Chickens – Page 5 – My tiny u.p. farm

Early October on the farm

October 9, 2015October 9, 2015Jen Powell6 Comments

Fall is definitely here. We’ve had lower temps – 50s and 60s. We got a touch of frost – I saw some on the grass one morning. But I think my house is in a bit of a microclimate – in our town there was a hard frost at the end of September, where you had to scrape frost off your windows. We didn’t get that here – I’m only about 12 miles outside of town, but the way our property is situated we sometimes are spared from the frost. I was worried things would die, so when we got the hard-frost warnings, I harvested everything in the gardens that was anywhere near being ready. I didn’t worry about things that can deal with frost, like Kale. And then nothing happened, my plants that were left out there are all still doing fine. Here’s a photo tour of how things are looking lately.

Here's what my garden looks like - a tangled mess with not much left for picking. — Here’s what my garden looks like – a tangled mess with not much left for picking.

I’m debating on whether to pick everything out, and cover it all with compost now, or wait and do that all in the spring. Either way, the soil will have a layer of plants between it and the snow; I’ve read that is better for any mycelium networks (which are very helpful for your plants) – if you leave bare soil any beneficial mycelium that may be there can die, and you are depleting your soil. That is why people plant cover crops – I don’t really want to do that because we really don’t have time. Last year, we got snow at the beginning of November. I don’t think a cover crop would have time to sprout and grow. So I may just use my already-there crops as “cover crops”; then in spring, I’ll pile on compost, and till it all in. (I’ll still have to pull big stems out, like the old corn and sunflowers).

Our trees are very colorful – they had just started changing last week and then suddenly everything’s orange, red, and yellow (with a touch of green).

Here are the maple trees that we get sap from in the spring.

Most of my plants in the garden are on their way out for the winter. Most of my sunflowers are spent, and have seeds that the chickadees have been enjoying. I found this one that is a late bloomer. It’s really tall but it fell over so it’s laying on the ground:

My marigolds are still going strong. They are so pretty, I love the orange color of these:

Our apple trees are doing well. The biggest problem is that most of the good looking apples are way up on the tree. I’m planning on picking a bunch more this weekend. I picked a few several weeks ago and made apple butter. I’m planning on making some more (since it’s delicious) and also drying some apples for snacks.

One thing I planted this year, just to try, was Amaranth. I found out you can cook the seeds up kind of like rice. I would like to try it but they are not ready yet. The “flowers” are supposed to drop their seeds – you can test it by running the flowers in your hands, and if the seeds drop into your hand they are ready to pick. Mine are not there yet. But they look like they are on their way:

Here's one of my Amaranth, it is a good 8-9 feet tall. — Here’s one of my Amaranth, it is a good 8-9 feet tall.

Here is the same plant, I leaned it over so I could get a detail of the flower.

I got my hens some “chicken aprons” – they can wear them and it’s supposed to protect their backs from the roosters’ shenanigans. I had the roosters separated but it’s getting colder, and I was worried that if the roosters are separate, they can’t actually do their job of protecting the hens. So they are all together now. Most of my barer backed ladies are now wearing these aprons:

Here is one of my australorp hens wearing her apron. It doesn't help here wing "elbows", as you can see here, but her back is protected. — Here is one of my australorp hens wearing her apron. It doesn’t help her wing “elbows”, as you can see here, but her back is protected.

I also thought the aprons would help keep the hens a little warmer this winter. Some of my hens still have completely bare backs, and I was worried about winter because with no feathers there, they would be too exposed to the cold. They work pretty well, I do have a few hens that these seem a bit too big for. I ordered some standard size aprons from someone on Amazon. They do have some smaller ones, I may have to get some of those. Mine are all “standard” breeds but some are on the smallish side. I have a barred rock hen that these didn’t fit – it’s like the middle bit of the apron is too wide to fit between her shoulders, so she just kept getting tangled up in it. I only tried it on her for an hour or two, and then I had to take it off.

My escape artist chicken decided to pose today for me, I got some really nice pictures of her:

Here's another picture. — Here’s another picture.

