Hobby Farming - An Update!

Things are moving right along here on the farm. I’ve finally got the poultry barn nearly finished and I’m pretty happy with the result. As you may remember, this barn consists of one long stall, on the left, that measures 8’ wide x 16’ deep x 8’ tall. This stall acts as the chicken coop. In the center there is a raised area that I refer to as the gangway that extends the depth of the building and is about 3’ wide. On the right, what was the original long stall was broken into two compartments, each measuring 8’x 8’. The front compartment houses the guineas and the back compartment houses my newest arrivals, three Narragansett turkeys!

This is the gangway area between the coops. The white PVC tubes you can see are the tops of the feeders. I can feed all the coops from this area by pouring feed down into these tubes.

Here’s the other end of the feeders. This one is in the chicken coop. The horizontal portion is a length of PVC from which I cut a trench that allows several birds to feed at once. The hanging 5- gallon bucket you see in the background is a waterer that has 3 nipples in the bottom. The birds haven’t quite got the swing of the new waterers yet but we’re working on it!

Once the birds begin to use the waterers I’ll be able to safely leave them cooped up over a weekend if I want to go visiting. This waterer is in the guinea coop.

Here are my new babies. Narrangansetts, like my Buckeye chickens, are a rare, heritage breed. I’m happy to be part of conserving a rare species.

My nephews named these birds Jackson (as in Steve Jackson), Emeril and Tilly. We don’t yet know their genders and are hoping they’ll cooperate and be two boys and a girl!

Here’s the door into the turkey coop. The chickens were quick to run in there and check out their digs.

Here’s the inside of the turkey coop. The screens you see in the back separate the turkey area from the guineas who live in the front of the building. Everyone seems happy with their accommodations!

The other big news on the farm is the broccoli harvest in the garden. The hoop house was a complete success with the plants in the hoop house doing substantially better than those outside.

I was able to harvest enough broccoli to make a good broccoli salad as my Thanksgiving Dinner contribution plus give a small amount to my wonderful neighbors.

The Brussels sprouts are just starting to form tiny heads at the juncture of the main stem and the branches. I hope they will be able to ripen before it gets too cold for the hoop house to protect them.

The cauliflower has failed to make heads, but this Chinese cabbage looks pretty good!

My nephews were here visiting a couple of weeks ago and we managed to get all the onions and garlic planted, which completes the winter garden.

These days it’s getting dark around 5:00 pm and raining a lot. Time to move to indoor projects!