Chickens for bug control and food recycling.

[ninnymary]

Those are beautiful looking birds Bee. I can't wait to see how your garden does this year.

Mary

 

[lcertuche]

78 today with the sun shining bright. I have some happy yardbirds. Tadpoles ripple the water when we walked by the ponds. My GD was thrilled to see them swimming. It won't be long before my chickens are running by with a frog or snake hanging from their mouths with a posse trailing them, lol.

 

[PennyJo]

Wow we may not hit that till July here but no rain doing new run for my girls
lots more into defunct garden split in 1/4 to move here then there

 

[Nyboy]

Frozen rain all day layer of ice on everything much worse then snow

 

[Beekissed]

Spring has sprung early here after a very mild winter...we can't remember such a winter in all our lives. I opened up the garden to the flock last week and they have been in there plowing those wood chips and leaves up like crazy. It's a buffet, apparently.

They've been foraging well all winter due to the mild weather, so feed costs have been minimal and laying has been great for most of the winter. Now getting 11 eggs from 12 hens of various ages and I think a few of the girls started laying out in nests today, so brooding is not far behind.

I need to put up the bird netting around the coop early this year, as well as hang up bags of mothballs in the area of the nests....last year the black snakes consumed 20 chicks from multiple broods...10x more chickens than I had lost in the previous 40 yrs of free ranging flocks combined. I blame that on my not being prepared for deterring them...just got too busy. That's one predator that gets past the dogs with ease, in broad daylight even.

Can't wait for hatching and gardening season!

A few pics of the flock and such I've taken lately...

 

[PennyJo]

been pretty mild here we had snow twice but was only like 2 days
then rain again

 

[Nyboy]

Bee not sure how humane, but someone on BYC blows out a egg shell fill it with salt seals the egg and puts back on nest. Snake eats egg and dies

 

[Ridgerunner]

Bee, how dry was it? Some years I can go all season without any problems with snakes in the coop, others they are much more of a problem. I think it is related to weather. My worst years are normally dry years, especially hot dry summers. During a hot drought a few years back I permanently removed two different 5' black rat snakes from the coop within a week.

It's not that unusual for me to see a snake, usually a rat snake or black racer, outside my coop. They are after the mice. I leave them alone. But if they start eating eggs or chicks, well, I have no tolerance for that.

 

[catjac1975]

No, I will have to build a platform for it, hardy plank the wall with furring strips behind it, and I want to tile it and make it look nice. Then we'll call someone else to install the stove! I have other projects in front of it, may not get it done this winter, but it will be ready for next winter. Right now I am researching mosaics, and how to do them.

There is an online company that will create a mosaic from your own design or photograph.I'm sure they are pricey but there are many different companies-there are probably some more affordable ones. http://www.susanjablon.com/glass-tile/photo-mosaic-glass-tile.html

 

[ninnymary]

Bee, do you still have snow on the ground? Some of your pictures have quite a bit of it and some have non. Your birds are so beautiful.

Mary