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!

Making EM Culture!

The past few weeks, I have been conducting highly classified, secret business! I didn't say anything about it until now, because this was the first time I had tried this recipe and I didn't want to embarrass myself if I created a horrendous zombiefied lactobacilli based monster and unleashed horror upon the world.

Yes, I was trying to culture lactobacillus, amongst other organisms for my bokashi bucket. Being on a pension, I try to do everything as frugally as I can, and am slowly teaching myself never to buy what I can make for myself, so, following THIS RECIPE I decided to try and make my own EM (Effective Microorganism) innoculant for bokashi composting. I was a bit worried that all I would end up with, would be a sour, stinking mess, but nothing ventured, nothing gained.

A couple of weeks ago, when we were going to eat rice for dinner, I washed my rice and reserved the water, setting it in a large jar in a dark cupboard for 7 days.

It came out, looking something like this

Image via Hawaii Healing Tree.

So, first part, successful! Now I had to add 10 parts milk, to 1 part rice water. I measured out 100ml of the water, to which I added 1 litre of milk, and back into the cupboard it went for another week.

That part came out looking like this:

Not the most appealing looking stuff!

I admit, I expected this to smell revolting, even though the recipe said that it should just smell like yoghurt, and I was surprised when I took the lid off, to discover it did actually smell just like, well, yoghurt! So that was looking good! I then strained out the solids from the liquid and put the liquid into another bottle which I added half a teaspoon full of molasses to.

There was a little fluid left over after filling the new bottle, so I poured that onto some potted plants as it is meant to be good for the soil.

It looks a lot nicer in this, final state, and it should keep for about 6-12 months under refrigeration. It smelled sweet because of the molasses and if it ever smells sour, it will mean that it has gone rancid and should be discarded.

Oh, as for the milk curds?

The chooks got to enjoy those!

Poor Bertha, she still doesn't understand about food and fences!

The Garden

I was a bit sore and sorry today after yesterday's efforts in the yard, so I confined myself to lighter activities such as photography and light housework. I thought I would share some photos of our garden. This is the first year that we have tried having a serious vege garden as opposed to growing a couple of lettuces in a pot.

Roma Tomatoes

 

 

 

They're floweing!

 

Dwarf Peas

 

Various Lettuces

Pumpkin seedlings

These are just the first few things we have planted and we've already eaten a few leaves off some of the lettuces. They're very tasty and soo fresh! Free Range egg and home grown lettuce on a sandwich. It doesn't get any better than that.

I also took photos of some of the other plants in our garden.

Sunflower Seedlings sprouting for the chooks

The flowering Mulberry tree!

A native honey bee pollenating the mulberry blossom

 

More Mulberry flowers

Young Marigolds

Mango blossom

 

Budding Jasmine

 

Jasmine

 

 

Not sure what this is called, but it's pretty!

Rainy Day Ramblings

The chooks were going absolutely stir crazy today after days being pent up because of wet weather, so I decided to let them out despite the rain. I'd been keeping them in, thinking that young chooks can get sick if they get wet, but after asking advice from some of my more experienced chicken keeping friends, I was assured that this only applies to chicks and young fowl less than 20 weeks of age.

All my girls are past 20 weeks, so I decided this morning, to let them out.

When I got to the henhouse, there was a pleasant surprise awaiting me. Bertha had laid her first egg! My 'baby' sussex is now a big girl.

 Hers is the egg at right in the picture. Sadly, it got a little fouled in the production, which can happen occasionally, but it was easily washed. The plastic eggs at either end of the real ones are 'dummies' placed in the nest to encourage the hens to use the nestbox rather than laying out in the yard, or on the ground in the chicken run.

There was also a visitor in the yard, today. A little scrub turkey had come to call.

I think this was a male bird and only young as his wattles aren't fully developed as yet. I don't know if he was just passing through, or was checking out our yard with a view to building his nest mound here. He seemed a bit confused, thinking my birds were female scrub turkeys. He kept following them around, making his soft little Goob? Goob? call, but if he got too close either Boss, or Rosie chased him off. I left them alone as the chooks seemed to have the situation under control. The last I saw of "Goober" he was heading down the driveway at a jog after I shut the hens in for the night. I wonder if he decided this wasn't the best place for a nest after all?

The chooks seemed to enjoy their rainy day ramble and weren't too wet when I put them in for the night.

Bertha got a little muddy, though it is hard to see here.

Wynona looked the most bedraggled but Boss's
gloss is still present. 

