Spring is here...

... the turkey toms have been letting me know, the spring peepers have given me their opinion. My hens were finally able to take walks again and instantly perked up in behavior and looks. But then, the happiness came to a certain halt today when in the middle of a playdate pickup, this scene happened in my back yard:

I gave the hen (Oreo) up for dead, and went to grab my phone off the table, then a broom to chase the hawk. Though I didn't think I could save the hen, I did not want him (I'm convinced it's a him, though I have no evidence) to think of our backyard as an all-you-can-eat buffet in the future.

As I approached him with my broom, he was entirely underwhelmed by me:

It's not that I'm an amazingly fast photographer to snap this picture. It is that this bird was one hundred percent in control of the situation. He stared me down, probably judged me for my inability to keep my composure even half as well as he did, and did not let go of the hen. When I started actually bumping him with the broom, he let go of one talon, but the other held on tight to the hen's head, dragging her along with him. At that point I realized that Oreo was alive.

I finally chased off the hawk, though he did not leave entirely. He continued to stalk us as we hurriedly got the rest of the flock into the pen (which is covered in the top, bottom and around). He attacked a second hen, who was saved by my daughter's interfering. Then he sat for over an hour on a tree and waited. Two hens were still in hiding and we were unable to find them. I wrapped the injured Oreo, who was limping around now, in a towel and put her in a cage we keep around for times like these, for further evaluation.
By the time we sat down to take a better look at Oreo, the hawk had spied and attacked one of the last 2 hens, but again we were able to chase him away. The hen, though, was not to be found for another few hours, such patience and self preservation instincts, she stayed quiet as a mouse under the neighbor's handicapped entrance ramp.

I decided for the first time in my 6+ years as a chicken keeper that I should take the striped hen, Oreo, to the vet. She was seemingly well, but at the same time injured to such a degree that I was sure she would soon die of infection if left in home treatment only. And then there were the little humans to consider, who had been incredibly brave and patient, keeping a watch on the hawk until all hens were safely in the pen again. I was sufficiently impressed with them and Oreo's will and ability to walk away alive from this situation that I found a vet and took her in for the night. The vet thought her lung might be injured beyond the superficial skin wound I had found and cleaned on my own. Only time will tell the severity of that. For now, she should be resting and be medicated, it is praying time.

How do we do it?

It's winter and we're near Boston. How do we do it??? I am starting to wonder that myself but here are a few photos of the menagerie, and how we handle them.

Besides their insulated coop, the chickens have a dug out for fresh air. At this point, it is covered from the top by a small roof and from one side by a wall of snow, so they're pretty sheltered. As long as they have straw to stand on, they don't mind the cold. I have 11 hens in a coop that is sized for 8, so I try my hardest to give them a bit of extra room.

 

Inside, they have a heat lamp in a ceramic fitting, and that is regulated by a thermo-cube. It turns on when the temp goes too close to freezing, and keeps the water in the waterer from going solid.
The waterer is a clever gadget, made from a rubbermaid container and a pair of aqua miser nipples. This way, the water stays clean and doesn't spill, and the chickens don't need that much of it. Sadly, they really prefer to drink from a regular dish, so we take them fresh water every day, but it is good to have a backup plan that is always available and never dirty or spilled.

They have a lamp that is on a timer, giving them the illusion of longer days, and keeping them laying steadily through this their first winter. Being first years, they would likely lay anyway, but who doesn't like a bit of bright light in the winter? Since we have the heat generation on a separate circuit, I use a CFL lightbulb to save energy. I will keep this one running through the March equinox.

The bees have gotten fall feedings, and then a candy board and are wrapped for winter. It is do or die time for them. The only help they get from me now is that I shovel their entrances. I don't want melt water to run from the entrance boards into the hives, where it could create indoor icicles under the wrong conditions. Getting through the winter for the bees is all about thermodynamics. They eat only to stay warm, and every time they have to expend energy to dry up a mess of water, or to re-heat the hive after a curious beek has opened it, it brings them a little closer to starvation.

