Rent-A-Chicks Return to the Farm!

The Rent-A-Chicks all returned home safe and sound to the farm...Yes - all 35 of them. Every single one!

Nice to have the pitter patter and chirps of little peeps again. We are excited to watch the colors of this flock develop since we have added some rare heritage varieties to the bunch. Chocolate eggers (Welsummer), Easter eggers (Americana), and two different types of Brown Eggers - the gorgeous Silverlaced Wyndottes and our standby favorite New Hampshire Reds.

Judging from the feedback and smiles, All of the rent-a--chick participants had a great time. The chicks were happy and healthy too. Most were already testing their wings at the end of the two weeks and were trying to graduate out of the playpen by the end of it! Two weeks seemed to be the ideal time before they became ready to explore their big coop.

Lots of great stories were heard of kids being entertained for hours at a time by the chicks and a few peeps even got to visit school class rooms for show and tell.

We determined there were only a few things we needed to tweek about the rent-a-chick program - we will be doubling the shavings in the take home kit and adding a block of wood to lift the water and food off the floor to prevent shavings from getting in. The book really seemed to help give instructions and the parents were quick to mention - little to no pasty-bum issues!

Over the next few weeks the chicks will be growing out of their cute fluff and into their awkward teenage stage. They look more like little hawks than chickens at the moment. The momma hens are looking quite healthy and plump this spring and are enjoying their lush green pastures and spend their days hunting for bugs in the grass.

Soon the chicks will be developing into full feathered ladies like the big hens on the farm.

It takes 5 months from hatching to egg production so we are about 4 months away now.

That is great because the egg demand has gone up so much we have back orders accumulating!

Those girls better get crackin'!

I leave you with a view of the sun setting on the farm stand on a warm June evening.The next blog post will be showing off all the flowers that are on the verge of blooming. It's been really pretty weather and with some much needed rain, nice to see everything greening up again on the farm. A big thanks to all the Rent-A-Chick families. The chicks are all doing great!

Rent-A-Chick Program

After months of creating the rent-a-chick program the big day was finally here! Couldn't belive how much fun Chris and I had creating the Rent-A-Chick Program for our farm - and the satisfaction of finally seeing the idea come to fruition. We even got to collaborate and write our first kids book together (illustrated by dumpling, written-in-rhyme by me :)
We had quickly sold out of all 11 spots availble and Chris delivered our how-to-book to families about 2 weeks before the big arrival day. This worked out great since it gave everyone time to read up on how to take care of the chickies during the countdown. We found out that most kids already had their chicks named and everyone had read up on how to take care of their peeps - right down to how to care for a pasty-bottom!
All supplies were lined up so everyone got their 2-week ration of shavings, chick crumbles, feeders and watering jars as well as thermometer for the play pen. Spent a few late nights putting the final touches on the kits to make sure it would be a turn-key operation during the chaos of pickup day. Finally the big day was upon us and we got the call from the post-office that the chicks had been shipped from the hatchery and we had a peeping box ready for pickup!

Box of sleeping chicks - just delivered from the hatchery. Chris picked them up early that morning and settled them into their chick habitat before the families arrived. They got to take the first sips of water and stretch their little legs and wings from the overnight delivery box. Sooooo adorable! The soft fluff of day-old chicks is the best! We called everyone to let them know "The delivery room" would be opening up right after we got home from work that day so kids could come to pick up their bundles of joy -

The buzz of the big day was here and filled with the pitter patter of little feet around the farm. It was priceless to watch all the expressions and reaction to the chicks. Some kids were happy to just watch them running around and alittle reluctant to pick them up. Others were tickled-pink to hold a baby peep and couldn't be separated. I gave alittle demo of how to hold a baby chick while Chris gave a run-down of all the equipment needed for their care during the next two weeks. The the room was filled with lots of giggles! Alot of good chick moms and dads in the crowd.

Each family got to pick 3 chicks to take home. Ones thing for sure - Kids couldn't take their eyes off the little ones! We got small boxes so they could keep them safe for the drive home.

It was clear this was for kids of all ages, and I got the impression some of the parents were more excited than the kids!

All ready for the ride home!

*************************************************

It has only a few days into the program and have already received feedback from alot of parents about how their little ones are so entertained - they can sit and watch the chicks for hours at a time. (and some parents confess - it hard not to stop to watch them too!)

We've gotten emails from a few teachers and other familes - wanting to get their own batch as well. Will report back with some testimonials and experiences later in the month! I am sure this will be an annual event, and hoping we can do another batch alittle later in the summmer.

What a fun way to to learn where our eggs come from. Yeah for Farms - yeah for rent-a-chick!

Spring Planting Is in Full Swing!

