Hot Mess Farm

26/11/2023

I hatched 10 baby chicks this year on the Hot Mess Farm. It was the first time I've ever hatched eggs and I let the hens do it. I didn't incubate them. Of those, a hawk got one from the first batch of 5 and a couple months later a hawk got one from the second batch of 5. So I had eight left. In general, I don't lose many and they're super secure at night. Usually the grown hens watch for hawks and hide under sheltered areas when one is nearby. The younger chicks don't have it all figured out yet. They learn fast after the first catastrophe.

Would you believe that of those eight chickens, SEVEN were roosters/cockerels? So I have the main rooster, RooPaul, then we have the second rooster, "Rooster," that was sold to me and was supposed to be a pullet. 🙄 And then these seven cockerels. I can't have all those and don't need or want them. I tried to find homes for them, but had no takers for weeks. Finally yesterday four of them got a new home and were taken to a new family.

Two of the three remaining young roosters went to my friend, who agreed to process them if I wasn't able to find a home for them. Needless to say, she took care of it this morning. I am SO proud of her!!! She did it all by herself and did an amazing job! She pieced the first one and she plucked and packaged the second one whole. She offered for me to share, but I passed this time around. It was her first time processing chickens and as I brought them to her one at a time, I patted them and thanked them and left them for her to handle.

RooPaul and Rooster continue to live here and protect the ladies. They're good roosters and although they can be a little loud sometimes, I have a good relationship with them. The last of the young roosters will stay with me until such time that he isn't a good fit for us anymore. But for now, Biggie Smalls is out there behaving nicely.

I've come such a long way from a few years ago when I'd cry if I lost a chicken or something like that happened. But I'm really proud to have raised these in a healthy and caring environment without any additives or yuck and then give them a quick end. These two will provide a couple of healthy meals for a friend and I'm preventing my hens from being assaulted (and the roosters from fighting or hurting each other) constantly by having too many males on the yard.

I won't plan to hatch any more eggs here unless it happens by sheer mistake, because clearly RooPaul is mainly sending out Y chromosomes. I'll get sexed pullets from my breeder in the spring if any of the hens go broody. The yard is more quiet now and everyone is settling back in to the new normal without all the chaos out there. 😊

17/11/2023

I have 16+ dozen eggs ready to go out for your holiday baking! $3 per dozen.

17/11/2023

Whoa! Someone had a really rough morning today! (Also, my hands are large, so this pic doesn't do it justice.)

06/11/2023

My Bantam Brahma (named Baby)started laying. Can you guess which ones are hers? 😂 She's so adorable.

28/10/2023

Mercy! These poor girls are having a HARD molt right now! Egg laying has slowed considerably and these girls need extra protein to help them grow in their new feathers. Some of them are definitely having a bad hair day. 😯

19/10/2023

Educational post. This is what hives look like on a dog. They're raised patches on the hair or fur.

18/10/2023

Every day on the Hot Mess Farm is like Easter. 🤩

02/10/2023

Hahaaa!! My son sent me this. It's the truth. There's an owl and a hawk that I have sworn a curse on. 😂😂

23/09/2023

I hauled some lumber for my friend this week. 16 feet looks a whole lot longer when it's in my short bed truck. Lol. I deserve a CDL for this.

21/09/2023

Life is short. Eat your favorite things on the good china. 😆

16/09/2023

01/09/2023

Ayyy. It's this kind of day today.
Errands ✔️
New nesting boxes finished ✔️
Reports typed 😂 Of course not.
There's a nice breeze out and I'm sitting with all the animals. I've got good tunes on my headphones. It doesn't get much better than this.

25/08/2023

I want y'all to just gaze upon this fiddle leaf fig that I'm babysitting for the next year. Have you ever seen anything so glorious? It's named Figgy but I've been calling it Figlet and I think that's ok, too.

If you have any tips on how not to kill it, I'm open to suggestions ! No pressure. 😝

22/07/2023

The Hot Mess Farm is so proud to share that we have five (possibly 6 by tomorrow) new baby chicks fathered by RooPaul, our accidental rooster. This is the third hatch this year, but these are special because they're from eggs I gave away for hatching elsewhere. I'm so excited to see the variety this round produced. I'm going to enjoy watching them grow up from a distance. 😍❤️

20/07/2023

Yup.

13/07/2023

Here's a pollinator tip- plant Bee Balm. Last year it bloomed and my bees were all over it. This year it's grown giant and is blooming and I've had butterflies, honeybees, bumblebees, flies, and all kinds of other flying insects pollinating the heck out of it. It blooms in the summer rather than the spring, so it's good for the insects because other things aren't blooming much right now and they need the pollen and nectar.

