Introducing New Chickens and......HAIL!!

 

Radishes that survived the hail

  It has been a few weeks since I last posted.  Traditionally, the early spring period after planting is a waiting game, and by waiting I mean, go outside three or four times a day to see if ANYTHING is happening!  I am the personification of the impatient gardener.  There isn't much to do out in the kitchen garden until things start popping up, or it's time to transfer your seedlings you started indoors to the outdoors.  Sadly, two very unpleasant things happened while I waited for new growth: weeds and hail.  A LOT of hail.  Much of Colorado, Oklahoma, and Texas are experiencing unusual weather patterns, bringing flooding, hail, and even great funnel clouds.  These unseasonable and surprise weather predicaments are about as pleasant as surprise acne on picture day.

Herbs coming up from last year

      So what have I been doing?  I have been nursing the few plants that survived the hail storms, and pulling weeds.  I HATE pulling weeds.  But it had to be done, and it's during these tending sessions that you find what is coming back from the previous year.  This year, many of my herbs returned.  It is my advice to spend the extra $15.00 and buy a large tarp.  I keep mine rolled up at one end of the garden, and when the hail starts, I am able to quickly unroll it, and use large clamps, or even heavy bricks to hold it down.  I place large buckets upside down among the plants to prevent the weight of the tarp from crushing the young veggies.
     I also have been working in the greenhouse.  It hasn't been temperate enough for my plants to be permanently planted until this weekend.  It is really important to tend to the soil in your greenhouse, especially if you repeatedly plant tomatoes in there.  Tomatoes require additional calcium and magnesium.  There are lots of natural and organic ways to provide healthy fertilizer for your plants.  We use a lot of ground egg shells (from our chickens), and worm castings.  Worm poop is one of the very best things you can fertilize your plant with.  It balances the pH levels, and maintains water absorption.  I have also been tending to the greenhouse plants.  Those of course, were safe from the hail storm, but with such little sunlight, they aren't thriving as usual (along with the chickens, whose egg production drops pretty dramatically with weak sunlight, and Nelson, who gets sad without sunshine).
     On the chicken front, it's about time to integrate your new young pullets (and roos) into your current flock.  If you are just starting your flock, this wouldn't impact you.  For those of us who lost chickens over the winter, or culled our flocks for meat, we had to replenish our numbers.  Chickens are silly, and by silly, I mean homicidal cannibalistic birds who don't play well with others.  When integrating young birds, or two mature flocks together, you cannot just stick them together and hope they make new friends.  One flock will kill the new-comers (death by pecking is not something I recommend-or being burnt at the stake, also don't recommend, or zombies....).  I take integration very slowly.  It can be done quickly, but it will stall egg production in your current flock.

Young Pullets and a Roo

Here's Shanny's chicken playbook steps: 1) place "new" chickens in a crate, or cage (fenced portion of run is also fine) and put them in the chicken yard.  2) For several days allow the birds to see and smell the new birds (I also recommend spraying ALL the birds with vinegar water so they smell the same to one another). I do not put them in the coop at night with the other birds during this phase.  3) After 5-7 days,  I allow supervised visits(I feel like a court appointed mediator during this portion), while they establish a pecking order. They will peck at one another!  However, it's normal for them to do this to establish who is in charge, but if they become aggressive, you must step in before blood is drawn (if chickens see blood on another hen, they will peck that hen to death). 4) After several trials of allowing the birds all together in the run (and if aggression is absent), I will allow the other hens in the coop at night.   There you have it!