Homesteaders

[Raech]

So today I take me new rescue foster dog to the vet. She came from an abusive, neglectful house and was forced to fight the other dog for her meals. She is roughly 15-20 pounds under weight by my guess and has a lot of parasite problems. I am very surprised with how well she is doing in my house, I have a female dog, 3 cats and young children who run and scream. So far they are not allowed to play with her, if she comes up for a pet they are allowed to pet her but not "love on her" like they do our dog. The cats are not an issue at all, she just ignores them, and the kids make her a little nervous when they start calling her and trying to get pets constantly. She is spending a lot of time in a kennel due to me having daycare babies that don't understand the difference between the dogs.

This part I need ideas for, she has separation anxiety and ate through the tray on the kennel yesterday when I was gone for 45 minutes getting dog foods. I have left the television on, I have ignored her for before it is time for me to leave, and I have put a blanket over the kennel so it is more cave like. She isn't interested in toys or kongs filled with food and has small food aggression so I don't want to leave her with food while I am gone. When I am home she just lays down and goes to sleep until she needs to go potty then she whines or barks and I take her outside.

The peas are really producing, I have never seen them this loaded with peas before and my herbs are really going crazy, just need to keep the slugs off of my basil plants. Anybody used copper strips to prevent slugs from going in the raised beds/pots?

 

[bluto in mo]

I use Diotamacious earth for bug problem in the garden. It works good for cabbage moths. And the kids can still eat straight from the garden.

 

[Chicken girl 15]

Between my rows I spread a bit of salt. Its lethal to slugs. On my plants I use the DE as well, for the same reason as above. Kids love vegetables right off the plant.

 

[Beekissed]

So today I take me new rescue foster dog to the vet. She came from an abusive, neglectful house and was forced to fight the other dog for her meals. She is roughly 15-20 pounds under weight by my guess and has a lot of parasite problems. I am very surprised with how well she is doing in my house, I have a female dog, 3 cats and young children who run and scream. So far they are not allowed to play with her, if she comes up for a pet they are allowed to pet her but not "love on her" like they do our dog. The cats are not an issue at all, she just ignores them, and the kids make her a little nervous when they start calling her and trying to get pets constantly. She is spending a lot of time in a kennel due to me having daycare babies that don't understand the difference between the dogs.

This part I need ideas for, she has separation anxiety and ate through the tray on the kennel yesterday when I was gone for 45 minutes getting dog foods. I have left the television on, I have ignored her for before it is time for me to leave, and I have put a blanket over the kennel so it is more cave like. She isn't interested in toys or kongs filled with food and has small food aggression so I don't want to leave her with food while I am gone. When I am home she just lays down and goes to sleep until she needs to go potty then she whines or barks and I take her outside.

The peas are really producing, I have never seen them this loaded with peas before and my herbs are really going crazy, just need to keep the slugs off of my basil plants. Anybody used copper strips to prevent slugs from going in the raised beds/pots?

Here's a Cesar Millan episode for separation anxiety: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xkh-INSfdW0

The other parts will be over at the side menu.

 

[rancher hicks]

am in Alaska and not sure I'll see a farm or homestead. we didn't rent a car and familyh only has one. went camping but missed the bear siting.
ttfn

 

[Beekissed]

Still planting the garden.....chicks continue to hatch. The 17 yr cicada hatch is going on, so the flock isn't eating much food at all from my hand...and they aren't having to expend any energy to get a full belly of protein, so this batch of chicks should be started out right.

Big year for the clover, so that's improving forage as well. Not seeing any pollinators yet as we have had rainy and cold weather but this week is supposed to warm up drastically, so I expect everything to take a growth spurt and for the bees to return to their labors.

Got some pretty flowers to set out in the annual beds yesterday...can't wait to see those colors growing next to the house.

 

[Loc20chick]

Cutting back on my garden plans this season, i'll be out for seven weeks and hubby doesn't do garden, leaving him with the chickens is hard work already.At least already eating collards and leeks from the garden. I don't think my tomatoes will be ready in July before leaving, hopefully he will at least pick them when I'm out.

