Sunday, June 13, 2021
Thursday, July 23, 2020
Chickens!
I have wanted chickens for years so starting last summer I started doing lots of research. I picked out the coop I wanted and got it ordered. It was delivered in March and then it was time to pick up the girls. Raising them from just a day old has been so fun! Here are their first pictures:
Mary is a Black Sex Link and is our largest girl. She's also one of our sweetest.
Nancy is a Sapphire Gem and is the prettiest of the flock. She is also incredibly sweet and kind.
Mamie and Martha are the twins. One was supposed to be an AmberLink and the other an ISA Brown but they look exactly alike except that Martha has a little bit longer tail. Martha is very friendly and always wants someone to pet her. Mamie is a little more reserved but will come to you if she thinks you have a treat!
Dolley is a Black Australorp. We were worried we were going to lose her when she was just a few days old. She wasn't doing very well and was really lagging behind everyone else with her activity and her growth. She pulled through and even though she is our smallest girl she is probably our bravest!
And finally, we have Eleanor! Eleanor is an Easter Egger. She is the top of the pecking order and is very protective of everyone. She's not the friendliest but she's so incredibly pretty that we let her get away with being a little bit of a diva!
The coop was made by Smoky Mountain Chicken Tractors and we absolutely love it. The only thing that I wish it had was a big enough run that I could stand up in there with them. It's only about 4' tall at the highest point. They are very social and always want to come see me when I come out. It would be really fun to be able to play with them all at the same time. As it is now I have to take them out one at a time. We are hoping at some point to be able to build a larger run that we can attach to their current one. Free ranging is really not an option for us as we have a very short fence around our yard and we have a huge amount of predators (eagles, owls, hawks, raccoons, foxes, and several feral cats) that would just love to have a chicken snack!
Mary is a Black Sex Link and is our largest girl. She's also one of our sweetest.
Nancy is a Sapphire Gem and is the prettiest of the flock. She is also incredibly sweet and kind.
Mamie and Martha are the twins. One was supposed to be an AmberLink and the other an ISA Brown but they look exactly alike except that Martha has a little bit longer tail. Martha is very friendly and always wants someone to pet her. Mamie is a little more reserved but will come to you if she thinks you have a treat!
Dolley is a Black Australorp. We were worried we were going to lose her when she was just a few days old. She wasn't doing very well and was really lagging behind everyone else with her activity and her growth. She pulled through and even though she is our smallest girl she is probably our bravest!
And finally, we have Eleanor! Eleanor is an Easter Egger. She is the top of the pecking order and is very protective of everyone. She's not the friendliest but she's so incredibly pretty that we let her get away with being a little bit of a diva!For their first brooder I made a mistake and started out with something way too small!!
They quickly grew out of that brooder and I had to find an extra large bin to keep them in until they had all their feathers and it was staying warm enough at night for them to move out to their new home. I would recommend starting with something way bigger than you think you need!! This was the setup I ended up with that kept them safe and warm until they were about 7 weeks old when I moved them out to their permanent home. When I needed to clean the bigger brooder (usually every three days) I moved them into the smaller one you see with the window screen on top of it. It wasn't long at all before they were jumping up on the edge of the brooder and trying to escape so we fashioned a cover out of a window screen and a piece of hardware cloth. I didn't want to spend a bunch of money on this temporary housing. It wasn't very pretty but it got the job done!!
They got a couple of field trips out to the backyard using a dog pen and a sheet on top to keep them from escaping prior to the big move. The loved it out there! Peanut also enjoyed himself because he got a much closer look at these things that had been making so much noise.
The coop was made by Smoky Mountain Chicken Tractors and we absolutely love it. The only thing that I wish it had was a big enough run that I could stand up in there with them. It's only about 4' tall at the highest point. They are very social and always want to come see me when I come out. It would be really fun to be able to play with them all at the same time. As it is now I have to take them out one at a time. We are hoping at some point to be able to build a larger run that we can attach to their current one. Free ranging is really not an option for us as we have a very short fence around our yard and we have a huge amount of predators (eagles, owls, hawks, raccoons, foxes, and several feral cats) that would just love to have a chicken snack!
