Almost Spring 2020

When the new chicks start arriving, we know spring is close.  Sorry that these photos are blurry.... It is really hard to get chicks to pose and hold still especially with low-light photos.

One Belly up to the Bar	Everyone Joins In
Um-Yum!

Signs Sing Spring 2020

Winter hit early last fall, just as most of the hens were moulting.  After that, we have had a mild winter, but who knows what February will bring.  We had a pretty cold Feb last year as we were getting our chicks started. 

Making some comparisons.  Last year, I put no light in the Welsummer coop. We had a lot of winter weather, snow, ice, etc. We decided not to add light to their coop wanting to see what the difference would be. One Welsummer hen laid her first post moult egg on January 28, and gradually, by the end of February, they were all laying one egg, every other day.   The Rhode Islands, in their first year, continued to each lay one egg every other day throughout all the freezing, snow, etc. 

One year later, the Welsummers' coop light was installed about December 20 on a nice day when I could crawl into the coop for a quick set up. Interestingly, one lone Welsummer laid her first egg of 2020 on January 28! Exactly the same date as last year, without any light in the coop and a much colder, darker winter. So.... that tells me that the in the coop may not really be doing anything! [Shaking my head.]  

In the Rhode Island coop, with no light installed, the one hen laid an egg almost every other day all through December and January.  January 20th, another RIR hen started to lay an egg every few days-ish, and last weekend, all three hens laid eggs on the same day. 

Looking back, it would seem that adding the light to the coops don't really make any difference to spur along the winter egg laying production. 

Now that it is February, our chick order is in.  In three weeks, we will receive eight Cornish Cross chicks and hopefully, we won't be in a big deep freeze again. In March, we have four Rhode Island Reds on order and this summer, we will sell out our Welsummers. This will keep our egg production a bit higher this year since first year hens don't moult. 

On the greenhouse front, we had just enough broccoli that survived but certainly did not flourish from the ones I had planted last August. The florets were starting to go to seed, so we cut them all off, and had one single meal of fresh broccoli. All that energy for a few small florets! With Fall being our Winter, and Winter seemingly being our Spring, it will be interesting to see what Spring is going to be like this year. 

I have our potato barrels set up and ready to go.  I pre-filled the bottoms of the barrels this year with sandy loam and sprinkled in Potash to let it perk all winter long.  As soon as the starts arrive at the feed store, we can start gardening again.

Early Winter Update 2019

The broccoli never quite matured.  There were only small florets, and the biggest of them which was a little more than a silver dollar in size, is changing to flowers and not edible. So, that's pretty much it for the fall/winter attempt to grow the broccoli this year.  The parsley is fine and I've gotten two cuttings off it so far.  The Marjoram became an aphid magnet.  I cut a sprig and washed it before setting it out to dry.  That does seem to hold potential, but I'm still waiting for it to totally dry before I try it with a larger cutting. 

One Rhode Island hen is laying an egg every other day.  The two others are still recovering from their moult which was probably a bit of a shock for them with such an early freeze this fall. But they are all re-feathered now and should be laying eggs again soon.  The Welsummers are ready to start laying eggs again but need the light.  I installed the light/timer today for them.  Set to light up at 4:30 am every day to spur them into laying again or we will be waiting until the end of February before they start again.  They truly need that light to kick them back into gear. 

Planning for the late winter early spring of chickens.  Will put in an order for four new layers (Rhode Islands) and eight meat chickens (Cornish Cross) for February/March arrival. Will probably need to raise them separately this year as the Hoop Coop is just not big enough for 12 chickens to live in.  Will need to figure out an option for the layers since we don't plan to get rid of the Welsummers until next summer. 

Fall Broccoli Bloom'n

Yes, indeed.  The broccoli that I have in the greenhouse is surviving even with the extra frosty nights.  The marjoram and parsley are too. I checked on the broccoli today to water when I discovered that the florets are starting to form (finally). Granted, I realize that we had a crazier summer and fall than we tend to have in this region. I was beginning to wonder if it would ever happen, or if my efforts would turn out to be a big dud.  The cooler nights have probably contributed to the slow development.  Nonetheless, I gently scraped some more blood meal around the stalks, added some center stakes to give more room inside the cover, watered and covered them back up tonight. 

We may have snow next weekend as we prepare for December.  So for the hens, we need to set up the water heaters.  The Welsummers are finishing up their moult, so I plan to add a morning light to their coop next month. Rhodes, one is done with her moult, but the other two just started moulting a couple weeks ago, so we are back to square one with them.  Will probably need to wait until January to start putting a light in their coop. Oh well. That's the nature of chickens. 

