Maine

[gracejr]

Pics of my new arrivals here: https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/651069/female-amber-links-or-pics Are they even what they were sold to me as? lol


I love the idea of the hoop coop, btw! Very neat!

 

[Widget]

Widget awesome job on the hoop house. We're going to do one here, we bought the cattle panels for it last weekend. We're going to do the doors like this:



Hopefully that helps you.

Do you need a bee suit to do the bees? Do you ever take honey?

That was sort of what I was thinking for the door. Not as elaborate but at least it gives me something to think about. Thanks.

The only thing I use is the veil. Getting stung in the face is not something I want to experience. The key is to just move slow and try not to upset the bees so they send out an intruder alarm. I don't wear gloves either. It is easy to squash a bee if you wear gloves since if the glove is thick enough so you don't get stung then it is too thick to feel what you are doing. I haven't taken honey yet. My first time with bees was a few summers ago when all it seemed to do was rain. The bees had a hard time making enough honey for themselves and as a result didn't survive the winter.

 

[buckabucka]

Wow! Busy thread today.

I'm sorry to hear about your hen, Hoppy.
I have a sick hen at the moment in a cat carrier on the dining room table. She can't hold her head up very well, - it keeps bobbing much of the day. We know she has a bad case of mites, but don't know if that is the only thing wrong with her, so we are keeping her isolated.

DH is insisted we try organic methods before I douse all the chickens with chemicals. We're investing in large quantities of DE and pyrethrum.

SCG, you won't want to keep really frost sensitive plants in the cold frame at night. Our hoop house also gets up in the 90's during the day, but cools off dramatically at night. I'm sure many plants will do fine out there, but I'd bring in things like peppers.

We had bees for a while. We got a tiny bit of honey once. First year, DH kept looking in the hive all winter (they are actually pretty fascinating), and they got too cold and died. Second year, new batch of bees. That year, we didn't give them enough sugar water for the winter and they starved. Next year, batch three, they got some kind of mite, which killed them. The final batch, we gave them plenty of sugar water, they had mite medication, and they had a new styrofoam hive to keep warm in, but the styrofoam hive needed much more ventilation. It got all moldy in there and they died. Sometime, in the midst of all these bee years, DH found out he is allergic to honeybees. We had a tense high speed ride to the hospital once. Between that, and all the failures, we gave up on bees!

 

[superchemicalgirl]

Thanks for the info. I had the temp gauge in there last night and I kept watching it cool off pretty quickly - with the sun going down, so I took out everything but the onions. I didn't have room in the hotbox either for the onions after transplanting all the tomatoes to larger containers, anyway.

 

[buckabucka]

I hope to transplant my onions into the garden this week. I usually cover them with reemay, just in case we get a heavy frost. This is earlier than I usually put them out, but I planted the peas early too. We need rain!

I'm glad you mentioned your tomatoes. As I was reading, I thought, wow, my tomatoes aren't even big enough to transplant. And then, wait, where ARE my tomatoes? I forgot to start them! . Another project for this week. I am so glad to have a week's vacation. I've had no time to deal with my plants, the chicks, my sick hen, or the mite problem (not to mention extremely messy house).

Our sick hen doesn't look so good this morning, sleeping a lot and gaping (isn't that a symptom of some disease?). I do think DH's ultimate dose of DE yesterday had an effect. The whole bottom of the cat carrier is covered in little unmoving pepper spots. I bought a spray with pyrethrum/permethrin last night.
It will be a busy week!

 

[superchemicalgirl]

You probably need to treat everyone else in the coop AND the coop if one has mites. You'll have to keep treating every 10-14 days until the cycle is broken, can take quite a few cycles. I don't envy you that task.

I started my tomatoes earlier than usual (and two plants REALLY early) because I was banking on a warmer spring. Let's hope I'm right. I also started peppers pretty early because they are so slow to grow for me. Last year was the first year I've really gotten good peppers. I also have a TON of tomato plants if you want to come pick a few up to get a head start. I supply us and BFs mom with seedlings but should have a few left over unless I fry them in the cold frame.

The cold frame worked really well and got over 100 yesterday, and it "blew" the plexiglass off at least on the sides. It was vented, too. Today while I'm at work BF will have to screw the plexiglass down instead of relying on the caulk to hold it.

Hopefully he gets dirt, goes to the dump, works on the garden hoophouse, works on the chicken hoophouse and makes me dinner before I get home!

 

[m.kitchengirl]

I hope to build some raised beds this weekend.
I have started a few things indoors (some in eggshells, and those are doing PHENOMENALLY) but plan to buy most of my seedlings this year. My yard gets almost too much light, but I plan to combat that by growing beans / peas around raised beds where things need less light. My house, on the other hand, gets nowhere near enough light to start many seeds at all. Next year I hope to have a greenhouse / small indoor seed starting system, but this year I'll just buy seedlings from local farmers, or trade for extras of things I have started with other gardener friends.

I wondered if anyone had any recommendations about either a good bagged soil for my raised beds, or a good source in the Freeport/Brunswick area for soil. I am still pretty new to the area, and find Maine to be a little harder to source things than I found NH (but I lived there for 8 years, so I am sure it was just about knowing the area).

I am also looking for Comfrey plants, if anyone has access.

 

[hoppy]

try a landscaping company for soil or you will be alot more then you need to.usually you can get a pickup truck load at quite a savings.

I hope to build some raised beds this weekend.
I have started a few things indoors (some in eggshells, and those are doing PHENOMENALLY) but plan to buy most of my seedlings this year. My yard gets almost too much light, but I plan to combat that by growing beans / peas around raised beds where things need less light. My house, on the other hand, gets nowhere near enough light to start many seeds at all. Next year I hope to have a greenhouse / small indoor seed starting system, but this year I'll just buy seedlings from local farmers, or trade for extras of things I have started with other gardener friends.

I wondered if anyone had any recommendations about either a good bagged soil for my raised beds, or a good source in the Freeport/Brunswick area for soil. I am still pretty new to the area, and find Maine to be a little harder to source things than I found NH (but I lived there for 8 years, so I am sure it was just about knowing the area).

I am also looking for Comfrey plants, if anyone has access.

 

[superchemicalgirl]

try a landscaping company for soil or you will be alot more then you need to.usually you can get a pickup truck load at quite a savings.

x2 I use a landscaping company up here in Waterville (or Winslow... not really sure) and get compost mix and compost by the yard. It's about 1/4 the price of bagged stuff. BF bought bags of miracle grow organic for our raised beds last year and it SUCKED. We used the landscaping compost mix in his mom's raised bed and her veggies were fantastic.

 

[TayFray!]

First bantam chick just hatched! Out of a green egg! Pipped late last night, and just worked its way out very fast now! Very cute little chick, The egg was in the fridge for a week or so and I never thought they would hatch, well 1 is all healthy and I hope more hatch!!!