Starting the Coops

Today was the first rainy day on the farm but we still worked outside all day. First thing this morning we ran outside to check whether the seedlings had survived the night - they are all alive! We might have a bunny problem in our outdoor garden since we saw a rabbit there a few days ago. So far so good though. 

Next we cleared out and weed whacked the side yard where we want to keep the 4 adult laying hens (that we pick up on April 15th) at first, before they can be with the chicks. We might end up separating the meat and egg chickens and keeping the meat chickens in the side yard and the egg chickens in the converted playhouse. 

After that we took a lunch break and went to the bakery in town to buy a delicious loaf of fresh bread and a cinnamon bun. Good thing we're getting lots of exercise...

Then we did some work for the landlord (we're working about 20 hours a month for reduced rent) levelling out the rows in his orchard and weed whacking to prepare for adding mulch in the next few days. We thought that would take us a few hours but it only took us an hour total. 

Next we cleared out a little yard that had a rabbit hutch/chicken coop structure in it. We're going to drag that into the side yard to use as a coop in there. After that we started 'predator proofing' the playhouse-coop. 

This is the kind of predator we're trying to keep out....

Digging a trench to bury the hardware cloth:

We used a staple gun to attach the wire to the wood but had to hammer the staples in the rest of the way - need a stronger staple gun.

Meanwhile, Abby has become a horse instead of a farm dog. Grazing together...

Ryan, too. They keep finding bits of hoof trimmings.

Hardware cloth folded along the ground and ready to be buried. The ground is pretty hard and rocky so it would be hard for anything to dig in, anyway. We also put that piece up on the left side of the porch and we're going to make a door on the right side of the porch.

All buried:

Later in the afternoon there was time for chick training...now when I open the crate door most of them come out and sit on my arms and in my lap. Ignore my highly fashionable attire. And yes, there is chick poop on my right knee.

Crunch Time

I can't believe we move in 3 days! March has gone by so fast.

The chicks are a lot of fun to watch. Because I've never really been around chickens, everything they do is interesting to me - scratching around with their feet to look for food, wiping their beaks off, grabbing worms from your hand and taking off at full speed with them (it looks like chick tag football)...I like how they stretch their legs so carefully after they wake up and how they sometimes fall over on their sides because they get so tired, and then just go to sleep like that. 

I've been offering them tiny bits of sunflower seeds with grit once a day for treats and today I started associating that with a bell. Step one of chicken recall! It's all an experiment, really, so we'll see what happens.

The meat birds are growing way faster than the egg birds already. Little black one with the yellow face is my favourite - she (please!) sits on my hand all the time and falls asleep there.

Gulping down the worm treasure in the corner.

Gaining weight quickly!

Smallest next to biggest.

This adventure is going to turn us into vegetarians...good thing they don't stay this cute for long.

 The seedlings are all looking good - I've been putting the tomatoes, melons, kale and broccoli out in the sun for the past few beautiful days. The broccoli leaves got a little sun burnt..or else affected by the cold or the recent transplanting to bigger pots. They have some whitish spots on them but I think they'll recover. Five cucumbers sprouted and so did five 'gold nugget' tomatoes and two eggplants. Oh, and the parsley. Still waiting on thyme and sage and the rest of the eggplants. I fertilized the bigger seedlings today for the first time with a seaweed fertilizer. They were looking a little droopy and since they're still in the original seed starting soil I thought it couldn't hurt. We're going to have an intense few weeks of planting ahead of us! 

Taming Chicks

The chicks are growing so fast! They already have some feathers on their wings. I really want them to be tame - easy to pick up and call -  and to not be afraid of people at all. I've been picking each of them up a few times a day and holding them until they fall asleep (pretty much as soon as I pick them up) and then putting them back in the brooder. When I put them back they usually stand on my hand for a few seconds before hopping down. I also put my hand inside with their chick food on it and they go nuts for it - even though it's in the feeder 6" away...funny chicks. They push each other around to try and be the one who jumps up and sits on my hand. The two little black guys are still much smaller than the rest so they get pushed back all the time. Tiger head (the stripey one) pinches my hand when she (I'll just call them all 'she' until we know better...) eats off of it. They all go into a frenzy eating off of my hand and then they all fall fast asleep right afterwards. I gave them some grit to try yesterday and today (they went crazy jumping in and out of the container) and some yoghurt from my hand, too. They didn't like that at first and then suddenly they all wanted it.

Lots of poop...just about to change the bedding.