Chickens!

Chickens!

Cornish Rock chicks, week 2

Cornish Rock chicks, week 1

So, the plan was to wait until next year to get chickens.  There were just too many projects we had lined up to be able to get up a coop and tend to the little guys.  As it is with most things around here, we just couldn't wait!  In a month, Jason's coworker is going to give us 5 Araucana chickens, 4 hens and 1 rooster.  I guess they lay blue eggs, which I never even knew there was such a thing.  Jason saw some Cornish Rock chicks for sale at our local feed and seed store.  We could not resist and picked up 6 chicks.  They still have their baby feathers and are in the process of preening them off to make room for their adult feathers. They are in a bit of a transition phase, as you may be able to tell by the pictures.  It seems they grow rapidly, we've only had them a little over a week and they have grown larger and stronger. I've never taken care of chicks or chickens, so there will be a lot of learning to do!

Right now we are keeping the chicks in the basement in a very large cardboard box, with a heating lamp in one corner. I read that the heat source needs to put out 90 degrees of heat when they are 1 week old and can be dropped by 5 degrees each week.  We lined the box with newspaper and then placed a few inches of chopped straw animal bedding.  They have a mason jar watering system and a tray of food.  They drink a lot of water and will go through a tray of food a day. I am currently researching their feeding habits and am finding there are several options out there.  I added some torn up kale and grass seed stalks to give them something to play with and peck at in their box.  I've been keeping the bedding clean by removing their droppings, which I think they are amused with the whole process.  These droppings have been made into a compost/manure tea for my garden and greenhouse plants.   They get a full box cleaning weekly. We are in the process of building the chicken coop.  It seems the chicks will have to stay indoors for a couple more weeks due to our cool nights here and our need to provide ample critter proofing.

Garden Progress
Orchard:  A few weekends ago (5/6/12), I picked up the order from the Conservation District.  We planted 2 Wolf River apple trees, 2 Clapp's Favorite pear trees and 1 Reliance peach tree.  We planted them near the 2 Stanley Plum trees we planted last year.  So, now I think it is safe to say we have a little orchard!  We used something called Terra Sorb Rooting Gel in each hole we dug.  I hope it retains the moisture level like it is supposed to, as we have had little rain here this spring.  We noticed that the old established apple trees here on the property, and elsewhere in our area, are not blossoming.  I guess that means that this year will be a growing year for the trees, not a fruiting one.

Fruit Garden:  The fruit garden was planted in May of last year.  All of our raspberry plants survived the winter and have new canes growing in the patch.  The blackberries are a bit slower and are just now showing true leaves.  The blueberry plants are small, but look healthy.  Some are already loaded with blossoms!  I think we should have pruned them last fall, but just forgot.  We will definitely want to prune them this year.  The strawberry patch has been neglected as well.  We just have not had time to weed it, but it seems to be doing well.  Most of the plants are blossoming right now.  We will have to cover it up when we expect frost.  We were able to get two pickings off of our asparagus patch but didn't want to pick it too much this season.  The asparagus ferns are already about 4 feet tall!  Last year we planted 5 grape plants, 3 different varieties.  They did not make it.  So, I decided to purchase a strain of grapes called Marquette.  This is used for wine making and is very cold hardy. We shall see how they fare.

Chicken Manure tea fertilizer

Row Covered Vegetables:  All of the vegetables we planted in April are doing well.  We have 3 varieties of Lettuce, 3 varieties of Spinach, Swiss Chard, Dill, Carrots, Peas, Bok Choy, 3 types of Radishes and have Superior White potatoes up and thriving.  Last weekend I planted about 170 onion sets, which half are shooting up out of the ground.  This week I planted more red and white potatoes.

Greenhouse:  Everything that needed to be started in the GH has been planted.  The tomato seedlings have been transplanted into larger pots.  The green pepper seeds we had were duds, so we had to replant with new seeds, which will delay our green and red pepper harvest by a few weeks. Everything will be transplanted into the garden in 2 weeks!

Wildlife Report

Swallowtail Butterfly

We had a beautiful coyote visit the property.  We are not to keen on having them around because we are going to be keeping chickens, but really enjoyed getting to see such a beautiful animal.  Last week I saw a huge bear crossing the street about a mile and half from our house!  The bluebirds in the garden birdhouse are feeding their chicks.  The robin, who has a nest on the greenhouse, has three chicks that are almost ready to fledge.  The Phoebe, who has a nest on the garage, is patiently sitting on her eggs.  We have several hummingbirds zipping around.  New bird arrivals include a male Indigo Bunting, Brown Thrashers, Rose Breasted Grosbeaks, Yellow Bellied Sapsucker, Ceder Waxwings, Tree Swallows, Great Crested Flycatchers, a Baltimore Oriole and several warblers.  Monarch and Swallowtail butterflies seem to be everywhere!  We had a Painted Turtle lay her eggs in the orchard too.  We are going to try and keep the eggs protected from animals that may try to dig them up for food.

Hummingbird

Lupine

 

Painted Turtle laying her eggs in the orchard!