Covid Chicken Crazy

Custom 'Chicken Ritz' by Peter Karsten

My 3 older hens have been moved back to the garden with their portable Chicken Emporium. They will spend time on each raised garden bed, digging and foraging for all the delicious bugs emerging in the Spring soil before I plant the vegetable garden.

I have really enjoyed the hens being near the house this winter. They are now more comfortable with me and come running when I go outside, so adorable!! I have discovered dry, Black Soldier Fly Larvae that are high calcium and desirable treats for backyard chickens. Two of the older hens now eat these special treats from my hand!

I had a larger, custom hen house built by Peter Karsten, he named it the 'Chicken Ritz'. This gives the hens much more floor space than the tiny portable house used in the garden. 

New  paint job!

It is a permanent structure in the yard, near the house for the summer and winter when the hens are not working in the garden. More floor space gives me the opportunity to get a few more hens that lay different colored eggs... I'm a bit obsessed with color and the Ameraucana blue eggs in the fridge make me soooo happy!! I want to add 3 more hens, one of each; an Olive Egger (olive green egg shell), a Black Copper Maran (dark chocolate brown egg shell) and a Barred Rock (pale pink egg shell). The color of the egg shell does not impact what the egg looks or tastes like inside ... an egg is an egg, but it sure is fun seeing an Easter basket of naturally colored eggs every day in the fridge!

Olive Egger chicks at 1 week

In February I got 4 Olive Egger chicks at 3 days old, in hopes that there will be one hen. The problem with straight run (unsexed) chicks is that more than half will be roosters. At 4 weeks it looks like I have 3 hens and one rooster! Of course they all have names... in the 1 week photo; back left is 'Sylvester', back right is 'Two Step', front center is 'Dr. Bonnie' and far right is 'Peeps'. It will be difficult to select the one that I  keep and hopefully re-home the other three.

'Peeps' at 4 weeks

By 4 weeks they were happy, messy chicks! 

They love a hanging broccoli crown (tether ball style), or a few leaves of romaine lettuce or garden kale in their cage. As a team they aggressively devour it in no time. They have a small sand box for dust bathing and I give up trying to keep their area clean. I remove the mess and put in clean bedding, sand and feed, soon as those little chicken feet reach all that clean, they are scratching it everywhere ... not to mention the poop that goes along with all the food consumption!!

Escapees!! Peeps, Two Step and Sylvester at 5 weeks

They are quickly losing their fluff and feathers are now growing on top of their heads leaving just a little halo ring of fluff. I have had to put a cover on their cage because they have been flying for about two weeks now and I found Sylvester out of the cage, on the cold floor.

At 5 weeks they are aggressive with food and treats and fly on top of the cage at every opportunity. I turned by back to fill the feeder, only to find 3 of them sitting on top of the enclosure! It seems their tails have grown overnight and Sylvester has feathers completely covering his outer legs and now has feathers growing out of his center toes. His little red comb looks like a tiny jagged saw blade. So I am quite sure there are 3 girls and 1 boy in my Olive Egger brood.

In a few more weeks ... or once they are fully feathered and no longer using the infrared brooder light, they will get moved into the Chicken Ritz and kept inside for a while to acclimatize to new surroundings. 

This is the other side of the Ritz, with a double nest box and lid to collect eggs from outside of the house. And yes, that is a 'chicken window' in the door! I was surprised to find Peter had added this adorable feature. The house is raised 20" off the ground on 8" square cedar posts. This allows the birds to be outside but still sheltered from our 'Wet Coast' weather. It also gives them a place to dust bath. We are working on the chicken yard when the weather is dry. With rain today I finally had a minute to sit at the computer to send news of the chicks just in time for Easter!

Until next time ... Happy Easter, Bon Appétit  ...stay healthy, be safe, wear a mask and take good care!

Photos by Sally Rae

Chicken Ritz design and construction by Peter Karsten 

Chicken Ritz paint job by Sally Rae

Organic Garden Cleaning Crew

Secure hen house and caged run with removable cover

I do not use pesticides on my vegetable garden. So after over 30+ years of gardening the same raised beds, the bugs are multiplying and are very happy ... making me unhappy and my soil very frustrating to grow anything. 

