Apples this season? Almost

Fading September Fuji apple blossoms turning into tiny apples in mid-May. They are about the size of my thumb nail at this point.

Alas, summer thunderstorms in July that produced wild winds (but no rain that actually reached the ground) knocked all the apples off of the trees. The chickens did eat them up, but instead of ripe, fist sized apples, they got hard, green, golf-ball sized apples. At least they were not totally wasted, but still, I was hoping for some apples that maybe people could partake of. Still, at least I know that I have the right pollinators. My rescue tree of unknown parentage along with both my September Fujis and one other apple tree (I want to say it's the Gala) bloomed and fruited this year. Another apple tree didn't bloom, but it's young, yet, so I wasn't really expecting it to bloom.

Babies at about 3 weeks. They lived in my shower for about a month and then moved into the bottom half of a dog crate in the laundry room.

Baby chickies born in mid May should be laying eggs after Thanks Giving. Of the original 6 that hatched, 4 survived. 1 died of injuries sustained by overly helpful German Shepard (Dog was very gentle trying to put chickie back in the chickie cage, but not gentle enough. Our son put the chickie out of it's misery with my pistol.). The other died of unknown causes. Here you see a Silver Laced Wyandotte x Maran and a White Easter Egger x Maran.

The Roosters are pretty hard on the hens and have now been separated from them. The hens should be much happier and egg production might even go up. Only really need to have the Roosters running with the Hens when I want fertile eggs.

Babies! Babies!

This one was born on Saturday.
He/She is up and about, eating, drinking and causing a ruckus. And apparently, will need to move to a box with higher sides soon.

So, I think this one might actually be a Maran (R) x Easter Egger (H). Difficult to tell what color the EE was - white or brown, but this one certainly doesn't look black like SLW or Maran parentage.

The chickie here was born on Sunday, but was not yet robust enough to hang out with the older chicks. By the time the other three had hatched, this one was running around and was put in with the older ones.

Memorial Day arrivals with two more eggs left to hatch. Babies aren't even dry yet. It's a miracle. I AM reminded that there is a Higher Power somewhere.

Wow, what a weekend. I feel like the Chicken Maternity Ward. We thought Old Biddy was sitting on 7 eggs, but she was sitting on 9. 6 live births gives us a 60% success rate - pretty good for going "all natural". 1 didn't make it through its hatch. Two more? Well, they are still within a normal time frame - normal being between 18 days and 25 days. We are on day 23 right now. Going to keep them hydrated and see what happens. Some were put under old Biddy on the Sunday, so the ones that hatched today could have been "22 day" chicks. Still, even if the other two eggs don't hatch, I am deliriously happy with the small, noisy peepers in my bathroom.

Spring Has Sprung

The first chickie hatched today - exactly 21 days. Done the old fashioned way - a randy rooster, some hens, a broody biddy and time. The day temps are in the mid 80s to low 90s right now - perfect for baby chickens. And a warm mommy to tuck under when the temps drop at night. No brooder light bulbs for me this season.

I've been on hiatus as the Army has taken over my life, but, in spite of my mostly ignoring the garden and chickens, things are moving along.

I took some photos this morning, and hopefully more chickies will be born soon. Old Biddy started out with more than a dozen eggs, but over the course of the first week, she rejected about half of them and ended up keeping 7. Don't know why she rejected some, but they were "obviously" rejects as she took the time to push them to the furthest corner of her broody cage and did not attack me when I removed them. I tried to play that game with one that she wanted, and she hollered and hissed at me and rolled it back across the floor and back into her clutch. I'm sure she had her henny penney reasons.

Mid West Travel Digressions

Over the summer I had the good fortune to have a day off in the mid-west. I drove out to Lake Michigan. I've seen the Great Lakes on maps, so I knew they were huge - but you really have to see it to realize just how big it really is. From the south shore, you cannot even tell it is a lake - it looks like an ocean that opens up to the north and extends to the end of the earth. A sea gull over Lake Michigan. I love my camera. True, I'm not very practiced, so a shot like this for me is still "just lucky" - but it helps to have good equipment.
And, more sea gulls as they fly out over the lake. You can click on any of the photos on this blog to see the full sized picture.
View of the beach. I understand that at one time, the factories along the bank spewed smoke so vile and plentiful that the skies above the lake were smuged black. I'm glad that is no longer the case.
Pebbles along the shore. Sometimes I just like to take pictures of patterns. Some day I hope to return with more than a few hours to spare - still, I am so blessed that I get to see so much of our country.

