Rainy Days and Reading Materials

It is a rainy day today, so all the Hensington Hens are inside for the day. They've had some roasted pumpkin this morning though, so that helps to compensate them for being cooped up all day. They do love it and I have found some cheap pumpkin for sale locally again recently so they're getting a roasted breakfast twice this week, much to their delight!

For my own entertainment, well, there's studies to catch up on, of course, and I am getting on with that, but I also went shopping online for some books. Naturally, these won't arrive in time to be enjoyed today, but I am hoping to have them when I am on a couple of weeks break from College in January.

Chook Wisdom

This is the first book I ordered. I've had my eye on this for a little while, and finally decided to bite the bullet and order it, today when I was doing some online Christmas shopping.  

Back cover: Is there anything to match the quiet sense of satisfaction you get from watching your healthy hens pecking and scratching in their yard or tun?[sic] The sheer joy of peeking into the nesting box and discovering your first chook egg is something everyone should experience. If you already have chooks, we know you will delight in the colourful images of backyard chooks. If you're new to chooks, enjoy, but please don't acquire any chooks till you've built a secure, fox-proof hen house!


The second one is a companion to the first.

More Chook Wisdom

Back Cover: Have you ever idly daydreamed about keeping a few chooks in the back yard? Maybe you remember from your childhood how delightful it is to watch their antics, collect their eggs, and have them as part of the your lifestyle? You're holding the perfect guide to keeping chooks. This is the companion volume to the phenomenally-successful 'Chook Wisdom' which brought colourful, accessible, chook-wrangling information to tens of thousands of back yard chook fanciers. In 'More Chook Wisdom' you can expand on your knowledge, inspiration and ideas for keeping chooks. There's natural health care, tips on chook pens to build or buy, and best of all, loads of 'user experiences' from from[sic] people living the chook lifestyle right here and now. Whether you're new to chooks or already enjoy their delights this book will be a treasure on your bookshelf and vital in the chook pen. You don't need a massive back yard to keep chooks - a few Silkie bantams will live happily in a modest run. But if you have the space for a flock of Light Sussex or other large breeds - that's all here too. Now is the perfect time to bring chooks into your days. The rewards are great. Chooks are cheap and simple to keep, and they'll enrich your back yard soil, your recipes, and your back yard entertainment for years to come.

I'm looking forward to getting these, and reading them and as usual, will post my thoughts about them when I have finished.

Bokashi, Books and Broody hens

 It was time to bury another bucket full of Bokashi today so I took it up to where I buried the last lot on August 29, almost a month ago! My how time flies! I was curious to know how well the last lot I buried had broken down and I remembered saying on my blog that I would let you all know how it went. If you recall I said in THIS POST That I gathered up windfall citrus to bury with the bucket full of citrus peels, vege scraps, eggshells, and other waste from the kitchen mixed with Effective Microoganisms to help it break down. 

I started to dig where I had buried the last lot and was very surprised at how soft the ground here was. I turned over a spadeful of the most delicious smelling compost! It's kind of fruity and sweet smelling and very moist.

 For the most part, the scraps and peels had broken down completely, although there were still some little bits of citrus mixed through.

Citrus in the compost

I think that the bits of citrus that had not broken down yet might actually be from the whole ones I put in that I picked up around the yard. Anything that had been cut into small pieces and processed in the bucket prior to burying was gone!

I am really very pleased with this.

The vege patch continues to thrive, despite the potting mix we planted it in being quite hydrophobic and not holding moisture very well.

We have Roma Tomatoes coming on nicely!

 We actually put some soil on some of the veges, from the bokashi compost pit, to see if it helps at all with moisture retention. We won't be doing the 'no dig' gardening method again, though. It hasn't really saved us any work because of the time involved in trying to keep the roots moist.

I am reading a good book at the moment called Frugavore: How to grow your own, buy local, waste nothing, and eat well by Arabella Forge. I'm really enjoying it and will post a review once I have finished it. Sandra is reading Changing Habits, Changing Lives by Cindy O'Meara and I want to read that after she is done with it.

Broody Update: Bertha sat all day again, today. I think she may have been up for some food and water early in the morning, but hadn't stirred again all day. It was a very warm day and I was concerned about her, so I went and tried to put some water on her beak to tempt her to drink from a little bowl I had with me, she told me where to get off! I left her alone after that, but when I took a wet mash up for the other girls this afternoon, I offered some to her in her own little bowl and she ate about 1/4 cupful. That is food and water mixed together with some egg added so I am content that she won't starve or dehydrate. I've left a small bowl of water and a little bit of mash next to her nest for her as well. She must think this is the life. No egg laying, a comfy secure box all to herself and room service laid on!

Book: City Chicks by Patricia Foreman

I have been reading this ebook for a while now. (I am a slow reader) and found it a very enjoyable read. The book is based in the USA but I have found much in it that is useful in an Australian setting as well.

Foreman advocates the practice of keeping a 'micro-flock' in the urban setting not just for eggs and meat, but as little garden workers which assist by digging, scratching and fertilizing garden beds, turning your compost and keeping insect pests at bay.

I particularly enjoyed the chapter which details how to use the chicken coop as a composting system and have applied some of the techniques in my own chicken run, but there is so much more in this book that is handy to know. From building coops and directed runs that channel your hens to wherever you want them in your garden at the time, to hatching and brooding your own replacement chickens it's got some great information.

The only problem I have encountered is that there is quite a lot of repetition in the book, so you'll find yourself reading the same information in two and sometimes more chapters. There are also some typographical errors (more and more common in publishing today, sadly).

All in all, its an enjoyable read, and who wouldn't love that cover?

Get City Chicks for Kindle