I grew up in a market gardening family business on the prairies. When I would complain to my Mom about my Denman bugs, she would always say; "When grandpa took the garden out ... the chickens went in to clean up." I had chickens in the garden about 7 years ago but within a few weeks predators took out 2 of my hens. It was fenced to keep deer out but not the raccoons, eagles, hawks and mink. Ever since then I've wanted a chicken tractor type enclosure that would fit on top of my raised bed garden boxes. This would make it much more secure to predators. We still had the small hen house it all just needed to be updated and pieced together to work in my garden.

Hardware cloth covered run with rain panels on top

The small hen house from 7 years ago was put on a dolly with four 8" pneumatic casters. The wheels rotate 360 degrees, so moving it around the garden is a breeze for one person! The house also got a fresh floor of plywood installed, a bit of insulation for the walls and a second nest box with a cute door for me to access the eggs easily. I added a hanger for their feeder and a small door was cut out with a ramp installed outside for access into the run. Two turnbuckles attach the hen house and the run together.

The caged run is 2"x2" wood construction with half inch hardware cloth. I read somewhere that; "chicken wire keeps chickens in. If you want to keep predators out hardware cloth with a small grid is the way to go."  It is more expensive but well worth it. The section of the run at the hen house is 3' in height, the rest is 2' and it sits on top of the raised beds that are 4'2" wide by 13' long. It needs to be manageable for two people to lift and move it. We had old corrugated fiberglass panels removed from the greenhouse laying around so they make the perfect cover to keep the rain and possible snow off the ground and the birds. They are light and easy to move on or off when needed.

Hen house and access doors

The doors and gates are all secured with hasp closures and carabiner clips. The cage run is held tight onto the wooden garden box with rubber bungee cords hooked into large eye hooks that are screwed into the side of the raised beds. Now this is chicken security!! One friend called it my new 'Chicken Emporium' ... I kinda like that!

The first garden box I had the hens clean up in the 3 photos above, was the bed for the garlic that was finally put in a bit later than usual on October 20th, 2020. They did a great job aerating the soil, eating bugs and slug eggs and leaving a bit of fertilizer behind! After cleaning three of the garden boxes, it was time to move 'The Chicken Emporium' up closer to the house. Their water was freezing over night and it was quite a bit hiking up and down to the garden several times a day. I really enjoy having them closer to the house now so I can visit them more often. I've left some of the big, old broccoli plants in the garden to pull for them and have some winter lettuce in the greenhouse that they love!

Goldie, L'il Red and Buffy - Inside, happy and secure

Now that they are up near the house, they get moved to a new grassy patch every week or so. Along with hen scratch, broccoli plants, fruit and vegetable scraps and warm oatmeal with blueberries on the cold mornings, I think they are spoiled, happy hens! I just love chickens and I'm thrilled to have a small flock again... even more thrilled that I know they are safe as I can make them!

My new flock are three older girls, I got them mainly as my organic garden cleaning crew, the eggs are a bonus! In the photo at right, inside the run... the buff colored hen far back is a Buff Orpington who I've named 'Buffy (the Vampire Slayer)', she lays beautiful brown shelled eggs. The other two girls are Americaunas who lay pale blue shelled eggs. The lighter, golden one in front is named 'Goldilocks' and the one behind her is 'Little Red Riding Hood'. Yes... I name my chickens, always have... so, for short they are Buffy, Goldie and L'il Red. A week or so after I got the hens, Buffy started molting... feathers everywhere and now she looks a bit like a plucked chicken. They also stop laying when they molt and as the daylight hours shorten. For now, Goldie and L'il Red are still laying so we get about 4-5 beautiful blue eggs a week.

The beautiful eggs are a bonus!

The girls on the high roost

We don't use a lot of eggs, so they have supplied us well. And it makes me smile to look in the fridge and see blue eggs!

