Farm Happenings - Trading Chickens For Pigs

About three weeks ago a very nice lady named Angie came to pick up her chickens that she had purchased. While she was here she told us how she would be picking up to young piglets on here way home.  We expressed to her how we would also like to get a couple of pigs to raise up and butcher.  We asked if she would check and see if the people would have a couple more pigs and to let us know.  She got back with me later that evening, she said she picked up the pigs and when she brought them home decided she really didn't need anymore pigs, she already had a couple of pigs and was really not going to have the freezer space for that many.  She asked us if we would like to purchase the pigs.  We said sure, would you like us to pay in cash or chickens?  She said it would be nice to be paid in chickens, so the next day we picked up the pigs and gave three hens for two pigs, what a deal!

The little pigs weigh about 40 pounds each, they had been wormed, tails docked, teeth clipped and castrated so we didn't have that to deal with, thank goodness!
We brought them home in a medium sized dog crate.  They spent the night in a nice sized wooden box in the Morton building until we could get them situated in their own pen the following day.

We've had pigs a couple of times in the past and still had an old pen set up where we raised them. The pen is a bit grown up with weeds and brush but the pigs will have that cleaned up and knocked down in no time.
They took a short 4 wheeler ride out to the pen, I'm sure they are wondering what the heck is happening!

Larry got them into the pen and they quickly went to excavating dirt.  Pigs make good rototillers and garbage disposals.
We produce a lot of eggs here at the poultry farm.  There are times when some eggs are to muddy, or poop covered to hatch or eat ourselves and this will be great for the pigs.  Next month we will crank up the incubators and start hatching again.  We hatch chicks every Monday night and we always have some eggs that don't form and we throw away in the trash, this will be great for the pigs to clean up instead of it going into the landfill.

We no longer had a pig shelter so Larry quickly put together a pig palace.  Threw them a half bail of straw and they made themselves a bed.  It was fun to watch them pitch the straw around.

 Snug as two pigs in a blanket.

They are growing so fast!  When they reach about 250 to 300 pounds we're planning to butcher them ourselves.  I think they'll be ready to process at our most busy time of year and it sounds like a really big job, so we might need to take them off and have them processed.  If we do it ourselves I plan to blog about the process, I know some people won't like that but this is a farm and that is how pork makes it to the table.  We like to know where our food comes from, what it was fed and the manner in which it was raised.  These little pigs will be raised humanly and well fed. We're very compassionate towards all animals and would never allow one to suffer for any reason.

This is just another day on the farm.

Angie

Chicks And Pullets For Sale - Time To Place Spring Orders

It's never too early to start dreaming about spring!

Come on, make your wish list, give us a call or drop me an email.

http://www.chickenscratchpoultry.com/

Maybe you should start with, a cup of lavender...

A Couple of Chocolate morsels...

Maybe a half dozen Olives...

How about a boxed assortment...

Maybe you like yours laced in blue...

Head over to Chicken Scratch Poultry, I know we'll have something you'll love!

http://www.chickenscratchpoultry.com/

We sell day old chicks, pullets and hatching eggs.

Your also welcome to place your order over the phone.

618-643-5602

We look forward to hearing form you!

Angie & Larry

Farm Photos

Thought I would take a minute and share some farm photos.   I love seeing photos from other farms.  

We're now on Instagram, if you've not yet joined I highly recommend doing that.  If you like Facebook you'll love Instagram!  Here's a link, we hope you'll follow us.  /https://www.instagram.com/chickenscratchpoultry/

Have a blessed day!

Angie

Open Roasting A Turkey

With Christmas just days away I though I would write blog on open roasting a turkey.  Just cooking a turkey once caused me great anxiety let alone open roasted.  The first time I tried this, all I could hear in the back of my mind was my mother saying "It'll be dry!"  Well thank goodness she was wrong and now I always open roast my turkey.  It's easy, don't be afraid, just do it!

Begin with a completely thawed turkey, you can also do this with a turkey breast.  You don't need a special rack like I'm using, actually I think I like it just as well without the rack.

You will need whatever kind of herbs you would like, I'm going to use some homegrown sage, Thyme, garlic, salt, pepper and olive oil. 

Begin with brushing your turkey with olive oil.

Sprinkle with Sage, Thyme, salt, pepper and garlic.  In the pan around the turkey, I like to put, turnips, onion and carrots.  This really works better when you aren't using a rack.

Refer to the cooking instructions on your turkey for the weight and cooking time.  Stick to the amount of time that it suggests and your turkey will not be dry.  If you over cook it will be dry.

Hope you all have a wonderful Christmas!

Angie

Luke 2:7

And she brought forth her firstborn Son, and wrapped Him in swaddling cloths, and laid Him in a manger because there was no room for them in the Inn. 