She doesn’t have a name except “Escape artist” because if anyone gets out, it is usually her. And she gets out almost every other day. She must fly out, but then she can’t fly back in for some reason so I have to catch her and put her back in the run. She sleeps in the rafters of the coop now, and she’s actually gotten one of her friends (my Cornish hen) to sleep up there with her.

Thanks for checking out my Fall farm pics. I do like fall, but it always leads to winter, which I’m not really looking forward to.

Wonky Top

September 27, 2015September 26, 2015Jen Powell2 Comments

One of our roosters is Wonky Top – named because of his ridiculously huge floppy comb. He’s about 5 months old, so he has some growing to do – we are wondering if his comb will continue to get more hilarious as he matures. I will need to coat his comb and wattles in Vaseline all winter to protect them from frostbite. (I will need to do that with all three of my roosters, and maybe a couple of hens – larger combs don’t do well with our winters).

He’s a little skittish with us. If we need to pick him up for anything he is extremely hard to catch. But he seems to be a decent rooster. We still have all our boys separate from the hens for now, but we will be combining them before wintertime. He is mostly nice to the hens, besides trying to mount them all the time – I have seen him protect the hens from the other two roosters before, and I’ve seen him do a bit of a dance up to different hens – maybe he’s attempting to woo them a little.

We’re pretty sure he’s a Golden Cuckoo Maran rooster. Maran hens (at least a few different varieties) can lay dark brown, chocolate shelled eggs. I am hoping that in breeding him with my non-Maran hens, he may pass some of those genes down to a future hen. Otherwise I will eventually want to buy some Maran hens. I would love to get some multicolored eggs (chocolate, blue, olive) – The hens we currently have lay varying degrees of browns, whites, and cream colored eggs.

18 Chickens! and updates

September 16, 2015September 16, 2015Jen PowellLeave a comment

We took three more roosters out this past weekend. It was hard choosing who to keep and who to cull, but we finally made the decision and did what we had to do. Now we still have three roosters left, and the plan is to keep them through the winter for breeding/protection purposes. If they all make it through the winter, we’ll have to see how they get along in the spring. For now, they all get to stay. So we now have 18 chickens: 3 roosters and 15 hens.

Here are Splash and Wonky, two of the boys who got to stay with us.

Here is Dorko, the Dorking, with a photobomb from one of the brahma hens.

We’ve had the hens and roosters separated for a few weeks. After removing the other 3 (older) roosters, we put these three back in with the hens, and things were mostly ok. I really noticed an issue at night when putting them in the coop though: the boys tended to get the most feisty then, going for any hen they could get ahold of. So for a couple nights we just put the roosters in their own room in the coop, and put them all together in the yard during the day. For the last couple days we’ve just kept them separate all the time; It was not as chaotic as it had been before, with all 6 roosters, but it was still kind of messy. My hens still are featherless on their backs. Some hens have had some of their feathers grow in, but not all of them. Some of them are also molting now (why they molt right before it will be getting cold, I have no idea). I think I may have to get some chicken sweaters for the winter. That may enable me to put the boys and girls together as well – at least the hens won’t get damaged from the boys (or as damaged) if they have sweaters on. We shall see.

A picture of some of my ladies at the fence.

My small black hen, who I have been thinking was a Sumatra, now has grown a huge comb. Her ear flap things are white. Which means she is most likely a Black Langshan, not a sumatra. She has been flying up to the rafters of our coop lately, which is what I’ve expected she’d do – she likes to sit up there and watch the chaos as everyone else comes into the coop at night. I would almost think she’s a rooster because of the comb, but the Black Langshan rooster that we did have matured extremely early. Her comb is gigantic but not like his was. She flew over to visit the boys today and they didn’t mess with her at all. I don’t know if it’s because she’s just not sexually mature yet, or why else.

Here's my little langshan / not-sumatra hen. — Here’s my little langshan / not-sumatra hen.