They will spend winter up by the house so I can keep their water fresh and tend to them as the winter rolls in. In the Spring, before planting the garden they will be moved back into the garden and put to work scratching around and having a bug feast on the early spring bugs. The first garden bed they cleaned this fall had Proteknet insect netting over it this summer and in May I found three Large Yellow Underwing Moths trapped inside. They are the culprits of the climbing cutworm so I was happy to get the chickens in there to find any eggs and pupae. I wrote a Post about the climbing cutworm Pupae in 2016 and will write a post in the Spring about the Moths that I found. I'm so happy to finally have a secure 'Chicken Emporium' and my new organic garden cleaning crew!!

Until next time ... Bon Appétit ... stay healthy, be safe, wear a mask and take good care!

Photos by Sally Rae 

'Chicken Emporium' design coordinator - Sally Rae 

'Chicken Emporium' construction assistance and supervised by Sally Rae

'Juneuary' Slug Fest

Groan... with the cold, wet weather we've had lately, the slugs are having a feast on everything in my garden. I have been using 'Safer's Slug Bait', another trick is beer traps which I've tried in the past and maybe my containers weren't deep enough because the slugs came in for a drink and none were drowned in the brew!! 

Broccoli plants under slug attack

Even though my garden is tucked in and covered with ProtekNet many of my plants are being wiped out by slugs and I'm not alone!! I knew that the ProtekNet would keep out any flying insects but what ever... who ever ... is living in the soil is now the problem, and a big one so far!!

Years ago I got a roll of 'Copper Blocker' from Lee Valley Tools and had great success with it to control damage from slugs and snails. It comes in a roll, I cut a piece about 6" then insert thumbs and pull so it rolls out like a tube sock.

Pet and wildlife friendly options

The photos on Lee Valley's link are a bit more descriptive. This stuff works!! I didn't put it on the broccoli starts that I planted in the garden and many of them have suffered because of that. Afterwards, I used some of the old copper rings from years past and immediately the problem stopped. It loses its copper shine once exposed to the elements but I have re-used the faded copper rings for years after and they are still as effective as when shiny and new!

Garlic Scape Pesto, portioned and frozen

Another task in the garden right now is to remove the garlic scapes. If you have never heard of these, check out my Featured Post. If you don't have garlic in your garden, some Farmer's Markets have opened with social distancing and Covid19 protocols. Besides eating fresh, local vegetables, you support the local farmer's and for sure, garlic scapes will be available at the Markets. The season is short so don't delay!

Sunflowers are struggling under slug attack

I made a double recipe of my 'Garlic Scape Pesto' without the Parmesan Cheese, portioned 1/2 cup into each snack bag then froze them flat on bake sheets. Once frozen, move them to a large freezer bag. To use, defrost and add grated Parmesan Cheese if desired.

Until next time... 
Please stay healthy, be safe, take good care...  
Happy Gardening and Bon Appétit!

Photos by Sally Rae
 

Garden Pests ~ Climbing Cutworms

Last fall I allowed the kale to self seed in a 4'x12' bed so I would have plenty to harvest through winter and into spring. To my surprise, by mid-winter all of the small to medium sized plants had been totally stripped of every leaf. I was blaming it on slugs until today...

Pupa of 'Large Yellow Underwing Moth'

While preparing that same raised bed for this year's winter squash plants, it did not take much digging to find the culprits who cleaned out the kale crop... climbing cutworms! They love winter brassicas and devour plants from about December through March. They pupate in April or May and once they move to this stage they are no longer feeding. Their pupa are these mahogany 'bullets' found in the soil. I found and removed upwards of 60 of these pupa from last winter's kale bed.
Besides the garlic and strawberry beds this was the only raised bed not covered with black plastic since the fall of 2014. I have had a problem with climbing cutworms, millipedes and slugs for the past 4 years and decided to leave the garden fallow for a year. I was planning on putting a few chickens in the garden enclosure to organically clean up the soil but that just has not happened yet. This revelation has put plans for chickens on the front burner again!

For more information and photos of the Climbing Cutworm, check out Linda Gilkesons'  December 8, 2014 Gardening Newsletter http://www.lindagilkeson.ca/gardening-pdf/Winter%20Gardening%202014%20-%20Dec%208.pdf

Till next time... Happy gardening!


Photo by Sally Rae