Almost Home Again

I love being on the road, and it's always interesting and fun to visit our remote offices - but sometimes I think the best part of being on the road is coming home. Looking forward to hearing "Hungry Jack" crow in the mornings and seeing the girls stampede for treats. You can see our neighbor's house in the background while Hungry Jack does his thing. Good thing the neighbors are a ways away - Hungry Jack can get pretty loud when he chooses. And if he and No. 2 get into a crowing duel, it can really echo through your brain.
Here's a photo of The Princess rooster, Fancy Pants and The Mean Hen as they get ready to take a trek to friends who planned to eat them. Fancy pants did end up as roast rooster, but I hear The Princess and The Mean Hen have become pets. The Mean Hen is laying an egg every few days and The Princess has the run of the yard. Glad to see they have a good home, but I am even happier that my own flock is now so much more mellow. Literally within hours of the mean roosters and hen being removed from the flow, there was a happier, calmer air about them.

Funny side note about chickens - apparently there is a significant minority of people where I work who are somehow involved with chickens! Either they have some (as in the case of someone in our So Cal office), or used to have them (Georgia and Nor Cal Offices), or are thinking of getting them (Nor Cal Office). In a few cases, my coworkers' grown children are somehow involved with chickens on a professional level. I would never have guessed!

Airplane ride most of the day tomorrow and then home!

Garlic ... culling ckickens ... eggs ...

Procrastination means that I have a few "not doing so well" garlic cloves. None of them are actually rotting or moldy, but they certainly are not in their prime. But, can't let anything go to waste, so, like in 2007 (the photo above), I will plant the cloves in a pot. I'll water them well, let them stay outside for a few weeks (so they think Winter has come), and then bring them inside and put in a sunny window sill (so they think Spring has arrived). Keep moist but not soggy and within a few weeks, garlic shoots should rise up. When they get to be 4 or 5 or 6 inches tall, cut a few inches off the top and use like garlic chives. They'll continue to grow for a few months until their storage of food in the clove is used up. Then it is into the compost pile with them. I don't like green onions, so I use these whenever I need green onions.
This is a picture of Jake from October 2006. He's running over what would eventually become the western fence line of my garden. He's buried out in the back, now, within site of the garden.
Speaking of burials, this flower grows in the shady areas of Laurelwood Cemetery in Savannah, Ga. Don't know what it is, but it was blooming in July last year when I visited.

Here you can see the "chalaza" from one of my eggs. Usually when you break an egg, the chalaza will break near the yolk and recoil and stick to the membrane still in the shell. You can see a good drawing of the parts of an egg at 4-H Virtual Farm (http://www.sites.ext.vt.edu/virtualfarm/poultry/poultry_eggparts.html) I have been trying to take a clear photo of the germinal disc of an egg - it is the very tiny spot that can tell you if an egg is fertile or not. My yolks all seem to land "spot side down", so I haven't captured one of my own, yet. The website mentioned above has a link to a photo of a germinal disc.

Three things I have noticed about my "cage free" chickens are that 1) the yolks are much deeper yellow than store bought eggs - sometimes they are nearly orange, 2) the yolks are strong - you really need to pre-beat them in a cup if you want to break them up - or really stab them with the spatula in the pan (wow, even I can make easy-over eggs with these eggs!), and 3) the shells are much, much harder. This is pretty interesting to me, since they chickies are not "free range" or "organic". They get scientifically, commercially formulated (drug-free) chicken feed, corn-based (drug-free) chicken scratch, oatmeal, scrap veggies, and oyster shell (if they want it). Threw some scratch out in my fallow garden beds this afternoon, so the chickens plowed it up rather nicely while hunting down their goodies. Life is good.
... except, probably, for the 3 chickens that are being culled today. The two Easter Egger roosters (Fancy Pants and The Princess) and EE no. 38 are being relocated to a family in CA who will be, most likely, eating them. They are in a dog crate awaiting transportation (yes, they have access to water). The whole rest of the flock is already much happier with just the two Maran roos.
The two EE roosters were getting meaner and meaner, both to me and the hens. They would corner a hen and be pretty rough on her. The hens would stress out and scatter whenever the two EEs came near... but the two Maran roosters are gentle and the hens will actually go up to them and "present" themselves. I guess we'll be having Maran and Maran crossbreed babies in the early summer! (The Marans, as a species, seem to be more interested in eating than fighting or being mean... gentleness is a good trait to breed into a flock.)
Brown EE no. 38 started pulling feathers and picking on all the hens a few weeks ago. We tried to cure her of her bad habbits, but when she started picking so badly that she was drawing blood and nearly killed one of her flock-mates, we knew she had to go. Don't want her teaching the others how to do such things... the SLW that got all beat up is in "hospital confinement" in a dog crate in the hen house. That way she can rest up without the roosters or others bothering her, but talk to the other chickens and still be part of the flock. Don't know if she will make it or not. She is bare chicken skin on several spots on her back and looks pretty pecked at and bruised.

