We added a few extra perches in the chicken coop so that the chickens could get off of the ground if they wanted.
Every morning we catch them hanging out on their new perches. They like to sit up as high as they can and cluck away at each other. So far they have been quite a treat. We are expecting our first set of eggs in the next month or so. Can't wait.
Labels: Chicken Coop, Chickens
Every thing was pretty standard, or so we thought, in our yard and garden for the past month. All of the vegetables and animals seemed to be living and growing in harmony with each other. The western garden plot continued to thrive with tomatoes, peppers & eggplants while the newer civilized eastern plot was doing well with larger plants like corn, pumpkin and some artichokes. Everything was growing and budding at what seemed to be an accelerated rate until the day our garden was infiltrated by a foreign substance.
A few weeks ago one of the pumpkin plants decided to take a different path and surpass all of the other plants. Not only did it take over most of garden plot number 2, but it expanded outside of the garden territory and began taking over parts of the yard and walkway as well. We got excited thinking about all the pumpkin pie we could make in November if it continued to prosper, so we gave it more attention and began arming it with every thing it needed. Two large pumpkins started to develop near our walkway, we call them the survivors, and we watched their every move. Shortly after three other baseball size pumpkin buds started to appear on the opposite side of the plot.
We let the pumpkin take over the garden, arming it as it invaded and at times even demolished other plants and their plots. With the help of the crazy hens and their daily invasions of clearing out insects or any other foreign invaders, the pumpkin continued to grow at such an accelerated rate that we didn't even notice the trouble developing in one of its new regions. Some of the smaller, younger leaves started allowing mold, like a new ideology grow on their leaves. The mold became aggressive and shortly after, some of the older leaves were under attack. Within a few days the mold started to take over the entire plant. Not knowing what it was, we thought the leaves were drying out due to a lack of nutrition and did exactly what we should have not done. We began arming it with more nutrients and supplies by watering it more. Unfortunately for the plant the mold was able to ambush much of the nutrients, making it stronger and more aggressive, while the plant got weaker. With its supplies cut off it was nearly impossible for the plant to fight off its new friend turned foe.
It took about two weeks before every melon origin plant in both plots had taken to the mold. This included the cantaloup region, the cucumber, of coarse the squash and zucchini, even some of the younger tomatoes got involved. Once the mold takes over it pretty much cuts the life supply to the fruit. All of the new buds on the pumpkin plant with the exception of the survivors fell in battle. We continued to let the pumpkins grow for another week before admitting that the mold had changed the rules of garden warfare. Soon both plots looked like a war zone and our once beautiful edible landscaping started to look like Baghdad 2003. Finally after coming to the realization that the mold had won, we decided to pull the plug and harvest what we could.
This wasn't a total disaster, all of our peppers, corn, artichokes and greens seemed to survive the attack. Some of the stronger older tomatoes did as well. I think they have more acid in their leaves which helps fight it off. Our egg plants survived the mold also, but their leaves look like Swiss cheese after an entirely different attack from a swarm of terrorist bugs of an unknown region. They seem to be strong and grounded so they continue to put out fruit. We will continue to keep supplying them aid on a close watch.
After spending time educating myself on the habits and nature of our new enemy I have learned that mold is pretty common adversary to the Pumpkin plants. Since this happened we are taking steps to avoid it coming back. One of the first things we are going to do is start watering our garden from the ground and not from above with sprinkler. Not only will this help conserve water by reducing run-off, but it will help the leaves stay dry, and not give the enemy the ideal environment it needs to spread. If we see any signs of the mold returning in the future, which we most likely will, we will remove it as soon as possible. They also have organic sprays that claim to kill the mold if we can catch it in time. I don't know if they work but I will find out next season.
Garden Plot Numero dos is taking off.
The pumpkin plant has gotten ridiculously huge, it has moved on past taking over the garden and now it taking over the yard. That is just fine with Blanch as she loves to get out of her pen and go to work looking for bugs or worms.
The corn is also going off in the second plot. Looking at this picture I now understand why the straight edgers and skins called me and my surfer/skater buddies 'corn heads' when we were younger.
So far all of our garden plots are doing great. The celebrity tomatoes in our first plot are getting huge.
Our second (new) garden plot is taking off as well. It is hard to believe that we planted it only two weeks ago. We have a pumpkin plant that is taking over the entire South West wing of the garden plot.
