Monday, May 18, 2009
We are making progress with the farm,
My magnificent Great Pyrenees Nanuk, 8 years old now
My youngest chickens, about 5 week old now, almost fully feathered. I still bring them in the garage at night to make sure they don't get chilled and stay safe.
Mr. Handsome, Teddy is such a handsome boy, here he sits in the damp soil near the misters
Enya and Leydi under the misters, they have dug out an approximately 5 inch deep area that they are both sitting in on this picture, it provides a nice back support for them and because it is like a shallow pool, it fills with water when I water the trees at night and stays nice and moist during the day for extra cooling
Just a picture of the chicken yard that shows how nice and shady it is with the trees now
the fence is 6 feet, so that gives an idea how big the trees and bushes are getting. It's so nice to look outside and see trees or sit under them
This is a Tamarisk, also known as Salt Cedar, I had a few pop up on their own, it's illegal to plant them, and once they grow to about a foot high it's almost impossible to get rid of them unless one tries to dig them out. I have left this one alone because it grew where one of my other trees had died and is going to replace that tree.
some of the grass that grows around the trees
Picture of a few of some orchard grass plants, they seed stalks are over 3 feet tall
Buffy is my 2 year old Buff Orpington, she suffered a leg injury a few months ago, I believe that the rooster pushed her off the perch and that's how she got injured. She is getting around well, even has started again to go on and off the perches, she just can't run as fast as she used to, but there is no more noticable limp when she walks
Smokey the pullet, she is a real character, always underfoot and chattering away when I am around. It's really interesting that one out of 6 chicks that all had the same attention has turned out to be so much more sociable than the rest of them.
Another one of my Barred Rock pullets
Aren't they pretty? Just a couple more months or so and these girls should be laying some brown eggs
Another picture of Enya in the chicken yard.
I try to water the trees in the chicken yard during the hottest part of the day as it will provide plenty of wading pools for the chickens under the trees
My Texas Umbrella trees always have clusters of light lavender colored flowers in the spring, the smell is very intense and lasts for several weeks. Just when they are done flowering, my Texas Privot shrubs go into bloom and the air is once again filled with a flowery smell. Can't work all the time, have to stop and smell the flowers sometimes
Mister on the left, I use misters for the dogs and the chickens to keep them cool, it's really amazing what a little water can do, it is perfectly comfortable even in 110 degree heat to sit near the mister under a trea. I have tried it for the goats when I first got them, they didn't like it, so I took it down.
Fly traps, they work very well to catch hundreds, if not thousands of flies. I am also using some fly bait for fly control, which has been a challenge every year. This week I propped the gate to the goat pen open so the chickens can go in and have a feast on those nasty maggots that would otherwise turn into flies. Since I have 20 chickens roaming around right now, I am hoping this will help with the fly control that they have access to the goat pen.
The new stock tanks have been a hit with the dogs, of course the water never stays clean for very long as the dogs always hop in and out. I clean them out often, but usually the water looks murky already after a few hours.
I didn't get any kiddie pools this year, they are too difficult to keep clean and last year's pools started falling apart after about 3 months, so this year I started buying some stock tanks, this one holds 55 gallons, it's almost big enough for Kobi to swim in it.
another chicken enjoying a cool foot bath, that's Toby, my 2 year old Barred Leghorn.
chickens like to scratch around in some hay, so I use one of my old kiddie pools as a "hayscratch box", I just add some hay here and there and the chickens go in the pool to scratch around. I had to put a block in there to keep it from being blown away on high wind days.
Enya enjoys hanging out with the chickens, it feels good knowing somebody is watching over them to keep them safe. I use yoghurt containers to hold the chicken food and have it sitting inside another bowl to contain the spills as chickens are quite messy eaters. In the evenings when the chickens go to sleep I throw away the spillage and cover the yoghurt container either with a lid or just the bowl it sits in during the day, that way I am not leaving out a buffet for the mice and other critters that come and visit during the night. the container to the right is a little cooler I got for $ 1 at a recent yard sale, it was brand new and is now another water container for the chickens. This one works great as I can keep the top halfway closed during the day to shade the water, even when it was sitting out in the sun during the day when it is about 120 degrees in the sun the water was still cool in the afternoon. I cover it up at night so keep out the dirt.
Prince and Samantha make a good team, actually Prince usually has to do double duty as play partner, as I switch Sammie and Cici outside with him, Prince gets to play with both of his sisters in addition to Ayla or his mother joining in as well.
