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.
