Toms Calling and Adding Muscovy Hens

Today is a spinning-my-wheels kind of day. I have a list of things that need doing as long as my arm and absolutely ZERO inclination to start any of them. The cure would be to simply pick a project and start it. Simple, right? It surely would be, if I had any motivation to put thoughts into action.

Part of my funk is Mother Nature's ridiculous mood swings! Yesterday was a gift; 60 degrees and sun. The snow and ice thawed to bare ground in spots through the yard. The geese and ducks were in heaven, playing in the open water of their small pond. Turkeys are beginning to have loud disagreements with one another over who is going to make babies this season. And our lovely flock of free-loading chickens are beginning to lay eggs again! The goats took advantage of the unusually warm day to venture into the pasture to soak up some sun. This morning we woke to temperatures in the single digits. Seriously. These 50* shifts in temperature are getting old.

I took advantage of the warmer weather to spend some time outside and took some pictures to share with you all. Our group of turkey hens sat to one side of the porch while the boys had a discussion. The loud disagreement between Aquila and Lazarus made me smile. It was a sure sign that Spring is on her way. We have high hopes of hatching a couple clutches of turkey poults this season. Of all the birds on the homestead, the turkeys are my favorite. Because they are used to us (and because they have never had cause to fear us) they are quite tame. The toms tolerate being handled; several of the hens absolutely love it. They are usually content to sit in a lap and be petted. :)



On the goat front, Sean woke me at 6 am to let me know that once again, Bailey had a thick discharge coming from her tail end. "Finally! I think today is the day with Bailey. Do you want me to stay home?" he asked. That was good news. We haven't enjoyed a decent night's sleep in nearly two weeks. "No. Go ahead to work. Bailey kids easily. I can handle it." I replied, relieved at the prospect of sleep somewhere on the horizon. Sean left for work.

I checked Bailey through the morning, waiting for her contractions to begin. They did not. Not only that, but the discharge stopped and disappeared within the first hour of my watch. I checked on her each and every hour, hoping that she was indeed, in labor. She was not. Another sleep-less night anticipated, but such is homesteading.

Ilsa (left) and Anya (right)

Sean and I visited a neighboring farm, Lone Spruce Farm in Dedham, Maine. Our mission was to purchase two female Muscovy hens to be companions for Boris. This winter has been very hard on the animals. While the Mallards and Black Swedish ducks have borne it well, we lost our Muscovy females. It makes us sad, but more importantly, Boris has been lonely for the past month. When we saw an advertisement for a couple young hens, we answered it. And, so it is that Ilsa and Anya have come to join our homestead. Until the weather breaks for good, for their safety, they are being housed in the downstairs portion of the bunny hutch in the potager garden for now. This will allow them time to become comfortable with their new home and its other residents (including us), to learn where the food comes from (again, us) and where the water is, and to settle in before being let loose to roam as they want to in the duck yard. We hope that they will choose to lay eggs and hatch out a nest or two of Muscovy ducklings this year.



Thanks for visiting with us, Friends.
Sean & Sonja

Apple Cider Pressing Invitation; Muscovy Duck Buddies

Last weekend was a marathon of moving things that we can use to our homestead. It started on Friday. Sean removed the seats of the van in order to bring home a free load of maple logs to split from one of his job sites. He piled the logs onto the stack of wood already waiting to be split. Molly was a great help. Look how low that van is riding. Yikes!(1). With the momentarily empty van, we went to pick up the cider press we are borrowing from our friend Jenny of Pebblestone Farm. We delivered the press safely home (2). In the afternoon, we drove to grab a quick load of hay for the goats- six bales tetrised neatly behind the middle seat (3). We dropped the hay at home, delivered our girls to visit their Dad for dinner and loaded the van for the final time that day with logs of white pine and butternut to add to our happily growing supply of wood for fuel.

On Saturday, we spent just slightly less time in the van. After spending the morning preaching the word together, Sean and I spent a little time in the afternoon picking all the apples we could gather from a neighbor's tree before the rain started up. Working together, we collected about 100 pounds of apples- a good beginning, but with me wanting to preserve 10 gallons of apple cider in the freezer for the winter months ahead and Sean wanting to ferment 10 gallons into hard cider, we'll need more apples*. Saturday night, Sean and I and my Mom took our girls to see the play, Mary Poppins at the Grand Auditorium in Ellsworth. It was charming and wonderful and an absolute treat to reward us for the previous two-day's strenuous work load. The cast was dead on, the sets were perfect, and the story borrowed from the original book and the Disney movie, meshing together a delightful 3 hour tale.