Picture of my Zinnia transplants grown from seed, in the greenhouse ready for the next stage - planting out! Finally it's that time. Shifting gears from starting seedlings mode - to crouching down to get the plants in the ground mode.

I forgot planting season = please pass the tylenol season.. But the pain is surpassed by the excitement of the many more varieties going in this year.

A clean slate:

I title this pic - Farmer - Self Portrait. (ha!)

We did wait a good 2 weeks after the last frost date to plant, and after a major wind storm blew by us, we finally felt safe to shift gears to installing the babies.

Special rush delivery from the mail man. You know how excited some ladies get about their shoe collection? - I have the same fetish about seeds!

Last years irrigation lines have been re-installed and Dumplin charging full speed ahead with the seeder. Boat-load of new varieties to test this season. probably alittle too many. Bachelor Buttons, tons of different type of bouquet fillers, Sunflowers galore, and of course zinnias. Mr. Kitty - Ready to get his farm on !

One of my favorite plants in the whole wide world is Buddelia aka Butterfly Bush. While they do look a little on the scrubby side when they get big, but boy are they the #1 butterfly magnet ever. Its not uncommon to see 10 different varieties of Butterflies just cover one big bush in bloom.

I've got 150 of these baby bushes to plant! The cuttings only took a month to grow fabulous root system. So impressed.

They will be the driving force behind getting more butterflies in the gardens this year and give height and spike-type flowers to our bouquets. They do have a sweet flora fragrance as well. A new Coreopsis experimenting with this season. From the "Incredible!" series. Healthy babies but Notice the lack of soil blocks :( Compared to last year. kicking myself. Cosmos - 3 varieties ready to go in the ground. I did make a terrible mistake this year. I had started out my normal soil blocking methods, but having to start 4 times as many plants this year, I quickly ran out of enough trays early on - My Bad! - I couldn't find the trays I wanted in bulk so I folded under the time crunch pressure rush of spring and decided to use the traditional plastic pots to save myself time (oh, so I thought!). Boy will I never do that again!

With the soil blocks I could hang off the back of the tractor and plop the blocks in very quickly as chris drove the tractor down each row as he would make each planting hole. With the plastic pots this time. I could NOT do that. Rows were made first, then I had to carefully remove each plant from individual cells, or plug trays - before plopping them in. All this while crouching down these never ending rows, to fill the thousands of holes. What it took to do in a few minutes last year - took daaaaays this year...And my back and hips- oy - I feel like a 95-year old lady to boot. hahaha - Lesson learned. No more shortcuts for me. Soil blocks are the bomb y'all!! Plastic pots have their place for starting cuttings or selling plants, but not for the labor intensive work of transplanting seedlings. Soo not worth it. good that I learned this now at least.

Well gardening and farming is all about this learning and sharing process - so we did alot of that at the annual Seed Swap hosted here on the farm. Here are some pictures from the great event.

Couldn't believe the enthusiasm and willingness to share everyone brought with them. Seed Swap was a total success. Had people bringing accordian files full of seeds to swap, pictures and scrap books to show off their gardens to others, and lots of seedlings, everything from heirloom purple tomatoes to - hairy balls?! lol. yes that is the name of a plant, and after a few beers, it made me laugh too. that's gardener humor for ya.

Met so many cool gardeners. Everyone had their speciality - from tomato aficionado, to collector of all varieties of butterfly host plants.

We brought the egg-mobile up to the stand to visit and the kids did get to enjoy hanging out on the farm.

I got alot of ideas if we are to host one again. One of the guests was fellow blogger Erin and her family. She is a Virginia Beach Master Gardener and has a kick butt back yard. She does a great blog about gardening, cooking, living in small spaces and to my amazement knitting and quilting too. Gotta love how she incorporates her two boys into gardening. I'm sure I will torture my children equally with blogging once that day comes! Oh yeah.

Check out her blog "Garden Now - Think Later!" (april's/easter 2011 post) and get a view of the farm from her kids prospective: http://www.gardennow-thinklater.blogspot.com/

Leaving you with the view out my back window. First day of May and the Butterfly garden is in full bloom with view of the coop. With more bugs around, its entertaining to watch the girls perfecting their stealthy bug catching antics. One of the hens will find a bug, squawk, and take off running - then all the others assume she wants to share her bounty and start chasing her around. Imagine the chickens version of duck-duck- goose.

Ah, spring time at the farm - It is a good place to be a chicken- Next week our batch of 30 chicks arrive!! Yippy!

Farm projects and Chocolate Eggs - Just in Time for Easter.

Dumpling had whipped up a drawing of the sign on one of his long flights at work and came back home ready to make his rounds to Home Depot. As I worked at the potting bench planting seedling trays beside him in the garage, a sign appeared before my eyes in a matter of a few hours It is amazing how much this guy can do with a day off and some tools.

