Chickens!

 I've been searching the papers and Kijiji for months, looking for hens.  A couple of weeks ago I got a phone call from a lovely woman, Caroline of Ferme Ouellette a nearby farm.  She said she had heard from a neighbour that we were looking for hens and that she had some that needed a good home.  All less than a year old, she had to cull her flock by about a dozen birds.  She said it would make her very happy to see them live with another family instead of making their way into her freezer.  We had already been thinking that 6-10 hens would be a good amount to start with, so why not 12?  So off to Ferme Ouellette we went.  The children had fun picking out the hens they wanted from Caroline's flock of over 30.  And Caroline looked like she had fun chasing them around and catching them in her big net!  We took turns choosing chickens and kept count as we popped then into the cardboard boxes lined with pine shavings.  Once we had reached 11, Caroline asked if we would do her a favour and take 2 more, Salt and Pepper, since they were always together.  And so our flock was complete at 13!

 I guess I should introduce them!  We have 4 Sussex hens, white with black neck and tail feathers.  One of which we have named Merida after the movie Brave.  She was the first hen to check out the food dish, and she is the friendliest of the flock.  She is very brave, usually leading the other hens into new situations.  Unlike the other Sussex, her black markings are faint, so she is easy to identify.  The other 3 look alike and we cannot tell them apart yet, but one of them is almost always hanging out with one of the black hens, so she is Salt, and the Black Sex Link hen is pepper.  The other 2 Sussex are Princess Leia and Cupcake.  Our other 2 Black Sex Links are Dora (the first to explore the run!) and Rainbow.  All 3 Sex Links are black with iridescent green and blue feathers, but Dora has a brown head and neck, and Rainbow has a brown bib.  Our 2 Barred Rocks are The Twin Rockys.  The 2 Bearded Araucanas are Schick and Gillette, yes, like the razors!  Our Rhode Island Red is named Rhoda.  And that leaves our most interesting looking bird, Gandalf the grey.  She is a mix between a Black Sex Link hen and a Polish rooster.  She is a beautiful blue-grey with a funny pouf on top of her head.

 

Clockwise, starting with the one on the branch: Dora, Gillette or Schich, one of the Rockys, Cupcake and Leia (or Leia and Cupcake), and Rhoda

They really love the food I've been fermenting for them!

  
 When we got home we discovered that one had already laid an egg in the box on the drive!  We left them locked in the coop that first day, to be sure they knew it was home.  That afternoon we found one more egg on the floor.  At dusk, I went to check on the ladies and found one roosting in the nesting box.  So I picked her up and put her up on the perch.  Then I found Salt and Pepper roosting on the floor together.  I decided they were ok there for one night.

 

One of the Rockys being stubborn

 The second day the ladies gave us half a dozen eggs plus one that was laid on the perch and broke when it hit the top of the nesting box.  Today so far we have had 5 from them.  We get mostly brown eggs, some light, some dark, some speckled.  And our 2 Araucana girls lay greenish-blue eggs!  

Silly girl, you're not supposed to lay eggs on perches!

 The second night all the hens put themselves to bed by 7:30.  All up on the perch, all fluffed up and purring.  What good girls!

Today we let them out of their run to free-range.  The dog had to stay inside because she is not used to them yet.  The girls had so much fun scratching around under the raspberry bushes and pines.

 

Dora and Gandalf

Cupcake or Leia under the bench Chris built using a metal frame salvaged from the Reuse Centre

The Rockys

Dora and one of the Sussex

Rhoda following a Rocky

Gandalf the Grey

Merida enjoying her dust bath

Rainbow

 I find myself spending WAY too much time sitting and watching them.  But in doing so I have been able to see that they each have their own personality.  The Araucanas are homebodies, never straying far from the coop.  Merida is so friendly, she follows me around and takes treats from the kids hands.  Salt and Pepper stick together.  Dora is fearless.  Gandalf is loud!  Who knew I would find hens so fascinating and amusing! 

 

Chicken coop

We are building a chicken coop.  Its taking longer than expected, surprise, surprise.  We started with the floor.