The girls are all 19 weeks old today and when I went out to check on them I discovered that we got our first eggs!! I think they probably belong to Mary and Nancy since they have the reddest and largest combs so far. But...the others aren't too far behind.
I'm really excited to see Eleanor's eggs. They should probably be somewhere between the blue and green spectrum. I'm really enjoying these girls so much and so glad that I finally took the plunge!! Here are some random pictures taken recently so you can see how much they've grown.
Here's Eleanor coming to see if I have any treats for her! I just love her fluffy cheeks!!
There's Mary with her beautiful feathers and nice comb!
Here's Nancy - she's so pretty with her lavender feathers! They all love the dust bins so I had to put in three so they would have enough - they spend the warm afternoons in them. The sand helps to keep them cool and they love taking dust baths. If you've never seen a chicken take a dust bath, check it out on YouTube - it's pretty funny to watch!!
Here are the twins - Martha and Mamie - messing around with the veggie scraps they got that morning.
The smaller black one in the back of this picture with the pretty tail feathers is Dolley.
Wednesday, June 24, 2020
2020 Garden
March 8 - Seed Starts
Elderberry Cuttings Received!!
March 15 - Seed starts progress
Green Arrow Peas - directly sown
March 22
Little bit of lettuce popping up!
Green Arrow Peas are doing great!!
Little radishes popping out too!
March 30 - Elderberries are leafing out!
April 5 - getting all the outdoor containers ready to go!
April 11 - Time to start hardening off the seedlings!
May 5 - Rhododendron has blossomed!!
May 17
The lettuce are finally taking off!
The Tom Thumb Peas are a success and have put out their first pods!
The Green Arrow Peas have grown significantly!
The Parsley was damaged by a late frost but it recovering
Tomato bins
Daikon Radish
May 20
The first harvest from the Tom Thumb Peas. They were small but so delicious!! Next year I will be planting a lot of these little guys!
May 31
First Green Arrow Pea harvest - these were really tasty. Steamed for just a couple minutes and they were perfect!
June 24
The Tom Thumb Peas were starting to get too hot so I moved them to a shady part of the porch. I'm hoping to keep them going until the fall so I can get another harvest out of them.
The lettuces are doing really well. The tall ones are Arugula - I'm trying to get them to go to seed. The shorter ones are several smaller varieties.
This is the Tom Thumb Lettuce - it's very tasty and has been growing very well in this shabby part of my garden.
These are the Rocky Top Lettuce variety. They are growing really well too. I like the variety - almost like the spring mix you can get at the grocery.
I've got one little strawberry trying to grow - I just don't have the heart to remove the plant so I continue to watch and root it on! LOL!
The Purslane was doing great until about a week ago when part of it started dying off. But I have lots of new growth occurring too so I'm going to hang on and see what it does.
I had some bugs eating my pepper leaves but I seem to have that under control now and over the last week they have started really growing. Haven't seen any peppers yet but I've got my fingers crossed.
These are the Green Arrow Peas. They do not like heat so it's time to pull them out and put in some beans. Once the beans are done I will plant some more peas from some seed that I saved.
These are some bush beans that I wasn't sure were going to make it after our last frost but they seem to coming to life over the last couple weeks.
These are a couple tomato plants I started from seed that looked like they didn't make it after that last frost but they are now doing pretty good. Unfortunately I used a water soluble ink to write on my plant markers (*headbang*) so I have no idea what varieties these are! I'm hoping that when they put out fruit I will be able to identify them. There is some celery companion planted in there with them but it doesn't seem to be growing very big.
This is my best cabbage plant. I can't wait to see how much bigger it gets.
These are some carrot seed that I had left over from a couple years ago. I wasn't sure it would germinate but they seem to be doing pretty good.
These are some DAR Cucumbers from Baker Creek. I'm really looking forward to seeing those blossoms turn into some yummy cukes!
In front of the cucumbers are some scallions and marigolds.
This is that parsley that I almost lost after our last freeze. It's doing great and I've harvested from it a couple times already.
