In this case, the chicken came before the egg

The hens must be happy in their new digs because three days ago I found this:

Then yesterday three more!

And today they left me four!  

The hens have been much quicker to get back into production after the move than I anticipated and seem they to be ramping up production by the day.  On a down note, the rooster got after my 5 year old a bit today.  I was there and immediately let the rooster know who was boss.  I'd like to keep him, but I can't have him terrorize the kids.  I'm going to trim his spurs to blunt them and give him one more chance.  I'll admit that I'm not hopeful.  It's hard for older animals to break bad habits, especially when they are full of testosterone.

Trying a little something different: Seed Tape

I was perusing my local seedshop looking for lettuce seed and spied this.  I've seen seed tape before, but never used it.  The price difference wasn't much as compared to a packet of loose seeds, so I decided to give it a try.

A seed tape is nothing more than a strip of thin paper with seeds placed at specific intervals.  Above, you can see three strips of seed tape.  A strip is planted in a furrow where the paper softens when exposed to water and the seedlings push through it easily.  With small, hard to manipulate seeds like lettuce or carrots, this makes planting simple and prevents over seeding.

Lettuce seed is planted very shallowly, so I just laid the tape on the soil and covered it by lightly sprinkling a small amount of soil over it.  The tape above is half covered.

Chicken and Garden Update

Any time you stress hens by doing something like moving them, they are liable to go into a molt and quit laying eggs.  The hens haven't laid an egg since they've been here, but I expect they will sometime in the next 2 months.  They continue to reliably put themselves up in the hen house at dusk.  All, but one have gotten the idea that roosting in the nest boxes is a bad idea.  I continue to pick up and move her out of the boxes and onto a roosting bar each evening.  She'll get the idea.

The radishes are coming up nicely.  We've had beautiful weather in the mid 70s.

True to form, the cilantro is doing just fine after separating store bought starts.

The onions are poking their bright green heads up.

The chickens have left the building

The chickens spent their first week in the coop learning that this is their new home.  This is the warm, dry place with food and water.  I want them to be able to free range on the property, but to return to the hen house each evening for safety's sake and also to lay eggs.  It's no fun going on an Easter egg hunt through the brush every day.  

*Note the steel trashcan.  This is an easy, rodent proof and waterproof feed container.

That week passed and with some trepidation, I opened the door and watched to see what they would do.  They started peering out the door getting more bold with each look.  After about 10 minutes, the rooster hopped out.  Soon they all followed and began happily scratching around looking for something to eat around the pond.  

I went about my business and when I checked on them at dusk, all had returned and were safely in the house.  Seven were on the roosting bars and three had decided to roost in the nest boxes.  I picked up the three nest box birds and put them on the bars.  If they develop the habit of roosting in the nest boxes, they will fill them with poop at night.  That's not a good thing to have eggs covered in.

That's a good looking rooster!

Quick Tip: Getting a deal on Cilantro

I planted six cilantro plants last weekend, but only paid for two.  How?  When you buy cilantro starts from the big box store, they are almost always planted with 3 or 4 seedlings per pot.  You can see the three distinct seedlings in the closeup above.  Don't just plant the whole thing in one spot.  Spread them out a little bit for more production.  

Remove the cilantro from the pot.  

*Note the wooden template in the background.  I plant cilantro 4 plants per square foot.

Cilantro is a very hardy plant that can handle rough treatment.  Using a serrated knife, divide the rootballs into thirds (or quarters depending on the number of seedlings).  Plant them according to label instructions and water well.

This also works very well for basil.  It's too early in the year to plant basil, so lock this trick away for later.

Radish Planting

Radishes are one of the quickest crops I grow, taking as little as 3 weeks to mature.  They like the mild weather of spring and fall, but can be grown almost year round with cold frames.  I want a couple of dozen radishes a week, so I plant 32 new radishes every weekend to keep a constant supply at hand.  I always plant a few more than I want because I'd rather give away extras or feed them to the chickens than come up short.

Start with a level, weed free soil surface in a sunny location.  I plant 16 plants per square foot using a wooden template that I made.  

This antler from a small deer I shot is perfect for making 1/4" deep divots in each opening.  Into these divots I drop 2 seeds per opening.  Seeds are inexpensive and this insures that I will have a radish in each spot.

Once the seeds are in place, I sprinkle a little loose soil over the template and then wipe it clean.  This covers each seed to a uniform depth.  Lightly water in place being careful not to disturb the seeds.  

We have chickens again!

A friend of my sister-in-law gave us an Ameraucana rooster (back left in the picture above) and 9 hens (Ameraucana, Red Star, and Black Star) recently.  They are a mix of ages ranging from 1 to 3 years.  They seem to be very tame and gentle, allowing me to walk up and pick them up without too much problem.  

I love hearing the crows of a rooster again and may let a broody hen raise some chicks this summer.  Despite the rooster's sharp 1 1/2" long spurs, he seems quite docile.  I've "interacted" with a few roosters that were truly mean and would attack humans relentlessly with those sharp spurs.  We have young children whose eyes are within easy striking distance of an aggressive rooster, so even though I'm looking forward to having him around, if he shows any aggression towards humans he will wind up in the soup pot.

The house needed a good clean out from the chickens of the previous owner.  I shoveled everything out and piled it outside to compost*.  I put a layer of fresh pine shavings on the floor and straw in the nest boxes. 

The house has roosting bars already in place.  These are really important, because chickens like to roost up high while they sleep at night.  In the off chance a predator gets into the house at night, the chickens will still have some protection because they are up off the floor.  Chickens also defecate a lot at night and this keeps them up and out of that.

Good ventilation is essential for a hen house.  Their droppings can produce a lot of ammonia, which can cause all sort of health issues for the chickens if it builds up in the house.  The house has two chicken-wire covered windows on one side of the house.

*Never put chicken litter directly into your garden.  It has too much nitrogen and needs the composting period to mellow.  Also, applying fresh manure to food growing areas poses a risk of bacterial contamination of food.