Installing our package of bees

paddock shifting video by greg judy

Here is a video of a presentation by Missouri farmer Greg Judy on paddock shifting.  Very nice concept.

Chicken Flock Additions

We are stocking up on our depleted chicken flock. We now have only four chickens, two of which are poor producing Production Reds.
We aimed to buy hens that would provide a variety of egg colors.

The first addition is pictured to the left, ostensibly the Ameraucana. This breed produces medium-sized "Easter" eggs, light blue-greensish in color. We bought ours from the local feed store.

This chick, like most sold by commercial hatcheries, is more likely a mongrel rather than a true breed. Of course, since we are not breeding chickens that is perfectly fine with us.

We also bought two Buff Orpingtons. These chickens are reputed to docile and are average brown egg layers. This breed tends to become broody. Because they are docile, they are generally at the lower end of the chicken pecking order.

These birds are "dual purpose" and were originally raised for meat birds. Generally speaking, meat chickens do less well free-ranging as our girls live.

Finally for the chicken variety, we bought three silver Wyandottes from a local Spindale, North Carolina, breeder.  These chicks were raised by the grandfather of an employee of Oakland Feed and Seed in Spindale.

They were straight run chicks, meaning we do not know if we bought three hens, three roosters, or any combination thereof.  The good news is my wife said that we may get to keep a rooster if we have one in the three chicks.

The Wyandotte breed is much like the Buff Orpingtons.  They also lay brown eggs, maybe slightly more productive. They are docile chickens.

Lastly, what flock would be complete without some guinea fowl.  We bought six to add to our one guinea.  Guinea fowl are great tick-eaters, as well as other pests.  This is the first purpose.

We also are very happy with our guinea's defense of the chicken flock.  All his other species mates were killed by predators going into the winter.  However, our lone guinea survived and is the rooster of our flock of four free-ranging hens.  He watches for hawks, stands off dogs, and chirps at strangers and for lost hens.  He does a really good job in this capacity.

Guineas are also capable of producing some decent meat.  I haven't tasted guinea but it is said to be a cross between turkey and chicken, or a juicy pheasant flavor.

Vermicomposting: Red Wriggler Composting Worms

I ordered 2,000 Red Wiggler(Eisenia Foetida) composting worms from Uncle Jim's Worm Farm.  These are Pennsylvania worms so they will have to adapt to the western North Carolina heat.  We intend to feed the worms food scraps and horse manure.

Eisenia Foetida is a species of earthworm that lives on decaying material.  Colorado State published an article, Vermicomposting Horse Manure, which discussing setting up windrows.

Here is a blog post about how to rotate the worms and incorporate them into fertilizing gardens with chickens, TheModernHomestead blog, Raising Earthworms to Feed the Flock

Bio-Retention Water Catchment

Here are some images taken from the NC Water Conservation program handbook.  First, the diagram showing contours of the backyard wetland construction:

Next, a selection of drought tolerant wetland plants.

Here are the rain garden shrubs and perennial plants:

Below, some rain garden zone plants:

Here are some shallow water wetland plants:

Finally, some deep water plants.

Here is a picture of my brassicas (cauliflower, brussel sprouts, cabbage, and broccoli) growing in the soil cube mixture.  I followed the recipe of the soil cube instructions to make up my mix.

The seedlings are a bit spindly.  I will move my light source closer down toward the seedlings today and observe as to whether that improves their spindliness.

I also need to buy another grow bulb as I only have one installed in my grow tub right now.

Pasture Rotation Paddock Size Calculation

We have three horses.  Combined, they weigh about 3,000 pounds.  Using that figure, we can start to figure out the rotational grazing needs for our homestead.  Our horses eat a combined 80 pounds of dry forage per day.

We currently have about 4.5 acres of pasture.  First we need to figure out the grazable height of forage.  Estimate the height of grazable grass and legumes and clover (excluding seed heads, etc., which are not grazable).  Then, subtract three inches to deduct the non-grazable portion.  The difference is the height of grazable dry matter.

Next, use a "pasture stick" to estimate the quantity of dry matter in the pasture.  This figure gives you a number of grazable dry matter.

This is a total guess, but I estimate that we have about 1200 pounds of dry matter in each acre.  Based on this, it will take the horses about 15 days to eat most of an acre paddock of forage.  Need to get a pasture stick.

A rule of thumb is to graze animals when grass is 6 to 8 inches high. Rest grass when it is grazed down halfway (3 to 4 inches high).  “Graze ½, leave ½.” 

We need to establish five paddocks and rotate the horses through them.