This is a cilantro that I started from some old seed. Again, I wasn't sure it would germinated but it did. However, it is trying to flower out and it's not even very big yet. I'm going to pinch those flower buds off and hopefully that will get the plant to put more energy to its leaves.
This is some dill I planted from that old seed too. It is so incredibly small right now - I'm not sure if it will actually make it.
These are the daikon radishes. They are just about ready to harvest and then I can put in another round of them.
This is the only turnip that made it. The seed was from several years ago so I'm surprised I got this one to germinate!
This is some Purple Kohlrabi. It was a free seed that I got from Baker Creek. I've never grown this before nor eaten it. You are supposed to sow it every three weeks. I'll be putting more in this weekend.
This is one of the bigger Marigolds. Most of the seeds I put in sprouted but they are all pretty small. This one for some reason is growing really big.
This is one of my Jalapeño plants and a Jigsaw Pepper. These were also attacked by bugs early on but have been doing much better the last couple weeks.
These are my Kales. I have harvested from them once and need to do another harvest.
This is my Beefsteak Tomato. It was one of the plants I bought to replace the tomatoes I started from seed that didn't survive that last frost. I've got several good looking fruits on it now that I am hoping will ripen soon!
This one is a Brandywine - it was another one that I bought from the garden center to replace the ones that got destroyed by the frost. It also has several good looking pieces of fruit on it.
This is a Cherokee Purple that I also picked up at the garden center. The fruit on this one is smaller than the others but still looks really good.
These are my potato plants. They are doing really well!
I thought I could companion plant some green beans with the potatoes but I don't think they are getting enough sun. They have put out a couple of these puny beans but I don't think they are going to do well. Live and learn!!
These are some impatiens I got at the garden center. I tried to grow some from seed but they didn't do very well.
Now on to the front beds. These are an experiment to see if I can grow them in the front. None of them are doing very well. I think if I get some containers next year to grow in, they will do much better. The rubber mulch here is really deep so it was hard to get them into dirt. This is a pumpkin.
These are cantaloupes - sad little plants!
These are my zucchinis. Neither of them look very healthy but the one on the top has actually put out some fruit so we will see what happens. I'm going to replant in a container I have in the backyard and hopefully I'll be able to still get some zucchini this year.
This is a Butternut - again...not doing very well really.
And this is one of the Elderberries I put in the front. I wasn't sure if they would do very well since this part of the yard doesn't get a huge amount of sun. But...this one has actually put out some flowers!! I'm actually a little concerned because none of my Elderberries seem to be getting very big. I'm hoping that next year they will really take off.
Elderberry Cuttings Received!!
March 15 - Seed starts progress
Green Arrow Peas - directly sown
March 22
Little bit of lettuce popping up!
Green Arrow Peas are doing great!!
Little radishes popping out too!
March 30 - Elderberries are leafing out!
April 5 - getting all the outdoor containers ready to go!
April 11 - Time to start hardening off the seedlings!
May 5 - Rhododendron has blossomed!!
May 17
The lettuce are finally taking off!
The Tom Thumb Peas are a success and have put out their first pods!
The Green Arrow Peas have grown significantly!
The Parsley was damaged by a late frost but it recovering
Tomato bins
Daikon Radish
May 20
The first harvest from the Tom Thumb Peas. They were small but so delicious!! Next year I will be planting a lot of these little guys!
May 31
First Green Arrow Pea harvest - these were really tasty. Steamed for just a couple minutes and they were perfect!
June 24
The Tom Thumb Peas were starting to get too hot so I moved them to a shady part of the porch. I'm hoping to keep them going until the fall so I can get another harvest out of them.
The lettuces are doing really well. The tall ones are Arugula - I'm trying to get them to go to seed. The shorter ones are several smaller varieties.
This is the Tom Thumb Lettuce - it's very tasty and has been growing very well in this shabby part of my garden.
These are the Rocky Top Lettuce variety. They are growing really well too. I like the variety - almost like the spring mix you can get at the grocery.
I've got one little strawberry trying to grow - I just don't have the heart to remove the plant so I continue to watch and root it on! LOL!
The Purslane was doing great until about a week ago when part of it started dying off. But I have lots of new growth occurring too so I'm going to hang on and see what it does.