An update on our broody hen: She was sitting on 6 eggs that were due to start hatching last Thursday (that would have been day 21). I got home, moved the hen to check on the eggs, and somehow that day they got coated with mud or chicken poop or something. She may have had extremely dirty feet and turned the eggs and gotten them messy. But they were very dirty. I was torn about what to do, if anything. I wanted to clean the eggs off, but I worried that in cleaning them I would remove the bloom from them, which could help bacteria pass into the eggs. I tried wetting a paper towel and wiping a bit off just to see, but it was caked on there. My husband said I should just let nature take its course, so that’s what I did. She sat on those eggs faithfully, but we never heard any peeps or anything, and nobody hatched. I took the eggs out on Saturday and tossed them. I don’t know if they contained dead chicks, but by that point I don’t think they would have hatched. It’s so late in the year also, that if they had hatched and the hen wasn’t a good mom I would have had to bring them inside and then I would have chickens in my house for most of the winter. So it’s probably better that it didn’t happen now. We are planning on making a brooder box out in the coop for next spring, so we don’t have chickens in the house again (except for very tiny babies for a day or two after hatching), but we haven’t built that yet.

Broody Hens and Spoiled Chickens

August 22, 2015August 22, 2015Jen PowellLeave a comment

One of my Black Australorp hens (a one-year old) is broody. She started sitting in a nest box a few days ago. For the first couple of days we kept moving her to get the eggs out – there was one egg the first day and none the second day. The third day, I put four eggs under her that I found in the other boxes – I’m going to give her a chance and see what she can do. I don’t think she’s laying eggs at this point, since she’s broody, and she hasn’t come out much for others to lay their eggs in there. I’m a little worried because we are getting into late august – if she can hatch them, the chicks would be born in mid September. We sometimes get snow by Halloween, so I may have to have a contingency plan for chicks if we do get any from this. We’ll see.

I was in the coop earlier and my Speckled Sussex hen was really upset that this broody hen wouldn’t come out of the box, because she wanted to lay an egg. She kept squawking at the broody hen. There are three other nest boxes. I showed the Sussex hen the other boxes, and I think she laid an egg in one of those.

I like spoiling my chickens with occasional yummy treats – they get a lot of vegetable scraps and some bits of bread sometimes. Yesterday it was hot outside, so I gave my chickens some watermelon as a treat. They really love it – they will pick it till there’s just a thin bit of rind left.

I have separated out the roosters from the hens again. The boys wouldn’t leave the ladies alone. I have two Production Red hens that wouldn’t even come out of the coop. I’d go to pick them up and they’d duck down like they do when they’re about to be mounted by a rooster. The 6 remaining roosters were just too much for the 15 hens. We are planning to cull some of those 6, we are still not sure which ones.

My Sumatra hen flew up on my shoulder today when I was in the coop. That was a little weird. She’s smaller than the other hens, and probably always will be – they are a smaller breed. But it was funny that she flew up and sat there.

Grown up chickens

August 9, 2015August 9, 2015Jen Powell1 Comment

Our youngest chickens are (mostly) grown up now – They are just over 3.5 months old. They are still a bit smaller than everyone else, but they are getting there. I have finally figured out for sure what we have – Out of all the chicks we received this spring that lived (14 chicks, in two batches) we got 6 hens and 8 roosters. We still have 6 of those roosters, and of course all the hens. Our oldest young hen, a Speckled Sussex, laid her first egg a couple of weeks ago. Her eggs have been about 1/2 the size of everyone else’s. The first egg was small, and I thought they’d get bigger but so far they haven’t. They are still good eggs so that is fine.

The small egg is from our speckled sussex. The larger one is a typical one from our adult 1 year old hens.

Here is our Speckled Sussex – she does not like to pose for pictures, and she’s been mostly hiding inside the coop to stay away from the roosters.

Our hen - I had to hold her to get her picture. — Our hen – I had to hold her to get her picture.

Our other hens are getting close to adulthood:

Here is one of our Brahma "twin" hens. — Here is one of our Brahma “twin” hens.

Our young roosters are growing too, and getting into mischief.

