Happy New Year & Flock Update!

Happy 2018! I wish everyone a year of peace, love and good health.

No matter what weather is in store, may you always spread your wings and soar! 

I must admit my New Year was bittersweet. There were many wonderful things about it, but I also lost a beloved hen. She was from my original flock of day old chicks from spring of 2014. She went from totally fine to all puffed up on New Year's Eve. I tried all the first aid I could, from warmth to Nutri-drench etc...but by this morning she was gone.

Her name was Moon and she passed away on the Full Wolf Moon/Supermoon...right on that cusp between New Year's Eve and New Year's Day. The passing of one year gives rise to the beginning of another. The end of something...even life...means the beginning of something new...even life. I couldn't help but see the symbolism and significance of her passing. Or maybe it just made me feel better.

RIP Moon

She was an easter egger and she laid the most beautiful light olive green eggs.

The green egg in the middle is Moon's.

On a brighter note, the rest of the flock is doing well. We've had some cold weather and the chickens will eat, drink and hide back in the coop (or in the duck house), but the ducks and geese are loving the light snow we've had.

"Look! I swear I see ice crystals forming in the water!"

Caption anyone? Ostrich complex?

Caption now? Maybe they won't see me if I stick my head in here...

You might recall that I thought I had one gander and two geese when they were goslings...and then I got confused with one of them (Galadriel). Well, in the photo above, Gandalf is in front, Galadriel is in the middle (still thinking male now...unless she lays an egg come spring) and Tauriel is dunking her head in the bucket. [Edited on 1/2/17 to add that Galadriel is most definitely a guy. You'd think he'd keep 'it' tucked in with temps below zero, but nope, right after I carried water out, he tried to mount Tauriel in a small tub of water and I saw the evidence. Guess I'll have to rename...Gondor? Galdor? Gimli? Gamgee?] You'll notice I started to build a secure run for times when I can't free range (like when the fox comes around every spring), but it's nowhere near complete.

One of our 3 Welsummer hens (she'll be a year this spring)

Everyone's getting along!

More than happy to chill in the snow

"A fluffy butt like that and she still denies eating all the food."

That's all for now. I'll post more pics of the run when it's finished this spring. For now, here are a couple to give you an idea of what we're doing. Our coops are on a slope, so we needed to build up one end to create a level base for the metal dog run (2 packs) we decided to use. Using dog runs and cinder blocks was the solution for not using pressure treated wood. You all know that I like to garden organically :).

Rula's chicken coop up front with the duck/goose house attached to the back. The run half-way through the building process.

I have rolls of rubber coated welded wire waiting to be attached to the lower part of the dog run (a couple of feet up) and skirted out/buried several feet out from the run to deter digging predators (including where the block wall is). This will be done around the outer base of the chicken coop too, of course. We also need to frame the inside of the run doors and attach predator proof locks/bolts...and cover the top with wire too. There's still a lot of work to be done. I free range but if I need them locked up, the run needs to be very secure. Of course, at night, I lock them in their coops for extra security.

Rula's incomplete run project

You'll notice the dog run is set to the outer side of the cinder blocks. The reasons for this are 1) it'll allow for a straighter outer wall on which to attach welded wire from the run, over the blocks and skirted out (buried) and 2) having the hollow parts of the blocks to the inside will allow me to fill them with soil and plant herbs, lavender, flowers or grasses for the chickens to munch on or hide behind (plus it'll look pretty).

All the fence gaps will get covered in wire for security, including gaps purposely left between some cinder blocks for drainage

A level was used to make sure the wall didn't lean out (in fact it's graded a couple of degrees in) and rebar was hammered in for extra support on the taller, downhill side. In fact, in areas where the dog run isn't on blocks (ie hits dirt uphill), rebar was hammered into the ground and the run frame was inserted on it (threaded in the frame pole) for extra support. Gaps were also left for drainage...very important...especially with ducks and geese! Again, I'll try and take photos when the project is complete. For now, the ground is frozen and the temps are too cold.

So that's it for now.

Happy New Year!

No more patio poop!

Cloudy November day in Rula's yard

Those of you who have followed my chicken keeping journey know that the one thing that has driven me nuts has been chicken poop on the patio. I'm a bit of a neat freak and the poop was driving me insane. And then I went and got ducks and geese and droppings reached astronomical levels. I couldn't take it anymore.

