Mob 4: Countdown to the End

Dog overseeing breakfast

Mob 4 has arrived in their last week with butchering scheduled for this weekend.  They reached the ripe old age of 8 weeks this past Tuesday, and while they've been healthy adult chickens, they're starting to show their age.  We're seeing a lot less movement, more sitting and more waddling their fat butts when moving from food to water.  They're still a perky, chatty bunch and make a production about either the people or the dog coming anywhere near The Fortress.

Stats for this mob thus far:

• 42 chicks shipped
• 7 chicks died in the first 2-ish weeks
• 1 hen died at almost 7 weeks
• current flock is 34 chickens strong
• total cost so far ~ $170 (need to add in some additional food cost)
• looks like we'll have about 3 bags of feed left

While our chick loss for this mob was the highest we've seen so far in our chicken adventures, it seemed to cull out the weaker birds early, and we've had an exceptionally low mortality rate with the adult birds.  As much as I loathe babies dying, I much rather have them die young instead of filling them up with a bunch of expensive food and then have them kick the bucket in the last week (which is what Mob 3 was like).  Having an almost harvest-able chicken die makes me a little bitter.  Having a chick die just makes me sad.  I can live with sad.

It's looking like we're going to have a great weather for butcher day - stay tuned!

Eggs!

First eggs - green Ameraucana & light brown buff

After just over 5 months, we'd like to announce the laying of the first eggs! Mary (Ameraucana hen) and one of the Buff Orpington hens, probably Julie, laid their first eggs this past Friday and have been keeping up steady production ever since.  Woohoo!  We had suspected Mary was "thinking egg laying thoughts" (as youngest puts it) the day before, since she had hollowed out a nest sized hole in their dust bath area and was refusing to leave it to frolic with the rest of the flock or eat.  And sure enough, she laid her first light green gem the next day.

Making the big discovery

Thinking laying egg thoughts

The girlfriends with the Cornish Cross tractor in the background

Primal Blueprint 21 Day Challenge Fall, 2013

Today marks the kick-off for the fall, 2013 Primal Blueprint 21 Day Challenge!  If you're not a following Mark's Daily Apple (and if you're living primally, why ever not?) then check out this blog post that details instructions (it's easy!) and even has a contest.  Seriously, this is a great excuse to give it a try and get lots of support as you go for it!  For myself, I'm going to commit to more movement and more lifting of heavy things as I've been slacking in that department (as in it's been non-existent).  I'm also cutting out all the little cheats in my diet that have been sneaking back in there.

So let's challenge together for the next 21 days!

The state of the flock, almost 3 weeks old

Mob 4 turns 3 weeks old tomorrow and are growing quickly.  They've been a spunky bunch with much digging of holes in the litter; in fact one of the little beggars likes to "litter-ally" bury himself under the wood shavings.  We've reached the adolescent stage of scraggly feathers and territorial disputes, but overall they're an easy-going bunch.

As we've learned with the previous mobs, each group possesses its own personality and this group is no exception.  While they seem fairly smart (especially when compared to Mob 3) they haven't been as hearty a group.  We started with 42 chicks and had 7 die in the second week, mostly it would seem from heart failure.  We've gone several days now without a baby going feet up so I'm hoping the weaker individuals have been weeded out.  I have to admit, I really dislike losing chickens - when they're chicks it makes me sad, when they're adults it just ticks me off since we've put so much time and money into each bird. 

The weather is supposed to be good this week so there is a chance we may move them outside by the weekend.  We've had unseasonable amounts of rain in the last few weeks, so this group will have the benefit of fresh green grass and overflow from the garden to supplement their diet.

Stay tuned!

Interesting opinion article on gluten-free living

Mark's Daily Apple posted a fantastic piece today titled "Is Gluten-Free a Fad Diet?"  All I can say is amen, brother.