Pallet for Home: chickens

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Ming the peke, earns her keep.

Yesterday was beautiful. Bright sunny sky with puffy white clouds. Even a tolerable wind making just a thermal & jeans adequate attire. Perfect day for cleaning out the chicken coop.

Ming the Peke accompanied me outdoors even though I knew her short 3 inch legs with that long white coat meant a bath would be in order. I let the chickens out to roam knowing they would be fine with Ming. As mentioned in the past, she is rather fond of sniffing them and they have come to accept this without any fuss.

So I busied myself with hauling the winter bedding over to the garden as a top layer to the decomposing Fall leaves while the chickens busied themselves with a bug hunt. Ming being not far behind. She seems to enjoy watching them. Every once in a while I would look up from my job, checking to make sure everyone was where they should be. During one such "head count", I thought it appeared as though Ming was preventing the hens from straying too far from the run. Of course not. That's just silly. So I dismissed the idea as I fetched the clean straw for the coop. But then, as I peaked the hill drive, I could not believe what I was seeing. She was herding the chickens! Just like a trained dog does with sheep. My little white dog was making side to side passes pushing them closer towards their run gate. I stood their for a moment thinking it may very well be a coincidence.

Boy, was I in for a shocker!

Roo Beer is still the Harem leader and despite allowing Ming to hang out amongst them, on occasion he tries to put Ming in her place. As if that ever works....

She just keeps on going like nothing happened! She is determined. Diligent with what ever she is doing. Should any of the gals stray out of her intentional clutch, she breaks from the group to corral them back in.

She was moving so fast and I was in such amazement, besides forgetting to snap the button at times, she looks like a blur of white zipping about. By looking at her face, you can see she is rather happy with her "job".

Once all the chickens were in the pen, she plopped herself right there in the middle of the gate! Looking back over her shoulder as if to say "all done mom!". I still can not believe what I had seen. I mean, the breed is not known for such things and I never trained her to do it. I would joke and tell her to round them up. Earn your keep!. The extent of her actions would be sniffing their bottoms and laying amongst their group in the yard.

I know this is not the frst time she has done this. Today was the confirmation she has been doing this for some time, just not while I am paying attention. I would let the chickens out as I worked in the yard or garden, to only find they were back in their run within a short period of time. At first I dismissed it to comfort. They do not free roam very often outside of summer. I thought Roo Beer would call them back in being he was tired of watching the skies for falcons. I now realize, all this time it has been from our little pekingese dog. The self assigned Chicken herder. Maybe it is her "everything has a place" personality as well as her natural trait of being in charge that brought this about. Whatever the reason, I now have a proud chicken herding Pekingese who takes her self assigned job very seriously...with a smile on her furry face.

With such a nice day, we ventured out into the side woods for determining the perfect spot the kids can build their fort plus get that Zip line back up.

Of course, being all greenery has died down for the winter, the velcro burrs attacked my boots as well as covering the underside of Ming. I could not help but laugh as I looked back to see what was causing her to lag behind.

She was flopping her legs to the side, trying to shake them off. Poor thing. I felt sorry for her.

After all the hard work she had done with the chickens and the pathetic frustration I could see on her face from burrs irritating her paws, I scooped her up into my arms like a babe and carried my Ming back home. I spent a good portion of the evening combing & pulling those burrs from her long coat as she laid on her back, nestled into me on the couch.

I have a new appreciation for this short Diva dog. I have always had great love for her even though she has issues with strangers that set my nerves on edge. But today, in my eyes, all is forgiven.

Ming the Peke has now earned her keep.

Sweet Dreams,

~Tammie

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Filed Under: chickens, ming

Bentwood projects & Living Mulch

Here we are in January yet the days have provided temps comfortable enough for pruning a few apple trees. Plenty of "tree suckers", straight & long which had me thinking of Rick Pratt the Willow Furniture maker. Remember him? He was the first Adventure video I attempted to make. Not the best of filming & editing but plenty of great info & tips on using wood to bend & shape.

All those cuttings had me dreaming up what I would do with them.This year I will attempt to build an arched arbor tunnel based on this one for inside the garden:

This will be for the climbing beans & peas to twist & turn on this summer. Simple and pretty. A bit more saplings will be woven on the sides providing more spots to cling on. I envision about an 8 foot long section lined on the garden path starting from where my sand, brick & river stone entry ends.