After Sunday's meeting for worship, Sean and I drove to Windsor to meet us a duck; Lady Chapelle's potential mate. On the way there, we encountered a raccoon sitting along the side of the road. While we would not welcome a raccoon to take an interest in our homestead, we did not wish to see this one hit by a car along the busy roadway. It was a concern that he or she was out and active during mid-day, a possible sign of being sick, injured, or rabid. Still, we couldn't just drive by and leave it to chance that it would cross the roadway safely. As we approached in the van, it was clear that this one had been injured on its rear leg- maybe broken? As we watched it, we thought it was probably only sprained or strained. Perhaps it had already had a slight encounter with a car. Who knows? Barring taking it to a vet, which could have placed us in harm's way, the only thing we could do was to watch it closely and see it safe into the brush when it tired of our staring. That didn't take long. But, its eyes were clear, wary of us, and alert. It did not cry out in pain as it walked and it could walk. We couldn't be sure, of course, of any of our suppositions, but we were glad to see it scamper into the tall grass under its own power. We hoped whatever injury it had would heal on its own in time. At least, it was in no danger of getting hit by a car on the road for the moment and Sean did not get bitten by the potentially rabid critter. Ain't nobody got time for that!

Boris standing in front of Chapelle.

All of the drakes available for sale were handsome lads, but it did not take too long for me to know that Boris was our guy. Sleek black feathers with a shimmering sheen of green along his back, big and healthy, Boris was our favorite. He wasn't terribly impressed with the idea of travelling, despite our assurance that he was going to love his new digs. After all, coming from a duck enclosure with 6 other Muscovy drakes into an enclosure where he was the main man and a lady all his own to love had to win us some points. He was unconvinced on the drive home. Boris quickly changed his mind upon seeing Miss Chapelle. It was duck love at first sight and the two have been inseparable since. We released them into the main coop area yesterday after adding additional fencing panels to expand the duck yard further. The duck yard area will grow in size and eventually the "pond" will be dug out properly to everyone's satisfaction. But, it is sufficient for now.

Sean spent a couple hours turning a large rabbit hutch into a new duck house. We removed the legs, took out the chicken wire walls and welded metal floor and installed new OSB interior walls. The roof of the house is finished with tar paper over wood boards. Next spring, we will remove them and install rigid, clear plastic greenhouse panels for a roof. This will let in sunlight and warm the inside of the house when the weather turns cold. The exterior will sport red aluminum siding to complete the house. The house sits off the ground, on three good wood pallets we found beside the road on our way home Sunday afternoon. I love breathing new life into repurposed finds. The total cost for this project will be 2 sheets of OSB and the price for the aluminum.

This is going to be an equally busy week around the homestead. We are getting ready for winter by splitting and stacking wood, deep cleaning the barn stalls, creating a new door system for the goats and horse, and Ebony needs to be moved up into the barn sooner than later. We have been gifted with the prefect chicken coop repurposed from an old ice-shack. It will do nicely for a turkey house for us. I just have to figure out a way to get it from Swanville to here. If anyone has a large truck or trailer available to help us move this in the next couple weeks, I would be very grateful- and so would our turkey birds. :) We are also looking forward to apple pressing here on the homestead and you are invited to join us...

*We will sharing our apple bounty with our friends and neighbors, opening our homestead this coming Saturday, October 24th  from 2-5 pm for cider pressing. Bring your own apples and containers and use the press for FREE. Or, for those who prefer to use our apples and containers, a limited supply of raw apple cider will be available for purchase for $5 per gallon. Our studio will be open, too. Gentle Meadow Goat Farm is joining us for the day as our special guests; they'll have goat's milk lotions and other farm goodies with them. I hope you'll try a piece of my Third-Place Apple Pie. ♥ Remember friends, this is a WORKING homestead with animals who poop... without notice... a lot. It is just a reality of life here. If you plan to walk around the homestead and visit with the animals. we strongly recommend wearing rubber boots and maybe bringing a change of clothing for children- in case they get "muddy". We'd love to see you and hope you'll stop in for a visit. Full details are available on our FB page HERE.

Thanks for joining us today, friends. We're very glad you're here.
~Sean and Sonja ♥

Duck Chappelle Joins the Flock; Clipping Guinea Wings; Farm Selfies

Chapelle in her temporary new digs

A few days ago, our friend Shea of Gentle Meadow Goat Farm sent us a message asking if we might have a home for a Muscovy hen who had lost her flock to a fox and was in need of some duck buddies. Lady Muscovy was currently living at Twin Rivers Farm, but was lonely and beginning to be picked on by their turkeys and chickens. She needed a place to live with more other ducks and less foxes. Could we help? Back when we first discussed getting ducks, Sean wanted to have Muscovy ducks, but to be honest, they kind of freaked me out a little. They have reddish "waddily" bits on their heads and instead of quacking, they hiss. Of course, that reaction was before I met guinea fowl and fell in love with turkeys. I thought that I was (maybe) ready for Muscovies. So, we talked about it together. Before any most animals come to the farm, we discuss the pros and cons with each other and together reach a decision that we feel is best for our homestead. ("Love Dove" came home with Sean from work one evening and "Lex" showed up on my watch. The system is not flawless, but by and large, it works.) We think about the size of the animal in question. The animal's age and health is a factor. Do we have the room to care for the animal? Do we have the ability to provide for the animal? Do they have any special needs to consider? How will they help to support themselves and their retirement?

