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Re: The Productive Backyard 2014 - January to June
Posted: Fri May 23, 2014 10:34 pm
by Harriet
Love this old poster from 1918.
Re: The Productive Backyard 2014 - January to June
Posted: Sat May 24, 2014 11:37 am
by Nancy
Harriet I too love that.
Thanks for sharing the link of the pullets you want to get.
Apple tree lost a big branch hens and chicks are eating tne green ones that were on it.
Tomatos and herbs were planted last week in a bed by the house. One new color of iris bloomed this week.
Re: The Productive Backyard 2014 - January to June
Posted: Sat May 24, 2014 12:00 pm
by Harriet
They are YOUNG, though - worries me that they're only 5 weeks. They are already off the heat lamp and of course they can be outside in May. But I think they still "peep" when they are that young, which "calls" snakes I know, and maybe other predators. I've read that if you put the dominate chicken with new young ones for a while by themselves the dominant chicken will accept them and then there will be no problems. Cicely is so big, friendly and calm that I really think she will accept them. But even she can't protect from predators.
I would get a half-dozen assortment of the marans, buff orpingtons, New Hampshires.
HRH says maybe since Cicely has been broody and on the nest, she'll just see the little ones and figure, gee, that was easier than I thought. 
Today we will work on the chicken pen and house some.
Re: The Productive Backyard 2014 - January to June
Posted: Tue May 27, 2014 12:32 pm
by Harmony
Oh, Harriet, I sure wish I was allowed to keep 2 hens around here.
A house in back of us has a little girl about 10 and she has 10 rabbits.
Big fat fluffy ones, grey & white, pure white ones. She lets them hop about in the evenings. We've told her to be very careful with them as we have bobcats around and hawks and owls. Sometimes when the bobcats have been around close we notice a definite decline in the number of squirrels for a while. I don't think she paid any mind to what we were saying. Maybe that's why she used to have 20 bunnies and only 10 now.
The bunnies made me think of PghShe. Anybody remember her from the old site? She had a bunny in her house.
Re: The Productive Backyard 2014 - January to June
Posted: Tue May 27, 2014 2:04 pm
by Nancy
How are your plants and hens?
I am thinking the outdoor kit. Area is a wonderful spot for an herb garden. Got a few lavender basil and even a coupke of pink snapdragons to plant. Would love to grow sweet potatoes but they are hard to find here.
Re: The Productive Backyard 2014 - January to June
Posted: Thu May 29, 2014 11:19 am
by Nancy
On the side yd. One black partridge hen scratched out onion starts so will need to replant. She may have eaten them too as they seem to have dissappeared. Our neighbors put chicks in the old rabbit hutch.
Last night one of the 6 youngest pullets was missing I hunted all over, then h. Helped calling out for her at dusk had me worried. Then I looked in the coop and she was there above the door on a two by four! Big sigh of relief!
Re: The Productive Backyard 2014 - January to June
Posted: Thu May 29, 2014 6:45 pm
by Harriet
Happy for you finding the young one, Nancy.
Harmony, is there a definite ordinance? It could probably be broken with little effort - it's happening all over the country. Just don't suggest a rooster, that's all. It's the noise that won't be tolerated. Also there are sites that help with choosing quieter breeds for hens, actually. Though I've never heard a hen make enough noise to matter - I guess the egg song could be "noise" but it doesn't happen early like a rooster's crow, and is really rather pleasant. Wondering why rabbits would be a "yes" and chickens a "no". Rabbits are a meat animal, too, and poop just like any other animal.
Of course, without animals, you and Mr. Harmony can go on a trip when you like.
So much work happening here. The new chick-itentiary has taken shape. More of a square this time, or cube, made partly of taller fencing sections ds had for one reason or another. Tall enough to walk into, like some large-dog kennels. Then over the top, more fence, with "roof" of the corrugated stuff we had for another project. So mostly found items, but it looks neat. The black bird decoys are up again, and also the solar lights are back at the corners.
Cleared out of all the old straw inside the henhouse. Spending time inside there today (although without the chicken door open because the pullets are on the outside of that) I was surprised that it was that hot. I know opening the chicken door makes for better ventilation out the window, but still, it almost needs a fan. There's a ventilation square on the south side, but I've never thought it did a lot. You're scared to give too much ventilation on hidden sides, for fear a predator will figure out a way in.
Things I'd like to post here -
share some pics of the new pullets
share a wish-list of some other breeds I'd like to have someday.
Re: The Productive Backyard 2014 - January to June
Posted: Thu May 29, 2014 7:17 pm
by Nancy
Rabbits are quiet and do not crow.
My hens are noisy on some days worse than others.
Re: The Productive Backyard 2014 - January to June
Posted: Sat May 31, 2014 10:01 pm
by Harmony
It's definitely against the zoning laws here to have chickens. I think if one is out on a deserted street, or out where the lots are 2+ acres each they'd get away with it. Here, definitely not. As for trips, hahahaha I can't remember the last one we took, 2 days last Christmas was all for the year I think.
Re: The Productive Backyard 2014 - January to June
Posted: Tue Jun 03, 2014 9:35 pm
by Harmony
So the neighbor's bunny, a big fluffy white one has been hanging out in our yard and the one in back of us, and sometimes it sits in the middle of my vegetable garden, huddled under the tomatoes and broccoli. Nothing much producing right now anyway. Tonight DH noticed a big huge clump of the finest softest white fur in the grass and he went back to talk to the bunny's owner. The mother questioned him and sounded very surprised when he told her we had bob cats around here. I guess the little girl didn't tell her what we told her about that. So they rounded up the white bunny and took it home. I don't know if that's where the fur came from, maybe it got away from something...but they had 10 bunnies and now say they don't know where the others are...
