Chicken Poop Fertilizer

My friend and neighbor has a pretty extensive garden with an impressive deer fence. Im pretty sure its bigger than my one room house. She expressed some interest in utilizing some of the chicken poop as fertilizer. Ive done this before. A little goes a long way and it works great for flowering plants. I …

Insect Season

Well the insects are officially back in full force and because i dont free range my chickens its my responsibility to collect them all so my chickens can have some good protein. Every time its moist i collect them cup fulls of pill bugs. At night i collect the june bugs attracted to the porch …

Daisy’s Death

This is Daisy, my favorite chicken. Ironically i cried more with Petunia but that has to do with the fact that she was suffering terribly and i had to kill her to put her out of her misery when i raised her from a day old chick and i couldnt fathom my body ending the …

A Fairy Egg

One of the chickens laid a fairy egg. It is the first one i have gotten in 4 years. I saw an occasional calcium deposit on the original batch of chickens’ eggs. Ellis and Oakley at times had a weird bump at the top of the egg. However, these new pullets have just been going …

The Pullets Ramp up Production

The pullets started laying an egg a day with the arrival of warmer weather. in some cases it was in the 70s and 80s in the afternoons. The people who were getting eggs from me regularly had discovered free range eggs from homesteaders who had time and ability to stand guard over free ranging chickens …

An Overnight Wind Storm

I knew we were set to get a cold front. Wind gusts up to 45 mph were forecasted. It ended up arriving shortly before nightfall. As the yard darkened i realized that the trees had grown considerably since i last pruned the branches. Oak branches were battering the laundry line and the cedar tree that …

A Ringtail Visits

This is a ringtail, the lankier cousin of the more commonly known raccoon. It looks like something straight out of Madagascar. contrary to popular belief, it can and will eat small cats and chickens….of which i have both right now. I spotted it in a cedar while doing the evening chores. I did not grow …

The Pullets Graduate

I have orpingtons. Everything ive read about these chickens says they are supposed to start laying eggs around 6 months of age. Yet, my second batch of chickens started laying at around 5 months and these last pullets began laying at 4.5 months. I am not complaining. I think its great. I just wasnt ready …

Quality Checking the Eggs

Recently at a party a man i had supplied with eggs for free at one time sat down beside me and told me that the eggs he was getting from the social worker were much better, the yolks were oranger and richer than mine. He accused me of never giving my chickens people food scraps …

A Trip to the Vet

The dogs needed their anal glands expressed. I didnt usually get them expressed outside of their checkup because they generally made solid poos and didnt have much to express. However, earlier this year they both had distemper and nearly died. They had runny and mucousy and even bloody poos for a long time and the …