Tuesday, December 29, 2009

We will be delivering sausage and 8 week old pullets to Raleigh on Jan. 2. The pullets are 6.50 each plus a 10 dollar delivery fee and the sausage is 4.75 per pound.

Wednesday, December 9, 2009

Update

We will be delivering pullets to Raleigh on Saturday, Dec. 12. We have Black Australorp, Buff Orpington, and Rhode Island Red pullets available. We also have stuffed whole-hog pastured sausage available. Due unforseen issues with processors, we will have cuts of beef available in late February. Please check out our ad on bladenonline.com and visit our Local Harvest listing at http://www.localharvest.org/farms/M20270

Friday, December 4, 2009

Sausage is now ready

The hogs we had processed this week yielded more sausage than we expected and we have plenty for sale. It is whole-hog, which means that it contains meat from the entire hog, not just the "left-overs" and variety meats. As is the case with all of our animals, the hogs were produced without antibiotics, hormones, or drugs. The sausage is all-natural with no preservatives, MSG, or artificial ingredients. If you are interested in some, please email or give us a call at 910-874-3175. If you are outside of Southeastern NC, we will be happy to ship to you.

Wednesday, December 2, 2009

It's raining again

We are certainly thankful to be out of the drought that plagued us for the last couple of years, but this fall has turned out to be much wetter than we thought it would be. The remnants of Tropical Storm Ida dropped six inches of rain not long ago, and we are getting a good soaking as I write this. This is not the ideal time to have a 4 day old calf, but a heifer was born this weekend on a cold morning and is doing great. Pregnant and lactating cows can have a hard time in the cool seasons, but the heirloom corn silage we use provides good nutrition during the gap between warm and cool season pasture so that calves born in less than perfect weather can still thrive. We say that we "raise" animals and that word is appropriate I guess but it is really Nature that does the work. Wet periods in cold weather can mean problems for hogs raised on pasture, but we are fortunate to have our hog pasture in a place where they can stay dry and have protection from the wind. I have visited farms where hogs were in several inches of mud with no dry place, and I feel that is not humane at all. We have a building that they can go into, but they seem to prefer the shelter of the trees and the wallows that they make for themselves in the woods. We are anxiously awaiting the sausage that will be ready this Friday. We can't wait to try it. Good quality meat is always something to enjoy, especially when you have the satisfaction of it coming from your own animals. We had crown roasts cut from 3 young hogs for Christmas dinner, and I'm sure that my aunt who is the "family chef" will do them justice.

Wednesday, November 18, 2009

It's time to order pastured pork sausage for the holidays

We will be having a limited number of hogs made into stuffed or loose country sausage in time for Christmas. This sausage will contain no artificial ingredients or preservatives, and of course our hogs are produced naturally on pasture without antibiotics, hormones, or growth-promoting drugs. The sausage will be vacuum packed and processed in an inspected facility. The price will be 4.75 per pound for stuffed sausage and 4.50 per pound for loose sausage and it will be packaged in 1 lb. packs. Treat yourself and your family to great tasting traditional sausage with the knowledge that it will be all natural and highest quality. Please email or call to make your reservation. For those outside of our area, we can ship sausage to you. We can also accept credit card payments through Paypal.

Wednesday, November 11, 2009

Update- Beef Sales, Chicken Delivery on Dec. 12 to Raleigh

It has been a while since we posted anything on blogspot, but we have had a busy fall. We have been feeding our open pollinated heirloom silage for about 4 weeks and the cows are thriving on it. Beef orders have been coming in much faster than last year, and we are thankful for that. We will have individual cuts of beef available December 12. We have built a larger and nicer hog pasture that is wooded with oak trees. (hogs love acorns) Hopefully we will have pork in early 2010. We will have a limited amount of sausage available in time for Christmas. We will also be delivering 5 week old pullets to Raleigh on Saturday, Dec. 12. We will have Buff Orpington, Black Australorp, and Rhode Island Red pullets available. If interested, please email or call 910-874-3175. In case you haven't seen it yet, here is the link to our Local Harvest listing. We have a blog on there and you can view updates and reviews. http://www.localharvest.org/farms/M20270

Wednesday, September 2, 2009

We are now NC registered meat handlers

We are now registered with the NC Dept. of Agriculture as Meat Handlers. This is an important step for us, because it means that we can now sell inspected beef by the individual cut. We will have a price list soon and we will have meat ready for Thanksgiving and Christmas. All beef will be inspected and vacuum packed to preserve quality. We will still offer quarters, halves, and whole cows to those interested. We also have rabbits on hand which we will slaughter ourselves when ordered.

