Gardening progress and baby chicks

My elbow is almost back to normal.  It's so nice to be able to use my arm without that constant bone pain.  What a relief!

We had chicks hatching this past weekend.  They started on Thursday morning and the last one hatched on Saturday.  They're so cute.  Little balls of fluff.  And when they're not sleeping, they're chirping and looking for something to eat.

Chicks in the brooding box

We have 14 in all, 7 Rhode Island Red (the darker "brown" ones), 3 Brahma Cochin (yellow) and 3 mixed (Copper Maran and RIR).  The RIR chicks are destined for some friends.  The others will be additions to our flock.

When chicks are very small, you need to put rocks in the water dispenser so they can't drown.  I have only had that happen once, but it's very sad.  I hate seeing a small death that could have been prevented. 

I really dote on my babies.  I check on them often.  The brooder box is located on our back porch.  That way they're safe from predators and out of the weather.  Depending on the weather, they'll stay on the porch for 2 weeks or so.  They have to be able to regulate their own body temperature and large enough to withstand any exposure before I move them to a larger cage. 

If their mama had been taking care of them, she'd protect them and they'd nestle into her plumage for the next few months.  Until they're too large to fit under her any more.  But I don't have any plumage, so they have to be protected from the weather by my cage location and a lightbulb.

It's been fairly wet (thankfully), so it took us awhile to get the garden planted. 

I started our seeds in yogurt cups and had them on the back porch next to the brooder box.  They got a good start.  And so, yesterday, we got them all in the ground.

Seed starts and brooder box

I got all our seed for this year from Baker Creek.  They are nice folks.  The catalog is beautiful, and full of information!  http://www.rareseeds.com/

We're growing several varieties of squash and melons, 2 varieties of blond cucumbers, 2 varieties of red heirloom tomatoes, carrots, beets, okra, asparagus, onions, garlic and potatoes.  I'm sure I'll find a few more things to stick in the garden because I still have room left!

Garden before planting

The little section on the upper right that isn't plowed is the asparagus bed.

Garden after planting

Notice, the asparagus bed is now center left.  The tomato in the foreground is a small yellow that I overwintered in the house.  The plant in the pot in the background is a red chili that we've dug up and overwintered every year for the past few years.  It's not toooooooooooo hot.  Just right for our family.

The boxed in area is for the carrots and beets.  I'll be planting marigolds and nasturtiums along the border, as bug deterrent.

Last week when I was out taking pictures, a small garter snake was checking out the garden.

Can you see him?  Green  and yellow in the center of the picture

 My husband and son had seen it earlier in the day.

Our landscaping is looking very nice.  I "stole" the tomato cages my husband made last year and have them around my peonies.  We won't need tomato cages for some time yet, but I need to get those peonies staked before they start to bloom.  We can make more tomato cages. 

Peonies with commercial cage support

The lilacs are getting ready to bloom.  I love the smell of lilacs.  At my parent's homestead, 2 large light purple bushed had grown together to form a "cave".  My aunt and I used to play in there and pretend it was our fort.  Our dog Herkimer would be forced into playing in there with us.  Those are fond memories for me.  So when we bought this property, I got 4 different colors of lilac and planted them in a square.  Now they will form a nice space for someone else to cherish (who know, I may be the one crawling in there!)

Ok.  That's all for today.  I'll discuss more gardening, landscaping and chickens as the spring and summer progress.

Go outside and enjoy the beautiful day!

A beautiful day

Oh yesterday was so beautiful.  Sunny and warm.  The high was 74!  We all got outside as puttered around for awhile.  I played fetch with the dog.  She chased that evil chipmunk that lives in the woodpile.  She just hates that poor little guy.

On evil chipmunk watch

I moved some of my birds around.  You see, I had 4 bantam chickens in one "chicken tractor".  Two roosters and a hen with her baby.  Well, the baby has grown up and turns out to be ANOTHER rooster.  So that meant I had 3 roosters and 1 hen.  Not good.  So, baby Snow (not much of a baby anymore) and his father Fred got put in another cage.  (The weather didn't cooperate this morning.  It's pouring rain.  So I don't have any bird pictures for now.)