Nosie Rosie has wet hackles but the rest is fairly dry.

Waiting for dinner.

The wild bird mix that we have scattered for sprouting in what will be the summer run for the chooks is loving this wet weather!

So, that was the rainy day that was, here at Feathered Petticoats.

No Cause for Alarm?

My chickens truly never cease to amaze and amuse me and yesterday was no exception.

We have had a change in the weather the last few days with rain settling in for most of yesterday, so when I went to collect the eggs in the morning, I used an umbrella to keep me dry while I went up to the hen house.

Being quite used to the idea of an umbrella myself, it didn't occur to me that the chooks had never seen one in their lives before. I sallied forth through the light rain, carrying a dish of food with me, my mind occupied with feeding the hens, getting the eggs, opening their day run and all the usual things that run through my head on the 30 meter walk to the coops.

Usually when the chooks hear me coming, they run to the door to see what I have brought them, but on this occasion, they seemed a bit reticent. I stood staring at them in consternation. They stood at the opposite end of the coop, staring back with varying shades of alarm on their beaky little faces.

"What on earth is wrong with you lot?" I asked, glancing around for any signs of a snake, hawk or other predator.

Silence. Stares. Frozen postures.

And then it dawned on me.

"Oh! Silly chookies! That's just an ubrella!" I folded it and laid it on the ground and was cautiously rewarded by the hens creeping forward to greet me with dubious clucks of recognition as they each kept one wary eye on the now 'dead thing' lying on the ground by my feet.

We got on with the usual morning routine and then I walked back to the house, chuckling all the way about the incident.

I love those silly birds!

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

Let the Composting Begin!

Today I finally made a trip to Bunnings in order to spend the gift voucher I received from Hannah for my birthday. I also had some cash that was given to me by my partner's mum so I had a fairly generous budget to spend.

I've been wanting to get into composting for a while now, and made a half-hearted beginning on a compost 'heap' in the backyard, which has really become more of a supplemental feeding station for the chooks, who delight to rip through it every day and pick out bits of it to eat. I don't mind them doing that, so much because they're turning it over at the same time, but the problem is that I don't then, have much other than straw and chicken poop for my compost and it's just not working!

So today with money and gift voucher in hand, I cruised the aisles at Bunnings and looked for a solution.

I'm actually quite surprised at what the budget stretched to!

I purchased an indoor (Bokashi) composter and two 60ltr plastic garbage cans which I will convert to use as outdoor compost bins, thus keeping the compost in and the chooks out. I also got a lovely new garden fork and a 15m hose which will be used to extend the current hose which is too short to reach up to the chicken coops and the potato beds that we have dug behind the chicken coops.

I'm very pleased with all this, and can't wait to get started on creating compost. In fact, the bokashi compost bucket has already been started as I type!

Below is some information about Bokashi composting for those who might not have heard of it before.

Wikipedia:

Bokashi composting

Bokashi is a method of intensive composting. It can use an aerobic or anaerobic inoculation to produce the compost. Once a starter culture is made, it can be used to extend the culture indefinitely, like yoghurt culture. Since the popular introduction of effective microorganisms (EM), Bokashi is commonly made with only molasses, water, EM, and wheat bran.

In home composting applications, kitchen waste is placed into a container which can be sealed with an air tight lid. These scraps are then inoculated with a Bokashi EM mix. This usually takes the form of a carrier, such as rice hulls, wheat bran or saw dust, that has been inoculated with composting micro-organisms. The EM are natural lactic acid bacteria, yeast, and phototrophic bacteria that act as a microbe community within the kitchen scraps, fermenting and accelerating breakdown of the organic matter. The user would place alternating layers of food scraps and Bokashi mix until the container is full. Liquid "compost tea" is drained once or twice a week and can be diluted 1:100 and added to plants as fertilizer, or poured directly down drains to help clean them.^[17] Once the container is full, it is left to ferment for an additional 2 weeks in the container, and then buried under 6-8 inches of soil, in ground or in a non-reactive container. After another two weeks buried under soil, the food scraps should be broken down into rich compost.

Inside a recently started Bokashi bin. The aerated base is just visible through the food scraps and Bokashi bran.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bokashi_composting#Bokashi_composting

Chocolate for Chooks

Today I made a special treat for my chooks which I call "chocolate for chooks" it is something that they go nuts over, even though it might not seem that appetizing to you and me.