Here's our Splash rooster - I thought he was a Brahma because he has feathered legs. But I read that Splash Marans can have feathered legs as well. I am 99% sure he's a rooster, but I have seen another rooster try to mount him... — Here’s our Splash rooster – I thought he was a Brahma because he has feathered legs. But I read that Splash Marans can have feathered legs as well. I am 99% sure he’s a rooster, but I have seen another rooster try to mount him… He tries to mount the hens as well, but he’s not very successful.

Here is Wonky top - he is probably a Cuckoo Maran. He's ruffling his feathers in this picture. — Here is Wonky top – he is probably a Cuckoo Maran. He’s ruffling his feathers in this picture. He lost a lot of his tail feathers from getting picked on by the bigger roosters a few weeks ago when we tried to put all the roosters in their own pen. He didn’t do very well – he’s doing really great now with everyone together.

Here is our Dorking rooster. His feathers are getting really pretty. He's pretty calm, it could be because he's at the bottom of the rooster pecking order though. — Here is our Dorking rooster. His feathers are getting really pretty. He’s mostly pretty calm, it could be because he’s at the bottom of the rooster pecking order though.

Here is our Delaware rooster. He is one of the older batch.

Here is Big Red, he's a Buckeye. He was getting a tiny bit aggressive for awhile, but he's toned it down. — Here is Big Red, he’s a Buckeye. He was getting a tiny bit aggressive for awhile, but he’s toned it down.

Here is our big beautiful Brahma rooster. I really want to keep him, but he has lately become a bit aggressive with me. I'm trying to break that out of him (just showing him I won't take his attitude) but we'll have to see. I can't keep a really aggressive rooster. I'm hoping he comes around. — Here is our big beautiful Brahma rooster. I really want to keep him, but he has lately become a bit aggressive with me. I’m trying to break that out of him (just showing him I won’t take his attitude) but we’ll have to see. I can’t keep a really aggressive rooster. I’m hoping he comes around.

I haven’t taken that many pictures of my older ladies lately – I need to get some chicken saddles. They have a bit of feather loss from the roosters, and a little from molting, I believe. Here are a few of them:

Here are some of the older ladies out in the pen.

Here's my bare-backed Barred Rock hen. — Here’s my bare-backed Barred Rock hen.

Here's one of my white hens - she likes to reach through the fence for grass even though they have grass in their pen. — Here’s one of my white hens – she likes to reach through the fence for grass even though they have grass in their pen. You can see he head has a bald spot from the roosters’ antics.

Overall, the chickens are doing well. I need to cull at least a couple more roosters though. And get some chicken saddles for the ladies.

Farm updates Early August

August 4, 2015August 4, 2015Jen Powell2 Comments

I haven’t posted in over a week, because I went to California to meet my new niece. Before I left, this was my garden (taken on 7/23/15):

Here was my garden just before I left for vacation.

I came back less than 7 days later and my garden had exploded:

There is a pathway here, somewhere. The calendula has fallen over into it, because the squash plants are pushing it over, I believe.

My tomato plants were separated by the aisle, and they have decided to join hands. I had to re-separate them (it didn't work very well - I'll have to tie them up more). — My tomato plants were separated by the aisle, and they have decided to join hands. I had to re-separate them (it didn’t work very well – I’ll have to tie them up more).

I have tomatoes! They are getting pretty big, I didn't even see any fruit starting before I left. — I have tomatoes! They are getting pretty big, I didn’t even see any fruit starting before I left.

My tinier tomatillo plants are getting large now, and one has flowers. That gives me hope that I will have fruit this year. The largest plant has had flowers for awhile, and just keeps growing.

My Black Eyed Susan Thunbergia through the corn/sunflower jungle. I have some regular Black Eyed Susans and calendula planted between the corn, and those are getting very tall also.

One of my tall sunflowers. Just taller than me right now, and starting to form a flower.

I have peas! These need a couple more days and then I will pick them, there are several on the plant so I'm excited for a decent pea crop this year. I only got a few pods last year - the plants really faltered. — I have peas! These need a couple more days and then I will pick them, there are several on the plants so I’m excited for a decent pea crop this year. I only got a few pods last year – the plants really faltered.