The consensus this time was that we did have room on our homestead and in our heart for this Muscovy lady. Assuming she is accepted by our resident ducks, we have plenty of room to add two more Muscovies to our flock. "Two?" you ask. Well, that is part of our consideration process. Ducks stick together for sure, but in our experience, they stick together best in groups of their own breed. Our China Buff Geese, Mallards, Black Swedish, and the unknown tawny breed we have acquired all live in the same pen, but they seem to separate themselves by breed. The exception to this are the two Black Swedish hens who were brooder buddies with our geese and spend most of their time with them. Sean and I were happy to offer a home to Ms. Duck Chappelle, but we feel it is important for her to have a friend. So, we are looking for a good candidate for her. Anyone out there looking for a home for a young (1-2 year old hen or drake)?

In the meantime, we set up a temporary pen right next to the duck enclosure. We introduced her to the largest tawny duck as a pen-buddy to start. She and tawny duck will live together for about a week. This will give them some time to get to know each other more closely. All the ducks and geese are able to see each other to begin getting used to the new addition. And, when the week passes, we'll reintroduce both ducks into the main pen. It is my hope that we can find another friend for Chappelle this week, so we can introduce a trio. I find adding birds in larger numbers helps with the acceptance of them. Less chance of any one bird getting picked on too much while they establish their pecking order, though obviously we'll keep an eye out anyway.

The main chicken coop area bears watching over the next few days, too. We introduced the 14 teen-aged guineas growing out in the back yard into it last night just after feeding time. There were four adult guineas in the coop and they took an interest in the new arrivals, but were too busy scratching for corn to really pay them much mind. Miguel, our adult chocolate male, is the most dominant of the group, but he gave a couple half-hearted charges towards the group of teens and then gave up in search for more grain and Maria's attention. This morning, I have been watching them from my studio window and everyone seems content to get along. That is good news. Six of these teenagers are for sale. We have a pair of chocolates and 2 pair of pearls for sale. (I am keeping the lavenders this year.) We'll offer pairs for $30. As bad as tick season has been in our area, we have not pulled any off of the barn cats nor the dogs all season. And, we haven't seen any on the humans, either. Guineas are loud, but they are worth their weight in gold when it comes to eating ticks. For that reason alone, we'll have a dozen or so roaming the property. Security alarm and Lyme protection.

Aquila (left) and Lazarus (right) are looking very handsome as the weather turns colder. They are taking on their vibrant fall colors. Look that the bronze and red sheen to Aquila's feathers! Gorgeous! Lazarus's colors have taken on a light brown hue, changed from the blue-grey feathers he wore this past spring. These lads will be three years old this spring. They weigh about 35 pounds each.

I usually spend a few minutes at the end of the day with the turkey teens. They have become so friendly. They often run to greet me and suffer my attention. They really need names, but I am still not 100% certain of their sexes yet, so they are each called "Baby" for now. There is one that is especially dear to me.

I thought you might enjoy seeing some teen turkey selfies. ♥

Me and my baby. 

Almost asleep in the setting sun.

And, we have sleep.

The teens have been jumping the fence to where the Mother hens and their chicks are living. The mothers do not like this and gave a couple of the teens warning pecks on their beaks. This has been enough enticement for the teens to retreat back where they belong or at least to wander the back yard.

We are waiting for the poults to completely feather out before we complete the expansion of the enclosure and attempt to have all the turkeys live together this winter. We've been successful in years past with keeping up to 10 turkeys in one pen. Their initial enclosure will be approximately 900 square feet to hold 14 turkeys to start, giving each bird approximately 64 square feet of room. Our building plan calls for their area to eventually grow to encompass 3200 square feet with the ability to separate out private 800 square foot sections, as needed, for breeding. Our overall design is to keep up to 4 toms (We'll see how that works in terms of them getting on and if it is necessary to have that many for breeding.) and 16 hens when our flock is complete. Some of these poults may be for sale in the spring, depending on gender, breed, and personality. Tom or hen, my baby will be staying on with us permanently.

That is what is going on in our world. Thanks for popping in for a visit. It is nice to have the company.

~Sonja ♥