Garden & Chicks - Early May Update 2020

Yes, still have a lot of chicks.

Lost a few small ones and nursed a couple more that seem to be doing better.  Yesterday, one of the little Rhode Island Reds cut her head, right behind her ear and others were picking on her.  They were chasing her away from food and I thought we were going to lose her. Washed her little face off and isolated her in a separate cage inside the pen, to ensure that she was able to eat, drink, and sleep.  Within a few hours, she was alert and ready to go back. The others didn't pick on her anymore and all seemed better.  Then, today, I noticed one of the Barred Rock chicks had pasty butt.  It still had food in it's crop, and was still eating, so I think I caught it early. I had to soak the chick in a pan of warm water to  get the poop off.  Holding it on a warm washcloth just wasn't doing a thing and the cloth just kept getting cold. Within a minute of putting the chick's butt into the water, the pooh released and fell off into the water. I wrapped her up into a little wash cloth and held her on my chest to keep her warm until I found the hair dryer.  Set that up about eight inches away and let it blow on her until she was all dry. Wasn't even ten minutes because she's so small. Put her back with the others, and she went right to the food and started eating. Fingers crossed on both of them.

We decided to add an extra feeder into the pen and put the other warmer into the pen.  That's been a big hit. Plus, every day is Sheet Cleaning Day with this many chicks.  I try to change the sheets every day simply because, well, there are a lot of little poopers in there all at the same time. Normally, I can wait about three days between changes. But not now!

24 hours of pooh from 16 chicks

The baby RIRs are starting to fly and jump over things. That's a good sign that we are about ready for shavings.  BUT, the baby BRs are not quite there yet.  They seem to be about three or four days behind the RIRs at this point.  When we got them, the RIRs were much smaller than the BRs.  Now the BRs are much smaller and somewhat delayed in abilities.  It's all good, but I would like to have them all in shavings at this point so I won't need to keep washing sheets.

The other BRs finally figured out their dust bath!  It was almost full and now it is almost empty.  They are mite and lice free at this point with just a few nits left. I am still keeping the heater going as that will help those nits hatch and fall into the DE.  One more week and I will clean out the entire cage to ensure we have all mites and lice out of there, and put all fresh stuff in there and we should be back on track, pest free. These BRs have gained weight and have more feathers, so they look much better.

4 or 5 wk Barred Rock Pullets

Dust Bath Emptied

In the greenhouse, we have tomatoes, bell peppers, cilantro and lettuce.  I had transplanted the plants from the nursery into gallon milk jugs because they were getting root bound in the containers. They were doing really well outside until the storms came in and started pelting them.  One of the bell peppers got the most damage, so they are back in the greenhouse for now.

Cherokee Purple Tomato Clones

Sweet Bell Pepper Clones

My starts, from seed in March, are finally looking good.  The lettuce also is doing very well.  I have three types of leaf lettuce.  The cilantro just sprouted this week. I will need to thin that out.

My Itty Bitty Starts are Growing

Potatoes are finally looking good. Strawberries are still blooming. Peas  (planted on two weeks apart three times) are all doing very well. The marjoram that I started last fall in the green house, then struggled to keep the bugs from killing it, is actually thriving. Last winter, I just took the pot outside and figured I would just start over in the spring. But it just came back on its own. Go Figure?

Cilantro Sprouts	Leaf Lettuce - unknown type
Leaf Lettuce - Red Sails	Topped Off Potatoes with Soil
Strawberries still blooming	Marjoram Revived itself
Peas Planted 2wks apart

And lastly, the clover seed that we sprinkled out last week has already sprouted. We tried to dig out all the thistles that had taken over some areas of the back yard and it looks like the clover is going to fill it all in.  So today, we scrapped out some areas that were filled with moss in the shade to see how long that will take.  Little by little.  I purchased 10 pounds of seed, so we have lots of areas to experiment and see how it does.

Crimson Clover Sprouts

Major Chick Update April 2020

We have more chicks now, than ever.  We had the original four Rhode Island Reds that are six weeks old, outside, really, outside, in the sun, in their run and making the adjustment from coop to being in the grass. 