My cucumbers are getting flowers, and growing well. I hoped for more, but not all my plants took - I ended up with three plants. I love making pickles. — My cucumbers are getting flowers, and growing well. I hoped for more, but not all my plants took – I ended up with three plants. I love making pickles.

My beans are going crazy, climbing to the top of my tree-poles. I wonder how tall they would get if they had all the room they wanted. I have tiny beans forming all over my plants.

The chickens are doing well. We had planned on starting to cull some roosters when I got home. A couple on the shortlist have redeemed themselves for now. We culled two on Sunday – one was getting very aggressive and had pecked my son, and the other was picking on the rest of the big roosters. We will need to take out a couple more before winter, but the ones we still have are behaving better. One of our youngest roosters, Wonky Top:

Here is Wonky Top. My husband named him, because of his goofy comb.

Wonky’s comb has been straightening out. He has straightened out too – he was going to be one of the first we took out, because he didn’t get along with anyone – he was really skittish, and he fought with everyone. We had separated the roosters from the hens for awhile, and he would get picked on by the bigger guys, and then escape. Each time we caught him and put him back with the roosters, he would escape again, and then evade capture for most of the day. I finally put him in with the hens. He stayed there while I was on vacation. When I got back I thought my roosters were bored being over in their side (we had them in the grassless side because it was easier to get them in at night), so I put them with everyone again. Wonky then asserted himself, pretty much saying “you’re on MY side now!” and he wouldn’t take any flack from the big guys. Now he doesn’t seem so skittish, and he’s getting along with everyone better. So we have decided he can stay, for now. I suspect he’s a Cuckoo Maran – I really wanted some Marans (the hens can lay darker brown eggs ) so if possible we may keep him for breeding. We will see.

I was planning on keeping certain roosters based on looks, for breeding purposes, but we are starting to cull based mostly on their behavior, especially toward us. Our big Black Langshan rooster was one that we took out this weekend, since he flew up on my son and pecked him in the chest. That was the deciding factor for him. We were planning on keeping at least two – I read that if you have 3 or 4 they can get along better than having just two. We’ll just have to play it by ear with them.

The chickens are enjoying their outdoor shelter – we allow them in the coop anyway, but this shelter was already in the part of the run that I have them in right now, so we left it (it’s a little large so we’d have to disassemble it to remove it) – they have learned they can go on top of it. That puts their heads only about 6 inches from the top of the fence. They have not seemed to figure that part out yet though – I was worried they would jump out but nobody has so far.

My chickens having fun sitting on their outdoor shelter. — My chickens having fun sitting on (and in) their outdoor shelter.

New chicken run!

July 19, 2015July 19, 2015Jen Powell2 Comments

For the last couple of months I’ve been planning on adding a second run to our chicken coop. Here’s the way it was:

A view of our old chicken run - we had the babies in a chicken-wire fence away from the adults. — A view of our old chicken run – we had the babies in a chicken-wire fence away from the adults.

For the last few weeks, my five “teenage” roosters have been terrorizing my hens. They actually gang up on them – one mounts a hen and another runs up and bites her head while the first one mounts her – once it’s over she runs away and is chased by another one who was waiting for his turn. It’s gotten so ridiculous the last few days that some of my hens have been hiding in their nest boxes. Just hiding in there, all day long.

Today, we fixed the problem. We added a new fenced run, but partitioned it so that the roosters are separated from the hens. We also are going to separate them inside the coop – The back part was the hens and teenagers (roosters and one hen), and the front was my chicks (3 months old now). Since we have to separate the roosters, they will have the back room of the coop, and the ladies and chicks will have the front part. We are integrating the babies in with the hens – I figure everything is new for everyone, so it may cut back on the drama as they get to know each other. I have at least a couple roosters in the chick batch, so if I see any mounting they will get moved in with the roosters.

We made a fence “door” that closes off either the rooster or hen side for when we are moving them in and out – this means that the roosters will be stuck outside during the day, so we made them a makeshift shelter in case it rains or they want some cover. The hens / chicks can get in the coop if they want.

