March 30-April 3 Happy Hen Farms Newsletter: Spring is Here!

Good evening,

I hope everyone has had a relatively restful couple of weeks! In a way, I am thankful for the opportunity to stay home and rest and get things done! 

Eggs: 

Production has been hovering near 7 dozen total per day! About 2-2.5 dzn of them have been consistently large eggs. 

Newsletter: 

During the extended break from school, I have been able to get ready for this year's batch of new chicks. While I'm not getting anywhere near the amount that I had last year {last year at this time, I was gearing up for 140 new chicks between new egg layers and meat birds}. This year, I'm only getting about 15 replacement chicks to bring in to replace some of the old chickens. 

My dad and I finished refurbishing our brooder for this year, and remade the lid and put corrugated plastic on top to shed water better, as well as to not let water in. 

I put the first layer of bedding (straw) on top of the dirt floor, and will put pine shavings over the straw to create a nicely insulated and soft living space for the new chicks. 

 

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                      The clear plastic will generate some heat, but will mostly serve to allow the chicks access to sunlight, and it will also limit the amount that the heat lamps will have to run once the chicks get old enough to start regulating their body temperature. 

In total, this brooder (40 sq. ft) can accommodate up to 140 chicks for 3-4 weeks. Needless to say, these portable buildings have come in handy for various projects the past few years! They are also fairly inexpensive to build, and for the amount of projects they can be used for, the investment is worth it! Depending on what you would want to use these buildings for (cold-frame, dog house, brooder, permanent/mobile chicken house, garden supply storage, ect...), you could expect to spend about $75-$150 per building depending on what you would want to use it for. The dimensions of this particular building is 10 ft long x 4 ft wide x 3 ft tall if any of you are curious:) 

While getting ready for new chicks has been a consistent part of spring-time for me for almost the past 5 years, getting ready for planting the early vegetables has also become a consistent spring-time project. I think I mentioned a few newsletters ago about what I had planted, but just to reiterate, I planted lettuce, peas, cilantro, and kale. Everything in that list except the peas is not typically planted outdoors this time of year (usually because it is still super cold!), but I figured I would plant a little bit of each and see what happens.

Tip: if any of you grow your own tomatoes, plant them indoors to get tomatoes early! My Opa (that's Dutch for 'grandpa') and I usually start our peppers and tomatoes inside at the tail end of February. Since it's been an exceptionally nice spring this year, the tomatoes are already about 6 inches tall! I usually transplant them into the garden in June when they are out of danger of frost.

In my effort to keep up with certain national events related to agriculture, I learned (after the fact, of course) that March 24, 2020 was National Ag Day. Essentially, the 24th was a celebration and appreciation of America's farmers, and really, everyone who is associated with agriculture.
Did you know that in Idaho alone, Ag accounts for 1 in 7 jobs? It also brings in over $25 billion in total sales, whether that be export, local sales, livestock farms, ect...

If you would like to get an idea of where Idaho ranks as far as crop and livestock production at the National level, here's a link to look at Idaho Ag Stats.

As always, if you have any questions, comments, or concerns, please let me know!
Thank you!