Category: chickens

July 2022

We’re nearing the dog days of summer with lows above 70 and highs in the 90s. Japanese beetles have given way to June bugs and fireflies. Sunflower and crepe myrtles are in full bloom and the corn is beginning to tassel. It feels too hot to work – almost. The bees are going through a 25-bag of sugar and the poultry are gobbling 100 lbs of feed a week. Our four broad breasted turkeys are now 16 weeks old and starting to grow out instead of up.

Muscadine Grapes July 14, 2022.

Last years landscaping scars have healed and the yard has never looked so green. This month marks the 1 year anniversary for the grape arbor. Two of the three vines have survived and the first muscadine bunches are swelling in the summer heat.

For the first year, our pecan trees grew up. Planted in 2017 they have seemed to sit and wait, silently stretching roots into the hard red clay. At long last they have begun to reach up, from not quite 5 feet to 8 feet tall this year.

The garden has yielded buckets of cymling squash and red ripe tomatoes. The potatoes, planted in early April during the Grout’s Easter visit, have yielded 2 1/2 bushels of delicious new potatoes (Kennebec and red)! Other crops include cucumbers (a very short season due to the heat), corn, bell peppers, a small harvest of beets and some onions. We have peanuts going well and on the 31st put in a row of fall beets, collards, and carrots.

2022 makes the first year we’ve produced our own compost. Brooder house droppings and straw bedding, vegetables from last fall’s pumpkin carving competition, stall cleanings from work at the Wigwam, and the hen house droppings have composted to create so much richness. To top it off, our neighbors provided a wagon load of compost from their sweet potato plantings. Nutrients and deep plowing has improved the soil and drainage.

Our young Magnolia tree planted 2021

Harvest 7/16/2022

Muscadine grapes

July 1, 2022. Corn, peanuts, potatoes, and hops.

We rehomed our golden comets and leghorn chickens on July 17. Our laying flock is now reduced to 5 comprised of 3 six-month old silver laced wyandottes (hatched this Spring at Glendale) and two 18-month old hens (“Spazz” and “Goldie”). We are inundated with young pullets, cockerels, and grow-outs. A year into chickens and we have 99 chickens, 6 turkey, and three ducklings. The egg count is 2,700. At some point, we’ll open a small farm stall or egg swap but for now we are sharing with friends and neighbors.

Update: The last week of August found a pair of rats (!) terrorizing the chickens; each morning I dread finding which of the young grow outs has had its head ripped off and its organs devoured. As of July 31st, we’re still working to find a solution- baiting traps with tasty treats, hardening the pen, and setting up game cameras. This month we lost three (now four- five, six!). It been our worst month for losses to date – with three little chicks also failing to thrive in a hatchery box at the beginning of the month. It is not unexpected with the heat but it is something we will overcome and learn from.

In other big news, Brendan celebrated one year with the Division of Historical Resources (DHR) as State Underwater Archaeologist. Hurrah!

July 18, 2022
May and June 2022

Spring turns to summer. Flowers bloom and plants grow.

We are fortunate to have this beautiful retreat to call home. We are hobby farmers, night planters who are fully employed and not forced to depend on the fruits of our labor for sustenance.

The chickens out for an adventure in the new pasture and orchard.

As of June 30, 2022, our company consists of 3 humans, 2 dogs, 2 cats, 8 hives, 10 laying hens (chickens), 1 rooster, 6 turkeys (4 broad breasted bronze and 2 royal palm), 3 ducklings, and 114 chicks.

The chicks are home hatched and from Cackle hatchery in Missouri. To date, in 2022, we have hatched 7 batches of chicken eggs and there are 23 quail eggs in the Nurture 360 incubator. UPDATE 10 hatched on June 23! We rehomed our rooster, Jubal, in May. While protective, his amorous attentions were simply too much for our hens. Good luck Jubal! We’ll miss you (a little). One of him progeny, Wade Hampton, has stepped up to the role – but we’re keeping him away from the hens (for now). Chicken math! Our four broad breasted bronze turkeys are huge at 11 weeks and will be delicious this fall.

