fuzzi's "Gardens and Chickens...and Goats? Oh My!" Journal and More Thread

[farmerjan]

Today
View attachment 119760
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pullet on right, 2 cockerels on left....

 

[fuzzi]

pullet on right, 2 cockerels on left....

That would be a 50/50 split. I could deal with it.

 

[fuzzi]

I set up Rahab's brooder this afternoon, same place she raised chicks last year.

But will it be used?

I'm kicking myself over an error with the incubator. I didn't review the instructions, and it's been on 80% humidity since Day 1. Should have been no greater than 50%.


On Day 13 I moved two eggs over to Rahab, then two more on Day 14.

If I've killed the chicks through my negligence, I have no one to blame but myself.

I'm hoping they hatch despite my stupidity.

 

[fuzzi]

Planning, planning...

North side of the house is a weedy, partly shaded area, not had much success there.

Current view from the backyard
View attachment 119681
There's a huge oak on the left towards the front, so this area gets good sun from mid-morning until about 1pm or so (fig tree behind fence/me). Crepe myrtle (blooming, left) does well, roses (left and other side of HVAC) also do well. Cannas I threw in next to the fence don't get enough sun. Right side is a Carolina sweetshrub, would like to keep that. In the middle, marked by white fencing, are the Rose of Sharons I got from @canesisters and they're looking good. Stuff on the left needs to be cut back, again.

I'm planning to convert the area from the HVAC back to the fence as a garden, naturalized with mostly native plants. The RoS are in the middle as a screen so it won't be easy to see the backyard from the road.

Possible plantings include Butterfly weed, Calico aster, Ironweed, Joe Pye weed, Rose mallow, and Phlox. I might get ambitious and put in a small pond, have a 30g preform that's too small for goldfish but could support some iris and rush.

Watchathink?

Picked up two Joe Pye weed plants today. I was buying a couple bales of wheat straw at the nursery ($6/bale, woo!) and decided to check out their perennial area. The JPWs are in gallon pots, and are blooming. I'll give them a saucer of some type, then put them in the area until the autumn.

 

[fuzzi]

Just for fun, I'm guessing...

Updated
Pink - girl
Yellow - girl
Orange - girl BOY!

Blue - boy
Green - boy girl?
Purple - boy

See the reddish/orange developing on purple's back?

 

[farmerjan]

In the silver duckwing old english game bantams my ex used to say the darker, bolder striped ones were mostly always cockerels... I cannot remember when I had the S.C. Light brown leghorns... they also have the chipmunk pattern chicks... but the breast feathers came in black much sooner than the females salmon colored ones...

 

[fuzzi]

The chicks were NOT up on the roost, but I would bet that Naomi tried.

Maybe tomorrow evening.

 

[canesisters]

The chicks were NOT up on the roost, but I would bet that Naomi tried.

Maybe tomorrow evening.

Mine didn't start getting on the roost until they were almost feathered out. But their roost is around 3' high.... so even with the ladder it required a reasonable amount of flight ability.

 

[fuzzi]

Again, not on the roost last night.

They'll get there.

I removed the autoturn thingamajiggy from the incubator, and we're officially in Lockdown. Tentative hatch Thursday or Friday...

 

[canesisters]

Again, not on the roost last night.

They'll get there.

I removed the autoturn thingamajiggy from the incubator, and we're officially in Lockdown. Tentative hatch Thursday or Friday...