Chickens. Eat. A. Lot.

Went out to feed the chickens today and they were completely out of food again!  Mary only half filled their feeder yesterday morning.  Looks like I'm going to have to go to filling it every day.  There are 33 growing birds right now, so I guess I shouldn't be surprised.  But still, I mean, wow.  They are going through about 7 lbs of food a day, on top of what they are foraging.  I may have to move into grinding my own feed sooner than I thought.

I'm going to take a minute here and look at the costs of chicken raising, now that I know what little piggies they are. At $12-$14 for a 50 lb bag, that seems like a lot of money to put into chicken.  I've got 3-5 weeks before they are big enough to butcher.  Doing the math, that's $2-3 in feed per chicken, so I guess it's not terrible.  I got them for about $2  each, so I'm looking at about $5 for a broiler/fryer that will weigh out butchered at about 4-5 lbs.  A dollar a pound for free range, antibiotic-free meat is a bargain.

I didn't include here the cost of the range shelter, equipment, or the fencing.  We actually built the range shelter from scrap wood we had and left over shingles and tar paper from fixing our roof.  So, the only cost there was $5 in paint.  The fence right around their enclosure was also built at no cost because we used left over fence posts and poultry netting from when we had ducks, and left over tent stakes from some old tents to stake the fence down.  We did buy the electric poultry netting, that cost $140.  The solar energizer, wire, ground rod, and incidentals cost about $200.  For feeders, waterers and brooders we spent about $60.  So, the total cost there was about $400.  We had a real problem with our ducks roaming the neighborhood and we have very brave skunks, so I didn't want to take any chances.  We are going to keep chickens for eggs though.  The useful life of the equipment and fencing we bought should be about 10 years, so that amortises out to $40 per year.  Once we start laying, I'll calculate that cost into the eggs, as well as the cost of the chicken coop when we get it built.

You could do it much more cheaply.  My sister in law kept her chickens in her fenced in back yard and bought a prefab coop for about $200 I believe.  If you were only keeping meat birds and had a fenced yard, you could get by with just the feeders, waterers, brooder, and a place for them to get in out of the sun and rain (a tarp or an old dog house would even work.)  A word the wise here--if you raise Cornish X of some type (we don't) they will need a roost and they will generate a huge pile of droppings where ever it is.  Cornish X are hybridized meat birds that can get to 6 lb butchering weight in as little as 6 weeks, but all they do is convert feed to meat.  That means they sit around and poop.  A lot.

The benefits of being an early riser

Okay, first, I am *not* an early riser by nature.  10am is a great time to get up as far as I'm concerned.  And, I'm married to a night owl who goes to bed at midnight or later on a work night.  So, getting up early is not easy for me.  I made the effort this morning because I still had some things that weren't planted and didn't feel like doing my outside chores in the forecasted 100 degree heat.

So, I was up at 6:30 this morning (hush those of you who think this is not early).  I had my coffee and read a wonderful devotional in The Word Among Us.  Today's New Testament Reading is Acts 20:28-38.  St. Paul is leaving Ephesus after a 3 year ministry there.  The devotional reading focuses on Paul's care for the weak in the Church there.  Here's an excerpt:

Every community, every congregation, even every family has its own "weak" members....  These are the ones Paul singled out for special attention, for he knew the fundamental precept that those who are more graced should care for those who are in need--not take advantage of them or ignore them.

Such a philosophy goes against our human nature.  Those who move quickly find it irritating to slow down for those who lag behind.  It can be hard for someone with a quick mind to have to explain things to someone who just doesn't et it.  Instead of puttin ourselves in their shoes, we tend to imagin them in ours:  "If that happened to me, I would surely have handled it better."  But when we do this, we exercise the judgment that belongs to God and fail to extend his mercy--a mercy that belongs to the strong and weak alike.

This could have been written about me.  It has to be hard having me for a mom.  I just pray that God will help me to show mercy to my children and encourage them, even, perhaps especially, when they do the same dumb thing for the 9,000th time.

Speaking of which, did you know that an electric fence is pretty ineffective at keeping in starving chickens?  I had the kids feed and water the chickens yesterday and, well, let's just say it's a good thing they don't do it every day.  I went outside to see 2/3 of the babies and all of the pullets (who should not be able to fit) had squeezed through the electric poultry netting and were foraging in our side yard.  So, I spread some feed out on the ground and woke my 13 year old (14 tomorrow) daughter to come out and watch them as they ate, and fill their food and water properly.  I, by the grace of God, did this without yelling or getting snarky once.  And, you know what?  I think she learned the lesson of how to care for them properly better for it.

Oh--and a bonus--they all went back inside the fence with no complaints or stragglers.  That is truly a miracle.

Planting, planting, and more planting

I need to stop going to the garden center. I keep coming back with more stuff to plant. I got the new herb garden finished today and fully watered the entire vegetable garden in one day. Mark fixed the hose so the sprinkler actually gets water to it. I still need to plant the sweet potatoes, calendula, and the border flowers for the herb garden. It's supposed to be stupid hot tomorrow (I guess today now) so I'm going to be up with the sun and get it done. I also need to get the rest of the cardboard and newspaper down in between the garden rows so I have a prayer of keeping up with the weeding this year. I took some pictures and will post them tomorrow at some point.