Ups and Downs

Good afternoon, Chics! We've been busy in the gardens and with the chickens. It looks like we'll have a pretty successful year if things stay on track in the garden. The chickens are causing some headaches but we're working through some troubleshooting and hope to be back on track soon.

I told you about our buffer zone garden last time. Y'all, it is getting big fast! We have planted corn, lentils, peas, sunflowers, and sunchokes. I also planted some herbs in cinderblocks but haven't seen any germinate yet so will have to replant them next week. We have several trees in there as well, including: crepe myrtle, apple, bald cypress, and a willow. The chickens follow me up and down the fence line impatiently waiting as I pull weeds or thin crops. 

Before I get to the new gardens, let me tell you what is going on with the chickens. I mentioned last time that we had to separate Henrietta from the other chickens after she was attacked. I'm happy to report that Henrietta is healing. Her tail feathers have come in nicely and she is out pecking and scratching most of the day. Her foot appears to have been broken during the attack but she has learned to get around despite it. She now has six coop mates because those hens would not stop sleeping in the nesting boxes. We tried blocking the nests but they were determined and we would find them back in there each morning. 

Our egg count is suffering and we are not sure why. Our first step was to move those six hens to the other coop. Yesterday I found two eggs in there so that's a positive. The next step we took was to change the way we feed them. We had started to wet their food at night and the chickens loved it but they ate all of their food first thing in the morning and we were concerned it might be hurting egg production so today we started feeding dry again. The thinking on this is that they will have access to food all day. That is if they didn't devour it all when my son put it out this morning. I'll look later. 

The third step we are taking is to get rid of two more roosters. We currently have five roosters and forty-five hens. The advice we found is to have one rooster per ten hens and since we don't NEED roosters we've decided to drop to three. One of the remaining roosters is the boss, the second is Bumble and we couldn't possibly get rid of him, and the third is too beautiful to sell. If we aren't successful selling the roosters we will separate them in the chicken tractor and fatten them up for dinner. 

Back to the gardens... Yesterday we harvested our mesclun and collard greens because they were starting to bolt. We now have several gardens and I am happy to report that they are all seeded and planted. For now. There are still tomato and pepper seedlings in the greenhouse and today I'll be seeding trays with different peppers and flowers. I also seeded mangoes today and will attempt to grow mango trees. Why not? 

The most interesting addition to the yard is the medicine wheel. I'm glad I told my neighbor that I was going to build one because he might think it is some kind of pagan alter otherwise. It is going to be absolutely amazing when all of the seeds come up. 

What have you been working on, Chics? Leave us a comment below and tell us about your projects. See you next time!