First sign of spring

We have a few new additions to the flock! Even though there is a foot of snow on the ground outside, it's like spring indoors, as the incubator starts to produce chicks. Here's our first little peep. An ameraucana chick that was born with a case of spraddle leg, which is a condition that causes it to hold it's leg a bit too far to the side to be able to properly balance. The condition is easy to remedy if caught early. It consists of wearing a brace for a day or so until the bones start to harden and the muscles get a bit stronger. It's already reacting well to treatment, so things should be good for it's future.

We also have a black copper marans chick running around. We're sure he is probably a rooster as he's a lot more aggressive and active than his brooder mate. He appears to be in good health and is running around, eating, and peeping like crazy!

We'll give the incubator a couple of more days to see if any other chicks hatch and then on to a new batch. Hopefully, we'll be producing a batch a month for the first few months of the spring. But these batches won't always be chickens, as we've already made arrangements for some fertile turkey and guinea eggs for hatching as well!

The Point of Snow Return

Photo by Dan Taylor

Ok, we knew that winter wasn't over. Not by a long shot, but still, the bit of nicer weather last week had us really pining for spring. We were able to get some cleanup projects finished outside and clear some area for a new series of coops. Just when we were really getting into the swing of outdoor projects, along comes a fairly major snow. The temps were still in the upper 20's so the snow was really heavy and sticky. While this makes for great photos, it also makes for no fun shoveling.

Photo by Carrie Taylor

There were plenty of cardinals around our feeder since most of their other food sources were covered by snow. The showy red of the male makes it a favorite subject to photograph but the subtle shades and variations of the female are also visually interesting and make for a great photo against the backdrop of the fresh snow.

Photo by Carrie Taylor

After the shoveling was done, the sun came out for a bit. It brought a great sparkle to the snow clinging to the trees. We treated it as a visual reward for the hard work of cleaning up the walks and driveway.

Photo by Dan Taylor

After a day of working outside in the snow. It's wonderful to come inside to a steamy bowl of black bean soup. Carrie's black bean soup has a warm spanish flair that adds a touch of exotic color to a drab winter day.

Black Bean Soup

16 oz Black Beans dried
2 Garlic Cloves
1 Medium onion fine chopped
4 Green Onions
1 Cilantro med. bunch
Sour Cream

Pre-soak the beans overnight. Drain and add to stock pot with 6 cups water, the medium onion, garlic, pinch of salt. Bring to boil and then back off to simmer until beans are tender (1.5 to 2 hrs). Season with salt and pepper to taste, top with dollop of sour cream and diced green onions and cilantro. Just a splash of cayenne pepper sauce to add that extra bit of heat.

Another bride... another groom...

A face only a turkey could love...

Awkward beginnings.

The Turkeys get their groove back.

Ok, I'm not sure turkeys even have a groove, or even what that means, but our two young Royal Palm hens have been joined by a fine strapping young tom. After an awkward bit at the introduction, everyone started to warm up over the cracked corn bar. Pretty soon everyone was talking amiably in the corner and seemed to strike up some genuine friendships. This seems to be working out fairly well at this point, so maybe we can chalk up a 'success' for internet dating as our ladies found their prospective mate on craigslist. He came from the frozen north but has a bit of hot Spanish blood that's sure to inspire many steamy evenings in the turkey coop. Hopefully, we will be blessed by the sound of little feet scampering about the run by spring.

For the birds...

Pearl Guineas

Nosy Chickens

Bird at feeder

Royal Palm Turkeys 'standoff'

It seems like everywhere you look around Morning Meadows Farm you see birds! Between the turkeys, chickens, and guineas in the outdoor pens, the crowd that gathers around the feeders and suet blocks in the back yard, the chicks in the brooder (in the bathroom), and 2 cockatiels in the dining room, there is always something avian happening. And this could just be the beginning

We are currently incubating a batch of 30 chicken eggs which include the varieties Ameraucana, which lay the blue / green eggs, Cuckoo Marans, which lay the dark brown eggs, and Black Copper Marans, which also lay a dark brown egg. The Black Copper Marans will be used primarily to provide eggs to sell to others for hatching as chicks. They are a reletively rare breed and the genetics we are raising is directly from the Wade Jeane / Beverly Davis line of French Black Copper Marans, which are highly regarded as the top lines of genetics in the United States. So we are very hopeful that they do well.

One of our goals here, is to help preserve some of the rare breeds of livestock that are quickly fading from existence. A couple of our other animals on the endangered list are the Royal Palm Turkey , a relatively small heritage breed bird that is very limited in number, and the Golden Campine chicken. If you would like to learn more about preserving heritage livestock check out American Livestock Breeds Conservancy and also The Society for the Preservation of Poultry Antiquities .


That's not to say that there aren't plenty of run-of-the-mill varieties as well! We also have plenty of the more common breeds including a few hybrids such as our golden comets, which are egg-laying machines! Don't think, though, that just because they are more common or less showy that they aren't highly thought of. All of the birds here have their role to play and are considered partners in our agricultural endeavors. The guineas are voracious feeders of ticks, flys, mosquitoes and will even take on a small snake if one is handy. The chickens provide plenty of eggs and compost for the garden. The turkeys also are good with the compost and make great recyclers of garden weeds. So between weed control, pest control, compost production, food production, and just plain entertainment value, it truly is 'for the birds' around here.