I'm also going with Trellis style tomato supports made from bentwood. A bit ambitious, ay? No worries. I've got the time.

A short how to for a twist on the style I am after, found at this link* from Vegetable Gardener.

Being I will have 30-35 Amish paste tomato plants, mine will by far be simple yet useful being they will grow from one end of the garden to the other. O.k, maybe not too simple in looks. More like this style in 5 ft long sections:

The Captain & I paid a visit to the library where I picked up a great book I have previously poured over titled: Making Bentwood trellises, arbors, gates & fences Author Jim Long . If you can access a copy, I highly recommend it for some bentwood inspiration.

Now on to the subject of living mulch. I have tried hand tilling weeds out till I threw my hands up & walked away. I've tried Weed blocker cloth which just had weed seeds growing ON TOP & rooting down through the breathing holes. I even fell for & did the cover crop of winter rye grass , said to be a weed inhibitor {by the way, that method was worse then any of the others.}. And now I have come to the conclusion, I have nothing left to lose by trying one more method of weed prevention & soil health improvements. Crazy? Yeah. I think we settled that thought a long ways back.

I know what your thinking. Clover? Really Farm Chick? People try to get RID of clover, not encourage it. People! Hear me out. It has so many con's going for it and the downsides are not that worrisome {see winter rye & hand weeding belly aching comment above}. This whole idea came about while looking through one of the many seed catalogs {for like the 7th time}, when I spotted white dutch clover with a bar table describing it as a "living mulch" that it also did not go higher then 8 inches. hmmm. My interest is peaked. More like I couldn't stop thinking about, which is another reason why The Captain took me to the library. I was driving him crazy with "growing stuff" chatter and something about forest floors & Polyculture. Of which he thought I somehow switched to wine making and polyculture was a new kind of yeast I wanted... anyway, there was not a single book in the entire section on this matter. So I took to my personal library... The internet. Where I found this win me over post & encouraging reference point for the next weird step I take in experimenting with how my garden grows. Actually, they did my homework for me, with other forums & sites echoing all he shares.

Less Weeding
Retains Moisture
Withstands Traffic
Nitrogen Fixer
Improves Soil Tilth
Attracts Pollinators

As for it competing for nutrients, they had this to say {& I quote}:

On a side note, here’s a good read about polycultures being more productive than monocultures from a recent study at the Virginia Institute of Marine Science:

“…analysis shows that plant communities with many different species are nearly 1.5 times more productive than those with only one species (such as a cornfield or carefully tended lawn), and ongoing research finds even stronger benefits of diversity when the various other important natural services of ecosystems are considered. Diverse communities are also more efficient at capturing nutrients, light, and other limiting resources.” (Source: ScienceDaily.com via Virginia Institute of Marine Science)

Thanks to Seattle Homestead { :http://www.seattlehomestead.com/136-6-reasons-i-chose-white-clover-as-a-living-mulch/ , } our garden takes on another experiment.

Let's hope this one works out in our favor.

Oh! And did I ever mention how this last summer during the many road trips I had taken our children on,I seemed to always end up with getting us lost BUT never failed to discover a chicken statue on the road side EVERY time? Well marine was visiting & of course I took her on a mini road trip that I of course got us lost on the back roads. And what did we spot? Another chicken statue!

I guess that's my new thing... Not the getting lost {as if that would ever stop} but the Chicken statues. Wonder how long the streak will last...

Sweet dreams,

~Tammie

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Filed Under: bentwood, chickens, projects

Hermaphrodite Chicken & loving my Kale

Nothing like the sound of rooster crowing as the sun comes up...that is, if you have just a few and one of them is not a rather confused...hen?! Yep. The red splotched Deleware is not only a genetic freak in it's color but is also a whole lot confused. "Hermy" started out as a hen but before she could lay any eggs, she started taking on the look of a He. Hermy was bigger in size like the other roosters but did not start growing rooster neck/hackle feathers until after the others. Hermy does not have a rooster tail, as you can see below. Nope. A hen feathered tail with the other half all rooster. As for the crow? Well it is truly pathetic. A different tone and the only way I can think to describe is to say it sounds as though someone is trying to choke her as it tries churn out a crow along with the beautiful tone of the others.

