Shadrach's Ex Battery and Rescued chickens thread.

[Perris]

I did pick some of the new leaves from the dead nettles a while ago and made a soup...an aquired taste is I think the correct expression.

that's my experience with most foraged/unusual foods. But I do recommend Solomon's seal shoots; I found 3 that hadn't broken into flower and microwaved them for a couple of minutes. They'd past their prime insofar as the outer layer was chewy, but once I stripped that off, the inside was delicious - much more flavourful than asparagus to my taste - and next year I will definitely make sure to harvest some young shoots (8-12" tall is the recommended length).

An observation is chickens seem rather keen on agricultural management on a rough scale. Dig and one has company.

I find the same weeding or pruning. If I start pulling ivy or other ground scramblers, or lopping overgrown whatever higher up, my little helpers appear faster than they do if I call them for tea

 

[L-plate chicken mum]

,

Ribes? (flowering currant).

yup, https://www.rhs.org.uk/plants/15885/flowering-currant/details. Hardwood cuttings work, like you would for blackcurrants etc. Basically shove a stick cut from the dormant plant in the ground +/- in winter

 

[fuzzi]

that's my experience with most foraged/unusual foods. But I do recommend Solomon's seal shoots; I found 3 that hadn't broken into flower and microwaved them for a couple of minutes. They'd past their prime insofar as the outer layer was chewy, but once I stripped that off, the inside was delicious - much more flavourful than asparagus to my taste - and next year I will definitely make sure to harvest some young shoots (8-12" tall is the recommended length).

I find the same weeding or pruning. If I start pulling ivy or other ground scramblers, or lopping overgrown whatever higher up, my little helpers appear faster than they do if I call them for tea

When my cats were inside/outside they were fascinated with my mom weeding, and come over to help. They would poke and pat at her hands as she was working.

Tax (Martha and Rahab at about 5 weeks):

 

[no fly zone]

Strawberries just randomly growing right by our front steps. Meanwhile, the stuff I am trying to grow on purpose is having minimal success.

 

[Shadrach]

We started selling ours, for $3/12, a year ago (and didn't raise prices with the egg shortage. We have some regulars that buy 3 dozen / week. This on top of the ones we are giving away to neighbors, leave us plenty for our own personal use. We are definitely not making a profit LOL but that was never the point of keeping chickens and we will pay our property taxes this year on just egg sales.

This is the first year I've put any effort into selling the eggs. I gave a lot away last year. I've got two people at the field who like the eggs, one person takes a dozen a week, the other half a dozen a week. That leaves on an average week around half a dozen for me. I don't eat a lot of eggs so every now and then I sell half a dozen to someone here at the flats.
It helps out with the feed costs

 

[BDutch]

Cultivated hawtorn starting to blossom in our garden. Its blossoming later than the original and has no torns.

Gin, she loves to hunt for insects and snails. I suspect she even likes to eat the slugs. We had so many slugs last year The snails and slugs loved to eat the chicken feed and I was hunting them down for many months. A couple of weeks ago they arrived again after it got moist and a bit warmer. But now I don’t see them anymore. It seems both my Gin and Tonic are queens!

 

[Shadrach]

Four hours today. Warm and sunny.

 

[ChaosMom]

My parents had a beautiful hawthorn in Memphis, but fireblight got it. I ought to plant another - it was really something.

 

[townchicks]

My girls are definitely trying bro tell me something about the barren state of their yard. Today they staged a jailbreak, tunneling under the wire fence that separates their yard from the main part of the backyard, that is there to keep them separated from the bratty dog. They were having such a good time, I decided to just keep the dog inside and let them have at it. Time to do some serious training with the dog.