California - Northern

[Hangtown Farms]

the fog is back here in sonoma co, after what has felt like weeks of that hot dry wind, which has been withering all my new plants -- feels like such a relief to have cool moist air again.

and today is day #26 for my poor broody trying to hatch the araucana eggs -- beginning to think it just isn't going to happen. am inquiring about whether there are any chicks available for sale that i could slip under her...

yeah 26 days is a long time. I generally toss mine at 24

maybe Deann has something. those CL XCP olive eggers are really tough and may be good first Broody attempts.
Glad the fog is back there means cooler weather for the Valley.
It was chilly this morning here .
I put the black penedesenca out with the chicks I got from Candy last night. Of course it was 15 degrees cooler this morning. Everyone is fine though and they had most there feathers

 

[Happy Chooks]

Quote:
It's better to report it - then we can clean it up before it spirals out of control.

 

[Happy Chooks]

I want a greenhouse. Mostly so I can stick a Meyer Lemon bush in it in the winter.

Near where I live, there is a new community farm. I've been watching them plant. (and they just got chickens too) They do have 1 greenhouse of plastic tarplike material. But what really interests me is they have a hoop structure with plastic across the top and about 1/2 down the sides. On the ends it's staked to the ground like a tent would be. I went by one night near dusk and noticed that they bring the plastic to the ground at night. Then tie it back up during the day.

 

[PetRock]

Don't ya just love feed store advise? They are ALWAYS wrong. Corid is what you want. (or Sulmet)

I hope you get what you are needing for your flock. I hatched some wellies, needing a good pullet, and of course - the 2 that hatched are cockerels.

Stunning!

Chickens cannot swim, so be careful. I'd also worry about them drinking the pool water.

I went to our feed store which is in the heart of what used to be farm country. I asked the lady who has been there for years (maybe the owner?) is they had Corid. She told me no that she didn't know what that was. I found it in the cattle area and also in the poultry area. No wonder I don't ask them very many questions. Most of the time, it is just better to help myself! It is a good thing that we have BYC to get answers to our questions!

Remember the four Wellie chicks that I was wondering what their sexes were? I ended up with a quad! Now how often does that happen?!!! I am not sure where they came from. I got them from chiqita who got the eggs from someone.

There is someone here on BYC who lets their Buff Orpingtons swim in their swimming pool with their girls. She has beautiful pics of them swimming around in the water. Maybe their abundance of fluffy feathers helps keep them afloat?!

 

[Hangtown Farms]

I want a greenhouse. Mostly so I can stick a Meyer Lemon bush in it in the winter.

Near where I live, there is a new community farm. I've been watching them plant. (and they just got chickens too) They do have 1 greenhouse of plastic tarplike material. But what really interests me is they have a hoop structure with plastic across the top and about 1/2 down the sides. On the ends it's staked to the ground like a tent would be. I went by one night near dusk and noticed that they bring the plastic to the ground at night. Then tie it back up during the day.

You can do cheap greenhouses with schedule 40 pvc pipe. use 20 foot peaces 3/4 inch use rebarb stakes slip it over. looks like a upside down u. Put 40 mil plastic over the top. you can leave it up all the time except when it is super windy or it snows.

 

[lawatt]

yeah 26 days is a long time. I generally toss mine at 24

maybe Deann has something. those CL XCP olive eggers are really tough and may be good first Broody attempts.
Glad the fog is back there means cooler weather for the Valley.
It was chilly this morning here .
I put the black penedesenca out with the chicks I got from Candy last night. Of course it was 15 degrees cooler this morning. Everyone is fine though and they had most there feathers

Deann definitely seems to have a new hatch listed as happening tomorrow -- i'm just contacting the woman (Shannon, Die Fly Ranch) i got the araucana eggs from, to see if she has any chicks by chance -- her birds are so lovely, and the eggs themselves are GORGEOUS, so i'd love to have some in my flock. if she doesn't, though, i'll call Deann, my main chicken supplier!

 

[PetRock]

I want a greenhouse. Mostly so I can stick a Meyer Lemon bush in it in the winter.

Near where I live, there is a new community farm. I've been watching them plant. (and they just got chickens too) They do have 1 greenhouse of plastic tarplike material. But what really interests me is they have a hoop structure with plastic across the top and about 1/2 down the sides. On the ends it's staked to the ground like a tent would be. I went by one night near dusk and noticed that they bring the plastic to the ground at night. Then tie it back up during the day.

We have converted an old 12 x 20 hoop parking canopy into a garden cover will be greenhouse. We had already replaced the canopy several times and it was really not serving any function so we moved the metal frame into the yard and made 2 long raised beds under it. We used 5 ft field fencing around the bottom to keep the chickens out. We eventually plan on covering the top with plastic to make it a greenhouse. I like the idea of rolling down the plastic on the sides at night. Gonna tell DH about that one! He would like to permanently enclose the whole thing with plastic but it gets so hot here in the summer that I think ventilation would be a problem. Maybe rolling up the sides will be a compromise that we both can live with!

The nice thing about the metal frame is that it lasts longer than PVC. I love to repurpose and could use another one of these. Need to start looking on craigslist for another one.

 

[Happy Chooks]

Quote: Awesome on the quad!

I've seen that picture - it was actually submitted for the calendar a couple years ago. Chickens will float for a short amount of time, but once their feathers get waterlogged, they sink like a rock.

 

[Hangtown Farms]

We have converted an old 12 x 20 hoop parking canopy into a garden cover will be greenhouse. We had already replaced the canopy several times and it was really not serving any function so we moved the metal frame into the yard and made 2 long raised beds under it. We used 5 ft field fencing around the bottom to keep the chickens out. We eventually plan on covering the top with plastic to make it a greenhouse. I like the idea of rolling down the plastic on the sides at night. Gonna tell DH about that one! He would like to permanently enclose the whole thing with plastic but it gets so hot here in the summer that I think ventilation would be a problem. Maybe rolling up the sides will be a compromise that we both can live with!

Put wire at the front and back on the top. You can add a few cheap window fans ( ones that suck and blow air ) put them at chest height one on each side. you can have one blowing air out and one drawing air in. This of course if you have power out there in the yard

 

[Happy Chooks]

Quote:
We are loaded with projects right now, so we are not starting any new ones.

I spent yesterday weeding the garden beds. DH weed whacked around the garden beds to get rid of the 5 foot tall weeds! Today, I'm going to try to put some compost bins together out of fencing today. Need to find a better way to compost somehow. What I'm doing isn't working. I can't get compost at all in the ComposTumbler, so I gave up and have been doing a pile on the ground.