The hens enjoying their new run. (The babies are hiding inside for now)

The roosters are a bit upset that they can't get to the hens. — The roosters are a bit upset that they can’t get to the hens.

We used some sawhorses and boards to make the shelter for the roosters.

The rooster’s shelter should protect them from rain for the most part, but it’s a little flimsy on top, which is good – I’m hoping that because it is, they won’t jump on top and try to fly over to the hens. We’ll have to see how this all works out.

My next step is to plant some chicken forage into the old run – I have some organic chicken forage mix seed ready to go.

Hopefully everyone likes their new run. The roosters probably aren’t so happy, but they get nice grass to wander through/peck at. My hens seem a lot happier already.

Garlic, and silly roosters

July 6, 2015July 5, 2015Jen PowellLeave a comment

I LOVE garlic. I had never grown it before, and last year I decided to give it a try. In the early fall, I bought some organic garlic heads at the grocery store, pulled the bulbs out and put them into the garden. This spring I saw them growing, and they’ve grown really well. I read that you dig the garlic heads up when the leaves start yellowing. I noticed the last few days that they were yellowing, so I pulled them up today.

They were a decent size, I believe most of them were the same size as the heads I grew them from. I cleaned off the dirt with a paper towel:

My garlic after brushing off dirt — My garlic after brushing off most of the dirt.

I read that you should leave them to cure for a few weeks with the roots and stems still attached. I put them all together in a bunch and they are sitting outside in a shady spot on my porch, where they’ll get good airflow but not get any sun at all. I have them hung up; I wasn’t sure if my friendly neighborhood squirrels and chipmunks would try to eat them. I’ll have to keep an eye out and make sure nobody tries to steal them. Once the leaves dry out completely you can cut the leaves and roots off. Then you can store them for later use, and save more of the bulbs to grow new garlic for next year. That’s my plan, at least right now. We’ll have to wait a few weeks to see how they taste. If they are good, I’ll grow them again. The original heads I bought had a good flavor, so hopefully these will too.

Here's my young Buckeye rooster — Here’s my young Buckeye rooster

One of my young roosters is very goofy – he’s kind of aggressive. More in-your-face every time we’re in the coop. He has been very friendly since he was small, but now he’s always underfoot. It’s like he always needs to follow me to see what I’m up to – as if he’s worried I’ll do something to hurt the hens or him. He likes to peck my pant legs. He bit me the other day, but that was because I was trying to pick him up, because he wouldn’t go in the coop at night. He seemed to be helping me round up everyone else to get them in, but then he wanted to stay outside. I went to grab him and he bit my hand. I got mad and just picked him up and put him inside. I’m not sure what we’ll do with him yet. I need to let him mature a bit and see how this personality of his develops. If he gets more aggressive, he’ll have to go.

For a while I was hoping he was just a very assertive hen, but he’s massive, and the other day he started mounting some of the hens, so it’s now confirmed. I believe he’s a Buckeye, and they are a rare breed from Ohio. We’ll see. I just have so many roosters! I have confirmed that three of my six “teenage” chickens are roosters. There are two more that I’m pretty sure are but they haven’t mounted anyone yet – they are just starting to get long tail feathers now though, so I’m 99% sure. I have one hen out of that batch, my little Speckled Sussex. Then in the smaller chicks I have at least one, possibly 3 or 4 roosters (out of 8 chicks). We are planning on keeping 2 or three roosters through the winter, and we’ll have to decide what to do with the rest. We haven’t picked the keepers yet; I want to see them in all their pretty rooster glory first, once all their feathers have come.

What’s happening in our yard – June photo tour

June 26, 2015June 24, 2015Jen PowellLeave a comment

Lupines - we have these growing near our mailbox, and they are growing across the street as well. When I was a kid, there were some at only one tiny spot in the area I live in. Now they are in ditches along the road all over the place. — Lupines – we have these growing near our mailbox, and they are growing across the street as well. When I was a kid, there were some at only one tiny spot in the area I live in. Now they are in ditches along the road all over the place.

