Chicken Chat

Earlier this summer, we adopted a pair of 1 year old laying hens from a co-worker/friend.  We were initially apprehensive about taking on additional 'work' on our property.  Between full-time jobs, occasional part-time gardening gigs, a fur-family, house issues, our own garden that needs tending, etc, we have PLENTY on our plate.  I had heard from many different sources that chickens didn't add a lot of additional items for the to-do list.  Apparently, they were pretty low maintenance.  We had considered them for years - me more so than my husband - and when this great opportunity arose, I felt like I had to take the plunge.  The husband wasn't nearly as convinced, so I took it on as my project with constant assurance to him that he would not need to be involved other than by enjoying the resulting proteins (a pretty sweet deal I think!).  After a little over a month of chicken tending, I'm happy to report that much of what I've heard about these feathered friends, is indeed, true.

For about $45, I created a cozy living space for these two ladies and in return, I get roughly 2 eggs per day.  Every few days, someone (not sure which one) takes a day off, but hey, I respect that.  I'd need a day off from time-to-time too - especially if I was shooting one of those things out of my nether-regions!  My main expense was the fencing.  We had plenty of other types of fencing already on hand, including chicken wire, but we happen to live in a pretty rural area where a hawk family lives up the hill, owls reside down the street, raccoons appear nightly on the back deck and coyotes often cruise by.  This thing needed to be secure and chicken wire was not enough.  Did I mention we have a hungry sighthound in the family?

The actual coop is a hand-me-down, modified, dog house from said co-worker/friend.  She acquired it for free from Craigslist and made a few alterations (roosts, vents) to make it suitable for chicks.  Although it's a bit weathered, it'll do.  I slapped on a coat of exterior purple paint to give it that cute, country, chicken house flare and we were good to go.

The 'run' took a bit more effort.  After a lot of thinking and planning and pondering and failed attempts and swearing, I finally found the right set-up.  Materials included; 3pkgs wire fencing, rebar, pressure treated 2x4's, irrigation tubing and lots of patience.  I got well acquainted with the awesome power of my husbands air nailer and stapler.  Perhaps I had a little too much fun with those.  I may have over-stapled a few things.  Here we are in progress:

Skinny whippet and air guns, oh my!

Fencing was laid on the ground as a deterrent for digging predators.  It was later covered with a layer of mulch for aesthetic value.  2x4's were anchored with rebar and irrigation tubing was placed onto the rebar to act as framework for the fence to rest upon.  The fencing was secured to the tubing using the wire that held the fence together in the packaging.  Free!

Future upgrades will need to be made, because, as of now, there's no way for me to enter the run.  I capped the end with fencing and wired it very securely.  There's no way in unless you have a pair of wire cutters.  This has posed a few problems, but so far it's worked out pretty well.  Someday we'll have a door at the end, but that was too much for my little brain to handle all at once.  This was my project after all and I'm no architect.  As it was, I had already smashed my thumb, been stung on the ass 7 times, scratched my arms and legs with pointy fence edges.  Blood, sweat and tears were shed.

So far, we've been free from any security breaches and the husband now readily admits that these girls are pretty darn cute AND useful.  We let them out the back coop door several times a week to free-range around the yard and they love it.  Skinny sighthound also loves eating chicken poop so it's a good deal for all of us.  Ha!

War on Beetles

If you're a seasoned vegetable gardener, your hackles are likely fully raised in the summer months.  There's ALWAYS a battle to be fought in the garden.  Be it rabbits climbing under fences to munch on greens or raccoons climbing over fences to nibble on sweet corn.  We won't even mention the deer.  No, no, we won't.  It's the pests of a smaller variety that seem to cause the most trouble (funny how that works).  I'm surprised and pleased to report that my latest battle with the Colorado Potato Beetle (CPB) has made me a 'winner', and I ain't talking about the Charlie Sheen kind of 'winning', people.

I observed these little dudes making swiss cheese out of my Kennebec potato foliage one happy summer day in late June.

This is the destructive larval stage of the CPB.  Thankfully, these guys are slow and mostly stationary.  Rather than fight them with chemicals, I opted for hand-removal.  This is one of the benefits of having a smaller home garden.  I filled a bucket with soapy water, put on my gardening gloves (the foliage was covered with CPB larvae droppings) and plucked these suckers into water.

Poof.  Job done - and quite easily accomplished at that.  Perhaps I should have offered them to the chickens and helped make some more edible proteins out of these guys?!  I assure you I'm not some maniacal killer.  All living things need to 'eat' and are just trying to make it in this world, but don't mess with my spuds, son!  I will retaliate!

8-Pack

Herb Sled

It's herb harvesting time at the Gap Mountain Garden.  With temperatures deep into the 90's it was nice to have this little remind of 'cooler' times.  Although it did not make me feel any less like a dripping, muggy, stinky mess of a human, it was quite useful for toting herbs around the property.  ; )

More hauls and new hens!

Summer is officially heating up.  Indicies are climbing to uncomfortable levels and the cold tolerant crops are pissed and have had enough.  Lettuce has long since bolted and broccoli heads don't feel like growing uniformly any more.  Luckily, we had a nice haul during prime temperatures.

Salad fixins

In other news, our little garden on the hill has some new residents!  Two hens from a friend/co-worker who was thinning her flock.  I sustained several injuries while constructing this coop, including but not limited to 7 stings on my butt from an unknown offender, however I was left with a good sense of accomplishment.

Our very own Speckled Sussex and Light Brahama girls.

These two ladies are both a year old and laying daily for the most part.  A perfect size flock for our tiny family of two adult humans.  To my extreme delight, I've discovered that they have a solid appreciation for all the excess squash and zucchini that ultimately takes over our lives in July.  It's a win-win-win situation for everone.  I'm looking forward to setting these ladies loose in our vegetable plot after the growing season.  Chicken compost!

First raspberry haul....

It was a big'un!!!  :P

Peas Please!

When my husband I bought our house, one of our first tasks upon settling in, was to install a vegetable garden.  We didn't have a lot of space to work with on our acreage.  Most of it is a giant, rocky, slope which was once pasture land - not ideal for maneuvering a tiller.  We settled on a small patch in the existing turf adjacent to our house.  Knowing we were going to be battling our furry deer neighbors, we got to work creating our own 'Fort Knox'.  Tall field fencing was wrapped around concrete anchored posts.  This thing was going nowhere and no one was getting in unless they had opposable thumbs.  It also meant that the size of our garden would pretty much be a finite situation.  It didn't take one growing season for me to realize that this space wasn't going to be big enough for my horticultural desires.  $#@^!!!!!

In an effort to increase our veggie haul without increasing the garden space, we've gradually been integrating the vegetables with the flowers.  First it was the asparagus patch which joined the herbs. This year, I decided to plant a row of snap peas at the back of our front flower bed where we have a bit of chicken wire fencing.

Oddly enough, this is my first foray into the pea realm.  I've never been a pea lover but have always tolerated the snap pea.

I decided to give it a whirl - more spring veggies are always a welcome thing.  I planted seeds in late March and waited patiently for them to make an appearance.  The long, wet, chilly spring made everything move slowly but they eventually got busy growing and we had our first harvest over the Memorial Day holiday.  Baby birds and peas all in one weekend, oh my!  Although temps have been unseasonably high, the peas seem to be handling it like a champ.  This is a cultivar I will try again.  Great for salads, stir fry and many don't even make it inside the house.