Week full 0f spotting the firsts - first flower, first Swallowtail butterfly, harvesting first local strawberries and first day with temps in the 80's! Yippee......


Crazy how the onset of Spring has put the heat on us - actually feels more like a blowtorch! Chris and I have both felt the pressure to kick it into high gear and there is hardly a day that goes by we don't see fellow farmers working in their fields or opening their veggie stands. Driving past them on the way to work, I am a tad envious they get to be in the fields full time. Alot of our time at the moment is spent drowning in building inspections/electrical pre-inspections/re-inspections, permits/paperwork start-up rigmarole.

Neighboring Henley's farm stand opened to taste the first local strawberry. Yumm! Fields are slowly filling up with families out filling up their buckets with red berries.

Well spring weekends are packed for sure, and hopefully will be alot more productive - thanks to our friend - JD.

The loooonng awaited John Deere Gator has been welcomed to the Polantz household. Note:One happy guy in this photo loading up the goods! Smiling all the way home - Dumplin had been a man on a mission planning and saving and reading up for this purchase, ever since he set eyes on the farm. Pretty sure he researched every website/craigslist/tractor/farm store selling gators in a 5-state radius and finally found a used one in a lower price range with accessories he needed for bigger and better projects.

It feels like a luxury item, but at the same time, when you live in the sticks even something as simple as getting the mail, or bringing in the trash cans in is a hike. Nothing feels like a quick skip around here by foot. Not that we can't use the exercise, but out of time constraints, We had converted our bikes - both beach cruisers - into farm cruisers, complete with wire basket on front to zip around for tasks like collecting eggs, fetching tools, transfering plants, runing out to the coop or stand. Anything to cut the travel time down. Kinda hard to tote 2x4's and saw-horses around on a bike so dumplin had about enough of it. Of course i have visions of transporting buckets of flowers around in it as well when hes not lookin. :)

I have to admit, our first joy run around the farm at full speed, (picture us: wind blowing through our hair, giggling like school kids), the farm instantly felt smaller but in a good way, just suddenly more managable. After only a week it is like a beloved member of the family!

Well enough about Deeres and onto breaking Chicken news. One of our girls is in full blown momma hen mode! During daily egg collection, we noticed a hen being less than pleased about sharing her eggs with us.. Eventually we got the living stuff pecked out of our hands from a very protective lady bird... a hen that had gone "Broody". This term means she has shifted modes from laying eggs - to sitting and incubating her eggs in attempt to hatch them. Of course we have no roosters and the eggs are not fertile, but mother nature along with the rising spring temps and increasing daylight triggers this mode in some hens.

Awww..Here's our girl. She even looks different as she fluffs up and hunkers down on her nest and has this dazed/glassy look in her eyes.

Googling some info about this stage of a hens life, couldn't believe how her metabolism actually slows down to a screetching halt - so she doesnt have to leave the nest to eat as much. Her body temperature rises to help incubate the chicks, and while in this mode, she will only get off the nest about once a day to feed, water and poop, then right back to the nest. Also noticed some feathers she plucked from her chest to fill out her nesting box.

Well once we identified what was happening, there were two options - we could break her of this mode -by allowing cool air to circulate undersides off and her body temp would readjust to normal, or go ahead and order her some fertilized eggs for her to hatch.

Being the adventurous type, we opted to let her do her thing and get her some fertilized eggs.

It never ceases to amaze me what you can buy on ebay!! Had always wanted to add some some French Marans - which lay chocolate eggs - to our flock. Chocolate being..just a fancy way to describe how deeply rich brown the eggshell is.

Here the package arrives in the mail. Not-a one cracked either! gotta love the creative bubble wrap for the precious cargo.

Yep they are chocolate alright. The fertilized egg on top is from the French Cuckoo Maran ( how gourmet!) . Brown one from our Autralian Austrolorps and the green one from the Ameraucana. I think they will make quite the worldly and colorful Easter egg basket!

This will be a big egg-periment since it is her first time being a momma and our first time to help a hen become a momma but we will give it our best shot.

Here you can see, miss mother has her own separate condo away from the flock - quite spacious and is perfect for her to do her thang' without the other hens bothering her. Also we read that if left in the other coop with multiple nesting boxes, she may go back to the wrong nest after returning from her mid-day lunch break accidently sitting on the wrong batch of eggs.

Hatching takes about 21 days, so here we go.

This upcoming weekend is Seed-Swap and the week following that is the start of our first annual Rent-A-Chick program. We sold out of slots very quickly and kids are doing their much awaited count-downs. I am excited to take pictures of all the families picking up their little bundles of joy and experience their excitement! Can't wait.