Spring, its all going on here, spring is a busy time.

Seedlings growing, more seeds started, chicks growing, chicks incubating. We're trying one more time to hatch an egg from our Turken chicken (naked neck) who is now 7 years old and a favorite of ours. NEVER successfully hatched an egg of hers despite trying several times over the years. Now she is old and rarely lays but during spring break I caught her laying a couple times so snagged those eggs and a few others to incubate. Why IS she still laying at 7. I don't know for sure but I think many of our old hens ages 6-8 still lay on occasion because we give them winters off and let their bodies decide when to lay rather than using artificial lighting to cause them to lay during winter. 

Kajari melon seedlings, I never do well with melons but this is a new to us variety.

Larger seedlings in the indoor greenhouse safe from cats and dogs, waiting fore last frost date.

What will hatch?

More seedlings started.

Under the germinating light.

A little hardening off for an hour or so in the outdoor greenhouse.

Spring break is done, back to work tomorrow. Hurry up summer break and warm weather!
 

Walk the Dogs April 30th A Stormy Day

It was cold, windy and rainy today. Very blustery at the lake but we got in quick dog walks.

 

Dartha always tries to carry her own leash.

Blustery old lake day, windy and rainy.

A romp through the woods and lake then home to get warm.

Just a Farm and garden photo dump of sorts since I'm getting behind in blogging for around the 1,000th time in my life.

 

 

 

 

First several photos, KitKat and I dug up some strawberry plants from an overgrown area in the bottom garden and I decided to try them in a raised bed. The mesh is around the bed so cats, chickens, wild turkeys etc. don't get at the plants. It's open at the top so pollinators can still work their magic.

Our chickens love their large fenced yard.They are so glad the snow is gone.

Getting ready.

Haskaps are in flower, these are always the first fruits we can harvest each year. Very early crop which is great for northern gardeners.

I'm in charge here, silkie roo.

KitKat still loves farming.

Happy chicken yard.

cold crops I put in the greenstalks are doing well.

Starting to harden off some plants that are usually still in the house.

April 29th walk the dogs Comet turns 12!

 Comet is 12! He had a nice walk in the woods, a walk to the lake, a bit of dig and swim time and then home for presents. He loves to open things in wrapping paper and he loves to find the squeaker in toys so we got him a bunch of inexpensive squeaky toys to open and destroy.

Willow and Dartha had a nice day too. Dartha is still mid. haircut that's why she looks funny. She has very long hair, doesn't like getting it cut but tends to run hot and gets uncomfortable by early summer so I trim her a little at a time over several weeks.

 

Rescue Bantams first night sleeping in the coop.

Finally a decent weather day for my week off from school/work. Friday was very nice and I took full advantage to get a lot done outdoors.

 First on my agenda was getting  the rescue bantams moved full time into the coop. They need to be part of the flock and the earlier the better. I had to quarantine them their first 2 weeks since they came from unsanitary conditions but after that I started introducing them to the flock a little at a time. 

 Earlier in the week I thought I had their cage in coop set up the way I wanted but it just wasn't right and it didn't help that we have a lot of shavings stored in the coop right now. I had their coop cage near the door and a draft would come in and chilled the smallest bantam. Also I tried a smaller cage at first but couldn't get my largest electric hen brooder plate in it. I wanted the flexibility of the larger brooder plate, I can temperature control that one. 

This was ok for coop visits but it wasn't the right setup for these particularly small 6 week old bantams to move to the coop full time.

 

So what do you do when something isn't working, change it all around. I came up with a much better solution and the bantams spent their first full night in the coop and were absolutely fine.

 

This is much better!

Setting up a different transition cage for the chicks

This was a better way to set up the bantams as the adjust to coop life. I was a little nervous and went back out in the dark to double check all was well in the sleepy coop. All was fine.

Sleeping comfortably under brooder plate.

The bantams approve!

Walking the dogs, Comet's last walk of age 11, he turns 12 tomorrow.

 It really is shocking how fast time passes, I remember when each of our dogs was born and suddenly Willow and Dartha have turned 11  and Comet will turn 12 tomorrow. 

Three happy dogs

We don't mind the cold

I think Comet and Willow are trying to tangle up Tristan!

On the farm 4/27

I got a few more coop signs at the Agway feed store today. They have these every year and I pick a couple new ones for the coop. They are only $1.00, well the used to give them out free, inflation I guess!

 I gave the rescue bantams some time in the coop again today. They are now 6 weeks old and the plan was to move them to the coop full time this week while I'm off work. Well the tiny white chick still gets chilled so we have to keep them in the house brooder longer. I'm not used to chicks that are even smaller than silkies, the white chick is about the size of a typical chick at 2 weeks or less. She had a very rough start in life so that could certainly be part of it. It would probably help to know her breed but I'm still not sure. We need little chick to grow more or the weather to warm up!

 

I got my netting around one of the raised beds to plant that out. This bed attracts escape chickens, our cats and the silly wild turkeys so I have to partially cover it so the plants have a chance to grow. I ned to leave the top open so pollinators can still get n and can't use something too solid or the birds can fly up, land and jump in. Last year the netting over the sides worked hopefully it will again this year. It doesn't look pretty but it does the job. 

 

Finally, turkeys lounging on the lawn because they think they live here. They make cute lawn ornaments anyway!