Have you hugged your chickie today?
Lily is my biggest pullet. She's a Black Australorp and weighs right around 8 pounds at 22 weeks of age. Today I found her on top of the nest boxes trying to wedge herself into a corner. She scratched at the top of the box and I knew what she was up to. I picked her up and put her inside a nest and left the coop. A few minutes later I peeked in to see if she had stayed in the nest and she had.
My mom snapped this picture of me holding Lily this morning. This is the bird that hated people when she was a baby. I had read that pullets become very friendly when they mature and begin laying. This must be true. Lily comes over to be picked up now. But she doesn't like coffee! Look at the size of the shanks on this girl! She is so big that she sometimes sprains her hocks when she jumps down from the roost. I worry about her size and whether or not it will lead to problems, but hopefully she'll grow out of it.
She layed this pretty, speckled, dark little egg. Such a small egg from such a big bird. I hope she continues to lay dark eggs, it sure is pretty! Good job Lily!
Deceptively innocent looking isn't it? Don't be fooled. Phragmites australis is an invasive species of reed grass that crowds out native species and eventually takes over any wet areas it can sink its greedy roots!
I didn't know a thing about this aquatic plant until I moved back home last August. My cousin talked about it and how he has to burn it each year in our drainage ditches to keep it from blocking them completely. I began to notice just how prevalent this species is. It is in every single body of water I've seen in our area! It has taken over the wildlife area in the Toussaint River and now the native grasses are gone.
I've learned that there are only two ways to control it: pulling by hand or spraying it with a strong concentration of RoundUp. I use both methods and it's still a constant battle to keep it under control. Pulling it without gloves leads to tiny cuts all over my hands that make it look like I lost a fight with a razor blade--very painful paper cuts all over my fingers that lasted for days! I don't like using RoundUp but I will as a last resort. It also helps keep the cattails under control. Cattails are another non-native species hailing from England, but they are much easier to control and much less insidious! Phragmites doesn't need much water to grow. Just an inch or so of standing water is enough to get it started!
I post this entry as a public service warning. If you see anything that even closely resembles this plant growing on your property do what you can to eliminate it before it gets out of control!
Being situated where we are between the Toussaint River and Lake Erie, we are directly in the migratory path of thousands of raptors that take this route each spring and fall. Got a thing for Red-Tail Hawks? Come on over! Wanna see some Bald Eagles? No problem!
The raptors are on the move this time of year. They've spent the summer raising their chicks and now it's time to fly to their wintering grounds to fatten up again. Earlier today I heard the chooks scream in the front yard. When I went out to investigate I saw a male Cooper's Hawk fly away. He tried to get one of my chickens, but they are very alert and they got under the porch safely. When he flew away he looked back as if to say, "Oh don't mind me. I'm just passing through."
This afternoon I heard a warbling scream coming from the back yard and knew it was a big raptor. I grabbed my camera and headed to the back deck in time to capture this Bald Eagle soaring on the thermals overhead. He was heading south and I watched him circle and spiral from the north edge of the Twelve Acres to the south edge. Big raptors can only migrate when the sun heats up the earth and creates thermals. They soar on the rising warm air which allows them to conserve their precious energy instead of wasting it flapping their wings.
I'm still choked up.
How many people get to watch our nation's symbol soaring directly above their own home? I am one of the lucky ones.
These shots were iffy at best. I was aiming almost directly into the sun and I was going blind!
It's raining here at the Twelve Acres. Not one of those light rains either. We're getting a constant, soaking rain. I'm taking advantage of the weather and staying indoors today to rest and recuperate after a hard week at work. The ducks, on the other hand, are out foraging in the yard. When I took this picture from the front porch they had just finished playing in the puddles in the gravel driveway.
I'm putting my feet up and listening to the rain splash in the pond. Now all I need is a servant to bring me my coffee.
Anyone who has chickens knows how destructive they are. I love my chickens but I don't want them destroying the hundreds of dollars worth of landscaping plants and pine mulch I've invested in and planted in the past year. I had to come up with a solution to the problem that specifically addressed the digging issue. I didn't mind them being in my landscaping (free organic fertilizer and insect control), I just wanted to stop them from dust bathing in it.
Fencing was out of the question. I want to be able to see my plants and I want an open feel to the planted areas. I live in the country and don't want to feel any kind of boundary around the house. I had my fill of fences in the city. I priced the automatic sprinklers that turn on as soon as movement is sensed, but these were beyond what I was willing to pay for chicken control. And who wants to stare at one of those ugly inflatable "eyeballs" with the little mirrors glued to them that are supposed to scare off birds?
I spent a lot of time watching the chickens trying to understand what attracted them to my planted areas and what might deter them. In war the saying is "Know thine enemy". (Well, we're not exactly at war, but I did sick Derek on the chooks with a super soaker once.) I spent a lot of time considering my options and weighing the pros and cons.
Then it dawned on me at work this week whilst I sat and watch thousands of feet of conveyor belt go by...BIRD NETTING. DuPont Bird Netting, to be specific. I already had a long roll of it on hand to cover the chicken run in preparation for the raptor migration this fall. I had lots of it left and it seemed to be the best choice.
This stuff is a godsend.
It's durable--I can walk on it and not tear it. The chickens can scratch it and not tear it.
It is UV resistant.
It's flexible and easy to cut into shapes for each area of my landscaping. I had very little waste!
It stops the digging--the chickens can try all they like but they don't accomplish anything with their scratching. The net keeps their feet from moving when they try to scratch just like cement shoes!
It's practically invisible--I can walk around the house and not notice it at all!
It's cheap--I bought a huge roll for $7 at Lowe's.
