Texas

[RoosterCogburn7]

Eventually, I want a raised bed garden made. I just disappointed I can't make it myself. I built my own coops, and was getting pretty handy. I guess the contractor down the road can make me a 4x10 about as high as my walker in a sunny part of the yard. If I was doing it myself, I would look for Cedar 4x4 posts to keep it straight, put down weed barrier cloth to keep the weeds from coming up, and hardware cloth to keep the burrowing creatures coming up, some PVC piping for the top, with some netting to keep the other critters out, and then do a drip system.. It would talk a lot of mulch, manure, and mushroom soil to get it going, But, it would be nice to have my own organic garden.

 

[RoosterCogburn7]

Interesting. I have always considered College-Bryan Station as part of East Texas, as it maybe an hour from Huntsville.

 

[Ronnie2]

I had a garden most of my life, but now retired and old, with new chickens, trade off will be eggs and friars. I have an electrified fence around garden, to keep deer & wild hogs out. The chickens just step right through it, with all the feathers unscathed. The fenced garden area is 50-feet. X 160-feet
I advertised for sharecroppers, but no takers. Too hard work

 

[chicken curious]

Reporting in from Dallas...

I have my 1 week old chicks outside in the coop with the mamma heating pad (search for thread on BYC if you're interested) and they LOVE being on the deep litter! Sadly my whole flock was slaughtered back in November so I had the deep litter coop still cooking and these little "girls" have no big chickens to contend with so they have the run of at least the bottom floor (not the top roost area or the run yet).

I'm also incubating a set of shipped eggs just to see how I do (and maybe even add a couple more layers to this flock). The weather here is so gorgeous right now (80s/60s) that DH insists we leave the windows and doors open and don't run any a/c or heat. I love it *for me*...cold and night and maybe a bit warm in the heat of the day, but the fresh air is awesome. However, it has made keeping the incubator consistent very hard. Just a still air LG that is borrowed so I'm not going to make modifications. Wish me luck! The air cells didn't look too damaged from shipment...

In the garden I was surprised to see last year's eggplant stem leaf out!!! (I'd cut it down near the ground, but left it to rot in place and nourish the bed)

I have some annuals that I haven't transplanted and some seeds I direct-sowed, but I'm mostly working on a perennial food forest/garden...

The blackberries I bought from a downtown yard via Craigslist last summer are in bloom and I'm really excited about them. All my fruit trees have leafed out except the Pom. I hope it's just late. I think this is the third Spring they're all in the ground here: pomegranate, peach, cherry, persimmon, mulberry, and paw paw. The arctic frost satsuma I planted last year didn't make it through the first freeze (I wasn't home to protect it) My goji berry bushes I planted last summer look great and I look forward to their fruit again. I'm also trying kiwi berry (aa hardy kiwi) vines. They are known to get out of control, but they died back to the ground over the winter so they shouldn't get too crazy here, but will hopefully fruit! I have two feijoa bushes (aka pineapple guava) and I'm hoping they'll eventually fruit. My two elderberries have grown like crazy this year after being totally stripped by my chickens last Fall. I've started a bunch of perennial tree collard-like greens that were NOT able to overwinter...cuttings taken before freeze can root for next year...not exactly perennial here, but prolific once going. Hopefully I'll have more to share with the chickens than last year. If I can get some established, I'll have cuttings to share with anyone who wants to come get one! My ground cherries seem to have reseeded so I'm looking forward to more of those tiny bites of yumminess. Garlic and onions are looking great. Blueberry bushes have immature fruit. Comfrey overwintered and divided nicely for chop and drop fertilizer. Borage and other bee attractants are coming up and I can't wait until they all flower!

I haven't had any luck with artichoke from seed and I tried yacon and sunchokes last year, but I think they were in too shady a location. Tigernuts did ok, but I probably won't plant again.

I planted quinoa and amaranth near the chickens and hope to share the leaves and seeds with them. I'll also try to plant some mint over there because I read it's a rodent deterrent (chickens are under the canopy of neighbor's elm which is great for the heat of the summer, but hard to garden next to).

That's a whole lot going on here on a city lot! North Dallas kinda near galleria.

 

[RoosterCogburn7]

I have found that heavy breeds, or feathered breeds that aren't used to the Texas sun, need a lot of air to pass through to keep them cool. I used hardware cloth to keep criitters out and the breeze to come through. However, there is enough structure that if they get too cold, they can always get down from their roost.

 

[kat7399]

Hello everyone! I'm new to this forum and to raising chickens. We just got our Coop built and got two young hens on Monday, they are so cute! We are in Fredericksburg and previously lived in Corsicana, almost moved to Palestine but just ended up here in the Hill country. We are so happy to be here and can't wait for eggs to start!

 

[TexasLisa]

Hello everyone! I'm new to this forum and to raising chickens. We just got our Coop built and got two young hens on Monday, they are so cute! We are in Fredericksburg and previously lived in Corsicana, almost moved to Palestine but just ended up here in the Hill country. We are so happy to be here and can't wait for eggs to start!

Welcome from Rosenberg!!

 

[chicken curious]

just ended up here in the Hill country.

Welcome! The Hill Country area is gorgeous and Fredericksburg is fun! My parents are on a ranch "near" Clifton (NW of Waco) and we love visiting them. I keep trying to convince them they need chickens.

 

[newchickjess]

Hello everyone! I'm new to this forum and to raising chickens. We just got our Coop built and got two young hens on Monday, they are so cute! We are in Fredericksburg and previously lived in Corsicana, almost moved to Palestine but just ended up here in the Hill country. We are so happy to be here and can't wait for eggs to start!

Welcome from East Texas!

 

[RoosterCogburn7]

Fredricksburg is one of my favorite places to go. I had designs on retiring there someday. But, with my wife's job, I suspect we will be in Livingston for some time. We went up to a B+B before we had children. That is going on 14 plus years ago.