Here's a new flower - I don't remember these from last year. I don't know what it is but it's pretty. — Here’s a new flower – I don’t remember these from last year. I don’t know what it is but it’s pretty.

A purple flower. It reminds me of a balloon flower (maybe that is what this is.)

Our pink peonies. My parents planted these years ago and they are still going strong.

These barrels are on our porch. Last year I tried to grow beets and carrots here, and nasturtiums. The Nasturtiums did ok, but my son found out they were edible and kept eating them. I planted a bunch of different flowers in them this year, along with some herbs.

Here are some more barrels, just off our porch. My mom planted lilies in them, and they've slowly stopped producing. We got one nice lily last year. I divided them and put them in only one barrel (the right one here) and the left barrel has other flowers. Echinacea and black eyed susan and others. — Here are some more barrels, just off our porch. My mom planted lilies in them, and they’ve slowly stopped producing. We got one nice lily last year. I divided them and put the big bulbs in only one barrel (the right one here) – there is also a yarrow growing in it; the left barrel has other flowers: Echinacea and black eyed susan and others.

Here is some lemon balm growing in one of the barrels on the porch. It smells so good.

Here is our back yard. The leaves have filled out on the trees.

Our side yard with the rose bush. The roses are blooming now. At the nearest post, I have a wisteria planted. It's about 5 inches tall, and doing well. — Our side yard with the rose bush. The roses are blooming now. At the nearest post, I have a wisteria planted. It’s about 5 inches tall, and doing well. It’s inside the little round cage you can see at the base of the post. I don’t know if deer eat wisteria, and don’t want to chance it.

Some pretty flowers along our house. Wild Daisies and some kind of yellow flower - not sure if that was planted or if it's wild. — Some pretty flowers along our house. Wild Daisies and some kind of yellow flower – not sure if that was planted or if it’s wild. The white/green variegated leaf plants are “snow on the mountain” – they have taken over a lot of the flower beds and we are trying to eradicate it. It’s even growing at the edge of the woods now in spots.

Here is my son's tiny garden. He wanted his own space, so I gave him some seedlings to plant. — Here is my son’s tiny garden. He wanted his own space, so I gave him some seedlings to plant. He’s got tomatoes, brussel sprouts, and flowers. And Mint. He’s excited about the mint because he can eat it right from the garden.

Here are my chickens in their muddy nasty run. I'm going to have to fix that, possibly sooner than I was planning. It's driving me bananas. — Here are my chickens in their muddy nasty run. I’m going to have to fix that, possibly sooner than I was planning. It’s driving me bananas.

This is my tiny rooster. As he is growing, his comb is getting wonkier. The back portion is attached to his head off-center, which adds even more to the floppiness of it. He's been really mean to the other chicks lately. Maybe they make fun of his goofy comb. — This is my tiny rooster. As he is growing, his comb is getting wonkier. The back portion is attached to his head off-center, which adds even more to the floppiness of it. He’s been really mean to the other chicks lately. Maybe they make fun of his goofy comb.

Here is my white brahma, which I actually think is a "Splash Brahma" - I love his/her coloring. — Here is my white brahma, which I actually think is a “Splash Brahma” – I love his/her coloring.

Here's one of the blue spruce I planted this spring. It's about 5 inches tall. It's going to take a really, really, really long time to get as big as I want it - I have it in the front yard as a screen to give us privacy. It's not doing its job very well. Someday... — Here’s one of the blue spruce I planted this spring. It’s about 5 inches tall. It’s going to take a really, really, really long time to get as big as I want it – I have it in the front yard as a screen to give us privacy. It’s not doing its job very well. Someday…

Here is one of my elderberry trees. I have two (you need two to get fruit so they can cross pollinate). I have put this near my blue spruce so that I actually get the screen I want in a more timely fashion. These are fast-growing.

Here are some of the remaining forget-me-nots. We had tons of these earlier in the year, as splashes of blue all around the woods and the edges of the yard. When I was a child, these only were growing at a camp two houses behind our house. (We have two camps behind us, it was at the back one.) I moved back and discovered they grow all over our yard now. I love them. — Here are some of the remaining forget-me-nots. We had tons of these earlier in the year, as splashes of blue all around the woods and the edges of the yard. When I was a child, these only were growing at a camp two houses behind our house. I moved back and discovered they grow all over our yard now.

