Learning to live well on a budget
Follow along while I learn new skills and get creative raising my kids on a limited budget.
This is our back yard. It was once free for the chickens to enjoy but this year we built a little fence to enclose our garden, patio and clothes line area to keep it chicken (and scat) free. It feels great to have a little space to myself! The lawn is trying very hard to rebound from the chickens spring rampage. (you can read all about it in my previous blog!) I moved the raised beds, and the ground is tilled and un-planted. I have big plans for the kids to help me plant for mother's day. Land of possibilities!
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Chickens penned up with no place to go: Hawks and yard devastation = an unhappy- but safe flock5/9/2015 While the chickens pace back and forth and beg in their native chicken tongue for me to "let my people go" I know I am doing right by not letting them free range. It breaks my heart to literally coop them up, but we have had a wild ride in this, the first early spring that I have lived with my chickens. Last year at this time they were fluffy balls of down sitting in a box in my family room. This year they are full grown and have showed me the full super powers of their grazing abilities. When winter passed so early here in the north the chickens were grateful, and I was happy that they could get out and dig around for early bugs, but what I wasn't banking on was the destruction they were doing to our lawn. Every time a blade of grass would try to green up it was gobbled up by the chickens, desperate for those spring greens. The yard didn't stand a chance against the league of 9 ravaging it! It had gotten to the point where we had just a barren patch of earth with dust and mud. They ate it all and what they didn't eat, they dug out! I guess that is something you have to learn the hard way. No one ever tells you about that. So, a little advice from one newb to the next, be careful about letting them onto your lawn before the lawn is established or it will be destroyed! We have since planted seed and it is slowly coming in, but we are a long way from anything I would consider lush. Another issue we have been dealing with is that there is a healthy hawk population in our area all of a sudden. I don't know if their presence has anything to do with the plotting of a hen heist or what? One afternoon there were 15 hawk doing circles over our yard! It was crazy, I have never seen anything like it! They often do a slow "drive by" very low over the yard and scope out the situation, see if the hens are out. The hens had stopped laying almost completely and I read that the stress of having predators constantly around makes their production really low. Since we have cooped them up they have begun laying again, so although they are stuck in their run all day and can't roam free, I know they are safe and we are getting eggs. In the future we will be looking to extend the run so they have a little more space. As a chicken farmer, their safety and egg production is my main priority. "CLUCK! FREE THE BIRDS! CLUCK!"
Recycle your egg shells, add calcium and minerals to your chicken's diet (and your diet too)12/21/2014 Egg shells are comprised of mostly calcium and other minerals, and they are great for your chickens, and you too! It's an easy cost effective way to supplement your chickens diet, or add some to a smoothie for a calcium boost for yourself. -Simply wash and bake your egg shells for 5-10 minutes at 350 degrees. (I write the days the eggs were laid on them with a wax marking pen that is non-toxic. It doesn't wash off, but I don't worry about it.) -After they are cool, put them in a plastic bag and crush them up. -Put the crushed pieces in the coffee grinder, and grind away. This batch I left a little grainy so it would mix well with the chicken feed. If I was making this batch for myself, I would have ground it more finely so it would mix well in liquids.
Waste not, want not! The long days of summer have long since passed and even Halloween seems like ages ago. There is a mid-November snow on the ground, and it was a shock to my spring chickens! They didn't know what to think, didn't want to venture out of the coop. Can you blame them? Hopefully they will eventually take some strolls out into the fresh air. Their coop gate is open during the day, but not many decide to stray out of the run. Free ranging just isn't as fun anymore.
