Neighbor D had to go see a doctor in the Big City. Since he and L are never separated, somebody had to take care of their animals. Enter “Somebody.” 🙂
Their two dogs are stuck in their kennels for two days, and extremely unhappy about it.
This is Zip, a lovable girl but such a frantic lovesponge that she’s mostly not lovable at all. But she means well. She was a rescue dog, very poorly treated when she was a pup. Hid in the bushes for the first week after D&L brought her home. Then when she decided that they meant it when they said they weren’t going to beat her she became an obnoxious attention whore overnight and hasn’t stopped yet.
And this is Butch. I can’t think of anything to say about him. He’s not really obnoxious at all.
This is Coal. I call him Bob just to annoy L, and because I think Coal is a dumb name. How’d you like to be named after your color? In terms of personality, Coal is probably my favorite horse in the whole neighborhood. Definitely a Bob.
For the past few weeks, egg production among the Brahmas has fallen off to nothing. I think it’s their first moult, but they’ve also been known to destroy eggs. So just to be sure I’ve been isolating the hens one-by-one in this big cage. Sprinkle some sunflower seeds in there and somebody will trot right in. The only part they hate is when I catch them to read their leg bands.
Then home, feed the boys and give them their cheese, and while they’re knoshing I go out to visit the girls in the Fortress of Attitude.
This is the only time of the day when the girls are happy to see me. They don’t get sunflower seeds because I’m too cheap but they do get veggies if I’ve got them or scratch if I don’t. Haven’t been to town in two weeks, so scratch it is.
“Bob” looks something like a horse I used to have. Kino was a small black Arabian mix, and pretty smart (for a horse). His nickname was “Houdini,” because he could open any gate or door closure that didn’t require a thumb – with his teeth and lips! I’m not kidding. He could turn doorknobs, given time and incentive. His motive was to be with people. He didn’t much care for the other horses, and had nothing but scorn for the cows or goats. He would follow me around like a dog all day long if I’d let him. But I didn’t do that much. He was curious as a cat and always getting into something, knocking things down, or bumping into me if I stopped suddenly. He was sweet as all get out, but a real pain in the butt sometimes. A very willing and easy riding saddle horse, which is why he earned his keep, of course. 🙂
Planning ahead for next winter, once you get your garden going you can plant late cabbages as greens for the ladies. Cut just the main head off and leave the root and base of the cabbage in the ground. It will sprout a bunch of little cabbages that you can cover with hay or straw when it gets cold. They will last for months, then you plant early spring cabbages. Carrots and parsnips can also be mulched and left in the ground. Growing those things would make you independent of trips to town for chicken greens for most of the winter.
Chickens need extra high calorie food when it is cold especially if they are laying – a little bit of hulled sunflower seeds and cracked corn last thing in the evening so they go to sleep with full tummies will keep them healthy and feeling kindly toward you. You may not have enough space to set up grain/seed sprouting but if you can those sprouts are wonderful winter food for the chickens and you.
Maybe it’s time to build a small greenhouse…
You mentioned cleaning out the coop – check out the “new” theory that leaving an accumulation of layers of straw/haw/shavings/whatever and poop (with clean straw/hay on top of course) during the winter will generate some heat as the poop decomposes to keep the little chicken feet warm. It’s an interesting idea. Chickens get cold feet in winter. Hope your coop is well insulated so you don’t have to bring them inside The Lair in winter. lol
There’s a tentative plan to put up a greenhouse in the spring. Probably won’t happen, but I’ve been impressed with the results of the one Neighbor J built.
I normally clean the coop in the Fortress daily and then rake out the yard no more than semi-annually, just periodically adding straw for carbon. Uneaten scratch seeds sprout, which the girls eat, and uneaten veggies attract bugs which the girls eat. It cuts down on pellet consumption remarkably. The yard gets deep litter but the coop gets no straw except in the nesting boxes. The girls use it only for sleeping and laying and spend all day outdoors. They’re not noticably bothered by cold but I do worry about another record cold winter and have been thinking about doing just what you suggest. I tried insulating the coop last year but the chickens tore it all out in a single day.
“How’d you like to be named after your color?”
Named, no; called, yes. Then again, “redneck” hasn’t been an apt description for decades. Once you get burnt & tanned pretty well, you never lighten up that much in the winter, then here comes the sun again. Of course, being Some Crazy Old Guy in the Desert, you’re well aware.
If we were all named after our color, I’d be “fishbelly” right now…
A greenhouse is a great idea, BTW. You might even have enough sun there to grow certain things year round.
I’ve been meaning to learn about greenhouses and building one, myself.
Can you modify the coop to put insulation between two hard surfaces, like you’d build a house? so they can’t get at the insulation?
I wonder whether they would pick at aluminum faced foam board. The 2 inch thick runs about $14 for a 4×8 sheet where I live and there are ready cut half and quarter sheets. Straw bales around the coop stacked two high or so would help insulate it and if the girls picked at the straw it wouldn’t matter, but straw tends to attract critters. Of course then you’d have another meat source… anything to avoid having to bring them inside with you and the dogs. Chicken poop on the floor is slippery.
Chickens can freeze solid in nest boxes or on roosts if they get cold enough.
Greenhouses are a wonder. As an alternative to putting up a greenhouse, check out Internet information on how to put a greenhouse down – earth bermed greenhouses and walipinis, both much more efficient than a free standing greenhouse. And you have access to the equipment to build either one although your soil may not be compacted enough for a walipini.
But a free-standing greenhouse attached to The Lair with a screened closable vent would provide extra heat in winter and a door cut in the wall would give you access to food without going outside.
Whatever you do, pictures would be interesting. Another chapter in your book??