This is about half a dozen egg shells which I baked in the oven at 120C for 30 minutes and then smashed up in a mortar and pestle. It is good for the chooks as it supplements calcium back into their diet. The small, sharp bits which would play merry hell with a human's digestive tract are actually useful in the chicken's gizzard for helping to cut up and digest food. Grit is an essential part of the diet for birds and especially for laying hens.

Here is a video of the reaction when I arrived at the coop with a dish of crushed eggshell. It is guaranteed to get them into the coop without too much trouble. Well, except for big, beautiful Bertha.



Betha's pretty but she's not too bright. She never can seem to understand why walls get between her and her food, poor darling, but with a little guidance, she finds her way. Sorry for some of the unsteady camera angles in this clip, but it is a bit complicated handling the camera, watching where the chickens are, and avoiding standing on them all at the one time. Hopefully I will improve at this lol!

Litter Systems in my chook pens

There is much discussion amongst 'poultry keepers' about the best type of flooring for chicken coops and that has been the case recently on the Backyard Poultry forum I chat on. I use two slightly different methods of flooring for my chicken pens and I thought I would post about them here in case anyone actually reads this blog and is interested.

Here are photos of the two different systems I've got going in my chook pen. The first one is of the deep litter I use in the roosting area.



This is leaves and sticks that I have raked up from around the yard when the weather was dry, and scattered into the roost over sand on top of a cement slab. It is dry and crisp and gives my heavier fowl a soft landing when dismounting the perches.


This one is the actual run and is done slightly differently. It has a dirt floor, again over a concrete base, and I scatter mulching straw over that, and add in weeds, vege scraps and some garden cuttings. I scatter left over laying mash from the feed hopper over this to encourage the chooks to scratch and peck at it. Every few days, I rake it over to get poo to settle into the lower layers as well, because the chooks can't turn it all over by themselves. This system keeps the chooks' feathers and feet beautifully clean and I am really pleased with it.

All of the food and water is either hanging from the ceiling, or otherwise elevated to keep them from kicking litter into it. It works really well and is low maintenance. The chooks are only in there from about 4PM-10AM each day and spend most of the time free ranging when the weather is fine. If it is wet weather or I am going out, there is an adjoining run the same size with a dirt floor that I open up so they can dust bathe and have some space to move around.

I've got one chook in moult at present, so there are also a lot of feathers in the mix.

Chooks as Therapy

A couple of days ago, I was chatting with a friend about my chooks and she asked me if I am glad that I have got them. I thought about that for just a moment, and then I said. "Yes, I am." I was surprised to feel my throat tighten up, and the slight sting of tears in the corner of my eyes as I added: "This might sound odd but, I have to say that having chickens has changed my life completely."

As cliched and crazy as that may sound, it is actually very true.

Before the petticoat bunch came into my life, I had very little to do, apart from mope around the house, wondering what to do with myself. I'd been forced out of the workforce in 2004 due to a disability, and whilst I liked to think that I was adjusted to that, and coping well, the truth is, I wasn't doing so great.

A few months ago, my doctor prescribed anti-depressants to address some fairly major problems I was having with anxiety. I was agoraphobic, afraid to go out, afraid to drive my car any distance, and just plain...afraid of life. So I was sitting here in my house never going anywhere, not doing a whole lot to occupy myself and probably suffering with depression, along with the anxiety.

Then my chooks came along.

Most people would have some awareness of 'pets as therapy' programs which are run in hospitals and nursing homes, where people bring in animals to visit with the ill, the infirm and shutins. Animals, yes, even humble chickens, just have a knack of raising spirits, prompting smiles and renewing interest in life. I am almost certain my daughter (she's a nurse) had that kind of thing in mind when she decided that chickens would make a great mother's day gift for me.

She was right! From the moment I got the chooks, I had something to think about outside of myself and my limitations. I started thinking about nesting boxes, comfortable perches, what to feed them on, and if something needed to be done, I found a way to do it. Usually with help from my longsuffering partner, but sometimes I'd just go and do it myself. I do things a lot slower than most people would, because I have to stop and rest frequently, but I get it done eventually.

I've noticed that I smile more often, and I laugh a lot, watching the hens in the garden, and in their coops brings many a smile or chuckle as they sort out their gallus gallus domesticus politics--better known as the pecking order. I smile just thinking about them, and if you get me started, I can talk about them for hours. *rolls eyes*

I guess what I am trying to say with this post is--if you're blue, get a chicken, get two, or three or more! I'm living proof. Chooks are great therapy!