The chickens gathered road a bucket for a cool drink in the hot afternoon.

The garden has improved vastly over last year. We have harvested new potatoes, squash, and a few beets at the beginning of June. The corn is now waist high and a second crop is ankle high. The centennial hops are ripe and the golding variety are close behind (it’s almost time to brew beer, again)! Two of the three muscadine grape vines are growing (one failed) and we have a new row of thornless blackberries – from Lowes and the Gilmanor chicken swap.

Our three peach trees are alive but struggling. The leaves are turning red and yellow and at three years old, they have not begun to set fruit. The two pecan trees planted in 2017 have finally gotten their roots. In 2022 they have almost doubled in size (hurrah!).

Our bees have been a trying experience but we continue to learn and will be extracting our first honey at the end of June. They are in a robbing mood as the honey flow is nearly over and the summer dearth is going to begin soon.

The pasture got a good start and the cool season grasses are growing dormant with the warmer weather. Last year we had a good stand of natural crab grass and are hoping for a similar result this year.

Stumping and clearing continues to the north. Almost 17 acres to date! As Diesel prices soar ($5.27 at last purchase) we’re glad we’ve been able to do as much as we have. Brendan purchased a new (to him) 1969 International Harvester 856 at the end of June. It’s been an action-packed month!

July 8, 2022
March and April (Spring) 2022

“It is (still) wonderful how much may be done if we are always doing.”

Thomas Jefferson

March marked the one year anniversary of these monthly blogs. I thought it would be nice to do a little progress check and see how far we’ve come in a year including land-clearing (establishing pasture), chickens (and chicken math), bees, apple trees, and the garden – among other things.

Land-clearing continues with the excavator and Buttercup, our D-6. At last count we had stumped about nine acres. Three have been drilled with a pasture mix (20 lbs/acre), limed (6 tons per acre applied over two years), tested, and fertilized (a mix of 40-130-40). It’s been a process but we have goals to build a shelter and fences this fall and bring Gus home sometime next Spring (maybe for our mutual birthday, lol).

After two years of trying, we had our first show of tulips. They benefited from about 100 lbs of horse manure applied last fall and some gypsum to amend the soil. Progress!

Drilled lines of new pasture!

In the garden we learned from last year that planting potatoes can wait until the ground warm up and sure enough, we had success!

This year brewing has taken a back seat to the birds and the bees. One year in, we have 84 chickens and 4 broad breasted bronze turkey poults. The chicken infrastructure includes an ad-hoc brooder house with pumpkin boxes and chicken wire (formerly the grannery), the hen house constructed last year for our laying ladies (currently there are 8), and a 200 square foot grow-out pen attached to the back of the machinery barn.

March 2022, view from the apple orchard towards the new grow-out pen.

Out of the eight hives we inherited last fall, two overwintered and both swarmed in early April. Thanks to good advice, we managed to catch the first swarm on the chimney ruins and set up a cedar tree as bait. From April 4 through the 20th, we caught another four hives. We have A LOT to learn about bees!

Early Spring and one of the overwintered hives.

The current state (at the beginning of May 2022) is seven hives, many of which are in need of repair or replacement. Five are small or weak and we’re working to keep them growing and healthy. Brendan ordered mite treatment and in April we took a trip to Scottsville Supply to buy new boxes (12).

In the garden, the permaculture area is now a year old. We have erected high tensile trellises for blackberries and grapes and last year’s grapes are beginning to grow. The centennial hops are growing vigorously and the Goldings are well, if a little behind.

For Easter, Coral and the Grouts came to visit. We planted potatoes and hatched a new set of 16 baby chicks.

June 20, 2022
February 2022

In memory of T. Patrick Burke, 6/6/1926 – 2/3/2022. We not be here if it weren’t for Brendan’s dad. In 1994, he encouraged Brendan’s mom Helen to move back to her family home, sell their house in Richmond, and invest in a future at Glendale in the country. The farm was not in bad shape but was in sore need of time and money. Over the next 25 years, Pat planted trees and drifts of daffodils, peonies and iris. He made the old yard a gardener’s delight. The work we do now is in his memory and spirit, a constant effort to steward what is old for what is new.