Happy New Years!

Ok, there's my obligatory picture of my favorite (New Year and Every Day) beverage and a few eggs from the Biddies. They are laying between 9 and 15 eggs a day now. Sort of like zucchini in the summer, I am giving eggs away to anyone who will sit still for 20 seconds!

Some digressions

Some of you who have known me for a long time (or a long, long time, as the case may be), know that I am an avid collector of postcards. I have been collecting them for well over 3 decades. Some years I am more active with sending and recieving them - and some years I am too busy with other aspects of my life. I am hoping that 2009 is one of my more active postcard years. To that end, I have joined PostCrossing.com.

Piggies for 2009?!

I'm thinking of raising two feeder pigs during the fall of 2009 - gilts (girls) probably - one to put in the freezer by Thanks Giving, and one to sell, so that maybe I'll break even on the costs of housing and fencing. The big question is, will I be able to eat them? I am guessing I will cry on butchering day, but will I be able to eat my hog? I am thinking yes!

Some small holder hog raising info

• From the ATTRA people: Hogs (http://www.attra.org/attra-pub/Hogs.html)
  
• Jouney To Forwever: Farm Pigs (http://journeytoforever.org/farm_pig.html)
  

Maybe the hogs can eat some of the extra eggs when the hens are in full production? I am thinking fall hogs, as, if I have a really productive year in the garden, they can eat some goodies from there, too. And then all the poo gets put back into the compost bin and becomes food for next year's garden. It's a thought, anyway.

Such for the grandiose dreams for the 2009 season!

Well, 5 days of vacation are coming to a close. Have enjoyed hanging out with the chickies and watering trees (once the hoses have thawed out) and other such home-body things - but I will enjoy getting back to work and plunging into all the new projects for the New Year. Many blessings to everyone.

Lessons Learned 2008

Many blessings in the garden this year. Although not as productive as the 2007 season, I was also more focused on chickens and work travel during the 2008 season. Now that the chickens are under control, I shall try to be more focused on the gardening aspects again.

Procrastination Kills Plants!

Successes

• Spring planted peas - probably they could have benefited from mulch and a floating row cover, but by garlic harvesting time in early June, they were going like gang busters.
  
• Garlic - planted on time in the fall of 2007, mulched and fed and watered at the correct times
  
• Fruit trees growing well - bloomed nicely before winter came and froze the buds. No fruits yet, but the trees are maturing nicely and are starting to look like, well, real trees (as opposed to sticks)
  
• Sunflowers - planted in basically pure sand. They were stunted, but all grew. Watering enough was a challenge. Planting in trenches, watering deeply and mulching probably will help. As well as some fertilization. Chickens loved the sunflower seeds (what few they got) and loved eating the leaves, too.
  
• Chickens - grew well and started laying right on schedule in mid-November.
  
• Corn - well, not successful in that people didn't get to eat it, but very successful in that chickens enjoyed the heck out of their corn stalk forest and ate and shredded both the corn, the leaves and the stalks. Going to grow some for them and some for us in 2009.
  
• Zucchini - Eight Ball - will grow standard zukes next year, but the protected ones did well. The others were eaten to the ground by the young chickens.
  
• Oregano, Rosemary, Lemon Balm - surprise survivors that overwintered from 2007
  
• Shredded paper mulch - made mostly of bills and junk mail. Need to do this for the trees this year.
  
• Watering the compost pile and keeping it mostly covered - I noticed a seemingly overnight improvement in the speed of the pile decomposing as soon as I started doing that.
  

Chickens Kill Plants!

Problems and Challenges

• Chickens - they are cute and they love scratching around the garden and eating everything green in site. Meaning, anything unprotected got trampled, eaten or trampled and eaten.
  
  
  
  • Zucchini
    
  • Young tomatoes (they didn't eat them; just trample them as they hunted tomato worms)
    
  • Bearded irises
    
  • Strawberry plants
    
  
  
• Tomatoes - tomatoes plus desert sun equals no fruit setting; fruit setting in Sept won't ripen before the first hard frost
  
• Cukes - keep planting these too late, but the flowers are pretty, so not a total loss
  
• Didn't plant garlic for 2009 on time; going to be a small harvest this year
  
• Sunflowers - wild birds got to the seeds before I was able to feed them to the chickens, so the chickies only got to eat some of the seeds.
  
