I've been trying to make 2019 the year where I really get back to blogging about what goes on here at the farm. Of course, I feel like it's usually easier to get in the habit during the winter months when I have a bit more time to be inside. Somehow though, January has been busier than normal so far. Our New Year started off with a literal bang. Just a couple hours into 2019 a windstorm brought down two enormous hemlock trees, completely destroying one of our chicken coops. However, they just missed the sheep house, missed the barn, and came close but did not hit our home. The chickens also survived. So while daybreak on January 1 showed a giant mess to clean up, we were very grateful that it wasn't worse.
The back of the sheep house had been converted into chicken pens last year so I could separate them into single-breed flocks during hatching season. I was able to get all the chickens into temporary housing there. While they didn't have as much room as they did in the coop with an attached run, they would be sheltered and safe for the time being. They were also safely out of the way as we began to cut up the down trees and haul away the wreckage of their former home.
The sound of chainsaws brought neighbors, who brought equipment and helping hands to clean up. Dan's brother had come to visit for New Year's and happily pitched in as well. Although we heat with wood, this type of tree is not good to burn inside so we made the best use of it under the circumstances. With a tractor that handled the mud around the creek, we were able to drag out sections of the trunks so we can get them milled into lumber sometime. The limbs were hauled to the edge of the woods along our hayfield where they will become habitat for wild rabbits, birds and mushrooms. Amazingly, by noontime the next day, all was cleaned up.
The back of the sheep house had been converted into chicken pens last year so I could separate them into single-breed flocks during hatching season. I was able to get all the chickens into temporary housing there. While they didn't have as much room as they did in the coop with an attached run, they would be sheltered and safe for the time being. They were also safely out of the way as we began to cut up the down trees and haul away the wreckage of their former home.
The sound of chainsaws brought neighbors, who brought equipment and helping hands to clean up. Dan's brother had come to visit for New Year's and happily pitched in as well. Although we heat with wood, this type of tree is not good to burn inside so we made the best use of it under the circumstances. With a tractor that handled the mud around the creek, we were able to drag out sections of the trunks so we can get them milled into lumber sometime. The limbs were hauled to the edge of the woods along our hayfield where they will become habitat for wild rabbits, birds and mushrooms. Amazingly, by noontime the next day, all was cleaned up.
On New Year's Eve, Dan had started building a new coop for our meat chickens. While we raise them in bottomless pens that can be moved to fresh grass daily, they need to be a few weeks old before they are ready to be outside. Between increasing the number of meat chickens we raise and having some issues with dampness in the building we were using, it was time to improve our setup. As meat chickens are only 7-8 weeks old when they are processed, the building would have been empty until March but building it during a slower time of year made sense. Of course, that means its first occupants are not the planned-for meat chicks but rather some of my now-homeless adult chickens. |
The coop is extremely well-designed and uses a lot of repurposed materials- lumber from a building Dan tore down, windows that came from something else, siding that was left over from another project. The south facing side has a huge window for passive solar heat. On sunny winter days it's a good 10 degrees warmer inside! The window can also be removed. This will make it really easy to clean as the manure spreader can be pulled up right next to the building. He also put in a vent near the roof that can be opened during warm months, but has wire over it to keep the building safe from predators. There are also two house windows that have screened openings that can also be opened for ventilation if needed. It's divided into two spaces so we can have chicks of different ages. This time of year I can have two small flocks of chickens while I'm keeping breeds separate to prepare for hatching season. It even has a small, repurposed cabinet where we can store extra heat lamp bulbs and other supplies. Eventually we plan to put an extended roof off one side. We can then use the area during the warmer months for calves or other animals and there will be some shelter to keep them out of the sun or thunderstorms.
We were already looking forward to kicking off the new year building facilities to improve what we do. 2018 had been a year of trials of things that were beyond our control- the flash flood that forced us to close for a market day and nearly took some of our animals, the fire at our meat processor that destroyed thousands of dollars worth of our inventory and affected what we were able offer the remainder of the season. I was really hoping to have a year without a disaster, and that hope was dashed well before the very first daybreak of the year. I'm hoping it was just a bit of 2018 trying to hang on, because the trees could have caused so much more damage than they did. A silver lining is the replacement coop that has suddenly jumped to the top of the priority list. The old one had seen better days but was still functional enough that it wasn't going to get much attention anytime soon. |
Despite the rocky start, the young year is of course filled with some challenges here at the farm, but I also feel like we're really making some progress. This finished coop was just the first of many great things that we hope to accomplish in 2019! Stay tuned ;)