I had some bugs eating my pepper leaves but I seem to have that under control now and over the last week they have started really growing. Haven't seen any peppers yet but I've got my fingers crossed.
These are the Green Arrow Peas. They do not like heat so it's time to pull them out and put in some beans. Once the beans are done I will plant some more peas from some seed that I saved.
These are some bush beans that I wasn't sure were going to make it after our last frost but they seem to coming to life over the last couple weeks.
These are a couple tomato plants I started from seed that looked like they didn't make it after that last frost but they are now doing pretty good. Unfortunately I used a water soluble ink to write on my plant markers (*headbang*) so I have no idea what varieties these are! I'm hoping that when they put out fruit I will be able to identify them. There is some celery companion planted in there with them but it doesn't seem to be growing very big.
This is my best cabbage plant. I can't wait to see how much bigger it gets.
These are some carrot seed that I had left over from a couple years ago. I wasn't sure it would germinate but they seem to be doing pretty good.
These are some DAR Cucumbers from Baker Creek. I'm really looking forward to seeing those blossoms turn into some yummy cukes!
In front of the cucumbers are some scallions and marigolds.
This is that parsley that I almost lost after our last freeze. It's doing great and I've harvested from it a couple times already.
This is a cilantro that I started from some old seed. Again, I wasn't sure it would germinated but it did. However, it is trying to flower out and it's not even very big yet. I'm going to pinch those flower buds off and hopefully that will get the plant to put more energy to its leaves.
This is some dill I planted from that old seed too. It is so incredibly small right now - I'm not sure if it will actually make it.
These are the daikon radishes. They are just about ready to harvest and then I can put in another round of them.
This is the only turnip that made it. The seed was from several years ago so I'm surprised I got this one to germinate!
This is some Purple Kohlrabi. It was a free seed that I got from Baker Creek. I've never grown this before nor eaten it. You are supposed to sow it every three weeks. I'll be putting more in this weekend.
This is one of the bigger Marigolds. Most of the seeds I put in sprouted but they are all pretty small. This one for some reason is growing really big.
This is one of my Jalapeño plants and a Jigsaw Pepper. These were also attacked by bugs early on but have been doing much better the last couple weeks.
These are my Kales. I have harvested from them once and need to do another harvest.
This is my Beefsteak Tomato. It was one of the plants I bought to replace the tomatoes I started from seed that didn't survive that last frost. I've got several good looking fruits on it now that I am hoping will ripen soon!
This one is a Brandywine - it was another one that I bought from the garden center to replace the ones that got destroyed by the frost. It also has several good looking pieces of fruit on it.
This is a Cherokee Purple that I also picked up at the garden center. The fruit on this one is smaller than the others but still looks really good.
These are my potato plants. They are doing really well!
I thought I could companion plant some green beans with the potatoes but I don't think they are getting enough sun. They have put out a couple of these puny beans but I don't think they are going to do well. Live and learn!!
These are some impatiens I got at the garden center. I tried to grow some from seed but they didn't do very well.
Now on to the front beds. These are an experiment to see if I can grow them in the front. None of them are doing very well. I think if I get some containers next year to grow in, they will do much better. The rubber mulch here is really deep so it was hard to get them into dirt. This is a pumpkin.
These are cantaloupes - sad little plants!
These are my zucchinis. Neither of them look very healthy but the one on the top has actually put out some fruit so we will see what happens. I'm going to replant in a container I have in the backyard and hopefully I'll be able to still get some zucchini this year.
This is a Butternut - again...not doing very well really.
This is a spaghetti squash. It's putting out flowers now but I don't really expect it to do that well.
These are my flower boxes that I have on the railing of my front porch. I started all of these from seed and they are doing pretty good. I had hoped they would fill these boxes a whole lot more but I'm still happy with them.
And this is one of the Elderberries I put in the front. I wasn't sure if they would do very well since this part of the yard doesn't get a huge amount of sun. But...this one has actually put out some flowers!! I'm actually a little concerned because none of my Elderberries seem to be getting very big. I'm hoping that next year they will really take off.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)