Fixer Upper Farm
Meet Our Pigs
Our gilt, Rosie, and the two Kune feeders, Bacon and Ham (aptly named) all come from one breeder and our boar, Boris, comes from different stock. Our children sure had fun coming up with these creative names for our pigs. For now, we will raise these 4 pigs, anxiously anticipating the arrival of our first litter and the bounty of harvesting our two feeders later this year.
We landed on Kunekune pigs for 2 reasons: their ability to forage well and do minimal damage to the land as well as their docile gentle temperaments. To begin we opted for non-registered pigs. Generally they are cheaper and as a trial run, that fit the bill for us. We will get to see if we’re made of the right stuff to care for these sweet inquisitive animals, raise them out for meat consumption, and see if we can figure out the breeding and farrowing side of larger animal husbandry.
We provide these piggies with natural forage, both in the pasture and from hay, and we supplement with a small amount of our own custom non-GMO grain mix from our local mill. And… occasionally they get some table scraps and tree nuts as a special treat.
First acquired in June of 2024, we’re just scratching the surface but we’ve learned a heap of information thus far. More to come, I can assure you, as we are anticipating our first litter in the coming months and we hope you’ll follow along on that journey!
Meet the Ladies
We were probably in over our heads when we ordered our first batch of laying hens in 2023. Leaning heavily on some prominent online resources and the book “Fresh Eggs Daily” by Lisa Steele to get a foothold, we’ve evolved a great deal since then. Our initial brooder was too expensive, too elaborate, and not practical enough and we nearly burned our house down because of it. Today we’ve greatly simplified and innovated a simple yet functional brooder and have grown our flock to include 35 pretty egg-laying ladies and their humble protector, Lewis, a Barred Rock rooster worth his weight in *insert precious metal here.
The one thing we know we got right was the coop. Our own take on a variety of ideas from various sources, culminated in what we believe to be one of the best coop designs we’ve seen. But who knows, maybe you can tell us what you think? We now sell our over-abundance from a roadside stand and have enough eggs to preserve via water glassing. 5 gallons of eggs preserved that way get us through each winter, plus all the eggs we use daily during the rest of the year.
One thing is certain. Chicken math is a real phenomena. We initially wanted to start with 10 layers and bumped that order to 15 to get the order quantity discount. Then we discovered the prolific layer hybrid, the ISA Brown, and added 15 of them to the flock. We had to cull 2 extra roosters then added another 15 ISA Brown in the fall of 2024, bringing our initial meager 10 layer investment to the 35 layers we cherish today. You’ll notice the math doesn’t quite add up but those losses can be attributed to nothing but dumb luck, as we’ve had no predation issues to date.
