Tuesday, February 24, 2009
Chickens arriving this week
I am really excited. The finishing touches will be done on the chicken house today and then we will pick up our chickens later this week. We are getting 20 Rhode Island Reds. With the protection at night of the new very well built and secure hen house this flock should stay safe and secure against all predators. Within the next month we will also be getting turkeys and ducks to add to the poultry collection. Next on the list will be rabbits. A few repairs and such to the rabbit house are in order and then we will be picking up our breeders. The chicken garden will be planted soon, still a little cold. We will be growing chicken feed in the old garden spot to supplement our feed needs. Our goal is to provide most of the feed for our chickens. We feel that if you depend on your feed dealer to feed your livestock then you are truly not self reliant, you are still relying on someone else for basic needs. The goats are coming soon also. The two months around here will be very busy and hectic. With garden planting (after we finish the fence on Wednesday). So if I don't blog too much over the next couple of months please forgive me. I will use my early mornings to update and post, but dinnertime and evening posts will probably be in short supply. I will do what I can to keep the information flowing. Spring is a busy time of the year and because we are making so many additions all at once especially busy for us. I also didn't help that we decided to move the garden, which even though I was not fond of doing wound up being a good idea. The garden surrounds the pond which will house tilapia. So there will always be water convenient to water the garden. It is a spring fed pond and never has yet gone dry even in our worst drought year. So we actually made a good decision. Also because it is much larger than it was we will have room for livestock feed as well. I am looking for information about building a corn crib so that our feed corn can be stored. Anyone out there who knows how please leave a comment. We would love to know. Well I will get on with the business of the day and quit with my rambling. God bless you all.
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4 comments:
What are you planning to grow in your "chicken garden"? Will you let the chickens in to eat it, or will you harvest the grain?
We are planting millet, sunflower, corn, tomato, rye, flax, and any additional veggie seeds. Mostly this is a small garden that the chickens will be allowed into a couple of times a week. They will also be free ranging in the pasture. I will also be growing feed corn in the main garden. I will harvest some from the chicken garden, but not much.
How exciting! We have a flock of assorted breeds of chickens. I plan to do meat chickens this summer & possible turkeys, too.
What are you planning on growing in your chicken garden?
I've been doing research on pasture farming with the goal being to increase the amount of time our animals can graze before giving hay/grain.
We're taking the smallest beef pasture & planting it with sweet corn & pumpkins. We'll harvest all the corn & whatever pumpkins we can & leave the corn stalks & leftover pumpkiins there for the cows to eat. I might plant oats in there, too.
We also plan to overseed the other pastures w/ a bluegrass-ryegrass-white clover misture to make more of a dense mix & higher nutrition for foraging.
Moving the garden near the pond sounds like a great idea. And stocking it w/ tilapia, too!
When I was a kid,w e used to have a corncrib-it was just a circular building w/ a large round roof & lined w/ a strong, tight weave wire. Holly
Thanks for the corn crib idea. That sounds doable. In your corn/ pumplin patch I would also plant some beans or peas to replace the nitrogen in the soil. Corn is hard on soil and like cotton will strip it in no time. Combining the three is actually a Native American concept that has been in practice for hundreds of years. It is called 3 sisters gardening. I have a post about it. As the corn and squash use the nitrogen the peas or beans will replace it. Your pasture combinations sound great. Similar to what my grandaddy had for his beef cows.
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