Twins

We've been getting one to eggs a day now and it looks like we have a pretty strong twin gene in one of the producers.

And here we have a triple yolk, which I've never seen nor heard of before. It's an interesting thing, but I hope it doesn't become regular like the doubles. I'd rather have more eggs, less yolks.

The hens escaped the other day and after ranging around a bit, one by one they all wandered back into the coop. So we thought we'd let them free range yesterday, as we were doing some work out there, but ti was challenging to get them out on purpose. Ginger and Carmine came out first and wandered around together, pretty far afield. VDub and Crashy wandered in and out a bit. Ms Dash-Alot and Dot popped out once and went right back. They are in general the most nervous birds, but some of it could have to do with the dog incident.

We've got a lot of green beans and lettuce right now. The garlic is all out and we got this amazing huge, tall garlic from the farmers market yesterday which we're going to try and plant in the fall for spring harvest. The mystery squash in the compost pile are a little less of a mystery. Two of them are definitely spagetti squash, while the other two may even be some kind of melon, perhaps watermelon. They are getting large and round and speckled green. I may just have to sacrifice one to see what it is. I can always give it to the chickens.

We're planning out additional beds, trying to figure out where they should go and what type they should be - regular, raised, coldframe, east west, north south, yikes. But I'm going to try and get some initial turning done today since we had a huge rain last night and the ground is good and soft. That way we might be able to get it all tilled on thursday.

Yesterday we got an egg with a perfect hard shell finally. I checked in the morning before I left and there was nothing, but M checked later before he left and found one in the egg hole. So I think we are successfully getting eggs and they are actually laying in the boxes and the eggs are actually rolling back into the compartment now that they are hard enough. Wow.

Then today, I checked this morning and nothing, but just now another perfect hard egg. So I guess our gals are daytime layers for now. But at least we aren't getting anymore soft shell eggs. Who knows, we may get more when all the hens start laying, as I'm not sure they are all at the same maturity level since we have three different breeds. But since we are on the correct feed now, maybe the later layers will have an easier time of it.

This morning we had two shmooshed eggs. One on the ground and one on the wire. Hopefully as they harden this won't be as much of a problem. I'm a little worried that they may get in the habit of pecking at the eggs, but we'll have to wait and see.

The chickens are truly determined to roost on the roof. Even though I blocked the whole roof from all sides, the two Wyandotts managed to push through the second section of the roof which is not really attached just laid on top of the first section. So I had to mull over the situation again, and hopefully I have it fixed this time. Otherwise I may need to start from scratch on the boxes. I think if it doesn't go, we will just build an external box where the egg door is. That way they get the full window back, they can't possibly roost on top and we already have a hole ready to go.

Harvested some beans and lettuce. The lettuce is definitely on the way out, almost all of the heads are bolting. Lots of weeding still to do. The middle beds succession of beans is coming up.

Actually got to eat some raspberries today. They were small but sweet. I think we may need to water that bed a little more as they are ripening now. Milo ate most of them, and was sad to see there were not more ready. But good things come to those who wait, and it's worth not having to pay $10 a pound for them.

Our cucumbers are starting to get big on a couple plants. We have several varieties so not all are at the same stage. We managed to get the trellis all ready to go, so they can climb to their hearts content. The tomatoes are producing fruit pretty well, lots of little green guys. I hope we are ready for the avalanche when it comes. We have good plans, but who knows how it will work. We'll get a good feel this year for how many plants really make sense for a small family. We're mostly planning on making and freezing sauce and paste and hopefully having a solar drier ready to go for the romas. The peppers are still looking fairly petit, but they do have flowers on them, so something is happening. Hopefully they will produce as well.

Well we've had a couple more eggs, but they have all been of the sad shmooshed variety. One was laid in the box, one out on the wire and one on the roof which fell off. I hope we don't have an egg pecking problem. It's hard to tell what's going on. I've blocked off the roof of the nests now, so they can't sit up there anymore. I feel a little bad about that, since they seem so happy and cozy up there, but hopefully they will transfer over to the roosts.

I finally fixed the door, with a pretty low key solution. Just a hook which attaches to the wire on the yard, plus a piece of coat hanger to lower it and raise it. Having the bar in the corner was warping the plywood and making it really difficult to close. We'll see what this does.