Plus, a bit of a tragedy yesterday.  One of the 1-week old Rhode Island Red chicks died.  Actually, two of them seemed sickly when we picked them up.  My bad.  I received a call on Wednesday night that the RIRs had arrived at the store.  I didn't realize that the store had called, and so the little RIRs sat there until Friday morning.  The Barred Rock did arrive Friday morning.  I know better than to let chicks stay at the store in shavings and under a heat lamp for any length of time.  They will eat the small shavings and will also get too hot and get dehydrated.  A lot these "store chicks" will get pasty butt too, meaning that they are dehydrated/too hot. Although none of the chicks that I picked up had pasty butt, several of the RIR were lethargic, were not eating or drinking well, and they were stretching out their little necks while opening up their mouths really wide as though there was something stuck in their crops. So my bad for not checking my phone for calls from the store this past week. 

Sensing that we were going to lose at least two of the six new RIR chicks, we kinda went into panic mode trying to figure out what we were going to do.  Called the store only to be told that all chicks were sold from that batch they received in. That come Monday morning they MIGHT have a few left that people might not pick up.  Rather than risk it, I put in an order for three more chicks to arrive in early May.  Then we found a farm on the other side of town that had some three week old chicks, both RIR and Barred Rock. As we were arranging to drive across town to pick up some, the store called me back to say that they had three of the RIR's from the batch this past week.  Did I want them.  Yes, thank you!  I picked them up and they seem fine. Then, headed over to pick up a couple of the 3-week old Barred Rocks from across town. 

When they first arrived, I thought, no way that these are three weeks old.  Perhaps two weeks.  But, now that they are out and moving around in the quarantine pen, they do appear to be about three or four weeks old. In a few weeks, we can either put them out into the coop with the older RIRs. or mix them into the large flock in the brooder pen. 

So, yep. We have a LOT of chicklets right now! Oh, and by the way, the other RIR that seemed sick and we thought might die, is doing much better today.  Eating, drinking, pooping and running around with the larger flock. That means we now have eight 1-week old Rhode Island Reds, four 6-week old Rhode Island Reds, two 3-week old Barred Rocks and six 1-week old Barred Rocks.  This should be interesting for the next few weeks into June! 

2 6wk Rhode Island Reds Outside	2 other 6wk RIRs Outside
The 2 3wk Barred Rocks	2 3wk Barred "Plymouth" Rocks
The 1wk Mix of RIR and BR	Peeps digging in the corner
1wk Peeps	More of the 1wk peeps
And Peeps Just Hanging Out

Spring Garden and Chick Update

Moving the chicks outside this week was quickly followed by a lot of cloudy rainy days.  So there are no photos.  I don't want to stress them out in their new coop.  They are adapting, eating, drinking and pooping.  I have the tall brooder warmer in the pen and they will get under there when they get chilled. But mostly, they are loving their roost bar and acting like "big birds."

The new 12 chicks arrived that are already presold.  They are, of course, cute little fluff balls. Six Barred Rock and six Rhode Island Reds.

Garden is the big factor here this week.  Plants in the greenhouse are finally picking up.  I had purchased some cloned plants to supplement the plants that did not start well in the greenhouse. The Onions and Garlic starts are looking good in the back section of the square garden. We have covered the broccoli and cauliflower starts to help keep them a bit warmer but also protect from the cabbage moth, and other bugs that like to eat broccoli.  The strawberries, peas, and lettuce are looking quite good. Also, the wintered over plants are thriving.  I have already cut half of the oregano for drying and cooking.  The rest will be cut in a week or two. Potatoes finally came up and are looking strong.

Pea starts planted 2 weeks apart	Potatoes - not sure which are what
Potatoes popped up a little later	More Potatoes that finally popped up
Strawberry blossom	Wintered Over Parsley
Wintered Over Oregano	Wintered Over Marjoram
Winters Over Thyme	My starts next to a Cloned Tomato Start
Pepper, Tomato & Lavendar Starts	Some of my lettuce starts 1+ month old
Lettuce Start 2+ mo	Onions Left and Garlic Right
The new garden space	Cover tunnel for Broccoli & Cauliflower
Inside the tunnel	Wet dandelion Seed Head

RIR Chicks Moved to Coop Early 2020

The Rhode Island Red Chicks (4) that we picked up last month are in their new home. They are in the 3x4 coop designed for four hens. They will have a lot of room to wander around until they get bigger and actually grow into the space.  I hooked up the light in there on a timer for a few days until they are comfortable with going outside. I also included the tall brooder warmer for them 'cause we are likely to have a few cool nights for the next few weeks. Their food and water is inside the coop with them until they are bigger and better feathered.  

