Tag Archives: chicken coop

Chickens in Winter

Posted on January 13, 2011 by | Comments Off on Chickens in Winter
I have had many many people ask how the ladies are doing over the winter. Rest assured, other than complaining loudly and frequently about the snow, they are fine! Both the Buff Orpington (the fluffy caramel basket-ball chickens) and the Barred Rock (the smaller speckeled hens) are both geared to northern climates. The Ameraucanas are not as well feathered, so I am giving them additional protection. Ethel and Aggie, the Ameraucanas have not laid any eggs for a couple three weeks now, but should start up again as the daylight increases and it warms up a bit. The Betty's (Orps) are still laying, they are down to a bit less than one egg a day between the two of them on average, the same with the Rocks (Mavis, Mini and Lulu). I am getting 1-3 eggs a day, with an occasional 4th.
The coop and run have had some winterizing:




First, we are using a heater base for thier water so it will not freeze, then we wrapped the wire part of the run in plastic to cut the wind. I tossed in another 2 inches of pine bedding on the floof of the coop and we added a "sun room" to the run by installing some clear corrugated plastic roofing over the front left side of the run in front of the coop, which nearly doubles the amount of dry area for the girls. In addition, I try and toss a head of lettuce, cabbage, a handful of green beans or some other veggie into the coop for them to peck at. They are missing greens.

They are not at all thrilled with the snow, though they still adore getting outside for a brisk walk, they tend to stay on the path or under the big pine tree.



Stayin' on the path...















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Chickens in Winter

Posted on January 13, 2011 by | Comments Off on Chickens in Winter
I have had many many people ask how the ladies are doing over the winter. Rest assured, other than complaining loudly and frequently about the snow, they are fine! Both the Buff Orpington (the fluffy caramel basket-ball chickens) and the Barred Rock (the smaller speckeled hens) are both geared to northern climates. The Ameraucanas are not as well feathered, so I am giving them additional protection. Ethel and Aggie, the Ameraucanas have not laid any eggs for a couple three weeks now, but should start up again as the daylight increases and it warms up a bit. The Betty's (Orps) are still laying, they are down to a bit less than one egg a day between the two of them on average, the same with the Rocks (Mavis, Mini and Lulu). I am getting 1-3 eggs a day, with an occasional 4th.
The coop and run have had some winterizing:




First, we are using a heater base for thier water so it will not freeze, then we wrapped the wire part of the run in plastic to cut the wind. I tossed in another 2 inches of pine bedding on the floof of the coop and we added a "sun room" to the run by installing some clear corrugated plastic roofing over the front left side of the run in front of the coop, which nearly doubles the amount of dry area for the girls. In addition, I try and toss a head of lettuce, cabbage, a handful of green beans or some other veggie into the coop for them to peck at. They are missing greens.

They are not at all thrilled with the snow, though they still adore getting outside for a brisk walk, they tend to stay on the path or under the big pine tree.



Stayin' on the path...















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The not so glamorous side

Posted on August 14, 2010 by | Comments Off on The not so glamorous side
Cleaned out the coop - about a month and a half of poop in there - eeewwwww.

Before

After
Honestly, it only takes about 15 minutes to clean out - rake the crap out the door into an old plastic toy bin, toss it into the compost pile. Takes about 3 trips to the pile, then toss in about a quarter of a bale of wood shavings. Yes, that is a colored plastic easter egg you see in the middle nest box. It functions as a clue - "lay your eggs here dear, not in the middle of the floor"

What?

Mavis (in the box) fills Mini in on just what the nest box is for.

Garden

The Garden is not the happiest of gardens. Between the heat, dry, then heat and deluge, we are not about to win any beauty contests.

Next weekend is slated for garden clean-up and fall planting. Meanwhile we had some big issues which I have a thought on fixing for next year. Squash vine borer beetles destroyed all the zucchini, my cucumbers succumbed to cucumber wilt about 3 weeks after my neighbor's - the wilt is spread by the cucumber beetle. I did get a couple of jars of refridgerator pickles out of them - Yummy!

On the positive side, neem oil and a good layer of fresh compost made the potato pots very happy and they have lots of nice new growth.

See the bean tee-pee in back there? I am definitely planting a bean tee-pee next year!


I love the purple runner beans, they are beautiful and mighty tasty!



The butternut squash is pretty happy, as is the chard.
I now know just what radishes look like if you do not pick them, I am not convinced actually repelled any bugs, but they are really nifty.


And last but not least - I got to try out my nifty harvesting apron!






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