Happy Solstice, Happy Winter!

The latest improvement at the place is this barn that is going up around and over the chicken coop.

Our micro-barn/chicken coop
Still under construction but functional.
The chicken wire behind and above the picket fencing is there, but not visible.

In the past we have just been putting tarps over the pen and the coop during the winter months to keep it clear of snow and a bit warmer, but it has always been ugly, wet anyway, and awkward to work under.
With this structure we have plenty of head room to walk upright and it will keep the area dry.  The barn, as I am calling it, is made from all reclaimed materials and a few posts of downed trees from the woods here, except for the roofing material, which is corrugated fiberglass, which I purchased new.
It's is way expensive but I love the light it lets in.  We have been using it for years around here and so far it has held up well to the heavy snow loads and falling acorns and branches and the UV.
Another nice thing is that the LED rope lights that I have hung in there, solar charged, have their light dispersed and reflected by the fiberglass, so the whole place glows at night.  It helps when we go in there after dark.
We are thinking of using the glass panels from reclaimed sliding doors to close up the sides this winter.  Eventually I think drop down fabric shades will be the choice for the walls.  These can be easily raised and lowered seasonally.
I still have some finish work to do on the barn but it can do it's job as it is.  The mild season so far has allowed me to enjoyably get this job done even though I started it late.
Happy Solstice.

Asparagus!

Asparagus season has ended for us here already.  It was great while it lasted but now the plants are tall ferny things that lean over from their own weight and give something nice to look at in that corner of the garden.  We added about 6 new asparagus plants this year and at least 2 of them have sprouted.

The first strawberries have begun to blush and we may even get some soon if the new young chipmunk I was doesn't get to them first.

The potatoes we planted have all come up and look very healthy.  We put some more in the lower garden yesterday.

This year we have found a bit of return plants coming up on their own.  We have kale, tomato, sunchokes of course, ground cherry, squash, sunflowers, and of course all the standards, mustard, red mustard, lamb's quarter, dandelion, and more I am sure we will discover later.

The hens are all doing well.  A few of them are fond of the Sunchokes so we cut them up and feed them to them.  I never knew that chickens really like apples.

I don't think the fig tree really made it thru the winter the way we wrapped it.  There are a few small green buds on it in one place and we are thinking of letting it get thru the summer to get it's self a bit stronger and then transplant it into a pot and take it inside for the winter.  It may do better that way and we could put another cherry tree in it's spot.

We added a grape vine and two blueberry bushes to the family.  They seem to be doing ok so far.  The other 2 grape vines have little tiny grapes on them.  Very exciting.

This summer I hope to build a new and improved woodshed for our fire wood, one that actually looks nice as well as being functional.  Right now I am working on a woodshed in the work yard for all the milled wood that I have.

Lots of little garter snakes out right now.  They are kind of funny, some skittish others more social.  The dog likes to entertain herself by chasing them.

I've been using the SolarShower for bathing in the bath house in the afternoons, after the water has been heated by the sun and after I have worked all day getting dirty.  It is a very refreshing and comfortable thing to have the whole of the bath house to bath in and no furnace running to heat the water.

It's the best time of year right now.  This is the time that if you were given the chance to go somewhere, this is where you'd pick to go.  No need to head to the beach or anywhere else really.  We love it here at this time.

corrEGGtion

We discovered that the hens have not really slowed egg laying production, but that they have just changed location.  They seem to be happier laying in "wild nests" that they make elsewhere on the property.  I am not sure why that is and have completely cleaned out the coop to see if any mice, snakes,,,,,,where hiding in there or if the place was just not welcoming to them.  I think they are just outdoorsy kind of girls and like doing things their own way.  So now I follow them around a bit and do an egg hunt occasionally if it seems that we are missing some of the eggs.  Kind of like having easter egg hunts every day!

The chickens are a never ending source of entertainment.

The Hens

Something like 440 eggs to date from the 6 hens we have living with us.  They started laying in August(?), ya, I think it was August.  For a few weeks it was an egg or two a day and a few malformed at that.  Then about 2 weeks after the first egg arrived we were getting a good 5 or 6 a day.  Just this last week the laying rate has slowed.  I attribute this to the shortness of the day and the cold setting in.

The Brown leg horns were the most inconsistent, and the last to start laying, but they are the ones still laying now. The Red sex link were the first to lay and the most consistent, but were the first to stop laying.  The Tetra's are still laying, but miss every so often.

Having the 3 pairs of hens makes it easy to keep track of who's doing what, it makes it pretty easy to keep a count while working out in the yard and being aware of predators.

