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Winter Chicks

written by

Charlotte Frederickson

posted on

January 26, 2022

Winter Chicks - We haven't tried this before!

Thinking back through 2021 as we plan for the new year, we were pleased with how several of our experiments/projects turned out. One we shared with you last week - the Solar Livestock Water System.

Another new idea we tried was starting a new layer flock in the Fall instead of the Spring! We have always hatched and ordered chicks as soon as we could in the Spring, usually around March 1st. But sometime last summer we decided to increase our egg production and jumped into an experiment of brooding chicks over the winter.

The chicks arrived at the beginning of November and the Farmhands, as usual, got to pick out a few to have in the house. See the photos above. Farmhand Eli is showing off his careful chick holding skills - his chick is called Fuzzy. Farmhand Vera's chick is called Banana. Don't worry, the chick didn't actually eat any of the blue lollypop (not really ideal day-old-chick nutrition), but Vera thought it was worth a try. I may or may not have let her eat the rest of the lollypop after that...you have to build up your immune system somewhere :)

The rest of the chicks went into our brand new brooder house, pictured here. It's the first time we've had a walk-in brooder and it was a great success! In the past we've used several knee-height, more enclosed brooders that worked fine for the warmer months.

Not only was the new walk-in brooder easier for Farmer Martin to manage as he tended the chicks, but it provided more space and light for the chicks during the darker months. And it made for a great playhouse for the Farmhands on rainy days! 

The brooder "house" itself is a simple box, enclosed and roofed with chicken wire, and deep bedded with wood shavings. What made it really work well was the new "hover" Martin and Eli built. The design is called an Ohio Brooder.

The hover is the wooden box structure Vera is reaching under. It contains the heat lamps and was set low to the ground when the chicks were tiny. They would cuddle under it for warmth, venture out for food and water, and then zip back under like it was a mother hen. Later, as the chicks got bigger and needed more space and less heat, it was easy to raise the hover on cinder blocks and bricks (staple construction materials around our farm, almost as important as baling twine and duct tape).

As you can see in these pictures, as the chicks grew bigger they could jump up on the hover so it also provided additional floor space and chick entertainment. Pictured here, the chicks are about 8 weeks old, fully feathered, and ready to join the full sized hens in the warm and dry hoophouse we use for winter chicken shelter.

Moving day is a project the whole family gets to participate in! It's always fun to watch the chicks charging around, exploring their new larger space. We usually move chickens towards evening so they have a short time to get settled in and then wake up in their new home. It seems to help them better adapt to the change, but the low light makes for blurry photos.

The chicks, now actually "pullets," have a separate area from the older hens as they'll be a separate flock when they go out onto pasture this Spring. Time to build another Ritz Cluckin!

These sweet little girls continue to grow fast. They should be laying in another 8-10 weeks! Interestingly, they are progressing towards laying as the daylight is naturally lengthening. Spring hatched chicks are normally going into lay just after the Summer Solstice when the daylight starts to decrease. We are interested to see how the change of seasons affects the lay cycle. The experiment continues. Stay tuned!

More from the blog

Top 3 Secrets for Great Kabobs (Recipe)

Top 3 Secrets for Great Kabobs (Recipe)