Prince is acting silly, he has really settled in nicely and is the sweet boy I imagined he would be when he was a little puppy
standing in cool water is a favority way to cool down for my hens, the only drawback is that they also like to drink that water and that chickens poop wherever they are, so I have to change that water several times a day to keep it clean
The chickens really keep their area totally weedfree, so I usually pick weeds elsewhere on the property and toss it over the fence to them, I have not needed to buy any more greens for them this summer as there are plenty of grasses and other weeds growing around the trees to supply the chickens with what they need. I think that's pretty cool.
Milo is munching on some fresh grasses
Here is Misty with a mouthful of fresh orchard grass. I am pretty excited that this year I have so much orchard grass and other grasses growing I can cut some for my goats almost every day. I didn't realize last year that the heavy grass that was growing was orchard grass, this year we have dozens of orchard grass clumps around the trees, the plant itself seems to be getting bigger every year, similar to pampas grass, just not quite that big. It seems like once it is established it is pretty hardy, for sure it cannot easily be removed. Some of the seed stalks on our orchard grass are already over 3 feet tall. I make sure that I leave some of the seed stalks in place so it can seed some more new plants. I have a lot of other grasses growing too, some looks like wild oats or something like that and most recently I noticed some Timothy grass, since there isn't much of it yet, I will just leave it alone so it can spread. It's hard to describe what it feels like when things start falling into place, and these grasses that have grown as a byproduct of my use of the goat manure mixed with straw and hay around the trees as mulch and fertilizer are definetely a step towards my goals. Now the water I use to water the trees also produces food for the goats as well as the chickens, and I have even seen some more wheat coming up in one corner of the property. I really need to buy some whole kernels of wheat and some sunflower seeds to spread around the trees to grow more of it.
2 of my one year old Ameraucana hens
One of my Ameraucana hens stealing some grass from my basket
I have 3 of these water bowls now, they are about 13 or 14 inches in diameter and as strange as it sounds, these bowls keep the water cool. We have had 105 degree temps here over the last week or so and I tested these bowls again, by noon the water still felt cool, now having been out in the sun since about 6.30 in the morning, if I leave the bowl alone and it gets a bit of shade for a couple hours in the afternoon, the water is still cool when I put my hand in it in the late afternoon. My guess is that the double wall is part of the trick to keep the water cool, as the outside wall shades the inside wall of the bowl. I have no other explanation for it. They are available from livestock supply companies and really don't even cost much.
Samantha and the chickens, she has been so good with them in the last few weeks, I was hoping she would grow out of her wanting to chase and play with them and it appears that she is getting to that age and all of a sudden she is very calm and appropriate around them.
One of my 3 month old Barred Rock pullets, this particular group of chicks is very personable and people oriented
My magnificent Great Pyrenees Nanuk, 8 years old now
My youngest chickens, about 5 week old now, almost fully feathered. I still bring them in the garage at night to make sure they don't get chilled and stay safe.
Mr. Handsome, Teddy is such a handsome boy, here he sits in the damp soil near the misters
Enya and Leydi under the misters, they have dug out an approximately 5 inch deep area that they are both sitting in on this picture, it provides a nice back support for them and because it is like a shallow pool, it fills with water when I water the trees at night and stays nice and moist during the day for extra cooling
Just a picture of the chicken yard that shows how nice and shady it is with the trees now
the fence is 6 feet, so that gives an idea how big the trees and bushes are getting. It's so nice to look outside and see trees or sit under them
This is a Tamarisk, also known as Salt Cedar, I had a few pop up on their own, it's illegal to plant them, and once they grow to about a foot high it's almost impossible to get rid of them unless one tries to dig them out. I have left this one alone because it grew where one of my other trees had died and is going to replace that tree.
some of the grass that grows around the trees Picture of a few of some orchard grass plants, they seed stalks are over 3 feet tall
Buffy is my 2 year old Buff Orpington, she suffered a leg injury a few months ago, I believe that the rooster pushed her off the perch and that's how she got injured. She is getting around well, even has started again to go on and off the perches, she just can't run as fast as she used to, but there is no more noticable limp when she walks
Smokey the pullet, she is a real character, always underfoot and chattering away when I am around. It's really interesting that one out of 6 chicks that all had the same attention has turned out to be so much more sociable than the rest of them.
Another one of my Barred Rock pullets
Aren't they pretty? Just a couple more months or so and these girls should be laying some brown eggs
Another picture of Enya in the chicken yard.
