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  • Ironwood store
  • Ironwood Blogs
    • Chicken Blog
    • Sheep Blog
    • Pig Blog
    • Experiments in sustainability
    • 100 ways to die on a tractor...
    • Hugelkulture Gardens
    • Animals in the garden >
      • Pigs
      • Pig breeds to consider
      • Sheep
      • Sheep breeds to consider >
        • Chickens >
          • Chicken tractors
          • Butchering
          • Deep litter
    • Wildcrafting Plants >
      • Aquaculture
      • Trees
      • Wild Animals
      • Mushrooms
    • Preserving the Harvest
  • Contact Us
  • My Amazon Store and Links of Incredible Interest

They look at me like I'm food...

5/2/2013

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Picture
O.k. not kidding, I think if I somehow became incapacitated and fell into their brooder I might not make it out.  The growth rate of these guys is amazing, we are at three weeks as of these last pictures and though they aren't even feathered out completely they are bigger than the dark cornish fully feathered at five weeks last year.  I'm at a loss as to how much feed to buy this month to get them through to June.  In the first three weeks of life 25 chicks have consumed most of the 100 lbs of starter feed i began this game of chicks with.  They are still in the brooder with heat lamps  at night, but this set up is on the edge of acceptable.  The amount of input is too much for my liking.  I'm changing water and adding feed several times a day, and now am adding straw every morning to deal with the poo flow since i ran out of compost.  The barn should be ready to hold them by the weekend, and it won't come a moment too soon.  I think once these guys are in the freezer i will add biodynamic preps to the floor of the barn coop to prep it for the next batch.  All of the litter from the brooder will go into the coop once it is recomposted.  When the next batch comes they will skip the brooder tank and go straight to the barn.  And for all you kids out there, learn from my mistakes -think big for the fast growers lest they find you unawares and consume you....

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    Eva Taylor

      Born in New Hampshire and raised in Maine, Eva's passion for living self sustainably began with Helen and Scott Nearing.  Both were homesteaders who carved their lives from the land.  Eva now lives in Eastern West Virginia, with her husband Dain and daughter Shayna, carving out her own life.

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