Yesterday I decided to let the chickens have free run of the entire property. They were so excited. I needed them to chow down on some grasshoppers, and other over loaded bugs in the garden. One went missing so I hope she found her way back to the barn last night.
One hen looks a bit haggard, and her comb is drooping. She's not looking so good, and it appears the others are going after her from time to time. She's lost a lot of feathers too. I've already been deworming, so who knows what's going on with her.
Speaking of pasture, Hubby and I are talking about getting two dwarf wethers to keep the back pasture cut down. That will help a lot with the weeds that I'm dealing with in the garden(s) as well.
As for those peppers? I'll be slicing and dehydrating them today. My allergies need a break from that foxtail in my garden. I might even try another new recipe.
8 comments:
Kudos to you, hard-workin' lady, for working so hard in your garden to find what harvest you can. I think I may have mowed the whole thing and then plowed it all up in preparation for next year. But I know you (and your family) will appreciate every single thing you are salvaging from it come this winter.
I still have all our root crops and the Brussels sprouts to get out of the garden. Then the clean-up and putting it to bed for the winter. Oh, and planting the garlic, too, of course.
Mama Pea, I was tempted to mow it all down, but I knew that if I left any peppers out there, I could have more bug issues for next season. You should have seen Hubby's face when I told him I found 2 foot hot pepper plants out there! Ha! He was pretty shocked.
Gleaning the fields. Excepting the harvest. You really do need to start a new garden system, something that is doable for you without all the big equipment. My heart goes out to you having to deal with those weeds.
Kim, Hubby is the one who suggested we get wethers for the pasture. He's pretty excited about it, so we'll see what happens.
I love that you let the chickens have the run of the garden. When I was a kid we had chickens and they were always allowed out to peck and scratch in the afternoons. Mostly we bought ones that had been in battery sheds but were over the hill. It was a beautiful thing to see them discover that they could stretch out, flap their wings and scratch!
Stephen, I really enjoy seeing my chickens out and about. They do have a large run by their coop, but we have a lot of bugs this year.
Wondering if your chickens have had their shots and all, cause with that bird flu epidemic killing so many chickens, ducks, geese, turkeys and such out West, the Ag Commissioner here in NC has banned all poultry sales until February, and there will be no poultry at the State Farm in October, only photos of the entries. He's trying the best he can to keep it from NC, but migrating birds can spread it about just as easily.
Funny how despite all that can happen with weather and gardens and such, that some plants survive the worst while others have difficulty surviving even the best. Our Grandmother use to tell us the fruits and vegies that struggled would taste the best, because the plant would put all its energy into surviving and producing fruit, and that would make their fruit taste better. Now I don't know if that's true or not, but it's what she always told us.
God bless.
RB
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RB, we are going through the same thing in our state. I saw that some Amish were selling layers, but not sure if that was legal or not. When I went out yesterday, the one hen was zipping around much more and her tail was up. Hopefully today she'll look even better.
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