My last problem to solve is how to get the water off the floor. I now wish we would have put the hole for the stair over the door rather than the back wall. It would have given me more options in placing other attachments.

I have added a section to the feeder for the oyster shells, so they can self feed on that too. Plus we got some of the laying feed, which I just mixed in with the chick feed we still have left. I figure some of them are laying and some aren't, so no need to waste it. I also decided to get pellets rather than more crumble because they do seem to drop a lot of that and it's hard to pick up. The pellets are easier for the chickens to grab and should be easier for me to scoop up after we move the coop. I try to get as much of the waste crumbles as possible and use it for scratch in the yard.

The peas have come out and pole beans have gone in in their place to reuse the trellis. It's a little late, but hopefully we'll have a cooperative fall and get a good harvest. I plan on interplanting with bush beans where ever the poles don't come up since they have a much shorter harvest time. We've pulled some garlic, which is super hot and the lettuce is definately getting to its end with the hot weather. The heads are bolting and will need to be picked today or tomorrow or they'll be chicken feed, which isn't all bad.

WE HAVE EGG !!!

Yes, after a sad little shmooshed thin shelled egg yesterday, today we have the real deal and actually birthed in the nest box rather than on the roof. Luckily it looks like the hen (to remain anonymous) was in no way broody. They all hauled butt out of the coop when I opened up this morning. The egg is very cute and small, about the size of a golfball, but a lovely shade of brown with speckles.

We'll have to get some real laying feed now and some oyster shells for calcium suppliment. I was assured that they wouldn't start laying until 20-24 weeks but here we are at 15, so I'm a bit caught out on getting the real feed in the coop.

It has been quite an exciting day. We also had a bee swarm. The bees living in our tree in the middle of our yard were frantically flying all over the yard and leaving en mass from the hole. They re-congregated at the top of another tree close by, you can just see the clump in the center of the picture. Not sure why they do this, and hopefully it doesn't mean they are leaving all together, as it's nice to have them to pollinate our plants, especially with veggies blooming.

Today we'll be planting the pumpkins, so hopefully they can give us some fun in the fall.

The grapes and raspberries seem to be doing well. I may try to harvest some of the grapes this year rather than letting the birds have them all. We should probably get some netting on the raspberries before they start to ripen, so the birds don't get them all as well. The strawberries out front keep disappearing before they even ripen, stem and all. Oh well.

Today we witnessed a dragonfly frenzy. There had to have been twenty or thirty of them flying and dive bombing all over the farm. Since they are major mosquito eaters, the more the merrier for me. It was a quite amazing sight.

We're starting to lay out the next phase of beds. Cold frames to the north of the north bed, extending the north bed and the lettuce bed. Maybe putting in some raised beds along the fence by the tracks, since the soil there is kind of rocky, probably from when they built the raised rail bed.

We had a major monsoon this afternoon, high winds, pelting rain. When I went out to check the farm, it had actually blown over the potatoes and the beans. I was able to get the beans back upright and didn't think it was really a problem for the potatoes since they are underground.

It looks like it caused some sort of chicken freak out also. Two of the chicken were caught outside when I went to put them to bed. Somehow the door had dropped on them. And then when I checked inside to make sure everyone was in, the piece of carpet on the upper level that shelters the food from dropping poop was on the ground covered in dirt. The wind was really hard, so maybe there was some uplift. Luckily everyone looked to be OK, all shmooshed up on top of the nest boxes as usual.

I turned the compost today and the center of the pile was pretty hot, which I'm proud of. It means I'm mixing the greens and browns well enough and keeping it moist. There was some clumping, perhaps too many leaves, but that should work itself out in the mixing. I need to get a tarp over it to keep the moisture in and keep the pile cooking. I also need to make a sifter to fit the wheelbarrow.

I had to break the video into two parts so i could get the chickens out, which is not a particularly cinematic process and without a tripod, would have been a lowly affair. They are always ready and waiting to get out in the morning, especially since we don't always get to them early. This was about 10 am I think. Plus they are generally happy to see me because I usually bring some sort of treat. I'll either pull up something that is past its sell by date, mostly broccoli rabe right now, or bring some of the kitchen scraps. I hate wasting food, but at least it gets back to being food by either going into the compost pile to help grow other food or to the hens to help with future egg production.

