It's never dull on the Modees funny farm. We have lots of news to share with the garden coming into its own, chicken additions, and a few uninvited guests.
It was excruciatingly hot here this last week in the Northwest with a very long heat wave. With the chicken craze in Portland a few chickens in the area didn't make it- poor chickens don't have very good cooling systems. Our chickens all made it with lots of panting and chilled watermelon to keep them hydrated.
And what do you do when its too hot for the chickens you have . . . get another- of course! Introducing Muppet! She is a Silkie bantam breed which means she's uber fluffy and will always small. Muppet has blackish purple skin, a navy blue beak, a white mohawk, and turquoise ears (look at the fuzzy head shot and you can barely see it). She came with her name from the feed store where we purchased her and we tried a few others- Yeti, Stuffy, Poof . . . but Little Miss Muppet seemed to fit fine. When she waddles away she looks a lot like Gizmo from Gremlins.
The chickens, and by chickens I really mean Gladys, had a little difficulty accepting her into the flock. I guess I just thought I'd bring her home and Mike and the girls would fall in love with her and welcome her with open wings. Wrong. Day one- Mike loves her but is a little irritated with me for showing up with yet another chicken. Gladys pecks her many times hard on the head and bites her bumper tearing out a few feathers. Day two- Mike gets on board and falls in love. Gladys chases her around the yard and nips her until she flees to the highest perch in the coop. Never mind that it's 105 degrees and heat rises . . . all that insulating fluff- oye. Day three- Gladys won't let Muppet leave the coop upon punishment of chasing. Day four- Muppet is allowed to leave three times and makes it to one small section of the yard where she manages to share a breakfast of worms and dirt with the two big girls. In the evening we left them for a dinner party and when we returned Muppet had finally been let into the hen house and there they all slept in a row on the perch- awe. I guess Gladys finally figured out that the humans brought Muppet home and as Chicken-Gods and Giver-of-all-Chickeny-Goodness she better get in line!
Felix loves his chickens! He got into a fight with a neighbor chicken defending the girls- yeah, he's finally earning his keep.
It was excruciatingly hot here this last week in the Northwest with a very long heat wave. With the chicken craze in Portland a few chickens in the area didn't make it- poor chickens don't have very good cooling systems. Our chickens all made it with lots of panting and chilled watermelon to keep them hydrated.
And what do you do when its too hot for the chickens you have . . . get another- of course! Introducing Muppet! She is a Silkie bantam breed which means she's uber fluffy and will always small. Muppet has blackish purple skin, a navy blue beak, a white mohawk, and turquoise ears (look at the fuzzy head shot and you can barely see it). She came with her name from the feed store where we purchased her and we tried a few others- Yeti, Stuffy, Poof . . . but Little Miss Muppet seemed to fit fine. When she waddles away she looks a lot like Gizmo from Gremlins.
The chickens, and by chickens I really mean Gladys, had a little difficulty accepting her into the flock. I guess I just thought I'd bring her home and Mike and the girls would fall in love with her and welcome her with open wings. Wrong. Day one- Mike loves her but is a little irritated with me for showing up with yet another chicken. Gladys pecks her many times hard on the head and bites her bumper tearing out a few feathers. Day two- Mike gets on board and falls in love. Gladys chases her around the yard and nips her until she flees to the highest perch in the coop. Never mind that it's 105 degrees and heat rises . . . all that insulating fluff- oye. Day three- Gladys won't let Muppet leave the coop upon punishment of chasing. Day four- Muppet is allowed to leave three times and makes it to one small section of the yard where she manages to share a breakfast of worms and dirt with the two big girls. In the evening we left them for a dinner party and when we returned Muppet had finally been let into the hen house and there they all slept in a row on the perch- awe. I guess Gladys finally figured out that the humans brought Muppet home and as Chicken-Gods and Giver-of-all-Chickeny-Goodness she better get in line!
Felix loves his chickens! He got into a fight with a neighbor chicken defending the girls- yeah, he's finally earning his keep.
The little girls are growing very slooowwwllly. We were hoping to have complete integration and chicken harmony in a week or two but they just aren't big enough . . . maybe next month. Until then the garden is sectioned off into the back orchard area for them, the veggie garden for humans only, and the rest of the yard for the three big girls.
The garden is really flourishing! The tomatoes are turning red, little sprouts are forming on the brussels, I found a zucchini the size of my calf yesterday, and all the onions and garlic are out of the ground. Here are pictures of the few strawberries that the slugs left, some corn we planted late, my proud cucumbers, and some apples that will be delicious in the fall!
