Washingtonians Come Together! Washington Peeps

[ValerieJ]

Ok, so the saga continues. We have felt that Ralphie is just too young and hormonal for my girls. They are not submitting EVER and cry every time he mounts them. Since we were not having this issue with Cooper, we decided to make the switch back tonight.

OMG!!! The girls are cooing and Cooper is quietly reassuring them. It is amazing!!!

I do not know how I can ever take Cooper away from them again.

I have no idea at this point what the future holds, and just hope that Ralphie fertilized a few eggs that eventually hatch under a broody. But that's not my main concern right now. If he didn't, he didn't. Not sure I would ever put my hens through that again. Ralphie doesn't get another chance until he has gotten out of his teens.

Meanwhile, I know I have a rooster that will protect his flock with his life, even if he doesn't produce offspring.

Sigh... Chicken life in Chicken Land.

 

[Smokerbill]

Have you considered going to Bob's in Longview? They have all the canning supplies you could ever need.

I'll keep that in mind. I don't get down to Longview much since it's a 60 mile round trip for me and close to 4 gallons of gas for my truck.

Ok, so the saga continues. We have felt that Ralphie is just too young and hormonal for my girls. They are not submitting EVER and cry every time he mounts them. Since we were not having this issue with Cooper, we decided to make the switch back tonight.

OMG!!! The girls are cooing and Cooper is quietly reassuring them. It is amazing!!!

I do not know how I can ever take Cooper away from them again.

I have no idea at this point what the future holds, and just hope that Ralphie fertilized a few eggs that eventually hatch under a broody. But that's not my main concern right now. If he didn't, he didn't. Not sure I would ever put my hens through that again. Ralphie doesn't get another chance until he has gotten out of his teens.

Meanwhile, I know I have a rooster that will protect his flock with his life, even if he doesn't produce offspring.

Sigh... Chicken life in Chicken Land.

He IS a nice looking chicken! It's nice how the hens and he get along. Maybe, if he's not sterile, he'll improve his technique and give you some chicks.


I still need to plant seeds today: carrots, kale, collards and bok choi. I'll water the raised bed again this afternoon so it's pretty well soaked top to bottom and sow seeds this evening.

I spent the morning on the roof removing the ancient TV antenna and installing the new one. It works pretty well, but only after I fixed a bad connection inside the wall. When the new antenna didn't work at first I thought it might have been faulty.

Celebrating the day with fried chicken. Not one of mine. From the store.

 

[pennyJo1960]

I took as nap this afternoon layed down a few hours.
making pizza tonight brought fresh basil to add.

 

[ValerieJ]

He IS a nice looking chicken! It's nice how the hens and he get along. Maybe, if he's not sterile, he'll improve his technique and give you some chicks.

Well, I really love Cooper, and it seems the girls do too. We've been talking about possibly just switching them once in a while, so Ralphie can do the fertilization, but Cooper can remain the flock protector. It doesn't look, so far, like they will be able to get along. It will be another couple months at least before we'll try anything with Ralphie again. He is just way too hormonal for some of my old ladies. Maybe not until January. He might be miserable until then. If it is too bad, we may have to give him up. I can't bear an unhappy chicken in my flock. If that happens, I'll get a few more chicks early next spring and hope for a new cockerel.

It always feels like an experiment here, and that makes me feel bad for the chickens. Been doing this for 8 or 9 years now and I seem to get new challenges every year.

It looks like we might have a new broody right now. That would be nice if it works out.

making pizza tonight brought fresh basil to add.

I'm going to make one on Friday I think. I've been watching videos by Vito Iacopelli to learn to make the "perfect crust". It is only a 24 hr process and looks to be quite easy. We'll see.

Hopefully soon I'll be trying my hand at making a sour dough starter again too. I have a new video on that too. Youtube has been my friend lately.

 

[Smokerbill]

The fall crop seeds have been planted. Not a lot. Total area is about 15 square feet. Kale, bok choi, collards and carrots. I don't think I'm planting anything else this year. Enough is enough.

I covered the carrot seeds with seed starting mix, watered them well and covered them with boards. That helps them germinate sooner.

 

[Smokerbill]

The fun begins. First zucchinis of the summer. Cooking a couple of them with some homemade breakfast sausage (for flavor), onion, beans, parsley and kale. It's going to be kind of a soup/stew/rattatouille thing.

Gave the new seed bed a shot of water, and I found another spot to plant more carrots. Why not, huh? No sense having an empty spot in the garden. And I thought I was done planting this year.

 

[pennyJo1960]

Bought lettuce leaf style going to plant more today with some mustard greens.
We just went to Morton not far away.

 

[ValerieJ]

The only thing growing here is the mint and the cherry tomatoes I have on the deck. Gave up on the garden a long time ago.

Next year we are taking a lot of the dirt out of the raised beds and replacing it. Hopefully then we can get on top of the weeds. DH said he would this year, but he gave up too. Whatever grows out there is prolific. More of a forest clover than an actual weed, but with small roots that you cannot just pull out. So removing the top several inches of the soil MIGHT work. Who knows???

Anyway, we will enjoy the cherry tomatoes and I'll buy some for canning from Jeremy's.

 

[Smokerbill]

The only thing growing here is the mint and the cherry tomatoes I have on the deck. Gave up on the garden a long time ago.

Next year we are taking a lot of the dirt out of the raised beds and replacing it. Hopefully then we can get on top of the weeds. DH said he would this year, but he gave up too. Whatever grows out there is prolific. More of a forest clover than an actual weed, but with small roots that you cannot just pull out. So removing the top several inches of the soil MIGHT work. Who knows???

Anyway, we will enjoy the cherry tomatoes and I'll buy some for canning from Jeremy's.

Instead of replacing the dirt, covering the beds with black plastic for several weeks and using soil solarization to kill the weeds off might be an option. After that, maintaining a thick layer of mulch over the garden beds around the veggies would prevent weed seeds from sprouting.

Mulch (rotted wood chips and maple leaves, grass clippings) keeps most weeds from growing in my garden. I still have to pull a few sometimes but they come out easily.

 

[pennyJo1960]

We shop for produce at Jeremy's produce also.
Found if I bought banana at walmart fruit flies galore.
I cover the ends as I buy them.