Consolidated Kansas

[cherwill]

I need to pull up the garden frames and till. I've had raised beds for years due to gravel in the soil from the previous owners making the sunny part of the yard a parking lot, and after we got the majority of the gravel hauled off, there remained some and the compaction was awful. A decade of chicken litter and leaves composting between the frames and I think we can just plant in the ground now- it's 6+ inches higher and the worms have helped immensely. Each year I've put down squash around my frames and this year they were HAPPY, so I will make a single level garden again.

Good to see you!

How nice that you've finally made good soil out of a parking area. It does take a lot of time and compost. Last year, you couldn't turn a shovelful of soil in our community garden without seeing a worm. Then we had all that rain and I think many of the worms must have drowned, because there were none this year until the end of the season. I'm glad your worm population is thriving -- they really make a difference.

Cherwill do you mind sharing your green tomato recipe. My plants are still gorgeous even though I only managed to get one decent ripe tomato all year. This is the last time I am going to attempt to plant tomatoes in the garden. If I didn't have the soil so mellow I would even move the garden but I don't want to do all that work again. It's pretty handy for pumping out the duck pond where it is so I guess it'll stay as is. I'll just find a new spot for tomatoes.
Chooks it's been a glorious fall. I just wish I had the time to enjoy it. I still have so much to do before cold weather. I am totally dreading it to say the least.

Danz, this is the link to the recipe my friend gave me: http://allrecipes.com/recipe/green-tomato-pickles/ He said it looked just like the recipe he remembered, but he'd lost the actual recipe. What's nice is that you can scale the recipe down and the site does all the math! I scaled it to 8 servings, and got five 1/2-cup jars of pickles. It looks like a lot more when you're slicing tomatoes and onions, but they cook way down. You have to start the night before you want to can them. I point this out because I didn't read the recipe carefully enough, and so ended up canning them on a day I didn't want to.

chooks nice to see you here, long time no see. I don't think any of us are looking forward to winter. I especially hate it even worse now since I broke my leg falling on the ice & snow last January. I'm going to take more precautions this time for sure. I just hate the hauling water in the freezing temps, breaking the ice out of the bowls, & all of it.

My apologies if you've discussed this recently and I missed it, but how is your leg? I know it's been a tough process getting it healed and rehabbed.

 

[chicken danz]

Thanks Cherwill. I don't even have a clue how many are out there. I keep thinking I should pull up the plants but I haven't. I've never had more attractive plants but they sure didn't produce.
I'm procrastinating this morning. I am in that mode where I have so much to do I don't even want to start.

 

[chicken danz]

My plants are confused. I have a forsythia bush blooming some iris blooming. It's kind a nice contrast for fall.

 

[zigzag45]

My broody hen has me puzzled (sure -that's not super hard!). She's down to six eggs under her. That means she's eaten five eggs over the past two weeks. And, the two that I've seen are both compromised the same way. There is a hole pecked at one end and the contents gone. It's like she has a hidden straw in there somewhere that she sticks in the hole and slurps the contents out with. I hope she doesn't prove to be the type that eats chicks when they hatch. We are going to watch her pretty closely (hopefully without stressing her) as we get to the end of the week. 21 days is Thursday, so hoping things start hatching end of the week - assuming there is still development. I haven't candled in awhile, ignorance is bliss.

 

[Prairie Fleur]

Hi everyone! I've been silently watching the conversation the last while but was too sick to post anything. Wretched sinus infection. Thankfully I'm feeling a little better now. I've lost both of my peachicks and another of my SLW chicks. No sign of bones or feathers or anything. DH and I both looked. Pride has been really uptight and nervous the last while too, cruising around looking worried spitless. Then night before last DH was out in the yard about 5 in the evening and he said there was a big owl and hawk hanging around. DH took a couple shots at the birds and scared them off but I'm sure only temporarily. I'm convinced theyve been targeting my birds.. Poor chooks spent the day in the coop yesterday. I plan to let them out today but they'll only be able to be out for a while and they'll have to go in early. I've got to get a pen made with a roof so they can be outside and protected while the hawk and owl are around. I'm really mad that they've picked off half of my peas and one of my last several SLWs!!!!! I wish London was bigger and knew to change them off! He's been doing better the last while and I think we're getting it across to him that chickens are NOT to be chased. He's staying with the goats quite a bit too.

 

[Trish44]

cherwill thanks for asking, my leg is doing better. The bone healed fine, but the soft tissue damage has been taking the longest time to resolve. It still bothers me & may always a bit, especially in cold weather, but it's much better than it was. We just don't heal as quickly the older we get, sigh.

Prairie Fleur I'm sorry to hear you've been sick. Those sinus infections can really knock you down, but I hope you're feeling better. I'm glad to hear your GP pup is doing better, just be prepared for the goofy teenage stage though. I'm just warning you, my two got so crazy during that time, I was so glad when they got through that.

My young birds I hatched in the spring for my laying flock are starting to lay now, so that's great timing when some of the older ones are in molt. I've been giving all of my birds sunflower seeds to bump up their protein right now because a lot of them are molting. I saw that Orschelyn's now is carrying that feather saver stuff have any of you tried it & did it seem to help make the molt time shorter? I'm sorry about your bird losses. We do have hawks here but I think since we have so much tree cover & the birds are always on alert they don't bother to try anything here. Maybe just the two GPs being present might help as well.

I'm still painting my breeder coop. Since I was out of town all weekend I didn't get to work on it then but went out a couple of times today & worked on the back where the people doors all are. I'm about halfway through painting doors on that side & the rest needs another coat back there. I will have trim to paint when I get the other part done too, but that shouldn't take long. My DH is going to come out tomorrow & get up on the ladder & paint the parts I can't reach. He agreed he didn't think I should be climbing up & down ladders. I'm going to replace the top of the pens as well after we're done painting so I can put something more sturdy up there.

 

[zigzag45]

Trish - do you mix the sunflower seeds into their feed or give them to them straight? I'd not heard of using sun flower seeds to boost protein - I like that idea. I think they are pretty cheap.

 

[Trish44]

I just throw some on the top of their food. I feed fermented feed. You can just throw some out for them too as snacks. They love them. Get the black oil kind.

 

[zigzag45]

I just throw some on the top of their food. I feed fermented feed. You can just throw some out for them too as snacks. They love them. Get the black oil kind.

Thanks.

I keep meaning to try FF... haven't gotten around to it yet.

 

[Trish44]

DH got started painting on the high areas on the breeder coop today, but only got half of the front done with the first coat today & did the south end up under the roof. It takes two coats on everything since it's raw wood so it takes awhile. I'm still working on the back where the 4 people doors are. Those doors take so long with painting both sides of the door & I'm doing the inside trim around the door & at the bottom as well. I still have one more door to paint yet completely & do 2nd coats on 3 others. I think the front will be easier since I just have windows up there to go around. I do have 4 pop doors, but they shouldn't be hard to do. I'll be glad when this project is done. Then my DH asked me today if I'm going to paint the inside & I said well I would like to but we'll have to see if it stays warm enough to do it. I'll be happy just to get the outside done right now & worry about the inside in the spring. I still have the sheep shelter to paint yet as well.