Why is it I always seem to end up with the funky animals? The change happens when an ovary is damaged - causing testosterone levels to soar and turn the ovary into a testicle.It's very, very rare - about a one in 10,000 event which seems to be I am always the "1" in so many things.

Ya gotta laugh though. As Hermy tries so hard to mate with the girls, it is far obvious it is just not happening. But Hermy has now taken on stalking me. I can see it watching everywhere I go. it peers out at me through the pen yard fence as I clean up the garden. It does the wing dance when I go in to tend to their needs. It even jumps me if I turn my back on it! I make Frog go in with a stick, watching my back so I can get things done without fearing the 3 roosters circling me. It's as if they think its a game. Hermy always begins it then the other 2 join in. so now Hermy has got to go! Either to someone who will be amused by this funky chicken or to feed the family some awesome Chicken & dumplings.

I must share I harvested my first crop of Kale. I grew red Russian kale this year and along with only a few other things, it blossomed well under my unintentional neglect.

I will add, if you have not tried this variety you should put it on the list of must haves. My children are not fans of "leafy greens" but they asked for seconds on this stuff. I added a huge amount to a pot of Fagioli & they gobbled it down. Next is to try it in some chicken, wild rice with Kale soup & possibly transition them into trying it fried with a little onion. Such a different sweet green flavor.

I found the Cherry Gal store while searching out a source of this seed in organic NON mutated supply. A great price at $1.25 per packet & discovered the store has more then just heirloom seeds. From body to kitchen and even antique household items. A pure delight perusing. They do not advertise, so word of mouth is how they get around. I gladly share being they will be the source for more seed in my home this winter.

Potato Fest this weekend and of course it's wet & mucky. Grabbing the muck boots & getting my Perogi fix on! In my next posting I will share the very rare & elusive item I have been searching for in the thrift stores for MANY years. I finally found one and it only set me back $2.50 {U.S}! But don't tell my sister in law how cheap it was. I got it for her and am still on the hunt for 3 more. Although I do feel after searching high & low for this long, avoiding the $20 or more price tag with ebay, I deserve the steal of a deal.

Until next time,

Sweet dreams,

~Tammie

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Filed Under: chickens, freaky chicken, gardening, gentic mutation, kale

The Table that took 6 months to build...

No, that is not an exaggeration. It truly took 6 months from start to finish. Not because the table actually required that much work. No, it's more like I refused to brave the cold & work on it during the winter. Yes, I dislike being cold that much.

I first mentioned this Project last September, showing a beautiful upcycled barn wood table. It had a rather alluring bottom shelf for the Farm House table. LOVED IT! So begun the construction which did not end looking like the one in the picture. None the less, it is unique and huge! 8 ft long and 3 ft wide.

I did not like square edges on the end, so I cut a slight crescent into the frame corners and round the top corners. Then applied a light layer of white paint just to the base.

I'm not Bob Villa but I am very happy with how it came out. I made it so the top sits at 34 inches high, perfect to prevent slumping over the top in normal dining chairs. Once my new dining chairs are finished with their new cushions, our old table chairs will be transformed into wood bottom {removing the cushions} for using with this table outside, under the future Arbor.

I also managed to finish tilling under the winter rye cover crop in the garden. To feel the cold soil freshly turned under my feet, was exhilarating. BUT it came with a consequence. Within 1/2 an hour I soon broke out in a massive case of itchy red skin & hives all over my body.It felt as though my skin was really crawling. I could feel a swelling in my throat & saw my limbs begin to get puffy.I grabbed the benedryl, which was followed with the antihistamine induced nap. I woke up as though I had partied the night away.Headache, sensitive stomach. Ack! Lesson learned. Do not till winter rye while barefoot.

The chickens are loving this recent turn of Mother Nature. Their coop is still awaiting it's final home INSIDE the chicken pen, but they stay with a 10 ft range of the coop despite not having barriers. Dust bathing, playing "who's got the worm now football" and of course flying in circles testing out their wings.