Part two shows our three beds in the back, with lots going on right now. Potatoes are full guns, peas look like they are about to head out - getting too hot for them, melons and pumpkins are coming in. The carrots in the first bed are about to come out - they look good but don't taste as great as they could, I've heard carrots are a hard thing to get great. We'll have to do some experimenting, both with soil amendments and with types. We have some leaf mold, which is supposed to be great for carrots, so we'll put that into the bed they'll go into next year and let it overwinter.

The bush beans are flowering so we should see some beans in the next month and the lima beans are going a bit crazy. They have a bit of a learning curve. I picked one that looked big to me, but when we opened it up it was all fluff and tiny beans, so I think they have to be bigger than I think to be done. The broccoli has been pretty good this year, we get heads with some secondary small ones after the initial cutting. Last year all I got was these gigantic prehistoric looking leaves and one tiny little head. That was also the summer of the late plant and the ignoring of the garden due to the baby. So that may have had something to do with it.

The lettuce has been an amazingly abundant crop. Part of it was that we were a little over enthusiastic in our initial planting, and then the weather has been so weird and coastal like, which lettuce love. We'll see what happens, now that real Colorado weather has returned.

I can't say how excited I am about the asparagus bed. First I thought I had totally screwed it up by following the somewhat mystical direction on the package. I'm not sure why I didn't just stop and get one of our many books and double check how I should do it. A bit of Mommy brain I guess. But they are pretty hardy plants and managed to get themselves above ground even though I planted them sideways and probably too deep. It'll be another two years before we get a real crop but we should be able to take a small amount next year. This is just my kind of vegetable, plant it once and with a little water and attention get twenty years of produce.

Aah, the wonderful wishful thinking that the coop might be done. It is determined to be that never ending project, no matter how hard I try. The roofs on the nest boxes did indeed stop the hens from roosting on the edges by now letting them all bunch up together on top of the roofs. They are very happy with this as this used to be the very area that they bunched up together before I put the nest boxes in. So now they are in the same spot just higher. I'm hoping that they will have the desire for some privacy and darkness when they actually start to lay and will indeed use the boxes. Otherwise we will have to block off the top because that area would not be conducive to eggs staying whole.

And of course the water solution didn't work either. I think I'll just have to face the reality of the situation and buy a hanging waterer and be done with it.

We finished tying up the tomatoes out front today, which is good because it is supposed to be getting a little gusty in the next day or so and the plants are getting big enough now to be affected by such things. M had built a really nice cedar trellis for the plants and even fashioned some bobbins so we could let out more twine as the plants grow, but they were a little unwieldy. So we just got some clothes pins, hooked them up, wound the twine and went.

We pulled about five pounds of beautiful Yukon Gold potatoes out of the ground yesterday, roasted some of them up and they were great, really good texture. We are also harvesting lettuce like crazy, the older heads are getting ready to bolt, so we need to get it picked and washed in the next couple days or we'll be feeding it to the hens.

We have a very vigorous vine growing out of the first compost pile and I'm not sure what it is yet. It looks like it will probably be some sort of summer squash but luckily it doesn't look like zucchini. It is rather light green in colour, and is so small at this point that I could even hope that it might be some sort of melon.

The garden is going fine. Just harvested about a pound of peas (snap, shelling but mostly snow). The brussels sprouts are starting to show, which is cool because I was totally not sure how they were going to show up. They send up a big stalk with big leaves and hang around for awhile. Then you notice little buds begin to form at the crux of the leaves and those are what will become the brussels.

I finally put the finishing touches on the coop, I think and I hope. I put roofs on the nest boxes so hopefully the chickens will stop roosting on the top walls and actually go inside. And I rigged a way to hang the waterer so that it will both be reachable for us to refill and the chickens won't be able to knock it over, also so it won't leak too much when we move the coop. All we have to do now is wait for them to start laying probably in September or so.