Over the past few years, I've tried many things, including motion detector sprayers, which of course couldn't tell the difference between a hen and a human. This got very annoying so, when the mechanism froze over that winter and cracked, I didn't bother replacing it. I've tried everything from fake owls to whirligigs and ribbons. None of them worked. I also tried temporary, ugly, plastic mesh fencing and bird netting to protect my patio flower beds. The ugliness kind of defeated the point of saving my beautiful flowers from hungry chickens. Plus, the chickens always managed to find a loose spot to squeeze under or over. Where there's a will, there's a way.

Last year, I planted comfrey under our fruit trees and down by the creek beyond the chicken coop. Comfrey is great for them and all livestock are supposed to love it. They snacked and made their way right back onto our slab of comfy concrete. I figured they were smart chickens and knew that food and scraps came through the patio door (big mistake on my part), so I began trekking around the house the long way to take them scraps. They snacked and came right back up to the patio door. In fact, whenever the sun came close to setting, instead of heading to their coop, they came up to the door, parked their fluffy butts and waited for their escort. Yes, I've been nicknamed Mother Clucker around here. Sigh. Apparently, my chickens are easier to train than my dogs.

Did I mention that my dogs have very robust, healthy vocal cords? They have the kind of bark that rattles bones and shatters eardrums. Barks they loved to use right when I would be cooking and carrying a glass jar of tomato sauce or a cup of hot tea. You get the picture. My chickens (and the geese and ducks too) seemed to get a kick out of it. Oh they loved standing at the glass patio door, taunting the dogs and knowing full well those giant beasts couldn't get through the glass. I told you...smart birds. I, however, feared the day my dogs would shatter the glass, along with my eardrums. And once the flock got locked up for the night, I would have to wash off the area around the door (or entire patio) to keep the dogs from walking through the poop and tracking it around. Very gross. The dogs, however, loved it. They seemed to enjoy eating all those droppings (lovely lumps of probiotics, to them) as much as any other type of chicken nugget. Especially frozen in the winter. Chicken poopsicles. Yum.

But this selfish, mean Mother Clucker has ended all their fun.

Last week, we finally invested in a nice patio fence. It's the more affordable aluminum, iron-look-alike and has gates on both sides, including one to my herb garden. I chose the style with spears at the top because I didn't want to give the chickens a nice landing surface. So far, they haven't tried to fly up or over. Right now, things look a bit plain, but we plan to landscape with some shrubs, flowers and crape myrtles on both sides of the fence to create a softer look and nice outdoor room space.

Part of the fenced area. The self-closing gate is propped open for the dogs after the flock is put to bed. 

Look who can't get in.

Needless to say, my chickens, ducks, geese and dogs aren't happy with me. I don't care. Call it tough love kiddos.

You all have no idea how relieved I am. The day this fence was put in last week was like an early Christmas for me! I can't wait to plant around it come spring.

In the meantime, don't forget that I, along with many of the other Harlequin Heartwarming authors, have early holiday giveaways for all of you! Not chicken fences, but tons of other cool stuff ;).

I'm on tour with Prism Book Tours next week, starting Monday the 13th through the 25th! Yes, following the tour and commenting on posts will get you entered in a giveaway. I'll post details and the schedule soon.

Nov 7th, I have a fun post up at the Heartwarming blog with Catherine Lanigan.

Nov 10th is the last day to enter my Every Serengeti Sunrise Goodreads Giveaway (this book won't be included in any other giveaways so enter while you can).

Nov 29th is the huge Starry Nights & Romance Facebook release party, featuring all of the Oct/Nov/Dec Heartwarming authors and two special guests. Check out the link for discussions at the bottom (if signed in) for sneak peeks at some of the giveaways in store (including mine): HERE!

Dec 2nd the four Heartwarming December authors will launch yet another giveaway on the Heartwarming blog, so stay tuned for those details!

Dec 5th Every Serengeti Sunrise and the other Dec HW books officially release in print format, though I believe ebook format is available on the 1st!

There's more to come in December, but I'll leave it at this for now.

I have much to do, but I think I'll steal a few moments to enjoy a hot cup of tea on my clean patio.

Peace,

Rula