December 19th, 2011

Not much to say today, I've just noticed more folks following my blog of late so I wanted to thank them.  To all who have stopped by and want to keep doing so, thank you! Sure it may not be the thousands that came after my write-up in the Seattle Times several years ago, but I like this even better.  Folks not looking for a quick fix, but a sustainable future. 

Speaking of sustainable.  My hens may not give me eggs forever, but whoever thought their egg production would fall off in the winter (moi) was sadly mistaken.  I've had to give away dozens and dozens of eggs just to not feel so bad about not using them.  We don't eat eggs every day, but we do consume our fair share.  But when the girls are giving on average 3 eggs a day it adds up quick. 

I have to thank my wife for stepping up and taking care of the hens all week when I'm at work.  She gathers the eggs, feeds and waters the hens, and gives them that added human contact that they like so much.  And to think hens were completely my idea that I had to wear her down just to let me get them. 

I still do the cleaning.  Speaking of which, this weekend I had to clean out the coop after only a few months.  I'm not sure how, but the bedding almost looked wet.  I'm pretty sure I don't have leaks, though with all the ventilation I'm sure the dew gets in.  That and since the hens have been cooped up almost exclusively since the grass stopped growing, they soil it more.  Not that I'm complaining, the moist nitrogen rich bedding is great for the compost, which is almost full. If only I had some other greens to add to it. Maybe I'll have my wife swing by Starbucks for something other than a Chi Frappochino.  Hehe.

Well folks, that's about it.  My fall garden is not overwintering nicely so I will end up feeding it to the chickens, but at least they'll get something other than organic feed and kitchen scraps.

Take care and stay warm!

November 19, 2011

I was just sitting here wondering what folks blog about in the off season. Nothing I'd growing in the garden and the overwintering broccoli isn't holding up like I wanted. That said I can feed them to the hens.

They'd like the fresh veg. I haven't been ranging them since the weather turned foul. I tried it a few times and they demolished the grass. It scared me, so, when they get out of the mini-run the arc stays right there. There's no grass there anyway. I feel bad, but they don't seem to mind. I even open the cleanout door when they're in the coop and they don't jump out. Go figure.

Lastly, the weather's turned amazingly foul this week. I've had a regular light bulb in there for the chickens for when the temps drop below freezing. I don't like keeping the hens in light all night, but they manage. The light adds 5 degrees to coop temp.  Anyway, tonight we're getting into to 20s and that's just horrible. So, tonight I'm considering throwing the heat lamp in there. Not sure.

So, I hope you have a garden that either is growing now or was big enough to allow you to put up enough to be eating from your garden still.

Enjoy!

October 22, 2011

Well, I finally cleaned out the chicken coop and changed the bedding.  The girls were glad I did it too.  By girls I include my wife, who had asked me to do it.  She's been pretty much taking care of the hens since I went back to work.  I am away from the house when they need tending to. 

I really think I could have gotten more than 6 months out of the bedding if Fall hadn't arrived.  You see, we've kept them in their coop during the day far more often then when the weather was nice.  They tend to make a much bigger mess of the place when they're cooped up all day (pun intended).

Anyway, I got two wheelbarrows full of used bedding that went on top of my compost pile.  I should really mix it in with some greens to speed up the decomposition, but until I get some more Starbucks coffee grounds, the chicken manure will just have to suffice. 

I used up half a bale of pine shavings in the three nesting boxes and the coop.  My brother picked up a bale for me from the feed store the other day.  I was a bit disappointed that it was a national brand like you see in pet stores in small bricks.  In the past we've purchased local shavings from Washington, just like our organic feed from Bellingham.  The price was the same, but I just feel better using the local bedding.  This will work, but next time I stop in at the store, I'll talk to them to find out what happened to their local source.

Lastly, the chickens haven't been foraging much at all this past week.  The weather's been crappy, the arc is too heavy for my wife to move by herself and the grass just isn't growing.  I'm thinking they'll just be home-bodies this winter, using the area in front of the compost bins as a run whenever we bring them out.  There isn't much grass there anyway, and if they kill it, no biggie.  About the only non-feed they're getting are table scraps and the occasional pear that drops from the spent pear tree.  I won't eat the fruit, but they love it.  They'll get the over-spotted apples when I pick them also.  Boy I wish they liked morning glory! The rose garden is covered in them. /shrug

Enjoy your garden!

October 9, 2011

Thanks Wishingbee for the kick in the pants to get back here to post.  However, I can't say much is going on in the garden.  It is fall of course, and the summer heat killed all my tomatoes such that I only got a handful of each variety to use.  The good news is that our salads have been marvelous.  We've got lettuce (only Italienshier grew for me this fall, but it's good), spinach, and tomatoes.  If only I'd grown cukes this year, I'd have a perfect salad.  Oh, and I never have timed my salads right with my radishes, they've all gone to seed.  Shame, I do love a good radish.

Anyway, the girls are going strong, giving us 2-4 eggs a day, such that I gave a dozen to my folks and brother, since his chickens for some reason haven't started laying yet.  It's odd since they're the same breeds bought from the same store on the same day.  Very odd indeed.  Of course 5 days after I gave away two dozen eggs I had another dozen to use.  They're delicous but defnitely "large" variety eggs, unlike the extra large we get in the store.  Haven't had an opportunity to bake with them yet, but I'm a bit worried about a recipe calling for 1 extra large egg.  That we don't have. 