In front of the hives (pre-shoveling), you see a bunch of dead bees. This is actually a good sign. Bees are diligent undertakers, and when they have casualties in the hive, they do their best to dispose of them outside, a bit away from the hive. Only a healthy hive has extra energy to devote to this daunting task, though. I have been very impressed with how far from the hive the bodies have been dumped, giving the harsh conditions around here these days!

So here we are, and wait, and wonder if it is time to build an ark, for when spring will finally arrive?

Oh hi, remember me?

It's been a bit of a hiatus, but not for any dramatic reasons. I just decided that this year should be all about spending time with the kids, and blogging can quickly become another time suck in the day.... but I missed it! This post is just a pictorial catch-me-up on the state of the homestead. Maybe later I'll write a bit more detailed about what went well and what didn't with the chicks, the bees, the gardens this year.

So here we go for now:

In a microburst of a 4th of July-weekend storm, we lost half a tree, and had to take down three more. After renting a log splitter with friends for a day, this is where we are. Warm and toasty as soon as those logs have seasoned a bit more.

The tomato tunnel in the new front garden, still doing its thing! Matt's Wild Cherry Tomatoes, how do I love thee? Let me count the ways: Sweet. Blight resistant. Grow like crazy. Fun for the kids.

The scarlett runner beans were a late season winner. In the spring our resident robin ate all the red flowers. Seriously? But once the bean bushes had more foliage, they cranked out beautiful beans all summer and fall long. My favorite 'magic' trick is to ask a visiting little girl her favorite colors, to which she invariably answers 'purple and pink'. Then I open one of the mature bean pods to show her the beautiful speckled purple and pink beans :-)

My oldest harvested some amaranth yesterday and is in the process of processing it, as we did last year. Though it did not grow as plentiful or tall this year.

The bees - I had made a split, and maintaining three hives through summer. I did not pull honey, will write more about what I think the reason is in a dedicated post sometime. Sadly, the hive to the right superseded/swarmed/absconded/got robbed to death in late September. But thanks to the split, I still have 2 viable hives ready to be insulated for winter soon.

The back gardens are mostly bare, save some late carrots, and garlic was planted and is sleeping below the surface.

The hen house is a busy place right now. This was a stellar chick year for us, not a single loss, and beautiful layers just about cranking up production. Unlike in 2013, I love chicken keeping this year. I had to install an extra egg box and extra roost space, but even with 11 hens in a place designed for 8, we have had no bickering or pecking. A lovely bunch of ladies we have.

First, and last, in the season is always the herb garden. Keeps my cooking fresh even as the dreaded root vegetable season starts....

Thanks for catching up with me a little bit today, it's nice to be back in this space.

Pictorial Update

This season is busy but not. I'm feeling more inclined to be outside, work in the garden or be spontaneous with the littles than to sit at the computer and tell you (all three of you) about my oh so exciting suburban little life.... and isn't that just how it should be in summer? 

Just to let you know all is well, a few updates in images. 

The babies have grown up. We gave away three older laying hens, and our cockerel (young rooster) to a nice person who is trying to hatch eggs and needed more hens ... it was a blessing to have found a place where Cuckoo could even attempt to live a life as a real rooster. We wish him well! May he wake other people every morning at 4:45 :-) 

The pullets are 11 weeks old now. 

First tomatoes (Sungold) and cucumbers (no idea what kind): 

The beautiful scarlett runner beans and some eggplant flowers

Just another gratuitous flower picture: My favorite sunset colored rose.

The promises of raspberries and even a handful of blackberries on a vine that seems to be recovering from The Evil Mildew (not pictured).

The red currents that are left are starting to look mighty promising. Sadly have not harvested a single red strawberry (except a lot of wild ones....). 

We have harvested a bunch of lettuce, garlic scapes, kale, snap peas and herbs thus far. 

And we close with yesterday's ghostly, ghastly visitor: An Eyed Click Beetle!

