Rhode Island Red Chicks - Week One - 2020

So the Cornish Cross (Meaties) are outside enjoying the grass and the sun.  We acclimated them to the coop, while still in the garage, last weekend (March 14) and moved them out while the spring temps were in the mid to high 50s (F). Today is probably the last warm day and most of next week will be rain and probably blustery. 

Cornish Cross in the Hoop Coop Pen (1 month)

The Rhode Island Red (RIR) chicks arrived on March 20.  We had been given a black Cochin by the store that was in critical condtion to see if we could save it.  But, it died on Saturday morning.  It would not eat or drink. The four RIR layers all seem to be quite healthy, eating and drinking well, along with many mini poops. I just switched out the "cloth" that we use under the brooder warmer so it is all super clean at this point. I use this method because helps them to stay cleaner while they are sleeping and snuggling under the warming plate.  

I took a few snaps of the brooder pen layout this morning.  For the meaties, I had used a piece of cardboard to keep them confined in the "front" of the pen for the first week.  I had the heater set up on a block in the corner and prayed that they did not knock the heater over on themselves during the first week.  (It is a safety heater that shuts off if it falls over.) I got to thinking about the small wire panels that I have and so we ziptied them together and clipped them to the opposite edges of the cage to do the exact same thing but, allows the heater to be on the other side, safely away from the chicks for a week or two.  These gals will grow a bit slower than the Cornish Cross.  For the first couple of weeks, as long as we can keep the ambient temp at about 80F, we are good, along with the use of the brooder warmer. 

So this is our new layer flock that will start laying in the fall. 

RIR at 5 days - Hatched 3-17-2020	Rhode Island Reds First Week Wings
Chick Pen with Safety Wall	Brooder Warmer in Chick Pen
(:  Just a little Peep  :)

Pre-Spring Planting 2020

Let the Early Spring Planting commence. 

So, as of this past weekend into today, Potatoes starts are in the ground. The garlic did not get planted last fall, so I planted some on Sunday (12 cloves) along with Walla Walla Sweet Onion starts (20 bulbs). If we get half of those to produce, I will be happy with that.  

The garden beds are covered with plastic tarp (up to the garlic and onions) to help kill the weeds over the next month or so. 

Yesterday, I planted 11 tomato seeds and 9 bell pepper seeds in the new greenhouse, in hopes they will be big enough to get into their respective planting pots in late April/early May. I planted Purple Cherokee and three colors of bell peppers left from plants we had last year. Fingers Crossed on those. 

This year, in barrels filled with sandy loam, we cut up two Red Pontiac potatoes (in one barrel), one Very Blue (in one barrel) and one California White (in one barrel).  So hopefully, we will end up with more than our usual amount from growing them in barrels.  If we only get five to eight pounds total again this year, we are giving up and starting potatoes in the garden next year.  According to everything I read, we should be getting close to 20 pounds worth of potatoes per barrel, and we just aren't, after several years of trying.  Allegedly, for every two pounds of seed potatoes, a return of 50 pounds is possible! We planted two pounds of seed potatoes in the three barrels.  A fifty-pound return would be a nice surprise!

Today, I also planted a few Peas (designed for Oregon weather) in two pots (next to the Potatoes). 

The "winter over" plants, have all done well.  Parsley (in green house), Strawberries, Oregano and Thyme (outside) all seem to be thriving. 

Last Friday, I planted a variety of lettuces in pots.  Then it snowed and froze and the wind howled across the back deck. Oy!  Will wait until next Sunday to see if the seeds took.  If nothing has popped up by that time, I will replant the lettuce. I'm not going to plant spinach this spring, to save space. 

With the Covid-19 (2019 Novel Coronavirus) taking hold in the US (and while the regular flu is still widespread), we are "isolating" and "social distancing" to protect ourselves (and others).  So my garden is likely to be a big source of my entertainment this spring. 

Oh, on the chick news.  The meat chicks we picked up last month, they are thriving, healthy and growing rapidly.  We moved them from the pen into the meat coop with a small heat lamp.  They adjusted quickly.  They love that they have low-lying roosting bars that they can sit on (they don't fly up to the tall roosting bar in the coop that was designed for turkeys). Outdoor temps are getting into the 50s during the daytime pretty consistantly and the meaties can tolerate that temp (with some protection) at about six weeks of age.  So we may be moving them out of the garage a week early and will keep a close eye on them until we are certain that they are hearty enough. 

Layer chicks should be here in a day or two. 

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