Because we decided that we wanted to do an organic garden, we have yet to use any insecticides or growth hormones on our plants. Nor have they needed them. We just open up the chicken coop and let the girls do their thing.
They know how to climb in and out of their coop when the door is open to make their way into the garden.
Once they are in the garden the start foraging around for worms and insects.
When they are all done gardening they will make there way back their coop, climb back in and relax.
Labels: Chicken Coop, Chickens, Garden, Organic
The chickens are coming along just fine so far.
We finally finished their coop and opened up the coop house for them to start exploring.
Blanch, the Plymouth Rock, so far is still the friendliest and most adventurous of the three.
She will eat straight from your hands. She actually got the other two to come around to eating from our hands as well. Kind of like the trend setter for the group.
Rose, the Rhode Island Red, is the second friendliest. She is also the sneakiest when it comes to snaking food from you hands. She pals around with Dorothy, the Golden Laced Wyndot. Dorothy appears to be the leader of the crew, however she is the most timid and afraid when it comes to being held.
This is a view of Rose leaving the Coop house, down to the run.
All three of the little ladies practicing laying eggs in their house.
Labels: Chicken Coop, Chickens
Since the chicks have been outside in their coop they have been attracting all kinds of new friends
We got these photos the other morning from a line in our yard.
Labels: Chickens
The chicken coop is almost done, or at least 95.76% of the way there. Last week we built the doors and secured down the latches. The chicks are getting so big we decided to go ahead and move them into the coop. Last night was their first night out on their own. The only thing we have left to do with the coop is to finish off the coop house. Since the chicks will not be able to reach the coop house for another couple of weeks we decided to build them a make shift shanty with a hodge podge ceiling and card board walls. It slightly resembles some of the places the Indians lived in in Baja when I was a child. This way they can get out of the weather elements and stay warm under the light.
We didn't think that they were going to get much sleep became of the insects attracted to the light. It was actually quite entertaining for us last night watching them hunt down files, June bugs and anything else that dared enter their layer. We have learned that they are all very good hunters as they can catch a fly in mid flight. So needless to say clumsy flying beetles stand a slim chance of survival. Once one catches an insect, the games begin. They don't just sit there and eat it quietly, but actually quite the opposite. The one who catches it will start chirping and running around the coop trying to play keep away from the others. We think that they learned this game from our dog Judah, we know he likes to fancy himself as the 'King' when it comes to the game of keep away.
We checked on them a couple time last night just to make sure nothing else found it's way in the coop with them. I had read one of the most upsetting things about owning a pet chicken is if something gets to them in their coop. Owners get so attached to their hens that it becomes difficult to raise them again after finding what a cat or raccoon does to them if they get in the coop. I took every precaution I could to make sure that they are in good and safe. Since this is our first coop, I can only hope that I took it a little overboard.
I was glad to see that they were all fine the next morning.
So was Judah.
Labels: Chicken Coop, Chickens, Dog
It was time to get serious about building the chicken coop. Either we built in time for the chicks, or the chicks would need it before we had time. Finding a place to put the chicken coop was our first obstacle. We have a great yard but not a whole lot of space to work with. We decided to go with a semi built storage shelf by our office nook where we kept our composters. Coming up with the plans was easy once we started jotting down our ideas.
Keeping with the simple logic, we decided to build our coop in two parts. A good poultry house protects the birds from the elements (weather), predators, injury and theft. Poultry require a dry, draft-free house. This can be accomplished by building a relatively draft free house with windows and/or doors which can be opened for ventilation when necessary. It is also necessary to build the coop on high, well-drained areas. This prevents prolonged dampness and water saturation of the floor of the coop and outside runs. Allowing an adequate level of space per bird also helps keep the humidity level in the coop to a minimum. The first part would be the actual coop house, where we would keep the nests for our future eggs. This section we would put in an elevated area. The next part would be a chicken run. This is the area that the hens will be able to cruise around and play in the dirt.
We started out by cleaning out the designated area, and building a frame to get an idea of what we would be working with. We wanted to keep as much as a natural element to the coop as we could, so we worked around existing branches and structures already available.
Once we got the frame up, we started to add the chicken wire. We built the chicken run area large enough for us to stand in. This will help with cleaning out the area in the future. The wire mesh we are using has a 1" wholes. This is the recommended size for chickens. We also learned that it is much cheaper to by the wire mesh that they use for roofing. It is the same stuff that they sell for chickens. It is just marketed for a different use, and comes in a larger roll. The wire mesh we purchased is 20 gauge, 36" wide and 150' long. We will most likely only use half of what we purchased, but can use the rest in the future around our garden.
