Kiddie Pool Chick Brooder

Spring here at Blair Brook Farm means chick brooding!  It is important to give baby chicks the best possible start.  The first few weeks will set the tone for the life of your broilers.  It is important to keep them warm and dry as well as fed and watered.  If they are not protected from drafts, you will have respiratory issues that can cause weakness and even death in your flock.

There are many expensive chick brooders on the market, but for those of us on a budget, let's talk about kiddie pools.  A standard 5 ft wide kiddie pool at your local Walmart or Target will cost about $16 and will provide several years of use for chick brooding.  They are deep enough to provide a good draft guard and easy to clean and maintain.  We place clear plastic on the floor of our barn, line the pools up, put about 3 inches of pine wood shavings in the bottom, hang heat lamps over the top and screw coated chicken wire around the top lip of the pool to provide extra depth as they get older. (Otherwise, they will escape in that 2nd week and you will be chasing them around the barn..... we speak from experience!)  Here they are at 2 days old with plenty of room to roam, warm, dry and well protected.

We keep extra bales of bedding and pull out wet dirty bedding every few days while they are little and more often as they get around 2 weeks.  The old bedding is great to till in with your Spring garden.  As the chicks grow, we slowly raise the heat lamps to get the chicks used to less and less warmth.  At about 2 wks, we turn off the heat lamps and start to get them ready to go outside on pasture.  Do NOT put your chickens out in pens on pasture until they are fully feathered out!  They cannot handle the cooler night temperatures until they have all their feathers to keep warm.  You can see the chicks to the right still have a mix of down and feathers.  They are not quite ready to go out yet. If you put them out too soon, they will have respiratory issues, they will start to cough and sneeze and they will not eat as much.  In many cases, you will have multiple deaths and maybe loose your whole flock.

You have made it this far.  Don't push them outside to early and ruin all your time and effort feeding and taking care of them now.  It is better to wait a few days or even a week if you aren't sure.  Another thing to wait for is a few days of mild weather.  Don't put new chicks (even fully feathered) outside on the day you have an all day thunderstorm.  Wait until the weather looks  like  it will be clear a few days, then put them out.

I usually know it is time when they have all their feathers and they start to stick their heads over the lip of the kiddie pool.  You can tell they are tired of being cooped up and ready to escape!  Then, it is time to move them outside, rinse out the kiddie pools and store them for the next batch we brood!  We have had wonderful luck using these pools over and over again.

Parmesan Squash with a sweet peppery twist!

Quick and easy side dish that pairs well with anything!  Here it is with glazed carrots and salisbury steak over rice.  Tender yellow squash with sweet and peppery cardamom and a dash of parmesan.  Also great as a main dish mixed with leftover chicken served over pasta!


Ingredients:
3 med or 2 large yellow squash washed, cut in 1/8 in thick slices
Olive oil
1/2 teasp onion powder
1/2 teasp cardamom
1/4 cup of water
1 tablespoon butter
salt and pepper to taste
1 tablespoon of parmesan



Heat large skillet over medium high heat and drizzle olive oil to lightly coat pan.  Add sliced squash and cook turning frequently until it is slightly browned and tender.

Add onion powder, cardamom, and water and cook until water is gone and squash is done.  Stir in butter, salt and pepper and sprinkle with parmesan just before serving.  Serves 4 - 6 people

Joel Salatin Coming to Franklin, TN!!

My husband building pastured chicken pens

The Tennessee Tour: "Polyfaces" with Joel Salatin opens February 26, 2016 at the Franklin Theatre.  A special screening of this highly acclaimed documentary with Mr. Salatin will be showing at 7 pm. For tickets go to www.franklintheatre.com  Time Magazine refers to Mr. Salatin as the most influential farmer since Thomas Jefferson.  There will be A Dinner with Joel at Gray's on Main, 332 Main St., Franklin, TN at 5:45 pm prior to the screening and a book signing and Q & A session with Mr. Salatin afterward.

Pastured Poultry at Blair Brook Farms

Joel Salatin is a hero for many reasons.  He represents a growing movement in farming that is sweeping the nation.  We have our own very personal reasons to respect and admire what he stands for and the passion he imparts to so many.  His belief system and his many practical step by step books helped shape our farming model for Blair's Bird Barn at Blair Brook Farm in Columbia, TN.  For more information on our own Salatin based farm please visit our websites at www.blairsbirdbarn.com and www.blairbrookfarm.com

For a great many of us, Mr. Salatin draws us back to a place in our hearts that feels like home. Some of my most pleasant childhood memories involve horses, chickens and bright red home grown tomatoes and crisp yellow corn fresh from the garden.  I can remember the smell of fresh cut hay, the earthy scent of horse manure in the barn and the gentle clucking of fluffy hens.  My grandmother always had chickens for as long as I can remember.  They would run around on the porch and nest up at night in an old portable building out back next to the barn.  I would sit on the porch swing eating a peanut butter and jelly sandwich and feed bits to the chicken waiting patiently next to me.  Her soft warm feathers would brush against my arm and she would gently peck at me if I waited too long in between giving her bites of my lunch.