BURKE, Thomas Patrick, Jr., was born June 6, 1926, in the Oregon Hill neighborhood of Richmond, Virginia to Thomas P. Burke Sr. and Virgie Vernell Burke. His early memories of the neighborhood and a Richmond from long ago included attending Grace Arents School, riding the streetcar through the city and ice deliveries by horse and wagon. After graduating from John Marshall High School in 1943, he attended William & Mary and was drafted into the U.S. Navy in 1944.

Pat’s memories of WWII service were well-documented and spanned nearly the entire Pacific basin. As quartermaster, he steered his ship, the U.S.S. Ascella, before learning to drive a Jeep in Shangai during the winter of 1944 to 1945. His experiences abroad, from New Caledonia to the Ulithi Atoll, and from Mog Mog to Okinawa formed him into a world traveler. After the war, Pat returned to William & Mary, where he finished his undergraduate degree; William and Mary was dear to his heart throughout life. His next degree was a master’s from the University of Virginia.

In the 1950s, Pat started his career teaching at Dinwiddie High School, where he made lifelong friends. Subsequently, he was recruited to work for the Virginia Department Education as Supervisor of History, Government and Geography. Wedded to the classroom, however, he returned to teaching at Longwood College as a professor in the history department. After 11 years at Longwood, Pat joined the faculty of the newly founded Richmond Community High School in Richmond to help it develop into one of the best alternative high schools in the country, a job of which he was most proud. Pat’s time in the classroom was more than a job or career. It was a devotion to students and a fervent love for teaching. This was evident in many ways but especially through the words of his former students. Many of them continued their association throughout his retirement, even as recently as this past month.

Pat’s love of education made him the eternal learner/student, and as a scholar on sabbatical to Trinity College Dublin during the mid-1970s, his interests focused on the Irish rebellion. During his stay in Ireland, he travelled the country and ended by building a house in County Kerry, where his family would spend many happy summers. He was a founding member of the Irish-American Society of Greater Richmond and a participant in many other civic organizations. He was never satisfied to simply have enough; he wanted everyone to have enough and fought for that cause in the classroom, boardroom and living room.

In 1979, Pat married Helen Warriner, the love of his life. She was a fellow educator and the two knew no bounds to celebrating life. They traveled a good portion of the world together. In 1994, the Burkes moved to Amelia County, his wife’s ancestral home, where he expanded his already sizeable passion for growing daffodils into a pursuit in landscape architecture. His daffodils not only bedecked the spring yard, but won awards in regional flower shows. Today, the garden, trees and plantings at Glendale reflect the love his hands put into the soil and a gift bestowed to future generations.

Pat Burke loved life and anything that challenged the mind and helped people. He was never satisfied to simply have enough, he wanted everyone to have enough and he fought for that cause in the classroom, boardroom and living room.

Thomas Patrick Burke Jr. loved life and his family. He is survived by his wife, Helen Warriner-Burke; his son, Patrick Brendan Burke and wife, Lillian Azevedo; and his nephews, Tommy and Clifton Hairfield. He was preceded in death by his sister, Edelle Mallory; and his brother, Joe Burke. Pat’s old dog, Abner lives on to beg others for treats.

Brendan Burke

There is a hole in the farm, a part of life as natural as birth itself is missing. Even so life goes on. In February, we spread 900 lbs of fertilizer and 17 tons of lime on the new pasture, pruned the apple trees, and worked to overhaul Buttercup, the bulldozer.

We hatched our second set of Glendale Wyandottes, 9 silver laced chicks out of our rooster and three pullets (two silver laced and one gold laced from a farm swap last year). Brendan finished the chicken yard as our new flock of juveniles has swelled to 25, 17 of which are roosters. As dual purpose birds, we’ll move most of them on in late April. In the meantime, we’ll enjoy their antics and play.

