The Accidental (happening by chance or accident ; not planned; unexpected) Chicken Farmer

The pig and the chicken were on their way to breakfast, trying to decide what to have. When chicken said, ''Let's have ham and eggs.'' The pig then replied, ''That's fine for you, it's a small donation on your part, but it's a total sacrifice for me.''

 

When we started out last May, we just wanted four hens. I had my brother, David, build a homemade coop to hold four hens.  The magic number here is four.  By June, I'm talking about one month later June, we had close to thirty hens and three roosters. That is not four. I keep asking myself, "How did this happen?" Well, the short answer is, you can't have just a few chickens.  It's like an addiction or an affliction, depending on how you look at it. 

Our first chicken coop, with veggie garden on top.

The lovely thing about chickens is nothing goes to waste.

Our blue heeler, Gypsy, loves the chickens too. (June, 2012)

 

This year Becky wanted some Easter Eggers who lay pink, blue and green eggs and I wanted Silver Laced Wyandotte.  So...........

Yeah, we know. They are roosters but we also have five hens.

The original home of this hen suffered from overcrowding.
Now she shares a yard with three other laced hens and a young rooster only.

And then there are the "no telling what" that we got when brother Dave incubated  eggs from our hens.  So...........

 

As if that were not enough, I wanted Pygmy goats.  So..........

Meet baby Lily, Blossom and Sweet Pea.

 

Most of our chickens free range during the day now and we lock them  in the barn at night with the goats.  The goats seem puzzled by all the cackling in the barn when the hens are laying and the chickens really enjoy "goat watching" as does Gypsy and her 2- two year old pups. 

I would like to say there is always peace and love here at Harmony Acres Farm in beautiful Oklahoma, but the truth is "sometimes stuff happens".  

 

The older roosters don't have a proper appreciation for the younger roosters, the stray or untrained dogs running loose in the neighborhood make me crazy (I scream like a banshee at them) and chicken hawks flying overhead give me heart palpitations (I can almost see their amused looks as I flap my arms and yell shoo).  That is just the stuff outside. 

 

We have also taken in five house dogs and four inside cats over the years and least I forget, an outside cat that hangs out in my chair on the porch (sharing his fleas with me) waiting for me to bring him dry cat food (yes, he could hunt for his food but why bother when he has room service).  His name is Harvey Gene after a dear family friend.  They are both a pain in the rear but very special to us.

 

Living on a farm, even a small one, is lots of hard work.  It is not for everyone but for me it is heaven.  One can learn a lot by observing the animals.  Things about the seasons, the weather, the unseen danger (snakes, I hate snakes) and living together in harmony. 

 

 Thank you for stopping by.  Hope to see you again soon.  The adventure continues.......

 

Good for the body is the work of the body, good for the soul the work of the soul, and good for either the work of the other.

~Henry David Thoreau

 

 

 

  

 

CONFLICTED!!!!!

You have just dined, and however scrupulously the slaughterhouse is concealed in the graceful distance of miles, there is complicity.
 ~Ralph Waldo Emerson

The title says it all.  I am conflicted!  I hate "farm factories" but I am a carnivore.  Yes, my name is Linda and I eat meat.  I like meat! I need meat with my meal to make it a meal!  This goes back generations in my family.  My ancestors never heard the word vegetarian and wouldn't have known what it was if they had.

Farm Factory

They say that you can't tell the difference between a tofu burger and a beef burger.  Let me tell you, they are wrong.  That brainwashing doesn't work on me when it comes to meat.  I know my beef.  And even worse, I love chicken!  Chicken nuggets, boneless chicken breast, chicken drumsticks, chicken.......well, you get my drift.  How can I ever look my chickens in the eye again? I never met a meat I didn't like and that includes calf fries (if you don't know, don't ask).

 

This should not be a problem for a chicken farmer like me with a ready supply of meat.

The thing is, I can't kill anything I've named (and all our animals have cute names).  Could you eat something named "Buttercup"?  Well, I can't!  So therefore, I am supporting "farm factories" which eats at my very soul. I am disgusted with myself for this weakness but what am I to do? 

 

I know that part of being a proper farmer is killing for food.  If I could kill anything, it would be the stray dogs that terrorize us.  They would find out in a hurry if "all dogs go to heaven" or not.  But I just can't.  I want to be a good vegetarian but I'm not good at grazing on plant products.  I need meat!  Becky does just fine grazing and would rather not have meat.  How do I explain to her my primeval urge for dead animals?  Is there any way this can not be my fault?  DNA? Cultural? Demented?  Is there any hope for me? 

