This time of year , thehatchery catalogsand brooder show up in the homes of poultry farmers , who are setting their annual goals . When there ’s a bank of snow outside the windowpane and the temperature is well below freeze , think about fluffy peepers in the saltation make winter feel a small bit shorter .
Our farm is currently home to two dozen geese , about a dozen chickens , some wop fowl and three ducks . In planning for 2019 we aim to expound our ingathering of duck and better manage our current flocks .
Adding Ducks
duck are an area of expanding upon for us in 2019 and comprise one of our independent fowl destination for the twelvemonth . We have sex our duck bollock because they are more faithfully laid year round than chicken eggs , and they have thick orange yolks that are complete for baking , which is the primary means we use eggs . duck’s egg also requireless base than crybaby . The do n’t roost , and they do n’t lay in nest boxes . In addition tolaying tasty eggsthey are very active foragers .
We like to use all our fauna in multiple , permaculture ways , and ducks are gross for help keep slugs and other nuisance bugs at bay . They work in conjunction with our stack of guinea fowl , which eats tick , to keep the general bad insect universe down . Because we want to utilize these abilities as much as potential , we ’re addingRunner Ducksfor the first time this year . Runners are some of the most actively foraging ducks , and they are alsoexcellent stratum . A small flock running around the barnyard should keep us cooking with ballock and hopefully limit the number of bug - related problems in the garden .
Good on Geese
Meanwhile , we have two dozen cuckoo so adding to the gaggle is no longer a precedence . We have enough to serve the function of a goose mint on our farm very well . They sound a raucous alarm at anything strange or out of the average happening on the property , and they lie far more eggs than the two of us can corrode during their three - to - four - month laying time of year . The areas where the geese wander during the Clarence Shepard Day Jr. have the most plushy and green grass on our farm , and with these personable birds the amusement agent in the barnyard is also eminent .
We do hope this year to start sellinggoose eggsfor the first prison term , and we might home - hatch a few flock addition if we get fertile eggs .
Guineas
Our principal domestic fowl finish for 2019 is part our guinea poultry and chicken into different coops . They have cohabitated very well , but we have enough of both species that our cage is crowded . I require ginzo fowl would be unmanageable to train to go to a new coop , we ’ll move the volaille while the guinea fowl will continue in their roomy barn stall . Our chickens will have their own little coop in a new location , hopefully with a fenced run to keep them from bothering our gardens .
This is always an exciting sentence as you start laying out plan for the coming year . It is fun to expand flocks and to think about Modern baby birds . The only thing good is when they get in .
Kirsten Lie-Nielsen
Kirsten Lie-Nielsen
