In the garden, Sandra dug a new garden bed, but sadly, the place where it is located has very poor soil, so that has been a bit of a wasted effort. I don't know if we will just let it grow over with grass again, or try and build up the soil. We used the chickens to help with the work of digging, by setting up a temporary tractor for them using garden stakes and some netting we bought cheap from the reject shop. We draped an old piece of shadecloth over it. The end result was makeshift, but was sufficient just to keep them pnned there for the day while they scratched over the ground.
Maybe
the lack of digging and scratching by the hens should have alerted us
that this soil was pretty lacklustre. Oh well, live and learn.
So,
now we need to find an alternate location to plant some more veges and
try to build up this area's soil as our ultimate aim is to have the vege
garden close to the house so that it is easy to get fresh produce for
the kitchen.
Sandra
also created a compost bin from one of the plastic garbage cans we
bought from Bunnings with the gift vouchers I received for my birthday
in August. She cut the bottom out of the bin so we could then turn it
upside down to use as a compost bin. and the lid now sits nicely on the
'top' (what used to be the bottom) of the inverted bin. There are some
grass clippings in here already and next time the Bokashi is full, I
will put the contents into this bin with some soil so that it can break
down into compost.
The
chair standing behind the compost bin is to protect newly planted choko
vines which we have put in here to train them over the chicken coops
for shade for the hens in summer.
Of course, this compost bin may end up being a smelly, slimy failure so we have a backup plan in case that happens.
This
is your common, garden variety compost heap just grass clippings at the
moment, but I will soon be adding deep litter from our chicken coops to
this as I am about to clean out the roost and run and replace the
litter with fresh litter for the warmer months. I use a deep litter
system as it only requires cleaning about twice yearly. In between clean
outs I just add new litter on the top whenever the pens start to get a
bit smelly. The chickens keep it turned over with their scratching
around in the run. They can be encouraged to scratch more by tossing
some grain down on the floor once a week.
On
Wednesday afternoon, a courier delivered a dozen fertile eggs which I
had ordered for our broody hen, Bertha. I had been anxiously awaiting
their arrival and keeping close to the house whilst Sandra worked on
compost bins, heaps, and garden beds. We eagerly opened to package to
find that, sadly, two of the eggs got broken in transit. They were quite
crushed, but the other ten were in good condition. We placed them in
the bathroom on the counter to rest for twenty-four hours before putting
them under our hen.
I
put the fertile eggs under her about 6:30 last night. She is such a
patient hen and didn't fuss about me slipping 10 eggs under her. She
just soflty clucked: "buk-book-buk buk-book-buk?" as though gently welcoming each new egg. She's such a good chookie, I really hope these eggs hatch for her.
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