Moving the coop is a matter of awaiting for the person whom is doing the job to get the time to come over. Supposedly that will tomorrow. I truly hope so. I would like to finish the painting & decor soon.

I got the call today.Our Bee's will be ready for pick up on Thursday, which I will not be able to drive the hour there & then back until Friday Morning. Being my first time doing this alone, I decided to take you along for the ride. I did not realize there is not much at all in the books I have about bringing them home & what to do that day/night. They concentrate on once you have them settled in..

Hopefully I can get enough good footage of all that will be happening as to make a video for sharing. Gas has been keeping me close to home and of course plenty of none returned emails/phone calls to destinations. lol.

Sweet Dreams,

~Tammie

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Filed Under: chicken coop, chickens, DIY, gardening, spring, wood shop

Chicken coop ordered - Check!

My previous mentions of a new chicken coop have included the hope for a small "sitting/storage area inside it's walls. So I thought a regular shed would be the answer. We have been in deep discussion on whom to purchase the building from. At first we thought a regular shed would be the right route but despite the rent to own option, I did not feel comfortable with the price tag NOR buying from a company that is not independent. I knew there had to be another way, to which I found it.

I found a local man who builds affordable chicken coops in a rather smart savvy fashion not only in building cost to him but keeping the overhead cost low for the new owner. For the base model of a 4x4 coop he charges $220 at the time of this posting{no siding, just OSB walls which for a very low additional price a choice of siding or barn knot wood exterior} . That comes with nesting box's built into the back wall, a window over the human door and a hen door placed in your desired spot. The roofing is galvanized metal. By the way, he will deliver within 6 states but you can pick it up with a full size bed truck, since these will fit right in the back for moving.

T1-11 siding model

We are going with his 4x8 model with osb walls. I prefer to paint it and knowing how I am, will change colors over the years which makes sense to just go with the OSB walls. I am customizing our coop with a dutch door on one end, a window above the nesting box back wall, 2 windows with flower boxes underneath on a side wall and the hen door on the blank wall-which will butt up to the chain link fence of their run. Our total cost for the new coop? $350! That's it! Now compare that to those sheds out there which do not have all these options AND customized for chickens. You can not find one of quality and customization for anywhere near that price.

One of Jim's coop's in the downtown inner city of Cincinatti, just feet from other homes. The coop owners did a fantastic job customizing it to their urban needs and setting it up the enclosed run.

"Custom design and firm pricing on the finished project - No Surprises. Our Most Popular Item is Chicken Coops Designed out of experience in caring for our own hens and producing eggs in the most cost effective manner. We build the basic shell; equip it with a light; put in hangers for feeder and waterer use wire hardware mesh attached with fence staples securely to 2x2 window frames to make it predator resistant; add some egg layer boxes; and put it under a metal roof - all at a price that is about the only thing the others obviously find hard to imitate. You paint or vinyl side the exterior in a color to match your taste, and seal the floor, toss in some wood chips and the birds, and enjoy producing your own eggs."

If he is in your ideal proximity for pick up or delivery, please do consider him for your chicken coops. And no, I do not get a discount for my post. His price for what all the great things you get is enough for me to say "He deserves to be spotlighted!". Just want to share this fantastic source and support the "little guy" as much as we can.

He had a spot at the local Fair, showing a few of his coops

We placed our order for pick up on the 15th of March. Jim, the owner, is going back to school which funds from the selling of this chicken coop venture help support. I feel so much better with our purchase and very happy we sought out a small business to support.

There will be a few customizations of my own doing once it arrives. You'll just have to wait & see how the plans turns out.

Sweet dreams,

~Tammie
** There are a few edits to correct some errors in picture titles. In a correspondence with Jim, He also wrote: "It is amazing how many people are getting chickens in the city. One home in particular was downtown Cleveland, where the space between the homes was so tight, a coop would not fit through the space to get it in the backyard. To solve this, I took the coop in pieces and assembled it in the back yard. 'On site builds' are not a regular occurance, but there are some people that get an 'onsite build' as a family activity, and help put it together."

Thank you Jim for such a fantastic Source & Opportunity for chicken owners {& potentials}. It is so refreshing to find a product built with quality and purposely set at an affordable price with the customer in mind.

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Filed Under: chickens, local business, spotlight