Maine

[lazy gardener]

Seeking advice: My 6 x 7 tractor is complete except for the top. My current plan is to use 1/2 cattle panel across one end of it, with a 2 x 3 or 4 spanning the distance to support the front end of the cattle panel. Then, i'll need to cover the panel. I have 1" chicken wire or can use some deer fencing that I think has 1" holes. Any opinions about what would work the best? The open area between the cattle panel and the other end of the tractor will be covered by 1 or 2 lift up doors. If I keep the tractor outside of the electric net fencing, I may buy one of those cheap electric chargers and run a strand or 2 around the base and top. There's no way to make this thing truly predator proof without depending on a good jolt of electricity.

Bucka: IMO, you'll be getting plenty of exercise with your gardening and tending your flock. Give me a pile of manure and a shovel any day over a repetitive exercise program... Dow Girl, I bet you're laughing your head off just about now. Talk about the ultimate hypocrite!!!

 

[ashandvine]

I have a lot of young birds that are off heat but need homes. I just can't keep them all [gosh, who thought I'd say that] most are OE and some EE and a few Hedemora. They've been off for a while and come a-running when ever we go out so I'd say they are friendly. Most are black some are mottled. PM me if anyone is interested. I also have some Blue Swedish ducks left that are laying.

 

[anyasmifya]

I need clones too, LG, if you get around to making some. Too busy here. Tons to do at school, I need to start planting the garden, chickens are locked up in beautiful weather because I haven't finished with the fences, must move all my daylilies before the basement guys come, cut back the old asparagus and raspberry canes, etc, care for the chicks and chickens, seedlings....... I did say I would start exercising. Maybe when school ends.

I recently started running again. It's awesome how many wild animals you see (well I run on logging roads). Just this week I saw a moose, a black bear and many grouse or pheasants. I always get them confused. Yesterday I ran five miles. I haven't run that far since last november. That was tough.

So, chicken related my birds are all doing well.

What is your most hated weed? Mine is currently primrose! I have been flipping the veggie garden soil and I swear there are thousand of primrose roots!

 

[buckabucka]

My worst weed is bindweed. It is a nightmare!

I do hope to start running again, after I begin walking for a while. If I see a black bear though, I'm running the other way!

Tonight I got the first "pod" of chicken fencing up, so the older flock can go out tomorrow if it is not too rainy. I bought even more deer fence, so this year's plan is to have each flock have 4 fenced-in pods. They will get 2 weeks on the first pod, then I will block it off and funnel them into the second, so that by the time they rotate through all 4, the first area will have had a 6 week break (and hopefully be growing some stuff they might eat).

 

[lazy gardener]

Bucka, please tell me how you put up your deer fencing. I bought a pkg 100' x 7'. I figure that with all of the birds I have this year, i'll need to fence the garden as well as break their electro-net yard into sections. The other day, when I trialed the babies in the new (unfinished) tractor, the big girls were trying to get in with them. Occasionally going beak to beak, but no hackles raised. Is the bind weed that you talk about a perennial morning glory with white blossoms, or is it a smaller plant that tends to wrap itself around everything?

I have one asparagus shoot up through the mulch.

 

[lazy gardener]

Bucka, please tell me how you put up your deer fencing. I bought a pkg 100' x 7'. I figure that with all of the birds I have this year, i'll need to fence the garden as well as break their electro-net yard into sections. The other day, when I trialed the babies in the new (unfinished) tractor, the big girls were trying to get in with them. Occasionally going beak to beak, but no hackles raised. Is the bind weed that you talk about a perennial morning glory with white blossoms, or is it a smaller plant that tends to wrap itself around everything?

I have one asparagus shoot up through the mulch.

Anya... when you meet those large critters, is it a bit un-nerving? My worst weeds are poison ivy, and a creeping aromatic plant with purple blossoms that has taken over a lot of my yard. The leaves are round and scalloped. At least it smells good. I've never seen insect damage. The chickens won't eat it. I'm wondering if I dried it and put it in the nest boxes if it would repel mites??

This summer's to do project is to make a solar dryer. I'd like to dry some of the excess veggies.

 

[CoopChick719]

I haven't finished with the fences, must move all my daylilies before the basement guys come, cut back the old asparagus and raspberry canes, etc, care for the chicks and chickens, seedlings....... I did say I would start exercising. Maybe when school ends.

I'd say you ARE exercising! It's just not a boring routine thing!! I read an article about exercise for the way we live. It's not like prehistoric times when it was eat or be eaten aka running!! I don't remember all of it but 1 thing was lifting a laundry basket is actually a squat. Raking or vacuuming were more like a lunge etc., etc.