I have peace of mind! I want to be able to enjoy my birds, not spend my time shooing them away with a broom.
It does take some time to cut the netting to size but I was able to do it on my own. I also had to cut small holes to push my existing plants through. Fortunately I don't have any large plants yet since I just planted them this spring. I simply gathered the plants together in my hand and gently fed them up through the netting. It would have been easier to handle if I had removed my rings beforehand. Bird netting catches everything it can snag. Anchor pins are a MUST. Without them the chickens will be able to scratch up the edges and still dig a hole. The anchor pins keep the netting snug to the ground. I made my own anchor pins by bending 6" lengths of heavy guage wire into a "U" shape. I anchored the netting about every 8" and only in the areas it needed it.
After just one day of having the bird netting down on my planted beds the chickens are giving up. GIVING UP!!! They walk around the house looking for an area to dig into and when they see the bird netting they don't even try! They have learned that the netting is impossible to scratch away. This also means that they spend less time dust bathing in my flowerbeds and more time foraging for free food on the Twelve Acres. The more they forage, the less I spend on layer feed! I can leave them out to free range the whole day instead of making them wait until I have time to sit and watch them. Again, more foraging = less layer feed, not to mention the happy chook factor.
And now excuse me while I do my victory dance!
Chickens are so destructive! Their mission in life seems to be to till every surface they can get their little feet on. I went out to see what the chickens were up to and to gather the day's eggs. Just look what they did to the neighbors' lawn! How am I ever going to explain this?
The stormy skies rained on us this morning, thank goodness. We still need more but what we got certainly helps.
At least the ducks are behaving themselves.
This is a special "first" egg because it comes from a special chickie. My girl Betty (Barred Rock) laid her very first egg today at 21 weeks old. It didn't take her very long either. I went out to check for eggs while dinner was cooking and saw that Betty was in a nest box. She's been checking the nest boxes out the past few days so I figured she wasn't far from producing an egg. I went back in and about 10 minutes later Derek came in the house excited and holding this rather pointy, speckled egg. Isn't it sweet?
So it's official, all the Rocks are laying. I also found a light creamy egg with tiny speckles in the run this afternoon. I suspect it's an Australorp egg but I didn't witness the event so I'm not sure. It's obviously different from the other eggs and it's obviously a first egg. Perhaps tomorrow the pullet who laid it will get caught in a nest box. I'd rather they put their eggs in a nest than in the run. I have a feeling it was laid there because Sweetheart, a rather pugnacious Orpington, was laying an egg at the same time. And when Sweetheart is in a nest don't bother her! The other girls will stand outside the coop as if they are waiting for her to finish so they can get in there and do what they want to do. Picture a line of girls waiting at the bathroom door with their knees crossed!
The girls laid 5 eggs today total. Tomorrow I will cook up our first ever fried egg dinner using our own chicken eggs. They are small so it might take a dozen to do it. Derek had 5 eggs for breakfast this morning.
I've been biting my tongue trying not to bring up the subject of how dry it is here. It's normal to not have any rain this time of year in northwest Ohio. Last August we didn't get a drop of rain and I don't think we did this August either.
We had record rainfall in July with over 8 inches following an equally wet spring. Our hard pan clay can't hold moisture very long though and I'm afraid those water reserves are all gone. I stand by and wring my knuckles over the 200 saplings I planted in April. I'm afraid my losses are at 10% now, with more to come. I strain my eyes at cloud formations hoping that some water will fall from them. But it doesn't. There are cracks in the soil so big I can stick my foot in them.
The really agonizing part of all this is that there is rain all around us. Take a look at the Doppler radar map and you'll see the remnants of hurricane Gustav making its way in our direction. The red star is where the Twelve Acres is located. But is there any of that life-giving green above us? Nooooooo! We live in a pocket, if you will, protected on the north by Lake Erie. It protects us from the really bad snows in the winter which usually bury places like Chicago and Cleveland. Unfortunately, it also means we usually have a drought every summer. It could be raining like hell 15 miles to the west but dry as a bone here. When September rolls around our rainfall returns to normal and the huge cracks in the ground close up and the grass gets green again. As it is right now, we haven't mowed our lawns in well over a month...the grass is all dead. On the bright side, the drought is saving us money because we haven't had to buy gas for the mowers.
Enough doom and gloom! I have a bit of exciting news. Cheese Doodle (our only Buff Rock pullet) laid her first egg today. It is noticeably lighter than the Orpington eggs with its light chalky shell color. It's a tiny little egg but I'm so happy to have found it. The girls produced 3 eggs today. Don't be fooled by Miss Cheese Doodle's placid countenance. She'll take your arm off if she's so inclined!
Is there anything more satisfying than providing for yourself? I've always been a do-it-yourselfer. My whole purpose in raising chickens was to provide some food for our family in the form of eggs and an occasional chicken dinner. Egg layers aren't particularly meaty chickens, but you can eat them--especially the roosters.
My lunch today was two small fried eggs laid this morning by Gertie and Sweetheart. Compare them to the slice of toast and you'll see just how small they are! Fresh eggs are so much better than stale store-bought eggs. I remarked to Derek that even the whites have a better, lighter texture and aren't chewy in any way. The yolks are a deep yellow and taste very rich. Sweetheart's was slightly darker than Gertie's.
On this Labor Day I do not plan to labor. I see Sweet Pea is in a nest box right now, so maybe I will be collecting my first-ever Barred Rock egg soon!
Have a great holiday and spend it as you wish!
I was searching for Fathead minnows at the pond's edge when I looked down and noticed this beautiful moss growing on one of the big limestone rocks. Isn't it beautiful? Even the moss is showing autumn colors.
