Tatum's Farm: Chickens

Thursday, June 27, 2013

Don't Blink!

Things are changing quickly around here on Tatum's Farm! Apparently the veggies were pleased to be fed with the water soluble Miracle Gro plant food I gave them over the weekend.

Sweet potatoes June 25

Sweet potatoes June 15

Silver queen corn June 15

Silver queen corn June 27

Yellow Crookneck June 19

Yellow Crookneck June 27

Butternut June 19

Butternut June 27

This morning I had to bait some ants that had gotten into my nesting boxes in the chicken coop with a sweet honey and borax mixture. This has worked for me in the past inside my house. The little buggers take the borax-laced honey back to their queen, which kills off the whole colony. I put the mixture outside the coop so that it wouldn't hurt my hens. The girls seemed pleased that I raked out all their poop this morning - and added it to the compost trenches.

...after an hour the ants covered the lethal honey mix

Today I found the first little lima bean pods on the Fordhook plants.

The corn has pretty little pink things on the tassels.

Also on the farm...

Blooms on yellow crookneck squash

Fat tomato

Yukon Gold potatoes

Maple tree

Coneflower

Bee balm, Becky shasta daisies and coneflower

Hydrangea

Double-blooming daylillies


Gladiolas

Monday, June 10, 2013

May Chicken Coop Project

I had some chickens a few years ago and loved it! There is nothing like fresh eggs for breakfast.

This year I took my granddaughter to select three hens from the local feed and seed. We kept them in a dog cage until they were old enough to go outside.

There was an existing chicken coop on the property, but it had some deficiencies that we addressed in May.

Wow! What a change! We received donations of items such as vents, wood, and roofing tiles, found some old pulls for the drawers in the basement, used some old paint I'd been storing like any good pack rat would, and ended up spending a total of about $15 to create our new and improved chicken coop.