On the subject of exercise, I climbed into the brooder box to catch chicks to put them in the tractor so they could enjoy the sun. 16--1 at a time!! I finally found a box to transport them back inside after I cleaned up the brooder.
That's it!! I'm building a tractor for the next time I get chicks that I can move in & out of the garage on good days.

Seeking advice: My 6 x 7 tractor is complete except for the top. My current plan is to use 1/2 cattle panel across one end of it, with a 2 x 3 or 4 spanning the distance to support the front end of the cattle panel. Then, i'll need to cover the panel. I have 1" chicken wire or can use some deer fencing that I think has 1" holes. Any opinions about what would work the best? There's no way to make this thing truly predator proof without depending on a good jolt of electricity.

Bucka: IMO, you'll be getting plenty of exercise with your gardening and tending your flock. Give me a pile of manure and a shovel any day over a repetitive exercise program...

I'd go with the chicken wire. I've got deer netting. I think a predator could walk right through that stuff.

I agree...I'd much rather have a shovel, pile of manure or compost and a wheelbarrow over the gym!!

My worst weed is bindweed. It is a nightmare!

I hate that stuff! I had some that I thought was morning glory so I let it do it's thing...UGH!! I was forever unwrapping it from my real plants then yanking it out of the ground. That stuff goes right on the burn pile to dry out in the sun before burning!!

Update on my meatie--he's still not standing but is drinking more water (laced w/Save A Chick) & eating feed on his own. I've left both right in front of him for the night.

Hoping to get the coop cleaned out this weekend so I can rig up a pen within the coop for the chicks. I want 2 solid weeks of watching them & the big girls before we go to camp for Memorial weekend. The children will be watching them that weekend!

Don't get me wrong, they are responsible. They'll get them fed, watered & close the popdoor at night but the level of care won't be there. Chicken chores rank right up there with cleaning out the cat boxes---not a top priority for them!

 

[buckabucka]

LG, I cut the deer fence in half, so it's 3.5 feet, either on a bandsaw (still rolled) or with scissors (unrolled). Neither way works well, but you just have to struggle through it (and keep scissors in your back pocket all the time). Set it up using the fairly cheap push-in posts. The fence is so light posts can be fairly far apart (12 - 16 feet or more if you pull it tight). I put in a million earth staples, and/or weight down with rocks and small logs. Prepare to be a little grouchy that day. The fence grabs everything, including buttons on your clothes. I'm setting up in the woods, so I am wrestling with every twig, bramble, etc. if you are inspired to move it once during the summer, it is not a bad idea. Mine became one with the sod and had to be chopped out, but I am still able to reuse it.

The bind weed sometimes gets flowers, but it seems more intent on twining and smothering. The roots go down at least a foot, but are extremely fragile and all the pieces grow. It is killing off my asparagus and raspberries.

I know I am getting some exercise, but nothing aerobic. And I can tell I'm not as strong as I used to be. Not that I was ever very strong, but even the gallon of laundry detergent suddenly feels really heavy!

 

[anyasmifya]

Anya... when you meet those large critters, is it a bit un-nerving?


Not really. Black bears don't frighten me at all. I lived in PA and we had lots of bears down there. Never an issue. Now moose do scare me! A few years ago while running I came across a female moose who seriously wanted to trample me! She was snorting and stomping and pretty much saying, "Get the bleep out of here!' Her baby must have been nearby. I just slowly walked backwards picked up a stone, kept slowly walking backwards then turned around kept slowly walking and looking behind to make sure she didn't want to still kill me then ran as fast as I've ever run in my life. Now when I see a moose I immediately stop running, do not go near them in anyway and turn around if they are on the trail. Moose get the right of way! Bears tend to always run away from me. The thing that scares me the most are humans! Especially during hunting season!

Yes, that bindweed stuff also sucks badly. One good thing about primrose is that japanese beetles love it and tend to land on it to eat instead of plants I care about.

My DH really wants to make fencing out of branches (saplings) like they do in the uk. I guess it's also called wattle fencing. It would look great around the garden. But I'm thinking it's a lot harder then it looks!

 

[TAMMACLEAN]

This is sort of chicken related. I wen to Tractor Supply this morning to get a bag of chicken food( that's the chicken part) and they had bunnies! Someone had brought in 4 baby bunnies that the rescued from a hawk. I guess the hawk had already eaten one or two. Apparently someone in the recent past had left two bunnies out in the wild and this women has been trying to get them so momma can be fixed. But she's only been able to get the babies. I think they are about 5 weeks old.

I of course said "No". Then I ended up walking out with two. I was only going to take one but then that would have left a poor lonely bunny, and we can't have that. I still have our old bunny cage from our last bunny that past away this winter, so at least I have that. And I have a dog kennel that if I need to I can decide it and make two bunny houses, in case they are boy and girl. Oh well, what can I say...