6/27/18 Cement, Silkies and Moremixing

mixing cement

After doing chores at mom's this morning I got to my place about 6. First thing I made a batch of cement and slogged it up the hill to reenforce the fence posts.

Buff Orpington and other chicks

Then I fed and watered the birds at my house. Funny how different breeds of chicks show different temperaments even at a young age. This pen with several Buff Orpingtons is much calmer than a younger pen with mostly Ameraucana, those chicks act like they are being attacked every time I even open the door.

spring hatched silkie

Silkies are usually the calmest of all. They make great pets and like to snuggle.

squash on a trellis

The big squash vines are beginning to run, this trellis has spaghetti, red kuri and trombonccino. By August you will see nothing but green here.

The Mail o.o

I spent most of the morning watering and moving hoses around. Then headed for the house. A huge pile of mail to sort out and bills to pay. Then went to visit mom. My daughter and grand daughters came to visit. We sorted out some junk for a yard sale. Later I did regular chores and now as soon as I feed the dogs, I'm headed for bed.

good night world

Farmer Friday

putting in a ground rod

This week I put electric fence on the *inside* of this 20x20 pen.... Why? That's a secret! Find out in my next post!

blurry sunset

 We've had some cold, cloudy, windy days but no rain yet. But a few pretty sunsets.

low tunnel with fava beans on the left and red mustard 

red mustard

I picked red mustard for market but I pick even more for the chickens. They love it!

low tunnel with baby pak choi on the left, spinach sprouts on the right

baby pak choi

It's so warm the pak choi is trying to flower; they are good though, fresh, green, crispy, juicy.

eggs from the youngest black Ameraucana pullets

Several young pullets have begun to lay and some of the older girls also. By March everyone should be in full swing.

more pak choi ready to go to the garden

I have 4 trays each of pak choi, beets and lettuce ready to go to the garden. This week I also seeded 4 trays of leeks.

me and my .22

I lost about 5 chickens at my house in the big wooden coop in a week. I've never had anything get in there before. It was a skunk, which I trapped and dispatched. Peeee  eeeeeeeeeeeew! I'll be watching for signs it wasn't alone. For now things seem to be OK. for those that don't know, skunks are related to weasels and will eat eggs and chickens. They tend to just eat the heads and necks.

Going to a Chicken Show

The show hall

Over the weekend I attended a fun chicken show. It was a double show put on by the Apache County and Four Corners poultry clubs. It's a lot of work getting the birds ready for a show, they have to be bathed and checked over, nails and beaks trimmed. We oil their legs and combs to make them shinier and to bring their color out.

Black Silkie hen

When you go to a double show you pay double entry fees, but you save on hotel bills and travel expenses. This show is very nice and has some nice awards, which darn I didn't take any pictures of.

One of my black Silkie hens was Best of Breed in one show and Reserve of Breed in the other. Since there were quite a few Silkies entered that was pretty good. One of my blue hens was Best Variety in one show and 3rd place in the other.

Buff Ameraucana cockerel

My buff Ameraucana cockerel was Reserve Breed in one show and Reserve Variety in the other. There were only about 5 Ameraucana entered in total but still not bad. He does have a large number of faults that I'll be working on going forward.

Buff Ameraucan hen

My buff Ameraucana hen was 2nd place in both shows, but her competition won the class, AOSB (Any Other Standard Breed)

Me and some of my chicken buddies, Marcia and Suze

I didn't get any more pics of my chickens, silly me. I was too tired by the afternoon. A couple of my Welsh Harlequin drakes traded off being Best Light Duck and Reserve Light Duck. they didn't have a lot of competition though. 

If you've never been to a chicken show it is a lot of fun and pretty amazing to see all the different breeds. Next time I'll try to take more pictures.

Compost, Eggs and More Digging

compost heating up

Well compost pile #2 is heating up pretty well, just need to get it to kick on up to 131 degrees F or higher to make sure that all pathogens are killed. But 120 is a good start!

This pile is taking a little longer to get built than the first one, so that might be the problem. Hopefully I'll get it finished off in the next couple of days.

burn pile buried in the garden

Remember that bed of beans I'm digging up? Well I got down to the area where none of them lived and what do I find? There was a burn pile buried in there. Pure ashes along with broken glass, rusty metal and a lot of rocks. No wonder those bean plants croaked!

about done

This was several days hard labor, a lot of pick and shovel work. Fortunately the weather has cooled off a tad. I piled up a lot of sand and gravel from the bed into the path. But after about 8 inches of build up it was started to slide into the next bed. So I started throwing it over the fence into the driveway. Harder work, but faster than using a bucket.

dirt and rocks in the driveway

adding and wetting organic matter

Now for a special trick to really make this bed super abundant. Adding chicken litter mixed with wood shavings and old horse manure to the bottom of it. This organic matter will act as a giant sponge and help catch and retain water for the plants. The material is really dry and so is the ground so I'm wetting it down as I go.

actually not wet yet!

Even though there is water puddling in the bottom of the trench, the chicken litter is not really wet yet. I have to stir it up and keep wetting it until it is all saturated.


Then toss a few shovel fulls of the top soil onto it and add some more litter. This will take a few days to complete. Then I will add some fresh compost to the top soil, set up the new drip irrigation lines and start planting.

