HELLO & welcome to Garden Daddy here at the urban farm! An interesting morning here at the urban farm where my best friend, who is visiting to see after aging parents, and I strolled the local farmers market and found the wonderful "Peaches & Cream" corn selling from one local farmer for only $3.00/dozen ears. Well, we both got one dozen, mine for the freezer here at the garden home and the other dozen was processed for my friend's parents at their retirement community.
I shucked and silked my corn, cut off any bad and of course can you guess where it all went? You get the prize if you guessed it all went into the chicken coop, including the cobs after I cut the corn off the cob and milked it for the good juices. I will leave it in the coop for a day or two then go rake it out and add it to the compost bin. If I were on my (hopefully) future mini farm, I would be adding it all to the pigsty where everything would be eaten and adding to the more natural feed I hope to give them.
I dream of the day I sign this house off to new owners in a few years when I hope the market returns to some normalcy and I can find that perfect little "farmette" to start what I know in my own mind I can do and enjoy the very essence of a self perpetuating, self sustaining life. But I will catch you up to date in a few days and let you know how things are going in the gardens and here with garden home rehab, etc. STILL NO EGGS YET...any day now though!
So I leave you today with our ongoing gardening affirmation: URBAN FARMING: ONE EGG AT A TIME!"
Paint, By Numbers!
13 years ago
Mike, are your hens' legs still yellow? When they are not yellow, they are ready to lay eggs. Their legs will then be silvery, grayish, greenish. When they are older and quit laying, you will not have to guess who is the slacker since the non-layers legs will turn yellow again.
ReplyDeleteHELLO Linda! Thanks for following Garden Daddy and for the advice on the pullets. It is hard to say about their leg color as having several different breeds and some being born with mostly "slate-colored" legs and the Ameraucanas have always had "greenish" legs from hatch date I cannot say they have yellow legs. The 2-Buff Orpingtons have a dark golden leg really, the 3-Cuckoo Marans have had a darker slate leg from hatch really as well as the black legs on the 2-Black Jersey Giants. I know the Jersey Giants will be months away from full maturity even though they are 19-weeks old today. They are getting huge already and not near maturity as I understand it.
ReplyDeleteI had never heard of the leg color helping to know about laying potential, etc., and keep looking for leg coloration changes. I find that very interesting, Linda. I know about the combs & wattles needing to be mostly grown in but will add the leg color to my list of knowledge. I looked at your website and I can relate to your "Parsimony" lifestyle as I am very-very frugal myself. I drive my friends crazy with being as they say "tight" with my money, but I say "thrifty"!
Thanks for your knowledge and insight. And hope to hear from you in the future.