Gardening

Gardening Made Easy with Chicken Power

September 13, 2020 Lazer Creek ApiaryLeave a comment

I weeded and tilled (by hand) one end of the vegetable garden and planted some fall crops last Saturday. On Sunday, Hubby and I made a small mobile chicken pen out of some left-over cattle panels and chicken wire. We placed this over the other end of the vegetable garden (after first removing tomato and pepper plants) and put two of the chickens in it. They had a great time eating fresh basil and all the bugs they could find until Houdini (the kitten that adopted us) dug under one of the panels in an effort to join her friends!

Speedy lives up to her name and refuses to be picked up, so she doesn’t get to play in the garden. She’s not happy being alone in the chicken run either, so we get to hear a whole range of chicken sounds from her on garden-vacation days. Still, all three chickens must have read my last blog because they started laying eggs the day after I posted it and we have three eggs most days.

I moved the pen over four feet today (again after removing plants chickens shouldn’t eat) and weeded and seeded. It was so much easier this time! The chickens had loosened up the top 8 inches of soil and eradicated most of the weeds and other plants. It’s hard to get “fluffy” Georgia soil with all our clay, but the that’s the best description I can give for that little piece of garden today. The chickens have now tilled another 6 x 6 square for me, and I’ll plant some more carrots, spinach, and lettuce next weekend.

Another thing that is making gardening easier is a tool called the Hooke ‘n Crooke. My brother-in-law told Hubby about it, so Hubby bought one for me. I was skeptical about it at first because BIL has neat, weed-free rows and I underplanted my tomatoes and peppers with basil to control weeds. Now that I’ve removed the tomatoes, I’ve really had the space to try the Hooke ‘n Crooke and love the multiple ways in which I can use it. I dug out plant roots, broke up the soil that the chickens couldn’t get to, trenched rows for my seeds and then covered the seeds — all with one tool and without bending over.

We’ve really enjoyed all the fresh vegetables this summer and are looking forward to our first attempt at growing a fall/winter crop. We are considering adding a hoop house and an hydroponic system eventually, but I know I can grow carrots in the garden and everything else is a bonus if it works out!

The Great Escape!

April 12, 2020April 12, 2020 Lazer Creek ApiaryLeave a comment

When I walked into the RV to check on the chicks yesterday morning, all three were perched on the wire mesh that is supposed to keep them inside the cattle trough until they are big enough to move outside. Surrounding the trough was “evidence” that they had been exploring for quite a while, and they appeared to be smirking at me! Their new home was almost ready, so we moved up their move-in date, set about completing the final necessary construction, added a brooder lamp to the coop just in case we have some more cool nights, and and moved them over. I had one more RV chicken wrangling rodeo and then they were in their new home.

We’d expected them to be nervous, but they immediately started exploring and searching for motivational meal-worms. Within half an hour, they were climbing on their ladder and by the end of the day they had become quite adept at walking up and down the rungs. The high point of the day was when Hubby found an earthworm in the soil he brought up for the planters and we got to watch two very determined chicks chase one highly motivated chick around while she gobbled up her treat! They looked remarkably like a picture I remember from one of my daughter’s story books many years ago.

20200411 Grayson Chicks — Curious Cat Checks Chickens

Grayson, one of the twin cats, has been sniffing around the empty dog crate where the chicks have been vacationing for some time, and it didn’t take him long to show up and see what we were all up to. He did a very good tiger imitation as he walked around the coop and chicken run many times while checking out the measures we’ve taken to keep him, coyotes, raccoons, and other critters out.

Coop protection

Chicken run protection

We have field wire extending out about 2 feet from the coop and run to keep predators from digging under the fence. On the sides of the run, we have chicken wire going all the way to the top. Along the bottom, we have hardware cloth covering the ends of the field wire and chicken wire. On top of all that, we have cinder-blocks that I will use as planters, and the remaining field-wire is covered with gravel on the high traffic areas and soil where a future wildflower garden will be. After my sister-in-law’s surprises last summer, we hope the hardware cloth will provide a challenge for any snakes that want eggs for breakfast, but we know that snakes and mice can be pretty determined critters.

20200411 coop inside — Inside the coop. We’ll add the nesting boxes later.