Purebred Blue Ameraucana

The last chicks hatched in June are getting big now.

purebred Black Ameraucana

BCM pullet eggs with egg color chart

My oldest Black Copper Marans pullet began laying this week. But her egg color so far is disappointing.  Both of her parents hatched from a #7 egg (that would be the lower right side of the color chart). So far she's just laying about a #4 which is the lightest that Marans should ever be. My fingers are crossed they darken up some as she gets going.

Part of My Mornings

chicks in the house

Well this is a little bit of my morning around here; after a bit of tea and getting dressed, feed and water the newest babies in the house, these were hatched about a week ago.

Silkie babies from August hatch

Then outside to feed birds, A couple of pens of Silkies including  these babies that hatched in January. I still can't tell for sure which are boys or girls.

2-3 week olds

Then out to the small hoop coop by the house, feed the 2-4 week olds, mostly easter eggers and olive eggs, a couple of Buff Orpingtons in there.

4 week olds, OE/ EE and Buff Orpingtons

feed wagon

Then I load the buckets of feed and Giotto's breakfast on the wagon and head for the main coops

6-8 weeks

My bigger hoop coops are divided into 3 sections; first up the 6-8 week olds; some sexlinked crosses (you can tell males from color at hatch), along with more easter eggers and olive eggers and a few pure bred Ameraucana.

Silkie with foster chicks

The next section is a pair of Silkies with easter egger foster chicks. As soon as I finish a coop for the Silkies to go into, I'll open the door and integrate these chicks in with the others.There are a couple of Buff Orpington pullets in the last section but I didn't get a pic of them this morning.

Black Copper Marans and Buff Orpington

After feeding a pair of Ameracauna, feed the babies next door These hatched in January

Buff Orpington pullets

These two Buff Orpingtons are in one of the breeding pens, I'll be hatching just a few from these girls for myself. ;-)

Next the Plymouth Rocks, Buff and White

Muscovy Duck eggs

Next up the Muscovy ducks, building a nest; 7 eggs now.

The layers, looking for breakfast!

Then open the door to the layer house and be charged, everyone is hungry! I found a roll of fabric set out for the trash awhile back and used it to make nest box curtains and to cover the windows  where the afternoon sun is too strong.

Curtains in the hen house!

cat & bunny

After hauling the empty buckets back to the house, I go feed some ducks in the front yard. Here also is my last remaining rabbit, a doe over 5 who hasn't been bred in a couple of years. She escaped her cage and just hangs around with the ducks. None of my cats bother her or any of my grown chickens because they were raised with them since they were little kittens. I don't, however, trust them with baby chicks.

So that is part of my morning. Inside the layer house there are several pens with individual birds, mostly breeding males that have to be separate so the don't fight, and there are a few more chicks and Silkies around.

The Brooder Coop

Baby coops ready for chicklets!

Well I managed to weasel out of work around noon, came home and busted it; cleared out the hoop coop, sprayed for mites, put the new baby pens together. I would have made my own little pens but just did not have time!

Purebred Ameraucans and some Black Copper Marans

Roger & Bianca's babies, hatched 2-27-14

First out were the purebred Ameraucana chicks and some Black Copper Marans, most all of which look extremely male.











Alas, Roger is no longer with us, but I have two chicks from him and Miss Bianca. They will probably be pet quality, but I"m sure someone will love them.

Roger & Princess's baby

I lost Princess in the same predator attack as Roger and only have the littlest chick from them. Alas, those naked legs are a no-no in Silkies, so another pet quality bird.

Gold & Grey Easter Egger

I have a lovely grey and gold chick from Earl, my Easter Egger boy. The photo did not quite catch the right shade of soft grey. I am hoping this is a pullet. This is the coloration I have been breeding for, as it is really pretty.

Buff Orpington babies hatched 2-27-14

We now have about 15 Buff Orpington babies from Claude and Henrietta. These are the oldest two I have here. (Cindy has 3 down in Scottsdale that are older).

Look at how dark a buff their feathers are!

The same two BO chicks

The slightly smaller one has earned the name Trouble. Because it's always in trouble or causing trouble! Every time I open the brooder it comes running out. In the house it was determined it could free range in the living room. One evening when I fed them I thought everyone that had escaped in the process was back in. But not Trouble, there it was, right next to the brooder, as close to the light as it could get.

Wide Load!

BO chicks from 3-7-14

These chicks have nice wide bodies. Trouble's sibling is quite a chunk when you pick it up. That one weighed about 6 ounces at three weeks old.  I should probably weigh some of these guys now.








Some siblings from the 3-7-14 hatch.

BO chicks

In this picture, the chick on the left and in the background were hatched on 3-13. The bigger chick on the right was hatched on 3-7.

BO chicks hatched 3-13-14

These little guys were hatched last week. After getting as much done outside as I could, I had a quick bite to eat and unloaded the incubator of this weeks hatch.

Black copper Marans & a BO chick

These Black Copper Marans and the Buff chick hatched yesterday. The BCM in the lower left was a slightly small chick from last weeks hatch that I decided to keep inside another week.

Here are a couple of the Buff chicks from today's hatch with that older BCM. All of my home grown chicks hit the ground running. I've never had to show them where the food or water was; they are active from the get go, running around, finding the water and getting a drink, finding the food or scratching in the shavings.


Tonight I"ll be putting in more Buff Orpington eggs to hatch, along with some more purebred Ameraucana eggs from some great looking show birds.