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.