My birthday was lovely...cheeseburger meatloaf for dinner...yummmmmmmm.. I'll post a few of my favorite recipes on Sunday and I'll include that one...it is awesome!
This weekend I will be making some alterations to the chicken coop, plus doing a bit more work on the raised bed gardens.
The chickens had not laid a single egg for several days. Red, the rooster was in the bachelor quarters for bad behavior. He got his reprieve on Sunday, was returned to the chicken coop and was sternly lectured by my Darlin' Man as to what his responsibilities were and the consequences of not fulfilling said responsibilities. (In other words "You are supposed to be getting these hens to lay eggs! If the hens don't give us eggs, YOU will end up in a stew pot!!!")
Well, no eggs all week.
Today I went out around 3 pm to check the coop for the umpteenth time today...no eggs. Darlin' Man got home about 2 hours later, went to check on the hens...THREE EGGS!!!
Yay!!!
The compost with chicken manure and lots of goat manure is looking GREAT! Tomorrow I will start working it into the raised beds , although each raised bed already has a base of compost, then dirt on top of the compost. I never knew how fast goat manure *cooked* compost. If you can acquire some goat manure, get it! Add it to your compost heap and watch it take off.
I set up my sewing area today. It was in the bedroom, but it was just so cramped in there. I moved everything to the dining room and now I have ample room to stretch out and actually sew.
My sketches for my quilt gifts are done (whew!), so by Monday I will be ready to roll on my quilting.
First step...cutting out my quilt pieces. I figure I can cut out all the pieces for one quilt in two days. After all the pieces are cut out, it will take me about a week to make each quilt top. Maybe 4 days if I focus!
Yes, these quilts are machine sewn by me, but they still look lovely when done.
I hope your weekend plans are shaping up!
Have a safe and productive weekend!
I'm glad your birthday was enjoyable. Looking forward to recipes and pictures of the quilts you're making!
ReplyDeleteWe had a dry spell with our laying hens recently too, Lamby. We have three hens and used to get three eggs a day, every day. About two months ago, they started slacking off. Two eggs a day for a few days, then only one egg, very rarely three eggs in one day. We even had a couple of days with NO eggs. We gave them the same stew pot lecture.
Well, we may have been falsely accusing our hens. About two weeks ago, I found a large snake checking out the nest boxes. We surprised each other, that snake and I, and I didn't recover my senses in time to dispatch him. He slithered through a loose spot in the tin on the wall at the back of the coop. A few days later, Yeoldfurt found him in the coop and we were able to decapitate him. I've been out of town for the past week and Yeoldfurt called me last Tuesday to say he killed the snake's twin that night. It had an egg in it's mouth when Yeoldfurt grabbed it ...neither the snake nor that particular egg survived what followed.
So maybe we were being too hard on our three hens. We've done what we can to snake proof the coop. That's all we can do.
Glad to hear hear that the egg production is back on track! Nothing like some fresh eggs!
ReplyDeleteHave a glorious day!
Happy Birthday, Gwen! I have a small flock of Rhode Island Reds and Americana's chickens plus Indian Runner & Muscovy ducks. My Runner ducks have stopped laying because I have too many in one coop. The Chickens are laying because I feed chili pepper seeds to them along with their mash and cracked grain.I buy the seeds at the grocery store in the section that sells Mexican spices (cheap).Several oz.s for $1.00. I am curious that you are using goat/chicken manure for compost when you have Alpaca manure? I raise both Huacaya & Suri here in Humboldt CA. This is all that I use in my garden. I also use Fish bone meal which is avail here.
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