An Urban Homesteading Mom's Version of Nesting

Includes a trip to the Farmer's Market.

Tomatoes are being peeled and canned today.
Sweet potatoes and Apples will become baby food tomorrow.
And oranges and tangerines for juicing.
I also picked up a spaghetti squash and 2 butternut squashes because I LOVE them.
Roasted butternut squash seeds are SO much yummier than pumpkin seeds.

What a lovely fall day!

The Littlest Egg

Rhoda laid the littlest egg the other day.

That's a TEAspoon!

It was so funny. Rhoda was a bit agitated, so I went out in the late evening to check on her and found this in her nest. "What the heck is that?!" I asked the sleeping birds.
:)

I Am Now a Worm Wrangler

I don't have the patience required by my compost pile. Nor do I have the money for one of those fantastic compost tumblers that I saw at the hardware store.
My plants need better nourishment, and I am tired of buying new soil.

Solution: a Worm Bin

Worms make marvelous compost. Their castings (poop) are like gold dirt for gardeners.
I got the original directions from The Urban Homestead by Coyne/Knutzen and simplified them. And made it...
Beach Cheap.

I used a free bucket from Chick-fil-A. Most fast food places will give you free buckets if you ask. Dill pickles come in these buckets and the restaurants just toss them in the dumpster.

I drilled 1/16th holes around the top and bottom of the sides for ventilation.

I drilled 1/4" holes in the bottom for an escape hatch should the worms need food or water or get too wet. The bucket is sitting on two bricks on top of a bucket lid. I check each day for escapees. If I see some, I figure out the problem, solve it, and put them back in before Lyli sees them and feeds them to the chickens.

I first shredded some paper (already shredded old bills- recycling at its finest), wet it, rung it out like a washcloth, and filled the bottom 1/3 of the bucket.
Then I filled another 1/3 with soil from my compost pile.
When I add food (kitchen scraps bound for the compost pile), I cover it with more dirt.
Then I cover the bucket with the lid that came with it. I also drilled 1/16 holes in the lid for air.

Worms like to be wet, but not too wet. And they don't like light.

I love them. I hope they make lots of babies so that the chickens can have an occasional treat.
And their castings are a wonderful addition to my plants. I've already harvested a little bit for a box of lettuce that I've placed in a window,


and a basil that I found growing on its own. I gave it a new home in a beautiful pot that I found at Ben's grandmother's old house.

When my worm bin fills up with gold dirt, I plan to make another bucket drilled with identical holes. I will fill it the same way and then set it (with fresh food in it) inside the current bucket. The theory (from The Urban Homestead) is that the worms will migrate up into their new home in search of the yummy food, leaving the bottom bucket full of worm-free compost for me to use. If this system works, I can dump the compost directly on my garden without having to pull all the worms out by hand. Sounds good to me!

-The Worm Wrangler, aka Lainie

I Love My Chickens and Their Eggs

This marvelous bit of God's magic was waiting for me in the chicken coop this morning.

I yelled for Lyli to come and see. She put her boots on and rushed out in her nightgown.

And then announced to me that she was going to draw on the egg and color it.
Into the boiling pot it went.

I photographed it in its pristine natural state. Isn't it beautiful?

Chicken Tricks

Okay, so when we first got "the girls," I complained. A lot. But there were a lot of bugs. And the stench, Oh My!

But things have vastly improved. Here are some notes on what works for us.

My original plan was for the coop to have a wire roof over half of it. I guess I thought I would reach in from one side to clean it out? Bad idea.

It now has two hinged plywood "doors" on top. I leave one closed and open the other when I don't want the girls to fly the coop on me. During the day, when they are in their play pen, I rake out the coop and leave it open so that the sunshine will disinfect it.

This is the nesting and roosting area. I can lift this one door to scoop out the poop or gather eggs.

In order to battle the flies, we practice the deep litter method that I gathered from The Urban Homestead (a terrific book and enjoyable read. I borrowed it from the library first, then decided to buy it). The trick is to pile the bedding up a few inches deep in the nesting/roosting area. It gets pooped on, then I rake it down into the "run" side of the coop. The girls scratch it up until it turns into lovely compost. My corn loves it! Then I fill the nesting/roosting area with fresh bedding. By keeping it scratched up, raked out, and sometimes scooping the poop into a bucket with a lid (that I got for free from Chick-fil-A), we've managed the bug problem.

Also, I got this tip from backyardchickens.com -- hang a vanilla tree car air freshener in the coop. For some reason, flies do not like the vanilla smell and will stay away.

This is a close-up of the other side of the coop. I had a problem with the girls scratching bedding and grass and dirt and food into the waterer. So I placed two bricks in the coop to raise it up a bit. It hasn't solved the problem, but it helps. It also holds the waterer level. It is a nice vacuum-operated can, but if it's tilted, the water will all run out and the chickens will be thirsty. Very bad.

And this is their favorite place--- the Chicken Play Pen.
We made this portable coop from PVC pipes and wrapped it in chicken wire. I draped a shower curtain over one end for shade, and we tied it all together with neon colored zip ties. The whole family helped and we had a ball! The girls love to move around the yard. They eat grass, but prefer weeds. Heehee. They're my little weed-eaters. ;)

Oh, how I love my chickens. They are so much fun to watch. I peek at them out the back window, and my blood pressure goes down. They are such natural, stress-free animals. I love to see them enjoying a carefree afternoon of weed-munching and dust-bathing. Their simple joy puts a smile on my face. Lyliana loves to hold them and pet them. And even their cooing noises make me smile. Except for Rhoda (the Rhode Island Red). Her noises sound a bit bossy. But the Americaunas coo at us. Such sweet birds. The only one who isn't happy with the situation is Coal, our Pekingese-- I won't let him chase the chickens. When he's outside with us, he spends most of the time pouting.

So We Got Chickens...

We finally got the chickens that I've been wanting for four years. Lyliana and I built the coop by ourselves. She was a great help, spurred on by the promise that she could paint it. And she did, inbetween painting herself and her clothes.

Our 4-legged baby wanted inside the pen, but we had to break the news that it wasn't for him.

This is Rhoda, a Rhode Island Red. She is the undisputed queen hen, top of the pecking order.

This is Giraffe, an Ameracauna.

And Princess, another Ameracauna.

The coop fits into our Redneck Beach Shack backyard seamlessly.

But it's a pain in my booty to clean out. Already the birds have done me in. The Urban Homestead assured me that they could not turn over or poop in the galvanized self-waterer. Twice a day, I clean out the grass that has been scratched into it. And, yes, I wash out the poop. My chickens poop into the unpoopable.

And the flies. Oh, my! Forget about lions and tigers and bears.

Flies and stink and... eewwww, gross!

I was assured by Jenna Wogenrich, author of Made From Scratch, that chickens eat bugs. "WooHoo!" I thought.

"No more mosquitoes, no more flies!" I sung to myself.
NOT!

These girls are not into bugs or flies or mosquitoes. Rather, they attract more into my backyard.

I plan to stick it out at least until I get some eggs. Hopefully, the eggs will be worth it. So look for an update a few months from now. It will either be titled "I Love My Chickens and Their Eggs" or "Get Your Free Chickens Here!"

And the Winner Is...

Stephanie!

CONGRATULATIONS!

I hope you enjoy your beautiful candle.

Thanks to everyone who entered. I am so glad you all stopped by my blog and shop.

Blessed be.

-Lainie