Game Cameras - What's Lurking Around Your Barns

Having a game camera is a good way to keep an eye on what's lurking around your property.  If you have livestock it's a good idea to keep a watch on potential predictors whether they be human or animal.  A game camera can give you the ability to spot a problem before it becomes an issue just by keeping a check on what's hanging around when your not around.
This summer we noticed that some kind of varmint was digging under the wire on our chicken pens and decided it was a good time to set up the game camera and see what's hanging around the barns.   We don't think that any hens were missing but we knew a problem was beginning and we needed to put a stop to it before it got out of hand.
Predators are more likely to come at night but that's not to say they don't come in the day time.  Our biggest day time threats are hawks, our biggest night time threats are raccoon and opossum.
After setting a trap in the spot where the critter was digging under the pen we discovered it was a skunk.

 It's kind of hard to determine what this critter is but I think it's a fox.  We've not seen him during the day but if he's hanging around at night he's surely here during the day.  They don't call them sly for nothing.
We didn't even know we had a fox around until we seen this photo.

We actually started watching the game camera early in the spring, just to keep an eye on things.  It's really fun to check it each morning to see what it captured.  I've saved the pictures all summer long and thought it would be fun to share with you all what's hanging around our backyard.
This doe decided she would get an up close look at the camera.

Here's the doe with one of her fawns,
she has twins.  We've watched them all summer as they play, run and jump through the yard.  She has raised twins here now for the past two years maybe longer.

This is the only picture I have of the three of the together.  They're getting so big now.

This is the buck who's been stripping my Christmas trees bare!  They're beautiful animals but they're sure hard on my trees.

Game Cameras are also good for catching that fisherman sneaking in to fish at your pond. Smile dad your on candid camera.

Catching a glimpse of a wild monkey in your backyard is always fun to see.  The granddaughters have figured out the camera and always leave grandpa a cute picture.

Sometimes the only picture we get is of the farmer checking the game camera.

Just thought I would share what's lurking in my backyard, aren't you curious what's in yours?
Have a great day.
Angie

Guest Blogger And Visitor To Chicken Scratch Poultry, Leslie McEwen

Today we have a guest to the blog, my niece Leslie McEwen from North Pole Alaska.  She and her brother Klye came for a visit back in October.  I asked Leslie if she would like to share from a teenagers point of view, visiting the Chicken Scratch Poultry farm. 

Kyle, Leslie and Brody (Brody/chicken whisperer wasn't able to come on this trip) 

Hi all, My name is Leslie McEwen and I am Larry and Angie's niece. I am going to be the guest blogging for Aunt Angie today, so a little bit about me first. I am an 18 year old born and raised Alaskan. I love living in AK and enjoy the outdoors and all my family’s animals, which includes chickens (of course), goats, rabbits, and sheep-my personal project. I am involved in FFA and 4-H, and I love meeting new people and learning about agriculture in different places because it differs wherever you go. Here in Alaska we do Ag. very different from everywhere else in the world so it is interesting to see the “normal” side of Ag.

Anyway enough about me. A few weeks ago, I was lucky enough with my younger brother, Kyle and my grandma to visit the chicken farm. I had visited the farm before about five years ago. I knew it had grown, I mean I followed the blog and everything and talked to my uncle and aunt so I thought I knew how big it had gotten…..

But Chicken Scratch Poultry is so much more amazing then I remember! Maybe it is because I was much younger 5 years ago when I visited, but the important reason is because of all the hard exhausting work that my aunt and uncle have put into their business. In structures alone, they have grown so much just in the last year. While I was there my brother helped Uncle Larry with adding on to the new barn, this was the real reason they let us come in the first place :), and it was amazing seeing the growth just over the couple of days we were there. They have also added the brooder shed and a pullet house (those are my names, I hope they are right) recently, which I can’t imagine them doing without.

While we were there, I was able to help box up chickens to ship. I got to see and participate in the process from beginning to end folding the boxes, putting in the cucumber for chicken snacks, catching the correct chickens, putting the labels on, and delivering a truck full of chickens to the post office with my cousin Heather. It was a blast, and I loved every minute of it.

I think the thing I appreciated most was how well my uncle and aunt take care of their customers. They respect their customers loyalty and try to give their customers the best experience by their commitment to sending quality birds.

Thank you so much for listening to my ramblings and thank you Uncle Larry and Aunt Angie for letting us come visit you and participate in Chicken Scratch Poultry’s daily operations. I thoroughly enjoyed myself and I am willing to come work for you anytime. Next time, I might even bring the real chicken expert in the family, my brother Brody.

Leslie 

Brody/chicken whisper