Garden Survey

This week is nuts between music recitals, gymnastic shows, preschool graduation and assorted other end-of-year activities. There. See? I said the word activity. It never means anything wholesome or fun. I'm planning to avoid the A-word all summer long.

Here's a long overdue garden update in pictures. The spring has been soooo slow for me, especially in the cucurbit section. We're only just getting the first strawberries to turn pink, at least 2 weeks later than last year. But hey, the garlic is going strong and the wait for scapes should be almost over now...

The snap peas are about 3-4 feet tall, and have no flowers. Spontaneous potatoes have cropped up, indicating that I did a poor job digging them up last season. I'll take it, though, potatoes sans the work.

Promises, promises, on the berry front:

Gooseberries looking good. 

Red currants looking - well - eaten. By whom, you wonder? They are so sour when green!

Lots of strawberries are setting in the back patch where I didn't get a single one last year. Maybe the new and improved fencing has helped... Blueberries are looking OK, but not as nice as last year. The later bush has sub-par pollination, must have rained at the wrong time :-(

These peonies are my favorite.

The first tomato flowers on a Sungold plant, gifted by a friend. Baby kale and dward marigolds, too.

The 'three sister' planting of corn, beans and squash. The beans are ahead of the game and needed stakes because the corn is not tall enough yet! 

Fraises de bois (wild strawberries) make an excellent groundcover. They also feed the chipmunks which feed the .... wait. Chipmunks are fairly useless to me and I wish I could still keep cats...

The pullets are growing rapidly and spend their days outside now. The enormous comb and wattle on 'Cuckoo' have us a little worried, but so far we haven't seen any struttin'..... or other boy-ish behavior. 

Built some trellis while I had a nail gun on loan from a friend (really meant to assemble bee hive frames but that is a separate update...). 

The preschool class planting pumpkin seeds so the incoming class in fall will have pumpkins. 

Dragonfly hunting is a lifelong pursuit, not an activity. A certain member of this family plans on doing it full-time this summer.

{this moment}

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{this moment}

A Friday SouleMama ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember. If you're inspired to do the same, leave a link to your 'moment' in the comments for all to find and see 
.......

Cloudy on a Sunny Day

The story starts last night, when I couldn't find our oldest laying hen, Cloudy. After a while of walking the yard, I found her snuggled in a little nest in the bushes near our stone wall. I picked her up and carried her home to sleep in the safe coop, noticing a questionable poop and her very calm state. She didn't seem in pain but I thought she might be egg-bound again, as she was last year.  

Well, sadly, this morning she was lying motionless on the floor of the coop. I called the two younger children to say good bye. 

We talked about how we don't know exactly how old she was, since we got her at an auction. She was molting when we bid on her, and looking bedraggled. We just needed a warm body to fill in space in our coop after a few losses. She has turned out to be such a reliable hen, friendly (but not overly affectionate), good at getting out of the way of predators (once it took me a whole night to locate her in her secret hide-out under the coop after a doggy scare), and pretty to look at in her snow white feathers, like a picture book hen. We will miss her!

The next generation of layers is providing solace to the middle, who was the most upset.

They grow so fast...

Baby chicks that is. We're left with 11, the 8 I had planned on and the three freebies from Murray McMurray. No idea if they gave us roosters.... no signs of any boy-ness yet. 

They stank up my sewing studio, which is seeing a little more use these days, and needed fresh water every 10 minutes because they were so crammed and bored. Time to devise a new home for them! 

Only 5 left mid-move.... imagine 11 in there!

The handy husband put together a square corral of sorts, blessed be his hoarding tendencies because he had the material just lying around. Old window screens have always served us well as a breathable top cover. A scrounged piece of 1/4in plywood made the bottom. My oldest was very concerned with the chicks getting cold feet. She is right. Chickens detest to walk on cold ground. 

A little woodworking lesson for the younger two produced a baby roost, and we upgraded the feeder and waterer. Voila! Everyone is happier now. I started the 3-week-old chicks on a bit of parakeet grit so that we can start introducing them to dirt and bugs soon, too.