View from one of our pasture pens

When I got older I did what most people do and I moved out of the country and into a subdivision.  At first it seemed nice and convenient to have everything close by.  Work, school, groceries, shopping all in a neat tidy circle close to home.  Small backyards were easy to maintain with perfect bushes all in a row and you waved to your neighbor as you grabbed your mail even if you didn't know their name.  As the years passed and my children grew, I began to long for something more.  Suddenly the perfectly landscaped backyard seemed small and cramped and the noise from the neighbor's backyards seem to echo over the fence.  I started to long for privacy and a fresh tomato, a fresh egg and the sound of chickens.

For a short time I tried to have a few backyard chickens and even a small garden, but it just didn't satisfy what was missing.  I wanted something bigger, something more.  I didn't just want a dog.  I wanted a couple of dogs and a cat and..... a chicken on my porch!  I wanted the farming way of life.  I shared my feelings with my husband who also had fond country memories from his own childhood.  We started reading books and began to study small scale farming.  Our favorite books were written by Joel Salatin of Polyface Farm in Virginia.  Mr. Salatin kept things simple.  He said you didn't have to have 100 acres and a perfect barn and a big tractor to start farming.  He stressed that the important thing was to "just start" wherever your were with whatever you had available and if you had the passion for farming the rest would come. 

So in the middle of a subdivision in Franklin, TN we did just that!  We started the chicks in the garage with heat lamps and fans.  We lived in an upscale neighborhood with a home owner's association that would have definitely NOT been happy if they had known what we were doing in that garage!  When the chicks were big enough, we contacted a local farm and partnered with them to finish the batch of chickens on their land.  We moved the 2 week old chicks in boxes in the dead of night so the neighbors wouldn't know and finished raising them on Tap Root Farm in Franklin, TN.  For the next 2 years we raised chickens that way without a farm of our own and built a CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) with customers who enjoyed monthly shares of our all natural pastured poultry.  We now have purchased our own land and have two Great Pyrenees dogs for livestock guardians, a cat to keep the mice at bay in our barn, at least 100 meat chickens at any given time, layer hens for eggs, a garden and plans for much more!

Our well worn copy of "Pastured Poultry Profits" by Joel Salatin has highlighted passages and folded down pages and notes in the margins that serve to remind us of the journey we have taken and the miles we have yet to go.  My husband and I are very grateful for the passion Joel Salatin imparts in all of his books and the advice he has given changed our lives and the lives of many others for the better.  We are very excited to see his new documentary will be showing right here in Franklin, TN at the Franklin Theatre.

Franklin, TN - Organic, Local, Homemade!

When we moved here to the Middle Tennessee area about 2 1/2 years ago for my husband's job, we weren't really sure which area was the right fit for our family to live.  We drove around with a close friend of mine from high school who lived in the Nashville area and looked at many neighborhoods and homes.  When we got to Franklin, we knew that was the place!  We originally settled into a wonderful neighborhood called McKay's Mill and became quickly acquainted with the people at Tap Root Farm and launched our first batch of chickens on their land.  We are happy for the wonderful relationships we developed with that great family!  Once we started looking for our own land, we quickly discovered the charm of Columbia, TN.  However, we are very excited to still be close to Franklin, TN and drive there about one a week to enjoy the beautiful downtown area and all the organic local shopping.  Here are a few of our favorite places!!

Herban Market

Herban Market located at 3978 Maddux Way, Ste 300, Franklin, TN 37069 www.herban-market.com is the newest addition to the growing trend of local farm fresh and organic food in Middle Tennessee.  The friendly owner, Matt Hogancamp, has done an incredible job of pulling together a wonderful combination of locally sourced all natural and organic meats, dairy and produce from local family run farms.  In addition, he carries a variety of herbal supplements and organic cleaning products.  The most amazing thing that definitely sets this place apart from most other local farmer's markets is the organic extra virgin olive oil and balsamic vinegar bar with over 70 infused flavors you can taste and have bottled on demand!  Beautiful stainless steel vats line a rustic wooden bar just waiting for you to discover taste explosions that will take any recipe to the next level and beyond!  If that isn't enough, they also carry Nashville's own Bongo Java coffee.  I was in there this past Saturday and the smell alone was worth the visit.  Give it a try.  I highly recommend!

Merridee's Breadbasket

Merridee's Breadbasket located at 110 4th Ave. S., Franklin, TN 37064 www.merridees.com is owned by Jim Kreider.  This wonderful little bakery is a favorite lunch hot spot in the downtown Franklin, TN area and a nationally recognized bakery that has been featured in Southern Living Magazine.  Tasty chicken salad, BLT's and turkey club sandwiches on fresh homemade bread baked in-store daily make for a nice change from the usual burger or taco.  