March 8, 2022
January 2022

There’s a silence so loud that it’s deafening, And the sun seems unusually bright. The world’s awakening to a bitter cold morn and a crystalline blanket of white

Patricia A. Fleming Our Exquisite Snowman

Apple trees – in need of pruning.

The new year did not dawn with snow, but with an ode to summer and a high of 75 degrees. It’s a frustration to be in central Virginia. So close to winter and yet sometimes to feel so far away. The following day, as if in apology, the temperature plummeted. Snow and ice came down, coating the farm in four inches of white. The temperature barely rose and for the rest of the month we found ourselves thoroughly in winter. So that, by the end of the month, we’re thinking of Spring, green grass, and longer, mild days.

Beekeeping in January

The bees are huddled and bundled together. We daren’t open the boxes although our curiosity is piqued. Are they alive and well? Abandoned? Not knowing we wait. Patiently.

New Chicks

Set 01 of Glendale’s motley Wyandottes are teenagers now. At the end of the month they’re 6 1/2 weeks old and quickly outgrowing their digs in a pumpkin tote. All fluff and feather and puff and peck, they’re moving out as soon as we can finish their run. The current plan is to recycle some cedar poles and enclose an area with hardware mesh. At just under a pound a piece they’re ravenous, wasteful little beasties!

Meanwhile, we’re reminded how cute they once were. Set 02, comprised of nine Wyandottes hatched on the 20th of January, and are just cheeps. That’s all the chicken math we can manage this winter. We’ll tally the birds and make some choices in March. For now, we’re using a Jiffy tag and marking them as they grow- to keep a tally of who beget whom.

Our growing flock!

D6C

Buttercup made it home with only a single flat tire. The lovely rusty lady enjoyed a spa treatment and a shopping spree with Brendan, who treated her to new fluids and a pressure bath. The chilly weather couldn’t dampen his enthusiasm and next month he and Barry have plans to tighten her sprocket and make her ‘ship shape’ for the farm.

February 16, 2022
December 2021

How did it get so late so soon? It’s night before it’s afternoon. December is here before it’s June. My goodness how the time has flown. How did it get so late so soon?

Dr. Seuss

Apple trees sleep through the short nights.

The closing days of 2021 remind us of the opening days a year passed. New cases of Covid disrupt the family’s plans to join us for Christmas and take our dear friend, Paul Jones. Having inherited the eight bee hives that have been on the farm since summer, we worked to educate ourselves the basics of beekeeping. From the eggs in the incubator from last month, we hatched 16 baby chicks. Lillian tackled an old quilting project and Brendan shopped for a new antique bulldozer, and named her Buttercup.

Beekeeping in December

The eight beehives stood alone and solitary on their cinderblock mounts by the old, stone chimney. Paul had told Brendan that the bees were staying and now we found ourselves neophyte beekeepers, nearly ignorant and in the middle of winter. Taking up the mantle of responsibility, Brendan reached out to other local beekeepers. He renewed our friendship with Bobby Arrington, one of Helen’s classmates now in his late eighties, and a long-time beekeeper. He came over with advice, supplies, honey, and homemade wine.

In less than a week, the feed room was filled with a new inventory: 125 lbs of sugar, a stack of supers and queen excluders, frames (some with made out combs and others without), precut pine and cedar for boxes, and two sets of protective equipment, all bequeathed with warm wishes for success. The community of beekeepers really is a hive of like-minded folks and we’re encouraged, if a little daunted, to be part of it.

New Chicks

After 21 days in the incubator, our first chick, a silver-laced Wyandotte with a single comb (not breed standard but still cute), pipped. 36 hours later, we removed 16 cheeping babies from the incubator and settled them into a brooder: 10 Silver Laced Wyandottes (SLW), 4 SWL X White Leghorn, and 2 SWL X Golden Comet. 100% success! A recycled stock tank used for archaeology lessons provided the perfect home. Our good neighbor, Bruce Flippen, brought over several bags of pine shavings from a local mill and we lined with bottom with pine pellets and about 2 inches of shavings. Happily cheeping, the little guys and ladies took up temporary residence in my office. A small heated brooder and a 250-watt heat lamp provided heat and will give them the perfect base to grow and feather out. In the Spring, we will move them into the yard (the chicken chalet will need an expansion) and select the nicest birds to grow our flock. The others will find new homes with friends (or in the freezer).