It worked well to get the meat chickens early in the season, got them processed at seven weeks, clean/bleach down the hoop coop and moved the three year old Welsummers into that coop on fresh ground. Since the hoop coop does not have a nesting box, I improvised a nesting box out of a five-gallon bucket.  The first few days, we had some issues with that, and ended up wiring two buckets together so that it looks like there are two nesting boxes for them, and they are much happier. The first few days involved a lot of broken eggs and eggs being laid outside of the buckets.  Now they seem much more content with the set up and no more broken eggs.  

Next Friday, the chicks that we already have presold will arrive and we will raise them until June, in time for them to be picked up by their new owners and transported to their new homes. So fingers crossed, all will go well.  A component is that with the Coronavirus (Covid-19) Pandemic, a lot of people want to try to raise some of their own food, but we all know how hard it is to raise chicks successfully.  So we will do that and make a little money on the side, in the process. Not a lot, but mostly to help people out in this middle of these crazy times who want chickens but don't want the mess and fuss of trying to raise chicks. 

Garden business here.  Most of the broccoli (11) and cauliflower (5) starts came up.  We put them into the new garden bed and have them covered to keep pests away.  The cover worked really well with starting the onions and garlic while it was still super cold and rainy outside.  Hoping it works just as well on the broccoli and cauli. The surviving tomato and pepper plants are starting to get their "real leaves" on them, so that's good.  I also picked up some clones that will at least start producing before my starts will.  So hopefully, between the mixed groups of starts, we will have an abundance of plants.  We can chop up the bell peppers and freeze them for use in stews, sauces and pizzas. Tomatoes can be pureed for sauces and paste in the freezer.  We really should have plenty of tomatoes this year for storage into the winter and spring of next year. That's the plan. 

Also, we are going to start a mini plant startup so that we can have more selection without having to wait and then go looking for the plants we want. We have ordered a grow tent that we can use to start our veggies and herbs indoors, then sell them from our driveway in the spring. We can advertise on the weekends and sell them to folks who need a few starts in the spring.  We're looking around to figure out which are the best and most popular for our area.  Thinking tomatoes, bell peppers, lettuce, broccoli, cauliflower, onions, garlic, and a good variety of herbs that are our favorites to grow and use in cooking. We can see how this goes in conjunction with the eggs that we already sell. 

No photos today.  Later in the week, maybe. 

Meaties Went to Process and Stuff Happening

The eight meat chickens have been processed (yesterday) and they are in the refrigerator "resting" for a couple days before we cut them apart and freeze them.  I have not yet weighed them so I'm not exactly certain how many pounds we ended up with. I will be surprised (based on lifting them) if any are eight pounds.  I'm guessing they will be six and seven pounds. I'll weigh them tomorrow just before we start cutting.

I also made up a huge batch of soap to help us while we are washing our hands so much with the COVID-19 Pandemic thing. This is the largest batch I have ever made, with three pounds of coconut oil, shea butter, palm oil and lard. 

Plus, we have been busy with the chicks.  They are quite playful now. A cute little flock. 

Last, we are finishing up on the new garden space.  Trying this spot with concrete blocks (not cinder blocks but like cinder blocks). While it may look like quite the hodge podge of various sized blocks, that's because I didn't order enough.  And in this quarantine of C-19 Virus, we had to find a different supplier that was open and willing to deliver. We got the blocks but they were much wider than the original blocks.  So, we made do, and will live with the outcome.  It will always be a reminder of building a garden spot in the middle of a pandemic.

👾

So far, the garlic and onions are up.  Some lettuce and peas are sprouting.  No potato sprouts yet. Usually takes several weeks before they are up, plus it was particularly cool and wet for two weeks shortly after I planted them. The tomato seeds and most of the bell pepper seeds sprouted, but again, a big delay due to the cool temps.  I am guessing I will need to purchase some plants from the nursery if I can find any in a few weeks. 

One pound of soap	Same pound of soap
The New Flock 4 weeks	Start of the Garden
Uh-oh - It's not big enough.	Garden is now Long Enough
It needs a lot more dirt!	Some of the blocks are wider than others.

Shavings Transition for Chicks 2020

Now the chicks are big enough to know the difference between shavings and food. So they are adapting to the new environment.  They didn't like the feel of it at first and they all huddled on the warmer. It is still plenty cold in the garage, so we kept the heater in there, turned down, but enough to keep it at about 70F in their pen.  We added another layer of wire panels up top so that they won't try to fly in and get hurt. They are certainly bright-eyed, playful and energetic. They are practicing their flying abilities so the pen has been opened up more for them to explore. 

Should I stay or should I go?	Peep Peek
A front and a back	SaftyHeater Guard