This morning a coyote was right up to the coop, sniffing and trying to figure it out.  So far, so good, but that's getting a bit too close. 

Cold Fall Dry Fall 2019

Well, fall hit hard and fast. First, there were a lot of cool rainy in October. Then the last week of October, it turned super cold, frosting at night and daytime highs were only in the mid 40s, but sunny and dry. So that has worked out well for the plants in the greenhouse.  The plants outside, not so well.  Today, I sacked the garden plots and covered them for the winter.  As you can see in the square garden photo below, nothing was thriving. The spinach, cilantro, carrots and peas essnetially gave up. They were surviving barely, but not really growing anything for the past week, despite the sun. It needed its own little greenhouse tunnel.

Inside the greenhouse addition, things are thriving and growing. We might get some broccoli (fingers crossed).  The red sails lettuce, marjoram and parsley are doing their thing, but we have been covering the lettuce and broccoli at night even in the greenhouse, just as an added precaution. Inside the greenhouse is getting into the 80s and 90s during the day with the all the sunshine while the outside highs, the past few days have been low 50s. 

Chickens have fully stopped laying eggs because it has just been too cold and windy. Winds out of the North and Northeast have been gusting up to about 35mph most days, but not all.  Today has been quite mild by comparison to the past two days. Mostly just a breeze with a few gusts hitting about 10mph. So I took time to get more winter prep done while it's not raining. 

One of my winter preps is to beat back the mice. Mice have been moving into the garage in droves so we have been setting out rat poison in "hidey holes" in hopes of combating that invasion early. 

Dead Square Garden Plot	Broccoli in Greenhouse
Marjoram/Parsley Greenhouse	Red Sails Greenhouse
Rhodes on a Crisp Fall Day

Bad Bug - Good Bug Book

I found this online today while checking for different types of Bug Eggs.  I found some unusually large eggs under some tarp and some wood that I used to hold down the tarp.  There appeared to be about 40+ eggs per pile and I did not know if they were snake eggs or what?  I learned that they are slug eggs!!!  So, I gathered up about 160 slug eggs today and disposed of them before they hatch into ravenous slugs. UGH!  Anyways, here is the link to the PDF Book of Bugs, how to attract them and how to get rid of them without harming the environment.

So, anyways, what I read was that it can be hard to find slug eggs as they tend to lay them in areas that they feel are very hidden and secure.  But today was garden clean up day.  We were getting things ready for next spring. I was picking up boards and things that I use to secure the tarps when I cover the garden beds, and the wood also helps to keep weeds from getting too close to the corn patch so that it is easier to mow around by picking up those boards and blocks of wood just before mowing. Based on what I read, as soon as they hatch, they start devouring plants, so that is at least 160 less slugs this year!

Slug Eggs by Garden	Closer shot of Slug Eggs
More Slug Eggs Different Location

Definitely Fall 2019

Fall hit hard and fast this year.  We have already had temps drop into the 30s with frost.  The frost killed the basil plants. You can see them pulled and waiting to be disposed.  Of the six pea plants, two remain.  The slugs attacked the cilantro then headed over to the peas.  So, new copper wire has been added around the outside of the garden bed. Fingers Crossed this works.  Also, the carrots and spinach are growing. The only other outdoor crop now is the broccoli in the tub.

Four Pea Plants survived Slugs	Spinace in a cage
Broccoli in a Caged Tub

Corn was just taking up space and holding dirt in place (so to speak) so today was clean up day for that patch.

Dead Corn

Clean Patch

The Greenhouse is done with a few things that needed to keep it warmer this winter, but for now, it is protecting my lettuce and herbs from the cold nights.

Greenhouse from East	Greenhouse from West
Romaine, Parsley & Marjoram	Red Sails Lettuce

Picked the last of the bell peppers.  The plants are dying in the cool temps and peppers needed to be picked before they start to die with the plants.

Briming Bowl of Peppers

Bottom of the Bowl of Peppers

As for chickens and moulting, the Rhode Islands started to moult about a month ago, but have continued to lay eggs and we are getting eggs from them every day. The Welsummers started to moult a week or two later, and there is only one that is still laying an egg every few days, so we are stilling getting some eggs every day, regardless. We ate our first of the summer chicks this week.  Very tasty.