Booda Dome isn't just for cats anymore.

I moved my Sumatra pair into their breeder coop this morning, hopefully Lenore finishes her molt in the next few weeks and starts laying again. Poe seemed less than thrilled to be penned but he should acclimate and calm down soon enough. I made sure to toss them a few extra greens and milo as a treat this morning.

In preparation I'm going to pick up a Booda Dome that I found for cheap on Craig's List to use as a nest box. If you're confused I'll explain, instead of filling the litter box with kitty sand we use them as places for the hens to lay their eggs, filling it instead with pine shavings and straw. It works really well. The hens like the privacy that the enclosed litter box provides and they're very simple to clean. All you have to do is snap the litter box apart and spray it down with a hose. I've found that it's better to use plastic nesting boxes as opposed to wooden ones, they last longer and there's no threat of mites or other parasites taking up residence in them like they can do in old wooden nesting boxes.

Pictures from a few weeks ago...

Well, it's December 1st. I can't believe it's already December 1st, I'm literally having to type out December first for a third time now to fully come to terms that it's actually December 1st.

Anyways, why does it matter that it's December 1st? Well that means it's almost next year, we've got a lot planned for next year. Brookside Cottage Farms will be debuting at a few different farmer's markets in the spring of 2012. We'll also continue to work on getting the noise ordinance that prohibits keeping roosters in the city of Oakland either changed or completely removed altogether. Spring also means it's time to hatch again... heh heh, always something I look forward to. I've got a number of hatches already planned for next year, I'm hatching Wheaten Ameraucanas again, this time from a breeder whose line is suppose to have excellent egg color. From the same breeder I will also be receiving Blue, Black, Splash Sumatra eggs. I've seen photos of these Sumatra and I have to say they are some of the most fantastic examples of the breed that I have seen. I'll hopefully be using the resulting birds to continue my own Platinum/Dun Sumatra line, adding better type and confirmation to the Sumatra standard by outcrossing to this line.

Hm, what else? I know for sure that I am getting a second color of Orpington, a very special color but I'm not going to say which one just yet. We also plan to add waterfowl to our micro farm next Spring, I've placed an order with Holderreads for Saxony ducklings and an Embden geese pair... yes, geese... here in Oakland. Our neighbors say they don't mind the chicken noise so hopefully they won't be bothered by the honking of a goose. I'm really excited about adding waterfowl, baby ducks are so so so adorable and so far we've only ever raised land fowl, it should be interesting to add some webbed feet to our homestead. Our plan is to have the ducks for eggs and meat, allowing us to sell all of the eggs our chickens produce at markets. The geese are mostly an experiment, we'll see how easy it is to care for something larger and whether or not if we'll be able to eventually process our own goose for the dinner table.

Anyways, I'll stop rambling and get to what this post was originally about. I took some photos in the garden a few weeks ago before the weather really started to get ugly, when we still had several things growing and producing in the back yard. It's pretty bleak out there right now, most things have either died for the season or have gone dormant. We planted some cover crops last weekend in the raised beds, we should have got them in the ground sooner so we covered the beds with plastic tarp in order to hopefully speed up and ensure germination. ANYWAYS, enough rambling, pictures!

We're only getting about 3-4 eggs a day now, gone are the days of the endless rainbow dozens...

Remember this tomato?

A few flowers, not much is blooming around here anymore...





Laurus Nobilis, Bay Laurel tree starts that we plan to sell at the farmer's market next spring.

Our Buddha, who protects the garden and keeps the peace.

Brr.

Toby got a new sweater today.


It's getting chilly in Oakland at night, we covered the raised beds today with plastic after planting cover crops to help with germination. I'm finally accepting the fact that it actually is becoming wintertime... :(

Act Natural.

Our coops are situated under a stand of (what we think are) Locust trees, some of the trees tower to over 70 feet tall. The chickens love spending time perching up in the branches, I caught some pictures of my Wheaten Ameraucanas "playing" jungle fowl this morning before it started to rain.


"Oh no, he caught us..."

"Act natural."

We processed our first bird today! GRAPHIC PICTURES.