They have soups and salads to accompany the vast selection of hot and cold sandwiches. There are smoothies, specialty coffee drinks, and fruit tea to enjoy.  For dessert there are glass counters lined up with the most wonderful cookies, cakes, bars and pies you can imagine!  All breads and sweets are made on site with fresh ingredients.  It is a sweet lover's dream come true!  Every time my husband and I go there we have to buy a loaf of homemade wheat bread and some cookie bars for later.  

Savory Spice Shop

Savory Spice Shop located at 324 Main St., Franklin, TN 37064 www.savoryspiceshop.com is located in the heart of downtown Franklin just across from the Mellow Mushroom.  Anyone taking an afternoon stroll down Main Street cannot help but be lured in by the magnificent smells of fresh exotic spices wafting out the front door of this adorable shop.  Owner Hollie Rollins is only too happy to help you discover all the wonderful recipe ideas and find just the right flavor combinations for any dish you can conjure up.  With more than 160 blends of handcrafted extracts, sauces and spice blends from all over the world, the combinations of flavors are to numerous to fathom.  All spices are fresh ground in weekly batches with no fillers, additives or preservatives.  They are packaged on demand in a variety of sizes to choose from.  

We were so impressed with the sights, tastes and smells in this shop that we now attach Savory Spice Shop seasoning packets to all our farm fresh poultry to take the guesswork out of making dinner.  Here is a picture making the labels with the seasoning packets for our last CSA pickup at Blair's Bird Barn here at Blair Brook Farm.  Simplified cooking at it's finest.  Not sure what to do with your chicken for dinner tonight?  How about Jamaican Jerk, Memphis BBQ Rub, Herbes de Provence, Bourbon Barrel Black Pepper or my new personal favorite... Italian Black Truffle Sea Salt!!  Imagine telling your family or dinner guests that you are serving Italian Black Truffle Chicken with wild rice for dinner.  Can you picture their faces when they realize you just became a 4 star chef when they weren't looking?  The Savory Spice Shop can make it happen!  Check out our website www.blairsbirdbarn.com to get a farm fresh chicken with a sample pack of spices for your special dinner tonight!  Check out the Savory Spice Shop in downtown Franklin, TN to pick your own fresh spices or order online.

Heritage Breed Chickens: Buff Orpingtons

We are committed to keeping only heritage breeds for our laying flock and added Buff Orpingtons over the Summer.  These chickens have been very gentle natured and have the most amazing temperment.  They seem to be very social and will easily come up and eat out of your hand and actually enjoy the attention of being pet.  Our 3 year old granddaughter Mya loves to go out and pet the chickens!

In addition to being wonderfully calm and social, these beautiful hens lay plenty of tasty brown eggs!  They are quiet and don't have the same tendency to squawk and peck at one another like some other more aggressive breeds such as Rhode Island Reds.  We have had Rhode Island Reds in the past and our personal experience proved them to be more standoffish and the more dominant hens at the top of the pecking order had a tendency to "pick" on the other hens.  Once a hen is injured and weak, the rest of the flock will start to join in bullying that chicken.  It is difficult to save that hen unless you remove it and let it heal and sometimes you can rejoin it with the flock once it has recovered.  We felt Rhode Island Reds had much more of a tendency toward this behavior.  Especially when you try and mix them with other breeds of chickens.

The Buff Orpingtons seem to not only get along with each other, but also with other breeds.  We actually mixed them with guineas and had no issues whatsoever.  They are a beautiful shade of buff or deeper caramel with light brown eyes and bright red combs, excellent with small children and hearty during heat and cold.  We have plans to try Black Australorps this coming Spring and I will let you know how it goes!

Small Scale Farming Adventures!

After hours, days, weeks and even years of searching for just the right house on just the right piece of land in just the right place, we finally purchased our small farm in June of 2015 in Columbia, TN!  We couldn't be more excited to find this beautiful home for our family close to I-65 with convenient access to Franklin and Nashville, TN.  After working in cooperation to raise poultry with Tap Root Farm in Franklin, TN for 2 years, we were happy to immediately start a batch of 100 meat chickens on our own land.  We happily processed that batch the end of October and Hubby started building the chicken coop for the layers.  The CSA is doing well and several families have signed up for monthly shares of the poultry and eggs we are already raising here.

We added a pair of Great Pyrenees puppies over the Summer and named these litter mates Samson and Delilah.  They are now 7 months old and getting huge!  They are becoming great livestock guardians and valued members of our family.  As the peaceful snow settled over our farm this month we started seedlings in the barn for the organic garden we will be planting this Spring.  Please join our journey and watch us learn and grow as we try to be good stewards of this wonderful land and share the benefits of the bounty our small scale family farm gives us!