 

[FrugalmamaTx]

Update on my urban homestead Everything has been on hold due to weather - we've had a TON of rain the last few weeks, and hail as well. I'm glad I hadn't finished my coop yet, as it turns out the place I was planning on putting the coop and run gets pretty soggy with larger amounts of rain. I probably could get away with still putting it there, but I'd rather not risk it as this seems it will be a rainy year. So I'm going back to my original chicken tractor idea, and will be building that this coming week. Wire for it arrived today though.

Working on a temporary day pen for our 6 chicks though - they are fully feathered out so able to go out now. I've been letting them free range supervised and they love it. Moved our compost bed today - it was in an odd location and not where I really wanted it, so moved it and moved all the compost which gave it a good stirring. There were tons of bugs in there, including black soldier fly larve which the chicks loved. Raised the sides of the compost bed {6'x3'} so it's a full 2' tall, and tomorrow I'll add chicken wire to the metal top and it will work for a day pen for the chicks. They spent a good couple of hours in there today and were very happy so I'm okay with it.

For anyone wondering, the cardboard brooder bedding was a success. I changed it after about a week, probably could have gone longer but it was full of scratched out feed and getting a bit smelly from that and spilled water. And way way way less dust than the shavings I was using. Will probably continue it in the chicken tractor - not sure it would work for nest boxes though.

 

[rancher hicks]

Update on my urban homestead Everything has been on hold due to weather - we've had a TON of rain the last few weeks, and hail as well. I'm glad I hadn't finished my coop yet, as it turns out the place I was planning on putting the coop and run gets pretty soggy with larger amounts of rain. I probably could get away with still putting it there, but I'd rather not risk it as this seems it will be a rainy year. So I'm going back to my original chicken tractor idea, and will be building that this coming week. Wire for it arrived today though.

Working on a temporary day pen for our 6 chicks though - they are fully feathered out so able to go out now. I've been letting them free range supervised and they love it. Moved our compost bed today - it was in an odd location and not where I really wanted it, so moved it and moved all the compost which gave it a good stirring. There were tons of bugs in there, including black soldier fly larve which the chicks loved. Raised the sides of the compost bed {6'x3'} so it's a full 2' tall, and tomorrow I'll add chicken wire to the metal top and it will work for a day pen for the chicks. They spent a good couple of hours in there today and were very happy so I'm okay with it.

For anyone wondering, the cardboard brooder bedding was a success. I changed it after about a week, probably could have gone longer but it was full of scratched out feed and getting a bit smelly from that and spilled water. And way way way less dust than the shavings I was using. Will probably continue it in the chicken tractor - not sure it would work for nest boxes though.

I suggest you put it with the windows facing East and West where the sun comes up. So they get the longest light. Too you can build a "berm" or set it on a raised bed. You'll find lots of design ideas just by Googling "Coops on raised beds". Or ""how to build a berm"

You could build it out of many things. If you did a raised bed, I'd make it bigger than the floor space of your coop. That way your chickens would have a space to range around the outside.

Check CL for free materials to use for the sides. Old tires, used bricks, railroad ties, cinder blocks, etc. etc.

 

[Beekissed]

Rancher, is that your coop?? That's very pretty!!!

Quote:
If you haven't explored them yet, you may want to look into bucket nipple waterers....sooooooooo much less mess in brooders and the chicks learn to use them like lightning. I'll never do a traditional chick waterer again after trying the nipple bucket. Dry bedding is the pay off.


Sweet corn is up!!! Got some little tomatoes, peppers and strawberries showing up. This stinkin' hot weather is good for the gardens though I can't say it's all that comfy for me.

Got two broodies sitting on the same nest....crazy birds. That's gotta be hot.

The rest of the flock are feasting daily on the 17 yr cicada hatch which, oddly enough, causes the yolks of their eggs to be very pale compared to their normal diet. The feast is keeping feed consumption to the bare minimum...so much so that it's merely a token feeding as they only eat a couple of bites and then head on out to eat the cicadas.