Chickens for 10-20 years or more? Pull up a rockin' chair and lay some wisdom on us!

[Bayside Chicks]

how do i add pics into a thread? i am not very computer literate but would love to post a pic

 

[Gargoyle]

how do i add pics into a thread? i am not very computer literate but would love to post a pic

Use the little icon in the reply window that looks like a square picture, circled in this photo. Then select "upload photos" and find it on your computer, or use "image url" to enter an internet address if it is located somewhere out on the interwebs.

He and his cohort Mort (name because he almost died as a chick)

 

[HiddenChicken]

The American Indians planted a corn, a squash and a legume (bean or pea) in the same hole with a trash fish or fish head for fertilizer. The corn supported the legume vine, the squash plant provided shade to preserve water loss and the legume pulled nitrogen out of the air for the other 2.

I am so intrigued by this, Celie, I am actually going to do this in my garden next year!

Since, of course, I am not one who needs perfect rows...lol...

ETA I already use fish emulsion for fertilizer, so I think I'll skip the actual fish head!

 

[Beekissed]

Boy was I glad to see this post!!! I haven't raised chickens for many, many years but I was starting to think that my thinking was wrong!! I intend to order some chicks next spring and was just going to put them in the coop (with heat lamps, food, water, & bedding of course)....then I started reading how everyone (seemed like that) starts their chicks indoors. Now it may have been many, many years since I raised chickens but even my dog is not allowed to poop in the house although he has been eyeing the toilet lately (wouldn't that be something?) and I really don't want farm animals in my house....they just don't housebreak very well... So THANK YOU VERY MUCH for this bit of wisdom! Man am I glad I found this thread...

Glad you found it too! Welcome to the forum and the OT!

Maybe I am doing something wrong, I've got RIR, BA, and PR, none have been interested in going broody.

Different genetics.....if you keep chickens long enough you will eventually see many things that are not "typical" for this or that breed. Not ALL BR, BAs, RIR, WR go broody...just some. If you have 5 WR, one may be a seasonal broody. Same with any breed...if you have enough of the breed, eventually you strike oil. Although, never have had a white leghorn go broody.....

 

[HiddenChicken]

I tried the Three Sisters planting method a couple of years ago without the fish heads, with limited success, big problems with flea beetles and other various and sundry insects, added beneficial nematodes, hatched preying/praying mantids, released lacewings, in the end my harvest was pitiful and my garden just looked angry with me. I probably would have had more success if I wasn't doing this experiment while working full time and finishing my BS full time. This year I expect to have more time and energy for the garden, and am in the process of planning which methods to use where, hoping for better maintenance and harvest. It will be of huge benefit if we get a little rain next year, as it seems all we did all summer is water water water and water some more.

Oh...maybe I won't try this...

 

[chickachee]

Got a question about putting plastic on the prevailing wind side of the chicken run. Some posts I have seen say they left an open part about a foot high on the top and bottom part of the run. Wouldn't that, at least on the bottom part, let the snow in and kind of defeat the purpose of the plastic? Also was thinking of putting some hay bales on the inside of the run, If I leave the open part at the bottom and put the bales there, am I again defeating the purpose of the fresh air getting in by blocking that area with the bales? I'm going to be doing this soon and I only want to have to do it once - HA!

 

[normanack]

Just to torture you all with pictures of fluffy toilet paper.

Mort as a young chick. His full name at the time was "Mort -- I'm Not Dead Yet."
This picture conveys far more abject misery than he actually seemed to feel, as here he's asleep. Looks horrible, though:




And Mort all grown up (well, about 5 months old in this picture):

 

[Ridgerunner]

On the Three Sisters method of planting, traditionally that used dent corn, harvested at the end of the season for corn meal, not sweet corn harvested pretty early and eaten fresh. That used pole beans havested as dried beans at the end of the season, not picked as green beans. That used pumpkins or winter squash, harvested at the end of the season, not zucchini or summer squash harvested every other day.

That does not mean you can't use sweet corn, pole beans as green beans, or zucchini or summer squash for this. I regularly plant winter squash with my sweet corn. But I think you need to realize what you are doing and why you may get different results than you might expect.

You'll probably pick the sweet corn before the green beans start to produce. The dead stalks will probably still support the bean vines though a lot of sweet corn does not typically grow as tall as dent corn. If you pick your variety of sweet corn you can take care of that. And just be careful when you harvest the sweet corn and the green beans to not break down the corn stalks. The beans will not set nitrogen to help this year's corn crop but they will help replace what the corn used for next year's crop.

When you are harvesting the beans or corn, you can have squash vines all over the place. Be careful to not step on them. It can be done, just be careful.

There is a reason traditional methods become traditional. They tend to work. Occasionally it might help to know some of the details though.

 

[Pozees]

Oh...maybe I won't try this...

I would not base your decision on my experience unless you are on a hot, dry, wind-whipped prairie above 5000 ft elevation I also did not have hen helpers at the time, which may have alleviated some of my bug issues. I know the method has been used successfully by many, it just did not work for me the year I tried it.

 

[Pozees]

On the Three Sisters method of planting, traditionally that used dent corn, harvested at the end of the season for corn meal, not sweet corn harvested pretty early and eaten fresh. That used pole beans havested as dried beans at the end of the season, not picked as green beans. That used pumpkins or winter squash, harvested at the end of the season, not zucchini or summer squash harvested every other day.
That does not mean you can't use sweet corn, pole beans as green beans, or zucchini or summer squash for this. I regularly plant winter squash with my sweet corn. But I think you need to realize what you are doing and why you may get different results than you might expect.
You'll probably pick the sweet corn before the green beans start to produce. The dead stalks will probably still support the bean vines though a lot of sweet corn does not typically grow as tall as dent corn. If you pick your variety of sweet corn you can take care of that. And just be careful when you harvest the sweet corn and the green beans to not break down the corn stalks. The beans will not set nitrogen to help this year's corn crop but they will help replace what the corn used for next year's crop.
When you are harvesting the beans or corn, you can have squash vines all over the place. Be careful to not step on them. It can be done, just be careful.
There is a reason traditional methods become traditional. They tend to work. Occasionally it might help to know some of the details though.

Excellent post - I did use sweet corn but the beans were intended to be harvested dry - problem for me was bugs more than anything, coupled with my lack of time to nip issues the moment they presented. When all three elements are traditional and one doesn't have to tromp through them regularly, it should work. One mistake I made that was nothing but my failure to plan, is I used an interior bed, meaning I had to be able to walk through the aisle to get to other plants, and as soon as the vines took off I realized my mistake. This year I moved my squash plants away from my beds into mounds, which also didn't work, but that is due to the climate as much as anything - wind turns a nice moist soil with grass clippings covering it, into a hard crusted pyramid with grass crumbled and dissipated across the prairie This year those mounds will get one or two more courses of timbers, leveled soil to below the top with a deeper layer of mulch, and slower, more frequent water, twice a day if needed. I may put them back on drip, which I was trying to get away from since everything local is Orbit now and their fittings have a higher fail rate than Raindrip, or on a soaker hose.