Apologies for not being a good blogger. The chickens are doing great, they have adjusted to the coop and only escape on occasion. One of the Arconas jumped out the top while I was cleaning and putting the nest boxes in the other day. But all she did was run right around to the yard and desperately peck at the wire trying to get back in with the other chickens. So all I had to do was get her to calm down a bit and lift up the yard and she ran right back in.

And then there were six....

Very sad news today. Poor Dashey was killed by Finn, and Ms. Scratch-Alot got a real scare. They had escaped the coop when we were moving it and ran under the deck, with no real way to get them out. So after some effort we left them to huddle. The dogs had been interested but not enough to chase them out for us, so it didn't seem like a big deal. But a little later M discovered Finn with one of them in his mouth, running for it. We were able to get that bird away from him, but unfortunately he had already crushed little Dashey. Even though he got whacked for it, I think Finn's pride in having caught something overrides any shame he might have. He kind of knows we think he did something wrong but I don't think he really knows what it is per se.

Ms. Scratch-Alot appears to be OK considering. She is huddling in the corner of the coop, not wanting to do much but if forced is able to walk around. She hasn't flapped her wings yet, so I'm not totally sure they are OK. There's not a lot I can do other than keep checking in on her.

We will be moving the coop out to the back 40 tonight as soon as M gets home. That way if they get out again, at least the dogs won't get them. Of course a hawk or raccoon might, but we don't have to live with them.

Chicken-A-Go-Go

Here are the photos as promised. See, Ginger just looks like a regular, but beautiful, chicken now. And yes, Bella is very interested in her if she is in the coop. See how the poop just sits on the wire there. We are going to have to clean more regularly than I had hoped.

Here is Carmine, I think, sorry it's hard to tell in the photos. She likes her some grass.

Here are almost all the chickens, huddled in a corner. Pretty much just Ginger and Carmine

will come over and see me. The others just run away and then pick at things.

This is the coop, possibly the heaviest coop around. But hopefully it will keep out any predators, although the ground is so uneven, that it does kind of leave big gaps along the bottom. Even the dogs have noticed this and try to stick their noses under. I hope this doesn't cause problems. We have some pretty big raccoons around, but since I saved that one from the road I'm hoping that I have a little coon karma stored up.

The chickens are gone

Yes, finally the chickens are outside. We moved them out about a week a ago, after a frustrating day of trying to finish the house. It is still technically not finished and lots of things are occurring to us or have been shown as less than optimal choices. I still need to build the nest boxes, not a huge rush as they won't be laying eggs for a couple more months. More importantly we need to install a couple perches for them to roost on. They have been hanging out on the wire upstairs and enjoying the grass to munch on below. One things which seemed like a good idea t the time, was that we changed the floor wire from 1/2 inch to 1/4 inch. It seemed like this would be better on their feet especially as we were putting them in there young, but it is also small enough that it catches their poop. So we're going to have to go in there pretty regularly and brush it off. Also while the coop is pretty luxurious, it is also damn heavy. I'm not exactly sure how we're going to move it around. M put handles on it, but I can't do anything except shove it forward a foot or two and once we're out back and the ground is less even, I can see it being a huge pain. But it is what we have. It's possible we should have gone with a really cheap lightweight moveable summer house and then built a sturdy permanent winter house since they don't lay during the winter anyway. But we'll work this one for awhile and see how it goes. This is all new and obviously a learning experience.

The dogs are doing OK with the chickens. One of them got out the other day, not really clear how, but we fixed the problem we thought it might be and they haven't gotten out since. The dogs were just pretty much ignoring them, which is funny because they are constantly worked up by them when they are in the coop. It must just be the lure of the unknown and unseen, and of course the smell.

Carmine, who seemed to have a really bloated crop for a long time, but with no other symptoms seems to have worked it out by herself. She is fully feathered and quite adventurous, always one of the first to come when I open a door, probably because she is also the one I have handled the most due to her illness. I will get some new pictures of them as they have changed considerably. They look like really small chickens now, which is I guess what they are, so go figure. We put a feeder slot in for them which is way too high now, hopefully they will grow into it, but we need to add a perch for them temporarily so they can reach the food. It is nice that they can't perch on the feeder and poop in the food anymore.

Tomorrow photos and the farm!

