Cabin Crafted

Tag: backyard-chickens

  • Olio

    A miscellaneous collection of things.

    Most of my blog/journal postings fit that description anyway, but that title hasn’t been used in a while.

    Two of the pullets were getting braver and leaving the coop. Unfortunately, the other 8 aren’t following and peer pressure hits and the two go back inside. A couple days ago, now that we have a series of spring days, they were forced out, with some scratch and some water in the pen so they get accustomed to being outdoors. This resulted in having to catch all 10 and walk them back up the ramp to the popdoor at dusk. Yesterday, only one appeared and never left the ramp. Today was coop cleaning day as they had made quite a mess of it in the few weeks they have been in it and my efforts with the snow shovel chased them all out into the pen. The coop is clean, they have a container full of food and another of water, however, as dusk approaches, not a single one has gone back into the coop. When it gets a bit darker, if they still haven’t figured it out on their own, another catch and up the ramp session will occur.

    And with the warmer dryer days ahead, planning on getting the tunnel around the garden secured so they can expand their territory if they ever start coming out on their own.

    If it was up to me, the television would rarely be turned on. Hubby knows that and generally only turns it on late in the evening or after I have gone to bed. However, there is a series in it’s second season that does interest me. The series is “Doc.” As we don’t watch series shows for the most part, a characteristic of this show bothers me and I don’t know if it is typical of series in general or if this is an anomaly. The show is an hour. The content is probably only 15-20 minutes of that hour and the remaining 40-45 minutes is commercials, often repeated. This is not an exageration. For every 4-5 minutes of content, there are 8-10 minutes of ads. It has become so irritating that I may stop watching it entirely. It is bad enough with movies, even in theaters now, you get the commercials seen on TV at the beginning. At least they don’t interrupt the flow of the movie in a theater with inserted ads. When you pay an arm and a leg to have TV in your home through satellite or cable (we live in the mountains and antennas are basically useless), it is annoying to have that much of the show time not actually the show.

    The itch to start seeds for the garden is strong. The average last frost date here is around Mother’s Day, so 6 weeks prior wouldn’t be until near April 1, a long 3 weeks away. The seed is ready, the LED lighted starting boxes clean, but the date is too early. In the past, I have succumbed to the temptation then struggled to keep the seedlings from getting too leggy or outgrowing the starting pots. This often results in then purchasing starter plants at the nursery closer to planting time. Maybe the urge can be tamped down by preparing beds and repairing fences. And peas can probably be started in the ground now.

    Earlier this week, I got my new hearing aids. Because my right ear canal is not straight, or even close to straight, the audiologist suggested trying a custom mold so the aid stays in place. In numerous tries, she could only insert it correctly twice and I have yet to be able to accomplish it. Another appointment has been scheduled for Monday to discuss this with her and other options. If I am going to constantly have to be adjusting it, the dome like I had before and on my left aid may be the only option. At least that doesn’t make my ear canal sore while trying to insert it.

    We have 5 more days of spring like weather before we return to seasonable March weather. At least there is no snow in the two week forecast, that is a win in my book.

  • A Break

    With thunder pounding, lightning flashing, and torrents of rain falling, the heat dome finally broke. We are expected about 10 degree cooler weather for the next 10 days and nice cool nights. We try to go out to dinner about once a week and were in the next town west, a small town, but bigger than our village. They have a great Mexican Restaurant that we enjoy, and we got in before it started. Electricity flickered during dinner. We left running to the car only three spaces from the exit and got soaked. The highway had ponds of water on it and every driver was proceeding at a snail’s pace, except the fuel tank truck that dangerously barreled past, like his product had an expiration date of yesterday, sending rooster tails of water down on those of us who realized the lack of visibility was an issue.

    Monday, the young neighbor that mows our hay for his cattle came and cut the fields in the 96f heat. It sat on the ground Tuesday, and when we got home from errands and a walk on Wednesday, he and an older gentleman were raking and baling it.

    The heat and the mowing activity increased the field mouse activity and living in a hayfield, we keep traps set year round. The other requirement is to keep the attractants like bags of nuts, sugar, pasta, in jars.

    A second quart jar of cucumbers were started to ferment for dills, so 2 are in the works now.

    My chicken coop has a small pen with plastic mesh over the top, and a 2 foot wide tunnel (also covered with plastic mesh) that surrounds about 4/5s of the vegetable garden. The coop has a battery powered pop door that raises at about 6:30 a.m. and was closing around 9 p.m. About 10 days ago, I went out in the morning and two hens were missing. The hay mower found their remains halfway to the lower field. I started monitoring whether the hens were getting in before the door closed and found two hens in an apple tree, one on the coop egg door, and one on the mesh pen cover. They were rounded up and the timer on the door changed to give them until 9:30 to get in. Yesterday morning, I went out to find 2 more hens dead in the tunnel around the garden. They must not have gone in before the door closed.

    The cost, responsibility, and loss are taking a toll on me. I have been using only about half a dozen eggs a week except during holidays for years and the remaining eggs have gone to my children’s families, or neighbors. It is time to give it up, I think. I can buy eggs at the Farmer’s Market when I need them. The coop will be repaired, restained, and maybe I will try again in a year or so.

    The garden is smaller this year, but the area not designated by raised bed boxes is a mass of weeds. The overall fenced area can’t really be reduced as the blueberries are at one end and the asparagus at the other. A solution to stay on top of the weed mess needs to be found. I thought planting pumpkins there would cover and smother the weeds, but they are growing very slowly in the dry heat.

    In the past week, two spinning projects were finished and yesterday at the spinning group, one was plyed, and the other plyed last night. They need to be wound off the bobbins and soaked. Both have tentative use plans. The darker one was the small amount of Dorset wool roving I bought in Skagway, Alaska on our cruise in May and it was plyed with a multicolored strand of BFL that I had spun. The lighter one is Rommeldale and Bamboo and it will be the border on a shawl I am knitting slowly.

    Today’s walk should be less onerous with temperatures only climbing into the mid 80’s. Sunscreen and a water bottle to prevent a burn and dehydration.