Things are clicking right along on the homestead. We've had some successes and failures. I thought I would bring everyone up to date.
First of all, to all concerned, hubby's surgery went well. He was in the hospital about 4 days. Today marks 3 weeks since his surgery. He hasn't recovered fully yet, but there are times when, if I didn't know better, I would think he hadn't had surgery. He plans to return to work sometime next week. He has to get a Dr's release first. His post op appt is in another 3 weeks. Until then his return will be with conditions I expect.
One of our failures has been supporting these hens as they brood on eggs. I understand they need to try and fail a time or two before they get it right, but we have sacrificed 5 dozen eggs to achieve 2 chicks. That's right, 2 chicks; one hen and one rooster. Giving credit where credit is due, the hen that hatched those eggs, while lousy at hatch rate, has been a good mama to the two. We have another hen sitting on five eggs, so we'll see how she does. They should hatch in about a week. She seems calmer. Here's hoping. The bantam hens managed to hatch out 2 chicks as well. One died immediately we think (we hope). The other one seemed fine. The sad story about the healthy one is it also didn't make it. My husband went out to see to the chickens,(This should be an easy task.) and saw the hens attacking that one little chick. Without thinking he started to run to rescue the chick, His nerves aren't ready for running and they just locked up and he fell. He still managed to get to the chick and rescue it, but it didn't survive. We had it in a brooder for two days giving it food and water, keeping it warm, treating the wounds, but it was just too frail and passed in it's sleep. We removed the rest of the eggs from the nest. None of those hatched. We think one of two things happened. We think the non brooding hen pecked the chick and drew blood and either the mother hens were trying to save it and did more harm than good, or the sight of blood caused a frenzy. Chickens will peck an injured bird to death. FYI. So we have gone back to using an incubator. We did, however, order a well reviewed, well made incubator. When it comes on Wednesday, we'll have eggs ready and try one last time.
Now on to more positive things!
The garden is starting to fill in, and produce! Not a whole lot at the moment, but I'm harvesting Snow peas, Spinach, Turnips (few), Strawberries, Asparagus, and Kale. The Kale is doing really well. I have some green kale I'm letting go to seed to harvest the seeds for planting. I'm harvesting all kinds of herbs; Mint, Cilantro, Chives, Rosemary, and Parsley. My dehydrator is coming in very handy. In fact I do believe I will have it running 24/7 for a bit. So far today I've dehydrated Kale, Parsley, Cilantro, Spinach, and Mint. I love my little dehydrator.
Back in Feb, we paid someone to grade and clear the yard along the side of the driveway. I didn't realize how much planting space that would give me! I have my tomatoes, peppers, watermelon, and squashes there, and still have room to plant more. Just need to get to it. Right now my main garden has the Broccoli, cabbages, some tomatoes, herbs, beets, snow peas, garlic, spinach, kale, corn, strawberries, and beans. I also have some volunteer butternut squash and Pumpkin growing.
After the grading and before planting.
Now it's planted, but not all the way. I still have room. Closer to the camera, but too small to see are my watermelon plants and raspberry bushes( out of frame). Past the tomato plants are squash and peppers, but they are still small. I have more room further back. Not sure what to plant there.
With food prices going up, and continuing to do so, I'm planting every thing I can. In fact, the other day, while pouring out some pinto beans to use for dinner, I spilled some. As I swept them up I thought "I wonder if these will sprout". So I put them in a jar, covered them with water, and let them sit a few hours til they were swollen. Then I poured off the water, leaving them in the jar. I covered the jar with cheese cloth ( a paper towel will work too), and watched them over the course of a few days. After a bit I saw the little sprout emerge and I took them out and planted them with my corn. Pinto beans are a runner or vining bean. They need something to climb on. The corn is tall enough where they can support the beans as they grow. I planted 36 seeds. They are starting to emerge. So now I have spilled the beans about the benefits of spilling the beans! lol.
Resisting the urge to just open the coop and say " be free you're free range now" after the whole chick attack, I have a revamped run for the Bantam chickens in the works, and am happy to say I only purchased the PVC joints to make it. The rest of the PVC was taken from an old run that was broken.
We also have a new coop/run we're about to build once the rain stops. This is along the lines of a hoop coop that's all the rage among homesteaders; only this one isn't made with cattle panels. Instead it will be made with PVC and Wood. I'll write about that one when the time comes. I have some different design ideas so that this can work as a coop, green house, or protection for my blueberries when we have the surprise freeze. If it works, I really will be patting myself on the back! This coop/run will be for the chicks we hopefully can hatch in a few weeks.
Stay tuned!
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