The garden is really flourishing! The tomatoes are turning red, little sprouts are forming on the brussels, I found a zucchini the size of my calf yesterday, and all the onions and garlic are out of the ground. Here are pictures of the few strawberries that the slugs left, some corn we planted late, my proud cucumbers, and some apples that will be delicious in the fall!
The newly planted fall garden is sprouted with baby bok choi, broccoli, carrots, and napa cabbage. One thing that is not growing well are the darn fennel bulbs and kale. I've planted three times, 24 seeds each time, and only five have come up. Even the kale was planted twice and here is the only survivor out of five seeds. Any ideas? At least with all this heat we have managed to grow okra (left row in the middle picture)!
One more adventure- with chicken and veggie stability I set out to clean a few parts of the yard where we had put excess soil, straw, and general crud. Well boy did I start in the wrong place. One second there was a buzzing in my ear and then ouch! I discovered a huge underground yellow jacket nest. Stung three times, I ran into the house where I found two bees in my hair!!! Heebeejeebees!!!!! Chickens eat dirt and with cats and veggies we opted for an organic extermination method. While pricey (2x) it uses an organic/ safe/ non pesticide foam to smother the hive within a day and kill the queen= no more bees. The exterminator arrives at 7 am tomorrow- can't wait.
Lessons~ 1) don't put a hoe into a yellow jacket nest. 2) Scavenger yellow jackets are the only bee/ social wasp that has no beneficial insect qualities. They do not pollinate but rather eat rotting fruit and meat while randomly biting and stinging those who get in their way. By late summer they are aggressive so don't mess around and call the professionals. 3) chickens definitely have a pecking order. This is determined through subtle and violent ways. Any new addition or loss causes a disturbance in the force. The way we opted to go about chicken integration is place them in the same coop at night when everyone is sleepy and blind (chickens can't see in the dusk let alone dark). Then we stood by at dawn scolding any pecks to show we were the CHICKEN DEITIES. Then we just had to let them work it through pecking and chasing. Luckily there was no blood but it can happen- the worst stories involve scalping . . . (shiver). 4) Chickens don't have sweat glands and so their only means of cooling is through their waddles, feet, and combs. When it gets crazy hot every degree helps so here is a list of things that will each reduce the temp by a couple degrees: put the coop in shade, have plants around the coop, hose down the area, place frozen water bottles to perch or lay on, place a box fan to blow out the hot air, give frozen or chilled treats like watermelon to hydrate them, put ice cubes in their water, and/or in worst cases spray a mist on them or dunk them in cold water. When they get distressed over the heat they take a dust bath to get moist soil in between their feathers and onto their skin, pant like a dog, slow to a stand still, and finally at the end keel over.
One more adventure- with chicken and veggie stability I set out to clean a few parts of the yard where we had put excess soil, straw, and general crud. Well boy did I start in the wrong place. One second there was a buzzing in my ear and then ouch! I discovered a huge underground yellow jacket nest. Stung three times, I ran into the house where I found two bees in my hair!!! Heebeejeebees!!!!! Chickens eat dirt and with cats and veggies we opted for an organic extermination method. While pricey (2x) it uses an organic/ safe/ non pesticide foam to smother the hive within a day and kill the queen= no more bees. The exterminator arrives at 7 am tomorrow- can't wait.
Lessons~ 1) don't put a hoe into a yellow jacket nest. 2) Scavenger yellow jackets are the only bee/ social wasp that has no beneficial insect qualities. They do not pollinate but rather eat rotting fruit and meat while randomly biting and stinging those who get in their way. By late summer they are aggressive so don't mess around and call the professionals. 3) chickens definitely have a pecking order. This is determined through subtle and violent ways. Any new addition or loss causes a disturbance in the force. The way we opted to go about chicken integration is place them in the same coop at night when everyone is sleepy and blind (chickens can't see in the dusk let alone dark). Then we stood by at dawn scolding any pecks to show we were the CHICKEN DEITIES. Then we just had to let them work it through pecking and chasing. Luckily there was no blood but it can happen- the worst stories involve scalping . . . (shiver). 4) Chickens don't have sweat glands and so their only means of cooling is through their waddles, feet, and combs. When it gets crazy hot every degree helps so here is a list of things that will each reduce the temp by a couple degrees: put the coop in shade, have plants around the coop, hose down the area, place frozen water bottles to perch or lay on, place a box fan to blow out the hot air, give frozen or chilled treats like watermelon to hydrate them, put ice cubes in their water, and/or in worst cases spray a mist on them or dunk them in cold water. When they get distressed over the heat they take a dust bath to get moist soil in between their feathers and onto their skin, pant like a dog, slow to a stand still, and finally at the end keel over.
No comments:
Post a Comment