But before I could move them, I had to move 2 quail rooster out of the cage.  I set up a small cage I had used for a quail pair last year.  Now I have 3 quail roosters without any mates and 2 bantam roosters without any mates.  I'm blessed with roosters it seems.

I usually try to give roosters away.  Surely, there must be SOMEONE in our area who needs a rooster.  I know we could have them for Sunday dinner....  but these are my friends.  I'll try finding them a home first.

My 2 Rhode Island Red hens, Sissy and Missy, and their husband Hexter are all molting right now.  So I'm not getting any eggs from them.

Sissy and Missy

 And my young Black Copper Moran hen Jet is molting also.  She's laying about every other day...  So my Brahman Cochin trio are the only ones producing faithfully.  My little Bantam hen Pebbles is trying, but I think the roosters were eating the eggs sometimes.  Maybe now that I have Fred and Snow in another cage she'll have a chance.  I think I'll let Pebbles raise another clutch on her own.  She's a good mama and raised Snow well through the winter.

I haven't been posting much the past week.  My elbow is very unhappy!  I had an appointment with the orthopedic surgeon last Wednesday.  I need to have outpatient surgery to remove the bone spurs.  That will happen on Tuesday (3/12).  Depending on what he finds happening in there, I might just come home without any cast at all.  I would really like that.  I'll have a follow-up appointment within a week and find out more...

This elbow difficulty is painful.  And it puts me behind in everything.  I have to get one of my guys to move heavier things for me (heavier being about 10 pounds).  Even kneading bread was very painful!  This sucks!

Let's talk eggs

I love my chickens.  I really do.  But the thing I love most about my chickens is getting fresh eggs every day.

Here's the haul from the past 2 days.

Eggs gathered the past 2 days

Fred, Pebbles and BamBam

It smallest egg you see here is from our Duck Wing Bantam hen, Pebbles.  She's a good looking lady!  She's a great mama. 

Gus and Greta

The smaller, lighter colored eggs are from our Braha Cochin Greta.  She's a nice hen & a great egg layer.  I haven't given her the opportunity to be a mama yet.  I may let her try this year.  We'll see.








The larger brown eggs are laid by our Rhode Island Reds Missy and Sissy.  They are great egg layers.  They each give us about 320 eggs a year.  I haven't let them be mama's yet either because I wanted the eggs... and once a hen starts setting, she's not giving you any more eggs for about 3 months.

Sissy and Missy

The darkest egg comes from our Copper Moran, Jet.  She's about 8 months old and just started laying in the last month or so.

Henry

Right now, Jet is housed with Gus and Greta, Margarette and Henry.  In the Spring, Henry and Jet will be getting their very own accomodations.  Henry is the same age as Jet.  He's a nice Rhode Island Red.  If I was a purest, I'd continue to keep my breeds separated.  But Gus, Greta, Sissy, Missy and Hexter were born during the 2009 season.  So, I need to get another pair mated and established before something happens to the trio's I have established now.  Margarette is the same age as Jet and Henry.  Being a Brahma Cochin, I'm going to keep her with her breed.  I'm hoping Jet and Henry will start my "yard chicken" flock. 

I don't let any of my chickens out "free range" right now because the guineas pick on them horribly.  And every other predator within 1000 acres wants to eat them for dinner.  But, I'd like to start raising some smarter chickens... my own kind of chicken... in hopes that I could have birds out and about free range.  So, having a mixed pair might help with that.  It's an experiment I'm going to try.  Anyway, when Jet has enough eggs laid that she gets broody, I'll let her sit on them.  And we'll see what happens from there.

Here's a picture of some of the chicks I've hatched out in the incubator in the past year.

Rhode Island Red chicks

I love my chickens.  They're my friends.  I'm very particular about the feed I give them.  Layer crumbles is what I prefer.  I don't give them medicated feed, since they have NEVER been exposed to any other poultry.  The chickens, guinea and quail get the same feed.  I even use the same feed for chicks (I just grind it up finer in a mortar). 

I love the sounds the birds make.  I really enjoy listening to them interacting with each other - even when Sissy and Missy have to argue over who's turn it is to be in the nesting box!  And we really enjoy the eggs.  That's the special bonus of having chickens.  Eggs. 

And we're an egg loving family.  Custard, pickled eggs, pudding, quiche, egg salad, cake, omelet, fried poached or scrambled.  We love eggs.