Illinois...

[BReeder!]

Spring is on the way
Time to start seeds..... well just oinions, but still
View attachment 1661077

What app is this?

 

[BReeder!]

Took a chance and elected not to add any heat durring the cold snap. And in fact, left the upper doors in the house open to the run. I did decide to put up some plastic sheeting on the outside of the run, just to cut down on the wind sheer. My girls are all cold hardy and did come through just great! My heated water, not so good. It developed a crack and ended up leaking all over. A little JB weld took care of that today.

You are braver than me. I added a 100W heat lamp during the worst of the cold snap. I turned it off yesterday.

 

[Molpet]

What app is this?

it's an email from 'mother earth news' I have been getting it for a decade or so
I THINK I did a free trial of the garden planner not sure and I can't find where to sign up for the planting dates emails.
But here is the planner maybe it's in there somewhere https://gardenplanner.motherearthnews.com/garden-planner-calendar.aspx

 

[BReeder!]

Where is everybody? Hope you are enjoying this warmer weather - I'll hate myself for saying that 20s-40s is warmer weather come July.
I'm dealing with mud! The dogs paws are muddy, the chickens feet are wuddy, our shoes are muddy... lot's of mud! I think I'm going to surface the run this year with leaf litter and mulch. I have a gas powered mulcher... I would love to be able to drop sand but the level of clay our soil makes sand a poor choice. I'm hoping that the mulcher will shred sticks/branches enough that there's not a bunch of sharp edges and I'm thinking that mixing mulch and leaves together plus and droppings the chickens leave in the run should result in a fluffy compost that drains well. In the fall we put loads of leaves in the old run and the chickens make quick work of breaking them down. The problem is that the leaves matted in some areas and held water rather than drained it. I'm hoping the mulch with help with preventing that.
Any thoughts? Your experience?

 

[Molpet]

Where is everybody? Hope you are enjoying this warmer weather - I'll hate myself for saying that 20s-40s is warmer weather come July.
I'm dealing with mud! The dogs paws are muddy, the chickens feet are wuddy, our shoes are muddy... lot's of mud! I think I'm going to surface the run this year with leaf litter and mulch. I have a gas powered mulcher... I would love to be able to drop sand but the level of clay our soil makes sand a poor choice. I'm hoping that the mulcher will shred sticks/branches enough that there's not a bunch of sharp edges and I'm thinking that mixing mulch and leaves together plus and droppings the chickens leave in the run should result in a fluffy compost that drains well. In the fall we put loads of leaves in the old run and the chickens make quick work of breaking them down. The problem is that the leaves matted in some areas and held water rather than drained it. I'm hoping the mulch with help with preventing that.
Any thoughts? Your experience?

I gather grass and leaves with the mower bagger and dump them in the run/coop and the garden. works well for the mud...when it gets deep enough
now I have ice and yesterday it was ice with water on it.

 

[Molpet]

In the fall I go to town and get bags of dry leaves people put out on garbage day... this year it was mainly wet leaves that I put on the garden... I usually gather about 4 dz bags of leaves... I only got 12 dry bags... I may end up having to by shavings.. haven't bought shavings since 2015
My cousin cuts grass, lets it dry and then picks it up with a sweeper. She used to burn it, now she gives it to me.. I put it in used leaf bags and use it in the coop.

 

[cavemanrich]

The problem is that the leaves matted in some areas and held water rather than drained it. I'm hoping the mulch with help with preventing that.
Any thoughts? Your experience?

Molpet already answered how she handles mulch. I just wanted to add my experience with leaves holding water from draining. It happened when the leaves were WHOLE and also depended on the tree type. My solution which works VERY WELL for me. I run over the leaves with a lawnmower/bagger. This shreds the leaves into small pieces, which allows the water to drain thru with no problem. I mainly use the shredding's in my flower beds. In my run, I add ALL the grass clippings during the summer. They dry out and again I add more the next mowing. The dry grass/ hay builds up nicely, keeping the ground mud-free. Chickens have endless joy scratching thru it continuously. Of course the grass turns back to earth on a continuous basis.
My leaves of choice are Maple. I have many of those trees around. The leaves crumble easily when dry.
Other trees are of varying quality. The least favored choice in my area are leaves from Poplar trees. Those leaves take a long time to break down. They would block water drainage, acting like they were made of plastic. Shredding with lawnmower solves these as well.

 

[Faraday40]

Where is everybody? Hope you are enjoying this warmer weather - I'll hate myself for saying that 20s-40s is warmer weather come July.
I'm dealing with mud! The dogs paws are muddy, the chickens feet are wuddy, our shoes are muddy... lot's of mud! /QUOTE]

Did someone say MUD?!

The above pic may be a repeat..... but so is the situation. Our puppy loves the mud & the floor by our backdoor is coated with muddy prints. As soon as we wipe it up, someone else goes back outside. Ugh!

I'm very happy it's re-frozen at the moment..... but not looking forward to tonight's ice storm.

Drive safely.... or even better - stay home.

 

[BReeder!]

Molpet already answered how she handles mulch. I just wanted to add my experience with leaves holding water from draining. It happened when the leaves were WHOLE and also depended on the tree type. My solution which works VERY WELL for me. I run over the leaves with a lawnmower/bagger. This shreds the leaves into small pieces, which allows the water to drain thru with no problem. I mainly use the shredding's in my flower beds. In my run, I add ALL the grass clippings during the summer. They dry out and again I add more the next mowing. The dry grass/ hay builds up nicely, keeping the ground mud-free. Chickens have endless joy scratching thru it continuously. Of course the grass turns back to earth on a continuous basis.
My leaves of choice are Maple. I have many of those trees around. The leaves crumble easily when dry.
Other trees are of varying quality. The least favored choice in my area are leaves from Poplar trees. Those leaves take a long time to break down. They would block water drainage, acting like they were made of plastic. Shredding with lawnmower solves these as well.

Maple leaves is mostly what I have. There is 1 apple te in my yard, but I have 4 large maple trees and a few maple saplings.

 

[BReeder!]

I HA

Did someone say MUD?!
View attachment 1664500
The above pic may be a repeat..... but so is the situation. Our puppy loves the mud & the floor by our backdoor is coated with muddy prints. As soon as we wipe it up, someone else goes back outside. Ugh!

I'm very happy it's re-frozen at the moment..... but not looking forward to tonight's ice storm.

Drive safely.... or even better - stay home.

I have to go into the office tomorrow because I am facilitating an in person sales training session. I wish I could just work from home tomorrow. I already know the ~10 mile drive to the train is going to take 40 minutes thanks to the the ice... Good thing the training is in the afternoon so I can show up a little late if needed.