The two The two Red Sex Links went right into the coop last night once they realized I was throwing meal worms into it. The baby, which I’d name Speedy if I were going to name chicks, was reluctant to enter, to say the least. Trying to get Speedy in while stopping the other two leaving was getting everyone hot and bothered, so we closed the chicken door. After a while, the inside chicks and Speedy started calling back and forth to each other. Speedy walked up to the door, kept chirping, and then walked right through when I opened the door up for her. It took them a little while and a few meal worms to come out this morning, but now we have a routine started. The chicken door is automatic, and my brother-in-law says that their chickens very quickly got used to going in when they knew the door was about the close. We have a storm coming through tonight, so we’ll probably herd them again this evening, but as quickly as these girls figured out how to escape the brooder pen after their first accidental escape, I’m sure they’ll figure out where it’s warm at night very soon.

Maggie with chicks — Maggie guards the chicks

Okay – Now it’s time to stop calling the youngest chick Speedy as I am determined to not name the chickens, especially not that one as there’s a possibility that she may not be a she! At some point, I will need to wrap my head around having a chicken in the crock pot! Maybe.

We still need to add the nesting boxes and paint the trim, but today has just turned into another rainy day. Our bodies are telling us that it’s time to take a day off from heavy lifting, and we need to mentally make the shift to our return from spring break!

Stay healthy, everyone, and we will try to do the same because life is just too good to miss on the farm.

Chickens · Construction · Gardening · Lazer Creek Apiary

All Cooped Up

March 27, 2020March 27, 2020 Lazer Creek Apiary

Like the rest of the world, we are self-isolating but lucky to be living less cooped up than our friends who live in apartments. We both continue to teach, but from a distance. I’m finally getting into a routine and after a round of parent emails, students have been busy making up work today!

But tomorrow is Saturday. Tomorrow we start building the chicken coop. But first, a greenhouse update from Hubby:

Greenhouse is back up and running after a year with improvements that should extend its life and usability. Tried to go cheap last year and used standard 6 mil poly plastic. Found it worked great for about 120 days. Then it totally disintegrated due to UV. This year I used real greenhouse poly which is UV protected and suppose to last 5 years. I also added a solar powered vent opener and “wiggle wire” fasteners around the bottom to keep the poly tight. ‘Maters already growing.

Even though the plastic turned brittle and tore easily by summer, the cattle panel greenhouse ended up being more energy efficient than our old pre-fab greenhouse. The gravel floor seems to help retain heat. We didn’t have many plants to overwinter this year as we got them all in the ground, so we didn’t need the greenhouse until spring planting time. I was going to plant fewer tomatoes and peppers this year, but with the way things are going right now have decided that more is better. We’d already planned to add more raised beds and we had the cinder-blocks delivered last week. The delivery man from Taylor-Foster Hardware and Hubby found it odd to not shake hands, but we are all practicing safe distancing.

Hubby also added an automatic window to the greenhouse. We may add one to the front next time around, but this year it’s easy enough to open the door when it’s hot and close it in the evenings, especially as we go up to the RV to visit our chicks in their temporary home whenever we need a computer break.

Because we have so much going on, we’d decided to wait until next year to get chickens. Then schools closed for a week, then two weeks, then…… So, we now have 3 chicks in the RV and a friend has offered up 2 laying hens as soon as we have the coop built. Maggie is fascinated by the chicks and they are now used to having big brown doggie eyes staring at them. Just like the house site, we’ve changed our minds more times than we can count as to where to place the coop but have decided to place it close to the greenhouse with the two plastic compost bins between the two.

Meanwhile, a string of too warm days and 23 degree nights took its toll on our bees, but they are recovering. We hope we won’t have another hard freeze. Even if we do, the queens are laying like crazy and every hive is crowded now, so they’d survive. Very few bees are visiting syrup feeders this week, so they must be finding real nectar out there somewhere. We have the first blackberry and clover blossoms, but I haven’t seen bees on either yet.

We sincerely hope that all our readers remain healthy. These are worrying times, and I feel so blessed to have 20 acres of stress relief right outside our door. Stay safe. Stay healthy. Our thoughts are with you.