What did you do in the garden today?

[WthrLady]

Nah. Let the dog crash and went out and filled all the water barrels in the barn and then pulled all the season's plants out of of the garden. Now I just need to weed, spray, and prep the beds for winter chicken poo. Phew. The work we put in, right?!

 

[Compost King]

and prep the beds for winter chicken poo

I love Poo

 

[NewBoots]

Thank you @Acre4Me!

@NewBoots if you think they are laying you can lockthem in the coop for a few days till they lay in the boxes.

I can't really. the original plan was 8 hens but due to circumstances beyond my control (chicken math) we have 10 and locking them in would certainly get the sussex hurt.

I've not had too much of a problem with the pullets learning to use the nest boxes @NewBoots. After I put them in with the hens there were a few eggs laid in the dirt, but after a few "sessions" of putting the pullets in the nest box and sitting with them for a few minutes they lay in there consistently now.

You grabbed them and stuck them in a nest box? That I think I can do. How many times did it take?

How do you use your comfrey? I feed it to my hens and my rabbits!

I rather not block off that area, it's a safe zone for the sussex. And I didn't look up chickens and comfrey but according to a couple of sites I looked up, over time, rabbits can develop liver issues. We did give it to the rabbits in the grow-out pens since time was not their friend, and they liked it. Mostly I was growing it for the pollinators.

The rooster is still hanging out with me at dinner because the girls are mean. The new girls are rotten to him and I can hardly wait for him to put them in their place.

Poor boy, I'm sure it'll change once he grows into his roosterness.

It was a good day, we got free flu shots then hit the road to the nursery. I got garlic, shallots, kale cabbage, broccoli, and collards. The green stuff is all planted and watered in, I'll plant the garlic and shallots tomorrow. Canceled the feed store run, both DP and I drank a gallon of coffee and the coffee did what it do and so we didn't want to stop again on the way home.

Got 4 quarts and 3 pints of sauce canned last night so that makes about 100 pounds of tomatoes processed into sauce, and I just picked a pound or two of yellow plum tomatoes. I think those will be made into fresh salsa, I eat the stuff by the gallon.

7 of our 10 pullets gave us eggs today. Koraline laid so late yesterday I wasn't surprised she took today off, still waiting on the sussex. I chickened out and didn't crawl under the coop, I just walked the edge and peered under. Of course there were 10 pullets staring back at me in case I was handing out treats. I didn't see any place they could be laying in secret. I'll ask the guy that built the coop and run to add a door under the coop, that'll make retrieval easier in case I do really need to get under there.

 

[Fishychix]

I love Poo

I’m starting to worry about you.

 

[pennyJo1960]

Hey poo is good for the garden

 

[Compost King]

I’m starting to worry about you.

The main reason why I keep animals is because I want to compost their poop to grow plants. Its where I came up with the screen name. My "Day Job" is growing landscaping plants, I grow them in 100% compost and I can produce the specific tree/size I grow 1 years faster than the industry standard because of the compost I make allows for roots to grow rapidly the first few months (winter months) then they take off with vegetative growth in spring. When I use non compost soils and I do not get explosive growth that first spring even with using fertilizer. Thats why I love poo.

 

[Kiwibird]

Greetings All. I've been continuing to weed, and to plant spring seeds. I've just enjoyed a high-speed skim through your news and photos. I hope to have time to read in a more leisurely way next time.

 

[sourland]

Still waiting on the first frost. Picking tomatoes today.

 

[SheriD]

Nothing to do with our garden but we got our first chicken egg yesterday! So excited. Now for the garden.......doing lots of cleanup. We have a big problem with weeds, have for years, so last year I bought black heavy landscape paper. worked fantastic!! Was not savable, so this year I went all out and bought super heavy duty paper. Burned holes in it for planting and planted. great purchase. Lasts for up to 5 years. The expansion on the garden is almost finished. Ordered 10 brocolli plants. I know it is late, but according to the "leaves" it will be a mild winter here, zone 8b.

 

[sourland]

@SheriD first eggs are fun - congratulations.