Wednesday, May 06, 2015

garden chicken party






  
  
   
(Picture taken by Lyddie)

It's been awhile since I shared pictures of our chicks and look how they've grown!  The guineas are losing their head feathers and their heads are turning blue.  The turkeys are also losing the feathers on their heads and getting bright red wattles and funny bumpy necks.  I have some hope that one of them is a tom because it seem to be developing a little faster and more dramatically than the other, but since there is a three week difference in age between the two, it's hard to tell for sure.  One of our chicken pullets, named Cleo (short for Cleopatra since she had vibrant eyeliner feathers when she was very young) has an interesting personality; she is very boldand since Lyddie has chosen her as the favorite, gets carried around a lot.  I'm not sure which came first - Lyddie's interest because of Cleo's personality, or Cleo's boldness because of her constant contact with humans. I can't wait for them to start laying late this summer because the five grown hens I have right now are, I think, starting to moult and their production has slowed way down again.  I've had bad luck with eggs this past year, and hopefully this reboot of our flock will help with that and we'll be back to having an overabundance. 

My garden is getting slowly planted, one little section every other day for the past week which means I have in some carrots, lettuce, spinach, beans, a couple rows of peas, some sunflowers, some strawberries with many other thing planned but not planted.  Our raspberries are going bananas and have many many flowers and bees buzzing around them all day.  I love having fresh raspberries through the summer, and my mouth is watering just thinking about it. 

I'm debating the best way to trellis peas because I've not yet found a system I like that is very cheap and very easy.  Do you have a favorite?

4 comments:

  1. This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Just popping in to let you know that I was particularly amused by your saying "our raspberries are going bananas." :-) Sheesh. Some people never grow up.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Well that Lyddie has some good photography skills! Love all the photos of your crazy flock--and I think we should call Lyddie the chicken-whisperer.
    xoxoxo

    ReplyDelete
  4. Your garden sounds vibrant and wonderful! Love the pictures of the birds. I wish I could help you decide about trellising the peas, but I am afraid I am no gardener :) Have a wonderful Mother's Day!

    ReplyDelete