Have you grilled shish kabobs yet this summer? I have to say, they’re one of my favorites and something I look forward to making every year as soon as the sun starts to shine. Shish kabobs are simple, healthy and so perfectly suited to the fresh tastes of summer. Quick enough for a weeknight, they can also be prepped in advance for a sunny deck party. Their roots are in multiple culinary traditions. Sometimes they’re just called Skewers. In Greece they’re called Souvlaki, which is what I made this week for my family. So what are they? At the most basic level, shish kabobs are bits of meat and/or vegetables placed onto skewers and grilled. The combinations of ingredients and flavors are endless, so they easily suit dietary needs, flavor preferences, and whatever is fresh for the season. But there are a few ways kabobs can go wrong if you don’t have the right methods in place. To help you get it right and have the best eating experience, today I’m sharing my top 3 secrets for great kabobs. Follow these 3 top rules and I can nearly guarantee you’ll create a delicious outcome every time. 1. Remove any connective tissue from the meat before grilling. Skip this step and you’re going to be disappointed. Connective tissues, like the fascia and silver skin, add a nutritious element to stews - but are enemies to a quick cooking dish like kabobs. Leave them in the kabobs, and you’ll end up with a tough nightmare you can’t chew. So, depending on the cut you choose, make sure to carefully remove any connective tissue before cutting the meat into one inch cubes. Following this advice is especially imperative if choosing a more economical cut of beef, like London Broil, stew meat or Denver steaks. They are delicious and can make great kabobs, but the tradeoff is a bit of extra labor on your part. You don’t have to throw away the trimmed bits, either. Save them in the freezer to add extra flavor and nutrition to your next batch of bone broth. Or cut them up for your dog or cat – best friends for life! Now, don’t confuse undesirable connective tissue with intermuscular marbling. You can tell it’s connective tissue to be removed if the muscle pulls away on both sides (see photo). Marbling, on the other hand, is the thin white veins of fat that run through the muscle.  Marbling is delicious and highly desirable in kabobs. Leave it in! For the easiest to prepare and most tender bite, choose a quality steak like the New York Strip, Rib Eye or Top Sirloin. These cuts have very little, if any, connective tissue, so you’ll save the trimming step. Plus the NY and Rib Eye especially have the perfect amount of marbling to make for a super tender bite. Since our steaks are cut at 1” thick, all you need to do is finish cutting them into 1” cubes. Click here to buy steak for kabobs now. If you’re looking for a pork options, pork chops and kabobs are your best bet. They’re both delicious, but make sure to follow the rule on removing connective tissue when opting for the kabob. 2. Place meat on separate skewers from the vegetables. This is important because the vegetables are going to take waaaayyy longer to cook than the meat. Put them on the same skewers like in the pretty magazine pictures and you’re either going to have shoe-leather meat or raw vegetables. Which leads to… 3. Don’t overcook the meat. Overcooked, dried out meat is tough meat. I probably sound like a broken record on this point, but it’s so easy to get this step wrong. And it's important because I want you to enjoy every bite of our premium grass-fed beef - every time. So first grill those vegetables (the ones you placed on separate skewers) until they’re lovely and crisp-tender. Set them aside and THEN throw on the meat skewers. Now, don’t blink. Definitely don’t walk away to fill your drink, set the table, or mediate a kid dispute… In a flash, those succulent meat skewers will reach an internal temperature of 140 degrees. You’ll just have time to turn them and get lovely grill marks on all sides. Take them off the heat and rest them on a plate for 5 minutes. The internal temp will raise another 5 degrees and the meat juices will reabsorb for the most tender, juicy bite. Use a medium (not high) flame, for best results. Bonus Tips Get the family into the action. Cut up all the vegetables, toss them in olive oil, and then let everyone make their own skewers with whatever ingredients they prefer. When we made kabobs this last week, the Farmhands each made their own skewers and had so much fun in the process. Farmhand Vera eschewed the mushrooms. For Farmhand Eli, no onion. Farmhand Grace put on everything because that’s most fun  - especially the “vacchinnies” (translation: zucchini). And no one punctured their hand with the sharp skewers! At least after I showed them how to put the veggies on a cutting board instead of the palm of your hand :) Final flavor tip - Be sure to marinate the meat skewers for at least 30 minutes or up to 24 hours. My absolute favorite marinade is from my Greek Souvlaki Recipe, because it complements both One Straw beef and pork without covering up the inherently luscious flavor. And don’t forget to make the tzatziki dressing from the same recipe. Drizzle it over the meat and vegetables on your plate. Then dust with parsley, salt and fresh ground pepper for the perfect finish. Are you hungry yet? I just finished up the last of our kabob leftovers for lunch and I’m wishing I’d made more… Click here to order beef or pork for kabobs now.

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