Zander thought it was a dance floor

 We got many of our supplies for free.  Either from kind neighbours, or from the Reuse Center.  The Reuse Center deserves a post all to itself.  So many amazing finds come from there!  Its like a secondhand store, but everything is free!  Its all run by volunteers.  You can donate anything and take anything you want.  They have toys, clothes, fixtures, building supplies, kitchenware, electronics, appliances, games, puzzles, sports equipment, and just about anything else you can think to need.  Some of our great finds there were our fridge (in perfect working order!), metal roofing, a dehumidifier, a bench, even a didgeridoo!  For the coop we found a great metal door, and all the windows.

The door needed a bit of work and a bit of paint

Building is a family affair.  Even Finnlee got in on the action! 

Framed walls

We changed our design part way through to give the hens more floor space.  We're completely new to this whole chicken thing, so we're learning as we go

Nesting boxes with outdoor access

The roof is made of end slabs of cedar from the mill up the street obtained for next to nothing

Landscape cloth also covers the vents just under the ceiling to prevent predators from gaining access and to provide ventilation

The windows are 2 panes set into grooves for better insulation.  The opening is well protected by 1/2 inch landscape cloth

The chicken door is well protected by a chicken wire tunnel into the run

Chris put squirrel spikes on top of it so predators can't climb up on top

The outdoor run will give them a safe place to be when we are not home to let them free range

 The pine shavings we will use for litter are free from a local millwright.  

We made the food pipe from leftover PVC.  Holes drilled into the straight piece for chickens to get the food, a long pipe with elbow reaches through a small door to allow us to fill it from the outside.

The water bucket is an experiment.  A 5 gallon bucket with holes cut into the side and a water jug upside down to allow for a gravity fed water supply.  We'll see how the hens like it.

The perches are removable for easy (easier) cleaning.

The coop all ready for a our new feathered friends!  Fresh picked chard, cabbage, mint, clover, wild oregano and yarrow

Wildlife at Maple Gate

We have tried to use our land so as to cause the least disruption to the environment around us.  We might own the land by deed, but the creatures and plants were here first.  We are only removing the trees that we must to create our space, and make our plans around them if possible.  We hope that the creatures that live on the land will not be too displaced by our activity.

That said, with the noise made by 4 kids and a dog, most of the large roaming animals have been giving us a wide berth.  We know that there were many deer here over the winter using our water runoff to drink from.  We have seen a few deer here on the property, but not many.  We do see them almost every time we travel though.  We know that there is a Mom with twin fawns nearby that we have sighted several times.

We have the usual snakes, turtles, herons, hawks, porcupines, frogs and toads.  There's lots of chipmunks and squirrels that give the dog endless hours of fun.  Try as she may, she has yet to catch anything.

We've seen many humming birds at our feeder, in the garden and feeding on the wildflowers.  A pair of Phoebe birds have hatched out 8 babies in 2 separate clutches from the same nest above the mudroom window.  

At night, we can hear coyotes howling to each other, sometimes very near.  We've seen coyotes in farmers' fields nearby.  My parents even saw a black bear walking along the edge of our property just last week!  Likely taking advantage of the plentiful ripe raspberries!  

Zander has quite a collection of caterpillars that he has gathered.  He researches what kind they are and what they eat.  We have several monarch caterpillars, and 2 of them have already made their chrysalis.  I will post more about that later!

I'm certain there are many more creatures that we have yet to encounter.  We hear sounds we cannot identify at night.  I wish I had pictures of everything we have seen, but these will have to do for now!

Cute little tree frog came back to the kitchen window several nights in a row.  He was feasting on the moths drawn to the light coming out the window

There were 3 babies in this second clutch of Phoebes.  The first clutch had 5.  By the time the babies were ready to fly, they barely fit in the nest! 

Baby toad and huge toad.  Every toad the kids find get put in the toad house out in the veggie garden so they can provide natural insect control

This little guy is pretty cute in the garbage can outside, but if he gets in the house I won't think he's cute any longer!

Baby praying mantis

Dragonfly who made it inside the kitchen when the compost window was open.  We gently guided him back out so he can continue to eat up the plentiful mosquitoes and black flies.  They are very helpful little insectivores!

Cicada

Millipede

Imperial moth caterpillar.  We had a pair of these moths lay eggs in our screen house.  I had no idea their offspring were so huge!  This guy is currently curled up under some dried leaves making his pupa in one of Zander's bug boxes

 

Painted lady butterfly enjoying a milkweed flower

Gorgeous Monarch butterfly.  We have been lucky enough to see more than a dozen of these beauties this year.  Last year we saw only one.  It was one of the worst years in the decline of the Monarch population.  We are very hopeful having seen so many more this year.  We also have several caterpillars that we are feeding and keeping safe as they make their chrysalis.  Once they emerge, we will tag and release them so they can begin their long migration to Mexico.