I haven't written anything in almost a month now, which I feel bad about, if anyone is reading my blog I'm sorry. :) We've been preparing for the rainy winter months ahead though so I haven't had much time to sit down and put thoughts to keyboard. However I feel like today's topic merited an update. I do want to preface this post by saying,

1. If you're squeamish and easily grossed out by blood or deceased animals, don't keep reading.

2. If you're offended by the ethical killing of animals to be consumed as food, don't keep reading.

3. If you're interested in learning what it's like to process your own chickens for food then please do keep reading. For the folks who #2 applies to and for whatever reason you decided to continue reading... I eat meat, deal.

I ordered some Heritage Rhode Island Reds this year intending on keeping the hens as pretty layers and the cockerels to eventually eat. Well, 8 months later we finally built up the nerve to process the one remaining cockerel we still had.

This was Robin, like I mentioned above he was 8 months old on the 7th of November. I decided to let him grow as long as possible for several reasons. We live in the city and there is a noise ordinance that prohibits keeping roosters (which we're currently working on changing) so I figured Robin would live until he crowed. He belted out his first attempt about a week ago, as he progressively got better and better at crowing over the following days I had to face the fact that it was time for him to go. I also wanted to allow him to live as long as possible and experience things that roosters naturally do- free range, protect his flock, maybe try to mate, etc. Yes I live in California, can you tell? I know Robin had a full happy life while he was still here which is exactly what I wanted. The one thing he didn't really do was grow a tail, I don't know why. He had some tail feathers beginning to grow though.


After reading about several different ways to cull the bird online we decided to go with cutting the carotid artery, allowing the blood to drain and the bird to fall into a "sleep" a.k.a die. I held him as my partner made the incision and he passed very quickly. We did not have a killing cone to use and I feel like as long as there are two people doing the processing you don't really need one.


Then he went into the pot of really hot water.


The plucking was the part of processing that I had the most anxiety about but it was surprisingly really easy. The feathers came out with very little effort and we were left with a clean bird.






Robin's chest wasn't as meaty as I wanted it to be, I wasn't expecting it to be anything like the birds you buy from the store. His legs though really impressed me.

After we rinsed the carcass and removed any missed pin feathers he went into an ice bath. I didn't get any pictures of the evisceration process, I was honestly a bit grossed out by the guts and was helping to dispose of them so I didn't really have hands available for the camera.


Now he's resting in the fridge, I read that doing this allows the meat to tenderize, we plan on brining him for a day and then slow roast him for dinner on Friday night.

When all was said it done the experience was not as bad as I expected and it was over and done with relatively quickly, from start to finish it took us exactly 1 hour, 4:15 to 5:15. We have 1 more cockerel growing still, a Coronation Sussex, depending on how Robin tastes he will be the next bird that we process. :)

Home sweet home.

I spent 7 hours today soaking up corporate rhetoric, it felt so good to come home and walk around barefoot in the garden. I sat with the chickens a bit longer this evening, feeding them tiny cherry tomatoes from our Cuban Yellow Grape plant; it replaced the Sun Gold that we typically grow just for the chickens every year, I opted to grow them an open pollinated plant that I could save seeds from at the end of the season. I'm happy with how prolific it's been.

I sometimes feel so far away from the city when I'm in our backyard, I will never get tired of the feeling.

Pictures from the garden.

I had my camera out this evening, there's a lot of transition going on in the garden right now as fall is arriving in the Bay Area. It's bittersweet, the long days of summer are gone and there's a chill in the air that wasn't there before. I need to have my peacoat dry cleaned and take my scarves down from the closet.

Anyways, we're pulling a lot of our summer crops from the raised beds and composting green matter. Gone are the tomatoes, tomatillos, peppers and zucchini in their place there's broccoli, caulifower, kale and leafy greens. We also cleaned out one of the chicken coops, adding nitrogen rich bedding to the mix; next Spring we should have a good amount of compost to help amend the beds. On to the pictures...

Today's tomato haul, the tomatoes that are still growing are now bearing like crazy. The cherry tomatoes are loaded with tiny fruits that range from smokey to sweet. Some of the bigger heirloom tomatoes have started to ripen as well. This picture shows Japanese Black Trifele, Cherokee Purple, Black Cherry and Aunt Ginny's Purple, which is actually more a pink color...



This Cherokee Purple tomato is almost as big as my fist, I'm hoping it ripens and we get to taste it before the chilly nights threaten to make the vines drop their fruits.