Here is a giant mullein plant growing in our supposed-to-be asparagus patch. Mullein is a great medicinal plant so I'm letting it stay. This thing is about 3 feet tall right now. The big leaves are 1 ft long. — Here is a giant mullein plant growing in our supposed-to-be asparagus patch. Mullein is a great medicinal plant so I’m letting it stay. This thing is about 3 feet tall right now. The big leaves are 1 ft long.

I hope you enjoyed my photo tour. I like my yard, and watching the changes it goes through during the warm months.

Rainy June

June 21, 2015Jen PowellLeave a comment

I haven’t posted in a bit, I’ve been really busy… and we’ve had a ton of rain. The garden is doing ok, things are growing slowly, and my seeds (and second sets of seeds I had to plant) are sprouting, mostly. I planted two types of corn, on either side of the garden. The yellow corn I planted has sprouted, the plants are about 2 inches tall. I got maybe a 70% sprout rate though. My white corn has done nothing that I can see. The seeds were packed for 2014 so that may be the problem. I plan on adding more yellow corn seeds soon.

I had to replant seeds for cucumber, and some for zucchini. I don’t know if they damped off when the seedlings were put in, but the original cucumber seedlings had all died and I have one original zucchini; I had put in 4 seedlings. So I added new seeds; They are now sprouting.

I planted some rows of onions, carrots, beets, and turnips. In that garden, I have a TON of lamb’s quarters (weeds), which are actually really tasty so that is ok. I have a bunch of turnips. I think I have one or 2 onions coming up, and 5 or 6 carrots, and 3 or 4 beets. I will add more seeds for those this week. I’m not sure what happened to those. I did notice a beet growing in my pathway, so the seeds must have gotten washed away somewhat.

We have had a lot of rain. It rains almost daily, and our temps have been in the 60s or so, sometimes into the 70s, but still not as warm as it could be. The rains aren’t very warm rains either. The garden is trudging along. It will do better as we get a lot more sun. My sunflowers are doing ok too, so that makes me really happy. I haven’t had a sunflower grow for me at this house. Last year I lost every one I planted to deer. This year they are planted inside my fence.

Last week, I got home and the chickens were mixed together. From my driveway I can see the babies’ little run. I parked and saw adult chickens in there. I went to see what was going on, and somehow the door that divides their coop space (inside the coop) was left open, so the adults and teens (which are pretty much adults now) were all over in the chicks’ area, and my chicks were scattered. There were 3 huddled in a corner, one hiding behind a food bag, and the rest were outside hiding behind the coop. The adults scratched up the chicks’ run, so it’s a lot more muddy now than it had been. I got them all sorted out, and we’re making absolutely sure that we lock the inside coop door, so that it doesn’t happen again.

As soon as the chicks are 3 months old, around July 20th, I am going to integrate them together. I cannot wait! The reason for this, is that our current adult chicken run is a disgusting muddy mess. We are going to add a second fenced-in run area, an area which currently has grass, and then integrate everyone into that run. We’ll then cut off their access to the current run, so that we can fix the mud problem. I would also like to plant it with some chicken edibles, so they have stuff to munch on over there. The muddiest spot is right at the door from the coop to the run, so we need to figure out what to do there – maybe put some kind of patio (brick/concrete) there so that it doesn’t turn to mud as soon as it rains. Once everything on that side is fixed and plants are growing, I will start cycling the chickens between runs – so they can eat down one side while the other side is growing, and then we’ll switch them to the new grown stuff, and so on. With all our rain, the run doesn’t dry very well, or for very long, and then the teens don’t like to go to bed at night when I put them in, so it takes awhile to get them all in, and we end up trudging through mud, and they all have muddy feet, and it’s disgusting. I do lure them in to the coop with treats, but I have to wait until they are all in and the door is shut, or they take their treats and run outside; then I have to chase them in. Ahh… chickens.