I've seen extra large eggs from so-called "Production Reds" that are a cross between production Leghorns and Rhode Island Reds.  According to my wife, they're not very cute, but who knows.  Something to consider next time.  I do like our birds though. They're cute, a bit loud, and friendly.  About the only thing they don't do is use the roost.  Oh well, no biggie.

So, I hope you all have an "EGGstremely" good weekend!

August 26, 2011

Yeah, I know you haven't heard from me in a while.  I've been trying to fit a year into the last month of my summer before I go back to work, even if it's a temporary gig.  So, I've been spending my days playing with my kids and getting the last of the to-do chores done.  Fun over blogging.  I don't feel bad about it.

That said, one of the things on my to-do list was to get the chicken arc ready for layers.  So, last week, I finally got to it as my birds were getting to be 5 months old. 

I started by building a platform with left over plywood and 1x2 scrap from the coop project that I'd been saving for this very reason.  The placement was as high as it needed to be to reach the sides of the triangular arc.

Sure it doesn't look extremely sturdy, but really, how heavy duty does it need to be to be to support a few hens laying eggs?

After that, I decided to use recycled corrugated fiberglass panels from my broken compost cover for the sides.  Not only is it water proof, but it adds more light, which will be good during the winter months.  The door was a bit more tricky as I had no idea what angle my arc was set at, so we resorted to tracing it on the plywood and cutting it out.  I used a left over hinge that was way too big for the application, but I had it.

My brother wanted to use a hook latch for the closure, but I have found eye-hook latches to be pains in the rear over the last few months.  I like barrel bolt latches much better.  Thankfully I had one on hand, so I used it. 

So, as it sits now, it isn't pretty, but it's very functional and not particularly heavy.  Just what the doctor ordered, and if you read yesterday's post, I built it right in time.

It's not finished yet.  I still need to build in a lip to keep nesting material in there, and maybe build some sort of a ramp to let the chickens up there.  I'm thinking of indoor outdoor carpet in the nesting box to help keep the eggs from rolling around when the arc is at an angle, which happens regularly, depending where it is in the yard. 

I also want to replace the rusty chicken wire with some galvanized welded wire, maybe in the inch or two variety, to cover it.  As winter approaches, it may be that the hens are out after dark some days, so I want to make it temporarily predator proof.  I've got my work cut out for me.

Enjoy!

August 25, 2011

It's been five months since I got chickens, so they're five months plus a few days old.  They're definitely hens now, about as full grown as I expect them to get.  They've got combs and waddles like you'd expect from hens.  We had everything we expected, except eggs.  I've been looking daily for a while now, with no luck.  I haven't been concerned as my chickens are much bigger than my brothers (for some unknown reason). Let's just say I've been anxious.

So I guess I wasn't completely surprised, though very elated when I found this while I was putting the chickens away for the evening.

Our first egg!

As you can see by the quarter next to it, it's about 2/3 the size of a regular egg, or about the size of a bantum egg.  Not at all bad for a first attempt, if I may say so.  The shell's a bit rubbery feeling but otherwise it looks like a perfectly good egg.  Not one of those partially formed mishappen eggs you read about.  Maybe it's the fact that I switched to layer feed a few weeks ago, or maybe it's the 8 plus hours of foraging they get to do every day.  Whatever it is, I'm proud of my girls!

And here's the last picture I'll bore you with.  I love how different the egg looks as I rolled it in my palm.

Yay!

August 9, 2011

Well, the girls escaped this morning and I was rudely awakened on my day to sleep in so I could round them up.  Seems my kids didn't do as good a job locking the run doors as it sounded when they helped me put the girls away last night.  I just can't see how they'd get the latch opened if it were properly locked.  If not, a good push would open the doors and I know they're capable of that.

No harm done it seems, they all seemed to be hanging out on the patio or on the grass where they normally are kept in the arc.  They probably want food as they seem to devour everything I give them in seconds.  Well, all their regular food that is.  They've seemed to sour on the cabbage that I chopped up and have kept in the produce drawer in the fridge. 

I keep expecting to see some mis-shappened eggs, but as yet nothing.  I also wonder if I should be baking and grinding up egg shells to supplement calcium right before the whole laying thing starts?

In other random chicken news, I saw the neighbors of some friends of ours using a spray bottle on their chickens to get them to quiet down, so today I tried it out.  It worked like a charm, as they quieted right down and simply shook their feathers to get that nasty water off them.  One of them even clearly liked the taste of it when she moved and got hit in the face by it.  It was humorous and worked well, so I think I've got a new way to keep them quiet...ish.  I expect they'll be their breed-typical loud selves when they lay and I won't stop that unless I get complaints from the neighbors (sure hope not as they agreed to me having them).

Anyway, it's all chickens all the time around this blog of late since my fall garden isn't doing much and my spring garden's all bolted.  I'm still hopeful about the countless flowers on all my tomato plants though.  Maybe tomorrow I'll take some pics of the green tomatoes that are growing on a few plants.

Hope your garden is doing better than mine!