My Bougainvillea vine has new growth, I bought this variegated variety from a specialty nursery in San Leandro, it has a bright orange flower and striking foliage.





While at the Home Depot we found this "garden obelisk", a wrought iron sculpture perfect for growing vining plants, the box came with 2 inside, marked down from $19.95 to $7.50. Waiting for end of the season deals always pays off. :)



Our Feverfew has been blooming continuously for weeks now.



The Golden Leaved Pineapple Sage in my sensory garden is also blooming, it sent up spires covered in bright red trumpet like blossoms. The hummingbirds and bees love this plant.



The Red Acre cabbage that we planted last month has gotten HUGE!



Kumquats are my favorite citrus and my tree that was once loaded with tiny flowers is now covered in tiny orange fruits. They're almost ripe enough now to eat and it's taking all of my will power not to snatch a few from the tree and pop them in my mouth... if I wait a few weeks more though the fruits will lose most of their tart flavor and be incredibly sweet and juicy. The next citrus I'm looking to add to our little grove is a Limequat, which is exactly what it sounds like, a Key Lime/Kumquat hybrid tree. It's fruit is basically a bit larger than a regular Kumquat and just as delicious.



We have 3 different fig trees growing in our mini orchard- Brown Turkey, Black Mission and White Genoa. The Black Mission didn't set anything this year but the Brown Turkey and the White Genoa have green unripened figs all over their branches. I'm not the biggest fig fan but my partner loves them. He can eat them right from the tree. I would rather make jams, marmalade, tarts or homemade fig newtons with them. :) The fruit pictured below are White Genoa.



Last but certainly not least we come to the ever growing compost pile, the heap of discarded and spent organic matter that will one day bring new life to the very ground it started in itself. Our compost hasn't gotten that hot yet but we're constantly adding things and turn it often, not too often though. When we clean out the chicken coops before winter really sets in it will add a lot of their poo to the mix so we're concentrating on adding green things to the pile right now. Like tomato plants and pumpkin rinds. (Those pumpkins weren't used for carving by the way, they were a snack for the ever hungry chickens.)



That's all for today.

Shameless self promotion.

Hey, you should check out my website!

www.brooksidecottagefarms.com

:)

Royal Blue Orpingtons

I figured since I mentioned my Orpingtons in my previous post I would introduce them to the world.

August of 2010 I received a very special box in the mail from a good friend of mine who lives in Virginia, it held 11 Blue, Black, Splash English Orpingtons. My friend imported her Orpingtons from the United Kingdom a few years before and I was lucky enough to be able to purchase some beautiful babies from her.

I unfortunately lost my first cockerel to an unknown predator when he was around 6 months old, I was completely devastated at the time- we've never lost any birds to anything other than natural causes so it was very hard finding my once beautiful baby rooster lifeless. Luckily I was able to purchase another Splash cockerel to replace my first from another breeder who had also imported Orpingtons from the UK. My new cockerel, whom I named Neville, is completely unrelated to my hens and I inadvertently was able to diversify my line by adding this new rooster.

I'll stop rambling now, on to the pictures...

This is what I met when I opened my box.


A few days later it was time for glamour shots.


They didn't stay small for very long, they sprouted feathers and grew into their "awkward teenage-dinoesque" stage of development pretty quickly.


Still they kept growing.


As they matured they grew into beautiful big birds.


Then one day, they were all grown up.











The cheesy name of this post comes from an inside joke between myself and the friend who I received the birds from. We figured since these birds came from Britain than they're like Royalty of the chicken world. If any a chicken ever had a majestic air to it, with the grace and smugness of the elite, it would be these guys. The nickname kind of stuck and forever will inspire a giggle when it's mentioned.

If by chance you are interested in these wonderful chickens I am actually selling juvenile started pairs, 6-8 week old chicks, feel free to email me for more info.

Oy with the raining and the flooding!

This was the "creek" that runs along our property yesterday... from the top of the wall (which is our property) to the creek bed is just about a 6 foot drop.

I shot this video with my phone yesterday afternoon.



Mind you... my Orpington's pen is located on the second level of our backyard, if the water would have rose another 8 inches their run would have been flooded!

Also, my Wheaten Marans girl gave me this egg today, pretty good color still for a hen who's been laying since late February...