Sniffly Chicks

Not too much to report today - it was pretty cold and rainy so we spent the morning doing some errands and then organizing the house. We've been here a week and we hadn't even unpacked our suitcases yet! The house is looking more organized now. 

Later in the afternoon we went out to bring the horses in and give them (and the cows) some hay. We went to check the greenhouse and it was nice and warm so we ended up staying in there for a bit and planting some lettuce (a mesclun mustard mix and romaine), arugula and shallot sets that we got today. We checked the weather and it shouldn't go down past 2 degrees tonight so we'll chance it and leave the tomatoes and other potted seedlings in there tonight. 

We got some garden bird netting ($8 for 12' x 12') to use for the top of the chicken runs - hopefully the weather will be better tomorrow so we can finish those and do the rest of the mulching in the orchard (we didn't put enough mulch down the first time...oops!).

The feed store had oxy-tetra (oxytetracycline hydrochloride) antibiotics in stock today for the chicks. About half of them are occasionally snuffly so I think it's better to be proactive before it gets any worse. We'll use if for 5 days or until the symptoms go away. We also got some apple cider vinegar to add to their water (supposed to have a variety of benefits for them). 

One of the little Rhode Island Reds...possibly the cause of all of this snuffling!

Zebra Head is HUGE. Look at her compared to lil' red!

Magpie (...I'm not naming them or anything) is still tiny and agile.

 She always goes up on the platform now. I don't even think the platform would support Zebra Head and the other meat birds...

Zebra Head taking a rest after eating...before eating some more. And then pooping. And then eating some more.

One of the Light Sussex chicks. This one always comes out and sits on my arm.

Brave lil' red.

Bathtub Hoarders

The seedlings spent their first night in the greenhouse (in pots on the ground) and all are good this morning! I think we'll leave them in pots until the danger of frost has passed, and then transplant them. It's actually warmer in the greenhouse though, even overnight, than it is in the front room where the seedlings were.

Starting some more seeds to use in the aquaponics system.

Yesterday we went to do some errands in the morning and stopped by a hatchery to take a look. Nathan asked if they had any extra tanks that they wanted to sell/give away and luckily they had a huge tank sitting in the back that they'll give us! It's about 6' x 6', so bigger than necessary, but it has a drain and it will be good to have. Later on we pulled over to look at a truck for sale and happened to find a free bathtub right there. We are either hoarders or the lucky new owners of an aquaponics set up...

Mop top. 

Her name is Meghan...and she's apparently getting a bull 'friend' in the next few days.

No trespassing or you'll get whacked. 

We spent an hour yesterday mulching the orchard. There are apples, plums, pears and blueberries.

We also continued to tackle the side yard. This is the mess that we started with. Maybe there were goats kept in here at one time? 

We tore down the entire lean-to and then carried the hutch/coop (from next to the house) into the yard. Carrying it was difficult but manageable until we got to the gate (you can see one of the posts in the photo above). Nathan instructed me to simply do a deep squat, grab the edge of the hutch/coop, then lift with a shoulder press and "we'll get it over the gate, no problem". 

Ha.ha....we had to get Jim (the horse and cow owner) to help us.

 The original location of the hutch/coop. We took this little yard apart. Apparently it used to house a neglected chicken.

A tiny (1") egg that Nathan found while weed whacking. Wonder what kind of bird it belongs to?

One of the chicks sounds congested today. Maybe it's just starting to make 'adult' sounds instead of peeping? I hope that's it, but I think it's too early for that. Some online advice is apple cider vinegar in the water, or a course of antibiotics. I'd like to avoid jumping straight to antibiotics, so I'll clean the brooder first to make sure it's nice and dry in there.