Expanding Gardens and Boxes

Today I put the fence up in the garden, and realized I don't have enough due to the expansions for the blueberry bushes.  Bummer.  I'm debating whether to get another 100' $20 fence, or figure out a filler.   Hopefully it's around enough to deter critters for awhile.  Speaking of Critters, I haven't seen or heard a chipmunk all spring.  I hope I don't Jinx it.

I also expanded the Brooder, because they spilled their whole jug of water so I had to remove the entire floor of the box and replace it.  They are now in a square, they don't really seem to notice.  I also changed to the red light, since it's warmer and they are a week old now, hopefully it will stop them pecking at each other.   Really the only one who is doing the pecking is Waffles.  That chick will not stop pecking at everyone's wings.  I don't know what's up. 

They are sleeping now, because they are so tired from being outside all day.  I set up a triangle cardboard box which they seemed very happy in, I can't wait to get them outside all the time!

 

And then there were 8.

We added three new chicks to the flock tonight, a replacement French Wheaton Marans and Barred Rock and an additional Bluebell.  We named them Nugget, Nando, and Blueberry, in order.  They are getting along great with the old chicks, who probably can't count to realize there are more now.  I distracted them with some corn grits, so they were going crazy when the new chicks were dropped in.  Waffles still seems to be in charge, but her sister Blueberry might give her a run for it.  All the new chicks were hatched the same day, and they are generally the same size. 

Before:  5 Chicks.

 After:  8 Chicks!

Sisters, Waffles and Blueberry.  Blueberry appears to have wonky toes and blue legs.  I'm not sure if that's normal or not.  I'm hoping it is.

 Going crazy for the Corn Grits:  They LOVE those grits. 

 Sleepy Dumpling with his belly full of dandelions and corn:

New Fence Posts

We added some fence posts tonight to expand the fence to include the Blueberry Bushes, hopefully we will be able to eat a couple this year!   The peas and lettuce, spinach and carrots are growing too.  It is supposed to freeze tonight, I'm not too excited about that.  Hoping my "cold hardy" plants live up to their name.  The dirt is saturated from the two days of rain, so that should help protect them too. 

The potatoes are going crazy, I am going to have an early crop.  I have some sprouting for second planting in the pantry, I'm hoping to continuously plant throughout the summer. 

In sad news, we lost "Spicy" last night.  She was laying stiff and dead in the box this morning.  I have no idea why, she wasn't acting sick or weak or anything, always the aggressive one.  Hopefully I can get 3 more next week to replace the 2 I lost.  And get it back to an even number.  I guess 7 was not lucky :(

Cute chicken video

This is how I found the chicks this morning, with Waffle's wing around Orange, and then both of them falling over, asleep.  They are not too interested in the Spinach I put out for them, much to busy sleeping.

They seem to be doing very well tonight, I can see their wing feathers coming in and the colors on them.  I found some Organic Corn Grit that they LOVE, I hope it keeps them happy and not pecking at each other. 

I never heard back from the Hatchery, I'm kind of bummed to not get anymore this year, but next year I'll be sure to get 2 (or 3, 4?) more.  

New Members of the Familly

We picked up Seven Chicks last night!!   Usually I'm weird about numbers, and need to make them even, or round up the cents at work to make it an even number, but I decided on 7 because I couldn't eliminate one of my breed choices.  And Oldest is Seven.  And it was my father-in-law's favorite number.  I ended up with a Barred Rock, Amerucana, Speckled Sussex, Bluebell, Lemon Orpington, Golden Sex Link, and French Wheaton Marans.  They are all so little!  I'm happy with the place we got them, Cedar Creek Hatchery, they were very easy to work with and treated me really well even though I only bought a small amount of chicks. 

I had one chick with Pasty Butt last night, but she's taken care of and it hasn't come back.  I thought I had two more cases, but it turns out Chicks have umbilical cords!  Who knew?  I was trying to clean it off and it wasn't working.  I hope I didn't stress the chicks out too much, but they seem to be fine now. 

 Unfortunately, we did lose one tonight.  The Marans was very groggy last night and didn't seem to want to eat or drink.  Today I tried to feed her with a syringe a mash of chick feed, cornmeal and sugar water, she took some of it, but shook her head a lot and I'm not sure how much she actually got down.  I was sad she didn't move at all and her breathing seemed labored.  Sure enough, tonight when I went to check on her, she had passed.  The girls are not upset, I made sure they knew it was possible.  Youngest was actually excited to put her in the woods because "maybe a snake would eat her and she's so small it's like a nugget!"  I have a message into the Hatchery, hopefully I can pick up a new chick tomorrow.  If not, I'm sure we'll be getting a couple more next year, they really are so funny!   One thing I am loving is how they will be picking around, walking, eating and then just fall over, asleep.

Our coop is being painted now, good thing they're too little for it yet!  The peeping is adorable, and the GIRLS LOVE Them, now that they all seem to be doing well, we have named them.  Clockwise starting with the black Barred Rock on top - Spicy (She's a stinker!), Speckled Sussesx - Popcorn, Amerucana - Dumpling, Bluebell - Waffles (Oldest's), GSL - Omelet, Lemon Orpington - Orange (Youngest's)

I don't know if I'll be able to sleep again tonight, I'm afraid something will happen to my babies!


  

Austin Lake

As I was sharing my pictures of the chicken coop with my friend, she asked for my blog address.  To which I realized I have never explained why it's called "Austin Lake Gardening."  We live on an over-sized pond which is named Austin Lake, and blog name choices were very limited.  I'm proud of our little lake, it attracts awesome waterfowl and gives us a beautiful view.  After this month's rain it's higher than it's ever been, I hope it can stay up for a couple years. 

We have a family of Sandhill cranes that have lived here every summer, along with a pair of Mute Swans, and many Canadian Geese and Mallards.   Occasionally we will see Herons and other birds, and there is an Eagle in the area who has stopped by a couple times.  His name is Dark Wing Bright Beak. 

It's a pretty beautiful place to live.  The spring and summer make up for the long, dreary winter.  

 

A New Growing Year and A New Adventure

After last summer's dismal garden, I am so excited to get started for 2013!  Last year at this time most all the trees were budded, the flowers were out, and I had vegetables planted.  This year, we have had snow and rain every other day.  It snowed AND rained this morning.  That was special.  I'm not adding beds this year, but I am adding something even more special.  Husband finally said yes to Chickens.  The coop is started and I'm hopefully getting 6 chicks next week!   I don't think anyone's ever been more excited about chickens than I am this last month.  Actually, there may be people with no food in Africa who received chickens as a food source.  They are probably a little more excited than I am.  But not much.  And their coop is not going to be as awesome as mine.

 
I also want to include some pictures of last fall's garden so I have inspiration to get to work.  Flowers and spring go well together, and I got some good shots of pretty flowers last summer.