Comment

Comment by Kevin F Smith on May 10, 2020 at 11:16am

Today is the big day for the baby chickens!  I opened up the door from their coop to their run...and so far they are just curious, sticking their heads out, and testing the ramp.  Once one of them gets brave enough to go all the way down the ramp, the rest will follow.

Kev

Comment by Kevin F Smith on May 8, 2020 at 6:24pm

The chicks are moved into the coop!  They are fully feathered now, and nighttime temperatures are going to be above 50 from now on...so they should be fine without a heat source.  They'll have to stay in the coop for a couple of nights, with their food and water...and then I'll open the door and let them explore their run.  Once I let them out in the run, their food and water will stay in the coop for a few more days so the get used to going in there to eat and sleep...and then I'll move their food and water out into the run itself, with the food under the coop to keep it out of the rain.  Cute little things!


I also planted a whole bunch more corn in starter pots today...I decided to go with three rows of corn in the medium size garden.


Kev

Comment by Kevin F Smith on May 7, 2020 at 9:02pm

And here are a couple more pictures of the coop.  Sampson the very old kitty, and Paladin and Karli approve!

Kev

Comment by Kevin F Smith on May 7, 2020 at 8:58pm

And the chicken coop is built and ready for the chicks to be introduced to their new home tomorrow!  I added some extra latches and carabiners to keep the predators out, and 15 inches of hardware cloth all around the base of the coop to keep predators from digging, and snakes from slithering in under the coop.  I stapled it to the base of the coop, and staked it down with long nails and fender washers.


I already put in the industrial hemp bedding in the bottom, and hay in the nesting boxes.  Tomorrow morning I'm going to add a couple more roosting rods higher up in the coop, a swing roost in the run...and by the time it starts to warm up, the chicks will have their new home!  And then I'll bring all the shavings from their brooder to the compost pile at the far end of our property.

Kev

Comment by Kevin F Smith on May 7, 2020 at 8:52pm

So here are the pictures of our new screen enclosure on our porch, attached to our metal building.  WOW it took a long time to complete, because the included directions must have been translated from Chinese by a kindergartner..lol!  But it is done, and it sure will be nice to enjoy sitting on the porch without all the bugs we get here in south central Georgia!  The hardest part (at first) was drilling the holes in the concrete for the concrete screws and hold downs!  Bit quality matters!  I bought three masonry bits at Ace Hardware at around 3 bucks a bit to drill the holes, and only got around one hole out of each bit before it would dull out and not drill anymore!  Then I bought some carbide tip masonry bits from the local hardware store (Merritt Supply) for 1.79 a bit...and one bit was able to easily drill ALL the rest of the holes like a hot knife through butter.

Kev

Comment by Kevin F Smith on May 6, 2020 at 9:41pm

Yay!!!  The screen room enclosure is DONE, and I'll post pictures tomorrow sometime.


And the rest of the chicken coop was delivered...at 9:15 PM this evening!  The poor UPS driver, a really nice guy, had 172 deliveries to make today, and he still wasn't done when he delivered ours!  The workload delivery personnel are making is insane with the COVID-19 crisis.  God bless them all!


I'll be building the coop in the morning...and posting pictures of course.  And it is just in time!  My girls are fully feathered now and getting HUGE!  Time to get them out of the brooder for sure!


Kev

Comment by Kevin F Smith on May 5, 2020 at 6:47pm

Jurasic Squash and T-Rex Tomatoes!  WOW!!!

I also culled and thinned out the broccoli and lettuce plants on the porch raised box gardens today...and the chickens went nuts on the leftovers...lol!  I left the carrots alone, since they can bunch up all they want.

The spice garden raised planter is also doing well, including some celery stubs and garlic cloves I planted...and some more corn and one bean plant is also ready to be planted.

And also today, I worked on our screen porch enclosure.  I got a LOT of it done...but then it got way too hot to keep working.  It is supposed to be 10 degrees cooler tomorrow, so instead of 90 degrees, I can finish up in 80 degree weather.

And finally, box one of three for our chicken coop arrived today.  The other two are supposed to arrive in the next couple of days.

Kev

Comment by Kevin F Smith on May 5, 2020 at 6:41pm

I had to mow the lawn today, so the little Cub Cadet self propelled push mower I bought did an amazing job mowing around the gardens, fruit trees, and fruit bushes, without disturbing anything.  Awesome mower and I highly recommend it!  Starts on one pull, and the propulsion lever is intuitive...it moves at whatever speed you feel like walking.

After the mowing was done, and everything was put away and cleaned, I thinned some of the plants in the porch planter boxes.  Specifically the iceburg lettuce, broccoli, and the beets and radishes.  I gave the cuttings to the baby chickens, and MAN did they go crazy over them!  They were like my wife Patti with some cotton candy...LOL!

Kev

Comment by Kevin F Smith on May 2, 2020 at 2:18pm

The peach and cherry trees are planted, as are the blueberry and blackberry bushes.


I planted them where they will get water and fertilzer from the garden sprinklers, but not shade the gardens when they get full size.

Kev

Comment by Kevin F Smith on May 2, 2020 at 2:14pm

LOL Jack!  Maybe!

Kev

• ‹ Previous
• 1
• 2
• 3
• Next ›
• Page