Quilting

For Christmas, Lilli received an Arrow sewing cabinet and spent the next day with Brendan assembling the pieces. Pulling out an old pattern for a project two years in the making, she continued to piece 1860s era quilt blocks, 28 of 56 done!

D6C

The latest edition to the farm is in the western part of the state near Roanoke but will be coming home in January. Brendan’s hunt for a vintage tractor ended on steroids as he found a 1969 Caterpillar D6C tractor. On the drive back to Glendale, he named the 17-ton beastie, Buttercup. There’s more adventures to come, I’m sure!

The end of the month ended unseasonably warm with highs in the 70s and the bees scrounging for pollen from henbit/lamium.

Camellia in bloom in December.

January 4, 2022
July 2021
SR-627 was built about 1920. The residents living along our road including Brendan’s grandparents elected to name it in honor the local doctor, Mr. Cheatham, who helped deliver many of the residents but had no children of his own left his name on the new road. The old road that passed through the farm was abandoned and slowly reclaimed by nature so that today there is only a faint path worn by years of buggies and foot traffic, abandoned and eroded by rain and storms. Gently smoothing it into shape with the old Ferguson, we erected a two-rail split rail fence that followed the old path along the edge of the field into the woods. With a hand seeder, we spread 50 lbs of sorghum to reduce erosion. Not bad for a weekend’s work!

Making the old road new again

The grape arbor was erected on the north side of the garden and hosts Alachua muscadine grapes. Each of the three vines has been trimmed and trained to grow vertically next to a 4-6 inch diameter fence post. High tensile wire provides support for the frame and chain on either end works to lever and tension the wire. The wire and tensioners were purchased from Tractor Supply while the posts came from Poultry Services, a local feed and seed store.

The sunflowers bloomed amidst the self-seeded millet.

The garden, so ambitiously started, got away from us this month. We struggled with grass and weeds. Despite 15 cubic yards of compost and four loads of leaves early in the spring, the ground is still green. An entire row of pepper plants melted into black goo and the squash borers attacked a large patch of 8 patty-pan squash. The tomatoes performed moderately well with a few specimens on each plant. Not a bumper crop but enough for some tasty gazpacho with the Sumpter cucumbers and sweet basil! The carrots were fantastic and tiny. The corn was spindly but managed to pop out an ear or two that was ripe by the end of the month. The watermelon struggled anemically and the okra has only started to grow. The eggplant are lovely but the leeks that we started from seed in March have now reached the size of spring onions. Sigh.
- Italian eggpant
- Miniature carrots
- Oddly beautiful
On a positive note, the zinnias are amazing and form a visual barrier blocking the rest of the garden from the house.

The golden comets and leghorn chickens begin laying in earnest. Production types bred for their egg-laying capability, we reached 6 eggs a day by the end of the month. Taking into consideration the cost of their fancy coop (~$500 thanks to the cost of lumber and materials), the chicks ($4 for a cheep or $10.50 for a pullet), brooder equipment (had to have the fancy heat pad), and feed (~$16 for a 50lb bag), we’ve paid an average of $3 per egg. Not exactly a bargain but then you don’t expect a cat or dog to provide a return on investment so the eggs are really a bonus. On a bright note, in July a dozen fresh eggs cost $2.77 after all expenses. A fair price all things considered!
- Cluck cluck… 3 eggs a day from the little leghorns!
In other big news, Brendan started a new job with the Division of Historical Resources (DHR) as State Underwater Archaeologist. Hurrah! Two archaeologists full time from the farm!
August 12, 2021

June 2021

A cool, dry Spring gave way to a hot, dry summer. Our new garden suffered but blueberries (transplanted from last year’s bare root plants) blushed purple and last year’s bee balm exploded in brilliant red and purple. We’ll take success where it comes and measure failures by lessons learned!