When building the actual coop house, we needed to make sure that the hen's will have adequate space for movement and exercise as well as areas to nest and roost. It is recommended for egg laying hens to have 1.5 ft of space inside the coop, and 8ft of space in the run. We will also add perches for them to hang out on. With these chickens, we will provide 6 to 10 inches of perch space per bird. We will also provide them a nest. You should always provide at least one nest for every 4-5 females in the flock.
This is what the view looks like from inside the coop house, looking out to the run.
Slowly but surely it all starts to come together.We still need to add a pen door, as well as make sure everything is tight and secure from predators. Once we are done it will be important to remove any loose or ragged wire, nails, or other sharp-edged objects from the coop. We will also eliminate all areas other than perches where the birds could perch more than 4 feet above the floor. These extra measures could eliminate any injury to our birds and may prevent damage to the coop, as well.
Once the coop house is done, we will retrieve our eggs from this door. We decided to leave the existing wood structure for the back wall to their house. This way they can enjoy some old old ivy vines for natural decor.
We built a raised floor in the coop area to assist in the ventilation as well as the cleaning and the collection of their waist for composting. The floor is built with the 1" chicken mesh, raised about 4 inches off of the floor. We will place a large tray down below for easy collection of their waist before they move in.
This is a view from inside the chicken run area, up to the coop house. We are about 90% percent done with the coop. We should be finished with it by next week, giving us a few days of tweaking it out before the chicks will be ready to move in.
Labels: Chicken Coop, Chickens, Manure
A Stroll Through The Garden
We started letting the chicks spend some time in our garden. We want them to get familiar being around us, as well as the plants and the insects. Up to this point each time they saw us we were lording over their box like some type of greek god having fun controlling the outcome of their day. We did not want them to get the wrong impression of us so we started hanging out with them both in the house and in the garden a few minutes a day.
In the garden they feel right at home, foraging for food or pecking at the plants.
Blanch here, The Plymouth Rock, is the most animated out of the threesome, she also gets out and explores more than the other two.
Judah continues to try to convince us that he can help keep the chicks in line while they are in the garden, here he is trying to get under the fence to assist. The first day we let them out we learned the importance of staying close by while they are so small. It's bad enough that our land shark can't seem to leave them alone, but other birds of prey can't as well. Lyndsey was sitting with Rose about a week ago in the yard, and a large bird swooped down and perched on a branch directly above her and the chick. When I say directly, I mean like three feet away. Rose stopped chirping immediately and ducked down into Lyndsey's hands. Fortunately everything was all right, but it did open our eyes as to how vulnerable they are at this age, and how important their coop will be when they get older.
Watch it Grow
Well it has been about three weeks on the garden and two weeks with the chicks. We keep feeding everything, and it keeps growing.
We had to move the chicks a couple of times now into a larger habitat. The recommendation for chicks is that they have square foot per chick. At first this seemed like a bit much but after a few days of watching how much they ate and grew it made allot of sense. They now have a 45 gallon container they call home. Next move will be to the chicken coop. We are going to start building that this week.
Everything is coming in fine, some of the peppers and greens are ready to go.
We had a great salad for dinner last night with the spicy mescaline mix, spinach and red leaf lettuce. It was tasty.
We expanded our family the other day by adding three hens to the pack. Now we officially have 1 crazy dog, 6 fish (this keeps changing due to our fish elimination rounds) & three little chicks. These chicks are one day going to be our breakfast making hens. "Rose" the first light colored chick is a Rhode Island Red, she so far is the most docile, as she likes to be held. "Blanch" right next to Rose is a Plymouth Rock and the chick in back is "Dorothy" she is a Gold Laced Wyandotte. All three breeds are suppose to be good for backyard coops, as they are all good egg layers as well as docile birds.
We are looking forward to their eggs, however that will not be for another 5 months. In the meantime we can use their droppings as manure for our garden. Poultry manure (chicken in particular) is the richest animal manure in N-P-K. (nitrogen (N), phosphoric acid (P) and potash (K) ) Chicken manure is considered "hot" and must be composted before adding it to the garden. Otherwise, it will burn any plants it comes in contact with. We will also let them range free around are garden to help out with the insects and slugs. We will start building their chicken coop in our back yard here in the next couple of weeks as they will be ready to move into it in about 4-5 weeks.
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