I try to water the trees in the chicken yard during the hottest part of the day as it will provide plenty of wading pools for the chickens under the trees
My Texas Umbrella trees always have clusters of light lavender colored flowers in the spring, the smell is very intense and lasts for several weeks. Just when they are done flowering, my Texas Privot shrubs go into bloom and the air is once again filled with a flowery smell. Can't work all the time, have to stop and smell the flowers sometimes
Mister on the left, I use misters for the dogs and the chickens to keep them cool, it's really amazing what a little water can do, it is perfectly comfortable even in 110 degree heat to sit near the mister under a trea. I have tried it for the goats when I first got them, they didn't like it, so I took it down.
Fly traps, they work very well to catch hundreds, if not thousands of flies. I am also using some fly bait for fly control, which has been a challenge every year. This week I propped the gate to the goat pen open so the chickens can go in and have a feast on those nasty maggots that would otherwise turn into flies. Since I have 20 chickens roaming around right now, I am hoping this will help with the fly control that they have access to the goat pen.
The new stock tanks have been a hit with the dogs, of course the water never stays clean for very long as the dogs always hop in and out. I clean them out often, but usually the water looks murky already after a few hours.
I didn't get any kiddie pools this year, they are too difficult to keep clean and last year's pools started falling apart after about 3 months, so this year I started buying some stock tanks, this one holds 55 gallons, it's almost big enough for Kobi to swim in it.
another chicken enjoying a cool foot bath, that's Toby, my 2 year old Barred Leghorn.
chickens like to scratch around in some hay, so I use one of my old kiddie pools as a "hayscratch box", I just add some hay here and there and the chickens go in the pool to scratch around. I had to put a block in there to keep it from being blown away on high wind days.
Prince and Samantha make a good team, actually Prince usually has to do double duty as play partner, as I switch Sammie and Cici outside with him, Prince gets to play with both of his sisters in addition to Ayla or his mother joining in as well.
Prince is acting silly, he has really settled in nicely and is the sweet boy I imagined he would be when he was a little puppy
standing in cool water is a favority way to cool down for my hens, the only drawback is that they also like to drink that water and that chickens poop wherever they are, so I have to change that water several times a day to keep it clean
The chickens really keep their area totally weedfree, so I usually pick weeds elsewhere on the property and toss it over the fence to them, I have not needed to buy any more greens for them this summer as there are plenty of grasses and other weeds growing around the trees to supply the chickens with what they need. I think that's pretty cool.
Milo is munching on some fresh grasses
Here is Misty with a mouthful of fresh orchard grass. I am pretty excited that this year I have so much orchard grass and other grasses growing I can cut some for my goats almost every day. I didn't realize last year that the heavy grass that was growing was orchard grass, this year we have dozens of orchard grass clumps around the trees, the plant itself seems to be getting bigger every year, similar to pampas grass, just not quite that big. It seems like once it is established it is pretty hardy, for sure it cannot easily be removed. Some of the seed stalks on our orchard grass are already over 3 feet tall. I make sure that I leave some of the seed stalks in place so it can seed some more new plants. I have a lot of other grasses growing too, some looks like wild oats or something like that and most recently I noticed some Timothy grass, since there isn't much of it yet, I will just leave it alone so it can spread. It's hard to describe what it feels like when things start falling into place, and these grasses that have grown as a byproduct of my use of the goat manure mixed with straw and hay around the trees as mulch and fertilizer are definetely a step towards my goals. Now the water I use to water the trees also produces food for the goats as well as the chickens, and I have even seen some more wheat coming up in one corner of the property. I really need to buy some whole kernels of wheat and some sunflower seeds to spread around the trees to grow more of it.
2 of my one year old Ameraucana hens
One of my Ameraucana hens stealing some grass from my basket
I have 3 of these water bowls now, they are about 13 or 14 inches in diameter and as strange as it sounds, these bowls keep the water cool. We have had 105 degree temps here over the last week or so and I tested these bowls again, by noon the water still felt cool, now having been out in the sun since about 6.30 in the morning, if I leave the bowl alone and it gets a bit of shade for a couple hours in the afternoon, the water is still cool when I put my hand in it in the late afternoon. My guess is that the double wall is part of the trick to keep the water cool, as the outside wall shades the inside wall of the bowl. I have no other explanation for it. They are available from livestock supply companies and really don't even cost much.
Samantha and the chickens, she has been so good with them in the last few weeks, I was hoping she would grow out of her wanting to chase and play with them and it appears that she is getting to that age and all of a sudden she is very calm and appropriate around them.
One of my 3 month old Barred Rock pullets, this particular group of chicks is very personable and people oriented 
Saturday, May 09, 2009
Summer heat and staying cool,
We had a little visitor today,
Here I caught the little bunny resting in the shade. They have been pretty bold lately coming on our property, since we have a lot of green stuff growing plus I water usually during the day, so they come to the "oasis". They are so small they jump through the chain link fencing. Sadly the dogs caught and killed one a week ago. Since the body disappeared I am assuming one of them ate it, which means that whoever ate it will probably have tapeworms in a few weeks.