June Projects included:

800 lb of lime applied to garden (rate of 5 tons/acre)	6/16/2021
100# German millet drilled	6/17/2021
200# lime applied variously to yard	6/16/2021
2 additional bee hives on loan from P. Jones	6/18/2021
Hop poles erected	6/20/2021
Repaired trench left from running water to tobaco barn	6/20/2021
Hop dirt bed (5 tractor buckets of loamy sand from the creek)	6/21/2021
German millet broadcast seeded/Sudan grass on piles	6/20/2021
Hop bines planted	6/25/2021
5 acres treated with 1.5 tons lime/acre (8.3 tons)	6/28/2021

Brendan spread 1,000 lbs of lime across the garden and Southern States delivered and spread another 8.3 tons across the newly cleared pasture (approximately 5 acres). This year bulk lime is $55/ton (delivered and spread), an increase of 10% from last year, but still a lot less than buying it by the 40 lb bag.

For small jobs of less than 1,000 lbs, a spreader and tractor do great!

The ‘giant’ pumpkin has gotten off to a slow start, our bell peppers have literally melted into the ground, and the garden squash have been attacked by vine borers. On the bright side, our spindly corn refuses to give up, our zinnias are blooming brightly, we have a fresh supply of sumpter cucumbers for our salads, and our onions are perfectly sized for cocktails!

We added three Wyandott pullets to our coop at the beginning of the month to replace three White Leghorns that Emily Jane adopted in Florida. It took about two weeks of pecking and squawking but the ladies are finally figuring it out and are getting along.

The new pullets investigate an egg laid by the Golden Comets.

I’ve decided to make the old greenhouse a bit of a project this year. In the past, it has served magnificently and variously to start daffodils grown by Brendan’s dad. It even has an old (and inefficient) propane heater. We’re now using it to start seeds and plants for setting out. My plans include setting up an automatic timer, fan, and mister. For now it’s a bit of a hot mess!

Outside of garden projects, we celebrated as members of the family announced their move back home to Virginia. How wonderful is is to reclaim the precious process of gathering!

In other events, Brendan and I hosted the Maritime Heritage Chapter (MHC) of the Archaeological Society of Virginia (ASV) for a Shipwreck Tagging Workshop. Started in Florida by the Florida Public Archaeology Network (FPAN), the program works with the public to tag shipwreck timbers and create a record of each artifact that can be used for future research. Each tag contains a unique ID that is part of a large and growing database. For the workshop, we cut, sanded, and glued more than 80 tags, which are now ready to deploy!

Past and future state underwater archaeologists John Broadwater and Brendan Burke work on assembling tags.

June 30, 2021

April 2021
Easter came early in 2021. Brendan exchanged some cedar posts and labor at a friend’s 18th century home in Richmond for a country ham. It’s the first time I’ve cooked the delicacy. We soaked the ham for 2 days and cooked it in a bath of Dr. Pepper. The taste was delicious and extremely salty. We’re not giving up and next year we’re going to try boiling!

As Easter passed, the weather stayed cool. The garden stayed in semi-stasis while the chicks grew by leaps and bounds. Turns out chicks love chick weed. Who knew?
The onions and lettuce enjoyed the frosty nights while I started a few seedlings under cover in the greenhouse. The whole greenhouse is in need of renovation and we’ve added it to our list of future to-dos.
Farm Bureau decided to feature the old family truck and tractor in a quick blurb in their magazine and came out to film a short interview. The T is my grandfather’s and an old orchard truck that is a recent addition to the farm, like me. The Ferguson, on the other hand is the real article and has been on the farm longer than Brendan and me, combined.
Other projects in April included drilling fescue and oats to reclaim the stumped land and running a water line up to the workshop. It was a shame to tear up the yard, but better now than later!
May 4, 2021