approaching, right around the corner!

Our own replacement flock (to replace the flock we lost in the fire) is now mature and starting to lay. In addition, God has blessed by bringing an opportunity to expand the flock greatly, in fact double! Another local farm who we trust, who was also using heritage breeds and feeding scratch and peck, decided to sell their new flock. Incredibly these birds are the exact same age as ours, and most are the same breed!

This opportunity came up suddenly, but we were able to jump on it and bring all the birds home last night. Today we let them out of the transport trailer to explore their new home, while we readied the laying coop. There were a lot of birds running around our yard! Over 200 in all!

By this evening we managed to get most of them into the proper area, but its by no means finished. The rain slowed things down a bit. One more day and they should be settled and happily laying. We chose to move them all together in the sheep pasture, where few birds have been.

If all goes well... there will be the first eggs available for sale on the next delivery! We will start contacting people that are on the waiting list first. It may take a month to reach full supply, so just a little more patience will be required. Then we will open up new egg subscriptions to those not on the waiting list.

Sorry for the lack of pictures... we will take some asap to show the new birds and their new home, but I couldn't get any today because of the rain.

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