Here is one of my 3 week old Black Jersey Giant chicks, I have them outside during the day as it gets too hot in the garage. Our temperatures have been around 105 lately, so the little chicks won't be cold outside, I actually make sure that misters are on every day and I wet the ground to provide some cooling. Hopefully we will all make it through the summer ahead of us, 105 is really not so bad, it's when the temps go up to 115 to 118 when everybody is struggling.
These chicks look like mini ostriches, they are supposed to get pretty big and all black with a green sheen. I can't wait to see them grow up. These chicks are a lot less active than my other ones were. this is very interesting, I think this breed also comes as a White Jersey Giant, so if they really lay bigger eggs I might get some of the white ones in the future.
These are my two Buff Orpington pullets, they are a little over 2 months old. Over the last 2 weeks I have integrated these young pullets with my existing flock and so far this is going very well. I took a gradual approach as I did in the past. Now I have 20 hens (I am hoping they are all hens) running around, they are quite the crowd. These 2 month olds are like little puppies following me around and crowding around me if they are scared of something. They seem to think I am their mother.
just gotta love those chickens, what nosey little birds they are
one of my 2 month old Barred Rock pullets
The youngsters usually stick together, my oldest hens are two years old now and all but one sleep in the same house at night, however two of my one year olds have recently started to sleep in the same house as the 2 year olds, which of course has created a lot of fighting over the best spots on the perches. One of my 2 year old Delawares was kicked off her spot and she has not tried to go up again for the last 3 days, she doesn't seem to be hurt physically, but she sure isn't trying to go up on the perches anymore, she goes and sits in a corner, so I have been picking her up when it gets dark and put her on the lowest perch so she doesn't sit on the ground.
Teddy and Nanuk, sharing a shady spot.
these pictures were taken a little over a week ago, the chicks' legs weren't all black yet, now they have this beautiful charcoal color.
interesting markings they have
the little group of 4
nothing wrong with the chick, she is just trying to warm up under the heat lamp
doesn't she look like I caught her doing something emberassing ?
We had a little visitor today,
Here I caught the little bunny resting in the shade. They have been pretty bold lately coming on our property, since we have a lot of green stuff growing plus I water usually during the day, so they come to the "oasis". They are so small they jump through the chain link fencing. Sadly the dogs caught and killed one a week ago. Since the body disappeared I am assuming one of them ate it, which means that whoever ate it will probably have tapeworms in a few weeks.
Here is one of my 3 week old Black Jersey Giant chicks, I have them outside during the day as it gets too hot in the garage. Our temperatures have been around 105 lately, so the little chicks won't be cold outside, I actually make sure that misters are on every day and I wet the ground to provide some cooling. Hopefully we will all make it through the summer ahead of us, 105 is really not so bad, it's when the temps go up to 115 to 118 when everybody is struggling.
These chicks look like mini ostriches, they are supposed to get pretty big and all black with a green sheen. I can't wait to see them grow up. These chicks are a lot less active than my other ones were. this is very interesting, I think this breed also comes as a White Jersey Giant, so if they really lay bigger eggs I might get some of the white ones in the future.
These are my two Buff Orpington pullets, they are a little over 2 months old. Over the last 2 weeks I have integrated these young pullets with my existing flock and so far this is going very well. I took a gradual approach as I did in the past. Now I have 20 hens (I am hoping they are all hens) running around, they are quite the crowd. These 2 month olds are like little puppies following me around and crowding around me if they are scared of something. They seem to think I am their mother.
just gotta love those chickens, what nosey little birds they are
one of my 2 month old Barred Rock pullets
The youngsters usually stick together, my oldest hens are two years old now and all but one sleep in the same house at night, however two of my one year olds have recently started to sleep in the same house as the 2 year olds, which of course has created a lot of fighting over the best spots on the perches. One of my 2 year old Delawares was kicked off her spot and she has not tried to go up again for the last 3 days, she doesn't seem to be hurt physically, but she sure isn't trying to go up on the perches anymore, she goes and sits in a corner, so I have been picking her up when it gets dark and put her on the lowest perch so she doesn't sit on the ground.
Teddy and Nanuk, sharing a shady spot.
these pictures were taken a little over a week ago, the chicks' legs weren't all black yet, now they have this beautiful charcoal color.
interesting markings they have
the little group of 4
nothing wrong with the chick, she is just trying to warm up under the heat lamp
doesn't she look like I caught her doing something emberassing ?