COOP Thoughts And More Quick Fix Engineering

You could almost hear the chicken equivalent of a sigh this week as the grass came in fully and I now can move the tractor to a fresh patch every other day. We can tell the difference in the eggs. The yokes are back to their deep yellow-orange color from the added carotenoid content.

Another smoldering issue we've been dealing with started last summer. One of the hens insists on sitting in her nesting box at some point during the night and filling it with crap. At first this was just an annoyance as we could shake out the nest pad in the morning before they lay. But now it seems that at least two others are doing it too. The odd thing is that they don't seem to stay in there all night long because we can hear them jump down from the roost pole when we let them out in the mornings. This doesn't seem to be tied in with broodiness either as they don't linger on the eggs once they lay. More QFE to the rescue. We now slip in a blocker panel in the evening before they go in. This keeps them out of the boxes at night. It is much easier to go out in the morning and take this panel out than having to shake pads and play with poop first thing in the morning.

And speaking of nest pads, those commercial grade pads we got in last month are really working well. Much better than the homemade variety.

First Turn Over; Spring Has Finally Sprung

Hot Damn! Spring is finally here! And no sign of snow in the forecast; isn't that a change of pace for a western Maryland kitchen garden! Easter weekend meant finishing up preventive maintance of all the power equipment and doing a good deep till today of the Food Patch and the tomato/pepper bed. I even managed to sneak in some early kale and chard seedlings into one end of that bed. The rest of the week is supposed to be rain so we'll have to wait a while to get in some onion sets, cauliflower and broccoli seedlings. And the strawberry sets are due in this week so we'll need to get those in soon too. I ordered 25 Sparkle and 25 Seascape from Johnny's. This cycle the strawberry bed will move to the center of the Patch. Sparkle is a classic June berry whereas Seascape is an ever-bearer used by many commercial operations. Between the two we hope to have a steady supply of strawberries all season; a large harvest of Sparkle in the spring and a smattering of Seascape the rest of the season. Of course that will have to wait until nest summer as this season will be taken up with bed establishment via picking off of all blooms to allow the plants to establish themselves for next year.

In other news, the girls were finally moved from their winter quarters by the Food Patch back over to their turf/pasture area. That part of the yard is till a bit sparse but the grass is beginning to green up and you could almost hear the chicken version of an "ahhhh" when we got them over there yesterday. Most likely we will need to move them every other day until the turf is completely back to full spring-time green but it is nice to finally get them back onto some semblance of turf. This week also will be the last flat of sprouted rye forage sprouts for them. That exercise was definitely worth the trouble and provided some much needed green forage through the depths of winter.

Hopefully Idun would be proud!

Early Spring Chores

With the garden still a mud pit I figured I had better start pulling back the straw mulch so things can begin to dry out enough to hopefully get a first turn-over with the tiller by next weekend. Not to mention that there is a lot of chicken crap that will need some time to rot in. The new strawberry plants are due in the second week of April so I hope to at least have their new bed in the mid-section ready to go soon. So for now the straw has been pulled back to each end of the patch and we'll have to wait for the wind and sun to do their work. I hand worked a few feet of the tomato and pepper bed to take some early chard and kale seedlings we have almost ready to go out. Hopefully these will provide us with some early greens while we wait to get some seeds into the ground next month.

The winter tarp was removed from the chicken tractor and the girls were moved up a bit toward the house to a fresh piece of ground. This will be their final over-wintering spot until we can start rotating them on green turf. Their crap in their last spot was about five inches deep and they needed to move so I could rake it into the garden. That section will be reseeded with grass later this spring and hopefully will recover back to normal yard.

The DIY nest box pads I cut out of a standard door mat last spring were beginning to break down so we finally ordered in some commercial grade pads from QC Supply of Schuyler, NE. It looks like they will hold up a lot better and not being as flimsy will be easier to keep clean. These things are cheap but the various on line suppliers have outrageous shipping costs. I'm sorry but I refuse to pay more for shipping than the actual cost of the goods being shipped! Luckily QC had a good price and they use the USPS which was cheaper than UPS and they still got here in two days. They are highly recommended.

Biosecurity and Avian Influenza

With recent reports of an avian influenza (H5N2) outbreak in the midwest, we are reminded to be on the lookout for anything odd going on with our backyard flocks. Some of the upper respiratory symptoms are similar to humans; labored breathing, sneezing, coughing, odd discharges from the beak and eyes, general malaise. Even though most backyard flocks are small and isolated, and those contained in a tractor are even more so, the potential does exist for exposure to wild birds and flu strains they may be carrying.

Care must be taken to limit exposure. The UMD Extension service offers a wealth of information on biosecurity. The state of Maryland also recommends (but does not require) that small flock owners register their property (premises) with the Ag Department so that if any outbreaks do hit the area you can be alerted well in advance.

The Fairplay Exchange Will Return

Since it appears that the Found Fruit network has gone dark (and along with it the Fairplay Exchange), I've pulled that post. Look for the exchange to return under a new host later this spring. Again, the goal here is to set up some kind of local barter/exchange site for garden produce here in the Fairplay area of Washington County.

Well; Maybe Not!

Tomorrow is March 1st but the temps seem to think it is mid-January. Hopefully we'll get some moderation next week with day time highs projected to be in the 40s. The ground is froze solid and we still have some snow in the shadows. Let's just hope we don't have one of those long drawn-out cold springs.

Anticipation continues..............here is a shot of a visitor we had in one of the blue bird boxes a couple of springs ago.

Spring Is Just Around The Corner

Even though we had some of the coldest nights of the season this week (very near zero), the girls have held up well and we continue to get three to four eggs daily. I still am amazed! The days are slowly getting longer and the sun higher at mid-day. Spring is just around the corner.

After last night's snow storm, today is bright sunshine with highs in the 20s. A perfect day to pull back the storm cover and add in the dust bath. It really is amazing to watch them enjoy laying in the sun and wallowing in the dirt.