In other news we lost one of our girls a couple weeks ago. It was before the temp dropped below freezing so I'm pretty sure it wasn't the temperature, still, that is little comfort since I don't know what else it could have been. There was no sign of any accident or harm from a predator. There were no outward signs of ill health, she just crawled under the coop and went to sleep. Even her eyes were closed. It was a sad day, but I take comfort in knowing that her life consisted of a summer full of free ranging in the back yard with her sisters, and she never had to suffer the burden of a long harsh winter. Going forward with my flock, I serve them one warm meal right before bed. They just love oatmeal, and I like to put some protein in with it, whether it be a couple eggs, or leftovers of some kind. They get excited about it, and it gets them out of the way while I clean up the coop and collect the eggs. I have devised a system for keeping the hen house dry and so far so good. I have read that the humidity caused by the fecal matter can cause them to get frost bite. The coop it'self is two stories. The lower half is where the food, water and brooding boxes are. We have hay down there which is changed weekly. Most of the time they spend in the coop is spent on the second story "bedroom" where they like to sleep. I have lined that with newspaper that I change out daily. This keeps the moisture down, and keeps them clean. (newspaper is a bad idea for baby chicks as it can cause spraddle leg, but for the full grown chickens, it's no danger.) We are also partially heating the coop with a brooding lamp that only kicks on when it drops below 35 degrees, and turns off at 45 degrees. We have a plastic heated waterer that keeps the water from freezing. Even with all of the precautions, I worry about them out there, especially since losing one. I know it's silly to get attached to livestock, but it's hard not to when they are hand raised. One hen has gone broody. She lays upstairs all day, it worries me a bit. I deliver a little food for her now and then. I hope she snaps out of it. If it were spring or summer I would be tempted to find her a fertilized egg to hatch, but with winter setting in the chick would surely die, so I will just pray for the best and wait it out. I think as much as I love the four seasons, it will be nice for us all when we can one again watch our hens hunt the yard for that elusive earthworm or that tasty fresh clover. Surprise surprise, not a single slacker today! 10 chickens, and 10 eggs. I had to give them chicken treats for such a lovely day of work.... they anticipated it. Look who was at my gate when I came outside. But hey, what hard working chicken doesn't deserve a treat? You're gorgeous, ladies!
Buckets make quick and easy brooding boxes, and you can remove them for washing. My husband built a simple frame to hold them in place and stop them from rolling. Three on the bottom, two up top. Hoping they lay their eggs there so they are easy to find!
Look at what we found today- the first eggs! The white is a regular store bought egg, and the brown are from our chickens. Not sure which girls laid them, but excited. Perhaps one by an Orpington and one by a Barred Rock as they appear different? And it begins to pay off...
The girls are about full grown now, but still haven't seen any eggs. They will be 22 weeks old on Sept. 2nd, so soon if all goes as planned. They are so lovely and majestic, and a real treat to watch. They give us so much joy! They do get into trouble though, like eating mom's garden and flowers, and finding their way to the coop roof! But they have been so helpful as well. They have caught both a vole and a mouse. So surprised they are fast enough! They eat bugs and fertilize the lawn. Soon there will be eggs, and our partnership will be complete. Both parties give and take. It's beautiful. The coop is progressing and the chickens seem to like it. We finally collected enough tin cans to finish the "siding" (it's harder than you think! Most tin cans have a rounded bottom these days, but you need the kind with a bottom ring so you can remove both ends.) This is the view from inside the run. The walls are constructed but not sided yet. Here is the bottom floor. We used poultry feed bags as flooring to keep the wood dry. We are trying to make almost everything from recycled materials. The bottom floor looking to the left. Upper floor. View of second story when looking to the right. Chicken "staircase." Brooding box I made. Bedding is in, looks cozy! Clean and ready to go, now just waiting for night to fall. I snuck a picture of the upstairs patrons.. And our ladies who prefer the downstairs!
Get a good night sleep ladies. In a few weeks you will be producing eggs! My free ranging chickens were relentless about coming up on the patio to eat my flowers. We originally had some pots on the ground, eventually used the pink bricks to build them up a little higher- to no avail, and now finally built a high shelf for the pots to rest on. I knew they were less likely to reach them here, but shocked by how fast the flowers would rebound. The amount of blooms in just a week is astounding! The picture above was taken the day we built the shelf, and below is today. Look at how many blooms!
You really can have you cake and eat it too (as long as you can keep it away from the crazy birds!) |
-About Luna-
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