Recent content by hnorth

  1. hnorth

    Question On Integrating a Broody and Her Chicks

    That was exactly the kind of reply that I was hoping for. Because it means that my interferes will be minimal. I did transfer the eggs and nesting materials to a new box with much lower sides to facilitate the little peepers egress from under their mum- when they're ready to do so. Btw, the...
  2. hnorth

    Question On Integrating a Broody and Her Chicks

    I have a 1st time broody sitting on 9 marked eggs in a small cardboard wine box on the floor of the main coop. It is day 10 of her sitting and she seems like she is in it for the long haul. In addition, she has an "assistant" or helper hen, who sits on her eggs whilst she is off the nest. The...
  3. hnorth

    I almost ordered more eggs off Ebay

    Last year I ordered 25 Icelandic chicks. After normal attrition and culling the cockerels, I ended up with 10 hens and one very handsome rooster who goes by the name Tony Soprano. After cracking, and examining several eggs earlier last week- I determined that Tony wasn't doing his bit. Although...
  4. hnorth

    I'm so old I Remember when:

    Girls played "Mother may I?" and "Red light/Greenlight" and spoke in horse latin. Boys did wheelies off plywood ramps on stingray Schwinn bikes and scoffed, "oh huh". And BattleStar Galactica had Lorne Greene in it.
  5. hnorth

    Dreaming of Tomatoes

    Note to self: Dont use pure coco coil to start seeds in. Despite what the Portlandia guy with the massive arms covered with sleeve tattoos- at the grow shop claims. For whatever reason, sprouts came up fine but then stalled and yellowed and had to be transplanted into regular potting soil...
  6. hnorth

    The Honey Factory

    Beekeeping has a steep learning curve and has big upfront equipment costs. It can be a big commitment. Still, its fun.
  7. hnorth

    What did you do in the garden today?

    In theory, I have 30. But due to a window of warm weather and a willow and wild plum nectar flow, I was forced, to prevent excessive swarming in confined hive boxes- to make make many nucs. so counting those, about 60. Ultimately, I will scale back to around 30 or less.
  8. hnorth

    What did you do in the garden today?

    So, after work today I went through the stack of bee boxes that the big swarm migrated into. As I said it was a rather large swarm- perhaps the size of a snow shovel and then some. They fully occupy two deeps and a medium. There was a frame missing in the top box and the bees had already drawn...
  9. hnorth

    What did you do in the garden today?

    Today, we got a rare warm March day. While transplanting sugar snap pea seedlings, I heard a loud humming overhead. I looked up and realized that a giant swarm of bees were swirling and twirling thirty feet up. The swarm was moving into a new home and directly came zooming in and made their home...
  10. hnorth

    Your 2025 Garden

    On the topic of the many uses of cardboard in a garden. I saw someone who uses a medium cardboard box to grow potatoes. He simply fills the bottom of the box with about 3 inches of soil and throws in a handful of blood fish and bone meal and mixes it in then places two chitted spuds on the soil...
  11. hnorth

    Dreaming of Tomatoes

    After doing some research on indoor grow lights, I happened upon a youtube video that recommended LED shop lights. It turns out that anything with the designation "grow lights" comes at a steep premium. The guy made a recommendation of an inexpensive shop light. A normal 4 foot, 5000 lm 6500K...
  12. hnorth

    So Many Roosters...

    In my area, I have noticed at least 5 different roosters crowing from every direction in the surrounding neighborhood. In the past, the town governance has cracked down on "nuisance roosters" in what to my mind is a rather swift and ruthless manner. One difference that i have noticed is a...
  13. hnorth

    Dreaming of Tomatoes

    It's been a long, wet winter. I've been dreaming of succulent summer tomatoes. This year, the plan is to maximize my yield by growing them in oversized containers using coco coir based potting soil with amendments. In the past, the clay based soil in my garden has given ok results. But I want to...
  14. hnorth

    Here we go again

    out of 11, 6 made it to lockdown and then all were quitters. Im going to take a long break from trying to hatch shipped eggs. I have an order if 25 Icelandic chicks due in March. I'll just go from there with my project.
  15. hnorth

    Question of the Day - Thursday, December 21st, 2023

    White lights are the best lights.
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