The Chickens must go

Well, we are definitely heading into chicken abuse territory now. They are probably a little less than pound each now and the boxes we have them in are just way too small. We went to Denver over night last night and one of the chickens made a break for it. Luckily we had them separated off by themselves in the dining room so Finn and Bella did not get their lucky day, but they had also knocked over their food and water in the malay that must have ensued during the great escape. So they were pretty excited to see some new water, after the ten minutes it took me to recapture Ms. Scatch-Alot, she's a wiley one. So we're going to try and get a couple more boxes together and put them out in the garage, partly so they can harden up temperature wise and partly because M had a bad dream about the chickens causing some sort of terrible disease in a small child. We should be done with the coop this week, just a couple pieces to get together before the big construction day. Then they will be living the high life in their chicken condo. I hope to post plans, especially considering all the dam time and effort that went into this thing. No-one should have to go through that if they don't have to.

We up-potted some more tomatoes and will have to bring them upstairs, as we are running out of room under the grow lights in the seed room. Lots of peas and garlic and radishes are coming up in the back forty. I've been making some progress on weeding out the dandelions by our front raised beds, but it is definitely a project which makes one pine for a nice warm bottle of Round-up.

Well here are a couple of the promised photos of the seed room.

Lots of action going on, definitely some things we planted a little too early, like the Morning Glories, which are starting to vine up and try to attached to each other. The leeks and fennels are looking good and lots of peppers and cucumbers and melons are starting to leaf out. We need to get the boxes filled soon, so the soil can come up to temperature. I got an adapter head for the sprinkler to change it from regular to a drip system. Hope it works, or we'll be spending a lot of time watering all these plants.

The chicks are definitely turning into chicklets. Not much fluff left, especially on the Arcona's, they are pretty much feathered out and so can go outside to a coop very soon. Of course that means we have to build said coop very soon. I thought I would have more time, but of course that went by the wayside pretty darn quick. My babies is all growed up. I can see why chicks get abandoned so soon after easter, they look pretty mangie at the ripe old age of two and a half weeks. I put a small, apparently less scary, perch in the bedroom box and some of them seem to be taking to it. I have also raised the water and food, so a lot less crap, both literally and figuratively, gets into them now. They still like to sit on the feeder, but at least the litter and old poop don't get kicked into the food, just the fresh stuff.

We went on a book buying tear. New Eliot Coleman book about managing home and market gardens, a book on how to build earth ovens (yummy fire baked bread and pizza), a couple more back to the earth/community building books. It's kind of funny how all these books talk about the gardening/farming process as a great jumping off point for community building, but I'm not clear when it is that I'm going to have time to build anything other than chicken, more beds, trellises, canning shelves, etc. Seems like between my real full time job and raising a soon to be very active toddler, chickens and growing the plants, that I'm not going to have a whole of time to "share" the experience with anyone other than the quick posting to this site. But perhaps I'm being pessimistic. 

We're already having to transplant our tomatoes into bigger pots, which is a good sign. They won't go outside until mid-May at the earliest, but it's nice to see progress even before the weather turns. The cucumber sprouts are going gang busters, should be a good crop, love the lemon cucs. This is such a jumbled year for the plants. Trying to figure out what goes in when and where, what we are likely to eat and how much, what will store well and where - in the ground,  in the root cellar, pickled, frozen, canned, dehydrated, how the plants need to rotate in the beds, how, when and what to compost with. It's pretty much a crap shoot this year, but we'll learn a lot and hopefully not have too much to give away - please take this produce. I guess in times like these, the worst case would be we could give it to a food pantry or homeless shelter. Maybe we should have a bed of just the hardier stuff to donate to a pantry anyway, everyone deserves fresh produce.

As soon as I decide on a coop plan, I'll try to document the building process, and maybe draw up some plans. Then I'll report back on what was good, bad and just useless. Wish me luck.

Chicks on the loose

The chicks got to experience the outside world for the first time. Pretty exciting. They have had to have a little downgrading in the social world due to our little freak out about Salmonella possibly passing on to Milo. Not that we've let him touch them, but it's possible they could kick something up into the air and he was eating in the same room as they are housed. So, we've moved everything out and they can have the room until we move them into the outdoor coop. They definitely seemed like a flock when I got them out to the grass. At first they just stood in one corner, but after a while they started to range but pretty much always together. They ate some grass, picked at the dirt and pooped a little. Lots of wing flapping which made me a little nervous, but no-one got very far. I'm not sure if it was nerves or if they were just trying things out since they had the space.

