Glendale Farm Products

Tag: chickens

  • August and September 2022 – Birds galore.

    August and September 2022 – Birds galore.

    Our Cornish cross meat bird experience, the dining room floor gets replaced, and we work on our next piece of chicken infrastructure – the egg-mobile.

    In the house, we replaced the joists and floor in the dining room – all the way down to the 1870s timbers. Brendan and the experts jacked up the house (!) and replaced the timbers, buttoned up the floor, and laid the new (old) floor- all in time for the great Chicken massacre of 2022.

    In August and September, we raised 50 Jumbo Cornish Cross meat birds (purchased from Cackle Hatchery as part of their “Hungry Man Special”). We raised them in the brooder, transferred them outside at two weeks, and let them clean out our garden in September. We lost two adult birds – one of unknown causes and the second that was injured by a non-meat bird (we dispatched it a week early and grilled it on the BBQ). Getting into meat birds for the first time, we didn’t have a Salatin-style tractor. In lieu of the 12-x-12-foot movable box enclosure, we surrounded them with electric netting. When they were young, a pop-up tent worked for shelter during the day. As they grew older, we parked a hay wagon over them for shelter. We moved the fence as needed- every week or so. The last two days, we moved them to the new (almost finished) egg-mobile and bedded them in deep straw. They were comfy, dry, and safe while we received over 2 inches of rain. It also made catching them on the big day a whole lot easier!

    All told, they ate a whopping 850# of feed and grew into beautiful birds over 53 days. With sincere and humble thanks we processed them with friends and family on October 1, 2022. The average live weight was just over 7 lbs and the carcass (freezer) weight was 5.3 lbs. I’m pretty impressed at the overall growth and stamina of these guys and girls (28 male and 22 female). At the end of an honest day’s work, we pulled out the harvest table in our recently refloored dining room and celebrated with fried chicken and homemade sides and pies.

    Our four broad breasted Turkeys have embraced life on the farm. They are now mature and will steadily put on mass before their dinner date for Thanksgiving and Christmas. They’re currently enjoying a mix of scratch and 21% feed.

    In early August, Brendan purchased a 1969 International Harvester and Big Red is now the largest tractor on the farm. Looks great next to the new Egg-mobile!

    With trial and error, I’ve learned that all bulk feed is not created equally. This summer, we experimented with buying feed by the barrel from a distributer near Petersburg. After about a month we noticed a marked slowdown in egg production and stalled growth in the pullets. Lesson learned!

    We’ve invested in an antique feed mill made by John Deer (belt-driven), a 1000# of corn, a barrel of wheat middlings, soybean meal, poultry vitamin premix, and diatomaceous earth to try our own recipe. No worries, our ladies will have plenty of free-choice commercial feed while we figure it out. Once we do, we’ll be ready to start selling our surplus eggs – $5 per dozen in Richmond (there’s a discount if you’re local!).

    At the beginning of October, we had the pleasure of watching the farm on TV. Last year, the Food Network filmed Season 3 of Outrageous Pumpkins at Glendale (just good ‘ol fun). It was pretty neat to see the farm gussied up and swarming with people.

  • July 2022

    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!

  • March and April (Spring) 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.

  • February 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.

  • November 2021

    November 2021

    “November comes and November goes, with the last red berries and the first white snow. With night coming early and dawn coming late, and ice in the bucket and frost by the gate.”

    Clyde Watson

    Outrageous Pumpkins, New Rooster, Eggs-in-the-bator, moving a runner stone, transitioning Gus to barefoot (again), farm sign renovation, and a straw and pumpkin fire sale.

    Turn Card Entertainment came back to produce a new series of Food Network’s Outrageous Pumpkins on the farm. Old faces and new friends joined us for the first half of the month, bedecking the farm in Hollywood-inspired pumpkin spice, sparkling lights, and the perfect fall spectacle. The weather held and the trees shed their leaves in glory, providing a charming backdrop for some of the world’s most talented pumpkin carvers.

    Chet and Ketch took a moment to share the spotlight (off-camera) and showcased their own prowess with the crew, with independent demonstrations on how to catch mice, rats, voles, and even a squirrel.

    During the filming, we introduced our newest cast member, a silver laced Wyandotte (SLW) rooster called Jubal Early. About a year old, Jubal is living up to his name, serenading us in the wee hours and guarding the flock with gentlemanly grace. His introduction to the ladies went surprisingly well. Kept in a crate by the hens overnight, we tossed him into the coop the following day. A few pecks later (nothing that left injury or drew blood) and the ladies we cooing and acting as though they’d lived their whole lives together. Remarkable considering the introduction of our 3 Wyandotte pullets this summer left the new ladies cowering and bullied for weeks. While there are a few pecks on their combs, I believe the advantages to having a rooster are worth it…

    Having noted that the ladies were now laying fertile eggs I seized the opportunity to become an internet expert on hatching chicks over the holidays. I purchased an incubator (https://www.mannapro.com/poultry/chicken-coop/nurture-right-360-egg-incubator,) gathered eggs for a few days, and placed 21 to set for a hatch date of December 15.

    Meanwhile, Brendan has been working to record pieces of the inland maritime landscape, including historic mills on rivers and waterways in Amelia County. Borrowing a mill stone crane from the Rowlett Mill, he worked to straighten it over the fire pit.

    Heating the crane to perform some rudimentary straightening.

    With a good friend, a crane truck, and the blessing of the current mill’s owner, he relocated the runner stone from Clementon Mill- from the front yard of the mill house where it had rested in concrete for two generations to the back of trailer and hopefully one day soon to a public place where its history can be displayed and interpreted.

    Moving the runner stone by crane and truck.

    Back at Wigwam, our good farrier pulled Gus’ shoes after two months’ of pour-in Dr. Scholls (for horses). For the winter months he’ll enjoy some easy days and lots of treats while his tender toes adjust and his soles grow strong (at least that’s the idea!).

    The farm sign, one of Brendan’s first projects when we lived in St. Augustine, received a sorely needed renovation. Self-taught, Brendan replaced the gold paint with 23K gold leaf, a fine job!

    At the end of the month, with trucks and tents departed, we took stock of the farm, and found 20 totes of pumpkins and 150 bales of wheat straw. We closed the month with a fire sale that helped us meet the neighbors and share the harvest! Everyone loves pumpkins!

    Memories of good times!

  • April 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!