• Beans - too hot for them. Miss one day of watering and they wilt and die when the temps are over 100°F. Mulching and planting in trenches might help. Grasshoppers loved them.
  
• Lots of space yet unused. Need to fill it or Nature will fill it with weeds!
  

The Desert Kills Plants!

Some Ideas for the 2009 Season

• Tomatoes - grow in 3 - 5 gallon buckets and haul in and out and grow under lights so that they are well on their way when the last frost is done
  
• Make cages for the plants so that the chickens can't get at them - SLW in photo above is showing her disdain for the fencing I used to protect sleeping garlic bulbs!
  
• Plant some corn in the chicken run - protect until it is well matured. That will give them shade in the summer and something to play in throughout the fall and into the winter.
  
• Shred more paper - it's tough to keep up with, but it works wonderfully as both mulch and chicken bedding
  
• Mulch, mulch, mulch and mulch some more
  
• Compost more
  
• Make manure tea for the trees and plants
  
• Implement an automated drip or sprinkler system
  
• Plant more hybrid poplar trees along the front - plant in trenches, flood irrigate and mulch and feed well.
  
• Plant a few hybrid poplars on the outside of the south and north sides of the chicken run - this will provide shade and wind blocks during the summer. (If I plant them inside the run, the chickens will be able to use the trees to escape from the run!)
  
• Plant extra herb and tomato plants so I can give some away
  
• Try early maturing, "closer to wild" grape or current tomatoes to see if I can get a harvest this year; protect them when the nights start getting colder
  
• Grow enough basil to make pesto
  

Counting My Blessings

Lovely clear, warm (above 40°F, calm day. I let the chickens into the barren winter garden for the afternoon, tossed out some uncooked oatmeal and cracked corn and let them have at it. Spent several hours just puttering around, taking pictures, adding fresh pine bedding to the chicken coop, and generally just whiling away the day doing "not much of anything."
I suppose that some of the point of raising chickens would be to go out and collect the eggs fresh before breakfast and fry them up on the spot. It was still in the 20's at breakfast time, so we ate yesterday's eggs, and these lovelys sat in the pine shavings for several more hours as the morning thawed out.
I have barricaded the bed with the garlic so that it is "Chicken-proof", but I have not done the same to the herb bed. Caught this girl red-handed (or red-headed) among the dried basil stalks, tomato plant trash and flattened down Irises. Hard to believe that 7 months ago, this bed was in full bloom (First Day of June 2008).
She's my chicken killer. Can't train something like that out of a dog, so we have strong fencing and try and be extra diligent at surveillance. She came to us skiddish, shy, and with her ribs sticking out. Now she is fat, happy, bouncy and full of kisses for everyone. My toddler granddaughter still scares her a little, and after an hour or so of toddler pursuit, Sadie is ready to hide in her bed in the laundry room. Come to think of it, after an hour of toddler pursuit, I am ready to hide in my room, too! Well, I can't complain too much about the flock of disabled vehicles that live on our little farm. It keeps the boys amused - and I know where everyone is on Saturday night - at home, warming up by the fire after playing with the cars all afternoon!After much "Schooling by broom", the PIA rooster seems to be behaving much better now. He has been re-named "Fancy Pants". Here's a closeup of his fancy tail. He better keep behaving, as we have a turkey fryer, now, and he'd fit, no problem!Many blessings for the New Year!

Battening down the hatches

What a difference a few months makes. Here's a photo from mid-October - nearly done at this point, and ready for winter. Roof is weather-proofed even though we are still five shingles short of having all the roofing on. I guess we're buying a full bundle of shingles to finish it off.

Way too cold for shorts these days - one morning was three degrees last week. My husband forced me to get a warm, hooded, "Carhardt-style" work jacket at Cabellas yesterday. I whined about spending so much money on a jacket... and then I went to play with the chickens this morning, and, ok, so maybe it was worth it! Now I have a heavy jacket and socks. What'll it be next? Snow boots or something?!

Well, it certainly doesn't snow this much where we are. If it did, well, we probably wouldn't be living here! It's pretty, but it isn't fun to drive in, even with 4WD. And it never really snows enough around here for anyone (including me) to actually really learn how to drive in the stuff. Is it summer, yet? Then I can whine about the heat instead of the cold! One nice thing about winter, though - I have lots of time to plan projects for my husband for Spring and Summer next year!