 

After a lot of research, I came across this site, Life As A Human.  It may not totally resolve my conflict but it gave me some possible alternatives that I can live with.   

 

There’s a further complication to the decision to go meatless as an answer to animal cruelty. Crops are grown on land that was once the home of countless wild species. Think of the prairies. Where buffalo, prairie chickens and foxes once roamed in great numbers, we now grow wheat and other major crops to feed a human population that continues to grow. Some argue that just the annual planting and harvesting of crops kills millions of wild birds, amphibians, reptiles and mammals.

 

So, what do I tell my daughter? She wants to do the right thing, but what’s the right thing? It’s not to replace her hamburger with a tuna sandwich. That would be putting the welfare of a domestic animal – one created by and dependent for its very existence upon humans – with the likely extinction of a wild species. It might not even be to go vegan as that would increase the already enormous pressure on farmland.

 

The answer might be that we have to rethink what we mean by animal cruelty. Yes, we can be cruel to animals one at a time, even one herd or flock at a time, particularly in a factory setting, but we can also be cruel to animals one species at a time and even one ecosystem at a time. A healthy ecosystem might be one in which a variety of plants and animals thrive, some of which are used or taken out entirely for food. There are healthy wild ecosystems and there are healthy domestic ecosystems. Many small farms fit this description. Animals feed on plants grown on the farm that are fertilized with manure from those animals. The animals are kept in small numbers and treated well. The plants are varied and some areas of the farm might be left fallow or completely unused to keep the soil healthy and to provide habitat for wild species.

Does this absolve me of the responsibility to prevent animal cruelty by becoming a vegetarian? Does this solve my dilemma? Does this instantly make me want to eat a tofu burger? Not really.  This will have to be an ongoing process, made one choice at a time.  I cannot undo years of evolution in one day.



The tofu burger is on the left. I can tell the difference just by looking. :( 

 

Two Chicks and Our Chicks! Love Our Chickens!!!

“Regard it as just as desirable to build a chicken house as to build a cathedral.”Frank Lloyd Wright 



No self respecting woman can have a farm without having a few chickens.  So.................after pricing the small chicken coops at Orscheln's, I decided my long suffering, ever so talented brother David could build it bigger, better and cheaper (not to mention adding my special request for a garden on the top).  Boy was I right about that!




Becky loves to tend the chickens when she gets home from work.

  


We have three Black Star hens and one white Sussex hen and a white Sussex rooster.  Love our chickens!

 


David built them some shade for mid day using PVC pipe and a tarp.  Love our chickens!

 


With the 100+ degree temps, I've been adding bottles of ice to their water bowls in the afternoon.  Love our chickens!

 


We feed our chickens inside the coop late in the evening and lock them in for the night.  The coop is inside a chicken wire fence which is inside a chain link fence.

 


Becky has a veggie patch on top with lettuce, cabbage and tomatoes (tomatoes got lost in the pic by the trees in the background).

The day after they arrived, they started laying eggs (two). We have at least three eggs a day and sometimes four. Like the solar power, it doesn't sound like much but boy do they add up fast. I'm learning that the number of ways to cook eggs is endless. I would like to share them with friends and neighbors but everyone has chickens around here. I can hear roosters crowing in all directions.



O.K. this is the last picture I'm going to post today of the chickens and the coop!
Love our chickens!



Another great thing about having chickens is the poop.  Yeah, I know.  It's hard to get excited about cleaning out the chicken coop every day but the straw and poop will be a great fertilizer for our garden next year.  Gotta keep my eye on the prize when I have chicken poop splashed all over my legs and the smell is a little on the toxic side, especially in this heat.

Our first two eggs!  Love them chicks!

Early morning is my favorite time of the day.  After I spend two hours watering all the fruit trees and bushes, taking care of my big dogs outside, cleaning chicken poop, watering the veggies and hauling trash to the dumpster, it's time to sit down under the shade tree with my cup of coffee and, yes, my cigarrette, and just relax watching our chickens do their happy chicken thing.  I love living in the country and I love our chickens.  There's something just so darn comforting in watching the chickens meander around at a slow, calm pace (farm t.v. you know).  Much better than watching fish in a tank! 

Have a great day and come back again to see what we try next.

Have you had a kindness shown?
Pass it on;
'Twas not given for thee alone,
Pass it on;
Let it travel down the years,
Let it wipe another's tears,
'Til in Heaven the deed appears -
Pass it on.

~Henry Burton, Pass It On