Outlaw Chickens!

So, here's how we became a halfway house for these feathered fugitives... I was scanning through a few things on the local craigslist site when, in the 'free' column, something caught my eye. The heading was "Free Roosters". Well, normally we have no interest in acquiring additional roosters as we have too much problem getting rid of our extras (freezer camp may become an option at some point). But, I instinctively clicked on the link and to my amazement found not a group of world hardened roos but instead a plea for someone to take the trio of 3 fuzzy chicks! Well, now I was hooked! So, after calling flock supervisor Carrie on her cell at work, and after having received the 'ok' I made the phone call to get these. Well, here's where it gets a bit weird... the guy didn't want to meet me at his home and insisted that he either bring them to me or meet somewhere convenient for both. So, to summarize to this point, I have a guy wanting to give away free chicks and he's willing to deliver. Weird. Now, I'm getting a bit gunshy as I don't want to introduce any possible disease or problems to our flock, but I meet with him anyway.

We meet in the parking lot at the local Lowe's home improvement store. Parked in the outer perimeter and wary of passersby like some illicit transfer was about to transpire. As it turns out, the Buff Plymouth Rock chicks where gorgeous and healthy. It seems that the guy who was raising them lives in a part of the city (an apartment I suspect) where pets aren't allowed. He needed to keep the transfer anonymous as he had no idea whether I worked for a law enforcement agency (hah!). He is keeping what are, to his eye, obviously hens but needed to git rid of any roosters long before they started crowing! Of the 3 he gave us, 2 are very definitely roos. One, however, has much less of a comb and seems to be less apt to play thier game of chest bump, so I think we may also have a hen!

It's been a week now, and the chicks are doing great in the brooder and growing quickly. Hopefully one of the roosters will grow up to be a great flock roo to replace our Marans, Lenny, that recently died. With luck, we'll have one hen from the group to add to the flock of layers, and the fate of the remaining fellow has yet to be determined (*cue sinister music).





Yesterday, we made a great pot of beef stew. This pot was mostly store bought veggies this time but soon enough, meals like this will be coming directly from the garden! I can't think of too many meals I like better during the winter than a hearty stew. It's easy to prep, takes about 10 minutes. I like to let mine simmer for hours so that the flavors really marry. Here's the basic recipe I use, but often modify based on what's on hand:

Beef Stew


3 tbs AP flour
1-2 lb. Beef Stew meat cut into 1 in. chunks.
2 tbs Cooking oil
1 cup Onion (coarsely chopped)
1 tsp Rubbed thyme
1 tbs Dried rosemary leaves (crush right before adding)
2 Cloves garlic (finely minced)
3 cups Vegetable Juice cocktail (like V-8, or tomato juice works in a pinch)
2 cubes Beef Bouillon
3 Large potatoes, peeled and cubed (3/4 to 1 in.)
1.5 cup Celery (coarsely chopped)
2 cups Carrot (coarsely chopped)
2 cup (optional)Turnip, peeled and cubed (1/2 in. dice)


In plastic bag, combine flour and dash of salt. Pat meat cubes dry with paper towel and then add to bag being sure to coat evenly. Brown meat in hot oil using a pot large enough to accommodate all the veggies to come. When meat is browned, add in all remaining ingredients plus 1 cup of water. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat, cover and let simmer for 1.5 hours or until meat is tender and starch from potatoes has started to thicken the broth. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Add a touch of hot sauce if you like it spicy. Serve with a crusty bread! mmmm...

Coop De Ville?

Why do chicken coops always have 2 doors? Because if they had 4 doors they would be chicken sedans. Ok... now that that's out of the way, our early winter project was to construct a small coop for a couple of turkeys and possibly a few guineas.

One of the parameters that we set for this project was to use as many recycled and repurposed materials as possible and to keep the expense as low as possible. We used reclaimed concrete blocks and landscape timbers for the base pillars and runner. On top of this is a large oak packing skid from a local tractor dealership. Plywood was scavenged from a local shopping center in the process of demo-ing some old back room shelving and the steel for the roof was reclaimed from a previous barn repair. Most of the 2x4's were already on hand. A few had to be purchased. The window was also a reclaimed item from a french door. The outer run area is constructed of pressure treated 2 x 4's that were removed from a landscape project I worked on in the fall (the owner was gracious in his support of this project). To finish the run and to provide a more mud-free environment, we installed sod that was left over from another landscape project. Basically, the only thing we needed to purchase for this project was hardware, some fencing for the run, and paint! We're looking forward to spring to be able to finish the painting, which will be a typical barn red. Total cost was less than $100 in expenses but almost 40 hours in labor.

Even though it's not quite finished, 2 inhabitants have made a comfortable home inside. It's currently occupied by a pair of Royal Palm turkey hens. These ladies are about 7 months old and will be joined by a suitor in the spring. If all goes well, we should be producing turkey eggs this summer. We are looking forward to having turkey eggs for hatching to produce poults for sale. The American Livestock Breeds Conservancy has listed this variety of turkey on their watch list of possibly endangered livestock breeds, so we feel that our efforts to help propagate these animals is worthwhile even on our small scale.