Thursday, August 27, 2009

Delivery to Raleigh on Sat. 8-29

We will be delivering 10 week old pullets to Raleigh on Sat., 8-29. They will still be only 6.50 each plus a 10 dollar per order delivery fee. We still have plenty of Barred Rocks, Buff Orpingtons, Silver Laced Wyandottes, and Black Australorps.

Friday, August 14, 2009

Chicken delivery tomorrow

We will be delivering chickens and rabbits to Raleigh on Saturday,August 15. We have 8 week old Barred Rock, Buff Orpington, Black Australorp, and Silver Laced Wyandotte pullets, along with 13 week old Red Sex Link pullets. The price is 5 dollars and 7 dollars each, respectively plus a 10 dollar delivery charge per order. We also have nice rabbits of various colors for sale for 8 dollars each. Please give us a call or email us for more information.

Sunday, August 2, 2009

putting up silage from an heirloom variety of corn for our cattle

We are putting up silage made from open pollinated white corn this year. The variety dates to the mid 19th century but has performed well. The stalks are extremely tall, and we've been impressed with the yield and quality. We understand that a lot of our customers want meat that is fed with non-GMO feeds, and this is a heritage plant that seems very viable for quality silage. We will try to post pictures of the process soon.

Sunday, July 19, 2009

Chicken and Rabbit Delivery to Raleigh on 7-25

We will be delivering chickens and rabbits to Raleigh on Saturday, July 25. We have 5 week old Barred Rock, Buff Orpington, Black Australorp, and Silver Laced Wyandotte pullets, along with 10 week old Red Sex Link pullets. The price is 5 dollars and 7 dollars each, respectively plus a 10 dollar delivery charge per order. Please give us a call or email us for more information.

Sunday, June 21, 2009

Chicken Delivery and Young Rabbits- June 27, 2009

We will be delivering chickens to Raleigh/Durham this Saturday, June 27th. Right now we have left to be ordered for this trip some 6 week old Red Sex Links, 10 week old Ameraucanas, and 10 week old Black Sex Links. We'll have some other varieties on our next trip though in about a month (the ones mentioned plus Buff Orpingtons, Black Australorps, and Barred Rocks).

In addition to the chickens, we also have some young rabbits who would be very suitable as pets or for meat. Please send us an email for more info, and we look forward to hearing from you.

Sunday, May 10, 2009

Layer Pullets and Broilers Available

We currently have layer pullets and red broilers available. The broilers are ready to process, and we will sell them live or dressed to order.

Saturday, April 25, 2009

Delivering chickens to Raleigh/Durham this Saturday 5-9

We will be delivering pullets to Raleigh and Durham on May 9. We have Ameraucanas and Buff Orpingtons available. The pullets will be 5 weeks old at this point and will be 5 dollars each plus a 10 dollar delivery fee. Pickup is also available at our farm if you would like.

Friday, March 27, 2009

A limited number of pullets is still available for purchase the first week of April

We still have some pullets available for sale in early April, but we have orders for most of them. We have a very good supply of Silver Laced Wyandottes, and we also have a good many Barred Rocks and Rhode Island Reds. We have more coming of various breeds that will be ready the last week of May also.

Friday, February 27, 2009

More chicks have arrived- delivering to Raleigh on 4-4

We will be delivering chicks to Raleigh on April 4. We have Buff Orpington, Barred Rock, Rhode Island Red, Black Australorp, and White Leghorn pullets available. The price will be 5 dollars each plus a 10 dollar delivery fee. At this age, the chickens will not need heat or any special care.

Monday, February 23, 2009

Ducks Coming this Summer in Addition to our Spring Broilers

In addition to our broiler chickens for meat, we are raising a limited quantity of ducks for meat this spring. This is something new for us and we are doing it as an experiment to see what the demand will be. If it is successful, we will continue to raise them. They will be available live or dressed. As with the broilers, we are taking advance orders, and we have already had some folks order broilers and ducks.

