Sunset Ridge - Poultry Farming At Home

05/13/22 • 18 min

Welcome to Season 2! As you may remember last season we discussed our inability to keep our chicken brood alive, and that we had started over. Since Season 1’s end, we have added many more chickens to our coop, and unfortunately begun losing some as well. Darn Bird Flu.

On this episode, we’re discussing the newest edition of poultry farming at home with the Chamberlains. We talk about how many chickens we ended up with, by breed, about the new run that we built with extra lumber “Ft. Bocks”, and about Bird Flu 2022 that’s eating our brood alive.

Our Chickens (by the numbers)

Poultry farming at home is more fun with variety
We purchased nearly 30 chickens to make our start this time around
Brahmas, Rhode Island Reds, Silver and Gold Laced Wyandottes, and a mess of Speckled Banty hens and a rooster

The New Run

We found out the hard way last year, that without a proper run we would lose everything to predators
This year we built the Fort Knox of chicken runs.
We named it Ft. Bocks...
We used some left over lumber that had been lying around for several years and made something to hopefully keep our chickens safe for years to come

Bird Flu 2022

We started losing birds about a week after we finished our brood purchasing
The symptoms have been setting in pretty quickly
Imagine the influenza that you experience... but in a chicken.
The small birds are dead within 48 hours (normally)
The full grown brahmas have been living for 3 weeks with the flu

Our Chickens (by the numbers)

Poultry farming at home is more fun with variety
We purchased nearly 30 chickens to make our start this time around
Brahmas, Rhode Island Reds, Silver and Gold Laced Wyandottes, and a mess of Speckled Banty hens and a rooster

The New Run

We found out the hard way last year, that without a proper run we would lose everything to predators
This year we built the Fort Knox of chicken runs.
We named it Ft. Bocks...
We used some left over lumber that had been lying around for several years and made something to hopefully keep our chickens safe for years to come

Bird Flu 2022

We started losing birds about a week after we finished our brood purchasing
The symptoms have been setting in pretty quickly
Imagine the influenza that you experience... but in a chicken.
The small birds are dead within 48 hours (normally)
The full grown brahmas have been living for 3 weeks with the flu

Previous Episode

And Miles To Go Before I Sleep - Our Family Travels

Traveling has always been a hobby for us, since our first spontaneous Hawaii trip, to Boston, to a Spring Break we won’t soon forget, our family has lived on the go.

In this episode Daniel and Samantha talk about their family travels since before they were even “family”. Join us on this adventure as we walk you through all of our past family travels and the ones we have planned in the future.

Historical Family Travels

In January 2016 our friend Jessica told us about sub-$100 flights to Hawaii where she was living at the time. We found out and something like 3 or 4 days later were on a jet airliner headed West.
- Schofield Barracks was our home for the few nights we stayed on the island.
- North Shore was our first stop, and it was a great experience.
- Bellows Air Base has a beach that is at least one pair of Oakley sunglasses richer. Boogie boarding and expensive glasses don’t mix.
Spring Break 2016 involved a Harley ride in a GIANT loop across the mid-west.
- Harley shops and taprooms/breweries were our key objectives, coffee shops etched their way into our plans as well.
- OKC - Longview - Memphis - KC - Guthrie
In late 2016, we found ourselves in Austin, TX. It was a pre-deployment pass that led us to some of the most fun we’ve had on the go.
- 6th St was a great place for two-steppin’ and playing a game of pool that Daniel doesn’t remember. Thanks Heath for joining us.
- Breakfast burritos from the sketchy trailer on some random corner are a thing of legend now. We contemplate going back just for another bite.
- Luckenbach is awesome. Luckenbach by way of Harley is almost untouchable. Thanks, Jon, for joining us there.
Boston in October, when baseball is roaring loudly into the playoffs... one of the greatest places to experience.
- We went to two Red Sox games, and bought three games worth of tickets... (playoffs!)
- Our AirBNB was infested with a fungus. That led us to a trip up to Revere Beach. That’s a way better place to stay anyway.
- Whale Watching was apart of this adventure and it was enough fun that I promise we will go again
Many more places have been a beacon to our traveling souls. Listen in to hear about our cruise, our trips for business and more.

Next Episode

Sunset Ridge Series - Year Two of A Homestead Garden

Gardening was passed down to both of us from our families. We’ve spent many hours of our lives prepping, planting, watering, wedding, and picking a garden. We plan to continue this well into our late lives, and passing the passion on to our boys.

On this episode we’re talking about garden follies from last year, what we’re doing to fix it this year, and what some of our plans are for the future.

Issues faced last year

Planting our first garden at the new house came with many issues, including rocks... lots and lots of rocks
Many of our taller crops (corn, okra, etc) didn’t grow to full height. It was stunted for some unknown reason
Fungi killed all of our gourds and cucumbers
Green Beans never made enough to eat

What we’re doing this year

This year we’ve relocated our squash, zucchini, and cucumbers to separate areas in the garden so they won’t interact with each other, and to keep the fungi from killing both crops if it comes back.
Corn and Okra are planted with more spacing in between, and moved locations in the garden
We will eventually have 7 rows of Green Bean plants (if they’ll ever come up)

Future Plans

Our plans really are the same. Provide fresh produce for ourselves, our family, and anyone in our area in need
We will once again try to sell the bulk product at the local feed store
We will be canning WAY MORE produce this year than last, along with saving seeds from our crops to replant with next year