We have had our share of predators around.  Hawks sometimes circle but the "girls" take to the wineberry bushes and the dog keeps watch.  One day I caught a Fox about 10 feet from one of the girls, and chased him into the woods.  That was months ago and we haven's seen him since.

We have been feeding them a cup of organic grain/feed in the morning and again in the evening.  They usually finish this, although sometimes they leave a bit in the evening.  During the day the birds are truly free range and can roam as far as they want to.  On occasion I have gone out and herded them back closer to the house but only when I was concerned for their welfare.  They do tend to find thickets to hang out in during the day, especially when it was hot out.  I often just leave the dog out to sit up on the hill and keep watch.  Reminds me of the old Looney Tunes cartoon with the sheep dog and the coyote.

The girls have gotten to know my call to them and come running when I go out and call them.  I do this at mid day when I bring them a snack, usually of corn on the cob, in season, and now dried corn from the summer mixed with sunflower seeds and ground cherries, apple cores.....During the summer when there is plenty for them to forage, I give them less, but now there is not much out there and they need the energy to keep warm, so I give them a bit more.

With the cost of the feed we are spending under five cents and egg, or were when laying was more regular.  Maybe with the winter laying being less we might safely average about spending twice that.  Still ten cents an egg is pretty good in my figuring.

I'd love to get them to eat some of the sun chokes that grow here in large amounts.  Those and the ground cherries grow here like weeds so to get them to feed the hens would be wonderful.  I might try making a mash out of them and see how they like it.

Le deuxieme oeuf

I almost missed it!  Thinking about it, it is pretty easy to tell when a hen is about to lay.  Just like any mother to be she is a bit agitated and she settles into her laying box.  I am very happy that she is using the nesting boxes.  So far one egg at one end of the coop and the second on the opposite side.

The second egg!

It is all very strange.  I still don't like the idea of taking their offspring but I also don't know any of the eggs to be fertile, even though we think Chestnut to be a rooster.

The eggs are small, about 2/3 the size of the eggs we get from our local farm.

double gates yet to be painted.

I built the gates day before yesterday and got the hinges put on yesterday.  I am pleased with the result.  Hope to paint later today.  Funny that the chickens can actually fit thru the balustrades but choose not to.

August brings!?? Egg.

This morning Betty was staying in the coup when all the rest of the girls were out foraging, as usual.  When I went to find out how she was, I saw that she was scratching around in the nest boxes and in the last box was this little brown egg.

The chickens have become hens
well, at least one of them has.
Our first egg.

In truth, I myself am not that interested in eating the eggs.  I have become less inclined to eat any kind of animal food over the years.  Eggs, if there is no rooster around to fertilize them, are not going to become animals, and are in fact just food for somebody yet, a snake, worms, plants (in the form or rot or compost), and even for the hens themselves.  So, why not people?  This starts to become something better discussed on my "ReasonablePath" blog.
So now the little garden is a step closer toward being a micro farm.
We still don't know if Chestnut is a hen or a rooster.  That bird is just larger, with more plumage and seems to lead the others.  Seems like a rooster, but I don't know.
I candled the egg with a flashlight but couldn't even see a yolk.  We gotta get more straw for the boxes and more calcium in the birds diet.

New railing

Learning as we go with the chickens.  Free range, they certainly are.  But that means that they are Free to range, but not that they have free range over all of our spaces.  Cleaning up after them is a bit tedious when they often seem to want to hang out where we are, on non grass or dirt areas.  So instead of penning them in, we are penning us in, or them out, or what ever.  Free range chickens and chicken free range seem to be important items to keep a home happy.  In the morning we can have our coffee at the table and the "girls can be within reach, close enough to make them happy, seemingly.

New railing to create a "chicken free" area.

 The funny thing was that this space seemed to be a bit small and not quite useful before I put up the railing.  Now it seems to add space to the rest of the house and makes it feel grand in size.  Strange.  I guess we needed a defining line between our space and the rest of the place.

By limiting the space with the new railing the space seemed to get bigger.
Weird.

I made the railing out of scrap material, some old decking.  I even reused the old stainless steel nails.  I decided to buy the hinges and latch (not in the picture) so that the hole thing would have a nice finish to it.  The dog has to be let in and out of the gate now, but that isn't to much trouble.  Every once in a while a chicken will decide she has to come over, or thru the fencing.  The funny thing is that once they get in they immediately start making noise, letting me know that they are where they are no supposed to be.  Between me and the dog we chase them out.  I usually have to open the gate, even though they didn't need it to get in.  Go figure.