The Chicken State of Address
The time had come to separate the chickens by breed. We plan on selling chicks for the next couple of months and we wanted to offer pure bred stock.
The birds are still pretty nervous in their new digs. The main chicken yard and building was divided in half. Black astralorps on one side, buff orpingtons on the other. The americaunas were moved to a new pen. We remodeled the greenhouse for the americaunas. Twenty by ten feet is for the chickens and the other twenty by ten is for the greenhouse.
It's quite spacious for four birds, (you can see the greenhouse side beyond the storm door) but I feel sorry for the lone hen. I need to get her some girlfriends because roosters have no qualms about ganging up on a single hen. Males! Actually one of the roosters needs to go. I'm keeping only two males per group.
The chickens can't figure out why they can't seem to mingle with the others. They keep meeting at the fence line, clucking away. But they've been laying like crazy. We've been getting so many eggs, I even scramble some for the dogs. They don't mind in the least. :grin:
Our next project is setting up the incubator/hatching room. We've got a 3-car garage and one of the bays is nicely finished and temperature-controlled, so that's where we'll put the machines. I'll post some pictures once we have that set up.
Everything is starting to green up. My pear tree is already leafed out. The plum, apple and tangelo trees have blossoms and the rest are getting ready to bud. If it weren't for getting the flu and bronchitis back to back, I would've had the garden in by now. But hopefully I can do that next week.Have you priced tomatoes this week? They were $1.89 at my local grocery store--and those were the cheap ones. I'm planting extra tomatoes this year. And now that the greenhouse is in place, I'll be growing hothouse tomatoes over the winter.
Anybody else planning a garden this year? I'm trying to encourage everyone I know to at least plant a container garden. Peppers, cherry tomatoes and herbs are easy to grow in pots. I have a feeling prices are going to get much higher this year.
Comments
I'd like to do a garden this year. Wanted to do one last year but Husband didn't get around to roto-tilling the garden. Was way too busy with other stuff. Hopefully this year he won't be so busy.
http://uk.finance.yahoo.com/news/Warning-Of-Food-Price-Riots-skynews-2424687063.html?x=0
Hmm.
Angela: This is our second homestead. We had to give up the first one when I moved to the big city. But now that I'm back in the country, I'm in heaven.
Ref: Hey, how come my name's changed to Bernadette?
LOL. You really don't want me to answer that in public do you, Mike?
Ref: food prices
They are most definitely tied to oil prices. What is aggravating is that oil producers use every excuse to jack up prices. Recently, we've been told it was due to the unrest in Libya. We don't even get oil from Libya!
The US has huge oil reserves, but for some financial reason we use very little of it. Perhaps they're holding onto it in reserve for when the bottom drops out. Not for civilian use of course, but to keep the military and infrastructure intact. That's my theory, anyway.
Either way, the price of my tomatoes are going up. If prices keeps skyrocketing, I might set up a roadside vegetable stand and give up writing. :)
I live like a troll in a basement so I don't even have pot plants, let alone a container garden. But some day I will. :)
Mason
Thoughts in Progress
Please keep the pictures coming! I need to live vicariously through you.
And yes on the garden. We plant a pretty big one. BUT, we're getting another 6 inches of snow today. We can't start gardening here until May at the earliest.
Jacqueline: I think the chickens are more laid back than I am. LOL.
Marian: Considering your history, I have no doubt you will succeed. If you ever decide to relocate, I hope you'll pick Texas. :)
Sarah: If you had chickens where you lived you'd have to get them little coats. LOL.
Actually, chickens do remarkably well in cold weather. As long as you can keep their wattles from freezing, they're fine.
They were $1.89 at my local grocery store--and those were the cheap ones.
Cheapest tomatoes here are $2.99/lb -- it's disgusting. But I have little bitty tomatoes on the plants I brought inside so I'm feeling hopeful *G*.
We're still buried in snow -- but are expecting a pile of rain this weekend. Maybe it'll melt it all away. I won't put in most of my garden until late May. :0(
Susan: Every little bit helps. And nothing beats the flavor of fresh. Hope you have a good year.
Marianne: $2.99? Ouch!
Where are you keeping your winter survivors until the thaw? That is so great they survived.
No containers for us. It's too hot for anything I want to grow. Good luck with your plans.
Kaz: I wanted to let mine out for a while, but a couple of red-tail hawks have been patrolling the area, looking for chicken dinner. Grr...
My mother's parents had a poultry farm at one time. :O)
I am also having fun picturing a tangelo tree. I have no idea what it looks like (am resisting google) but am imagining a tree tangled in knots. Ok, now I have to check google and see if I'm right... Blimey! What are they?! The fruit looks delicious.
Jayne: A tangelo is a cross between a tangerine and a grapefruit. It tastes very much like a tangerine though. Easy to peel, no seeds. I got quite a few from my young tree last year.
We plant a garden every year, at least tomatoes and peppers. But our year is too bunny friendly so they get as much of the harvest as we do.
Knock on wood, despite the fact we live in the boonies, we've had very little problem with deer, rabbits or moles. But maybe that's because the predator population is so high.
When I lived in east Texas, I use to bunny-proof with a simple two-foot fence. The deer were a lot harder to deter.
No thanks to Greg who kept inviting them over with free corn. When they got tired of the corn they nibbled on my green plants.
To this day, the deer know that Greg's place is a no-kill zone. They even bring their babies there.
Oh well.
Those are very nice areas for the chickens. The only thing I ever saw in AR was those long chicken houses that stunk. Your chickens are living in paradise compared to those.