04/07/2023

Welcome to our newest babies! Five eggs have hatched. Two to go. So happy for Millie. 😍

04/07/2023

My sweet girl, Millie has brooded time and time again and hasn't been successful. I decided to let her have one more go at it. Lo and behold! We have a new round of babies on the Hot Mess Farm!
So far Millie has hatched four of the seven eggs. These came two days earlier than I expected so I'll be watching to see if the other three eggs hatch. I'll post a reel of the second one hatching. They work so hard at it! 😍
Congratulations to Millie!!

29/06/2023

Every day feels like Christmas when things are growing! Here's how my Wednesday afternoon and evening are shaping up. 😍

28/06/2023

The new Rhode Island Red pullets and Cream Legbar pullets laid their first eggs recently. Here they are compared to normal size hen eggs. I have 27 hens, one rooster, five chicks, one suspected cockerel, and six eggs that will hatch next week. Phew!!

28/06/2023

Mm hmm.

You are all amazing humans 💜

28/06/2023

Sad. I lost three out of my four colonies last winter. I have four again now but we'll see how they go through the fall and into the winter.
We need more wild flowers and pollinator gardens and fewer manicured lawns. We need fewer pesticides and herbicides and more tolerance of natural things. 😕

U.S. Honey Bee Losses

This chart shows the estimated share of bee keepers' colonies lost in the United States from 2016-17 to 2022-23.

To read on, go to: https://www.beeculture.com/u-s-honey-bee-losses/

27/06/2023

My blackberries are CRAZY!! I've frozen 18 cups so far from ONE plant. And there are so many more yet to ripen.
Cobbler for everyone!

19/06/2023

It's been a minute since I had time to dump some photos. Lots happening here on the Hot Mess Farm. There have been some changes here and there. Some good, some hard. But time moves on and so do things here.

The flowers and plants are thriving. So many things growing! I have tons of squash, herbs, blackberries, and other goodies. Many things are just coming in. Tomatoes and peppers are beginning to bloom and cucumbers are on the vine.

Missy Elliott (the mama hen) is doing a fine job raising her five baby chicks. We divided the goat house with a wall so that more than half of it will now be a very large chicken coop. For now, Missy and her chicks are living in there so she can raise them without having to be bothered with the rest of the flock. With the five new chicks I'm up to 33 chickens and one rooster. It seems insane but they're all out they're doing what they do. They're happy and healthy. Whenever that room is no longer a nursery, all the chickens will live there and I'll get rid of one of the smaller coops. I'll keep the other small coop as a chicken hospital/nursery so I don't have to constantly bring one in the house when something goes wrong.

Poor Millie has tried dozens of times to brood eggs but has never had any success at all. She sat for four weeks in early spring but none of the eggs turned out to be viable. That was before I knew what I was supposed to do (candle them around day 5). I learned quickly with Missy's brood and that went much better. So I decided I'll give Millie one more chance this year. Three days ago I separated her out and put her in the crate in the room/coop where Missy and the babies are. Millie brought EIGHT eggs with her, but I'll candle them tomorrow and see if any are developing. I hope she can get one little chick to take care of. I'll w**d out any tomorrow that aren't developing.

I'm running four bee hives out there and one has become a powerhouse. It's the queen that overwintered and she's amazing. I could have harvested honey from that hive, but I ran out of time. Maybe I'll get a fall harvest. We'll see.

Moo and Buddha (the dogs) are great. Luna the cat is great (with her nasty disposition) and I'm just finishing a week of the norovirus. But I can't imagine anywhere else where I'd rather stay home sick.

I hope you're all well and have had a restful and wonderful Father's Day. ❤️

18/06/2023

Look at the blackberries I grew! The bush is so full of berries not-quite ripe. Exciting! 😍

07/06/2023

The chicks are two weeks old now. Look how big they've gotten! They'll be moving out to a bigger space this week. There's a guest appearance by Aspen and Mama at the end. ❤️

06/06/2023

Yesterday was probably one of the hardest days I've ever had on the Hot Mess Farm. We all know I don't really have a "farm" but rather a lot of animals and some plants. But it's definitely a hot mess and I think it should count as a hobby farm.

I'm not going into details, but I'll say this, if it looks like I'm just feeding a couple animals and growing a few squash, you haven't been paying attention. And that's ok, too. It's my jam, not anyone else's. But it's hard sometimes. Some decisions that I make don't look pretty or feel good. Those days are the worst. 😕

23/05/2023

I'm so excited!!! My girl Missy Elliott has been brooding for 21 or 22 days now. This afternoon I went out to check her and she has hatched 4 babies! There are three eggs still under her so I'll give it a couple more days. She brought those in a day after these other eggs.
There are two little gray puffs (just like their dad, RooPaul) and two little black puffs.
We've hatched our first eggs ever on the Hot Mess Farm! 😍

20/05/2023

This is so interesting. If you've never seen how bees make wax, here's a short video. 😍

18/05/2023

The blackberries are coming in!