As the video shows, they are moving out of the cute chick faze and into scrawny teenage, half feathers/ half fluff. The Arconas - Dot, Dashey, and Ms. Scratch-alot, are having a particularly scruffy time of it right now. The Goldens - Ginger and Carmine, are getting a lot of wing and shoulder feathers but still look cute. The Wyandotts - Veedub and Sleepy, have some wing feathers but definitely seems to be on the slowest growth track.

We're starting to organize the garden and sprouting rooms, and have figured out that this year is pretty much just a wild leap out into the growing season and we shouldn't expect too much or put too much pressure on ourselves to be fully on track. This will be a learning year, figuring out what grows well and where, what we actually will eat and what stores well over the winter. Also, what over grows and can go to the farmers market, and what is easy to grow and can be sold. It looks like we'll probably have some extra tomato plants, so those could be potted up and sold. And herbs and flowers also would be easy to do. Eggs will hopefully be in pretty good supply. We don't need to make real money just supplement what we pay out to get stuff started. Each year we'll add more to the place - a green house, tunnels and cold frames, bees, maybe a goat if we can make it look like a pet.

Photos of the grow room and garden will be posted soon, really. It's just that the chicks are growing at a much more interesting pace, right now, but the garden will take over soon.

Condo expansion

I'm definitely beginning to get the idea that chickens are not so smart and that perhaps I should not get too attached to them. They have been roosting on the feeder a lot, so I thought it might be a good idea to get them something to roost on that didn't include pooping on their food. I got a nice stick from out of the garden and put it in and they freaked out. They all ran to the opposite side of the box as far away from the stick as possible. I left it in there for awhile thinking they just needed time to get used to it, but after half an hour they were still huddled in the corner, so I took it out.

Then I was outside with Milo and we saw some of these bugs that congregate in the spring as soon as it gets warm. So I took one in thinking the chicks might enjoy chasing it around a little and of course eating it. But when I put it in the brooder they just kind of looked at it and then walked away, no interest even when it started to crawl up the wall. My high hopes for them as buggers is fading somewhat. They took so well to the moths that I assumed all bugs were fair game. Hopefully they'll do something to keep the garden bugs under control when they older. Who knows maybe it has colouring to indicate that it tastes bad.

Today the chick condo got a big renovation, doubled in size. I hope they can afford the new mortgage. I put a door between the two boxes, so one area would be for sleeping and one for eating /drinking. We'll how that goes, they seem to be just congregating in the eating area. I also took the lid off the feeder since they were roosting on it and put that in the sleeping area. No traffic yet, but they re having a great time all standing in the food and kicking and eating, so what the heck a little variety in their lives is probably worth some lost food. I just think its a good idea to get them used to the idea of going into different areas since once they are outside they'll have to learn to go out and in and use the nest boxes.

Now the chicks have bloated crops. Not sure what or if I need to do about it. It might be that we were keeping the brooder too warm for them now that they are a little older and they weren't drinking enough water. I'll keep an eye on it and try a couple things that the websites suggest if it doesn't get better soon. They don't seem to be bother by it and they are still eating and drinking, so it's probably not life threatening. Most spots say they need more grit but I don't think the chicks are supposed to be eating anything but the chick food right now.

Almost everything in the grow room is doing great. The onions are a little confusing. They seems to be a little weak but are still popping up, so who knows. It's just not clear that they are worth the space and maybe we should just go to onion sets rather than seed.

Raised beds, Yayyy!

Here you can see the Wyandott forming wings.

Here is the Sexlink with some stubby feathers poking out, but still lots of fluff.

Here are the Arconas with their almost fully formed wings, they are beginning to fly a little.

M was able to get started on building the raised beds today. They will take up a section of the front lawn that gets some pretty blazing sun and it fairly hard packed, I think from having an RV parked on it for some years. So regardless of how much water you put on it, it always ends up dried out and weedy. It should be a really good spot for melons, peppers and others that like it hot and well drained, maybe some strawberries around the edges for fruit and decoration.