Garden 2014

This year we got the garden in a little late.  We moved here the May long weekend, I usually have the gardens all planted by then, so this one was 2-3 weeks behind schedule.  We did not till the land.  Chris had left a large pile of lumber sitting in the clearing since the fall, so all the growth underneath was dead or stunted.  I decided on the layout, bought seedlings, laid down boards between beds for walking and got started.

For each seedling, I dug a hole larger than I needed, added a mix of manure, then planted the seedlings.  The peppers and tomatoes got eggshells and Epsom salt mixed in with the manure.  I also planted seed in trenches with manure.

Over the next few weeks, I worked on mulching and Chris built trellis and fencing from branches.  We found a millwright nearby who sells untreated pine shavings by the bag, really cheap.  And if we go bag our own shavings, they are free!  I laid down a few layers of newspaper, wet it, then piled on a few inches of shavings.  The potatoes were planted in a 12" deep trench, then had straw piled on top as they grew.

For the fence, Chris used large branches or small tree trunks as posts.  Most of the wood came from the brush pile left after the driveway and hydro poles were put in.  When that work was done, we relocated the smaller trees that we could save, but inevitably, some needed to be cut down or trimmed back.  At least they will be put to good use!  Chris dug the post holes by hand, going down about 3-4 feet for the corner posts.  We then put the posts in the holes, and piled stone, gravel and sand around them to avoid using concrete.  I used zip-ties to attach the 7 foot deer fencing all the way around, and Chris hung the gate.  I will go into greater detail to show how we did this in a later post.

The garden is about 25'x26'.  The deer fencing has sod piled around the bottom edges to deter small critters burrowing, and Chris buried a log under the gate to prevent digging there

We are growing several types of tomato, shepherd peppers, brussels sprouts, pole beans, snap peas, spinach, edamame, various herbs, cucumber, pumpkins, butternut squash, watermelon, zucchini, cabbage, chard, and potatoes.  All our vining plants are trellised, even the large pumpkins!  The stems are growing very thick as the fruit gets heavier to support their weight.

Butternut squash

Cabbage

Pie pumpkin

Pretty potato flower

Tomato cages, and squash vines on the trellis

Watermelon teepee

The mulch is working very well, I have yet to need to water in spite of having very hot dry weather for up to 10 days at a time.  As long as it continues to rain well in between hot spells, I should not need to water at all.  The only weeds that are coming up from under the mulch is the milkweed, horsetail, and vetch.  They are easy to pull up if I get them weekly.  I'm leaving most of the horsetail as it is a useful medicinal plant.

Vetch, the bane of my garden.  They are quite pretty growing in the field like these, but in the garden they choke out any plant it can wind its tendrils around

The only things not growing well are some of the tomato plants.  I've never had issue growing tomatoes before and I have been unable to diagnose the problem so far.  Some of the tomato plants have disease on their leaves.  It is spotting that causes the leaves to curl up, discolour and die.  The strange thing is that the fruit seems unaffected.  Even on the plants with all their leaves dead, fruit is growing and ripening!  Some of the affected plants are even putting out healthy new growth above the dead parts.  I cannot explain why only some of the plants are affected either.  The sick plants are the same type of tomato as their neighbours and its not localized to one area of the garden.  Healthy unaffected plants grow beside sick ones.

EDIT:  I have since figured out my tomatoes were affected by early blight, a fungal disease.  We will harvest the tomatoes early and let them ripen off the vine to avoid the fruit spoiling.  Then we will pull up the plants and burn them.  We will not be able to plant tomatoes in that location for several years as the fungus can live in the soil and reinfect new plants.

Sick plum tomato plant with ripening fruit

I also have a haphazard perennial garden with plants that I brought with me from our last house.  In the fall I just dug random holes to get them in the ground quickly, as a temporary home until we have a proper place for them.  With only one casualty over the winter, they seem to be quite happy growing where they are.

These Fourth of July roses were one of the plants Phoenix picked out for her birthday last year

Happy hydrangea