The Arrival of Summer

This spring has been one of the oddest weather-wise that we've had in our thirteen years of growing at the Food Patch Nanofarm. We had a brief dry spell in the early spring where I was able to do some initial tilling of the main garden plot and the long bed but then we had over a month of Seattle-like weather; consistent rain and low temps that made getting out to do even basic chores almost impossible. To make matters worse, this looks like one of those particularly bad rabbit years (they seem to be cyclical). Luckily, this weekend, I was able to get in and do the last spring till so I could put up the electric perimeter fence.

The chickens didn't seem to complain much about the odd weather as it assured abundant grass to forage on in their own separate pasture area.

They've also got the last of the early spring greens until the new crops start coming in.

And we're hoping not to have a repeat of last year when some varmint got in and slaughtered our whole flock. Since then we covered the remaining holes with wire, taken care to close the pop door tight every night, and I even put out an electronic predator-guard that my daughter gave me for Christmas. I haven't been able to find much info on their effectiveness but it can't hurt.

So far we've been lucky with health issues. In either of our flocks we've not seen any of the diseases normally found in large flocks or chickens raised under factory farming condition. I attribute this to being pastured in the fresh air and sunshine, feed a varied diet, providing a regular dirt bath and getting an occasional head rub. The only preventative I do is to include a dusting of diatomaceous earth in their hutch bedding to ward off fleas. From the chicken keeping literature the hall marks of health are bright eyes and combs, consistent foraging behavior and fluffy butts. So far I think we've got that covered.