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Tag Archives: coop
Give Bees a Chance
I love bees. Because I love (and respect and admire) bees, I maintain some hives. I am, however, in the category of what one might call “super hands-off” when it comes to manipulating those hives. What this means is that I keep … Continue reading
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Tagged applewood farm, bumble bees, carpenter bees, chicken coop, coop, fire, fireman, gasoline, goats, ground bees, honey bees, pig shed, pigs, pollinator
10 Comments
The Boy Who Lived
We have found ourselves inundated with roosters of late. Now, in a flock of about four dozen chickens, give or take, you really don’t want/need more than three rosters, tops. I’m super happy with two. In wintertime, when the hens … Continue reading
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Tagged Amlaw Family Farm, applewood farm, black copper marans, chickens, coop, culling, Death Row, eggs, frostbitten, Gen Pop, hens, humane slaughter, Leghorn, Olive Egger, organic farming, roos, roosters
4 Comments
Frozen Chicken
We got about a foot of snow yesterday. It started around 10:00 a.m. and continued well past 10:00 p.m. By any account, that’s a decent amount of snow in a relatively short period of time. The pigs were utterly unfazed, … Continue reading
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Tagged applewood farm, Bees, chickens, cockerel, coop, garage, goat shed, goats, hay, icy snow, Molly, pigs, snow
2 Comments
It Takes a Village (or, These Chicks Have Two Mommies)
One by one, our hens have gone broody over the past two months. Fifteen new chicks have joined our flock in that time, hatched from four broody mamas. And now there are even more. These new chicks came from a clutch of … Continue reading
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Tagged applewood farm, broody, chicks, communal-living, coop, eggs, gay marriage, hatching, hatching chicks, hens, it takes a village, lesbian, newborns, parentage, sperm donor, triplets, two mommies
3 Comments
Ripe for Renewal
Growing up, I had two brothers and three first cousins with whom we were very close. The six of us didn’t see one another very often, but when we did get together, it was fun and familiar and the connections … Continue reading
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Tagged applewood farm, broody hens, chickens, chicks, coop, cousins, enclosure, renewal
5 Comments
The Sacrificial Chicken
I’ve always enjoyed seeing foxes. They are beautiful and wily and move with the swift grace of a dancer. They seem so much like some wonderful cat-dog mashup that I always forget they are really bloodthirsty, chicken-slaughtering fiends. Until they strike. Which they … Continue reading
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Tagged applewood farm, baby fox, chicken, chicken coop, chicks, coop, dogs, feathers, fox attack, foxes, goat shed, hammock, mama, pig shed, pillow fight, popcorn
7 Comments
Make Way for Chick(ling)s
Y’know that lovely old children’s story, Make Way for Ducklings? In it, a mother duck and her newly-hatched babes make their way through the crowded streets of Boston in order to meet up with Dad, who had flown ahead to find … Continue reading
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Tagged applewood farm, Boston, chicken, chicks, cockerel, coop, culling, Darth, deer, hen, Make Way for Ducklings, pigs, pullet, rooster, turkeys
3 Comments
Winter on the Farm
Winter is just gearing up and already I’m feeling somewhat defeated. This is our first winter with more than just a hoop house and chickens. We have added the goats and pigs to the mix and it’s no small change. … Continue reading
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Tagged applewood farm, boar, breeding, breeding sow, chicken coop, chickens, coop, extension cord, farming, forage, freezing, goats, hose, hungry, pigs, pork, shed, water, winter
7 Comments
Culling the Roosters – Part Two (Culling the Roosters)
This is how the coop looked last night when we closed up the chickens. We let them go in and roost and, once they were settled, we grabbed the seven roosters slated for culling and crated them. If you ever … Continue reading
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Tagged applewood farm, chicken coop, chicken soup, compost, coop, crow, culling, evisceration, feathers, hens, kill cone, killing, roost, roosters
8 Comments
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