Garden and Meat Birds

Seed starting is under way in our kitchen.  In an effort to spare some counter space I got out my trusty folding craft table and have it strategically placed under the skylights.  I had quite good luck starting seeds under the skylights instead of supplemental lights last year so I’m trying it again, although I’m starting earlier this year.  We’ll see how it goes.  I’m using a warming mat on and off since we heat with the wood stove meaning the house temperatures aren’t particularly consistent.  I’m using the GrowVeg.com planting time lines which has been really handy.  I have both the backyard garden and the raised beds all laid out.  It definitely appeals to the planner in me.

Right now I have some greens, leeks, and onions starting.  The greens, arugula and mustard, are up and the leeks/onions are just starting to emerge.  Next up I need to start: eggplant, cabbage, lettuces, and more greens.  I need to dig out more seed starting trays though.  They are all still buried in the greenhouse and garage.

Our next flock of chickens is due some time this week.  We moved “Pat” the rooster up behind the goat barn with the rest of “flock #2″, otherwise known as the pink flock now, so we could clean and sanitize the brooder box.  After repeatedly looking for appropriate leg bands for the chickens I gave up and went the zip tie route.  It’s cheaper and accessible.  As I understand it the challenge is that they can tighten further and cause damage so we’ll keep an eye on them.  So “flock #2″ was given the hot pink zip ties.  I plan to give our spring break laying flock the yellow zip ties. 

“Pat” got his own special blue marker so we can keep an eye on his integration.  He really didn’t know what to make of the situation having spent his entire 3 months of life in the brooder box.  First he challenged every hen that approached him (and they came right back at him) which resulted in a small cut above his right eye and several mouth’s full of feathers.  He seemed to settle down a little when he realized they weren’t out to get him in the first place.  We took care of some other chores when an unexpected downpour occurred.  We ran up the hill, because we’d left their feeder out of the shelter, to find “Pat” standing around indignantly in the rain.  Bengt ushered him in to the roosting range house in the hopes that he’d pick up on the routine the hens had long since figured out.

The crazy downpour definitely left everyone out of sorts.  Bengt was shoveling the brooder box contents in to the compost pile and I had come inside and taken off my filthy socks.  When I heard the rain start, it was an instant WOOSH and I went running around the house all out of sorts trying to find clean, dry socks and an appropriate coat so I could run outside to help.  Later that night, Bengt went to close the chicken coop by the house for the night and only found 10 chickens (12 live in that house).  I had trouble believing a predator had made off with TWO hens, particularly when we were around doing chores all day.  He made a quick round around the house and discovered two hens snuggled up against our front door (on the porch).  It took some orchestration between the two of us to convince (or carry in one’s case) the two nervous, nearly blind hens to walk to the back of the house to the coop in the dark and rain.  They probably would have been okay on the front porch, but I can’t imagine they’d have liked it any and I certainly don’t want to encourage it.

So the brooder box is all clean and we have a new bale of shavings standing by.  Sometime this week we will get the 5:30am wake up call from the post office informing us our chickens are ready to be picked up.  These will be the snowy white meat birds, and are due to be grown enough to move out of the brooder box by 4 weeks, just in time for “flock #3″ or the “yellow flock” to arrive, the last of our laying birds for this year.  I’m really not looking forward to two more rounds of “failure to thrive” but what can you do really.