Friday, February 20, 2009

Feb. 28 delivery postponed

Due to predator problems causing a lot of our birds to pile up and smother, we will have to postpone the Feb. 28 delivery until the first week of April, but we should have about 300 pullets of various breeds available, so if you are interested, please contact us. On a more positive note, we will be planting corn in a few weeks and this year we are switching to an heirloom open-pollinated variety called Boone County White. It dates to the mid 19th century and grows very tall, so it should yield a lot of silage. Our small herd is now up to 10 beeves, and they are looking great.

Monday, February 9, 2009

Twin Creeks on facebook

Twin Creeks is now on facebook. If you are on facebook, please visit our page there, become a fan, spread the news, and drop us a line. To visit us via facebook, please click on the link in the beginning of this post, and we look forward to connecting with you there as well.

Wednesday, February 4, 2009

Our Recommendations for Feeding Chickens

We have had a lot of questions about what our customers should feed their laying hens after they purchase pullets from us, and here are our recommendations. We use a good quality starter feed of approximately 20% protein until chickens reach about 16-18 weeks of age and switch them to a layer ration with oyster shells offered free choice. There are many quality brands available, and the brand you choose will probably depend on which feed dealer is most convenient. Since starter/grower and layer feeds are complete rations which are scientifically formulated to meet the dietary requirements of poultry, we advise against the use of scratch feed, as it effectively "dilutes" the nutrients present in a complete feed. Nutritional deficiencies can manifest themselves in many ways, often with very detrimental results.

Questions have also arisen about the feeding of vegetable scraps, and we have found this to be a good practice. When birds are free-ranged, we recommend offering feed, especially to laying hens. In an area with plenty of natural forage, it is quite possible for chickens to perform very well without supplemental feed, but if there is any doubt about whether or not your chickens can obtain enough nutrition from nature, feed should be offered. Regular feeding in the same place also keeps chickens roosting there and makes management much easier.

Delivering Chickens to Raleigh Feb. 28

We will be delivering 5 week old pullets and cockerels to Raleigh on Feb. 28. We still have a few available for the 21st, but the chickens for that trip are almost all spoken for. We have a variety of breeds available, and no deposit is required. Please contact us with any questions you may have or to place an order.

Monday, February 2, 2009

Pre-Ordering Meat Chickens and Broilers

We will be raising broilers for meat this spring/summer, and you can pre-order your meat chickens. We will process them at approximately 5 pounds live weight and the price will be 10 dollars each. We are happy to process them so that they comply with religious dietary standards if necessary, and the chickens can be cut up for an additional $1 each. Discounts will be available if you would like to help dress your birds. No deposit is required, and we will notify you 2 weeks in advance of the day we process them so that you can pick them up fresh. We can also freeze them if you would like. There is no minimum order, and when we receive orders for at least 25 chickens, we will order chicks. They will be ready to process in approximately 7 weeks. If you have any questions, please give us a call or email.

Monday, January 26, 2009

Update on Delivery of Chickens to Raleigh on Feb. 21

We are making a delivery of 6 week old chickens to Raleigh on Feb. 21. The price is 5.50 each plus a 10 dollar per order delivery fee. We currently have Barred Plymouth Rock, Rhode Island Red, and Black Australorp pullets available. Please email or call us if you are interested.

Sunday, January 18, 2009

In the works...

To keep our customers updated, we would like to let you know of some developments in progress. In the near future, we will be expanding our operation by producing our own feed using local grains and our own feed mill. We are also looking to start producing and selling goat milk for pet use, and, as always, we are constantly growing our operation and trying to serve you better. If you are in search of something that we have not listed, please ask, and we will help you in any way we can. Thank you for your continued support.

Delivering layer pullets to Raleigh on Feb. 21

We are delivering layer pullets to Raleigh on Feb. 21. They will be a little over 6 weeks old and the price will be $5.50 each plus a 10 dollar per order delivery fee. These pullets will be old enough to no longer need special care. We will have 8-10 cows ready to be processed this fall, and you can reserve your interest in one now. You can purchase 1/4, 1/2, or a whole cow. Please email via the link on this blog or call us at 910-874-3175 for more information.

Friday, January 9, 2009

Update on Chicken Availability

We currently have only 20 pullets left for the delivery to Raleigh on the 17th. They will be 5 weeks old at that time and the price will be 5 dollars each plus a 10 dollar per order delivery charge. We will have more pullets of various breeds available throughout the year. Please email us or call 910-874-3175 if you are interested. Thank you very much.