Peas went in outside, and we got a bit of snow this afternoon, so that should make them happy. Tons of stuff coming up in the grow room, I'll get some shots of that tomorrow.

The chicks are a week old now and really growing fast. One of the Arconas flew up on to the top of the waterer today so we're going to have to get a bigger pen and probably include a lid. The dogs, unfortunately are also getting more and more interested in the birds. Not sure if its the noise or the attention or a stronger smell as they get older.

Moths Galore

I'm trying to handle to birds more so that they don't freak out and run away from me when I want to put something in the brooder. I'm picking them up everyday and feeding them a little out of my hands. The Arcona and Sexlinks seem pretty Ok with but the Wyandotts are standoffish which is strange as I had read that they were quite affectionate birds and made good pets. Maybe they'll come around. The chicks are now standing on my hands to eat and pecking at my bracelets and ring, and occassionally just my fingers. I've been able to catch some moths for them to eat and previously one of the Wyandotts had taken them but now the darker Sexlinks gets it every time and then runs around with it being chased by most of the other chicks. I'm not sure they know what she has, just that she seems to be trying to make a break for it so it must be good.

We're now looking into vermiculture. I've done it before with mixed results, but it would be a good way to get rid of our kitchen waste as well as creating a good protein source for the chickens once they are out in the yard. I suggested a maggot bucket, but M seems resistant. I need to look into the Black Soldier flys which are apparently just a good maggot producer but without all the toxic smell. We want to try and feed the chicken as naturally as possible with as little supplemental food as possible. We hope to plant some grains and greens for them to range on, and of course getting them to eat as many bugs as possible outside the beds is one of their main purposes. Then in the spring and fall they can scratch and de-bug and de-weed the beds, as well as spreading their good nitrogen rich droppings directly into the soil.

Chicks pics

Here's one of the Silver Lace Wyandotts

Here's a sleeping Golden Sexlink.

All the chickies sleeping together. It took a couple tries to get the distance for the heat lamp right, but it looks like we finally got it.

The Goldens are definitely not camera shy.

Day one in the new accomodations.

The chicks are already showing signs of growing up. The Arconas have their wing feathers coming in, way ahead of the others. One of the Wyndotts is worrying me a little. She's quite small and very timid, to the point of not wanting to eat when the others are eating. She seems to spend most of her time picking at the shavings and also is very reluctant to be handled. The chicks are all getting in a tizzy whenever hands come into view. I tried picking them up and holding them to get them used to people but it doesn't seem to have done the trick. We have some very cute pictures which I will post soon.

The sprouts are coming up in the basement - onions, tomatoes, leeks. I put asparagus in the ground the other day. I'm not totally confident that I did it right after looking for better directions on the web yesterday. I should have spread the roots differently and spaced the plants wider, but hopefully they are hardy enough to adapt to the less than optimal conditions. We had a nice snow storm on Thursday, leaving at least 5 inches on the ground, so the soil should get a good deep soak. Hopefully the brussel sprouts will survive the freezing overnight.  

Day 1

We got chicks today! Three Arconas, two Silver Lace Wyandotts and two Golden Sexlinks, hopefully all hens, as we are not allowed any roosters. Technically we are also not allowed more than four hens, but considering this is our first time as chick owners we wanted to make sure we ended up with four adult hens. Hate to be a bit morbid, but we'll do our best. 

One of the Goldens is already asserting her dominance, pecking at the Wyandotts who are smaller. They are all sleeping , then up five minutes latter, then sleeping. They seem to have adjusted pretty quickly. We're keeping them in the dining room so we can socialize them, and hopefully the dogs won't try to get at them. Milo was very taken with them, but he wants to poke them in the eye, so it's a little too soon to let him handle them.

I have found some trusty allies in my war on the moths in the house. I caught a moth and threw it into the brooder and a couple of the chicks raced to peck at it. One of the Wyandotts was able to catch it and tossed it back. I found a couple more, and the W rushed over again and got them. So now I don't have to feel so bad about the moth deaths as at least they are contributing to the circle of life.