Mt Kearsarge Indian Museum

Hi all,
We will be at Mt Kearsarge Indian Museum www.indianmuseum.org on Sept 27th, 2009 from 10-4 for their Fall Harvest Festival. We will be doing a Heritage Chicken & Dung Hill Fowl demo all day. We will have a couple of our Speckled Sussex with us. Stop by and say Hi!

Breeding coop is done

Well I finally have time to start updating my blog. I have finished my 2nd coop. The 2nd coop is 2 stories and is only 4x4x10ft high. The top is an enclosed area with a sliding pop door in the floor and the bottom is open with hardware cloth on all four sides and nailed to the bottom. This coop will how birds that we purposely want to breed, meaning we will pick a breeding trio to put in there so we know what we are getting for eggs.
My 1st coop is 8x8x10ft high and is for general population, at 8x8 (64 sq ft) I can comfortably house 16 birds in this coop without overcrowding. This coop has the ability to be divided in half by a hinged wall so I can separate roosters, if need be, the coop also has 2 pop doors so when the seperating wall is up I can let each side into the 8x16 ft run independantly.
The next step is to run electricity out to the main coop so we will have light and heat in the winter. I am also going to insulate the big coop and will stop breeding during the winter months. I will resume hatching in March.

More Agricultural books

Ugh... why are books so expensive.... good ones anyway. I am in the process of acquiring "The Whole Art and Trade of Husbandry" by Conrad Henesbach and translated in English by Barnaby Googe in 1577. I am also on the lookout for the republished version in 1614 with Illustrations by Gervase Markham. So any leads anyone has would be greatly appreciated. Digital copy is OK.

Of Plimoth Plantation...

I have been reading William Bradfords "Of Plimoth Plantation" and Edward Winslows Journal and in 1623 he introduced Massasoit to chicken soup.. he then sent Massasoit chickens to which Massasoit kept them to breed. In reading Winslows journal and researching some other comtemporary "pilgrim" journals I have found dung hill fowl fairly prevelant amongst both the English and the natives. We have decided to start our focus on breeding a 17th century fowl and move forward to the 18th and 19th century as our program grows. We are looking to a few sources in New England for research assistance and have been in contact with Craig Chartier http://plymoutharch.tripod.com/id8.html of the Plymouth Archaeological Rediscovery Project, and he has given us some insight as well.